G10K11/345

Transmit beamforming of a two-dimensional array of ultrasonic transducers

In a method for transmit beamforming of a two-dimensional array of ultrasonic transducers, a beamforming pattern to apply to a beamforming space of the two-dimensional array of ultrasonic transducers is defined. The beamforming space includes a plurality of elements, where each element of the beamforming space corresponds to an ultrasonic transducer of the two-dimensional array of ultrasonic transducers, where the beamforming pattern identifies which ultrasonic transducers within the beamforming space are activated during a transmit operation of the two-dimensional array of ultrasonic transducers, and wherein at least some of the ultrasonic transducers that are activated are phase delayed with respect to other ultrasonic transducers that are activated. The beamforming pattern is applied to the two-dimensional array of ultrasonic transducers. A transmit operation is performed by activating the ultrasonic transducers of the beamforming space according to the beamforming pattern.

Transmit operation of an ultrasonic sensor

An ultrasonic sensor includes a two-dimensional array of ultrasonic transducers. A signal generator is configured to generate a plurality of transmit signals, wherein each transmit signal of the plurality of transmit signals has a different phase delay relative to other transmit signals of the plurality of transmit signals. A plurality of shift registers is configured to store a beamforming space including a beamforming pattern to apply to the two-dimensional array, wherein the beamforming pattern identifies a transmit signal of the plurality of transmit signals that is applied to each ultrasonic transducer of the beamforming space that is activated during a transmit operation. An array controller is configured to control activation of ultrasonic transducers during a transmit operation according to the beamforming pattern and configured to shift a position of the beamforming space within the plurality of shift registers such that the beamforming space moves within the two-dimensional array.

Method and system for performing baseband digital receiver beamforming on ultrasound signals
10444333 · 2019-10-15 · ·

Methods and systems are provided that perform baseband beamforming of ultrasound signals. The methods and systems obtain receive signals from transducers of an ultrasound probe and demodulate the receive signals to obtain complex receive signals having in-phase (I) and quadrature (Q) components. The methods and systems apply time delay and phase correction to the complex receive signals to form delayed complex receive signals before summing the delayed complex receive signals to produce a coherent receive signal. The phase correction includes applying coarse and fine corrections where the coarse correction is calculated as a multiple of a sampling time and the fine correction is calculated as a fraction of the sampling time. The methods and systems apply the coarse and fine corrections contemporaneously by multiplying the complex receive signal by a complex carrier delayed by a multiple of the sampling time and delayed by the fraction of the sampling time.

Ultrasound diagnostic apparatus, ultrasound image capturing method, and computer-readable recording medium

An ultrasound diagnostic apparatus includes: a probe that includes a transducer array including transducers, which are activated as a first transducer group and a second transducer group, is configured to transmit ultrasound waves by at least one transducer included in the first transducer group and at least one transducer included in the second transducer group, and to detect echo signals from an object; and a controller configured to select a number of transducers to be activated in the first transducer group and in the second transducer group based on the object or a measurement result, generate echo images from the echo signals, and measure an object change movement speed, which is a speed at which a change in the object moves, from the echo images.

Television Commercial Silencer Electrical Wall Outlet Receptacle Tap
20190181597 · 2019-06-13 ·

I rewired a standard one gang electrical outlet receptacle with an 110/120 volt three position toggle switch (ON, OFF, ON). The rewiring allowed for the top outlet to be hot when the toggle was up (ON) and the bottom outlet would be OFF. Conversely, the bottom outlet would be hot when the toggle was down (ON) and the top outlet would be OFF. When the toggle switch was flipped to the middle position (OFF), both outlets would be off. Plugged a 3.5 mm plug from a set of amplified external speakers into my headphone port on the side of my television. The external speakers were plugged into the top outlet on my rewired receptacle. The bottom outlet on my rewired receptacle provided power to my BOOM BOX. Flipping my three position toggle switch up turned on my television audio while flipping the toggle switch down would Silence my television audio and turn on my BOOM BOX radio.My rewired receptacle is the origin of the Television Commercial Silencer Electrical Wall Outlet Receptacle Tap.

Configurable microbeamformer circuit for an ultrasonic diagnostic imaging system
10295665 · 2019-05-21 · ·

A microbeamformer integrated circuit has sixty-lour microbeaauCormer channels which may be utilized with a 64-element or 128-element array transducer. Each microbeamformer channel includes a transmitter, a plurality of connection points for selectively coupling the transmitter to one or more transducer elements, a transmit/receive switch coupled to an output of the transmitter, and a receive channel including a variable delay. The connection points may be configured with only one connection point coupled to a transducer element, two connection points coupled to the same transducer element, or multiple connection points coupled to multiple transducer elements. The transmitter may also comprise a separate pulser coupled to each connection point. The receive channels are grouped in groups of sixteen which may be selectively coupled to one of two channel drivers to provide partially beamformed signals to the channels of a system beamformer.

Television commercial silencer electrical wall outlet receptacle tap
10249996 · 2019-04-02 ·

I rewired a standard one gang electrical outlet receptacle with an 110/120 volt three position toggle switch (ON, OFF, ON). The rewiring allowed for the top outlet to be hot when the toggle was up (ON) and the bottom outlet would be OFF. Conversely, the bottom outlet would be hot when the toggle was down (ON) and the top outlet would be OFF. When the toggle switch was flipped to the middle position (OFF), both outlets would be off. Plugged a 3.5 mm plug from a set of amplified external speakers into my headphone port on the side of my television. The external speakers were plugged into the top outlet on my rewired receptacle. The bottom outlet on my rewired receptacle provided power to my BOOM BOX. Flipping my three position toggle switch up turned on my television audio while flipping the toggle switch down would Silence my television audio and turn on my BOOM BOX radio.My rewired receptacle is the origin of the Television Commercial Silencer Electrical Wall Outlet Receptacle Tap.

Ultrasound probe and ultrasound diagnostic apparatus

The present embodiment relates to an ultrasound probe having a first ultrasound vibrator group and a second ultrasound vibrator group, comprising a plurality of matrix switches and an adder. The ultrasound probe has a mode to send ultrasound to a predetermined observation point within a subject by the first ultrasound vibrator group, and to receive ultrasound echoes reflected within the subject by the second ultrasound vibrator group. The plurality of matrix switches extract, based on the distance between the second ultrasound vibrator group and the observation point, a plurality of ultrasound echoes having substantially the same phase from a plurality of ultrasound echoes output by the second ultrasound vibrator group. The adder adds the plurality of ultrasound echoes extracted by the plurality of matrix switches for each of the matrix switches and outputs them.

Method, System, and Program for Ultrasonic Testing and Storage Medium
20180259490 · 2018-09-13 ·

A UT method includes steps of: placing multiple sensors on a test object, the sensors each having multiple elements; connecting the sensors to a UT device such that multiple elements each selected one by one from each of the sensors are set as one group, and the multiple elements belonging to a same group are selectively connected to a common connector of the UT device via a switcher; inputting to the UT device a collection of UT conditions used for the multiple sensors; causing the UT device to perform UT operations sequentially while switching the sensors connected to the UT device with the use of the switcher; and storing UT data in which the sensors used for UT match UT conditions on the basis of the order of execution of UT conditions included in the collection of UT conditions.

Piezoelectric transducer device for configuring a sequence of operational modes

In an embodiment, a tile device includes a plurality of piezoelectric transducers elements and a base adjoining and supporting the plurality of piezoelectric transducers elements. The base includes integrated circuitry programmed to successively configure operational modes of the tile, according to a pre-programmed sequence, to successively select respective subsets of the piezoelectric transducers elements for activation. The integrated circuitry includes pulser logic to selectively activate such subsets, and demultiplexer logic to communicate from the tile sense signals resulting from such activation. In another embodiment, the demultiplexer logic is part of a first voltage domain of the tile, and the pulser logic is part of a second voltage domain of the tile. The base may include circuitry to protect the demultiplexer logic from a relatively high voltage level of the second voltage domain.