An ultrasound probe contains an array transducer coupled to a digital microbeamformer. The digital microbeamformer is capable of producing delayed echo signals which are a delayed by a fraction of a clock cycle of received digital echo signals. The fractional delay is produced by an FIR filter which conserves power by weighting digital echo signals without the use of digital multipliers.

An acoustic dual-frequency phased array system with common beam angles is disclosed. In one aspect, the system includes a planar array of transducer elements and a multiplexing circuit for selecting between a first state and a second state during either transmit operation, receive operation or both transmit and receive operation. The multiplexer is configured to connect transducer elements to a plurality of connections different between the first state and second state. The system is configured to transmit and receive beams at a first frequency when the multiplexer is in the first state and transmit and receive beams at a second frequency when the multiplexer is in the second state. The angle of the beams from vertical in the first and second state are substantially similar.

According to one embodiment, an ultrasound diagnosis apparatus includes a transmission beam former and a transmitting circuit. The transmission beam former generates a transmission pulse. The transmitting circuit supplies an ultrasound transducer with the transmission pulse received from the transmission beam former as a drive signal. The supply of a clock necessary for the generation of the transmission pulse is stopped during a substantial reception period of echo signals from the ultrasound transducer.

Methods and systems are provided for receiving beamforming of ultrasound signals to generate ultrasound images with increased resolution. In one example, a method for an ultrasound system including a plurality of ultrasound transducers each coupled to a respective receive channel includes time-delaying a set of ultrasound receive channel signals to form a plurality of time-delayed sets of ultrasound receive channel signals, each time-delayed set of ultrasound receive channel signals time-delayed based on a different beamforming sound speed, calculating a beamforming quality metric for each receive channel and for each time-delayed set of ultrasound receive channel signals, and generating an ultrasound image from ultrasound receive channel signals selected from the plurality of time-delayed sets of ultrasound receive channel signals based on each beamforming quality metric.

A method and downhole tool is provided that uses beamforming to localize acoustic energy at a desired zone-of-interest within a wellbore traversing a subterranean formation. The tool has an array of transmitter elements configured to emit guided mode acoustic signals at variable amplitude and variable time delay, which are individually controlled by an amplitude factor and time delay assigned to respective transmitter elements. A set of amplitude factors and time delays can be assigned to the transmitter elements of the transmitter array such that the transmitter elements produce a focused acoustic beam at the desired zone-of-interest by combination of guided mode acoustic signals transmitted by the transmitter elements.

A dual frequency ultrasound transducer includes a high frequency ultrasound array and a low frequency transducer positioned behind or proximal to the high frequency ultrasound array. In one embodiment, a dampening material is positioned between a rear surface of the high frequency array and the a front surface of the low frequency array. The dampening preferably is high absorbing of signals at the frequency of the high frequency array but passes signals at the frequency of the low frequency transducer with little attenuation. In additional, or alternatively, the low frequency can angled with respect to the plane of the high frequency transducer to reduce inter-stack multipath reflections. Beamforming delays compensate for the differences in physical distances between the elements of the low frequency transducer and the plane of the high frequency transducer.

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, such that a generated ultrasonic beam is focused for reflecting from an object in contact with a contact surface of a platen overlying the two-dimensional array of ultrasonic transducers. 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.

An underwater detection apparatus is provided. The apparatus may include a transmission transducer, a reception transducer, and processing circuitry. The transmission transducer may transmit a transmission wave. The reception transducer may include a plurality of reception elements that generate a reception signal based on a reflection wave including a reflection of the transmission wave on an underwater target. The processing circuitry may generate a 3D image data that represents an echo intensity of the underwater target based at least in part on the reception signal generated by each reception element, and may set a depth marking on the 3D image data for which a depth is equal to a given depth, by changing an echo intensity color that represents the echo intensity of the 3D image data into a depth color that represents a depth of the 3D image data, the depth color being different from the echo intensity color.

A focused ultrasonic transducer includes a piezoelectric substrate having a first face and a second face, a back metal layer disposed over the first face, and a patterned metal layer disposed over the second face. The patterned metal layer includes a first plurality of concentric ring electrodes wherein each of the first plurality of concentric ring electrodes are wired to be individually accessible. A controller actuates a subset of the concentric ring electrodes such that electrical control of focal length is achieved by selecting a group of electrodes to actuate so that acoustic waves generated from selected electrodes arrive at a desired focal length in-phase and interfere constructively to create a focal spot of high acoustic intensity. The patterned metal layer optionally includes a first central electrode that is surrounded by the first plurality of concentric ring electrodes.

A method that includes transmitting coded waveforms simultaneously on multiple elements for several frames, constructing a first multi-input, single output (MISO) system from the codes to model transmit-receive paths, solving system and RF data observation by linear model theory, giving an IR set for the medium, and applying the estimates to a secondary MISO system, constructed by analogy to the first, but with pulses convenient for beamforming in the form of a focused set of single-cycle pulses for ideal focused reconstruction.