Disclosed are systems, devices and methods for providing fingerprint sensors based on ultrasound imaging techniques in electronic devices and fabrication techniques for producing ultrasound-based fingerprint sensors. In some aspects, an ultrasound fingerprint sensor device includes an intermediate layer coupled to a base chip including an integrated circuit having conducive contacts at a surface of the base chip, the intermediate layer including an insulation layer formed on the base chip and a corresponding array of channeling electrode structures coupled to the conductive contacts and passing through the insulation layer, in which the channeling electrodes terminate at or above a top surface of the insulation layer to provide bottom electrodes; a plurality of ultrasonic transducer elements including an acoustic transducer material coupled to the bottom electrodes; and a plurality of top electrodes positioned on the ultrasonic transducer elements.

In a method for receive beamforming using an array of ultrasonic transducers, a plurality of array positions comprising pluralities of ultrasonic transducers of the array of ultrasonic transducers is defined. A pixel capture operation is performed at each array position of the plurality of array positions. The pixel capture operation includes transmitting ultrasonic signals using a transmit beam pattern comprising ultrasonic transducers of the array of ultrasonic transducers, the transmit beam pattern for forming an ultrasonic beam toward a region of interest, and receiving reflected ultrasonic signals using a receive beam pattern comprising at least one ultrasonic transducer of the array of ultrasonic transducers. Received reflected ultrasonic signals are combined for a plurality of array positions overlapping the region of interest in a receive beamforming operation to generate a pixel for a reference array position of the plurality of array positions.

In a method for multipath reflection correction of acoustic signals received at an ultrasonic sensor, acoustic signals are received at the ultrasonic sensor over a time of flight range. Characteristics of multipath reflection signals of received acoustic signals are determined, wherein the characteristics of the multipath reflection signals of the received acoustic signals comprise a relationship of primary signal contributions to multipath reflection signal contributions for the acoustic signals received at the ultrasonic sensor at a plurality of times of flight for a plurality of locations of the ultrasonic sensor. The characteristics of the multipath reflection signals of received acoustic signals are compared to the received acoustic signals. The primary signal contribution and the multipath reflection signal contribution of the received acoustic signals is determined at a plurality of times of flight of the time range based on the characteristics of the multipath reflection signals of received acoustic signals.

A two dimensional ultrasonic array transducer receives echo signals from increasing depths of a volumetric region. The 2D array is configured into patches of elements which are processed by a microbeamformer and summed signals from a patch are coupled to a channel of an ultrasound beamformer At the shallowest depth the 2D array receives echoes from small patches in the center of the aperture. As signals are received from increasing depths the aperture is grown by symmetrically adding patches of progressively larger sizes on either side of the small patches in the center. The inventive technique can improve the multiline performance of both 1D and 2D array probes.

A matrix array ultrasound probe passively dissipates heat developed by the matrix array transducer and beamformer ASIC away from the distal end of the probe. The heat developed in the transducer stack is coupled to a metallic frame inside the handle of probe. A metallic heatspreader is thermally coupled to the probe frame to convey heat away from the frame. The heatspreader surrounds the inside of the probe handle and has an outer surface which is thermally coupled to the inner surface of the probe housing. Heat is thereby coupled evenly from the heatspreader into the housing without the development of hotspots in the housing which could be uncomfortable to the hand of the sonographer.

According to one embodiment, an ultrasonic probe includes a plurality of ultrasonic transducers, a first substrate, and a plurality of electronic circuit modules. The plurality of ultrasonic transducers equally spaced and aligned at least in one direction. The first substrate to which the ultrasonic transducers are coupled. The plurality of electronic circuit modules provided at predetermined intervals one the first substrate and coupled to the first

An ultrasound imaging system (102) includes a transducer array (108) with a two-dimensional non-rectangular array of rows (110) of elements, transmit circuitry (112) that actuates the elements to transmit an ultrasound signal into a field of view, receive circuitry (114) that receives echoes produced in response to an interaction between the ultrasound signal and a structure in the field of view, and a beamformer that processes the echoes, thereby generating one or more scan lines indicative of the field of view.

Techniques for operating an ultrasonic sensor array, the ultrasonic sensor array disposed under a platen, include making a determination whether or not to recalibrate the ultrasonic sensor array based on whether a first screen protector disposed above the platen has been removed or replaced by a second screen protector; and recalibrating the ultrasonic sensor array, when the determination is to recalibrate the ultrasonic sensor array. In some cases, the techniques include prompting a user to indicate whether or not the screen protector has been changed or removed, and recalibrating the ultrasonic sensor array only after confirmation from the user.

Systems and methods for network-based ultrasound imaging are provided, which can include a number of features. In some embodiments, an ultrasound imaging system images an object with three-dimensional unfocused pings and obtains digital sample sets from a plurality of receiver elements. A sub-set of the digital sample sets can be electronically transferred to a remote server, where the sub-set can be beamformed to produce a series of two-dimensional image frames. A video stream made up of the series of two-dimensional images frames can then be transferred from the remote server to a display device.

An ultrasonic non-destructive testing method and device for rail applications uses a plurality of phased array transducers to inspect aluminothermit weld defects located in a head portion, a web portion, an ankle portion, and a toe portion of a weld of a rail section. The method includes: scanning the head portion of the weld including: a first phased array transducer positioned above the weld and a second phased array transducer positioned a distance from the first phased array transducer to provide inclined access to the weld; and scanning the toe portion of the weld including: positioning pairs of third, fourth, and fifth phased array transducers on a surface of the toe portion, such that the pairs of third, fourth and fifth phased array transducers are disposed symmetrically with one of the pair on each side of the toe portion.