An ultrasonic detection device, including a substrate, sensing elements, a first test element, a first dummy element, at least one first common signal line, sensing signal lines, and at least one test signal line, is provided. The sensing elements, the first test element, and the first dummy element are located on the substrate. The first test element is located between the sensing elements and the first dummy element. Each of the sensing elements, the first test element, and the first dummy element includes an array of capacitive microelectromechanical ultrasonic transducers. The first common signal line is electrically connected to the sensing elements and the first test element. The sensing signal lines are electrically connected to the sensing elements. The test signal line is electrically connected to the first test element.

An ultrasound imaging system probe comprises an imaging transducer head and a reception circuit for processing received reflected ultrasound signals. The reception circuit comprises an analogue to digital sigma delta converter which comprises a closed loop which comprises a tunable band pass filter. This enables the analog to digital converter to process only the desired frequency band. The ADC conversion bandwidth and ENOB are in this way programmable giving a more efficient probe design, and also enabling analog to digital conversion early in the signal processing chain.

An ultrasound diagnosis apparatus includes: a two-dimensional (2D) transducer array in which a plurality of transducers that transmit/receive an ultrasound signal to/from an object are arranged in two dimensions; an analog beamformer configured to perform analog beamforming in a first direction, and perform analog beamforming in a second direction perpendicular to the first direction on signals respectively received by the plurality of transducers; and a digital beamformer configured to perform digital beamforming on the signals that are analog-beamformed in the first direction, and perform digital beamforming on the signals that are analog-beamformed in the second direction.

The invention provides an ultrasound system comprising an ultrasound probe, adapted to transmit and receive ultrasound signals, and an interventional device for insertion into a vessel of a subject. The interventional device includes an ultrasound transducer adapted to acquire a first set of ultrasound data at a first ultrasound frequency, wherein the first set of ultrasound data relates to flow data. The ultrasound system is further adapted exchange a second set of ultrasound data between the ultrasound probe and the interventional device at a second ultrasound frequency different from the first ultrasound frequency, wherein the second ultrasound data relates to interventional device positioning data.

A transducer probe includes a transducer array with rows of transducer elements that each extend in an elevation direction and is transverse to an azimuth direction, a matching layer disposed adjacent to the transducer array, and a focusing layer disposed adjacent to the matching layer. The focusing layer includes a first material with a first refractive index and a second material with a second refractive index, and the first refractive index is less than the second refractive index. The first and second materials are distributed in an alternating pattern with the first material at edges of the rows. First widths of the first material decrease from the edges towards a center of the rows, and second widths of the second material increase from the edges towards the center.

An ultrasound diagnosis apparatus according to an embodiment includes an ultrasound probe and processing circuitry. The ultrasound probe includes a plurality of transducer elements arranged two-dimensionally and includes a plurality of transducer element groups of a Row-Column Addressing type in which, when ultrasound transmission is to be performed, a plurality of first transducer elements arranged in the direction of one of two axes intersecting each other are connected in common to one another and in which, when ultrasound reception is to be performed, a plurality of second transducer elements arranged in the direction of the other of the two axes are connected in common to one another. A plurality of sets that are each made up of the two axes and correspond to the plurality of transducer element groups of the Row-Column Addressing type are mutually different.

In a chip-on-array approach, acoustic and electronic modules are separately formed. The acoustic stack is connected to one interposer, and the electronics are connected to another interposer. Different connection processes (e.g., using low temperature bonding for the acoustic stack and higher temperature-based interconnect for the electronics) may be used. This arrangement may allow for different pitches of the transducer elements and the I/O of the electronics by staggering vias in the interposers. The two interposers are then connected to form the chip-on-array.

An ultrasound diagnosis apparatus includes: a two-dimensional (2D) transducer array in which a plurality of transducers that transmit/receive an ultrasound signal to/from an object are arranged in two dimensions; an analog beamformer configured to perform analog beamforming in a first direction, and perform analog beamforming in a second direction perpendicular to the first direction on signals respectively received by the plurality of transducers; and a digital beamformer configured to perform digital beamforming on the signals that are analog-beamformed in the first direction, and perform digital beamforming on the signals that are analog-beamformed in the second direction.

Aspects of the technology described herein relate to apparatuses and methods for performing elevational beamforming of ultrasound data. Elevational beamforming may be implemented by different types of control circuitry. Certain control circuitry may be configured to control memory such that ultrasound data from different elevational channels is summed with stored ultrasound data in the memory that was collected at different times. Certain control circuitry may be configured to control a decimator to decimate ultrasound data from different elevational channels with different phases. Certain control circuitry may be configured to control direct digital synthesis circuitry to add a different phase offset to complex signals generated by the DDS circuitry for multiplying with ultrasound data from different elevational channels.

Because of the increase of the obesity related diseases, it is desirable to be able to detect a fatty liver and quantify the content in fat for the fatty liver. Known methods are biopsy and magnetic resonance imaging. However, biopsy is an invasive method and magnetic resonance imaging is a complicated method to carry out. The inventors propose a new ultrasonic method, which is more compliant with a regular control of the content in fat for the fatty liver for a subject. This method notably relies on a smart exploitation of the coherence properties of ultrasound pulses applied to the liver. This method has already been validated on sane subjects as providing accurate measurements, notably for fat content.