Ultrasound signal processing circuitry and related apparatus and methods

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10624613-B2
Application number	US-201614997381-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 15, 2016
Priority date	Jan 15, 2016
Publication date	Apr 21, 2020
Grant date	Apr 21, 2020

Abstract

Ultrasound signal processing circuitry and related apparatus and methods are described. Groups of signal samples corresponding to respective acquisitions performed by an ultrasound transducer array may be processed by being transformed to the Fourier domain and via the application of one or more weighting functions. The transformed groups of signals may be combined with one another in the Fourier domain to obtain a Fourier-compounded set of signals that may be used for image formation.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An ultrasound device, comprising:
a semiconductor die;
a plurality of micromachined ultrasonic transducer elements integrated on the semiconductor die and configured to output electrical signals in response to detecting ultrasound signals;
transmit circuitry coupled to the plurality of micromachined ultrasonic transducer elements and configured to drive the plurality of micromachined ultrasonic transducer elements to generate ultrasound signals; and
receive circuitry coupled to the plurality of micromachined ultrasonic transducer elements and configured to:
obtain, over a first time period, based on first electrical signals provided by the plurality of micromachined ultrasonic transducer elements, a first set of signal samples representing a first acquisition;
obtain, over a second time period different than the first time period, based on second electrical signals provided by the plurality of micromachined ultrasonic transducer elements, a second set of signal samples representing a second acquisition;
apply a Fourier transformation to the first set of signal samples to generate a first Fourier-transformed set of signals and to the second set of signal samples to generate a second Fourier-transformed set of signals; and
generate a Fourier-compounded set of signals at least in part by combining, in a Fourier domain, the first and second Fourier-transformed sets of signals.

2. The ultrasound device of claim 1 , wherein the receive circuitry is further configured to:
obtain, over a third time period different than the first time period and different than the second time period, based on third electrical signals provided by the plurality of ultrasonic micromachined transducer elements, a third set of signal samples representing a third acquisition;
apply the Fourier transformation to the third set of signal samples to generate a third Fourier-transformed set of signals; and
generate the Fourier-compounded set of signals at least in part by combining, in the Fourier domain, the first, second, and third Fourier-transformed sets of signals.

3. The ultrasound device of claim 1 , wherein the first set of signal samples comprises a plurality of groups of signal samples, each of the plurality of groups of signal samples being associated with a respective channel in a plurality of channels.

4. The ultrasound device of claim 3 , wherein the receive circuitry is configured to apply the Fourier transformation to the first set of signal samples at least in part by:
applying a first one-dimensional fast Fourier transformation (FFT) with respect to time to the first set of signal samples to obtain complex-valued data, the applying comprising applying the first one-dimensional FFT with respect to time to each of the plurality of groups of signal samples.

5. The ultrasound device of claim 4 , wherein the receive circuitry is further configured to:
apply a time-domain weighting to the first set of signal samples before applying the first one-dimensional FFT to the first set of signal samples.

6. The ultrasound device of claim 4 ,
wherein the complex-valued data comprises a plurality of groups of complex values, each of the plurality of groups of complex values associated with a respective frequency bin in a plurality of frequency bins, and
wherein the receive circuitry is configured to apply the Fourier transformation to the first set of signal samples at least in part by applying a second one-dimensional FFT to the complex-valued data with respect to cross-range, the applying comprising applying the second one-dimensional FFT to each of the plurality of groups of complex values.

7. The ultrasound device of claim 6 , wherein the receive circuitry is further configured to:
apply a frequency-domain weighting to the complex-valued data before applying the second one-dimensional FFT to the complex-valued data.

8. The ultrasound device of claim 1 , wherein the first Fourier-transformed set of signals comprises a first plurality of complex values, wherein the second Fourier-transformed set of signals comprises a second plurality of complex values, and wherein combining the first and second Fourier-transformed sets of signals comprises summing complex values in the first plurality of complex values with respective complex values in the second plurality of complex values.

9. A method performed by an ultrasound device, the ultrasound device comprising a semiconductor die, a plurality of micromachined ultrasonic transducer elements integrated on the semiconductor die and configured to output electrical signals in response to detecting ultrasound signals, and receive circuitry coupled to the plurality of micromachined ultrasonic transducer elements, the method comprising using the receive circuitry to perform:
obtaining, over a first time period, based on first electrical signals provided by the plurality of micromachined ultrasonic transducer elements, a first set of signal samples representing a first acquisition;
obtaining, over a second time period different than the first time period, based on second electrical signals provided by the plurality of micromachined ultrasonic transducer elements, a second set of signal samples representing a second acquisition;
applying a Fourier transformation to the first set of signal samples to generate a first Fourier-transformed set of signals and to the second set of signal samples to generate a second Fourier-transformed set of signals; and
generating a Fourier-compounded set of signals at least in part by combining, in the Fourier domain, the first and second Fourier-transformed sets of signals.

10. The method of claim 9 , further comprising using the receive circuitry to perform:
obtaining, over a third time period different than the first time period and different than the second time period, based on third electrical signals provided by the plurality of ultrasonic micromachined transducer elements, a third set of signal samples representing a third acquisition;
applying the Fourier transformation to the third set of signal samples to generate a third Fourier-transformed set of signals; and
generating the Fourier-compounded set of signals at least in part by combining, in a Fourier domain, the first, second, and third Fourier-transformed sets of signals.

11. The method of claim 9 , wherein the first set of signal samples comprises a plurality of groups of signal samples, each of the plurality of groups of signal samples being associated with a respective channel in a plurality of channels.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein applying the Fourier transformation to the first set of signal samples further comprises:
applying a first one-dimensional fast Fourier transformation (FFT) with respect to time to the first set of signal samples to obtain complex-valued data, the applying comprising applying the first one-dimensional FFT with respect to time to each of the plurality of groups of signal samples.

13. The method of claim 12 , further comprising:
applying a time-domain weighting to the first set of signal samples before applying the first one-dimensional FFT to the first set of signal samples.

14. The method of claim 12 , wherein the complex-valued data comprises a plurality of groups of complex values, each of the plurality of groups of complex values associated with a respective frequency bin in a plurality of frequency bins, and wherein applying the Fourier transformation to the first set of signal samples further comprises applying a second one-dimensional FFT to the complex-valued data with respect to cross-range, the applying comprising applying the second one-di

Assignees

• Butterfly Network Inc

Inventors

• Ralston Tyler S

Classifications

• G01S15/8977

  using special techniques for image reconstruction, e.g. FFT, geometrical transformations, spatial deconvolution, time deconvolution · CPC title

• A61B8/4494

  characterised by the arrangement of the transducer elements · CPC title

• G01S7/52034

  Data rate converters · CPC title

• A61B8/5207 Primary

  involving processing of raw data to produce diagnostic data, e.g. for generating an image · CPC title

• G01S15/8915

  using a transducer array · CPC title