Serial interface for parameter transfer in an ultrasound device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11650301-B2
Application number	US-202017088477-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 3, 2020
Priority date	Mar 31, 2016
Publication date	May 16, 2023
Grant date	May 16, 2023

Abstract

Circuitry for ultrasound devices is described. A multi-level pulser is described, which can support time-domain and spatial apodization. The multi-level pulser may be controlled through a software-defined waveform generator. In response to the execution of a computer code, the waveform generator may access master segments from a memory, and generate a stream of packets directed to pulsing circuits. The stream of packets may be serialized. A plurality of decoding circuits may modulate the streams of packets to obtain spatial apodization.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method of operating an ultrasound probe having a semiconductor chip with electronic circuitry and a plurality of ultrasonic transducers thereon, the method comprising:
performing, with the electronic circuitry on the semiconductor chip of the ultrasound probe, parallel-to-serial conversion of control data configured to control transmission of an ultrasound waveform by an ultrasonic transducer of the plurality of ultrasonic transducers;
subsequent to performing the parallel-to-serial conversion, transmitting the control data through a delay mesh network of the electronic circuitry on the semiconductor chip of the ultrasound probe; and
subsequent to transmitting the control data through the delay mesh network of the electronic circuitry on the semiconductor chip of the ultrasound probe, performing, with the electronic circuitry on the semiconductor chip of the ultrasound probe, serial-to-parallel conversion of the control data.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the electronic circuitry is integrated circuitry that is integrated with the plurality of ultrasonic transducers on the semiconductor chip.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the method further comprises obtaining the control data from a memory disposed on the ultrasound probe.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the electronic circuitry is integrated circuitry that is integrated with the plurality of ultrasonic transducers on the semiconductor chip, and wherein the method further comprises obtaining the control data from a memory that forms part of the integrated circuitry.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the ultrasound probe is a handheld ultrasound probe.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising packetizing the control data into a plurality of data packets prior to performing the parallel-to-serial conversion, a first data packet of the plurality of data packets having a plurality of fields, wherein transmitting the control data through the delay mesh network comprises operating the delay mesh network according to at least one field of the first data packet and removing the at least one field from the first data packet prior to providing the first data packet to decoding circuitry of the electronic circuitry.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein transmitting the control data through the delay mesh network comprises generating a plurality of time-delayed versions of the first data packet.

8. The method of claim 7 , further comprising, subsequent to performing the serial-to-parallel conversion, providing the plurality of time-delayed versions of the first data packet to a plurality of pulsers of the electronic circuitry on the semiconductor chip of the ultrasound probe.

9. The method of claim 6 , wherein the at least one field comprises delay information identifying an amount by which to delay the control data.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein performing the parallel-to-serial conversion comprises encoding the control data using encoding circuitry of the electronic circuitry and performing the serial-to-parallel conversion comprises decoding the control data using decoding circuitry of the electronic circuitry.

11. An apparatus comprising:
a handheld ultrasound probe having a semiconductor chip with electronic circuitry and a plurality of ultrasonic transducers thereon, the electronic circuitry comprising:
a plurality of pulsers configured to provide a plurality of pulses to at least some of the plurality of ultrasonic transducers;
transmit circuitry coupled to the plurality of pulsers and configured to provide to a first pulser of the plurality of pulsers a serial stream of control data specifying operation of the first pulser to create a waveform;
decoding circuitry configured to perform a serial-to-parallel conversion by receiving the serial stream of the control data and transmitting the control data to the plurality of pulsers in parallel;
delay circuitry configured to receive the serial stream of control data and subsequent to the decoding circuitry performing the serial to parallel conversion, delaying the serial stream of control data; and
a serial to parallel conversion electronic circuit for, subsequent to transmitting the control data through the delay circuitry, performing serial-to-parallel conversion of the control data.

12. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein semiconductor chip further comprises a memory storing the control data.

13. The apparatus of claim 11 , further comprising a packet generator for packetizing the control data into at least one control data packet.

14. The apparatus of claim 13 , wherein the delay circuitry is configured to generate a plurality of time-delayed versions of the at least one control data packet.

15. The apparatus of claim 13 , wherein the at least one control data packet comprises a value representing one reference voltage of a plurality of reference voltages for operating the first pulser to generate a multi-level waveform based on the one reference voltage.

16. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the first pulser comprises a bipolar pulser.

17. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the decoding circuitry is configured to modulate, across the plurality of pulsers, the serial stream of control data to obtain spatial apodization.

18. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein a first ultrasonic transducer of the plurality of ultrasonic transducers is coupled to the first pulser of the plurality of pulsers and is configured to generate an acoustic ultrasound waveform in response to providing to the first pulser of the plurality of pulsers the serial stream of control data.

19. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the transmit circuitry is configured to provide the serial stream of control data to achieve temporal apodization.

20. A method of operating an ultrasound probe having a semiconductor chip with electronic circuitry and a plurality of ultrasonic transducers thereon, comprising:
performing, with the electronic circuitry on the semiconductor chip of the ultrasound probe, parallel-to-serial conversion of control data configured to control transmission of an ultrasound waveform by an ultrasonic transducer of the plurality of ultrasonic transducers;
subsequent to performing the parallel-to-serial conversion, transmitting the control data through delay circuitry of the electronic circuitry on the semiconductor chip of the ultrasound probe; and
subsequent to transmitting the control data through the delay circuitry on the semiconductor chip of the ultrasound probe, performing, with the electronic circuitry on the semiconductor chip of the ultrasound probe, serial-to-parallel conversion of the control data.

Assignees

• Bfly Operations Inc

Inventors

• Bao Liewei
• Chen Kailiang
• Ralston Tyler S
• Sanchez Nevada J

Classifications

• G01S7/52096

  related to power management, e.g. saving power or prolonging life of electronic components (details of power supplies for ultrasonic medical diagnostic imaging devices A61B8/56) · CPC title

• G01S7/52034

  Data rate converters · CPC title

• G01S7/5202

  for pulse systems · CPC title

• G01S7/524 Primary

  Transmitters · CPC title

• G01S15/8927

  using simultaneously or sequentially two or more subarrays or subapertures · CPC title