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US 10,092,274 B2Granted
Sub-performing transducer element detection for medical ultrasound
AssigneeSiemens Medical Solutions USA, Inc.
InventorsJerry D. Hopple, Dalong Liu, Stephen R. Barnes, David A. Petersen, Colin Brock, John C. Lazenby
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Abstract
Sub-performing elements of an ultrasound transducer array are detected. The power, such as current, used by or provided to the transmit driver is measured. By driving each element or group of elements separately, defective elements or groups of elements are detected from the amount of power used.
Claims20
An ultrasound system comprising:
- an array of ultrasound transducer elements;
- a transmit driver connectable or connected with the ultrasound transducer elements of the array;
- a power source connected with the transmit driver;
- a current sensor connected between the power source and the transmit driver to sense current from the power source provided to the transmit driver;
- and
- a processor configured to detect a defective element of the ultrasound transducer elements based on the current.
3 more elements
A method for detecting a sub-performing element, the method comprising:
- sensing a power drawn by a transmit driver generating an electrical transmit waveform output to a transducer element of an array;
- and
- determining an operational state of the transducer element as a function of the power, the operational state being one of sub-performing and performing.
An ultrasound system comprising:
- a transducer comprising a multi-dimensional array of elements;
- first and second transmitter chips connected with first and second groups of the elements, respectively;
- first and second sensors between a power supply and the first and second transmitter chips to sense a characteristic of power supplied from the power supply to the first and second transmitter chips, respectively;
- and
- a processor configured to determine performance of the elements from the characteristics sensed by the first and second sensors.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.