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US 10,441,972 B2Granted
Transmission channel for ultrasound applications
AssigneeSTMicroelectronics S.r.l.
InventorsDavide Ugo Ghisu, Sandro Rossi, Dario Bianchi
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A transmission channel transmits high-voltage pulses in a transmission phase and receives echoes of the high-voltage pulses in a receiving phase. The transmission channel includes a buffer with anti-memory circuitry to couple drain conduction terminals of buffer transistors of a high-side of a buffer of the transmission channel to a low-side reference voltage of a low-side of the buffer and couple drain conduction terminals of buffer transistors of the low-side of the buffer to a high-side reference voltage of the high-side of the buffer during the clamping phase.
Claims24
A method, comprising:
- transmitting high-voltage pulses through a buffer of a transmission channel in a transmission phase, the buffer having:
- a first branch having a first half-branch coupled between a first voltage reference node and a central buffer node and a second half-branch coupled between the central buffer node and a second voltage reference node;
- and
- a second branch having a third half-branch coupled between a third voltage reference node and the central buffer node and a fourth half-branch coupled between the central buffer node and a fourth voltage reference node;
- coupling, using one or more first high-voltage switches of the buffer of the transmission channel, drain conduction terminals of one or more buffer transistors of the first half-branch to at least one of the second voltage reference node and the fourth voltage reference node during a clamping phase;
- coupling, using one or more second high-voltage switches of the buffer of the transmission channel, drain conduction terminals of one or more buffer transistors of the third half-branch to at least one of the second voltage reference node and the fourth voltage reference node during the clamping phase;
- coupling, using one or more third high-voltage switches of the buffer of the transmission channel, drain conduction terminals of one or more buffer transistors of the second half-branch of the buffer to at least one of the first voltage reference node and the third voltage reference node during the clamping phase;
- and
- coupling, using one or more fourth high-voltage switches of the buffer of the transmission channel, drain conduction terminals of one or more buffer transistors of the fourth half-branch to at least one of the first voltage reference node and the third voltage reference node during the clamping phase.
6 more elements
A system, comprising:
- means for transmitting high-voltage pulses in a transmission phase, the means for transmitting including a buffer having:
- a first side including a first buffer transistor coupled between a first reference voltage terminal and a central buffer node and a second buffer transistor coupled between a second reference voltage terminal and the central buffer node;
- a second side including a third buffer transistor coupled between a third reference voltage terminal and the central buffer node and a fourth buffer transistor coupled between a fourth reference voltage terminal and the central buffer node;
- and
- means for coupling the buffer transistors of the first side of the buffer to at least one of the third and fourth reference voltage terminals of the second side of the buffer and coupling the buffer transistors of the second side of the buffer to at least one of the first and second reference voltage terminals of the first side of the buffer during a clamping phase.
2 more elements
A system, comprising:
- a transmission channel, which, in operation, transmits high-voltage pulses in a transmission phase, the transmission channel including:
- a buffer including:
- a first branch having a first half-branch coupled between a first reference voltage node and a central buffer node and a second half-branch coupled between the central buffer node and a second reference voltage node;
- and
- a second branch having a third half-branch coupled between a third reference voltage and the central buffer node and a fourth half-branch coupled between the central buffer node and a fourth reference voltage node;
- and
- coupling circuitry including switching transistors, wherein the coupling circuitry, in operation;
- couples the first half-branch of the buffer to at least one of the second reference voltage node and the fourth voltage reference node during a clamping phase;
- couples the second half-branch of the buffer to at least one of the first reference voltage node and the third voltage reference node during the clamping phase;
- couples the third half-branch of the buffer to at least one of the second reference voltage node and the fourth voltage reference node during the clamping phase;
- and
- couples the fourth half-branch of the buffer to at least one of the first reference voltage node and the third voltage reference node during the clamping phase.
9 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.