Ultrasound transmit/receive for pulse inversion
AssigneeSiemens Medical Solutions USA, Inc.
InventorDavid A. Petersen
Life of this patent
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Abstract
For phase inversion-based ultrasound imaging with a transmit and receive circuit at an array, a unipolar transmitter is used to reduce the number of high voltage wires. Rather than adding a T/R switch or increasing connections by connecting the receive amplifier to a different electrode than the transmitter, two different receive paths from the element to the receive amplifier are provided. One path is used where the unipolar transmitter ends in one state (e.g., 0V), and the other path is used where the unipolar transmitter ends in another state (e.g., Vtx).
Claims20
A transmit and receive system for ultrasound pulse inversion, the transmit and receive circuit comprising:
- an ultrasound transducer element;
- a unipolar transmitter connected with the ultrasound transducer element, the unipolar transmitter configured to generate transmit waveforms ending in a relatively high or low state;
- a receiver connected with the ultrasound transducer element by first and second separate signal paths from the ultrasound transducer element;
- and
- a controller configured to select between the first and second separate signal paths based on the unipolar transmitter ending in the relatively high or low state.
A transmit and receive circuit for ultrasound, the transmit and receive circuit comprising:
- a unipolar transmitter configured to provide a waveform to a transducer element;
- a receive amplifier;
- and
- first and second receive paths configured to receive signals from the transducer element and connected with an input to the receive amplifier, the first and second receive paths comprise first and second capacitors, respectively.
A transmit and receive circuit for ultrasound, the transmit and receive circuit comprising:
- a unipolar transmitter;
- a receive amplifier;
- first and second receive paths connected with an input to the receive amplifier
- a power source input, a ground connector, and a transducer element connector;
- wherein the unipolar transmitter includes first and second high voltage transistors and first and second low voltage transistors, the first high voltage transistor and the first low voltage transistor connected in series between the transducer element connector and the power source input, the second high voltage transistor and the second low voltage transistor connected in series between the transducer element connectors and the ground connector, the first receive path connected between the first high voltage transistor and the first low voltage transistor, the second receive path connected between the second high voltage transistor and the second low voltage transistor.
A method for receiving pulse inversion signals in ultrasound, the method comprising:
- generating, with a unipolar pulser, first and second transmit waveforms in sequence, the first transmit waveform ending with a first voltage state and the second transmit waveform ending with a second voltage state different than the first voltage state;
- routing a first receive signal responsive to the first transmit waveform along a first path from an element to a receive amplifier;
- routing a second receive signal responsive to the second transmit waveform along a second path from the element to the receive amplifier;
- and
- selecting the routing along the first and second paths based on the first and second voltage states.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.