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US 11,863,133 B2Granted
Trans-impedance amplifier for ultrasound device and related apparatus and methods
AssigneeBfly Operations, Inc.
InventorsKailiang Chen, Keith G. Fife, Nevada J. Sanchez, Andrew J. Casper, Tyler S. Ralston
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Abstract
A variable current trans-impedance amplifier (TIA) for an ultrasound device is described. The TIA may be coupled to an ultrasonic transducer to amplify an output signal of the ultrasonic transducer representing an ultrasound signal received by the ultrasonic transducer. During acquisition of the ultrasound signal by the ultrasonic transducer, one or more current sources in the TIA may be varied.
Claims20
An ultrasound apparatus, comprising:
- an ultrasound sensor;
- a variable current trans-impedance amplifier (TIA) coupled to the ultrasound sensor and configured to receive and amplify an output signal from the ultrasound sensor, the variable current TIA being a multi-stage operational amplifier having a first stage and a last stage;
- wherein the variable current TIA further comprises a variable impedance circuit coupled between an output terminal of the variable current TIA and a node representing an input to the last stage;
- and
- wherein the variable current TIA further comprises a variable feedback impedance circuit coupled between the output terminal of the variable current TIA and a node representing an input to the first stage.
2 more elements
A method, comprising:
- acquiring an ultrasound signal with an ultrasound sensor during an acquisition period and outputting, from the ultrasound sensor, an analog electrical signal representing the ultrasound signal;
- and
- amplifying the analog electrical signal with a variable current trans-impedance amplifier (TIA) having a first stage, a last stage, a variable impedance circuit coupled between an output terminal of the variable current TIA and a node representing an input to the last stage, and a variable feedback impedance circuit coupled between the output terminal of the variable current TIA and a node representing an input to the first stage, wherein amplifying the analog electrical signal comprises varying a feedback impedance of the variable impedance circuit during the acquisition period.
An ultrasound apparatus, comprising:
- an ultrasound sensor;
- and
- a variable current trans-impedance amplifier (TIA) coupled to the ultrasound sensor and configured to receive and amplify an output signal from the ultrasound sensor, the variable current TIA being a multi-stage operational amplifier having:
- a first stage;
- a last stage;
- a first variable current source coupled to the first stage;
- and
- a second variable current source coupled to the last stage;
- and
- a control circuit coupled to the first variable current source and the second variable current source and configured to simultaneously increase a first amount of current through the first variable current source and decrease a second amount of current through the second variable current source after a time interval.
7 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.