US 2003/0171674 A1 · DIAGNOSTIC ULTRASONIC IMAGING SYSTEM HAVING COMBINED SCANHEAD CONNECTIONS

Abstract

A diagnostic ultrasonic imaging system includes a scanhead having a plurality of transducer elements. A signal combiner, such a time-division multiplexer or a frequency-division multiplexer, is coupled to each of the transducer elements. The signal combiner combines the signals from the transducer elements into a composite signal and couples the composite signal to an ultrasonic processor through a wire or other communication link. A signal separator, such as a time-division demultiplexer or a frequency-division demultiplexer, is coupled to the link and recovers from the composite signal each of the signals from the transducer elements.

Claims28

Dependent claims

A diagnostic ultrasonic imaging system comprising:

a scanhead having a plurality of transducer elements, each of the transducer elements having a transducer element terminal;
a signal combiner coupled to the transducer element terminals, the signal combiner being structured to combine signals from a plurality of the transducer elements into a lesser number of combined output signals;
a communications link coupled to the signal combiner to receive each combined output signal;
a signal separator coupled to the communications link to receive each combined output signal, the signal separator being structured to separate each combined output signal into separate output signals corresponding to the signals combined to produce the combined output signal;
and
an ultrasonic processor coupled to receive the separate output signals from the signal separator.

3 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Diagnostic ultrasonic imaging system having combined scanhead connections

Life of this patent

Diagnostic ultrasonic imaging system having combined scanhead connections

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims28