Ultrasound signal processing device

An ultrasound signal processing device comprising ultrasound signal processing circuitry, the ultrasound signal processing circuitry comprising:

• a reception beamformer that executes processing selected from first reception beamforming processing and second reception beamforming processing, wherein
• the first reception beamforming processing includes generating a set of acoustic line signal line data including acoustic line signals associated with observation points for each transmission event, where a portion of the observation points associated with one set have a same position as a portion of the observation points associated with another set, and synthesizing acoustic line signal line data by summing acoustic line signals that are associated with the observation points having same positions, and
• the second reception beamforming processing includes generating a set of acoustic line signal line data including one or more acoustic line signals associated with the observation points for each transmission event, where positions of the observation points are different for each transmission event,
• wherein numbers of lines of the acoustic line signals generated per transmission event are different between the first reception beamforming processing and the second reception beamforming processing, and
• the reception beamformer includes a delay-and-sum unit that performs delay-and-sum processing with respect to reception signal sequences from multiple channels based on reflected ultrasound to calculate the acoustic line signal line data;
• and
• a main summing unit that sums and outputs the acoustic line signal line data outputted from the delay-and-sum unit, wherein
• the main summing unit
• in the first reception beamforming processing, synthesizes the acoustic line signal line data calculated by the delay-and-sum unit by summing the acoustic line signals associated with the observation points having the same positions,
• in the second reception beamforming processing, outputs the acoustic line signal data calculated by the delay-and-sum unit as is, and
• time taken by the delay-and-sum unit to generate the acoustic line signal line data per set of acoustic line signal line data is equal or approximately equal in the first reception beamforming processing and the second reception beamforming processing.

An ultrasound image diagnostic device comprising:

• an ultrasound probe that includes a plurality of transducers;
• and
• an ultrasound signal processing device comprising ultrasound signal processing circuitry, the ultrasound signal processing circuitry comprising
• a reception beamformer that executes processing selected from first reception beamforming processing and second reception beamforming processing with respect to reception signal sequences from the ultrasound probe, wherein
• the first reception beamforming processing includes generating, for each transmission event, a set of acoustic line signal line data including acoustic line signals associated with observation points where a portion of the observation points associated with one set have a same position as a portion of the observation points associated with another set, and synthesizing acoustic line signal line data by summing acoustic line signals that are associated with the observation points having same positions, and
• the second reception beamforming processing includes generating, for each transmission event, a set of acoustic line signal line data including one or more acoustic line signals associated with the observation points, where positions of the observation points are different for each transmission event,
• wherein numbers of lines of the acoustic line signals generated per transmission event are different between the first reception beamforming processing and the second reception beamforming processing, and
• the reception beamformer includes a delay-and-sum unit that performs delay-and-sum processing with respect to the reception signal sequences from multiple channels based on reflected ultrasound to calculate the acoustic line signal line data, and
• the delay-and-sum unit
• in the first reception beamforming processing, synthesizes the acoustic line signal line data calculated in the delay-and-sum processing by summing the acoustic line signals associated with the observation points having the same positions,
• in the second reception beamforming processing, outputs the acoustic line signal data calculated in the delay-and-sum processing as is, and
• time taken by the delay-and-sum unit to generate the acoustic line signal line data per set of acoustic line signal line data is equal or approximately equal in the first reception beamforming processing and the second reception beamforming processing.