# US 2021/0330295 A1 · Methods and apparatuses for beamforming in ultrasound systems > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 2021/0330295 A1 - Document ID: US20210330295A1 - Status: Published application - Kind: A1 - Application number: 17/236,721 - Filed: 2021-04-21 - Published: 2021-10-28 - Earliest claimed: 2020-04-22 - Assignees: Butterfly Network, Inc. - Inventors: Hamid Soleimani; Karl Thiele; Sheng-Wen Huang; Nevada J. Sanchez - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US20210330295A1 ## CPC - A61B 8/4488: {the transducer being a phased array} - A61B 8/5207: {involving processing of raw data to produce diagnostic data, e.g. for generating an image} - A61B 8/0858: {involving measuring tissue layers, e.g. skin, interfaces} - A61B 8/4455: {Features of the external shape of the probe, e.g. ergonomic aspects} - A61B 8/4494: {characterised by the arrangement of the transducer elements} - G01N 29/0654: {Imaging} - G01S 7/52025: {for pulse systems (G01S7/52034 takes precedence)} - G01S 7/52085: {Details related to the ultrasound signal acquisition, e.g. scan sequences (control of medical diagnostic ultrasound devices A61B8/54)} - G01S 7/52095: {using multiline receive beamforming} - G01S 15/10: using transmission of interrupted, pulse-modulated waves (determination of distance by phase measurement G01S15/32) - G01S 15/8915: {using a transducer array} - G10K 11/346: {using phase variation} - A61B 8/4236: {characterised by adhesive patches} - A61B: DIAGNOSIS; SURGERY; IDENTIFICATION (usefulness limited to only animals A61D) - G01N: INVESTIGATING OR ANALYSING MATERIALS BY DETERMINING THEIR CHEMICAL OR PHYSICAL PROPERTIES (measuring or testing apparatus or processes other than immunoassay, involving enzymes or microorganisms C12M, C12Q) - G01S: RADIO DIRECTION-FINDING; RADIO NAVIGATION; DETERMINING DISTANCE OR VELOCITY BY USE OF RADIO WAVES; LOCATING OR PRESENCE-DETECTING BY USE OF THE REFLECTION OR RERADIATION OF RADIO WAVES; ANALOGOUS ARRANGEMENTS USING OTHER WAVES - G10K: SOUND-PRODUCING DEVICES; METHODS OR DEVICES FOR PROTECTING AGAINST, OR FOR DAMPING, NOISE OR OTHER ACOUSTIC WAVES IN GENERAL; ACOUSTICS NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR ## Abstract Beamforming circuitry for an ultrasound device is disclosed, that may directly calculate the position in receive line space for an incoming ultrasound data sample given the time of flight (ToF) of that ultrasound data sample. In some embodiments, this may be done without initially buffering the ultrasound data sample received from the particular receive datapath multiplexed to the beamforming circuitry. The beamforming circuitry may then associate the ultrasound data sample with that position in receive line space, and in particular, with a memory address corresponding to that location. Thus, when the beamforming circuitry multiplexes between different receive datapaths, it may not need to buffer ultrasound data samples from different receive datapaths prior to saving the data to memory. ## Claims ### Claim 1 An apparatus, comprising: beamforming circuitry configured to calculate a position in receive line space from which an ultrasound data sample was collected using a time-of-flight of the ultrasound data sample as an input. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the beamforming circuitry is not configured to buffer the ultrasound data sample prior to calculating the position in receive line space from which the ultrasound data sample was collected. ### Claim 3 (depends on 1) The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the beamforming circuitry is configured to receive the ultrasound data sample from a receive datapath. ### Claim 4 (depends on 3) The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the receive datapath comprises an ultrasound transducer, a transimpedance amplifier, analog processing circuitry, and an analog-to-digital converter. ### Claim 5 (depends on 1) The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the time-of-flight of the ultrasound data sample comprises a time from transmission of an ultrasound wave from an ultrasound device to a time that a reflected ultrasound wave is received by the ultrasound device. ### Claim 6 (depends on 1) The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a memory, and wherein the beamforming circuitry is configured, when calculating the position in the receive line space from which the ultrasound data sample was collected using the time-of-flight of the ultrasound data sample as the input, to: calculate a non-integer memory address using the time-of-flight of the ultrasound data sample as the input; interpolate the ultrasound data sample with another ultrasound data sample to produce a single interpolated ultrasound data value; and update an actual memory address in the memory with the interpolated ultrasound data value. ### Claim 7 (depends on 6) The apparatus of claim 6, wherein memory addresses in the memory are allocated based on position in space. ### Claim 8 (depends on 6) The apparatus of claim 6, wherein each memory address in the memory represents a position in space that that is a distance depth/N away from a position represented by a previous memory address, wherein there are N memory addresses for a particular receive line, and wherein depth is an imaging depth. ### Claim 9 (depends on 6) The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the beamforming circuitry is configured, when updating the actual memory address with the interpolated ultrasound data value, to accumulate the interpolated ultrasound data value at the actual memory address. ### Claim 10 (depends on 9) The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the beamforming circuitry is configured, when accumulating the interpolated ultrasound data value at the actual memory address, to accumulate data received from a same spatial location by different ultrasonic transducer elements and/or compound current receive lines with next receive lines coherently. ### Claim 11 (depends on 1) The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the beamforming circuitry is configured, when calculating the position in the receive line space from which the ultrasound data sample was collected using the time-of-flight of the ultrasound data sample as the input, to use a single equation. ### Claim 12 An apparatus, comprising: beamforming circuitry configured to calculate a memory address to be updated with an ultrasound data sample using a time-of-flight of the ultrasound data sample as an input. ### Claim 13 (depends on 12) The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the beamforming circuitry is not configured to buffer the ultrasound data sample prior to calculating the memory address to be updated with the ultrasound data sample. ### Claim 14 (depends on 12) The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the beamforming circuitry is configured to receive the ultrasound data sample from a receive datapath. ### Claim 15 (depends on 14) The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the receive datapath comprises an ultrasound transducer, a transimpedance amplifier, analog processing circuitry, and an analog-to-digital converter. ### Claim 16 (depends on 12) The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the time-of-flight of the ultrasound data sample comprises a time from transmission of an ultrasound wave from an ultrasound device to a time that a reflected ultrasound wave is received by the ultrasound device. ### Claim 17 (depends on 12) The apparatus of claim 12, where the beamforming circuitry is configured, when calculating the memory address to be updated with the ultrasound data sample using the time-of-flight of the ultrasound data sample as the input, to: calculate a non-integer memory address using the time-of-flight of the ultrasound data sample as the input; interpolate the ultrasound data sample with another ultrasound data sample to produce a single interpolated ultrasound data value; and update an actual memory address with the interpolated ultrasound data value. ### Claim 18 (depends on 17) The apparatus of claim 17, wherein memory addresses in a memory are allocated based on position in space. ### Claim 19 (depends on 17) The apparatus of claim 17, wherein each memory address in the memory represents a position in space that that is depth/N away from a position represented by a previous memory address, wherein there are N memory addresses for a particular receive line, and wherein depth is an imaging depth. ### Claim 20 (depends on 17) The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the beamforming circuitry is configured, when updating the actual memory address with the interpolated ultrasound data value, to accumulate the interpolated ultrasound data value at the actual memory address. ### Claim 21 (depends on 20) The apparatus of claim 20, wherein the beamforming circuitry is configured, when accumulating the interpolated ultrasound data value at the actual memory address, to accumulate data received from a same spatial location by different ultrasonic transducer elements and/or compound current receive lines with next receive lines coherently. ### Claim 22 (depends on 12) The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the beamforming circuitry is configured, when calculating the memory address to be updated with the ultrasound data sample based on the time-of-flight of the ultrasound data sample, to use a single equation. ### Claim 23 An apparatus, comprising: beamforming circuitry configured to multiplex between multiple receive datapaths without buffering ultrasound data samples from the multiple receive datapaths.