Autonomous imaging system on chip

Abstract

An ultrasound imaging system integrated on a chip for autonomous scanning includes an on-chip input memory configured to store scan sequence instructions and parameters, an on-chip processor configured to read the scan sequence instructions and parameters in the input memory, and an on-chip beamformer configured to be programmed and timed by the processor according to the scan sequence instructions and parameters. In some examples, the scan sequence instructions and parameters are stored in a nonvolatile input memory programmed at the factory. In other examples, they are received from an external user device. The scan parameters are optimized or minimized to accommodate the limited input memory capacity. In some examples, the scan sequence instructions and parameters include programmable nested loops, and each of the programmable nested loops corresponds to a transmit and/or receive event in a scan sequence.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.