Transmit beamformer with frequency dependent focus
AssigneeAcuson Corporation
InventorsJohn A. Hossack, Jian-Hua Mo, Christopher R. Cole
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Abstract
A transmit beamformer includes multiple transducers, each responsive to a respective transmit waveform to produce a respective transducer waveform. A transmit waveform generator generates the transmit waveforms, and the transmit waveforms each include multiple frequency components. Progressively higher frequency components of the transmit waveforms are timed to cause corresponding progressively higher frequency components of the transducer waveforms to focus along a line at progressively shorter ranges. In this way, a frequency dependent line focus is achieved.
Claims41
In a transmit beamformer for an imaging system comprising a plurality of transducers, each transducer responsive to a respective transmit waveform to produce a respective transducer waveform, the improvement comprising:
- a transmit waveform generator which generates the transmit waveforms, each of at least a plurality of the transmit waveforms comprising at least first and second frequency components included in a single burst of energy, said first frequency components timed to cause corresponding first frequency components of the transducer waveforms to focus at a first depth, and said second frequency components timed to cause corresponding second frequency components of the transducer waveforms to focus at a second depth, less than the first depth.
In a transmit beamformer comprising a plurality of transducers, each transducer responsive to a respective transmit waveform to produce a respective transducer waveform, the improvement comprising:
- a transmit waveform generator which generates the transmit waveforms, each of at least a plurality of the transmit waveforms comprising at least first and second frequency components included in a continuously varying portion of the respective transmit waveform, said first frequency components timed to cause corresponding first frequency components of the transducer waveforms to focus at a first depth, and said second frequency components timed to cause corresponding second frequency components of the transducer waveforms to focus at a second depth, less than the first depth.
The invention of claim t wherein the transmit waveform generator comprises a memory which stores a plurality of digitally encoded waveforms, and wherein each of the digitally encoded waveforms encodes both the first and the second frequency components for a respective one of the transmit waveforms.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.