Back to results
US 6,530,887 B1Granted
Ultrasound probe with integrated electronics
AssigneeTeraTech Corporation
InventorsJeffrey M. Gilbert, Alice M. Chiang, Steven R. Broadstone, Gary Madison, Albert Horst, Liang-Min Wang
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A hand-held ultrasound probe system includes integrated electronics within an ergonomic housing. The electronics includes control circuitry, beamforming and circuitry transducer drive circuitry. The probe electronics communicates with a host computer using an industry standard high speed serial bus.
Claims40
An ultrasound imaging system comprising:
- a probe housing having a transducer array;
- a first circuit board assembly having a beamforming circuit;
- a second circuit board assembly having a memory, a system controller integrated circuit and a digital communication control circuit;
- a connector that electrically connects the first circuit board to the second circuit board, wherein the first circuit board assembly and the second circuit board assembly are mounted in an interface housing that is connected to the probe housing with a first cable;
- and
- a personal computer connected to the digital communication control circuit with a standard communication interface such that the personal computer receives a beamformed representation of a region of interest, the personal computer storing instructions to process and display the beamformed representation.
3 more elements
A method of ultrasound imaging comprising:
- providing a probe housing having a transducer array that is connected to a first circuit board assembly having a beamforming circuit and a second circuit board assembly having a memory, a system controller integrated circuit and a digital communication control circuit;
- connecting the digital communication control circuit to a personal computer with a standard communication interface;
- and
- forming an image of a region of interest in a display in communication with the personal computer in response to the personal computer receiving and processing a beamformed electronic representation of the region of interest.
1 more element
An ultrasound imaging system comprising:
- a probe housing having a transducer array;
- a circuit board assembly having a beamforming circuit, a memory, a system controller integrated circuit and a communication circuit, the circuit board assembly being mounted in an interface housing that is connected to the probe housing with a first cable;
- and
- a body mounted personal computer connected to the communication control circuit with a standard communication interface such that the personal computer receives a beamformed representation of a region of interest, the personal computer storing instructions to process and display the beamformed representation.
1 more element
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.