Delay controller for ultrasound receive beamformer

An ultrasound system, comprising:

• an ultrasound transducer comprising an array of elements and a beam origin, each of said elements for converting received energy into an echo signal;
• and
• a beamformer comprising:
• an initialization controller including initialization controller circuitry for calculating initialization parameters;
• at least one channel including a delay circuit and a delay controller for:
• calculating an integer-valued depth (n), said depth (n) measured from said beam origin to a point on a beam axis of an ultrasound beam;
• estimating a distance ({circumflex over (d)}n)representative of the exact distance (dn) measured from a center of an element to said point on said beam axis;
• adding said estimated distance ({circumflex over (d)}n) to said integer-valued depth (n) to generate an arrival time control signal or subtracting said estimated distance ({circumflex over (d)}n) from said integer-valued depth (n) to generate a delay control signal;
• and
• processing an echo signal associated with said element based on the arrival time control signal or the delay control signal;
• and
• a summer for summing processed echo signals to form a beamformed signal.

In an ultrasound imaging system comprising an ultrasound transducer having an array of elements and a beam origin located between two adjacent elements, each element for converting received energy into an echo signal, a process for calculating initialization parameters from a reduced parameter table, the process comprising the steps of:

• setting at least one increment value for at least one initialization parameter for a first left element located to the left of said beam origin and a first right element located to the right of said beam origin;
• storing in a memory storage device said at least one increment for said first left element and said first right element;
• calculating said at least one initialization parameter for at least one beam steering angle for said first left element and for said first right element;
• storing in said memory storage device said at least one initialization parameter for said first left element and said first right element;
• and
• calculating at least one additional initialization parameter for said at least one beam steering angle for at least one next left element located to the left of said first left element and for at least one next right element located to the right of said first right element based upon the stored said at least one initialization parameter for said first left element and said first right element.

An ultrasound system, comprising:

• an ultrasound transducer comprising an array of elements and a beam origin located between two adjacent elements, each of said elements for converting received energy into an echo signal;
• and
• a beamformer comprising:
• an initialization controller including initialization controller circuitry for:
• setting at least one increment value for at least one initialization parameter for a first left element located to the left of said beam origin and a first right element located to the right of said beam origin;
• storing in a memory storage device said at least one increment for said first left element and said first right element;
• calculating said at least one initialization parameter for at least one beam steering angle for said first left element and for said first right element;
• storing in said memory storage device said at least one initialization parameter for said first left element and said first right element;
• and
• calculating at least one additional initialization parameter for said at least one beam steering angle for at least one next left element located to the left of said first left element and for at least one next right element located to the right of said first right element based upon the stored said at least one initialization parameter for said first left element and said first right element;
• at least one channel to receive the at least one initialization parameter and the at least one additional initialization parameter, each of the at least one channels including a delay circuit and a delay controller;
• and
• a summer for receiving a signal from each of the at least one channels and for summing the signals to form a beamformed signal.