Digital reordering unit, ultrasonic front-end device and operating method thereof

An ultrasonic front-end device, comprising:

• an ultrasonic transmission part for emitting pulses to activate currently selected transmission array elements in a probe of an ultrasonic system to transmit ultrasonic waves;
• and
• an ultrasonic reception part for receiving electric signals from currently selected reception array elements in the probe, the received electric signals having an order based on the currently selected reception array elements, the received electric signals corresponding to echoes of the transmitted ultrasonic waves, the ultrasonic reception part comprising a first digital reordering unit for reordering the received electrical signals, the first digital reordering unit comprising:
• a plurality of stages, each stage comprising a plurality of multiplexers and a plurality of D-type flip-flops (DFFs) coupled thereto correspondingly;
• wherein the received electric signals are applied to inputs of a first stage according to the order based on the currently selected reception array elements, and
• wherein outputs of the first stage are provided to inputs of a second stage to selectively reorder the received electrical signals based on changes in scan lines of the ultrasonic system;
• wherein the ultrasonic reception part further comprises RC number of reception channels, wherein the ultrasonic front-end device is compatible with P types of reception channels where P is an integer larger than or equal to 1, wherein RC=[N, 2N, 3N, . . . , P*N] where N is an integer larger than or equal to 1, and wherein each stage of the first digital reordering unit comprises P*N number of 2:1 multiplexers followed with respective DFFs;
• and
• wherein the ultrasonic reception part further comprises a reception beamformer configured to provide a binary control parameter C[K, K−1, K−2, . . . , 0] which varies as the scan lines of the ultrasonic system change, wherein each bit of the binary control parameter C[K, K−1, K−2, . . . , 0] controls P*N 2:1 multiplexers at a corresponding stage of the first digital reordering unit, wherein the first digital reordering unit comprises K+1 stages, 2K+1>=P*N, K being an integer larger than or equal to zero, and wherein inputs at the first stage comprise the received electrical signals for the RC reception channels.

A digital reordering unit of an ultrasonic system for use in an ultrasonic front-end device, comprising:

• a plurality of stages, each stage comprising a plurality of multiplexers and a plurality of D-type flip-flops (DFFs) coupled thereto correspondingly;
• wherein outputs of a first stage are provided to inputs of a second stage to selectively reorder parameters based on changes in scan lines of the ultrasonic system;
• wherein the set of ordered parameters comprises a set of reception parameters, wherein the ultrasonic front-end is connected between a probe and a detector and includes a reception beamformer configured to store the set of reception parameters corresponding to respective RC number of reception channels, wherein the reordered parameters comprise the reception parameters, wherein the ultrasonic front-end device is compatible with P types of reception channels where P is an integer larger than or equal to 1, wherein RC=[N, 2N, 3N, . . . , P*N] where N is an integer larger than or equal to 1, and wherein each stage comprises P*N number of 2:1 multiplexers followed with respective DFFs;
• and
• wherein the reception beamformer is configured to provide a binary control parameter C[K, K−1, K−2, . . . , 0] which varies as the scan lines of the ultrasonic system change, wherein each bit of the binary control parameter C[K, K−1, K−2, . . . , 0] controls P*N 2:1 multiplexers at a corresponding stage, wherein the digital reordering unit comprises K+1 stages, 2K+1>=P*N, K being an integer larger than or equal to zero, and wherein inputs at the first stage comprise the reception parameters for the RC reception channels.

An ultrasonic front-end device, comprising:

• an ultrasonic transmission part for emitting pulses to activate currently selected transmission array elements in a probe of an ultrasonic system to transmit ultrasonic waves;
• and
• an ultrasonic reception part for receiving electric signals from currently selected reception array elements in the probe, the received electric signals having an order based on the currently selected reception array elements, the received electric signals corresponding to echoes of the transmitted ultrasonic waves, the ultrasonic reception part comprising a first digital reordering unit for reordering the received electrical signals, the first digital reordering unit comprising:
• a plurality of stages, each stage comprising a plurality of multiplexers and a plurality of D-type flip-flops (DFFs) coupled thereto correspondingly;
• wherein the received electric signals are applied to inputs of a first stage according to the order based on the currently selected reception array elements, and
• wherein outputs of the first stage are provided to inputs of a second stage to selectively reorder the received electrical signals based on changes in scan lines of the ultrasonic system;
• M number of high-voltage isolation circuits, wherein M represents a number of array elements in the probe of the ultrasonic system;
• M number of low-voltage analog switches electrically connected to the M high-voltage isolation circuits, the M low-voltage analog switches configured to connect RC number of the array elements in the probe to RC number of respective reception channels in the ultrasonic reception part as the scan lines of the ultrasonic diagnostic system change;
• a network of resistors electrically connected to the M low-voltage analog switches;
• RC number of amplifiers electrically connected to the network of resistors, the network of resistors comprising M number of inputs IN[1, 2, 3, . . . , M] connected to respective outputs of the M low-voltage analog switches and RC number of outputs OUT[1, 2, . . . , RC] connected to respective inputs of the RC amplifiers;
• RC number of analog-to-digital converters (ADCs) electrically connected to the RC amplifiers;
• and
• a reception beamformer electrically connected to the RC ADCs, the reception beamformer comprising the first digital reordering unit and configured for beamforming the reordered electrical signals.