WO2004021044A1 - An ultrasound transceiver system for remote operation through a minimal number of connecting wires - Google Patents
An ultrasound transceiver system for remote operation through a minimal number of connecting wires Download PDFInfo
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- WO2004021044A1 WO2004021044A1 PCT/NO2002/000301 NO0200301W WO2004021044A1 WO 2004021044 A1 WO2004021044 A1 WO 2004021044A1 NO 0200301 W NO0200301 W NO 0200301W WO 2004021044 A1 WO2004021044 A1 WO 2004021044A1
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- Prior art keywords
- transmit
- ulfrasound
- receive
- ultrasound
- fransmit
- Prior art date
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- 238000002604 ultrasonography Methods 0.000 title claims abstract description 76
- 238000003384 imaging method Methods 0.000 claims abstract description 47
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- 230000037431 insertion Effects 0.000 claims description 9
- 238000012285 ultrasound imaging Methods 0.000 claims description 8
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Classifications
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- G—PHYSICS
- G01—MEASURING; TESTING
- G01S—RADIO DIRECTION-FINDING; RADIO NAVIGATION; DETERMINING DISTANCE OR VELOCITY BY USE OF RADIO WAVES; LOCATING OR PRESENCE-DETECTING BY USE OF THE REFLECTION OR RERADIATION OF RADIO WAVES; ANALOGOUS ARRANGEMENTS USING OTHER WAVES
- G01S7/00—Details of systems according to groups G01S13/00, G01S15/00, G01S17/00
- G01S7/52—Details of systems according to groups G01S13/00, G01S15/00, G01S17/00 of systems according to group G01S15/00
- G01S7/52017—Details of systems according to groups G01S13/00, G01S15/00, G01S17/00 of systems according to group G01S15/00 particularly adapted to short-range imaging
- G01S7/52079—Constructional features
-
- B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
- B06—GENERATING OR TRANSMITTING MECHANICAL VIBRATIONS IN GENERAL
- B06B—METHODS OR APPARATUS FOR GENERATING OR TRANSMITTING MECHANICAL VIBRATIONS OF INFRASONIC, SONIC, OR ULTRASONIC FREQUENCY, e.g. FOR PERFORMING MECHANICAL WORK IN GENERAL
- B06B1/00—Methods or apparatus for generating mechanical vibrations of infrasonic, sonic, or ultrasonic frequency
- B06B1/02—Methods or apparatus for generating mechanical vibrations of infrasonic, sonic, or ultrasonic frequency making use of electrical energy
- B06B1/06—Methods or apparatus for generating mechanical vibrations of infrasonic, sonic, or ultrasonic frequency making use of electrical energy operating with piezoelectric effect or with electrostriction
- B06B1/0607—Methods or apparatus for generating mechanical vibrations of infrasonic, sonic, or ultrasonic frequency making use of electrical energy operating with piezoelectric effect or with electrostriction using multiple elements
- B06B1/0622—Methods or apparatus for generating mechanical vibrations of infrasonic, sonic, or ultrasonic frequency making use of electrical energy operating with piezoelectric effect or with electrostriction using multiple elements on one surface
- B06B1/0625—Annular array
-
- G—PHYSICS
- G01—MEASURING; TESTING
- G01S—RADIO DIRECTION-FINDING; RADIO NAVIGATION; DETERMINING DISTANCE OR VELOCITY BY USE OF RADIO WAVES; LOCATING OR PRESENCE-DETECTING BY USE OF THE REFLECTION OR RERADIATION OF RADIO WAVES; ANALOGOUS ARRANGEMENTS USING OTHER WAVES
- G01S15/00—Systems using the reflection or reradiation of acoustic waves, e.g. sonar systems
- G01S15/88—Sonar systems specially adapted for specific applications
- G01S15/89—Sonar systems specially adapted for specific applications for mapping or imaging
- G01S15/8906—Short-range imaging systems; Acoustic microscope systems using pulse-echo techniques
- G01S15/8909—Short-range imaging systems; Acoustic microscope systems using pulse-echo techniques using a static transducer configuration
- G01S15/8915—Short-range imaging systems; Acoustic microscope systems using pulse-echo techniques using a static transducer configuration using a transducer array
- G01S15/8922—Short-range imaging systems; Acoustic microscope systems using pulse-echo techniques using a static transducer configuration using a transducer array the array being concentric or annular
-
- G—PHYSICS
- G01—MEASURING; TESTING
- G01S—RADIO DIRECTION-FINDING; RADIO NAVIGATION; DETERMINING DISTANCE OR VELOCITY BY USE OF RADIO WAVES; LOCATING OR PRESENCE-DETECTING BY USE OF THE REFLECTION OR RERADIATION OF RADIO WAVES; ANALOGOUS ARRANGEMENTS USING OTHER WAVES
- G01S15/00—Systems using the reflection or reradiation of acoustic waves, e.g. sonar systems
- G01S15/88—Sonar systems specially adapted for specific applications
- G01S15/89—Sonar systems specially adapted for specific applications for mapping or imaging
- G01S15/8906—Short-range imaging systems; Acoustic microscope systems using pulse-echo techniques
- G01S15/895—Short-range imaging systems; Acoustic microscope systems using pulse-echo techniques characterised by the transmitted frequency spectrum
- G01S15/8956—Short-range imaging systems; Acoustic microscope systems using pulse-echo techniques characterised by the transmitted frequency spectrum using frequencies at or above 20 MHz
-
- G—PHYSICS
- G01—MEASURING; TESTING
- G01S—RADIO DIRECTION-FINDING; RADIO NAVIGATION; DETERMINING DISTANCE OR VELOCITY BY USE OF RADIO WAVES; LOCATING OR PRESENCE-DETECTING BY USE OF THE REFLECTION OR RERADIATION OF RADIO WAVES; ANALOGOUS ARRANGEMENTS USING OTHER WAVES
- G01S7/00—Details of systems according to groups G01S13/00, G01S15/00, G01S17/00
- G01S7/52—Details of systems according to groups G01S13/00, G01S15/00, G01S17/00 of systems according to group G01S15/00
- G01S7/52017—Details of systems according to groups G01S13/00, G01S15/00, G01S17/00 of systems according to group G01S15/00 particularly adapted to short-range imaging
- G01S7/52079—Constructional features
- G01S7/5208—Constructional features with integration of processing functions inside probe or scanhead
-
- G—PHYSICS
- G10—MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS; ACOUSTICS
- G10K—SOUND-PRODUCING DEVICES; METHODS OR DEVICES FOR PROTECTING AGAINST, OR FOR DAMPING, NOISE OR OTHER ACOUSTIC WAVES IN GENERAL; ACOUSTICS NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
- G10K11/00—Methods or devices for transmitting, conducting or directing sound in general; Methods or devices for protecting against, or for damping, noise or other acoustic waves in general
- G10K11/18—Methods or devices for transmitting, conducting or directing sound
- G10K11/26—Sound-focusing or directing, e.g. scanning
- G10K11/34—Sound-focusing or directing, e.g. scanning using electrical steering of transducer arrays, e.g. beam steering
- G10K11/341—Circuits therefor
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- G—PHYSICS
- G01—MEASURING; TESTING
- G01S—RADIO DIRECTION-FINDING; RADIO NAVIGATION; DETERMINING DISTANCE OR VELOCITY BY USE OF RADIO WAVES; LOCATING OR PRESENCE-DETECTING BY USE OF THE REFLECTION OR RERADIATION OF RADIO WAVES; ANALOGOUS ARRANGEMENTS USING OTHER WAVES
- G01S7/00—Details of systems according to groups G01S13/00, G01S15/00, G01S17/00
- G01S7/52—Details of systems according to groups G01S13/00, G01S15/00, G01S17/00 of systems according to group G01S15/00
- G01S7/52017—Details of systems according to groups G01S13/00, G01S15/00, G01S17/00 of systems according to group G01S15/00 particularly adapted to short-range imaging
- G01S7/52046—Techniques for image enhancement involving transmitter or receiver
- G01S7/52047—Techniques for image enhancement involving transmitter or receiver for elimination of side lobes or of grating lobes; for increasing resolving power
Definitions
- An ultrasound transceiver system for remote operation through a minimal number of connecting wires is provided.
- the present invention relates to high resolution ultrasound imaging of small structures at high frequencies, typically above 5MHz, where the ultrasound transducer or transducer array is brought close to the structure to be imaged through channels with limited space for cable wires connecting the ultrasound transducer(s) and the ultrasound imaging or measurement instrument.
- IVTJS intravascular ultrasound imaging
- a vessel wall from a transducer at the tip of a catheter intraurether imaging of the prostate
- high resolution imaging of tumors and small vessels during minimal invasive or other surgery through narrow channels are examples of such applications.
- the invention presents solutions with particularly high signal to noise ratio of the measured back scattered signal, with high inertness to electromagnetic interference from external sources, in such . situations.
- the invention relates to a design of preamplifier electronics, circuits for acoustic beam forming with ultrasound transducer arrays, ultrasound transducer arrays, and combinations thereof, that allows the electronics and transducer(s) to be integrated with short distance in a compact assembly, that can be operated from an ultrasound imaging or measurement system with a small number of electric wires, down to a two-wire cable.
- the invention also has applications for obtaining maximal signal to noise ratio and inertness to electromagnetic interference with high frequency ultrasound imaging of structures with simpler access, such as high resolution skin or eye imaging (f ⁇ 20 - 100 MHz). It further has applications with lower frequency imaging and measurements for transducer arrays with small elements with high electric impedance, to improve the signal to noise ratio and the inertness to electromagnetic interference in these cases. It also has applications for switched elevation focusing with linear arrays, to reduce the number of wires connecting to the instrument, for easier manual operation of the transducer array.
- the spatial resolution with ultrasound echo imaging systems is a couple of ultrasound wavelengths large.
- ⁇ c/f
- c ⁇ 1540 ⁇ m/ ⁇ s the propagation velocity of ultrasound in the tissue.
- the ultrasound transducer can be brought close to internal structures in the body, like the vessel wall or other organs, by mounting the transducer structure at the tip of a catheter or other elongated devices, that are inserted into the body through an incisure or natural body openings.
- a cable then connects the transducer at the tip of the extended probe and the ultrasound imaging or measurement instrument.
- the electromagnetic wavelength in the cable is ⁇ 6m, giving a quarter wavelength of ⁇ 1.5m that is approximately the length of a typical catheter.
- the catheter hence becomes similar to a quarter wave tuned antenna in the ultrasound receiver frequency range, and the imaging system becomes very sensitive to external electromagnetic interference (EMI) sources in the active receiver frequency range.
- EMI electromagnetic interference
- the standard solution to this problem for the receive beam is to use an array of transducer elements with dynamic focusing where the receive beam focus follows the depth where the echoes are received from at any time.
- An electronically steered dynamic focus is obtained by adding delays to each array element signal, so that the total of this delay and the propagation delay from the focus to the element, is close to the same for all elements.
- the added delay can be obtained with acoustic or electronic delay lines, or a combination of both.
- a kind of dynamic focus for the transmit beam can be obtained by composing the whole image range of sub ranges where each sub range is imaged with separate transmit pulses focused within the sub range.
- transducer array at the distal end of the insertion device that operates with a high signal to noise ratio with large immunity to electromagnetic interference, the array having dynamic or switchable receive focusing and expanding receive aperture, switchable transmit focusing and expanding transmit aperture, that can be operated from the ultrasound imaging or measurement instrument via a minimal number of wires, minimizing the cross section of the device to be inserted into narrow structures.
- the invention devices a solution to these problems by mounting electronic circuits close to the ultrasound transducer or transducer array, where the circuits have the ability to be operated through a few wires, down to a two-wire cable.
- the invention provides a preamplifier that can be operated through a two wire cable that provides the DC bias voltage to the amplifier.
- a breakthrough circuit connects the wire to the transducer for transmit of the ultrasound pulse, while in receive mode, the low level signal on the transducer is amplified and fed as a higher level signal via the same wire to the imaging or measurement instrument.
- the receive signal level is raised on the cable, the system is less sensitive to cable losses and external electromagnetic interference, hence maximizing the sensitivity of the imaging or the measurement.
- the invention provides in its most general form an integrated electronic circuit to be mounted close to the transducer array, the circuit providing preamplifiers for the individual elements and delay circuits that are automatically switched in a time sequence after the pulse transmission, so that a dynamic focusing of the receive beam is obtained.
- an acoustic delay line in front of the transducer element is used for the full or partial delay of the element signal.
- the circuit can also be set up so that the transmit pulses select different transmit foci in a sequence so that multiple transmit focus imaging can be obtained.
- the invention also opens for the use of coded signaling prior to the transmit pulse to select the transmit focus setting as well as the dynamic receive focusing range via a single wire.
- the invention achieves steered focus and aperture with a two wire cable between the imaging instrument and the transducer system by using a pre-programmed amplifier and switching circuit.
- the switching circuit selectively combines a set of pre-focused array elements with preset delays, for each focal range.
- the preset focus and delay for each element is selected so that the phase error both across each element and across the active aperture, is less than a limit, say 90 - 120 deg, for the range the element participates to the beam forming.
- a limit say 90 - 120 deg
- both the pre focusing and delay of each element are provided with acoustic lens material with adapted curvature and thickness in front of each element.
- the electronic circuit then provides possible amplification of the signal from each element before the signals are selectively added in a time steered switching circuit that is reset by the pulse transmission.
- Figure la shows an example embodiment according to the invention of a transceiver composed of a single transducer element and an electronic circuit that is operable from an ultrasound measurement or imaging instrument via a multi wire cable,
- Figure lb shows example embodiments of a receiver input switch and a transmit switch that are part of the electronic circuit, according to the invention, ⁇ ,
- Figure lc shows a simplified embodiment according to the invention of a transceiver composed of a single transducer element and an electronic circuit that is operable from an ultrasound measurement or imaging instrument via a two-wire cable,
- Figure Id shows a component level example embodiment according to the invention of a transceiver circuit with a single transducer element operable from the ultrasound instrument via a two-wire cable,
- Figure 2 a shows an example embodiment of an annular array according to the invention for switched steering of the active aperture and focus depth
- Figure 2b and 2c show yet two other example embodiments of annular arrays according to the invention for switched steering of the active aperture and focus depth
- FIG. 3a shows an example embodiment of a transceiver circuit according to the invention composed of an electronic circuit and a transducer array for selectable switching of the active receive and transmit apertures and focus depths, the transceiver being operable at a distance from an ultrasound measurement or imaging instrument via a multi-wire cable,
- Figure 3b shows an example embodiment of a simplified transceiver circuit according to the invention composed of an electronic circuit and a transducer array for dynamic switching of the active receive aperture and focus depths with a fixed active transmit aperture and focus depth, the transceiver being operable at a distance from an ultrasound measurement or imaging instrument via a two-wire cable,
- Figure la shows an ultrasound pulse echo transceiver unit 100, composed of an electronic circuit 101 and an ultrasound transducer 102.
- the transceiver unit is coupled to an ultrasound measurement or imaging instrument 103 via a multi wire cable 104.
- the DC-bias voltage to the electronic circuit is fed from the ultrasound instrument via a bias wire 107, and the transceiver has a common ground connected to the ultrasound instrument via a gnd wire 112. It is clear also that according to common techniques of shielding of low level receive signals from external electromagnetic interference, the whole cable can be enclosed in a conducting metal shield that is grounded at the instrument.
- the hot electrode of the transducer element is coupled to the one terminal of a transmit switch 109, where the other terminal is coupled to the output of a transmit pulse buffer 110.
- High voltage AC transmit pulses are fed via a transmit wire 111 from the ultrasound instrument, where for the duration of the transmit pulse, the transmit switch 109 is switched on to a low AC value for transmission of an ultrasound pulse 113 from the transducer element 102.
- the transmit switch 109 switches to a high AC-impedance, isolating the transducer element 102 from the transmit drive circuit 110.
- the backscattered ulfrasound wave 114 is converted to a low level electric signal by the transducer, and fed to the preamplifier 105, via the receiver input switch 106.
- This receiver input switch has a fairly low series impedance for low level signals in the receive period, and its series impedance is designed into the preamplifier characteristics.
- the receiver switch 106 functions as a limiter of the maximal current into the amplifier input, hence providing protection of the receiver amplifier input for the high AC voltage transmit pulses.
- the output of the receiver amplifier is fed to the ultrasound instrument via a receive wire 108, hence providing an amplified version of the backscattered signal on the transducer element to the ultrasound measurement or imaging instrument.
- the amplified level of the received signal on the cable connecting to the ultrasound instrument reduces the effect of cable transmit losses and interference from external electromagnetic sources, hence providing a high signal to noise ratio of the received signal transferred to the instrument.
- FIG. lb An example of a receive transmit switch is shown as 106 in Figure lb.
- This switch is composed of two diodes 121 and 122 coupled back to back with a forward bias current arranged through the biasing resistors 123, 124, 125.
- Capacitors 126 and 127 provides DC-bias isolation of the switch to the preamplifier input and the transmit circuit, where 109 shows an example of a transmit switch composed of two diodes 131 and 132.
- the transmit switch provides high AC-impedance isolation for low level AC voltages on the switch input and low AC-impedance for high level AC voltage swing at the transmit switch input.
- FIG. lc A simplified transceiver system that can be fed from the ultrasound instrument via a two-wire cable, is illustrated in Figure lc.
- the DC-bias, the transmit, and the receive wires are merged to a single signal wire 108, which including the ground wire 112 provides a two-wire operation of the transceiver system from the ultrasound instrument.
- the transmit buffer on board the electronic circuit is missing, where the transducer fransmit drive signal is fed directly form the ultrasound instrument via the common signal wire 108 to the transmit switch 109 and further to the transducer element 102.
- the transducer fransmit drive signal is fed directly form the ultrasound instrument via the common signal wire 108 to the transmit switch 109 and further to the transducer element 102.
- an open transistor output of the pre amplifier 105 or with a resistor in series with the amplifier output, one can feed the DC-bias via the common wire 108 to the amplifier output without damage of the amplifier.
- Even with an open transistor output it is still convenient to use a series resistor of the amplifier output for impedance matching of the receive signal to the instrument cable. Such a series resistor will further provide improved protection of the amplifier output during the high AC voltage transmit pulse.
- the example receive isolation switch 106 and fransmit switch 109 in Figure lb automatically switches between the high impedance in isolation mode and low impedance in on mode, by the signal levels at the switch inputs. It is clear that according to general methods of electronic circuit design, these switches can be composed of switching transistors or diodes where the switch impedances are determined by a control signal voltage or current. The invention hence includes such modifications of the switch examples in the presented Figures according to the standard electronic design techniques.
- Figure Id shows a detailed circuit example of an implementation according to the embodiment in Figure lc.
- the transistor 140 provides the preamplifier where the input protection switch 106 is provided by a series capacitor 141 and a limiting transistor diode 142.
- the isolation diode 141 is designed together with the amplifier input resistance to provide high level transfer function in the actual ultrasound frequency range, at the same time as limiting the load by the isolation diode
- An advantage of a series capacitor for receiver input protection compared to diodes and transistors, is that a capacitor adds very little noise to the received signal.
- the open output of amplifier transistor 140 is fed to the signal wire 108 via a resistor 143 which provides impedance matching to the receiver cable in the receive interval, and together with the transistor diodes 144 provides high voltage transmit pulse protection of the amplifier transistor.
- a resistor 145 to the substrate allows the use of negative transmit pulses in this design.
- the transmit switch 109 is in this example composed of a set of diode transistors 146 and 147 with opposite direction.
- the four transistor diodes 146 are in series to allow for a DC bias voltage between the combined bias/transmit/receive wire, and the transducer.
- the AC voltage amplitude of the transmit circuit is assumed to be much higher than the cumulative knee voltage of the diodes.
- the invention provides a solution of combining the signal from a selectable group of transducer elements, where the signal/wave for each element has a fixed focus and delay.
- An example annular array that operates according to the principles of the invention is shown in Figure 2a. This Figure shows a plane annular array with 3 elements 201, 202, and 203.
- the element focusing and delay lines are implemented by acoustic materials 204, 205, and 206 inserted in front of the transducer elements in the acoustic path between the tissue and the transducer elements.
- an acoustic material with propagation velocity higher than that of the object to be imaged ( ⁇ 1540 ⁇ m/ ⁇ sec for an object of soft tissue), which provides in essence a signal advancement more than a delay.
- a signal advancement can be considered as a negative delay, and for simplicity we shall refer to such an arrangement of acoustic material in front of the transducer as an acoustic delay line, regardless whether the wave velocity of the material is higher or lower than that of the object/tissue.
- Curving of the acoustic material provides a fixed focusing of the wave from the element, and the middle thickness of the material provides a delay or advancement (negative delay) of the element signal/wave.
- the focus and delay of the signal/wave for each element is selected so that the phase error of the wave from a point source to all points in the active aperture is less than a limit, ⁇ m .
- the center element 201 participates in the beam forming in the range Ri from Z n to Z f shown as 207 and 208 in Figure 2.
- the fixed focus Fj of the element we select the fixed focus Fj of the element as
- the 2 nd element participates to the beam forming in the range R 2 from z t to Z f .
- ci is the propagation velocity of the lens material and c t is the propagation velocity of the object material, for example the tissue.
- F-numbers approaching unity, the lens curvature must vary across the lens, where the details can be calculated from geometric ray-acoustics.
- the thickness of the lens/delay line material in front of the transducer element For optimal focusing of the new composite beam, one can adjust the thickness of the lens/delay line material in front of the transducer element so that the propagation phases of the waves from both elements are equal in the focus F 2 .
- This propagation phase is given by the average propagation time from all points of the element to the field point.
- the propagation time from all points on element no 2 to F 2 is the equal, because this gives the focus at F 2 .
- the average thickness of the lens material in front of element no 2 which gives the signal/wave delay for this element, must hence be chosen so that the propagation time for element no 2 to F 2 is equal to the average propagation time from element no 1 to F 2 .
- This variation in lens/delay line material thickness is front of each element is indicated in Figure 2a, and the details of the lens/delay line material thickness and curvature can be calculated from geometric ray-acoustics.
- the 3 rd element 203 at z 2 indicated as 215 in the Figure
- the Focus of the 3 element is selected at F 3 according to Eq.(6) and indicated as 216 in the Figure.
- the thickness and curvature of the lens/delay line material 206 in front of element no 3 is then calculated according to geometric ray-acoustics so that: 1) the propagation time from element no 3 to F 3 is constant across the element to obtain the focus at F 3 , and 2) the propagation time from element no 3 to F 3 is equal to the average propagation time for all points on element no 1 and no 2 to F 3 , to give the same propagation phase at F 3 for the combined element no 1 and 2 wave and the element no 3 wave.
- the beam width from the full active aperture expands as the lines 217 past the depth z 2 .
- the total number of required array elements is determined by the maximal phase error ⁇ m , and the selected image range from Zr, to Z f , combined with the selected limit beam width dpi.
- the focusing and delay of the signal/wave from each element can be obtained without a lens/delay material by forming the array surface as indicated in Figure 2b.
- the focus of each element is determined by its curvature, while the propagation delay for each element is determined by the location of the element.
- element locations that gives the same propagation time from a new element to its focus, as the average propagation time from the inner elements to the new element focus, as discussed above. This gives a complex form of the array surface, where Figure 2c gives a shape of the array surface that is simpler to make.
- the solution in Figure 2a then provides simpler manufacturing as the lens/delay material can be cast or cut into its final shape on the top of a plane array.
- the average thickness of the lens/delay material in Figure 2a also increases with the element width, and absorption in the lens/delay material then provides a convenient apodization of the signal/wave across the array, for reduction of the beam sidelobes.
- An example pulse echo transceiver circuit with selectable transmit and receive focusing is shown as 300 in Figure 3a.
- the fransceiver is composed of an example electronic circuit 301 with amplifiers and switches coupled to three fransducer array elements 201, 202, and 203.
- the hot electrode of the transducer elements are coupled to receiver amplifiers 303, 305, and 307, through the receiver input switches 302, 304, 306 which functions as receiver protection during transmit similar to that discussed for the transceivers in Figure la - d.
- the outputs of the receiver amplifiers are fed through focus selection switches 309, 311, 313, to a signal sunjjmng circuit, possibly through electronic signal delay lines 308, 310, 312.
- the output of the receive summing circuit is the selectively focused receive signal, that is fed via the receive wire 108 to the ulfrasound instrument.
- the receive focusing switches are in this example embodiment of the invention, controlled by a Receive Selection Circuit 315, that is further controlled by signaling from the ulfrasound instrument through at least one receive signaling wire 316. Through signaling on this wire, a selected group of the receive focusing switches 309, 311 , and 313 are closed to sum the receive signals from a selected group of the fransducer array elements 201, 202, 203. With reference to the discussion in relation to Figure 2, we see that this selection provides a selected active receive aperture and beam focus.
- the delay lines 308, 311, 312 are selected in combination with acoustic delay lines in front of the transducer elements according to the description in relation to Figure 2, to provide total element signal/wave delays requested for best focusing of the receive beam.
- all the signal delays are obtained by forming the array surface with possible added acoustic material delay lines in front of the array, so that the electronic delay lines 308, 310, 312 can be omitted.
- the electronic delay lines 308, 310, 312 can be omitted.
- the embodiment in Figure 3 a provides a transmit pulse from the ulfrasound instrument to the fransceiver via a transmit cable 111.
- the signal is fed to a transmit buffer amplifier 317 that connects to the transducer elements 201, 202, 203, through the fransmit switches 318, 319, 320.
- the transmit switch 318 is selected as the diode switch of 109 of Figure lb, that automatically turns to a low AC impedance with a high AC voltage pulse at the input, and to a high AC impedance with a low level AC signal at the input.
- element 201 always participates in the active transmit aperture.
- the other array elements 202 and 203 can be connected to the transmit buffer 307 through switches 319 and 320 that are actively switched on or off by control signals that are provided by the Transmit Selection Circuit 321, that are operated from the ulfrasound instrument via at least one Transmit signaling wire 322.
- this embodiment hence allows free selection of a group of elements to participate in the active transmit aperture to provide a selectable transmit beam focus.
- this depth range can be sequentially increased over the full measurement/imaging range from z n to Z f , for imaging of the entire range with a narrow width of the composite transmit/receive observation beam.
- both the receive and transmit signaling can be obtained via the transmit wire 111, using the high AC voltage transmit pulse itself.
- both the receive and transmit selection circuits can be reset by a high voltage on the transmit wire over a period of time, so that for the first fransmit pulse after the reset, a short focus depth of the combined transmit/receive observation beam is obtained.
- the Receive and Transmit Selection Circuits 315 and 321 are then incremented for each consecutive fransmit pulse so that increasing focus depth of the observation beam is obtained for each transmit pulse, for measurement and imaging in ranges of increasing depth for each transmit pulse.
- This embodiment hence provides niinimal beam width over the whole measurement/imaging range from z n to Z f .
- the receive focusing switch 309 can be hardwired closed, allowing for a merger of the Receive (315) and Transmit (321) Selection Ciruits.
- the Receive (315) and Transmit (321) Selection Ciruits can be hardwired closed, allowing for a merger of the Receive (315) and Transmit (321) Selection Ciruits.
- the Transmit Selection Circuit 321 would then typically select coarser groups of elements for the transmit aperture, while the Receive Selection Circuit could typically be reset by each fransmit pulse and provide a domino time switching of the receive focusing switches to provide a steadily increasing aperture and focus depth with time after the pulse transmission, referred to as dynamic receive focusing.
- FIG. 3b A simpler embodiment according to the invention that is operated from the ulfrasound instrument via a two-wire cable, is shown in Figure 3b.
- the fransducer elements are selectively connected to the summing amplifier 330 through a receive input switch 331 that functions as protection of the receive amplifier during fransmit.
- element 201 is ' firmly connected to the summing amplifier, while elements 202 and 203 are connected to the summing amplifier through controllable receive focusing switches 332 and 333, that are controlled by the Receive Selection Circuit 334.
- the receive focusing switch 332 is switched on to increase the active receive aperture and focus depth according to the principles described in relation to Figure 2.
- the receive focusing switch 333 is also switched on with further increase of the active receive aperture and focus depth, so that effectively a dynamic receive beam focus is obtained.
- the dynamically focused receive signal at the output of the sunirning circuit is transferred to the ulfrasound instrument over the common bias/receive/transmit wire 107.
- the array elements 201 and 202 are connected to the common bias/receive/transmit wire 107 via fransmit switches 335 and 336 which are automatically switched on to a low AC impedance by the high AC voltage at the transmit wire, and off to a high AC impedance at a low level AC voltage at the transmit wire.
- the two array elements 201 and 202 are hence coupled in parallel in the transmit mode, providing a long range of the fransmit focus with moderate transmit aperture and width, according to the principles described in relation to Figure 2 above.
- the embodiment in Figure 3b hence provides a fransceiver with fixed fransmit focus and dynamically switched receive focus, for moderately narrow combined transmit/receive observation beam over the whole measurement/imaging range, with a single transmit pulse for the whole range, and hence a high frame rate of the image than with multiple transmit focusing described in relation to Figure 3 a.
- the area of the array elements will increase with the focus depth.
- a point source on the beam axis will give an open circuit voltage from each element that is independent of the element area within limits where variation of the element area does not inflict on the vibration pattern of the element.
- the electric impedance of the elements then varies as the inverse of the element area.
- Apodization of the element signals across the aperture is used to reduce the sidelobes in the beam.
- variations of electronic receiver gain between element channels has limited usefulness, as it introduces large steps in the apodization function between the elements which increases the side lobes.
- large elements it is therefore very useful to provide a more continuous apodization with an absorbing acoustic material in front of the array, with varying thickness, as for example illustrated in Figure 2a.
- the fransceiver is hence well adapted to be mounted at the tip of an elongated imaging device for insertion into an imaging object, for example a living body, to place the fransceiver close to structures to be imaged.
- This can allow the use of high ultrasound frequency to image the structures at the highest possible resolution.
- Typical examples of such applications are imaging at minimal invasive surgery, intravascular imaging of a vessel wall, intrauterine imaging of the uterus wall, or infraurethra imaging of the prostate.
- the elongated device is free floating, for example to be inserted into a blood vessel.
Abstract
Description
Claims
Priority Applications (5)
Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
---|---|---|---|
CNB028296885A CN100462735C (en) | 2002-08-29 | 2002-08-29 | Ultrasound transceiver system for remote operation through minimal number of connecting wires |
AU2002313622A AU2002313622A1 (en) | 2002-08-29 | 2002-08-29 | An ultrasound transceiver system for remote operation through a minimal number of connecting wires |
PCT/NO2002/000301 WO2004021044A1 (en) | 2002-08-29 | 2002-08-29 | An ultrasound transceiver system for remote operation through a minimal number of connecting wires |
EP02753314A EP1540370A1 (en) | 2002-08-29 | 2002-08-29 | An ultrasound transceiver system for remote operation through a minimal number of connecting wires |
JP2004532469A JP2005537081A (en) | 2002-08-29 | 2002-08-29 | Ultrasonic transceiver system for remote operation through a minimum number of connection lines |
Applications Claiming Priority (1)
Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
---|---|---|---|
PCT/NO2002/000301 WO2004021044A1 (en) | 2002-08-29 | 2002-08-29 | An ultrasound transceiver system for remote operation through a minimal number of connecting wires |
Publications (1)
Publication Number | Publication Date |
---|---|
WO2004021044A1 true WO2004021044A1 (en) | 2004-03-11 |
Family
ID=31973750
Family Applications (1)
Application Number | Title | Priority Date | Filing Date |
---|---|---|---|
PCT/NO2002/000301 WO2004021044A1 (en) | 2002-08-29 | 2002-08-29 | An ultrasound transceiver system for remote operation through a minimal number of connecting wires |
Country Status (5)
Country | Link |
---|---|
EP (1) | EP1540370A1 (en) |
JP (1) | JP2005537081A (en) |
CN (1) | CN100462735C (en) |
AU (1) | AU2002313622A1 (en) |
WO (1) | WO2004021044A1 (en) |
Cited By (8)
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US20110094288A1 (en) * | 2009-10-14 | 2011-04-28 | Yoav Medan | Mapping ultrasound transducers |
US8197413B2 (en) | 2008-06-06 | 2012-06-12 | Boston Scientific Scimed, Inc. | Transducers, devices and systems containing the transducers, and methods of manufacture |
WO2014014958A1 (en) * | 2012-07-17 | 2014-01-23 | The Johns Hopkins University | High quality closed-loop ultrasound imaging system |
US9177543B2 (en) | 2009-08-26 | 2015-11-03 | Insightec Ltd. | Asymmetric ultrasound phased-array transducer for dynamic beam steering to ablate tissues in MRI |
US9506741B2 (en) | 2014-06-09 | 2016-11-29 | The Johns Hopkins University | Optical coherence tomography systems and methods with magnitude and direction tracking of transverse motion |
US9852727B2 (en) | 2010-04-28 | 2017-12-26 | Insightec, Ltd. | Multi-segment ultrasound transducers |
NL2020426B1 (en) * | 2018-02-13 | 2019-08-20 | Univ Delft Tech | Data collection system, in particular suitable for imaging of a distant object |
US11944457B2 (en) | 2017-11-15 | 2024-04-02 | Koninklijke Philips N.V. | Sensing device and method for multiple remote sensors |
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JP4795878B2 (en) * | 2006-07-13 | 2011-10-19 | 株式会社東芝 | Ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus and ultrasonic diagnostic system using ultrasonic probe |
JP4991355B2 (en) * | 2007-03-14 | 2012-08-01 | 株式会社東芝 | Ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus and ultrasonic probe |
JP5558858B2 (en) * | 2010-02-15 | 2014-07-23 | 株式会社東芝 | Ultrasonic probe |
CN105916599B (en) * | 2013-12-19 | 2019-03-26 | B-K医疗公司 | Ultrasonic imaging transducer array with integrated apodization |
US20180317888A1 (en) * | 2015-11-24 | 2018-11-08 | Koninklijke Philips N.V. | Ultrasound systems with microbeamformers for different transducer arrays |
KR101974484B1 (en) * | 2017-04-27 | 2019-09-05 | 서강대학교산학협력단 | Intravascular ultrasound transducer assembly for occlusion tunnelling |
US11534761B2 (en) * | 2017-10-25 | 2022-12-27 | Universite De Lille | Acoustic tweezers |
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US11026662B2 (en) * | 2018-01-11 | 2021-06-08 | Siemens Medical Solutions Usa, Inc. | Ultrasound transmit/receive for pulse inversion |
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- 2002-08-29 EP EP02753314A patent/EP1540370A1/en not_active Withdrawn
- 2002-08-29 AU AU2002313622A patent/AU2002313622A1/en not_active Abandoned
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- 2002-08-29 WO PCT/NO2002/000301 patent/WO2004021044A1/en active Application Filing
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US8197413B2 (en) | 2008-06-06 | 2012-06-12 | Boston Scientific Scimed, Inc. | Transducers, devices and systems containing the transducers, and methods of manufacture |
US9177543B2 (en) | 2009-08-26 | 2015-11-03 | Insightec Ltd. | Asymmetric ultrasound phased-array transducer for dynamic beam steering to ablate tissues in MRI |
US20110094288A1 (en) * | 2009-10-14 | 2011-04-28 | Yoav Medan | Mapping ultrasound transducers |
US8661873B2 (en) * | 2009-10-14 | 2014-03-04 | Insightec Ltd. | Mapping ultrasound transducers |
US9412357B2 (en) | 2009-10-14 | 2016-08-09 | Insightec Ltd. | Mapping ultrasound transducers |
US9852727B2 (en) | 2010-04-28 | 2017-12-26 | Insightec, Ltd. | Multi-segment ultrasound transducers |
WO2014014958A1 (en) * | 2012-07-17 | 2014-01-23 | The Johns Hopkins University | High quality closed-loop ultrasound imaging system |
US9636083B2 (en) | 2012-07-17 | 2017-05-02 | The Johns Hopkins University | High quality closed-loop ultrasound imaging system |
US9506741B2 (en) | 2014-06-09 | 2016-11-29 | The Johns Hopkins University | Optical coherence tomography systems and methods with magnitude and direction tracking of transverse motion |
US11944457B2 (en) | 2017-11-15 | 2024-04-02 | Koninklijke Philips N.V. | Sensing device and method for multiple remote sensors |
NL2020426B1 (en) * | 2018-02-13 | 2019-08-20 | Univ Delft Tech | Data collection system, in particular suitable for imaging of a distant object |
WO2019160406A1 (en) | 2018-02-13 | 2019-08-22 | Technische Universiteit Delft | Data collection system suitable for imaging of a distant object |
Also Published As
Publication number | Publication date |
---|---|
CN1685246A (en) | 2005-10-19 |
EP1540370A1 (en) | 2005-06-15 |
CN100462735C (en) | 2009-02-18 |
JP2005537081A (en) | 2005-12-08 |
AU2002313622A1 (en) | 2004-03-19 |
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