阅读说明：本技术 具有稀疏阵列探测器的超声成像 (Ultrasound imaging with sparse array probe ) 是由 D·F·施佩希特 H·A·戴维斯 J·R·考尔 S·亚当 D·史密斯 E·戈科博亚 于 2017-01-27 设计创作，主要内容包括：换能器元件的稀疏阵列可有益于提供具有宽总孔径并且包含可管理数量的换能器元件的超声换能器探头。利用基于点源脉冲(ping)的多孔径超声成像技术可以有效地利用由体压电材料或微元件阵列制造的稀疏阵列,以执行实时体积成像。(Sparse arrays of transducer elements may be beneficial to provide an ultrasound transducer probe having a wide total aperture and containing a manageable number of transducer elements. Using multi-aperture ultrasound imaging techniques based on point source pulsing (ping) can effectively utilize sparse arrays fabricated from bulk piezoelectric materials or micro-element arrays to perform real-time volumetric imaging.)

1. An ultrasound transducer probe comprising:

an array of ultrasound transducing micro elements, wherein each micro element has a diameter of less than 500 microns;

a first set of micro-components electrically connected to the first signal conductor;

a second set of micro-components electrically connected to a second signal conductor, the second signal conductor being electrically separated from the first signal conductor;

a third set of micro-components located between the first set of micro-components and the second set of micro-components, the third set of micro-components being permanently disconnected from any signal conductors.

2. The transducer probe of claim 1, wherein each micro-element has a diameter between 25 and 200 microns.

3. The transducer probe of claim 1, wherein some micro-elements of the first set of micro-elements have different sizes than other micro-elements of the first set of micro-elements, wherein a size of a micro-element corresponds to its fundamental operating frequency.

4. The transducer probe of claim 1, wherein the micro-elements of the first set of micro-elements are connected to a first ground conductor and the micro-elements of the second set of micro-elements are connected to a second ground conductor, the second ground conductor not being electrically connected to the first ground conductor.

5. The transducer probe of claim 1, wherein the first set of micro-elements comprises more micro-elements than the second set of micro-elements.

6. The transducer probe of claim 1, wherein the first set of micro-elements collectively form a dedicated transmit element and the second set of micro-elements collectively form a dedicated receive element.

7. The transducer probe of claim 1, further comprising a fourth set of micro-elements electrically connected to the first signal conductor by switches, when the switches are engaged, such that the fourth set of micro-elements forms a combined element with the first set of micro-elements.

8. The transducer probe of claim 7, wherein the micro-elements of the fourth set of micro-elements collectively surround the micro-elements of the first set of micro-elements.

9. The transducer probe of claim 7, wherein the fourth set of micro-elements is adjacent to the first set of micro-elements.

10. The transducer probe of claim 9, wherein the fourth set of micro-elements is contiguous with the first set of micro-elements.

Technical Field

The present application relates generally to the field of ultrasound imaging, and more particularly to point-source pulse (ping-based) ultrasound imaging using a sparse array of ultrasound transducer elements.

Background

In conventional scanline-based ultrasound imaging, a focused beam of ultrasound energy is emitted into the body tissue to be examined, and echoes returned along the same line are detected and mapped to form a portion of the image along the scanline. A complete image can be formed by repeating this process and combining the image portions along a series of scan lines in the scan plane. Any information between successive scan lines must be estimated by interpolation.

The same process is extended to obtain an ultrasound image of a three-dimensional volume by combining images from multiple adjacent slices, each in a different scan plane. Also, any information from any space between successive scan planes must be estimated by interpolation. Acquiring 3D (three-dimensional) image data of a moving object may be significantly compromised due to the time that elapses between capturing complete 2D (two-dimensional) slices. So-called "4D" (four-dimensional) imaging systems, in which the fourth dimension is time, strive to produce moving images (i.e., video) in 3D volumetric space. Scan line based imaging systems also have inherent frame rate limitations that create difficulties when trying to image a moving object in 4D.

Due to these and other factors, some limitations of existing 2D and 3D ultrasound imaging systems and methods include poor temporal and spatial resolution, imaging depth, speckle noise, poor lateral resolution, blurred tissue, and other such problems.

With the advent of multi-aperture imaging, significant improvements have been made in the field of ultrasound imaging, examples of which are shown and described in the above-referenced applicants' prior patents and applications. Multi-aperture imaging methods and systems allow for the transmission and reception of ultrasound signals from apertures that are physically and logically separated.

Disclosure of Invention

Various embodiments of the systems and methods herein provide the ability to perform high resolution three dimensional ultrasound imaging at a frame rate sufficient to capture details of moving objects. Conventional scanline-based ultrasound imaging methods are limited to relatively slow frame rates because of the need to transmit and receive many scanlines to obtain a single two-dimensional plane. Extending this technique to obtain imaging data from a complete 3D volume will result in an even slower frame rate, since many 2D slices need to be imaged.

As an example, assume that data needs to be collected from a tissue cube with a side length of 10cm at a depth ranging from 5cm to 15 cm. If the scan lines are emitted from a common center, the shape to be explored will be a truncated pyramid, rather than a shape with considerable thickness at the proximal and distal regions. Tissue may be sampled with beams spaced 2mm (or less) apart on the distal face of the cube. To cover the distal surface, at least 50 x 50 directional beams or 2500 directional pulses are required. With a maximum pulse rate of about 2500 pulses/second (which may be limited by the speed of sound in the tissue, expected signal attenuation, and background noise level), all of the required data can be collected in about one second. Such collection times may be sufficient for non-moving tissues such as bones, liver, etc., but not fast enough to capture motion in arteries or organs such as the kidneys, particularly the heart, or moving joints or muscles.

On the other hand, with point source pulse based imaging, a single point source pulse (ping) traveling substantially uniformly in three dimensions may insonify the entire volume, and dynamic beamforming (focusing) may identify the source of echo returns. Using point source pulse based imaging techniques, a minimum of three point source pulses may be required to obtain data for a 3D volume, while a minimum of two point source pulses may be required to obtain data for a 2D slice. In practice, ten to fifty (or more) point source pulses may be used to achieve the desired image quality. For example, using 25 point source pulses at a rate of 2500 point source pulses per second may only require 0.01 seconds to acquire all data for the entire 10cm of cube tissue. For this particular example, data collection may be 100 times faster than scan-line based approaches.

Using point source pulse based ultrasound imaging techniques, the 2D and 3D frame rates can be significantly increased to allow real-time imaging of 3D volumes. Moreover, by applying multi-aperture imaging techniques (e.g., transmitting and receiving ultrasound signals through multiple spatially or physically separated acoustic windows), the resolution of such real-time 3D images may be significantly improved over single-aperture techniques.

Multi-aperture ultrasound imaging based on point source pulses can provide very powerful real-time three-dimensional imaging capabilities as described above. The advantages of point source pulse based multi-aperture ultrasound imaging can be achieved by using a transducer probe having overall dimensions much larger than conventional ultrasound probes. For example, point source pulse based multi-aperture ultrasound imaging may advantageously be used with ultrasound imaging having more than 100cm²Is used with a probe that effectively images a surface. Traditionally, the ultrasound elements in a probe are spaced as close as possible, typically significantly less than (and typically no more than) half the wavelength of the ultrasound frequency used.

However, the use of conventional inter-element spacing in such large probes requires that the cable be too thick to be usable. Although some skill can be used to reduce the number of individual conductors required in the cable, a better solution is to increase the allowed spacing between elements, thereby reducing the total number of elements in the array. The use of sparse arrays with conventional scan line based imaging methods suffers from substantial complications, artifacts, and low resolution and is therefore generally impractical. Based on studies of the use of sparse array scan line-based phased array techniques, it may be expected that the use of sparse arrays with point source pulse-based multi-aperture ultrasound imaging techniques suffers from similar difficulties, but this is not the case. In fact, sparse arrays may be very effective for use in point source pulse-based multi-aperture ultrasound imaging techniques as described herein.

In some embodiments, a sparse array of transducer elements may be beneficial to provide an ultrasound probe having a wide total aperture and containing a manageable number of transducer elements.

The following disclosure provides various embodiments of ultrasound probe structures, methods of making such probes, and methods of using such probes to perform high frame rate, high resolution, real-time 2D, 3D, and 4D ultrasound imaging.

An ultrasonic transducer probe is provided comprising an array of ultrasonic transducing micro elements, wherein each micro element has a diameter of less than 500 microns, a first set of micro elements is electrically connected to a first signal conductor, a second set of micro elements is electrically connected to a second signal conductor, the second signal conductor is electrically separated from the first signal conductor, a third set of micro elements is located between the first and second sets, the third set of micro elements is permanently disconnected from any signal conductor.

In some embodiments, each of the microelements has a diameter of between 25 microns and 200 microns.

In other embodiments, some of the microelements of the first set have different dimensions than other microelements of the first set, wherein the dimensions of the microelements correspond to their fundamental operating frequency.

In one embodiment, the first set of micro-components is connected to a first ground conductor, the second set of micro-components is connected to a second ground conductor, and the second ground conductor is not electrically connected to the first ground conductor. In another embodiment, the first set of microelements comprises more microelements than the second set. In some embodiments, the first set of micro-elements collectively form a dedicated transmit element and the second set of micro-elements collectively form a dedicated receive element.

In one embodiment, the probe includes a fourth set of micro-components electrically connected to the first signal conductor by switches, such that the fourth set forms a combined component with the first set when the switches are combined. In some embodiments, the microelements of the fourth set collectively surround the microelements of the first set. In another embodiment, the fourth set of microelements is adjacent to the first set of microelements. In one embodiment, the fourth set of microelements is contiguous with the first set of microelements.

In some embodiments, the combination elements have a different shape than the individual first set. In other embodiments, the combination element has a shape that is the same as the shape of the first group but a different size.

There is also provided an ultrasound imaging system including a transducer probe having a first array segment and a second array segment separated from the first array segment by an open-space gap, the first and second array segments secured to at least one structural housing element rigidly maintaining the first and second arrays in a fixed position relative to one another, and an imaging control system containing instructions to: unfocused ultrasound point source pulses are transmitted into an object to be imaged from a transmit aperture proximate the point source, with simultaneous reception of transducer elements on the first array segment and the second array segment, echoes of the point source pulses being received from reflectors located directly below the gap, and a volumetric image of the region below the gap is produced by combining echo data from the echoes received by the receiving elements on both array segments.

In one embodiment, each array segment comprises a micro-element array as in any of the preceding embodiments.

Also provided is an ultrasound imaging probe comprising a sparse array of ultrasound transducer elements with less than 50% of the potential element locations occupied by active transducer elements, the sparse array having a plurality of first elements designated as transmit elements and a plurality of second elements designated as receive elements, and wherein no more than N receive elements are equidistant from any one transmit element, wherein N is an integer between 1 and 100.

In one embodiment, N is 1, 2,3, 4, or 5.

In another embodiment, the spacing between adjacent elements is a pseudo-random distance. In other embodiments, the spacing between adjacent elements is a non-repeating distance based on a non-repeating digital sequence.

In one embodiment, the transmit and receive elements are comprised of a bulk piezoelectric material.

In other embodiments, each transmit element and each receive element are comprised of a plurality of micro-elements.

In one embodiment, at least one transmitting element or at least one receiving element is comprised of two subsets of micro-elements.

In other embodiments, the at least one transmit element or the at least one receive element comprises a plurality of first micro-elements operating at a first frequency and a plurality of second micro-elements operating at a second frequency different from the first frequency.

In further embodiments, at least two designated radiating elements are configured to radiate different ultrasound frequencies than the rest of the radiating elements.

In other embodiments, the spacing between adjacent elements is irregular.

Another ultrasound imaging probe is provided comprising a sparse array of ultrasound transducer elements, wherein adjacent transducer elements are spaced apart by a distance greater than half a maximum wavelength at which any element of the array is configured to operate, the sparse array having a plurality of first elements designated as transmit elements and a plurality of second elements designated as receive elements.

In one embodiment, the spacing between adjacent elements is a pseudo-random distance. In other embodiments, the spacing between adjacent elements is a non-repeating distance based on a non-repeating digital sequence.

In one embodiment, the transmit and receive elements are comprised of a bulk piezoelectric material.

In other embodiments, each transmit element and each receive element are comprised of a plurality of micro-elements.

In some embodiments, at least one transmit element or at least one receive element is comprised of two subsets of micro-elements. In another embodiment, the at least one transmit element or the at least one receive element includes a plurality of first micro-elements operating at a first frequency and a plurality of second micro-elements operating at a second frequency different from the first frequency.

In further embodiments, at least two designated radiating elements are configured to radiate different ultrasound frequencies than the rest of the radiating elements.

In other embodiments, the spacing between adjacent elements is irregular.

Also provided is a method of ultrasound imaging comprising transmitting a first ultrasound point source pulse from a transmit aperture proximate to a point source at a first time, receiving echoes of the first ultrasound point source pulse with a first transducer element between the first time and a second time, the first transducer element coupled to a first receive channel by a first signal conductor, closing a switch at the second time to connect a second transducer element to the first signal conductor, the second transducer element surrounding the first transducer element, receiving echoes of the first ultrasound point source pulse with the first transducer element and the second transducer element between the second time and a third time, and generating and displaying an image from the echoes received between the first time and the third time.

In some embodiments, the first transducer element has a circular shape and the second transducer element has an annular shape concentric with the first transducer element.

In further embodiments, the first transducer element includes a first set of micro-elements electrically connected to the first signal conductor. In some embodiments, the second transducer element includes a second set of micro-elements capable of being electrically connectable to the first signal conductor via a switch.

In another embodiment, the echo received between the first time and the second time is a near field echo.

In some embodiments, the image is a volumetric image. In another embodiment, the image is a two-dimensional image.

There is provided a method of ultrasound imaging comprising emitting a first ultrasound point source pulse at a first time from a transmit aperture proximate to a point source, receiving and storing echoes of a first ultrasonic point source pulse with a first transducer element, the first transducer element coupled to a first receive channel by a first signal conductor, receiving and storing echoes of the first ultrasonic point source pulse with a second transducer element surrounding the first transducer element, the second transducer element coupled to a second receive channel by a second signal conductor, the method includes retrieving a first echo received by a first element between a first time and a third time, retrieving a second echo received by a second element between a second time and the third time, the second time occurring between the first time and the third time, combining the first echo received between the second time and the third time with the second echo, and generating and displaying an image from the combined echoes.

In some embodiments, the first transducer element has a circular shape and the second transducer element has an annular shape concentric with the first transducer element.

In other embodiments, the first transducer element includes a first set of micro-elements electrically connected to the first signal conductor.

In one embodiment, the second transducer element includes a second set of micro-elements that are electrically connectable to the first signal conductor via a switch.

In another embodiment, the echo received between the first time and the second time is a near field echo.

In some embodiments, the image is a volumetric image. In another embodiment, the image is a two-dimensional image.

Also provided is a method of ultrasound imaging comprising transmitting a first ultrasound point source pulse from a transmit aperture proximate to a point source at a first time, receiving echoes of the first ultrasound point source pulse with a first transducer element between the first time and a second time, the first transducer element coupled to a first receive channel by a first signal conductor, opening a switch between the first transducer element and the first signal conductor and simultaneously closing a switch between a second transducer element and the signal conductor, the second transducer element larger than the first transducer element, receiving echoes of the first ultrasound point source pulse with the second transducer element between the second time and a third time, and generating and displaying an image from echoes received by both the first transducer element and the second transducer element between the first time and the third time.

In one embodiment, opening the switch between the first transducer element and the first signal conductor and simultaneously closing the switch between the second transducer element and the signal conductor comprises operating a single switch.

In one embodiment, the image is a volumetric image. In another embodiment, the image is a two-dimensional image.

There is also provided a method of ultrasound imaging comprising emitting a first ultrasound point source pulse at a first time from a transmit aperture proximate to a point source, receiving and storing echoes of the first ultrasonic point source pulse with a first transducer element, the first transducer element coupled to a first receive channel by a first signal conductor, receiving and storing echoes of the first ultrasonic point source pulse with a second transducer element larger than the first transducer element, the second transducer element coupled to a second receive channel through a second signal conductor, a first echo received by the first transducer element is retrieved between a first time and a second time, a second echo received by the second transducer element is retrieved between a second time and a third time, the second time occurring between the first time and the third time, an image is generated from the first echo and the second echo and displayed.

In one embodiment, the image is a volumetric image. In another embodiment, the image is a two-dimensional image.

There is provided a method of ultrasound imaging comprising transmitting unfocused ultrasound point source pulses from a transmitter proximate a point source to an object to be imaged, receiving echoes of the point source pulses at first and second receiving elements, wherein a line between the first and second receiving elements defines an axis, retrieving position data defining positions of the first and second receiving elements relative to a common coordinate system, identifying a first echo sample corresponding to a first reflector received at the first element, and identifying a second echo sample corresponding to the same first reflector received at the second element, determining a first arrival time at which the first sample echo was received at the first receiving element, determining a second arrival time at which the second sample echo was received at the second receiving element, comparing the first arrival time and the second arrival time, to determine which echo sample corresponds to the first reflector received first, to determine that the first element is closest to the first reflector based on a comparison of arrival times, to assign a greater weight to the first echo sample than to the second echo sample, to generate an image of the reflector from the weighted first echo sample and the weighted second echo sample, and to display the image.

In some embodiments, the method further comprises assigning a greater weight to the second echo sample than to a third echo sample received by a third element that is further along the axis from the first element than the second element, and generating an image of the transmitter from the weighted first echo sample, the weighted second echo sample, and the weighted third echo sample.

In one embodiment, the first arrival time is based on explicit timing information in the stored echo data.

In another embodiment, the first time of arrival is based on hidden timing information in the stored echo data.

There is also provided an ultrasound imaging system comprising an array of ultrasound transducer elements, a first transducer element in the array having a long axis and a short axis, wherein the first transducer element produces a first phase signature in response to ultrasound signals received from a first region of an imaged object and a second phase signature in response to ultrasound signals received from a second region of the imaged object, the imaging system being configured to transmit ultrasound signals into the object from at least one transmit aperture proximate to a point source and receive signals produced by the first transducer element in response to echoes of the signals transmitted from the at least one transmit aperture, wherein the imaging system is further configured to determine whether a given reflector is located in the first region or the second region based on the phase signatures produced by the first transducer element in response to echoes of the generator received by the first transducer element, and wherein the imaging system is further configured to apply a weight to echoes of the reflector received by other receive elements in the array based on the determination of the reflector located in the first region or the second region, and to generate an image based on the weighted echoes.

In some embodiments, the first and second regions are quadrants, and wherein the first transducer elements further generate a third phase signature in response to ultrasound signals received from a third quadrant of the imaged object and a fourth phase signature in response to ultrasound signals received from a fourth quadrant of the imaged object, and wherein the first and second quadrants correspond to regions of the object adjacent opposite ends of the short axis and the third and fourth quadrants correspond to regions of the object adjacent opposite ends of the long axis.

Drawings

The novel features of the invention are set forth with particularity in the appended claims. A better understanding of the features and advantages of the present invention will be obtained by reference to the following detailed description that sets forth illustrative embodiments, in which the principles of the invention are utilized, and the accompanying drawings of which:

fig. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating a sparse array of ultrasound transducer elements made up of micro-elements.

Fig. 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating a sparse array of ultrasound transducer elements made up of micro-elements, where there are no micro-elements between the determined elements.

Fig. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating a rectangular sparse array arrangement of ultrasound transducer elements represented by squares.

Fig. 4 is a schematic diagram illustrating a rectangular sparse array arrangement of ultrasound transducer elements.

Fig. 5 is a schematic diagram illustrating an elliptical sparse array arrangement of ultrasound transducer elements.

Fig. 6 is a schematic diagram illustrating a circular sparse array arrangement of ultrasound transducer elements.

Fig. 7 is a schematic diagram illustrating a sparse array arrangement of concave or convex three-dimensional surfaces of ultrasound transducer elements.

FIG. 8 is a plan view of an example of a sparse array of regularly spaced transmit and receive transducer elements.

Fig. 9 is a schematic diagram illustrating an exemplary multi-frequency transmitting transducer element made up of multiple micro-elements of different sizes.

FIG. 10A is a schematic diagram of an embodiment of a circuit that may be used to connect a set of concentric receive elements to separate receive channels of a receive subsystem.

FIG. 10B is a schematic diagram of an embodiment of a circuit that may be used to connect a set of concentric receive elements to a receive channel of a receive subsystem.

FIG. 11A is a schematic diagram of an embodiment of a circuit that may be used to connect a set of differently sized circular receive elements to separate receive channels of a receive subsystem.

FIG. 11B is a schematic diagram of an embodiment of a circuit that may be used to connect a set of differently sized circular receive elements to a single receive channel of a receive subsystem.

FIG. 12 is a schematic diagram illustrating a plurality of grid patterns of receiving transducer elements showing axes for determining estimated reflector positions.

FIG. 13 is a schematic diagram illustrating an asymmetric receiving transducer element having a long axis and a short axis.

Fig. 14 is a schematic diagram illustrating a cluster structure of ultrasound transmit elements surrounded by receive elements grouped into overlapping receive apertures based at least in part on proximity to the transmit elements.

Figure 15 is a schematic diagram of a circular ultrasound imaging probe with a central opening.

Figure 16A is a schematic diagram illustrating a top view of an ultrasound imaging probe having two probe segments separated by a gap and connected to a bridge handle.

Figure 16B is a schematic diagram illustrating a bottom view of an ultrasound imaging probe having two probe segments separated by a gap and connected to a bridge handle.

Fig. 17 is a schematic block diagram illustrating example components in an embodiment of a multi-aperture imaging system.

Detailed Description

Various embodiments will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. Reference to particular examples and embodiments is for illustrative purposes, and is not intended to limit the scope of the invention or the claims.

The present disclosure provides systems and methods for improving the quality of real-time two-dimensional and three-dimensional ultrasound imaging by using sparse arrays of various structures, including arrays in which each "element" is made up of a plurality of micro-elements arranged to operate in conjunction with each other.

Although various embodiments are described herein with reference to ultrasound imaging of various anatomical structures, it should be understood that many of the methods and apparatus shown and described herein may also be used for other applications, such as imaging and evaluating non-anatomical structures and objects. For example, various embodiments herein may be applied to non-destructive testing applications, such as evaluating the quality, integrity, dimensions, or other characteristics of various structures, such as welds, pressure vessels, pipes, structural elements, beams, and the like. The system and method may also be used to image and/or test a range of materials, including human or animal tissue, solid metals such as iron, steel, aluminum or titanium, various alloys or composite materials, and the like.

Introduction of key terms

The following paragraphs provide useful definitions for some of the terms often used herein. Other terms may also be defined when used.

As used herein, the terms "ultrasound transducer" and "transducer" may have their ordinary meaning as understood by those skilled in the art of ultrasound imaging technology, and may not be limited to referring to any single component capable of converting an electrical signal to an ultrasound signal, and/or vice versa. For example, in some embodiments, the ultrasound transducer may comprise a piezoelectric device. In other embodiments, the ultrasound transducer may comprise a Capacitive Micromachined Ultrasound Transducer (CMUT), other micromachined transducer composed of an electroactive material such as a piezoelectric material, a ferrous material, a ferroelectric material, a pyroelectric material, an electrostrictive material, or any other transducing material, or a device capable of converting ultrasound waves to and from electrical signals.

The sensor is typically configured as an array of a plurality of individual transducer elements. As used herein, the term "transducer array" or "array" generally refers to a collection of transducer elements attached to a common support structure. The array typically (although not necessarily) comprises a plurality of transducer elements mounted to a common backplate or substrate. These arrays may have one (1D), two (2D), 1.X (1.XD), or three (3D) dimensions, as these terms are used elsewhere herein and/or as is commonly understood in the art. Other size arrays as understood by those skilled in the art may also be used. Circular arrays, such as concentric circular arrays and elliptical arrays, may also be used. In some cases, the transducer array may include irregularly spaced transducer elements, sparsely positioned transducer elements (also referred to as a sparse array), randomly spaced transducer elements, or any other geometric or random arrangement of transducer elements. The elements of the array need not be contiguous and may be separated by non-transducing material or empty space.

The elements of the transducer array may be the smallest discrete features of the array. For example, in the case of an array of piezoelectric transducer elements, each element may be a single piezoelectric crystal or a single machined portion of a piezoelectric crystal. As another example, in an array of multiple micro-components (e.g., micromachined components, micro-dome components, or other micro-scale components), a group of micro-components may be electrically coupled so as to collectively operate as a single functional component. In this case, a group of cooperating microelements may be referred to as a single "element".

As used herein, the terms "transmit element" and "receive element" may have their ordinary meaning as understood by those skilled in the art of ultrasound imaging technology. The term "transmitting element" may not be limited to referring to an ultrasound transducer element, which at least momentarily performs a transmitting function, wherein an electrical signal is converted into an ultrasound signal. Similarly, the term "receiving element" may not be limited to referring to an ultrasound transducer element, which at least momentarily performs a receiving function, wherein an ultrasound signal impinging on the element is converted into an electrical signal.

In the case where imaging is performed by transmitting ultrasound signals "based on a point source pulse" or "point source transmit," the term "transmit element" may refer to a single element or a plurality of elements that operate together to form the desired waveform transmission. For example, multiple transducer elements may be activated simultaneously, or a circular or spherical waveform may be generated in the region of interest with a selected delay. When operated together to form such waveforms, these multiple transducers may have a common acoustic center that is the apparent point source of the transmitted waveform. In other words, if the unfocused spherical waveform produced by the one or more transmit elements appears to originate from a point source, the one or more transmit elements may be proximate to the point source emitter.

The transmitted ultrasound signals may be focused in a particular direction, or may be unfocused, transmitted in all directions or a wide range of directions. The transmission of ultrasonic waves into a medium may also be referred to herein as "insonification". The object or structure that reflects the ultrasonic waves may be referred to as a "reflector" or a "diffuser".

As used herein, the term "position" or "location" of a transducer element refers to the acoustic center position exhibited by the element. In some cases, the acoustic center position of an element may coincide exactly with the mechanical or geometric center of the element, group of elements, or group of micro-elements. However, in many cases, the acoustic center location of an element may be different from the mechanical or geometric center of the element due to various factors such as manufacturing irregularities, damage, irregular element geometry, or other factors. The acoustic center position of the element may be determined using various calibration techniques such as those described in U.S. patent application publication No. 2014/0043933 entitled "calibration of a multi-aperture ultrasound probe," U.S. patent No. 9,282,945 entitled "calibration of an ultrasound probe," or other methods.

As used herein, the term "aperture" may refer to a single transducer element or a group of transducer elements collectively managed as a common group by the imaging control electronics. For example, in some embodiments, a well may be a set of elements that are physically separate and distinct from elements of adjacent wells. However, adjacent apertures do not necessarily have to be physically separate or distinct. Conversely, a single aperture may include two or more elements of a physically separated or distinct transducer array or elements spaced at any distance or different distances from each other. In some cases, two or more elements need not be adjacent to each other to be included in a common aperture with each other. For example, a different set of transducer elements (e.g., a "left aperture") may be made up of a left array plus a left half of a physically different central array, while a "right aperture" may be made up of a right array plus a right half of a physically different central array.

As used herein, the terms "receiving aperture", "insonifying aperture" and/or "transmitting aperture" are used herein to denote a single element, a group of elements within an array, or even an entire array that performs a desired transmitting or receiving function as a group. In some embodiments, such transmit and receive apertures may be created as physically separate components with dedicated functionality. In other embodiments, any number of transmit and/or receive apertures may be dynamically defined electronically as desired. In other embodiments, the multi-aperture ultrasound imaging system may use a combination of dedicated function and dynamic function apertures. In some cases, elements may be assigned to different apertures during two or more periods of point source pulses (as defined below).

As used herein, the term "point source pulse period" refers to a period of: it begins with the transmission of a point source pulse originating from a transmit aperture proximate to the point source, and ends when all available (or all desired) echoes of the transmitted point source pulse have been received by the receiving transducer elements. In many cases, the periods of the point source pulses may be different and separated by some period of time. In other cases, the periods of the point source pulses may overlap each other in time. That is, the (N + 1) th point source pulse period (by transmission of the point source pulse) may begin before the nth point source pulse period is complete (i.e., before all echoes of the nth point source pulse are received).

In various embodiments, a single "image" or "image frame" may be generated from one or more echoes of the transmitted point source pulses. Thus, an "imaging period" or "image period" may refer to a period beginning with the transmission of a first point source pulse contributing to an image and ending with the receipt of an echo of a final point source pulse contributing to the same image. In various embodiments, a single imaging period may include one, two, three, four, five, or more periods of point source pulses.

As used herein, the term "total aperture" refers to the total size of all imaging apertures in the probe. In other words, the term "total aperture" may refer to one or more dimensions defined by the maximum distance between the most distant transducer elements of any combination of transmit and/or receive elements for a particular imaging cycle. Thus, the total aperture may be made up of any number of sub-apertures designated as transmit or receive apertures for a particular period. In the case of a single aperture imaging arrangement, the total aperture, the sub-apertures, the transmit apertures and the receive apertures may all have the same size. In the case of a multi-aperture imaging arrangement, the size of the total aperture may comprise the sum of the size of all transmit and receive apertures plus any space between the apertures.

In some embodiments, the two apertures may be positioned adjacent to each other on a continuous array. In other embodiments, the two apertures may overlap each other on a continuous array such that at least one element serves as part of two separate apertures. The location, function, number of elements and physical size of the apertures may be dynamically defined in any manner desired for a particular application.

The elements and arrays described herein may also be multifunctional. That is, designating a transducer element or array as a transmitter in one instance does not preclude immediate re-designation as a receiver in the next instance. Moreover, embodiments of the control system herein include the ability to make such designations electronically based on user input, preset scan or resolution criteria, or other automatically determined criteria.

As used herein, the "imageable field" of an imaging system can be any region or volume of an imaged object or substance that can actually be imaged by the imaging system. For point source pulse based imaging systems as described herein, the term "imageable field" may be synonymous with the term "insonified region". The term "region of interest" may refer to a two-dimensional or three-dimensional region in an imageable field. The range of the imageable field relative to the probe can be imposed by physical constraints (e.g., based on signal-to-noise ratio or decay rate), or can be selected by logical constraints (e.g., based on the desired region of interest).

As used herein, the term "pixel" refers to a region of two-dimensional space within the imageable field of an imaging system. The term "pixel" is not intended to be limited to a pixel of a display device and may represent a larger or smaller area of a real-world scale object than the display pixel. "pixels" may represent regions of an imageable field of any real-world size, and in some cases may represent regions that are smaller than any resolvable object of the imaging system. The pixels may be, but need not be, square or rectangular and may have any shape that allows for a continuous two-dimensional representation of the imageable field. In some cases, the data representing the pixel may not be displayed, but may still be processed as a unit and referred to as a "pixel".

As used herein, the term "voxel" refers to a region of three-dimensional space within the imageable field of the imaging system. The term "voxel" is not intended to be limited to any particular portion of a two-or three-dimensional display device, and may represent a larger or smaller area of a real-world scale object than the display voxel. A "voxel" may represent a three-dimensional region of an imageable field of any real-world size, and in some cases may represent a region that is smaller than any resolvable object of the imaging system. The voxels may be, but need not be, three-dimensional square or rectangular prisms. The voxels may have any shape that allows a continuous three-dimensional representation of the imageable field. In some cases, the data representing the voxel may not be displayed, but may still be treated as one unit and referred to as a "voxel".

As used herein, the terms "pixel location" and "voxel location" (or "position") refer to a location in an imageable field identifiable by a coordinate system, which may be a cartesian coordinate system or any other coordinate system. Unless otherwise specified, reference to the location of a pixel or voxel generally refers to the center point (e.g., centroid, center of circle, etc.) of the pixel or voxel.

As used herein, a pixel may be described as an "intersecting" voxel. Any desired convention may be used to define a two-dimensional pixel as intersecting a three-dimensional voxel. For example, for square shaped pixels and cubic voxels, the pixels that intersect a voxel may be a square face of the voxel or any other square or rectangle that passes through the voxel. A pixel may intersect multiple voxels if the coordinate system for the pixel is different from the coordinate system for the voxel.

As used herein, the term "echo" refers to an analog or digital representation of an ultrasonic wavefront, or an ultrasonic wavefront arriving at a receiving transducer element. Because the imaging methods described herein allow for an extremely wide range of probe configurations, some of the ultrasound signals reaching the receiving transducer elements may originate from the transmitting transducer elements on opposite sides of the imaged object. Such wavefronts are also intended to be included within the definition of "echoes", even though such wavefronts may also be described as "shots" or "deflections".

As used herein, the terms "reflector" and "diffuser" refer to the physical portion of the physical object being imaged. When struck by a wavefront, reflectors and scatterers will tend to re-radiate the wavefront in a direction generally dictated by physics. These terms are not intended to limit the relative geometry or location of the emitters, diffusers and reflectors.

As used herein, the verb terms "reflect" and "scatter" refer to the action of scatterers on a propagating ultrasound wavefront. In some cases, a wavefront that is deflected only slightly by a diffuser (e.g., forming a combined transmit element/diffuser/receive element angle close to 180 °) may still be described as having been "reflected" by that diffuser (or "reflector").

As used herein, the term "sample" refers to a digital data element in a physical volatile or non-volatile storage medium. Unless the context indicates otherwise, a "sample" as described herein generally refers to a data element representing a discrete portion of a received ultrasound waveform. The time-varying electrical signal produced by the transducer elements that vibrate in response to the received ultrasonic wavefront may be quantized and digitally sampled at a sampling rate to produce a series of values representative of the received time-varying electrical signal. Those values may be referred to as "samples". In some cases, a "sample" may include an interpolated value between two digitally stored sample values.

If the digital samples are taken at a known sampling rate (typically, but not necessarily, a uniform sampling rate), the position of each sample (e.g., as measured by a position in a memory device or a position in a sequence of values) may be directly related to the arrival time of the wave front segment responsible for each sample value.

As used herein, the term "beamforming" refers to a process of determining a value of a pixel or voxel based on sample values (either directly stored or interpolated), known acoustic center positions of transmit elements responsible for the sample values, and known acoustic center positions of receive elements responsible for the sample values. Beamforming is described in further detail elsewhere herein.

As used herein, the term "image" (as a noun) refers to a human-visible graphical representation of a physical object or a series of non-transitory numerical values stored on a physical storage medium, which may be interpreted by software and/or an image processor to produce such a graphical representation. As used herein, the term "image" does not necessarily imply any particular degree of quality or human readability. An "image" may refer to a two-dimensional representation (e.g., a cross-section in some cases) or a three-dimensional volumetric representation of an object. Thus, a "volumetric image" may include a visible representation of a three-dimensional point cloud or digital data representing a three-dimensional point cloud. As used herein, the terms "image" and "imaging" (verb form) refer to the process of producing an image.

Introduction to Point Source Transmission ultrasound imaging

In various embodiments, point source transmitted ultrasound imaging, alternatively referred to as point source pulse-based ultrasound imaging, provides several advantages over conventional scan line-based imaging. The spatial characteristics of point source transmission are different from "phased array transmission," which focuses energy from an array of transducer elements along a directional scan line in a particular direction. Point source pulses (also referred to herein as "point source pulses") may be transmitted to produce a two-dimensional circular wavefront or a three-dimensional spherical wavefront to insonify as wide a region as possible in a two-or three-dimensional region of interest. Echoes from scatterers in the region of interest may return to all elements of the receive aperture (or all those not blocked by the obstruction to prevent transmission of echoes). Those received echo signals may be filtered, amplified, digitized, and stored in short or long term memory (depending on the needs or performance of the particular system).

An image may then be reconstructed from the received echoes by determining the position of the reflector responsible for the received echo samples. The position of each reflector responsible for the digital echo samples may be calculated based on the arrival time of the received echo samples (which may be inferred based on the sample positions and known sampling rates) relative to the known time at which the point source pulse was transmitted, the acoustic position of the transmitting element responsible for the echo samples, and the acoustic position of the receiving element responsible for the echo samples. This process of determining reflector positions is generally referred to herein as beamforming.

Beamforming may be performed by software-based, firmware-based, or hardware-based dynamic beamforming techniques, in which the focus of the beamformer may be continuously changed to focus at a particular pixel location corresponding to a reflector location. Such a beamformer may be used to map the location of echoes received from a point source pulse. In some embodiments, such a dynamic beamformer may trace each echo signal based on the round trip time of the signal from the transmitter to the respective receiving transducer elements.

In the case of two-dimensional imaging, for a given echo sample produced by the transmitting transducer element and the receiving transducer element, the trajectory of the possible positions of the target reflectors responsible for the echo sample will be an ellipse mathematically defined by two foci. The first focus of the ellipse is at the location of the transmitting transducer element and the second focus is at the location of the receiving transducer element. Although several other possible reflector positions are located along the same ellipse, echoes of the same target reflector will also be received by other receiving transducer elements. The slightly different positions of each receiving transducer element means that each receiving element will define a slightly different ellipse of the target reflector. The result of accumulating by adding the ellipses of a plurality of receiving elements at slightly different positions will indicate the intersection of the ellipses of the reflector. When echo samples from more receiving elements are combined with the first receiving element, the intersecting ellipses will converge to the point where the target reflector is located. Similarly, echoes of point source pulses emitted from different emitting element locations may also be combined to further refine the reflector points. The target reflector position may be associated with a pixel position representing the reflector. The combined sample values may be used to determine the display intensity of the display pixel at the pixel location. So that the echo amplitudes received by any number of transmit positions and receive elements can be combined to form each pixel. In other embodiments, the calculations may be organized differently to achieve substantially the same results.

Various algorithms may be used for combining the echo signals received by the separate receiving elements. For example, some embodiments may process the echo signals separately, plot each echo signal at all possible positions along its ellipse, and then proceed to the next echo signal. Alternatively, each pixel location may be processed separately, with all echo samples that may contribute to that pixel location being identified and processed before proceeding to the next pixel location.

Image quality may be further improved by a beamformer which combines images formed by one or more subsequently transmitted point source pulses from the same or different point source (or multiple different point sources). Further improvements in image quality can be obtained by combining images formed by more than one receiving aperture.

An important consideration is whether the sum of the images from different point source pulses, different transmit point sources, or different receive apertures should be coherent summation (phase sensitive) or non-coherent summation (summation of the amplitudes of the signals without phase information).

The decision as to whether to use coherent or non-coherent summing may be influenced by the lateral extent/size of the receiving aperture and/or the transmitting aperture. In some embodiments, the size of the aperture may conveniently be limited to conform to the assumption that the average speed of sound for each path from the diffuser to each element of the transmit or receive aperture is substantially the same. This simplified assumption is easily satisfied for narrow receiving holes. However, as the width of the receive aperture increases, an inflection point (referred to herein as the "maximum coherence aperture width" or "maximum coherence width") may be reached beyond which the path followed by the echoes of the common reflector must traverse different types of tissue, having essentially different speeds of sound when returning the elements that are furthest apart from each other. When such differences cause the received wavefront phase to shift close to or beyond 180 degrees, additional receive elements beyond the maximum coherence width may actually degrade the image rather than improve the image.

The considerations for the same maximum coherence aperture size may also apply to the size of the transmit aperture, which may include multiple transducer elements. In the case of two-dimensional transducer arrays for use in three-dimensional imaging (or 3D data collection), it may be useful to define the maximum coherence aperture size in two dimensions. Thus, in various embodiments, the maximum coherence aperture may be defined as a group of transducer elements of a square, circle, polygon, or other two-dimensional shape with the greatest distance between any two elements, such that when echo data received at the elements of the aperture are coherently combined, phase cancellation will be avoided.

Thus, to achieve the advantages of a wide probe with a total aperture width much larger than the maximum coherence aperture width (e.g., in terms of increased spatial resolution), the entire probe width may be physically or logically divided into multiple transmit and/or receive apertures, each aperture may be limited to an effective width less than or equal to the maximum coherence aperture width, and thus small enough to avoid phase cancellation of the received signals.

The maximum coherence width may be different for different patients (or different test objects), for different probe positions of the same patient, and for other variables such as ultrasound frequency. In some embodiments, a compromise width may be determined for a given probe and/or imaging system. In other embodiments, the multi-aperture ultrasound imaging control system may be configured with dynamic algorithms to subdivide the available elements into groups small enough to avoid significant image quality degradation phase cancellation. In various embodiments, the particular coherent aperture size may be determined automatically by a control system or manually by user input via user controls such as dials or sliders.

In some embodiments, coherent (phase-sensitive) summation may be used to combine echo data received by transducer elements located on a common receive aperture resulting from one or more point source pulses. In some embodiments, non-coherent summation may be used to combine echo data or image data received by separate receive apertures if the size and location of such receive apertures are designed to form a combined total aperture that is greater than the maximum coherence width for a given imaging target.

Beamforming based on two-dimensional point-source pulses may implicitly assume that the wavefront emitted from a point source is physically circular in the region of interest. In practice, the wavefront may also have some penetration in the dimension orthogonal to the scan plane (i.e., some energy may "leak" substantially into the dimension perpendicular to the desired two-dimensional image plane, which may have the effect of reducing the effective imaging depth). In addition, depending on the unique off-axis properties of the transducing material used, the "circular" wavefront may be limited to a half circle or a fraction of a circle less than 180 degrees before the transducer face. Similarly, a three-dimensional "spherical" wavefront may have a hemisphere or a smaller actual shape than a hemisphere in the medium to be imaged.

Point source pulse based imaging for 3D ultrasound imaging

The above description of point source ultrasound imaging (also referred to herein as "point source pulse based" imaging) generally describes two-dimensional imaging in which ultrasound signals are focused into a narrow field proximate a plane in the image region. This two-dimensional focusing may be accomplished by lenses or other techniques. Point source pulse based imaging can also be extended to real-time three-dimensional imaging without adding significant complexity. Three-dimensional imaging based on point source pulses may be performed using an ultrasound probe having transducer elements spaced apart from each other in two dimensions. Some example probe configurations are described elsewhere herein.

When a three-dimensional pulse is initiated from a point source transmit transducer, the resulting hemispherical wavefront enters into an insonified region containing a region of interest (ROI) where some of the ultrasound energy may be reflected (or deflected) by scatterers in the ROI. Some of the echoes from the scatterers may travel towards the transducer elements of the probe where the echoes may be detected, amplified, digitized, and stored in short or long term memory devices. Each digitized sample value may represent a scatterer from the ROI. As in the 2D case, the amplitude of each received sample, as well as its time of arrival and the exact location of the transmit and receive transducers used, may be analysed to define a locus of points identifying the potential location of scatterers. In the 3D case, such a trajectory is an ellipsoid with the location of the transmitter point source and receiving transducer elements as its focal point. Each unique combination of transmit and receive transducer elements may define a separate view of the same reflector. Thus, by combining information from ellipsoids generated by combining multiple transmit receive transducer elements, the actual position of each reflector can be more accurately represented.

For example, in some embodiments, images in a 3D array of voxels may be assembled in computer memory by starting with an evaluation of selected digital samples. The selected digitized sample values may be written into each voxel indicated by the corresponding ellipsoid described above. Continuing to perform the same operation on every other collected sample value, then combining all the resulting ellipsoids may produce a finer image. The actual scatterers will be indicated by the intersection of many ellipsoids, whereas the portion of the ellipsoid not emphasized by other ellipsoids will have a low level of signal and can be treated as noise (i.e., eliminated or reduced by filters, gain adjustments, or other image processing steps).

In other embodiments, the order of computation may be changed by starting with a selected voxel in the final 3D image volume to be generated. For example, for selected voxels, the closest stored or interpolated sample may be identified for each transmitter/receiver pair. All samples corresponding to the selected voxels may then be evaluated and summed (or averaged) to produce a final representation of the voxel. The proximity of the sample to the selected voxel may be determined by calculating the vector distance from the three-dimensional location of the transmitter (i.e., the transmitter used to generate the sample) to the selected voxel location plus the vector distance from the selected voxel location to the location of the receiver used to generate the sample. Such linear distances may be correlated to time-divided sample values by dividing the total path length by the speed of sound through the imaged object. Using this approach, samples corresponding to the calculated time may be associated with the selected voxel. Once identified, the data corresponding to the common voxels may be combined according to a selected combining algorithm.

Image layer combining

Techniques for determining the location of received echo samples are generally referred to herein as beamforming, while techniques for combining information obtained from multiple transmitter/receiver combinations or multiple independent pulses of a point source transmitted using the same transmitter/receiver combination may be generally referred to as image layer combining. In various embodiments, a frame may be made up of any number of combined image layers. The frames may be sequentially displayed at a desired frame rate on the display to form a moving image or video. The above-described beamforming process may also be advantageously used to estimate pixel values in a 2D cross-sectional slice through a 3D volume using raw echo data. In various embodiments, such 2D slices may be acquired at any angle or along any curved path through the 3D volume. The same technique may also be used to zoom in (i.e., increase the size of the feature) using the raw echo data instead of zooming in on the processed pixels or voxels.

The images obtained from different unique combinations of one point source pulse and one receive element and/or one point source pulse and one receive aperture may be referred to herein as "sub-image layers". Multiple sub-image layers may be coherently combined to improve overall image quality (e.g., by combining multiple ellipses or ellipsoids as described above). Additional image layer combinations may be performed to further improve the quality of the final image. In the context of image layer combining, the term "image" may refer to a single two-dimensional pixel, a single three-dimensional volume of voxels, or any number or collection of pixels or voxels.

Image layer combinations can be described in terms of four image levels. These include a reference plane image layer, a first level image layer, a second level image layer, and a third level image layer. As used herein, the phrase reference plane image layer refers to an image obtained by beamforming echoes received at a single receive element from a single transmitted point source pulse. As described above, the beamforming process defines an ellipse corresponding to each echo sample. Thus, the reference plane image may comprise a series of ellipses representing all echoes of a single point source pulse received by a single receive element. Such images may not be particularly useful for diagnostic imaging purposes, but may be used for other purposes.

The first order image layer may be formed from echoes received at a single receive aperture that are generated from a single point source pulse from a single transmit aperture (where a "transmit aperture" may be a composite point source transmit element, a single element transmitter, or a group of transmit elements). For a unique combination of a single point source pulse and a single receive aperture, echoes received by all receive elements in the receive aperture can be coherently summed to obtain a first level image layer. Alternatively, the first level image may be formed by combining echoes of two or more point source pulses received at elements of a common receive aperture.

Multiple first-level image layers resulting from echoes of multiple transmit point source pulses (from the same or different transmit apertures) received at a single receive aperture may be added together to produce a second-level image layer. The second level image layer may be further processed to improve alignment or other image characteristics.

A third level image may be obtained by combining second level image layers formed from data from multiple receive apertures. In some embodiments, the third level images may be displayed as sequential temporal frames to form a moving image.

In some embodiments, the pixels or voxels of the first level image layer may also be formed by summing the in-phase and quadrature echo data, i.e., by adding each echo to the echo 1/4 wavelength delayed for each receiving aperture element. In some cases, the echo data may be sampled and stored as an in-phase data set and a separate quadrature data set. In other cases, if the digital sampling rate is divisible by 4, the quadrature samples corresponding to the in-phase samples may be identified by selecting samples in an appropriate number of samples before the in-phase samples. If the required orthogonal samples do not correspond to the existing whole samples, the orthogonal samples can be obtained by interpolation. Combining the in-phase and orthogonal data of a single image (pixel, voxel, or set of pixels or voxels) may provide the advantage of increasing the resolution of the echo data without introducing blurring effects. Similarly, samples of values other than the 1/4 wavelength may be combined with in-phase samples to improve various imaging characteristics.

The combining, summing, or averaging of the various image layers may be done by coherent addition, non-coherent addition, or a combination of both. Coherent addition (combining phase and amplitude information simultaneously during image layer summation) tends to maximize lateral resolution, while non-coherent addition (summing only amplitude and omitting phase information) tends to average out speckle noise and minimize the effects of image layer alignment errors that may be caused by small variations in the speed of sound through the imaging medium. Speckle noise is reduced by incoherent summing because each image layer tends to develop its own independent speckle pattern, and summing these patterns incoherently has the effect of averaging the speckle patterns. Alternatively, if the patterns are added coherently, they reinforce each other and produce only one intense speckle pattern.

In most embodiments, echoes received by elements of a single receive aperture are typically coherently combined. In some embodiments, the number of receive apertures and/or the size of each receive aperture may be varied to maximize some desired combination of image quality metrics, such as lateral resolution, sound speed variation tolerance, speckle noise reduction, and the like. In some embodiments, such alternative elements to the aperture grouping arrangement may be selected by a user. In other embodiments, such an arrangement may be automatically selected or formed by the imaging system.

Variations in the speed of sound can be tolerated by non-coherent addition as follows: adding two pixels of image velocity variation, resulting in a delay of only half a wavelength (e.g., about 0.25mm for 3MHz ultrasound) results in destructive phase cancellation, which can result in significant image data loss; if the pixels are added non-coherently, the same or even larger delay causes only insignificant spatial distortion in the image layer and no image data is lost. This non-coherent addition of image layers may result in some smoothing of the final image (in some embodiments, such smoothing may be intentionally added to make the image more readable).

At all three image levels, coherent addition can result in maximum lateral resolution of the multi-aperture system if the geometry of the probe element is known to the required accuracy and the assumption of constant speed of sound across all paths is valid. Likewise, at all image levels, incoherent addition results in the best average and tolerance of small variations in speckle noise in the speed of sound through the imaging medium.

In some embodiments, image layers produced by apertures for which phase cancellation is not likely to be a problem may be combined using coherent addition, and then non-coherent addition may be used where phase cancellation is more likely to be a problem, for example when combining images formed by echoes received at different receiving apertures separated by a distance exceeding a certain threshold.

In some embodiments, all first level images may be formed by coherent addition of all sub-image layers obtained using elements from a common receive aperture, assuming that the width of the receive aperture is less than the maximum coherent aperture width. Many combinations of coherent and non-coherent summations may be performed for the second and third level image layers. For example, in some embodiments, the second level image layers may be formed by coherently summing contributions from the first level image layers, and the third level image layers may be formed by non-coherently summing contributions from the second level image layers.

The temporal frame may be formed of any level of image layer, depending on the desired balance between processing time and image quality. Higher level images tend to be of higher quality but may also require more processing time. Thus, if it is desired to provide real-time imaging, the level of image layer combining processing can be limited so that the image is displayed with no noticeable "lag" visible to the operator. The details of this balancing may depend on the particular processing hardware used, as well as other factors.

Two-dimensional imaging while collecting 3D data

In some embodiments, a form of 2D imaging may be performed using a probe and imaging system configured for 3D imaging by simply beamforming and displaying only 2D slice data from the received three-dimensional echo data. For example, such techniques may be used to reduce beamforming computations and simplify the display of real-time imaging using an imaging device with limited processing capabilities, while still retaining full 3D echo data.

For example, a two-dimensional plane may be selected (automatically or by a user) from the voxels that make up the three-dimensional volumetric representation of the imaging region, and voxels that intersect the selected plane may be identified. An image window may be defined by automatically or manually selecting a portion of the selected plane, and then a two-dimensional image of the selected image window may be formed by beamforming only those echo samples that intersect the selected plane and correspond to voxels within the selected image window. The selected two-dimensional image window can then be displayed in real-time while collecting three-dimensional data for the entire insonified volume. In some cases, two separate image windows in the same or different image planes may be defined and imaged simultaneously from the same set of real-time three-dimensional echo data.

The collected full 3D echo data may be beamformed using a device with greater processing power and reviewed at a later time. In some embodiments, the 2D slice to be beamformed and displayed may be automatically selected by the imaging device. Alternatively, the 2D slice to be beamformed and displayed may be selected or adjusted by an operator of the apparatus.

Data capture and offline analysis

In various embodiments, raw, unbumped echo data resulting from point source pulses transmitted from a point source transmit transducer and received by one or more arrays of receive transducer elements may be captured and stored in a raw data memory device for subsequent retrieval and analysis. Alternatively, the captured echo data may be transmitted digitally over a network for remote processing, beamforming, and/or observation. In addition to echo data, additional data may be stored and/or transmitted over the network and retrieved for subsequent and/or remote image generation and analysis. Such additional data may include calibration data describing the positions of the transmitting and receiving transducer elements, as well as transmit data describing the identity (or position) of the transmitting transducer associated with particular echo data.

After retrieving such data, the clinician may use the data to reconstruct the imaging session in various ways while adjustments that have not been made during the real-time imaging session may be made. For example, a series of images of 2D slices through a 3D volume may be generated and shown in succession, simulating a 2D transducer across the surface of the region of interest. Examples of these and other methods are described in U.S. patent application publication No. 2014/0058266 entitled "ultrasonic Imaging System Memory Architecture" and PCT patent application publication No. WO2016/028787 entitled "Network-Based ultrasonic Imaging System".

Some embodiments of a probe configured for imaging the entire patient's body or a large portion of the patient's body may include an array of designated point source emitters and designated receiving elements sized and arranged to cover a large portion of a desired area of the patient's body. For example, the probe may be sized to cover substantially half or more of the patient's chest. Such a probe may have a maximum dimension of about 8cm to about 10 cm.

Alternatively, a much smaller probe capable of insonifying a conical volume of, for example, + or-30 degrees, may be placed on the patient's body so that the organ of interest may be included in the pyramid. Such probes may be placed in more than one position to cover a larger volume of interest.

Designated point source emitter

As described above, a single small transducer element of a transducer array may be used to approximate a point source transmitter. When performing 2D point source pulse imaging using a one-dimensional array (an array of elements with parallel longitudinal axes, typically including a lens that focuses the signal to a single imaging plane), a single element may be able to produce a point source pulse in the imaging plane with sufficient energy to achieve imaging at a reasonable depth.

Additionally, in various embodiments, a "point-source transmitter" transducer may be configured to produce a waveform that is both close to an actual point source and has sufficient energy to produce a high quality image at a desired depth. In some cases, such a point-of-view source transmitter may be configured such that the ultrasound power output may be limited only for safety considerations within the image medium.

As used herein, the phrase "point source" refers to a point in two-dimensional (2D) space or three-dimensional (3D) space, which represents the center point of the emitted 2D or 3D ultrasound waveform, respectively. In some embodiments, such points are ideally infinite points corresponding to a generated wavefront having a continuous hemispherical shape. In embodiments where such a waveform is produced by a single small element, such a point may be located on the surface of the transducer element. As used herein, the terms "hemispherical pulse" and "hemispherical wavefront" may refer to any ultrasound wavefront having a spherical cross-sectional shape, including wavefronts having an approximately spherical cross-sectional shape that is greater than or less than an ideal hemisphere. Similarly, the terms "semicircular pulse" and "semicircular wavefront" may refer to any ultrasound wavefront that appears in the imaging plane to have a circular cross-sectional shape, including having an approximately circular cross-sectional shape that is larger or smaller than an ideal semicircle.

In some cases, multiple (e.g., two, three, four, or more) small transducer elements from a common transmit/receive array may be excited simultaneously to produce a point source pulse having more energy than a single element may produce.

In some embodiments, a given point source emitter may comprise a large transducer shaped and configured to produce a relatively high power waveform that "appears" to originate from a point source, in other words, an apparent point source, even if the location of the apparent point source does not correspond to the physical structure responsible for producing the wavefront. When performing beamforming calculations to determine the position of the retroreflector based on the timing of the received echoes, the position of the apparent point source may be used as the origin of the wavefront of the transmitted point source pulse. In various embodiments, the approximate location of the apparent point source may be estimated based on the physical geometry or other characteristics of the specified point source emitter.

In some embodiments, a particularly suitable shape for a given point source emitter may include a single element in the shape of a concave-convex spherical cap sized to provide sufficient ultrasound power to perform real-time three-dimensional point source pulse-based imaging. The convex spherical crown may be generally referred to herein as a "dome shape," while the concave spherical crown may be referred to as a "bowl shape. Some examples of imaging probes containing examples of such spherical cap transducer elements (alternatively referred to as "point of view" transducer elements) are shown and described in U.S. patent application publication No. US 2015/0080727.

Examples of piezoelectric materials and fabrication

In some cases, a given point source emitter may comprise a single structure or one or more sub-structures of elements arranged in a planar, convex, or concave shape. In some embodiments, each designated transmitter element or receiving transducer element may be constructed from a single continuous piece of piezoelectric material. These elements may be referred to herein as "bulk" elements or made of "bulk piezoelectric" materials. In other embodiments, the transmitter and/or receiver elements may be comprised of multiple sub-element structures, such as diced piezoelectric material, micro-element structures (as described further below), or other structures that may cooperate to form a complete element.

In some embodiments, the transmitter element or receiver element may be in the form of a thin shell of piezoelectric material, which is planar or frusto-spherical in shape. Such elements may be made of any material exhibiting piezoelectric properties. Many naturally occurring and synthetic materials are known to exhibit piezoelectric properties, which may have properties suitable for ultrasound imaging applications. In the case of point source pulse-based multi-aperture ultrasound imaging, the ultrasound point source pulse signals may be transmitted at frequencies commonly used in diagnostic medical ultrasound, for example, in the range of about 1MHz to about 20MHz or higher. Thus, a point-of-view source transducer with a fundamental frequency in this range may be suitable for multi-aperture imaging based on point-source pulses.

Naturally occurring piezoelectric materials include quartz, topaz, and tourmaline, while artificial piezoelectric ceramic materials include lead zirconate titanate (PZT), barium titanate, lead metaniobate, and polyvinylidene fluoride (PVF)₂Not natural piezoelectric, but can also be made by heating in the presence of a strong electric field). Some artificial piezoelectric ceramic materials can be combined with non-piezoelectric polymer materials to produce piezoelectric composites.

In the case of a bulk element made of piezoelectric material, the thickness of a given emitter element, whether planar, bowl-shaped or dome-shaped, may be directly related to the fundamental frequency of the transducer. In some cases (e.g., for some piezoceramic materials), the thickness of the transducer housing may be equal to about half of the wavelength of its corresponding fundamental frequency. However, depending on the materials and/or structures used, the shell thickness may be related differently to the fundamental frequency of the transducer element. The manufacturing process may also vary depending on the piezoelectric material used and other factors.

For example, natural or artificial piezoelectric materials can be machined using conventional techniques to form a desired shape directly from the body of material. Such machining may be performed using a mechanical cutter, a water jet, or any other available machining technique. Alternatively, a piece or sheet of piezoelectric material can be machined into a plurality of elements attached to a flexible substrate and then shaped into a desired shape. For example, the plurality of concentric ring cuts 42 and radial cuts 44 may be made from a sheet of piezoelectric material, which may then be formed on a backing material having a desired shape (e.g., a spherical cap). In such an embodiment, the individual subelement sections making up an element can be electrically connected to transmit simultaneously without phase.

In some embodiments, the desired shape may be molded (e.g., by injection molding, die casting, or other molding process) from the piezoelectric composite. Examples of molding processes that may be suitable for forming the spherical cap element are described in U.S. patent 5,340,510 and U.S. patent 5,625,149.

Ultrasonic transducers can also be produced in the required shape using additive manufacturing techniques (commonly known as 3D printing techniques). For example, U.S. patent application publication No. 2013/0076207 and U.S. patent application publication No. 2013/0088122 describe systems and methods for forming a cylindrical pillar shaped transducer. Similar techniques may also be applied to form transducers having spherical caps or other shapes. Alternatively, other fabrication techniques, such as laser sintering, stereolithography, chemical vapor deposition, or any other suitable technique, may be used to produce transducers of the shapes and sizes described herein.

Capacitive Micromachined Ultrasonic Transducer (CMUT) formation techniques can also be used to form a desired shaped transducer on a pre-formed substrate. WO2012/112540 shows and describes some examples of structures and techniques that may be suitable for forming spherical crown transducers. Alternatively, the transducer elements may be fabricated by forming the CMUT transducer array on a substrate that is pre-formed into the desired shape (e.g., concave or convex spherical caps as described above). In such embodiments, the CMUT elements may be electrically connected to transmit simultaneously without phase.

In some embodiments, the transducer elements may be comprised of multiple micro-elements that may be fabricated using photolithographic techniques, thin film deposition techniques, etching techniques, additive manufacturing techniques, surface micromachining, bulk micromachining, and/or other methods. For example, U.S. patent 6,222,304 to Bernstein (which is incorporated herein by reference) describes a process for fabricating a micro-shell transducer element comprising a substrate, an electroactive media mounted on the substrate and comprising an arcuate portion spaced from the substrate, defining a chamber between the substrate and the arcuate portion, and a pair of electrodes mounted on the media for applying an electric field across the media that bends the arcuate portion or sensing an electric field generated by bending of the media. Other techniques may also be used to produce different types of microcomponents. For example, in some cases, the flexible "arch" may be replaced by a flexible planar portion or a flexible concave portion that may bend upon application of a suitable electrical signal.

In some embodiments, to build the transducer elements into the probe, the "front" surface of each element (e.g., the inner surface of the concave element, the outer surface of the convex element, or the outside facing planar element surface) may be plated with a conductive layer (e.g., metal) to allow electrical connection to the elements. In some embodiments, the entire inner surface and the entire outer surface of each element may be plated, allowing the entire piezoelectric housing to be activated by applying an electrical signal across both plated surfaces. In other embodiments, less than the entire housing may be activated by plating less than the entire inner and/or outer surface of the housing. In this manner, a similar range of element sizes may be effected by a single physical structure.

Emitter and receiver elements can be made in a range of shapes, such as top surfaces having a flat, convex, concave, or a combination of shapes, using available materials and methods. The transmitter and/or receiver elements may also have various plan view shapes, such as circular, rectangular, pentagonal, hexagonal, heptagonal, octagonal, other polygonal, or other shapes. The elements may be electrically and logically connected to a controller so as to be dedicated transmitters, dedicated receivers, or may be switchable between transmit and receive functions. The elements may be arranged in various arrays, for example regular arrays, irregular arrays, sparse arrays or arrays that can be controlled to operate as regular, irregular or sparse arrays.

Ultrasound imaging array composed of micro-elements

An ultrasound probe consisting of an ultrasound transmitter and receiver can be made by various techniques suitable for producing arrays of micro-elements. As used herein, the term "microelement" refers to very small transducer elements having a size (e.g., diameter) that is, in order, less than about 1,000 microns, in some cases from about 10 microns to about 500 microns, in some cases between about 50 microns and about 200 microns, in some cases between about 50 microns and about 150 microns, in some cases between about 10 microns and about 25 microns, in some cases between about 25 microns and about 50 microns, and in some cases between about 50 microns and about 100 microns. In some cases, a micro-component may be defined as any component having a diameter equal to less than half the wavelength of the ultrasound frequency in the imaging material in which the micro-component is to be used.

In general, the micro-components may be too small to be mechanically processed from conventional bulk piezoelectric materials, and thus may be fabricated using photolithographic techniques, thin film deposition techniques, etching techniques, additive manufacturing techniques, surface micromachining, bulk micromachining, and/or other methods. For example, U.S. patent 6,222,304 to Bernstein, which is incorporated herein by reference, describes a process of fabricating a micro-shell transducer element that includes a substrate, an electroactive media mounted on the substrate and including an arcuate portion spaced apart from the substrate, defining a chamber between the substrate and the arcuate portion, and a pair of electrodes mounted on the media for applying an electric field across the media that bends the arcuate portion (i.e., to emit an ultrasonic signal) or sensing an electric field resulting from bending of the media (i.e., to receive an ultrasonic signal that impinges on the micro-element). Other techniques may also be used to produce different types of microcomponents. For example, in some cases, the flexible "arched portion" may be replaced by a flexible planar portion or a flexible concave portion that may bend upon application of an appropriate electrical signal and/or may be sensitive to received pulses.

In some embodiments, it may be desirable to create an array of micro-components that can conform to a desired shape. In such embodiments, one or more of the above-described techniques may be used to pattern the micro-components on the semiconductor substrate, the back surface of the substrate (i.e., opposite the surface on which the micro-components are located) may be thinned to make the substrate flexible to a desired degree, and then the substrate may be conformed to a new shape and secured to a support material. In various embodiments, such thinning and reshaping may be performed over the entire substrate surface or in localized areas.

There are generally four methods for wafer thinning in the field of semiconductor manufacturing. They include mechanical grinding, Chemical Mechanical Polishing (CMP), wet etching and Atmospheric Downstream Plasma (ADP), and Dry Chemical Etching (DCE).

Using these techniques (or combinations thereof), one or more portions of the array of microelements can be conformed so as to form the entire array or portions of the array in a desired shape. For example, the array may be shaped to conform to a portion of a human anatomy, such as a breast, a joint (e.g., knee, elbow, wrist, ankle, etc.), a skull, or other anatomy. In other examples, the array may be shaped to conform to a mechanical, structural, or industrial component. In other examples, the array portion may be shaped to form a group of three-dimensional elements arranged to exhibit a desired emission pattern. For example, such techniques may be used to form groups of transducer elements configured to emit viewpoint source waveforms.

In some embodiments, the array of microelements can be conformed so as to form a dome-shaped portion or a disk-shaped portion, such as the ball-portion elements described herein. For example, a convex or concave dome-shaped emitting element that optimizes near-field imaging may be formed from multiple micro-elements on a thinned portion of the substrate and conform to the desired dome shape.

In some embodiments, the dome shape may be optimized for near field imaging based on the emission angles of the micro-elements that will make up the dome. Each micro-element may have an emission angle relative to a centerline of the emitted wavefront. The emission angle of the micro-elements defines the angle at which the energy of the emitted wavefront falls below a certain threshold.

In some embodiments, an optimized convex dome shape for near field imaging may be defined by a spherical portion having a selected cut elevation such that a wavefront emanating from a micro-element at a low region of the dome (i.e., a region of the spherical portion that adjoins an attachment point to a surrounding array of micro-elements) will not tend to directly impact an adjacent micro-element. Such dome-shaped groups of micro-elements may be electrically connected so that they may operate as a single element. As in various other examples herein, the spherical center point of such elements may be used as an acoustic center point for beamforming calculations from point source pulses emitted from such spherical-segment-shaped emitter elements.

In some embodiments, an optimized concave disk shape for far-field imaging may be defined by a spherical portion having a selected cutting elevation such that a wavefront emanating from a micro-element within the disk does not tend to directly impinge on other micro-elements in the disk-shaped element. Such disc-shaped groups of micro-elements may be electrically connected such that they may operate together to collectively form a single transmitter and/or receiver element. As various other examples, the spherical center points of such groups of elements may be used as acoustic center points for beamforming calculations from point source pulses transmitted from such spherical segment shaped transmitter or receiver elements.

In some embodiments, the overall shape of the substrate supporting the array of microelements can conform to a desired shape. For example, in some embodiments, the substrate supporting the array of micro-components may be formed into a complex overall shape. In some cases, the array of microelements may include one or more surfaces having curved portions in order to conform to anatomical or other structures.

In various embodiments, the micro-elements may be grouped to form shaped transducer elements, such as those described elsewhere herein. Groups of microcomponents may be collectively treated as a single component in the various processes described herein and may be referred to herein as "groups of components" or "groups of microcomponents. For example, as shown in fig. 1 and 2, a plurality of adjacent micro-elements may be logically and electrically processed as a single unit to form the transducer elements of the desired size and shape and at the desired locations. In some embodiments, the spherical cap or dome-shaped element may be formed from a plurality of microelements.

One advantage of forming the transducer element from a set of such micro-elements is that the location of each micro-element can be known very accurately based on the accuracy of the manufacturing technique used to produce the micro-elements. Thus, the position of each micro-element group can also be known very accurately.

In some embodiments, a group of micro-elements forming a single group of transducer elements may share a single electrical ground conductor and a single electrical signal conductor. In some embodiments, each ground conductor and signal conductor of each transducer element group may form a differential pair of signal and ground conductors that is independent of the other elements of the array. In other words, the micro-components of a group of micro-components forming a group of components may share a single ground conductor that is not shared with the ground conductors of the micro-components belonging to other groups of components between the probe and the connector connecting the probe. Similarly, the micro-components of a group of components may share a single signal conductor that is not shared with the single conductors of the micro-components of other groups of components between the probe and the connector connecting the probe to the control electronics. In some embodiments, some of the micro-elements (e.g., a subset of the micro-elements forming a group of elements) may be connected to the signal and/or ground conductors of other micro-elements via switches configured to allow the subset of micro-elements to be switchably connected to the signal and/or ground conductors of other micro-elements.

Alternatively, some or all of the groups of micro-components may share a common ground conductor and/or a common signal conductor. For example, in some embodiments, groups of micro-components that form components that are collectively part of a single aperture may share a common ground conductor and/or a common signal conductor. In other embodiments, one or more signal and/or ground conductors may be shared in a multiplexer arrangement, such as time division multiplexed communications or other multiplexing methods.

Sparse array probe for real-time 3D imaging

Multi-aperture ultrasound imaging based on point source pulses can provide very powerful real-time three-dimensional imaging capabilities as described above. The advantages of point source pulse based multi-aperture ultrasound imaging can be achieved by using a transducer probe having overall dimensions much larger than conventional ultrasound probes. For example, point source pulse based multi-aperture ultrasound imaging may advantageously be used with ultrasound imaging having more than 100cm²Is used with a probe that effectively images a surface. Traditionally, the ultrasound elements in a probe are as close together as possible, typically significantly less than (and typically no more than) half the wavelength of the ultrasound frequency used.

However, the use of conventional inter-element spacing in such large probes requires that the cable be too thick to be usable. Although some skill can be used to reduce the number of individual conductors required in the cable, a better solution is to increase the allowed spacing between elements, thereby reducing the total number of elements in the array. The use of sparse arrays with conventional scan-line based imaging methods suffers from substantial complications, artifacts, and low resolution and is therefore generally impractical. Based on studies of the use of sparse array scan line-based phased array techniques, it may be expected that the use of sparse arrays with point source pulse-based multi-aperture ultrasound imaging techniques suffers from similar difficulties, but this is not the case. In fact, sparse arrays may be very effective for use in point source pulse-based multi-aperture ultrasound imaging techniques as described herein.

In some embodiments, a sparse array of transducer elements may be beneficial to provide an ultrasound probe having a wide total aperture and containing a manageable number of transducer elements.

In other fields, a "sparse array" is generally defined as an array in which most array locations have zero or null values. In some cases, similar definitions may apply to an array of ultrasound transducer elements. In the context of an array of ultrasound transducer elements, a sparse array may be defined as an array of potential element locations, where most element locations contain inactive elements. For example, the inactive element locations may contain no transducers, if any, or may contain transducers that are inactive at a specified time. For example, the inactive element positions may include transducer elements that are electrically disconnected from the imaging control electronics, either temporarily or permanently. In other examples, the null element locations may include empty spaces (or spaces filled with non-transducing material) of a size equivalent to the transducer elements.

In some cases, an ultrasound transducer array in which less than most of the element locations contain inactive elements may also be considered "sparse" if the average spacing between adjacent elements exceeds a threshold distance. For example, in some cases, an ultrasound transducer array may be considered "sparse" if all (or almost all) adjacent elements of the array are spaced from each other by a distance that is at least half the wavelength of the ultrasound waves transmitted and/or received by the elements. In other cases, an ultrasound transducer array may be considered "sparse" if at least a majority of the elements of the array are spaced apart from adjacent elements by a distance of at least a threshold distance. If the array is configured to operate at more than one ultrasound frequency, the threshold distance may be half of the maximum wavelength at which any portion of the array is configured to operate.

In some variations, an ultrasound probe comprising a sparse array of ultrasound transmitters and receivers may be fabricated using one or more of the various micro-element or sub-element configurations described herein. For example, in some embodiments, a sparse array may be formed from a continuous array of microelements by electrically assigning the microelements to groups of elements, where the groups of elements are positioned in a sparse arrangement. Examples of these embodiments are described below with reference to fig. 4. In some such embodiments, the micro-components not assigned to a group of components may simply be electrically inactive.

In some embodiments, instead of a continuous array of microelements (as shown in fig. 1), a sparse array transducer probe may include multiple groups of microelements formed in desired locations on the substrate, without having to form microelements between additional groups of microelements. FIG. 2 illustrates an example of such a sparse array 480 comprised of separate micro-element groups 481-486.

In some embodiments, an ultrasound probe comprising a sparse array of ultrasound transmitters and receivers may be fabricated by forming individual transducer elements from bulk piezoelectric material, mechanically picking up and placing each element at a precise location on a substrate, affixing each element to the substrate, and making electrical connections to each element. The bulk piezoelectric element can be made in any shape or size as described herein.

In some embodiments, sparse array probes may be used effectively by 3D multi-aperture imaging techniques as described herein, and in some cases may be preferable to continuous arrays, where the transducer elements are densely packed, especially when the spacing between the receiver and transmitter avoids certain modes. In some cases, probes using sparse two-or three-dimensional arrays with regularly spaced transducer elements and the point source pulse-based multi-aperture imaging beamforming techniques described herein may result in the production of self-enhancing artifacts that may undesirably reduce image quality. Such artifacts may be the result of phase cancellation, causing some of the returned echo signals to cancel each other before reaching some of the receiving elements, thereby producing distortion in the form of very dark and/or very bright bands in the resulting image.

In some embodiments, this artifact may be avoided or mitigated by positioning the transducer elements at non-uniform distances from each other in a sparse array. In other words, phase cancellation artifacts may be avoided or mitigated by positioning the transmit and receive elements such that no two transducer elements are equidistant from any single third element. In some cases, it is acceptable that a small number of component locations are comparable. In an example of such an embodiment, the probe may be constructed such that no more than "N" receive elements are located at equal distances from a single transmitter, where "N" is an integer value between 1 and 1,000 or more, more typically between about 1 and 100, in some particular examples N may be 1, 2,3, 4, 5, 10, 100 or more, and where all receiver elements receive ultrasound signals of the same frequency.

In some embodiments, the transmitting elements may be regularly spaced relative to each other while having the receiving elements spaced at irregular distances relative to the transmitting elements. In other embodiments, both transmit and receive elements may be irregularly positioned in a sparse array.

In some embodiments, a two-dimensional sparse array of transducer elements positioned to mitigate phase cancellation artifacts may include elements spaced apart from each other by a "random" distance. Fig. 3 and 4 illustrate examples of two-dimensional sparse array element locations where the distance between any two adjacent elements is not exactly equal to any other distance between two adjacent elements. In the examples of fig. 3 and 4, the distances between adjacent elements are effectively random in the sense that there is no mathematical model relating to the distance.

FIG. 3 illustrates a two-dimensional array 401 comprised of elements 410 that are unevenly spaced from one another in two dimensions according to a pseudo-random pattern. In various embodiments, the array 401 illustrated in fig. 3 may have an overall length dimension 413 and/or an overall width dimension 414 of about 3cm to about 10cm or more. Each element 410 of the array 401 may have a square shape, a circular shape, a polygonal shape, or any other regular or irregular shape. For example, fig. 4 illustrates an embodiment of a sparse array 402, in which designated transmit elements are shown as circular elements 411 and designated receive elements are shown as square elements 412. In other embodiments, all elements may be circular, square, or other shaped elements, even though some are designated as transmitters and others as receivers.

In addition to the generally rectangular arrays shown in fig. 3 and 4, the sparse arrays 401, 402 of unevenly spaced ultrasound elements may be arranged in other shapes, such as a generally elliptical array 403 as shown in fig. 5, or a generally circular array 404 as shown in fig. 6.

The sparse array of ultrasound elements having non-uniform spacing may also be arranged in a generally planar configuration, or a generally concave or convex configuration 405 as shown in FIG. 7. The arrangement of transducer elements shown in fig. 7 is made convex by a supporting substrate layer on the concave side of the element pattern. Similarly, supporting the elements with the substrate on the convex side of the pattern will provide a concave array. In other embodiments, the sparse array may be arranged for an intravenous ultrasound probe or other dedicated probe.

In some embodiments, the separation distance between elements may be a non-repeating random or pseudo-random distance obtained using a random or pseudo-random number generation algorithm. In other examples, the separation distance between elements may be an irregular value, which may be based on non-repeating values from a sequence of integers, such as a Fibonacci sequence or any other non-repeating sequence of numbers. In some cases, an algorithm may be applied to the values from the number sequence to maintain the element separation distance within a desired range. For example, in some embodiments, the distance between adjacent elements may be constrained to a range of, for example, 1mm to 10mm (or 1mm to 20mm or more).

In various embodiments, the spacing between transducer elements need only not be equal to at least as great an amount as the manufacturing tolerances of the manufacturing method used to build the array. For example, if the array fabrication process is capable of positioning components within +/1100 microns of predetermined locations on the substrate, it may be desirable to design the two separation distances so that they differ by at least 100 microns. In other embodiments, the spacing between transducer elements need only be not equal to an amount based on the ultrasound frequency used.

In some medical imaging applications, the variation of tissue may introduce sufficient randomness into the signal to substantially avoid or minimize most phase cancellation artifacts. Thus, in some cases, a sparse array probe may include a greater number of regularly spaced transducer elements if other factors can be expected to minimize phase cancellation artifacts. For example, fig. 8 illustrates an example array 302 of dedicated transmit elements 310 and receive elements 312. In various embodiments, transmit element 310 and/or receive element 312 may be replaced with any other transmit or receive element described elsewhere herein. Fig. 15 and 16B also illustrate exemplary elements having regularly spaced elements that may comprise elements of any of the structures described herein, for example.

Multi-frequency sparse array

In some cases, phase cancellation artifacts may be avoided or mitigated by constructing and/or operating a sparse array probe such that only a small number of regularly spaced elements operate at the same ultrasound frequency as each other. For example, some embodiments of sparse array probes may be constructed and/or operated such that no more than "N" receive elements operating at the same ultrasound frequency (or combination of frequencies) are equidistant from any one transmit element. In such embodiments, N may be an integer between 1 and 100, and in some particular examples, N may be 1, 2,3, 4, 5, or greater. Thus, for example, the probe may contain any number of receiving elements equidistant from one or more transmitting elements, so long as no more than N receivers are operated at the same ultrasound frequency (or combination of frequencies).

The ultrasonic frequency (or combination of frequencies) at which any given transmit or receive element may be operated may be based on structural characteristics (e.g., material, thickness, diameter, or other dimensions) and/or variable operating characteristics of the element, such as the voltage or signal shape applied to the element. The extent to which these factors may alter the operating frequency of an element may depend on the material of the element and/or the process by which it is made. For example, while many sensors may have a fundamental frequency, many sensors may also be driven (i.e., operate in either a transmit or receive mode) at frequencies other than their fundamental frequency. The frequency range over which any particular transducer element may be driven may depend on a number of factors, such as materials, structure, available power, and the like.

For example, in various embodiments, the operating frequency of a micro-component may be determined by the diameter of a flexible portion of material, such as the "arcuate portion" described by Bernstein or a similarly configured flexible planar or concave portion referenced above. Thus, in some embodiments, the set of micro-elements may be composed entirely of micro-elements configured to operate at the same frequency, or may be composed of micro-elements configured to operate at different frequencies. For example, in some embodiments, outer groups of micro-elements (e.g., 464 in fig. 1) may be configured to operate differently than the micro-elements making up the center group 466, by being physically configured differently or by operating differently.

Fig. 9 illustrates an example of a set of different sized micro-elements arranged to form a multi-frequency radiating element. As described above, the fundamental emission frequency of the microelements can be a function of the flexible surface element size. Thus, a group of multi-frequency radiating elements can be formed by providing micro-elements of different sizes, which are arranged so as to be controllable as a common group of elements. The micro-component array 500 of fig. 9 includes three different sizes of micro-components. In other embodiments, two, four, five, six, or more different sized micro-components may be grouped into transmitter or receiver groups. Other patterns or numbers of microelements of each size may also be used depending on the desired waveform characteristics.

The various sized micro-components of fig. 9 may be electrically connected for simultaneous activation as a group, for example by providing a single electrical signal conductor and a single electrical ground conductor that are common to all the micro-components of an emission group such as that shown in fig. 9.

In some embodiments, the array of microelements can include a plurality of emitting element groups containing microelements of various sizes. In some embodiments, different transmit elements may have a mix of different microelement sizes, thereby producing point source pulses with different multifrequency combinations. In this manner, each transmit group may have a unique frequency signature. If different emitters in the probe have a mix of different micro-element sizes to produce different frequency characteristics, the point source pulses emitted from one emitter can be distinguished from the point source pulses emitted by a second emitter, even if the point source pulses from both emitters are emitted simultaneously or during overlapping cycles of point source pulses.

In other words, when the probe is configured to include at least two transmitters configured to transmit multi-frequency waveforms and the receiving elements of the probe are sensitive to all transmitted frequencies, then the echoes received by each receiving element of the probe can be mapped to a transmitter that generates echoes based only on the frequency characteristics of the received echoes. This can be very beneficial in increasing the point source pulse rate and/or frame rate far beyond the limits imposed by single frequency imaging.

Sparse arrays with varying or variable element sizes

In some embodiments, the dimensions of the transducer elements may be varied instead of, or in addition to, varying the spacing between the elements. For example, in some embodiments, the sparse ultrasound array may be entirely comprised of transducer elements of various (and/or variable) sizes as shown in fig. 1, 10A, 10B, 11A, 11B.

In some embodiments, the set of micro-elements may be switchable between a first configuration in which the first set of elements includes a first set of micro-elements and a second configuration in which the first set of elements includes a second set of micro-elements in addition to (or minus) the first set of micro-elements. In some embodiments, such switching between the first configuration and the second configuration may be performed between dot source pulse cycles. That is, a first point source pulse may be transmitted and an echo of the first point source pulse may be received by a micro-element of a first configuration of the group of elements. Subsequently, a second point source pulse may be transmitted and echoes of the second point source pulse may be received by a second configuration, wherein the first set of elements includes a second set of micro-elements in addition to the first set of micro-elements.

Similarly, the group of transmit elements may be configured to be switchable between a first configuration and a second configuration, the second configuration being larger, smaller or of a different shape than the first configuration.

Alternatively, groups of elements may be switched between the first configuration and the second configuration within a single cycle of point source pulses. In such embodiments, a first point source pulse may be transmitted, and a first plurality of echoes of the first point source pulse may be received by the first configured micro-components of the group of components, and the switch may then be closed such that a second plurality of echoes of the first point source pulse may be received by the second configured micro-components of the group of components in addition to or in place of the first configured micro-components. In some embodiments, the first plurality of echoes may be relatively near-field echoes produced by reflectors that are closer than a threshold distance of the receiver micro-elements, and the second plurality of echoes may be mid-field or far-field echoes produced by reflectors that are farther than the threshold distance from the receiver micro-elements. Assuming that the speed of sound is approximately constant, the threshold may be a time value such that the first plurality of echoes may be received with the first configuration of micro-elements until a switching time at which the switch may activate the second configuration of micro-elements to allow the second plurality of echoes to be received after the switching time until the end of the cycle of point source pulses.

In some embodiments, individual micro-elements or groups of micro-elements may be electrically switchable so as to be selectively included in or excluded from the group of micro-elements forming the element or well. The group of transmit elements or the group of receive elements may be configured to be switchable between a first configuration and a second configuration, wherein the second configuration is larger, smaller or of a different shape than the first configuration.

For example, fig. 1 illustrates an exemplary portion of a continuous array 450 of micro-elements 460. Some of the micro-components 460 are indicated as having been assigned to groups 462, 464, 466, 468, 470, and 472. Fig. 1 further illustrates that the outer groups of micro-components 464 are identified by stippling around the central group 466 of micro-components. In one embodiment of the illustrated example, a larger group 468 of elements may be used as transmit elements and smaller groups 462, 464, 470, and 472 of elements may be used as receive elements.

In some embodiments, the outer set 464 may be switchable as a set to selectively form larger elements in combination with the central set 466. Similar groups of elements may form any number of adjacent groups of micro-elements in any desired configuration. Such variable sized elements may be used as transmit elements, receive elements, or both.

Another example is provided in sets 472 and 474 which provide switchable configurations having different shapes and sizes. One or more switches may be provided to allow group 474 to be included in group 472, such that groups 472 and 474 may operate together as a single element (e.g., as a receiving element or as a transmitting element). The elongated elements formed by the combination of subunits 472 and 474 may be advantageously used in conjunction with a process for estimating the position of the reflector using the elongated receiving elements.

In some embodiments, receive beamforming calculations based on point source pulses (as described herein) may be performed using the position of the center of the circle of the center micro-element (e.g., 744) of the group of micro-elements as the acoustic center position of the group of transducer elements. In embodiments where the micro-component groups are arranged such that they do not include a centrally located micro-component, the location of the micro-component groups may be defined as the centroid point or geometric center point of the micro-component groups. In other embodiments, the acoustic center position of each transducer element group may be measured, determined, and/or refined using various calibration processes. Examples of suitable Calibration procedures are described in U.S. patent application publication No. US2014/0043933 entitled "Calibration of Multiple Aperture ultrasonic Probes", U.S. patent 9,282,945 entitled "Calibration of ultrasonic Probes", and U.S. patent 9,510,806 entitled "Alignment of ultrasonic Transducer Arrays and Multiple", each of which is incorporated herein by reference.

Fig. 10A and 10B illustrate examples of radially symmetric groups 342 of switchable concentric subelements 344, 346, 348 that can cooperate with one another. The group 342 may include a central circular receiving element 344 surrounded by one or more concentric rings of receiving elements 346, 348, which provides the benefit of obtaining elements of various sizes in a small physical footprint, while maintaining a consistent acoustic center location. In various embodiments, the central element 344 may be surrounded by two, three, or more rings, as desired for a particular application.

In some embodiments, the space (or "cut") between the central circular element 344 and the inner ring 346 and the space/cut between the rings 344, 348 may be as small as possible in order to provide as many seamless transitions between adjacent ring elements as possible. In one example, the inner circular element 344 may have a diameter of about 1mm, the inner ring 346 may have a width of about 0.5mm, and the outer ring 348 may have a width of about 0.5 mm. In such an example, the center element 344 and the inner ring element 346 may be combined to simulate a circular element having a diameter of about 2mm, and the center element 344, the inner ring element 346, and the outer ring element 348 may be combined to simulate a circular element having a diameter of about 3 mm.

As shown in fig. 10A, in some embodiments, each element 344, 346, 348 may be individually connected to a separate receive channel 331, 332, 333 of the receive subsystem to allow echoes received with each concentric element to be stored separately. With such an arrangement, after echoes have been received with all receiving elements of all sizes, a complete image can be formed from the received echoes. This may allow for a "digital switching" process in which the echo data received with the sub-elements may be selectively combined to improve the final image. The stored echoes may be retrieved from the memory device and combined to obtain the best image based on the timing of the received echoes and/or the location of the transmitted point source pulse.

In such an embodiment, echo data received with the center element 344 alone may be used to beamform the near-field reflector. The echo data received with the center element 344 may be coherently combined with the echo data received with the inner loop element 346 for use in beamforming mid-field reflectors. Similarly, echo data received with the center element 344 may be coherently combined with echo data received with the inner ring element 346 and the outer ring element 348 for beamforming a far-field reflector.

As with other embodiments using receivers of various sizes, the transition between "near field", "mid field" and "far field" (or between "near field" and "far field" in systems having only two sizes of receiving elements) may be defined based on the intended imaging application, the particular size of the elements to be used, the optimal characteristics of the emitted ultrasound frequency, and other factors. One advantage of the digital switching method described herein is that the transitions between "near field", "mid field" and "far field" can be changed and redefined after echo data is received and stored. This may allow iterative adjustment of such transformations for optimization of image quality or other desired characteristics.

Alternatively, as illustrated in fig. 10B, each set of three ring portions 342 may be electrically connected to a common receive channel of the receive subsystem to allow electrical switching between "small", "medium", and "large" receive elements. When the three annular portions 344, 346, 348 are arranged in a concentric pattern, the position of the circular center of each portion 344, 346, 348 will be the same, simplifying the beamforming operation.

As illustrated in fig. 10B, the central circular element 344 and one or more concentric annular portions 346, 348 may be electrically connected to the common receiving channel 330 via switches 352, 354. The switches 352, 354 may be any remotely operable electrical switches and may include any suitable electromechanical, MEMS, semiconductor, or other components. When switches 352, 354 are closed, sub-elements 344, 346, and 348 may be electrically connected in parallel. In some embodiments, each subelement 344, 346, 348 may have a separate ground conductor. In other embodiments, the subelements 344, 346, 348 may share a common ground conductor.

In use, may be at time ═ t₀"where a point source pulse is emitted from a transmitting element, and may define the transition between" near field "," mid field ", and" far field "in terms of time, where" t "is₁"is the time at which the transition from near to mid field occurs," t₂"is the time when the transition from the mid-field to the far-field occurs. In this example, at time t0, the two switches 352, 354 may open during and immediately after the transmission of the point source pulse. Subsequently, at time t1, the inner ring switch 352 may be closed, thereby electrically combining the signal generated by the inner circular element 344 with the signal generated by the inner ring transducer element 346. At time t2, outer ring switch 354 may also be closed, causing inner ring switch 352 to also close, thereby electrically combining the signals generated by inner circular elements 344 with the signals generated by inner ring transducer elements 346 and outer ring transducer elements 348. The echo data train resulting from the point source pulse transmitted at t0 will contain near field echoes received by the inner circular element 344 alone, mid field echoes received by the combined inner circular element 344 and inner circular element 346, and far field echoes received by all three 344, 346, 348 elements in combination.

As with other embodiments described herein, various sizes of receiving elements may be manufactured using any suitable manufacturing process. For example, the continuous disk-shaped element and the ring-shaped element may be made from bulk PZT material, other piezoelectric materials, or from micro-element arrays or other sub-elements using any of the various fabrication techniques identified herein. The transducer elements 344, 346, 348 may also have shapes other than circular, such as polygonal or amorphous shapes. Each of the elements 344, 346, 348 may also be made up of a plurality of microelements.

In some embodiments, the central element and one or more concentric ring elements may be formed from a single continuous sheet of PZT (or other piezoelectric material) that is plated with a conductive material to form the central element 344 and one or more distinct operable rings. For example, the ring elements may be defined by rings of plated conductive material in a desired ring shape with regions of unplated material between adjacent ring elements or between an inner ring and a central element. In some embodiments, annular plated regions may be formed on the top and bottom surfaces of the piezoelectric material. In other embodiments, the annular portion may be plated on the top surface and the bottom surface may be continuously plated. In some embodiments using such a continuous piezoelectric structure with both plated and unplated areas, a bias voltage can be applied to the inner ring 346 and/or the outer ring 348 while receiving echoes with the center element, thereby suppressing unwanted oscillation of the PZT peripheral areas.

In some embodiments, a switchable set of subelements, such as the subelements illustrated in FIG. 10B, can be used as variable size transmit elements. For example, by transmitting separately from the central element 344 rather than simultaneously from the central element 344 and the inner ring element 346, waveforms of different shapes or power levels may be produced, which in turn are different from the waveforms transmitted from all three sub-elements 344, 346, 348.

In some embodiments, the central element 344 may also be switchably connected to a receiving system or a transmitting system. In some embodiments, the arrangement illustrated in fig. 10A may be combined with the arrangement in fig. 10B. That is, each subelement can be switchable between one of three states: connected to their own receive (or transmit) channels, electrically connected in parallel with each other, or disconnected (i.e., at an open circuit relative to other subelements).

In some embodiments, elements of different sizes may be grouped in different clusters, allowing different modes of operation. Fig. 11A illustrates multiple sizes of elements arranged in a group 322. In some embodiments, different sized elements may be combined together, with each group 322 including a minor element 324, a middle element 326, and a major element 328 positioned close together. In some embodiments, the sparse array may include groups of elements of different sizes, wherein the elements in each group may be spaced apart from each other by a distance less than half the wavelength of the ultrasound waves transmitted and/or received by the elements. In other words, element group 322 may be sparsely positioned relative to other groups, while the elements of each group may be non-sparsely spaced from each other.

In one example, the small element 324 may have a diameter of about 1mm, the medium element 326 may have a diameter of about 2mm, and the large element 328 may have a diameter of about 3mm (any other dimension may also be desired depending on the needs of a particular application). In other examples, element clusters 322 may include only two sizes of receiving elements or four or more sizes of elements. The dimensions of the individual and relative elements used, as well as the relative positions of the elements, may also be varied as desired for a particular application. In some embodiments, each element of cluster set 322 may include the concentric elements described above with reference to fig. 10A and/or 9B.

In some embodiments, each element 324, 326, 328 of the cluster of fig. 11A and the cluster of fig. 11B may be a micro-element (e.g., a micro-dome or another micro-element structure as described above) or a set of micro-elements.

As described above, smaller diameter elements may provide optimal reception characteristics for echoes returned by relatively shallow (or near-field) reflectors, while larger diameter elements may provide optimal reception characteristics for echoes returned by relatively deep (or far-field) reflectors. Thus, in some embodiments, the imaging system may be configured to switch between using information from various sized elements, such that small elements 324 may be used primarily for echo formation images received from near-field reflectors, medium-sized elements 326 may be used primarily for echo formation images received from medium-field reflectors, and large elements 328 may be used primarily for echo formation images received from far-field reflectors.

In some embodiments, this switching may be done digitally by forming a complete image from the received echoes after they have been received with all receiving elements of all sizes. To achieve this digital switching in some embodiments, each receiving element 324, 326, 328 of the cluster of fig. 11A may be individually electrically connected to a separate channel 331, 332, 333 of the receiving subsystem. In such an embodiment, echoes received by different sized elements may be digitized and stored separately in a memory device. The stored echoes may then be retrieved from the memory device and combined to obtain the best image based on the timing of the received echoes and/or the location of the transmitted point source pulses.

Because each received echo sample can be mapped to a three-dimensional location within the imaging volume, one or more threshold depths can be established to determine which regions of the volume (or 2D image) should be formed with echoes received by small elements, which regions should be formed with echoes received by medium-sized elements, which regions should be formed with echoes received by large elements, and which regions should be formed by combining echoes from medium and small elements or by combining echoes from medium and large elements. Such information may be stored in the imaging controller and used during real-time imaging or during image reconstruction from stored echo data. As with other embodiments described herein, the receive elements may be grouped into receive apertures, each having an overall size selected such that echoes received by multiple elements of a common receive aperture may be coherently combined without phase cancellation. The information obtained from the two or more receive apertures may then be incoherently combined.

The above-described digital switching method relies on storing, at least temporarily, the echoes received by each receiving element of each size separately. In alternative embodiments, the number of receive channels used by various sizes of receive elements may be reduced by incorporating a switch. For example, as illustrated in fig. 11B, the receive group 322 including the large element 328, the medium element 326, and the small element 324 may be electrically connected to a single receive channel 330 of the receive subsystem via switches S1, S2, S3. Each of the large element 328, the medium element 326, and the small element 324 may be switched "on" (closed circuit) during the time when it is desired for the element to return available (or contributing) information. During times when it is desired that a particular sized element not return usable information, the element may be switched "closed" (open circuit) to facilitate turning on a different sized element.

Switching of the receiving element will be described with reference to an example. Suppose that at time t₀"emitting a point source pulse from a emitting element. If the transition between "near field", "medium field" and "far field" is defined in terms of time, where "t" is₁"is the time at which the transition from near to mid field occurs," t₂"is the time at which the transition from the medium to the far field occurs, then a set of three differently sized receiving elements can be switched as follows: only small elements 324 are turned on from time t0 to t1 (e.g., close S1, open S2 and S3), only medium elements 326 are turned on from time t1 to t2 (close S2, open S1 and S3), and only large elements 328 are turned on from time t2 until the next point source pulse is transmitted (or until the time all receivable echoes can be expected to return) (close S3, open S1 and S2). In some embodiments, two or more of the switches S1, S2, S3 may be combined into a single multi-position switch.

In some embodiments, when using different sized receiving elements in conjunction with digital or electronic switching, the image formation subsystem may use the physical location of each individual element 324, 326, 328 to identify echo samples corresponding to a particular pixel or voxel location in the imaged region. In the case of digital switching, the position of the circular center of each receive element may be stored separately and associated with the corresponding receive channel for use during beamforming operations. Even in the case of electrical switching, since the time at which switching occurs is known, samples corresponding to small, medium, and large elements can be determined based on the time associated with the data samples, and appropriate element circle center position information can be used for beamforming echoes received by elements of different sizes.

In some embodiments, transducer elements of different sizes in a pattern such as shown in fig. 1, 11A, 11B, 10A, or 10B, or any other pattern, may be used as the transmit elements. For example, any circular, polygonal, or other shaped planar, concave, or convex element may be provided in two, three, or more different sizes to serve as a dedicated radiating element.

In various embodiments, the switches used to switch individual micro-components or groups of micro-components may comprise any suitable type of micro-electromechanical system (MEMS) switch. In some embodiments, the MEMS switch may be formed on the same substrate on the opposite side as the micro-component. The MEMS or other switches may be controlled by the transmit subsystem, the receive subsystem, or both, as appropriate for a given application.

In some embodiments, a Low Noise Amplifier (LNA) may also be disposed on the backside of the substrate supporting the array of micro-elements. In some embodiments, one LNA may be provided for each receive element (or group of commonly controlled micro-elements). In other cases, one LNA may be provided for each receive aperture or group of receive elements. In various embodiments, the LNA may also be controlled by one or more elements of an imaging control system, such as a transmit subsystem or a receive subsystem.

Detecting reflector position based on pattern or shape of receiving element

As described herein, the beamforming calculation produces trajectories of possible positions of reflectors based on the known positions of the transmitter and receiver elements, and combines the trajectories obtained from multiple elements to converge toward the actual position of a given reflector. Thus, any additional information about the possible positions of the reflectors can be used to further enhance the image quality.

In some embodiments, the known pattern of the receiver element may be used to determine the approximate direction from which the echo returned to the receiver element. This can be understood with reference to the example in fig. 12, which shows a pattern 600 of 6 receiving elements 602, each receiving element 602 being made up of a plurality of micro-elements. For clarity of example, the elements 602 are shown arranged in a regular grid pattern, but may be irregularly spaced and may be asymmetrically aligned with respect to each other. Various axes may be drawn through any two or more transducer elements arranged in a pattern. Fig. 12 illustrates a vertical axis 610, a horizontal axis 606, and two diagonal axes 604, 608. Several other axes may also be drawn, any of which may use the same method.

For echoes arriving at a given reflector of receive elements 602, the beamforming process will determine the locus of possible location points of the reflector based on the location of the transmitter and the location of each receive element 602. In some embodiments, the system may also compare the absolute arrival times of the echoes of a given reflector at elements along one or more axes (604, 606, 608, 610). For example, if the upper right element along the diagonal axis 604 receives echoes (measured in nanoseconds) from a given reflector at an earlier time than the same echoes arrive at the center element, there may be reason to conclude that: the reflector is located in a portion of the region of interest, closer to the upper right quadrant of the array portion.

This position estimation information may be supported or confirmed by comparing the arrival time of a given reflector echo at the upper right element with the arrival time of the same given reflector echo at the lower left element. Additional elements along the same axis can also be used to further confirm the estimation of the reflector origin. Comparing the arrival times of the same given reflector along other axes may provide further information about the approximate location of the reflector.

In some embodiments, the axis-based direction estimation process may include: unfocused ultrasound point source pulses are transmitted from a transmitter proximate the point source to an object to be imaged. The echoes of the transmitted point source pulses may then be received at a first receive element and a second receive element, where a line between the first receive element and the second receive element defines an axis. The first and second receiving elements may be located at known positions relative to a common coordinate system (e.g., based on position data retrieved from a data store). The process may proceed by identifying a first echo sample corresponding to a first reflector received at a first element, and identifying a second echo sample corresponding to the same first reflector received at a second element. A first arrival time may be determined for a time at which a first sample echo is received at a first receiving element. The first time of arrival may be based on explicit or implicit timing information in the stored echo data. Explicit timing information may include a specific clock time recorded with each received echo sample. Implicit timing information may include the known sampling rate and sample position (or interpolated sample position) of a particular sample relative to some baseline (e.g., the start time of a point source pulse). A second arrival time may be determined for a time at which the second sample echo is received at the second receive element. The first and second times of arrival may then be compared to determine which element first received the echo sample corresponding to the first reflector. The element that first receives the echo sample of the first reflector is closest to the reflector along the axis. This information can then be used for other elements along the same axis.

Based on the estimated given reflector position information obtained above, echoes of a given reflector received by elements further from the estimated reflector position may be weighted lower than echoes of the same reflector received by elements closer to the estimated position of the reflector. The first reflector is closer along the axis to the first receiver element, and then the echoes of the first reflector received by the first element are weighted higher than the echoes of the first reflector received by the second element when combining the echoes to form the image. The same information may also be used to weight echoes of the same first reflector received by other elements along the same axis. That is, echo contributions from receiving elements determined to be closer to the reflector along the axis may be given greater weight (i.e., a greater weighting factor) than echo contributions from receiving elements further away from the reflector along the axis.

In some embodiments, one or more asymmetrically shaped receiving elements may be used to estimate the approximate position of the reflector, thereby improving image quality. For example, fig. 13 illustrates a receiving transducer element 650 having a generally elliptical shape with a long axis 654 and a short axis 652. Echoes with strong directional components along one or both axes of such asymmetric elements will produce recognizable phase patterns due to the asymmetry. The different phase modes may be due to the phase difference of the echoes arriving mainly along each axis.

For example, assume that an echo returning to an element 650 with a strong component along the long axis 656 reaches the apex 656 at a first time, then reaches the center point 658 at a second time after the first time, and finally reaches the bottom point 660 at a third time after the second time. The echoes of a single reflector arriving at the upper point 656 will be slightly out of phase, with the echoes of the same reflector arriving at the middle 658 and lower 660 points. In the same manner, echoes arriving at different points along the minor axis 652 at different times may also exhibit unique phase patterns.

For a given shape of asymmetric receiving element, the phase pattern along each axis can be calibrated by transmitting a point source pulse from a known transmit position relative to the asymmetric receiving element and measuring the phase response. The approximate direction of each arriving echo can then be estimated based on the phase pattern response of the asymmetric receiver. A set of calibrations of the various phase patterns corresponding to the various origins can be stored and used during imaging to estimate the approximate position of the reflector by comparing the echo phase patterns to the standard set phase patterns.

In various embodiments, a wide range of asymmetric receiving element shapes may be used to estimate the approximate reflector position. For example, any shape having at least one generally long axis and one generally shorter axis may be used. Such shapes may include elongated irregular polygonal shapes such as rectangles or rectangles having rounded corners, rectangles, ovals or generally elongated amorphous shapes.

In various embodiments, each receiving aperture may include only one, two, three, four, five, or more asymmetric receivers. In other embodiments, the entire array of receive elements may be asymmetric. The asymmetric elements need not all be aligned with the long axis in the same direction as one another, and in some embodiments it may be desirable to provide asymmetric elements having long axes that are perpendicular to one another.

In various embodiments, the asymmetric transducer elements may be formed from any transducing material and using any fabrication process, including those described elsewhere herein. For example, the asymmetric element may be formed by a set of microelements in an array of microelements.

Although the example of shaped receiving elements described above is described with respect to an array of micro-elements, the same techniques and principles may be applied using differently configured elements fabricated by various other fabrication processes. These techniques can also be applied using machined bulk PZT elements, for example.

Sparse array with overlapping sets of microcomponents

In some embodiments, it may be desirable to configure a point source pulse-based ultrasound imaging probe with dedicated transmitter elements and receive elements that overlap receive apertures in groups in a cluster configuration. For example, fig. 14 illustrates an array 700 of microelements 710, wherein the microelements are grouped into groups of transmitting elements and groups of receiving elements.

As shown, each group of transmit elements 702 (represented by "X" shaded micro-elements) may be surrounded by a plurality of groups of receive elements 704 (represented by "/" shaded micro-elements). In various embodiments, receive elements 704 may be grouped into receive apertures 706 based on their proximity to transmit elements 702. Receive aperture 706 is represented by a line drawn around receive element group 704. As shown, some elements may participate in two or more different receive apertures 704.

As with other embodiments described herein, each receive element may be connected to a separate channel in the receive subsystem so that echoes received by each receive element may be stored separately. Thus, after collection of echo data, a receiving element may be assigned to a hole. In some cases, the receiving elements may be assigned to the apertures based on the known positions of the receiving elements relative to the known positions of the transmitting elements.

In any of the probe embodiments described in this disclosure, the point source emitter may take any suitable form, such as a single bulk piezoelectric element, a segmented piezoelectric element, a coordinated set of bulk piezoelectric elements, or a dedicated set of micro-elements emitters that may operate to emit spherical waveform point source pulses from a viewpoint source at the geometric center of the set of emitters. The micro-elements constituting the emitter group may be arranged in a planar arrangement with respect to each other. Alternatively, the micro-elements constituting the emitter groups of micro-elements may be arranged on a locally concave or convex substrate so as to form the viewpoint source transducer elements.

Sparse array probe with physical gaps

In various embodiments, groups of transmitter and/or receiver micro-elements may be made in any other planar, convex, concave and convex, or amorphous shape. For example, the micro-component groups may be formed as approximately squares, approximately circles, approximately polygons, approximately concentric rings, and the like. The overall size of the set of transmitter and receiver microcomponents may be sized as described elsewhere in this disclosure. In some cases, the transmitter microelement array may have the same dimensions as the receiver microelement array, for example, dimensions between about 150 micrometers and about 0.5 millimeters or more.

In various embodiments, the use of a sparse array configuration may allow for other uses of the region between transducer elements. For example, various therapeutic structures may be provided in the spaces between the transducer elements. Such therapeutic structures may include high frequency ultrasound (HIFU) transmitters for delivering targeted ablation US therapy, radiation or drug delivery elements, laser or Radio Frequency (RF) delivery elements, or any other structure for treating or diagnosing a patient that may be located in the space between transducer elements that facilitates unified imaging.

In some embodiments, a vacuum port may be provided between the transducer elements for tissue or other media to be drawn into contact with the surface of the imaging probe. The vacuum port may include holes and/or channels in the substrate, support structures, matching layers, lens layers, and the like.

In some embodiments, the sparse array probe may be configured with an opening or gap through which instruments or tools may be inserted. For example, the probe may be configured with a gap sized and configured to receive an instrument or tool such as a scalpel, a shaver, a biopsy tool, a robotic arm, a needle, a surgical tool, or other instrument.

Figure 15 illustrates an ultrasound probe consisting of a circular array 800 of transducer elements 802 with a gap 810 in the center. Circular array 800 may be made up of array segments 812, 814, 816, 818. For example, fig. 15 shows a probe array consisting of four sectors, each sector in the shape of a quarter circle segment. The segments may be rigidly secured to a housing, bracket, or other structure configured to hold the segments in a consistent position relative to one another. The central gap 810 may be sized to allow insertion of various tools or instruments as described above.

Using a multi-aperture imaging technique based on point source pulses, the region directly below the probe gap 810 can be imaged by transmitting a spherical point source pulse signal that insonifies the region below the gap and receives echoes with the receiving elements 802 near the gap 810. In some embodiments, transducer elements closer to the central gap 810 may be spaced closer to each other in order to provide more receiving elements adjacent to the gap, thereby increasing the number of receivers that may receive echoes from reflectors located below the gap 810.

The transmitting transducer elements will tend to produce a spherical waveform that propagates in all directions extending from the point source emitter element into the imaged object. At an angle to the normal, the intensity of the emitted energy generally tends to drop sharply, defining a threshold angle. A single angle of rotation around a point source defines a "signal cone". Reflectors in the signal cone will tend to provide sufficiently high signal-to-noise ratio reflections that they can be reliably imaged, while reflectors outside the signal cone may tend to be too low in energy to provide echo of a valuable contribution to the final image. The signal cone for any particular transmit transducer element may be empirically determined through experimentation. The receiving elements may have similar signal cones of positively contributing reflectors. As described herein, the angle of the signal cone of a transducer element may be related to the size of the element, with smaller elements generally having a wider signal cone than larger elements. On the other hand, larger elements may produce more energy than smaller elements (or may be sensitive to weaker received signals).

Based on the size of the gap and the angles of the transmitter and receiver signal cones, the transmitter and receiver elements may be positioned relative to the gap 810 so as to allow for efficient imaging of the volume below the gap 810. For example, in some cases, transmitter and receiver elements with wide signal cones (also referred to as "view angles") may be positioned at a higher density adjacent to the gap, while transmitting and receiving elements with narrower signal cones may be positioned farther from the gap. As described in various examples herein, various or variable sizes of transmitter and receiver elements may be used based on energy requirements and signal taper.

Fig. 16A and 16B illustrate another example of an ultrasound probe 850 having a physical gap 852 separating the array segments 854, 856. The probe 850 of fig. 16A and 16B is generally configured to provide real-time volumetric imaging of the area under two array segments, including the area under the gap 852 between the segments. Gap 852 may be used to perform various surgical, diagnostic, or interventional procedures.

The probe 850 of fig. 16A and 16B may include a bridge 860 rigidly connecting the two array segments 854, 856 and containing a catheter for electrical connection. The bridge can take any shape and configuration as desired to rigidly hold the array segments in a consistent position relative to each other. Based on the size of gap 852 and the angles of the transmitter and receiver signal cones, the transmitter and receiver elements may be positioned relative to gap 852 so as to allow for efficient imaging of the volume below gap 852. As described above, various or variable sized transmitter and receiver elements 862 may be used based on energy requirements and signal cone shape.

Multi-aperture ultrasound imaging system component

The block diagram of fig. 17 illustrates components of an ultrasound imaging system 200, which may be used in conjunction with various embodiments of the systems and methods described herein. The system 200 of FIG. 17 may include several subsystems: a transmit control subsystem 204, a probe subsystem 202, a receive subsystem 210, an image generation subsystem 230, and a video subsystem 240. In various embodiments, the system 200 may also include one or more memory devices for containing various data used during one or more ultrasound imaging steps. Such memory devices may include a raw echo data memory 220, a weighting factor memory 235, a calibration data memory 238, an image buffer 236, and/or a video memory 246. In various embodiments, all data (including software and/or firmware code to perform any other processes) may be stored on a single storage device. Alternatively, separate memory devices may be used for one or more data types.

The transmission of ultrasound signals from the elements of the probe 202 may be controlled by the transmit control subsystem 204. In some embodiments, the emission control subsystem 204 may include any combination of analog and digital components for controlling the transducer elements of the probe 202 to emit unfocused ultrasound point source pulses from a selected emission aperture at a desired frequency and spacing according to a desired imaging algorithm. In some embodiments, the emission control system 204 may be configured to emit the superpoint source pulses at a series of ultrasound frequencies. In some (but not all) embodiments, the transmit control subsystem may also be configured to control the probe in a phased array mode, transmitting a focused (i.e., transmit beamformed) ultrasound scanning beam.

In some embodiments, the transmit control subsystem 204 may include a transmit signal definition module 206 and a transmit element control module 208. The transmit signal definition module 206 may comprise a suitable combination of hardware, firmware, and/or software configured to define the characteristics required for a signal to be transmitted by an ultrasonic probe. For example, the transmit signal definition module 206 may establish (e.g., based on user input or based on predetermined factors) characteristics of the ultrasound signal to be transmitted, such as pulse start time, pulse length (duration), ultrasound frequency, pulse power, pulse shape, pulse direction (if any), pulse amplitude, transmit aperture location, or any other characteristic.

The transmit element control module 208 may then acquire information about the desired transmit pulse and determine a corresponding electrical signal to send to the appropriate transducer element to generate the signal. In various embodiments, the signal definition module 206 and the transmit element control module 208 may comprise separate electronic components, or may comprise portions of one or more common components.

Upon receiving echoes of the transmitted signals from the region of interest, the probe element may generate a time-varying electrical signal corresponding to the received ultrasonic vibrations. A signal representative of the received echo may be output from the probe 202 and sent to the receiving subsystem 210. In some embodiments, the receive subsystem may include multiple channels, each of which may include an analog front end device ("AFE") 212 and an analog-to-digital conversion device (ADC). In some embodiments, each channel of receive subsystem 210 may also include a digital filter and a data conditioner (not shown) after ADC 214. In some embodiments, an analog filter may also be provided before the ADC 214. The output of each ADC 214 may be directed into a raw data memory device 220. In some embodiments, a separate channel of receive subsystem 210 may be provided for each receive transducer element of probe 202. In other embodiments, two or more transducer elements may share a common receive channel.

In some embodiments, the analog front end device 212(AFE) may perform some filtering processes before passing the signal to the analog-to-digital conversion device 214 (ADC). ADC 214 may be configured to convert a received analog signal to a series of digital data points at some predetermined sampling rate. Unlike most ultrasound systems, some embodiments of the ultrasound imaging system of figure 17 may include: digital data representing the timing, phase, amplitude and/or frequency of the ultrasound echo signals received by each individual receive element in the raw data memory device 220 is stored prior to performing any further receive beamforming, filtering, image layer combining or other image processing.

To convert the captured digital samples into an image, data may be retrieved from the raw data store 220 by the image generation subsystem 230. As shown, the image generation subsystem 230 may include a beamforming block 232 and an image layer combining ("ILC") block 234. In some embodiments, the beamformer 232 may be in communication with a calibration memory 238 containing probe calibration data. The probe calibration data may include information about the precise location, quality of operation, and/or other information about the individual probe transducer elements. Calibration memory 238 may be physically located in a location within the probe, within the imaging system, or external to the probe and imaging system.

In some embodiments, after passing through the image generation block 230, the image data may then be stored in an image buffer memory 236, and the image buffer memory 236 may store the beamformed and (in some embodiments) layer combined image frames. A video processor 242 within the video subsystem 240 may then retrieve the image frames from the image buffer and may process the images into a video stream that may be displayed on a video display 244 and/or stored in a video memory 246 as a digital video clip, for example, a "cine loop" as is known in the art.

In some embodiments, the AFE 212 may be configured to perform various amplification and filtering processes on the received analog signal prior to passing the analog signal to the analog-to-digital conversion device. For example, the AFE 212 may include an amplifier such as a Low Noise Amplifier (LNA), Variable Gain Amplifier (VGA), bandpass or lowpass/anti-aliasing filter, and/or other amplification or filtering devices. In some embodiments, the AFE device 212 may be configured to begin passing analog signals to the ADC 214 upon receiving a trigger signal. In other embodiments, the AFE device may "free-run," continuously passing the analog signal to the ADC.

In some embodiments, each analog-to-digital converter 214 may generally comprise any device configured to sample a received analog signal at some consistent predetermined sampling rate. For example, in some embodiments, the analog-to-digital converter may be configured to record digital samples of a 25MHz time-varying analog signal, which is 2500 ten thousand samples per second or one sample per 40 nanoseconds. Thus, the data sampled by the ADC may simply comprise a list of data points, each of which may correspond to a signal value at a particular time. In some embodiments, the ADC 214 may be configured to begin digitally sampling the analog signal upon receiving the trigger signal. In other embodiments, the ADC device may be "free running," continuously sampling the received analog signal.

In some embodiments, raw data storage device 220 may include any suitable volatile or non-volatile digital memory storage device. In some embodiments, raw data storage 220 may also include communications electronics for transmitting raw digital ultrasound data to an external device over a wired or wireless network. In this case, the transmitted raw echo data may be stored on the external device in any desired format. In other embodiments, raw data storage 220 may include a combination of volatile memory, non-volatile memory, and communications electronics.

In some embodiments, raw data storage device 220 may include a temporary (volatile or non-volatile) memory portion and a long-term non-volatile memory portion. In an example of such an embodiment, the temporary memory may act as a buffer between the ADC 214 and the beamformer 232 in the event that the beamformer 232 may not be able to operate fast enough to accommodate data from the ADC 214 at a full rate. In some embodiments, the long-term non-volatile memory device may be configured to receive data from the temporary memory device or directly from ADC 214. Such a long term memory device may be configured to store a certain amount of raw echo data for subsequent processing, analysis, or transmission to an external device.

In some embodiments, the beamforming block 232 and the image layer combining block 234 may each include any digital signal processing and/or computing components configured to perform certain processes (e.g., as described below). For example, in various embodiments, beamforming 232 and image layer combining 234 may be performed by software running on a single GPU, on multiple GPUs, on one or more CPUs, on a combination of a CPU and a GPU, on a single or multiple accelerator cards or modules, on a distributed processing system, or a clustered processing system. Alternatively, these or other processes may be performed by firmware running on an FPGA (field programmable gate array) architecture or on one or more application specific ASIC (application specific integrated circuit) devices.

In some embodiments, video processor 242 may include any video processing hardware, firmware, and software components that may be configured to combine image frames into a video stream for display and/or storage.

In any embodiment, the multiple elements may share one or more conductors in a multiplexing arrangement, such as time division multiplexed communication or other multiplexing methods. Multiplexing signals may allow for a reduction in cable size without sacrificing the benefits of individual channels per element.

In any embodiment, the precise acoustic position of each transmit element and each receive element may be determined by precision manufacturing, calibration, or some combination of the two. Such element position information may be stored and made available to the image forming and/or beam forming system.

Certain terms

Although the present invention has been disclosed in the context of certain preferred embodiments and examples, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that the present invention extends beyond the specifically disclosed embodiments to other alternative embodiments and/or uses of the invention and obvious modifications and equivalents thereof. Various modifications to the above-described embodiments will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and the generic principles defined herein may be applied to other embodiments without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention. Therefore, it is intended that the scope of the present invention herein disclosed should not be limited by the particular disclosed embodiments described above, but should be determined only by a fair reading of the claims that follow.

In particular, materials and fabrication techniques may be used within the level of skill in the relevant art. Also, reference to a singular item includes the possibility that there are plural of the same items present. More specifically, as used herein and in the appended claims, the singular forms "a," "an," "said," and "the" include plural referents unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. Also as used herein, the term "or" includes all proposed alternatives, unless expressly stated otherwise, and is intended to be substantially the same as the commonly used phrase "and/or. It is noted that the claims may be drafted to exclude any optional element. Accordingly, this statement is intended to serve as antecedent basis for use of such exclusive terminology as "solely," "only" and the like in connection with the recitation of claim elements, or use of a "negative" limitation. Unless defined otherwise herein, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this invention belongs.

Certain features that are described in this disclosure in the context of separate implementations can also be implemented in combination in a single implementation. Conversely, various features that are described in the context of a single implementation can also be implemented in multiple implementations separately or in any suitable subcombination. Although features may be described above as acting in certain combinations, one or more features from a claimed combination can in some cases be excised from the combination, and the combination may be claimed as any subcombination or variation of any subcombination. Moreover, claims may be drafted to exclude any disclosed element. Accordingly, the above sentence is intended as a antecedent basis for use of a specific term such as "alone," "only," etc. in connection with the recitation of claim elements, or use of a "negative" limitation.

Further, while operations may be depicted in the drawings or described in the specification in a particular order, these operations need not be performed in the particular order shown or in sequential order, and all operations need not be performed, to achieve desirable results. Other operations not depicted or described may be included in the example methods and processes. For example, one or more additional operations may be performed before, after, concurrently with, or between any of the operations described. Also, operations may be rearranged or reordered in other implementations. Moreover, the separation of various system components in the embodiments described above should not be understood as requiring such separation in all embodiments, and it should be understood that the components and systems described may generally be integrated in a single product or packaged into multiple products. In addition, other embodiments are also within the scope of the present disclosure.

Some embodiments have been described in connection with the accompanying drawings. Some of the figures may be drawn to scale, but such scale should not be limiting as the dimensions and proportions contemplated are contemplated and within the scope of the invention. The distances, angles, etc. are exemplary only and do not necessarily have an exact relationship to the actual dimensions and layout of the illustrated devices. Components may be added, removed, and/or rearranged. Moreover, the disclosure herein of any particular feature, aspect, method, characteristic, feature, quality, attribute, element, etc., associated with various embodiments may be used in all other embodiments set forth herein. Additionally, any of the methods described herein may be practiced using any apparatus suitable for performing the recited steps.