Acuson Corporation

John N Wright

Samuel H Maslak

Donald R Langdon

D Grant Fash, Iii

Hugh G Larsen

Donald J Burch

Joel S Chaffin

A dual mode color Doppler imaging system using a linear array of transducer elements generates and transmits into an organism, such as the human body, an acoustic imaging beam optimized for B-mode imaging and a separate acoustic Doppler beam which is steered at preselected angles relative to the imaging beam and is optimized for Doppler data acquisition. Acoustic imaging echos are acquired and displayed as a B-mode gray-scale image. Doppler data are acquired from multiple sample volumes along the direction of each Doppler beam. The Doppler information acquired along multiple lines is displayed as a color-encoded image that is spatially coordinated with, superimposed upon and simultaneously displayed with, the B-mode gray-scale image.

Steered linear color doppler imaging

A dual mode color Doppler imaging system using a linear array of transducer elements generates and transmits into an organism, such as the human body, an acoustic imaging beam optimized for B-mode imaging and a separate acoustic Doppler beam which is steered at preselected angles relative to the imaging beam and is optimized for Doppler data acquisition. Acoustic imaging echoes are acquired and displayed as a B-mode gray-scale image. Doppler data are acquired from multiple sample volumes along the direction of each Doppler beam. The Doppler information acquired along multiple lines is displayed as a color-encoded image that is spatially coordinated with, superimposed upon and simultaneously displayed with, the B-mode gray-scale image.

A phased array acoustic imaging system including an array of electromechanical transducers, a dedicated signal processing channel for each transducer and electronic control and delay circuits for them, transmits to and receives ultrasonic energy from a body in a controlled, steered and focused fashion. The electronic delay circuits use a unique cyclically symmetrical arrangement of identical delay cells, each with an electronically variable delay element and each dedicated to a receive signal derived from at least one transducer, to form a summing delay line. The individual delay cells are switched under microprocessor control for efficient combined linear-sector scanning or linear or sector scanning alone. The system includes means to achieve dynamic focusing and dynamic apodization in conjunction with the delay cell architecture.

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Menlo Park, CA, United States of America

John N Wright