General Electric Company

Real 3-d

Other

John T Pedicone

William E Engeler

Matthew N O'Donnell

John J Bloomer

Peter William Lorraine

Michael Mantor

Val Gene Cook

Theodore Lauer Rhyne

Christopher M Daft

Menahem Lowy

Steven Manno

Andres Alvarez

Thomas Andrew Chiacchira

A content-addressable, first-in/first-out memory (CAM-FIFO), as used to provide a read-modify-write buffer for data between two processes, includes: a Content Addressable Memory (CAM) which stores flag data; a FIFO memory portion for providing data storage; a write/read address counting section for providing write/read addresses of data to be stored in/read from the FIFO; and logic to determine and is used to query data on the queue to determine if the FIFO data should still be sent to the receiving process, or replaced with at least part of the flag data.

Content addressable memory FIFO with and without purging

A state machine controller which can be used for fetching data for a real-time computer image generation system and which provides valid data for each clock interval of a system control clock. The state machine controller can produce a result per clock pulse, schedule new data to be processed before completion of the processing of previous data to prevent bubbles or interruptions in the data pipeline, and can stop and maintain its output if a hold is applied from a later pipeline stage, and can resume one clock operation on the clock pulse when the hold is removed.

State machine controller capable of producing result per clock cycle

An ultrasonic imaging system which uses transform beamforming in a two-dimensional context includes a two-dimensional array of transducer elements, a plurality of groups of local busses, and a plurality of sets of switching circuits. Each transducer element has a signal electrode coupled to a corresponding set of switching circuits which is controlled so that a particular transducer element is selectively coupled to one of the associated group of local busses. Each local bus provides an output signal that is sent from the probe to the console via a respective coaxial cable for each group of local busses. The number of connections that are necessary to be made through each coaxial cable is reduced by the ratio of the number of transducer elements coupled to a set of local busses and the number of busses in that set. Each set of local busses provides the input transform signals to one transform section of the transform preprocessor. A control signal stored in memory determines which local bus each transducer is operatively connected to. The code pattern of the memory therefore specifies the patterns of the transducer element connections to the coaxial cables.

Utrasound imaging system architecture employing switched transducer

The present invention discloses an acoustic composite material for an ultrasonic phased array and a method for making. The acoustic composite material is formed from a microcapillary array having a plurality of holes of a constant cross-section and volume fraction. In each of the plurality of holes of the microcapillary array, a polymer fill is deposited therein. The polymer filled microcapillary array is cut at an axis perpendicular to the microcapillary array into a plurality of sections. Each of the plurality of sections are then ground into a predetermined thickness and bonded to a phased array of piezoelectric elements and backfill material.

Acoustic composite material for an ultrasonic phased array

Method of making an acoustic composite material for an ultrasonic phased

A PASS ultrasonic system includes a separate receive channel for each respective element in an ultrasonic transducer array which imparts a delay to the echo signal produced by each respective element. The delayed echo signals are summed to form a steered, dynamically focused and dynamically windowed receive beam which can be readily interpreted even when the transmit beam does not emanate from the center of the array.

Ultrasound imaging system with dynamic window function

A method for dynamic focus of received energy, in a vibratory energy imaging system, into a beam in which contribution from transducers in an array of N such transducers, are progressively enabled to contribute to beam focussing dependent upon distance between a particular j-th transducer (where 1.ltoreq.j.ltoreq.N) is responsive to the depth, or range R, of the focal point at any instant of time; the initial steering angle .theta., with respect to the array normal, is used in conjunction with a range clock, to determine the time when each off-normal transducer channel is enabled to add to the beam (dynamic apodization) and to finely adjust the channel time delay to properly focus the beam after the enablement of the channel.

Dynamic phase focus for coherent imaging beam formation

Apparatus for providing a desired output signal as a function of a single-valued input signal in an electronic system, includes: an addressable memory, having a plurality L locations, each for storage of a data word of B bits; a circuit for storing in each of the L locations of the memory means a B-bit data word having a value selected to provide a particular output value; and circuitry for converting a present single-valued increment of input signal to a unique address, within the range of allowable locations of the memory, to cause each increment of input signal to select the associated one of the L data word locations, from which to output corresponding data.

Apparatus for implementation of desired input/output function in an

Apparatus for testing data conversion/transfer functions in each of a plurality N of channels of a vibratory energy imaging system includes a multiplexer for providing, to an addressable memory having a plurality of L=2.sup.M locations in each of which a data word of B bits can be stored, a selected one of an input data word and a test data word, each of which can address one of the L locations of the memory means. The address multiplexer facilitates retrieval from memory of a B-bit data word having a value selected to implement a selected function for that channel, so that comparision of data from the selected test address with the data which has been sent to that location for storage, will indicate if proper data is stored for carrying out the designated function.

Apparatus for testing data conversion/transfer functions in a vibratory

A method for correcting data conversion/transfer errors in each of a plurality N of channels of a vibratory energy imaging system, by: providing an addressable memory having a plurality L=2.sup.M locations, each for storage of a data word of B bits; then storing in each of the L locations of the memory means a B-bit data word having a value selected to cause the output-to-input transfer function for that channel to assume a desired relationship, with respect to a standard transfer measure; and selecting that one of the L data word locations, responsive to that actual one of an M-bit data word output from a channel ADC or from a data bus, responsive to a test signal, in which to place corresponding data.

Methods of correcting data conversion/transfer errors in a vibratory

A method for generating a stream of digital data words, each representing an analog signal amplitude from a beam of vibratory energy received by a plurality N of transducers each associated with one of a like number of separate channels of a phased array, uses the steps of: sampling, after a delay of a multiple number of cycles at a fixed frequency F, an analog input signal in each channel at a fixed frequency F for conversion to a digital data word at each sample; then demodulating the digital data word stream in each channel to baseband and reducing the data word rate by a factor D; and phase-rotating the baseband data stream of each channel by a phase difference .DELTA..phi. determined by the focal range R and steering angle .theta. to obtain, along both the sampling delay, a different channel time delay t.sub.d,j, for each j-th channel, where 1.ltoreq.j.ltoreq.N, necessary to steer and focus the beam to a desired angle/range combination. Apparatus for generating the stream of digital data words is disclosed, and uses a special output-switching section in each channel to allow a pipelined coherent summation to be obtained across the entire phased transducer array.

Method and apparatus for digital phased array imaging

A CMOS programmable logic array includes a logical AND plane receiving a first group of input logic signals for forming a second group of logic minterms, and a logical OR plane receiving the logic minterms for forming a third group of output logic signals. Each type of logical plane contains a plurality of logic gates. Each plane type can be formed from the other plane type by the addition of a logic inverter to each input, and output of, that other-type plane. Interconnections determine the combination of input signals used to define the logic equation of the signal at the output of each logic gate of each plane. Static latches are used to retain the states of input and minterm logic signals. Logic planes and latches can be operated responsive to a two-phase clock signal.

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Schenectady, NY, United States of America

John T Pedicone