Butterfly Network, Inc.

Bfly Operations, Inc.

Other

Kailiang Chen

Tyler S Ralston

Keith Glen Fife

Nevada J Sanchez

Andrew J Casper

Amandeep Singh

Joseph Lutsky

Susan A Alie

Jungwook Yang

Liewei Bao

Chao Chen

Jaime Scott Zahorian

Hamid Soleimani

Youn-Jae Kook

Daniel Rea McMahill

Leung Kin Chiu

Sebastian Schaetz

Jihee Lee

Sewook Hwang

Jonathan Marc Rothberg

A variable current trans-impedance amplifier (TIA) for an ultrasound device is described. The TIA may be coupled to an ultrasonic transducer to amplify an output signal of the ultrasonic transducer representing an ultrasound signal received by the ultrasonic transducer. During acquisition of the ultrasound signal by the ultrasonic transducer, one or more current sources in the TIA may be varied.

Trans-impedance amplifier for ultrasound device and related apparatus and methods

Ultrasound devices are disclosed. The ultrasound devices have an elevational dimension. Different percentages of the aperture of the ultrasound device corresponding to different percentages of the elevational dimension are utilized in different applications. The resolution of imagine may be adjusted in connection with usage of different percentages of the aperture.

Apparatuses and methods for configuring ultrasound devices

Aspects of the technology described herein relate to built-in self-testing (BIST) of circuitry (e.g., a pulser or receive circuitry) and/or transducers in an ultrasound device. A BIST circuit may include a transconductance amplifier coupled between a pulser and receive circuitry, a capacitor network coupled between a pulser and receive circuitry, and/or a current source couplable to the input terminal of receive circuitry to which a transducer is also couplable. The collapse voltages of transducers may be characterized using BIST circuitry, and a bias voltage may be applied to the membranes of the transducers based at least in part on their collapse voltages. The capacitances of transducers may also be measured using BIST circuitry and a notification may be generated based on the sets of measurements.

Methods and circuitry for built-in self-testing of circuitry and/or transducers in ultrasound devices

Circuitry for an ultrasound device is described. The ultrasound device may include a symmetric switch positioned between a pulser and an ultrasound transducer. The pulser may produce bipolar pulses. The symmetric switch may selectively isolate a receiver from the pulser and the ultrasound transducer during a transmit mode of the device, when the bipolar pulses are provided by the pulser to the ultrasound transducer for transmission, and may selectively permit the receiver to receive signals from the ultrasound transducer during a receive mode. The symmetric switch may be provided with a well switch to remove well capacitances in a signal path of the device.

Symmetric receiver switch for ultrasound devices

Methods and apparatus are described for implementing a coding scheme on ultrasound signals received by a plurality of ultrasonic transducers. The coding, and subsequent decoding, may allow for multiple ultrasonic transducers to be operated in a receive mode simultaneously while still differentiating the contribution of the individual ultrasonic transducers. Improved signal characteristics may result, including improved signal-to-noise ratio (SNR).

Ultrasound receiver circuitry and related apparatus and methods

Circuitry for ultrasound devices is described. A multilevel pulser is described, which can provide bipolar pulses of multiple levels. The multilevel pulser includes a pulsing circuit and pulser and feedback circuit. Symmetric switches are also described. The symmetric switches can be positioned as inputs to ultrasound receiving circuitry to block signals from the receiving circuitry.

Multilevel bipolar pulser

A variable-current trans-impedance amplifier (TIA) for an ultrasound device is described. The TIA may be coupled to an ultrasonic transducer to amplify an output signal of the ultrasonic transducer representing an ultrasound signal received by the ultrasonic transducer. During acquisition of the ultrasound signal by the ultrasonic transducer, one or more current sources in the TIA may be varied. The variable-current trans-impedance amplifier may include multiple stages, including a first stage having N-P transistor pairs configured to receive an input signal and produce a single-ended amplified signal.

Trans-impedance amplifier (TIA) for ultrasound devices

Circuitry for ultrasound devices is described. A multi-level pulser is described, which can support time-domain and spatial apodization. The multi-level pulser may be controlled through a software-defined waveform generator. In response to the execution of a computer code, the waveform generator may access master segments from a memory, and generate a stream of packets directed to pulsing circuits. The stream of packets may be serialized. A plurality of decoding circuits may modulate the streams of packets to obtain spatial apodization.

Serial interface for parameter transfer in an ultrasound device

An ultrasound device, including a profile generator, an encoder configured to receive a profile signal from the profile generator, and an attenuator configured to receive a signal representing an output of an ultrasound sensor and coupled to the encoder to receive a control signal from the encoder, the attenuator including a plurality of attenuator stages, the attenuator configured to produce an output signal that is an attenuated version of the input signal.

Time gain compensation circuit and related apparatus and methods

Aspects of the technology described herein relate to control circuitry configured to turn on and off the ADC driver. In some embodiments, the control circuitry is configured to turn on and off the ADC driver in synchronization with sampling activity of an ADC, in particular based on when an ADC is sampling. The control circuitry may be configured to turn on the ADC driver during the hold phase of the ADC a time period before the track phase and to turn off the ADC driver during the hold phase a time period after the track phase. In some embodiments, the control circuitry is configured to control a duty cycle of the ADC driver turning on and off. In some embodiments, the control circuitry is configured to control a ratio between an off current and an on current in the ADC driver.

Methods and apparatuses for turning on and off an ADC driver in an ultrasound device

An ultrasound circuit comprising a trans-impedance amplifier (TIA) with built-in time gain compensation functionality is described. The TIA is coupled to an ultrasonic transducer to amplify an electrical signal generated by the ultrasonic transducer in response to receiving an ultrasound signal. The TIA is, in some cases, followed by further analog and digital processing circuitry.

Amplifier with built in time gain compensation for ultrasound applications

Aspects of the technology described herein related to an ultrasound processing unit (UPU) including gray-coding circuitry configured to convert standard binary-coded digital ultrasound signals to gray-coded digital ultrasound signals and gray-decoding circuitry coupled to the gray-coding circuitry and configured to convert the gray-coded digital ultrasound signals to standard binary-coded digital ultrasound signals. The UPU may include an analog portion, a digital portion, and a data bus configured to route the gray-coded digital ultrasound signals from the analog portion to the digital portion subsequent to converting the standard binary-coded digital ultrasound signals to the gray-coded digital ultrasound signals. The analog portion may include multiple analog front-ends (AFEs), the gray-coding circuitry, and an analog-to-digital converter. The digital portion may include the gray-decoding circuitry. A data bus from one AFE may pass over another AFE.

Methods and apparatuses for processing ultrasound signals

Aspects of the technology described herein relate to ultrasound circuits that employ a differential ultrasonic transducer element, such as a differential micromachined ultrasonic transducer (MUT) element. The differential ultrasonic transducer element may be coupled to an integrated circuit that is configured to operate the differential ultrasonic transducer element in one or more modes of operation, such as a differential receive mode, a differential transmit mode, a single-ended receive mode, and a single-ended transmit mode.

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Branford, CT, United States of America

Kailiang Chen