General Electric Company

William E Engeler

Jerome Johnson Tiemann

Matthew N O'Donnell

Richard D Baertsch

John T Pedicone

Moshe Mazin

Seth D Silverstein

John J Bloomer

Howard S Goldberg

Emmanuel Papadofrangakis

Kenneth B Welles, Ii

Thomas L Vogelsong

Robert Leland Nevin

Christopher M Daft

John A Fakiris

Lowell Scott Smith

Peter William Lorraine

Dale M Brown

Anne Lindsay Hall

David Byrd Ribner

Robert J Dunki-Jacobs

Lewis Jones Thomas, Iii

Sharbel E Noujaim

Theodore Lauer Rhyne

Joseph Lawrence Chovan

William Arthur Penn

Steven G Karr

Richard B Bernardi

Menahem Lowy

Sharbet E Noujaim

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

A method and apparatus for remotely calibrating a system having a plurality of N elements, such as a phased array system, is provided. The method includes generating coherent signals, such as a calibration signal and a reference signal having a predetermined spectral relationship between one another. The calibration signal which is applied to each respective one of the plurality of N elements can be orthogonally encoded using a unitary transform encoder that uses a predetermined transform matrix, such as a Hadamard transform matrix or a two-dimensional discrete Fourier transform matrix, to generate a set of orthogonally encoded signals. The set of orthogonally encoded signals and the reference signal are transmitted to a remote location. The transmitted set of orthogonally encoded signals is coherently detected at the remote location. The coherently detected set of orthogonally encoded signals is then decoded using the inverse of the predetermined encoding matrix to generate a set of decoded signals. The set of decoded signals is then processed for generating calibration data for each element of the phased array system.

Method and apparatus for remotely calibrating a phased array system used

An ultrasonic imaging system which utilizes two summation channels to provide increased bandwidth employs two demodulation stages in each receive channel. The first demodulator receives digital signals from an analog-to-digital converter and demodulates those signals to baseband, thereby producing an in-phase component and a quadrature component. The in-phase and quadrature components are demodulated by the second demodulator, forming a total of four signals which are filtered and combined to form two sets of complex signals. One set corresponds to the upper or high frequencies and the other set corresponds to the lower frequencies. Each band is treated separately in a subsequent phase rotation. The phase changes reflect those required by the center frequency of each of the subbands. The upper band signals are coherently summed in one summation channel, while the lower band signals are coherently summed in another summation channel. The coherently summed upper and lower band signals are then reconstituted into one composite baseband signal.

Ultrasonic imager having improved bandwidth

A method and apparatus for remotely calibrating a system having a plurality of N elements, such as a phased array system, is provided. The method includes generating coherent signals, such as a calibration signal and a reference signal having a predetermined spectral relationship between one another. The calibration signal which is applied to each respective one of the plurality of N elements can be orthogonally encoded based on the entries of a predetermined invertible encoding matrix, such as a binary Hadamard matrix, to generate first and second sets of orthogonally encoded signals. The first and second sets of orthogonally encoded signals and the reference signal are transmitted to a remote location. The transmitted first and second sets of orthogonally encoded signals are coherently detected at the remote location. The coherently detected first and second sets of orthogonally encoded signals are then decoded using the inverse of the predetermined invertible encoding matrix to generate a set of decoded signals. The set of decoded signals is then processed for generating calibration data for each element of the system.

A dual mode ultrasonic imager system operative in both a two dimensional 2-D) mode and doppler mode, includes a plurality of transducers for receiving analog ultrasonic signals and converting them to analog electrical signals, and an analog to digital (A/D) converter system for converting the analog electrical signals to digital signals for further processing. The A/D converter system includes a digital to analog (D/A) converter for converting the digital signals into analog feedback signals, and an analog summer for receiving the analog electrical signals and combining them with the analog feedback signals. An integrator is selectively coupled to receive an output signal from the analog summer and to generate an integrated analog signal. An A/D converter selectively receives, and converts to an equivalent digital signal, one of the integrated analog signal and an output signal of the analog summer. During the 2-D mode, the integrator is bypassed and the A/D converter receives the output signal of the analog summer for conversion to a digital signal. In the doppler mode, the A/D converter receives from the integrator the integrated analog signal and converts it to a digital signal.

Dual mode ultrasonic imager system

An optical communication system for ultrasound imaging systems employs a light source and photodetector array in the imaging console. The light source and photodetector array are coupled to each other through an optical fiber passing through the probe. Information from the probe is communicated to the console by an optical modulator, situated in the optical path from source to detector. The ultrasound signals are converted into electrical signals by probe electronics, and these electrical signals serve to alter either the phase or amplitude of optical signals passing through the modulator. Since the light source and photodetectors reside in the imaging console, very little power is dissipated in the probe.

System and method of binary optical communication for ultrasonic probe

An ultrasonic imaging system provides dynamic focusing by using dynamic group delay in addition to dynamic phase focus. FIFO memory storage capacity in the beamforming circuit is increased to provide improved resolution of the data samples stored therein. These samples are selected by an address counter in response to both the advance of time and the accumulation of a phase advance clock count. After a Read Start signal, indicating the start of a beam, is supplied to the FIFO memory, the FIFO memory address is advanced, on each read instruction, by the number of address locations corresponding to the period of a pipeline channel. In addition, the address is incremented whenever the accumulated count of a phase advance clock exceeds an amount corresponding to the smallest increment of the data stored in the FIFO memory.

Ultrasonic imager having wide-bandwidth dynamic focusing

An ultrasonic imaging system beamforming architecture comprises a fixed wideband preprocessor section followed by a reduced number of dynamically adjusted delay channels. The preprocessor includes a transform beamformer with spatial filtering followed by a delay beamformer. Each transform preprocessor provides transformation of the local array space data into beam space. One, or combinations, of these beams may then be selected as input signals to an inverse transform which converts the beam space data back into array space data. This re-establishes the spatial array, but with a reduced directional view, allowing an inverse transform of reduced size to be used for the reconstruction. The result is a decrease in the number of channels required by the remainder of the beamformer. If the beam direction specified in the preprocessor sections is different from that specified in the channel delay processor, a resulting error that causes spurious beams to be formed in unwanted directions is mitigated by forming a spatial filter in each preprocessor section using adjacent channel information.

Ultrasound imaging system having spatial filtering preprocessor

An array of weighted summation circuits, N in number, each generate a weighted sum response to the same plurality of input signals, M in number. Each weighted summation circuit includes at least one corresponding capacitive element for determining the weighting of each of the input signals within that weighted summation circuit. At least one corresponding capacitive element is of a programmable type having its capacitance value determined in accordance with the bits of a digital word received at a control word port thereof. The array of weighted summation circuits are preferably constructed in integrated circuit form together with an interstitial memory having respective word storage elements for temporarily storing the digital words applied to the control word ports of nearby capacitive elements in the integrated circuitry.

Weighted summation circuitry with digitally controlled capacitive

Respective SiC (silicon carbide) photodiode sensors are used to measure flame temperature at each cylinder of an internal combustion engine, and information generated by the SiC photodiode sensors is used to control the fuel injection in a feedback loop to control individual cylinder flame temperature and combustion.

Emissions control for internal combustion engine

An ultrasonic imaging system for displaying color flow images includes a receiver which demodulates ultrasonic echo signals received by a transducer array and dynamically focuses the baseband echo signals. A color flow processor includes a frequency domain adaptive wall filter which automatically adjusts to changes in Doppler-shifted frequency and bandwidth of the wall signal components in the focused baseband echo signals after the echo signals have undergone Fourier transformation into the frequency domain. The mean Doppler-shifted frequency of the resulting filtered baseband echo signals is used to indicate velocity of moving scatterers and to control color in the displayed image.

Color flow imaging system utilizing a frequency domain wall filter

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

Digital synapse input signals which are temporally aligned with each other are converted to analog form for application to a neural net layer. Several digital synapse input signals can be written into digital memory at different times, to be read out in temporal alignment for conversion to analog form for application to a neural net layer. The digital synapse input signals can originate from apparatus for raster-scanning a field or successive fields of video samples, for example, with the neural net layer providing filters for recognizing shapes in a field of the video samples. The neural net layer can be either a pre-programmed type or a learning type, and its axonal outputs may be digitized for use in subsequent digital processing.

Neural nets supplied synapse signals obtained by digital-to-analog

Neural nets using capacitive structures are adapted for construction in complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor integrated-circuit technology. In each neural net layer synapse input signals are applied to the inverting and non-inverting input terminals of each of a plurality of differential-input non-linear amplifiers by a respective pair of capacitors, which non-linear amplifiers generate respective axon responses. In certain of these neural nets, arrangements are described that make the capacitive structures bilaterally responsive, so that back-propagation calculations can be performed to alter the relative values of capacitors in each pair thereof, which is done during training of certain of the neural nets described.

Neural net using capacitive structures connecting input lines and

Parallel architectures preprocesses large matrices from sampled coherent time apertures receiving signals from distant sources to produce lower order matrices, derived from pseudo coherent time apertures, which are computationally less burdensome. The large matrices are processed by frequency shifting, low pass filtering with an FIR filter, and executing front-end decimation to create the pseudo coherent time apertures, each corresponding to different subbands of the temporal frequency spectrum. The signals representing the pseudo coherent time apertures are processed using matrix based superresolution spectral estimation algorithms such as the Tufts-Kumaresan (T-K) reduced rank modified covariance algorithm and the Linear Minimum Free Energy algorithms to produce an image of the sources.

Growing community of inventors

Scotia, NY, United States of America

William E Engeler