The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Apr. 23, 2019
Filed:
Jun. 14, 2013
University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA (US);
Jesse Yen, La Crescenta, CA (US);
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA, Los Angeles, CA (US);
Abstract
An ultrasound beamformer may include an array of ultrasound transducer elements. Multiple signal transmitters may each generate an ultrasound signal that is different from the ultrasound signal generated by each of the others. The number of ultrasound transmitters may be no more than half the number of ultrasound transducer elements. Each multiplexer may have multiple signal inputs, each connected to a different one of the ultrasound signals; an output that drives the ultrasound transducer element; and a control input that controls which of the ultrasound signals at the signal inputs to the multiplexer is delivered to the output of the multiplexer based on a control signal. The controller may generate the control signals with a collective configuration that causes the array of ultrasound transducer elements to steer an/or focus a beam of ultrasound energy in one or more different ways at one or more different times.