WO2010101105A1 - 超音波診断装置、及び超音波探触子、超音波診断方法 - Google Patents
超音波診断装置、及び超音波探触子、超音波診断方法 Download PDFInfo
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- WO2010101105A1 WO2010101105A1 PCT/JP2010/053215 JP2010053215W WO2010101105A1 WO 2010101105 A1 WO2010101105 A1 WO 2010101105A1 JP 2010053215 W JP2010053215 W JP 2010053215W WO 2010101105 A1 WO2010101105 A1 WO 2010101105A1
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- G—PHYSICS
- G01—MEASURING; TESTING
- G01S—RADIO DIRECTION-FINDING; RADIO NAVIGATION; DETERMINING DISTANCE OR VELOCITY BY USE OF RADIO WAVES; LOCATING OR PRESENCE-DETECTING BY USE OF THE REFLECTION OR RERADIATION OF RADIO WAVES; ANALOGOUS ARRANGEMENTS USING OTHER WAVES
- G01S7/00—Details of systems according to groups G01S13/00, G01S15/00, G01S17/00
- G01S7/52—Details of systems according to groups G01S13/00, G01S15/00, G01S17/00 of systems according to group G01S15/00
- G01S7/52017—Details of systems according to groups G01S13/00, G01S15/00, G01S17/00 of systems according to group G01S15/00 particularly adapted to short-range imaging
- G01S7/52019—Details of transmitters
-
- A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
- A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
- A61B—DIAGNOSIS; SURGERY; IDENTIFICATION
- A61B8/00—Diagnosis using ultrasonic, sonic or infrasonic waves
- A61B8/56—Details of data transmission or power supply
-
- B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
- B06—GENERATING OR TRANSMITTING MECHANICAL VIBRATIONS IN GENERAL
- B06B—METHODS OR APPARATUS FOR GENERATING OR TRANSMITTING MECHANICAL VIBRATIONS OF INFRASONIC, SONIC, OR ULTRASONIC FREQUENCY, e.g. FOR PERFORMING MECHANICAL WORK IN GENERAL
- B06B1/00—Methods or apparatus for generating mechanical vibrations of infrasonic, sonic, or ultrasonic frequency
- B06B1/02—Methods or apparatus for generating mechanical vibrations of infrasonic, sonic, or ultrasonic frequency making use of electrical energy
- B06B1/0207—Driving circuits
-
- G—PHYSICS
- G01—MEASURING; TESTING
- G01S—RADIO DIRECTION-FINDING; RADIO NAVIGATION; DETERMINING DISTANCE OR VELOCITY BY USE OF RADIO WAVES; LOCATING OR PRESENCE-DETECTING BY USE OF THE REFLECTION OR RERADIATION OF RADIO WAVES; ANALOGOUS ARRANGEMENTS USING OTHER WAVES
- G01S15/00—Systems using the reflection or reradiation of acoustic waves, e.g. sonar systems
- G01S15/88—Sonar systems specially adapted for specific applications
- G01S15/89—Sonar systems specially adapted for specific applications for mapping or imaging
- G01S15/8906—Short-range imaging systems; Acoustic microscope systems using pulse-echo techniques
- G01S15/8909—Short-range imaging systems; Acoustic microscope systems using pulse-echo techniques using a static transducer configuration
- G01S15/8915—Short-range imaging systems; Acoustic microscope systems using pulse-echo techniques using a static transducer configuration using a transducer array
-
- G—PHYSICS
- G01—MEASURING; TESTING
- G01S—RADIO DIRECTION-FINDING; RADIO NAVIGATION; DETERMINING DISTANCE OR VELOCITY BY USE OF RADIO WAVES; LOCATING OR PRESENCE-DETECTING BY USE OF THE REFLECTION OR RERADIATION OF RADIO WAVES; ANALOGOUS ARRANGEMENTS USING OTHER WAVES
- G01S7/00—Details of systems according to groups G01S13/00, G01S15/00, G01S17/00
- G01S7/52—Details of systems according to groups G01S13/00, G01S15/00, G01S17/00 of systems according to group G01S15/00
- G01S7/52017—Details of systems according to groups G01S13/00, G01S15/00, G01S17/00 of systems according to group G01S15/00 particularly adapted to short-range imaging
- G01S7/52023—Details of receivers
-
- G—PHYSICS
- G01—MEASURING; TESTING
- G01S—RADIO DIRECTION-FINDING; RADIO NAVIGATION; DETERMINING DISTANCE OR VELOCITY BY USE OF RADIO WAVES; LOCATING OR PRESENCE-DETECTING BY USE OF THE REFLECTION OR RERADIATION OF RADIO WAVES; ANALOGOUS ARRANGEMENTS USING OTHER WAVES
- G01S7/00—Details of systems according to groups G01S13/00, G01S15/00, G01S17/00
- G01S7/52—Details of systems according to groups G01S13/00, G01S15/00, G01S17/00 of systems according to group G01S15/00
- G01S7/52017—Details of systems according to groups G01S13/00, G01S15/00, G01S17/00 of systems according to group G01S15/00 particularly adapted to short-range imaging
- G01S7/52079—Constructional features
- G01S7/5208—Constructional features with integration of processing functions inside probe or scanhead
-
- B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
- B06—GENERATING OR TRANSMITTING MECHANICAL VIBRATIONS IN GENERAL
- B06B—METHODS OR APPARATUS FOR GENERATING OR TRANSMITTING MECHANICAL VIBRATIONS OF INFRASONIC, SONIC, OR ULTRASONIC FREQUENCY, e.g. FOR PERFORMING MECHANICAL WORK IN GENERAL
- B06B2201/00—Indexing scheme associated with B06B1/0207 for details covered by B06B1/0207 but not provided for in any of its subgroups
- B06B2201/20—Application to multi-element transducer
Definitions
- the present invention relates to an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus and a wave receiving circuit for amplifying a signal received from an object received by an ultrasonic transducer, and more particularly to an ultrasonic diagnostic technique including a circuit having both a transmission / reception separating function and a transmission signal amplification function. .
- the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus is mainly composed of a piezoelectric material, and applies an electrical signal to a large number of transducers arranged in a straight line or a specific curve. Then, an element group corresponding to the transmission / reception aperture is selected, and transmission / reception is performed while sequentially scanning the element group. Various information is extracted from the reflected wave to obtain information in the subject non-invasively.
- a transmission circuit for applying a voltage to a vibrator having 100 elements or more is installed in the apparatus main body, and generally has a phasing diameter of several tens of channels.
- independent transmission and reception signals are required for all transducers.
- the conventional apparatus employs a configuration in which the number of transmission / reception circuits corresponding to the transmission / reception aperture is used, and the transmission / reception circuits and the vibrator are connected via a switch (Patent Document 1).
- the switch used in such a configuration turns on / off the high voltage pulse signal during transmission. At the same time, it is necessary to turn on / off low-level analog signals during reception. Therefore, the switch element is required to have a high breakdown voltage characteristic, a function of switching a pulse signal having a large peak current value at a high speed, and a low noise characteristic with low on-resistance. Furthermore, it is common to use a transmission / reception separation circuit for protecting the reception amplifier from a high voltage during transmission as a transmission / reception device, and power consumption is required in each amplification circuit and transmission / reception separation circuit. The number of parts was large, and there were problems in heat generation and mounting area.
- Patent Document 2 the transmission amplifier circuit has a switch configuration or the like to reduce the size.
- Patent Document 3 discloses that a reception signal from a transducer is added by a matrix switch type current addition circuit after voltage-current conversion of the reception signal from the transducer.
- Patent Document 4 has a circuit configuration suitable for variable aperture control and scanning control required for a large number of arranged vibrators, and does not require special elements for high-voltage protection. There has been proposed an ultrasonic apparatus having a circuit configuration suitable for realization.
- the circuit configuration such as an amplifier circuit is made different. Therefore, the number of parts is large and it is not suitable for miniaturization. Furthermore, when using an ultrasonic probe having a large number of transducers, this is a current addition matrix circuit for adding received signals from any number of transducers. Therefore, a configuration such as a voltage-current conversion circuit is required before the current addition circuit.
- An object of the present invention is to provide a transmission / reception circuit that has a small number of parts and can be built in an ultrasonic probe head suitable for miniaturization, an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus using the same, and an ultrasonic probe thereof. There is to do.
- an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus having an ultrasonic probe including a plurality of transducers and a device main body that receives and processes reception signals from the plurality of transducers, A transmission / reception amplifier circuit that amplifies transmission signals to a plurality of transducers and amplifies reception signals from the plurality of transducers, and a current addition circuit that adds a current to the reception signals amplified by the transmission / reception amplification circuit; To do.
- a current addition switch for connecting the transmission / reception amplifier circuit and the current addition circuit is provided. Further, the transmission / reception amplifier circuit, the current addition circuit, and the current addition switch are built in the ultrasonic probe.
- the current addition switch is composed of one FET element corresponding to each vibrator.
- an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus having an ultrasonic probe having a plurality of transducers and an apparatus main body that receives and processes reception signals from the plurality of transducers is used to amplify transmission signals to the plurality of transducers.
- a transmission / reception amplifier circuit that amplifies reception signals from a plurality of vibrators, and the transmission / reception amplification circuit includes a FET element that operates as a source follower circuit during transmission and operates as a gate ground circuit during reception.
- the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus of the present invention in the first aspect, by installing an amplifier circuit shared for transmission and reception in the ultrasonic probe so as to have a 1: 1 relationship with the number of transducers, Even when the number of elements used to form a sound field is larger than the number of phasing channels of the ultrasonic diagnostic equipment, such as a matrix array, all elements can be used without using matrix switches with different amplitude characteristics for each transmission and reception. Realize the drive.
- the transmission / reception amplifier circuit is shared by using a transmission circuit constituted by a source follower circuit as a gate-grounded amplifier during the reception period.
- the transmission circuit is composed of, for example, only a MOS field effect transistor (FET), and has an easy configuration that can be handled by an existing semiconductor manufacturing process. This realizes a size that can be incorporated in a general ultrasonic probe head.
- FET MOS field effect transistor
- the present invention adopts a configuration capable of current-amplifying a reception signal from a vibrator in a reception amplification circuit for each vibrator.
- a configuration is adopted in which a current switch is connected to a reception amplifier circuit so that reception signals can be grouped and currents can be added to each other.
- the current switch group is in a matrix form, and a switch corresponding to the number of elements can be connected to each receiving circuit output end.
- This switch is composed of MOSFETs, and the number of contact MOSFETs in the matrix may be one, and it is configured in a small size for switching only the received current.
- the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus it is possible to configure a transmission / reception common amplifier circuit configuration that has a function of adding currents received signals from a plurality of elements that can be incorporated in an ultrasonic probe.
- the same transistor element can be used for both transmission and reception, and the transmission / reception separation circuit grounded for protecting the conventional reception circuit can be eliminated.
- the area can be saved and the S / N ratio can be reduced.
- the gate potential of the transistor element is fixed at the time of reception, the input impedance is low, and the noise of the gate-grounded amplifier can be suppressed low.
- the received signal from each element subjected to current amplification can be added for each grouped arbitrary element by the matrix current switch.
- Block diagram of the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to the first embodiment The figure which shows an example of the transmission / reception shared amplifier circuit concerning a 1st Example The figure which shows the specific example of the transmission / reception shared amplifier circuit concerning 1st Example The figure which shows the receiving current addition switch concerning 2nd Example The figure which shows the receiving current addition switch concerning 2nd Example Block diagram of an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to the third embodiment
- FIG. 1 shows an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to the first embodiment.
- the apparatus of the present embodiment includes an ultrasonic probe 31, a transmission phasing circuit 02, a transmission signal generation unit 14, a transmission / reception amplification circuit 400 having a transmission / reception separation function, a transducer 05, and an ultrasonic probe.
- the slave cable 06, the reception amplification circuit 401, the reception phasing circuit 08, the signal processing circuit 09, the image processing circuit 10, and the display monitor 11 are provided.
- the ultrasonic probe 31 includes a transducer 05, a transmission phasing circuit 02, a transmission / reception amplification circuit 400, a transmission signal generation unit 14, a current addition switch 402, and a current addition circuit 403. There are features.
- the transmission signal generator 14 determines a pulse wave or a continuous wave transmission signal, and an electric signal amplified by the transmission / reception amplifier circuit 400 is applied, and this is converted into an ultrasonic wave. It has a function of transmitting to the subject and a function of receiving an ultrasonic wave reflected from the inside of the subject and converting it into an electrical signal.
- the transmission phasing circuit 02 is for adjusting the transmission signal application timing for each transducer to be driven for each transducer when the transmission beam is formed on the subject. Generally, in the drive vibrator, the timing is controlled so that the voltage is applied to the vibrator farther from the focus position at an earlier time.
- the transmission signal amplification unit amplifies the transmission signal waveform formed by the transmission signal generation unit 14 to a magnitude sufficient to drive the transducer 05 and generate an ultrasonic signal. For output.
- the transmission signal generation unit 14 determines a transmission waveform shape. For example, a memory is provided and one or a plurality of transmission waveforms are stored. The stored waveform can be selected by the control circuit 12 from the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus main body 100. Alternatively, the waveform may be transferred from the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus main body 100 via the ultrasonic probe cable 06 and stored every time a transmission signal is generated.
- the current addition switch 402 is connected to the vibrator in a 1: 1 relationship, and the output destination is the current addition circuit 403.
- the current addition circuit 403 reception signals of arbitrary plural elements are added, and the number of output signals is a channel that can be phased in the reception phase adjustment circuit 08 of the apparatus main body 100. The number is the largest.
- the reception amplification circuit 401 on the apparatus main body 100 side amplifies the ultrasonic signal obtained from the subject, and also has a function of changing the amplification factor for each time. If the transmission / reception amplifier circuit 400 can secure a sufficient amplification factor for diagnostic image formation, the amplification function is unnecessary, and only a function to output a signal of 1 time or to change the amplification factor according to the depth. Exists.
- the reception phasing circuit 08 has a function of performing beam forming, like the transmission phasing circuit 02. This is for adjusting the signal addition timing from all the transducers for obtaining signals from the subject when forming the reception beam for each transducer. The delay time is increased for the transducer closer to the focus position, and the timing of addition with the reception signal obtained by the transducer farther from the focus position is adjusted.
- the signal processing circuit 09 and the image processing circuit 10 perform signal processing for converting the phasing-added signal into luminance information through detection processing, and other image signal processing represented by gamma ( ⁇ ) processing.
- the coordinate conversion processing is performed according to the type of the ultrasonic probe.
- the processed signal is displayed on the display monitor 11 as a diagnostic image.
- each of the above-described constituent circuits receives a basic clock signal from the control circuit 12, and performs timing control of each part. Specifically, it is transmission / reception switching control or diagnostic mode switching. Further, the power supply 13 is controlled by the control circuit 12 to output various power supply values. The power sources having various values generated here are supplied to each circuit unit (not shown).
- FIG. 2 shows a detailed circuit block diagram of an example of a transmission / reception amplifier circuit 400 having both a transmission / reception separation function and a transmission / reception signal amplification function according to this embodiment.
- (a) and (b) in the figure show the states of the transmission / reception amplifier circuit 400 at the time of transmission and reception, respectively.
- the transmission signal generation circuit 508 is a block corresponding to the transmission signal generation unit 14 and the transmission phasing circuit 02 of FIG.
- NMOSFET N-channel MOS field effect transistor
- a transmission signal generation circuit 508 is connected to the gate terminal of the driver element 501.
- a zener diode 502 and a resistor 503 are connected in parallel between the drain terminal of the driver element 501 and the positive power source + HV, and a received amplified signal is taken out from the drain terminal of the driver element 501 during reception.
- a constant current circuit 504 is connected between the source terminal of the driver element 501 and the negative power source -HV. Further, the source terminal of the driver element 501 is connected to the vibrator 05, and transmission / reception signals are exchanged via the source terminal. .
- This circuit constitutes a source follower during transmission.
- the voltage applied to the gate terminal of the driver element 501 appears as it is at the source terminal, and drives the vibrator 05.
- a positive voltage is applied to the vibrator 05
- a current flows from the positive power source + HV through the Zener diode 502, through the driver element 501, and through the vibrator 05.
- a negative voltage is applied, current flows from the vibrator 05 to the constant current source 504.
- the zener diode 502 is installed for the purpose of bypassing the current so that a voltage drop does not occur in the resistor 503 when a large current of the transmission signal flows. Instead of the Zener diode 502, it can be replaced by a switch or the like that is turned on during transmission and cut off during reception.
- the operation when receiving with the circuit configuration shown in Fig. 2 (b) is shown below.
- the N-type high voltage MOS FET (NMOSFET) forms a gate ground circuit when receiving a wave.
- Vdc constant value
- the gate potential of the driver element 501 is fixed and operates as a grounded gate amplifier.
- the gain at this time is determined by the product of the transconductance gm of the field effect transistor and the resistor 503.
- the received signal from the transducer 05 is amplified by the driver element 501 and extracted as a received signal.
- the transmission signal generation circuit 508 is controlled by the control circuit 12. For example, when a signal having an H (high) output is input from the control circuit 12, it is controlled to output a transmission signal, while when a signal having an L (low) output is input, An appropriate DC potential (Vdc) is output. It goes without saying that such a circuit configuration can be easily configured by those skilled in the art.
- the advantages of the configuration of the present embodiment are that the same driver element 501 can be used for both transmission and reception, and that a transmission / reception separation circuit that is grounded for protection of the conventional reception circuit can be omitted. This can reduce the area and improve the S / N ratio.
- FIG. (A) and (b) of FIG. 3 show circuit operations during transmission and reception, respectively.
- the power consumption is reduced by switching the circuit at the time of transmission and reception, and it can be configured with a transistor with a low withstand voltage.
- 505, 506, 511, 512, 513, and 514 constitute a driver element made of NMOSFET
- 506 and 513 constitute a current source made of NMOSFET.
- the current source 513 is a current source using a differentiation circuit, and a current flows only when a signal is input.
- the operation during transmission will be described.
- the driver elements 511, 512, 513,514 are operated, and the other driver elements 505, 506 are turned off.
- the voltage applied to each transistor can be kept low.
- the circuit is suitable for IC.
- a transmission waveform that is an ON signal is applied to the gate portions of the driver elements 511, 513, 514, and the gate portions of the driver elements 505, 506 are An off signal is applied.
- a potential lower than the source potential ( ⁇ LV) of the driver element 506 is applied from the control circuit 12, and the circuit does not operate.
- an off signal is applied to the gate portions of the driver elements 511, 513, and 514, and a voltage of, for example, 3 V or more is applied to the gate portions of the driver elements 505 to turn on.
- a constant voltage is applied to the gate of M3 by + LV and R2, and M3 is grounded.
- the driver element 506 is given a potential determined by the resistors R101, R102 and -LV, the driver element 506 is turned on, and a current flows through the element.
- the receiving circuit can be configured with a transistor having a lower withstand voltage, which is suitable for an IC.
- the gate potential of the driver element 512 is fixed by the driver element 505 at the time of wave reception, the input impedance is low, and the noise of the gate-grounded amplifier can be suppressed low.
- an arrow ( ⁇ ) is given to a transistor that actually outputs a control signal from the control circuit 12, but the control method is not limited thereto, and the transistor Any mechanism can be used as long as it can be turned on and off.
- FIG. 4 (a) shows an Am ⁇ Bn two-dimensional vibrator
- FIG. 4 (b) shows an analog matrix switch (SW) 402 for reading signals from any element of the vibrator Am ⁇ Bn.
- SW analog matrix switch
- the received signal is amplified by the common gate transistor M3 and the resistor Rd.
- a current matrix switch (SW) 402 is connected between the elements M3 and Rd. Since a received signal can be taken out from Rd as a current, MOSFETs (Qm, n) corresponding to the number of vibrators hang from each output terminal of the current matrix switch group 402. However, each contact point MOS of the matrix may be one, and a small size is sufficient because only the received current is switched.
- Fig. 4 (b) shows a state in which the received signals from the two transducers A1B1 and A2B2 are added to the main body reception phasing channel P2 and input.
- FIG. 5 shows a grouping state in the reception operation of the transmission / reception amplifier circuit 400 in the case where the vibrator 05 forms an Am ⁇ Bn matrix array.
- a transmission / reception amplifier circuit 400 is connected to each of the vibrators 05, and a current addition switch 402 is connected to the output thereof.
- Each output of the transmission / reception amplifier circuit 400 is connected to the number of switches corresponding to the number of main body reception phasing channels (q in the figure), and the output of each current addition switch is the number of vibrators Am ⁇ Bn Will be connected.
- a delay unit 404 that can arbitrarily delay the reception signal obtained by each transducer may be provided either before or after the transmission / reception amplifier circuit 400. It is assumed that the delay unit 404 can set an arbitrary delay amount by the control circuit 12.
- FIG. 6 shows a case where the transmission phasing circuit 02 and the transmission / reception amplification circuit 400 described above are configured on the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus main body side as a third embodiment.
- the ultrasonic diagnostic device includes the transmission / reception amplification circuit 400 built in the ultrasonic probe 01, the transmission signal generation unit 14 corresponding to the transmission signal generation circuit 508, and the transmission phasing circuit 02. Mount on main unit 1000.
- 1 channel of the transmission / reception amplifier circuit 400 is electrically connected to a plurality of different transducers by the changeover switch 200. Connection is possible.
- the transmission phasing circuit 02 can be omitted as necessary.
- the changeover switch 200 is not necessarily required.
- the current addition switch 402 and the current addition circuit 403 are included in the reception phasing circuit 08 in FIG.
- the current addition switch 402 and the current addition circuit 403 perform reception phasing processing. If the total number of transducers 05 is larger than the total number of transmission / reception amplifier circuits 400 in the previous embodiment, any number of elements One purpose was to prevent the increase in the number of received signals of the ultrasonic probe cable 06. However, in the method in which the transmission / reception amplifier circuit 400 is included in FIG. 6, generally, in the ultrasonic probe cable 06, the number used as the reception signal line and the total number of the transmission / reception amplification circuits 400 are the same. The reception signal addition is performed in the reception phasing circuit 08. In this phasing method, a current addition switch 402 and a current addition circuit 403 may be used.
- an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus it is possible to configure a transmission / reception amplifier circuit having a function of adding currents received signals from a plurality of elements, and the same transistor element is used for both transmission and reception. It is highly useful because it can reduce the area and improve the S / N ratio.
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Abstract
Description
さらに、多数の振動子を備える超音波探触子の使用に際し、任意複数振動子からの受信信号を加算するための電流加算マトリクス回路であるが、従来は受信増幅回路と加算回路を別構成としているため、電流加算回路の前に、電圧電流変換回路等の構成が必要であった。
さらに、送受信増幅回路と電流加算回路、更には電流加算スイッチを超音波探触子に内蔵する構成とする。
本実施例の装置は、超音波探触子31と、送信整相回路02と、送信信号生成部14と、送受分離機能を具備した送受信増幅回路400と、振動子05と、超音波探触子ケーブル06と、受信増幅回路401と、受信整相回路08と、信号処理回路09と、画像処理回路10と、表示モニタ11とを備えて構成されている。
Claims (16)
- 複数の振動子を備えた超音波探触子と、前記複数の振動子からの受信信号を受信処理する装置本体とを有する超音波診断装置であって、
前記複数の振動子への送信信号を増幅し、前記複数の振動子からの受信信号を増幅する送受信増幅回路と、前記送受信増幅回路で増幅された前記受信信号を電流加算する電流加算回路とを備えたことを特徴とする超音波診断装置。 - 請求項1記載の超音波診断装置であって、
前記送受信増幅回路と前記電流加算回路とを接続する電流加算スイッチを備えた超音波診断装置。 - 請求項2記載の超音波診断装置であって、
前記送受信増幅回路と前記電流加算回路と前記電流加算スイッチが前記超音波探触子に内蔵されている超音波診断装置。 - 請求項1記載の超音波診断装置であって、
前記送受信増幅回路は、送信時においてソースフォロア回路として動作するFET素子を含む超音波診断装置。 - 請求項1記載の超音波診断装置であって、
前記送受信増幅回路は、受信時においてゲート接地回路として動作するFET素子を含む超音波診断装置。 - 請求項2記載の超音波診断装置であって、
前記電流加算スイッチは、前記振動子それぞれに対応した、1個のFET素子からなる超音波診断装置。 - 請求項4記載の超音波診断装置であって、
前記ソースフォロア回路として動作する前記FET素子を用いる回路は、複数のFETを接続してなる超音波診断装置。 - 請求項2記載の超音波診断装置であって、
前記送受信増幅回路と前記電流加算回路と前記電流加算スイッチが前記装置本体に設置されている超音波診断装置。 - 複数の振動子を備えた超音波探触子と、前記複数の振動子からの受信信号を受信処理する装置本体とを有する超音波診断装置であって、
前記複数の振動子への送信信号を増幅し、前記複数の振動子からの受信信号を増幅する送受信増幅回路を具備し、
前記送受信増幅回路は、送信時においてソースフォロア回路として動作し、受信時においてゲート接地回路として動作するFET素子を含むことを特徴とする超音波診断装置。 - 複数の振動子を備えた超音波探触子であって、
前記複数の振動子への送信信号を増幅し、前記複数の振動子からの受信信号を増幅する送受信増幅回路と、前記送受信増幅回路で増幅された前記受信信号を電流加算する電流加算回路とを備えたことを特徴とする超音波探触子。 - 請求項10記載の超音波探触子であって、
前記送受信増幅回路と前記電流加算回路とを接続する電流加算スイッチを備えた超音波探触子。 - 請求項10記載の超音波探触子であって、
前記送受信増幅回路は、送信時においてソースフォロア回路として動作するFET素子を含む超音波探触子。 - 請求項10記載の超音波探触子であって、
前記送受信増幅回路は、受信時においてゲート接地回路として動作するFET素子を含む超音波探触子。 - 請求項13記載の超音波探触子であって、
前記電流加算スイッチは、前記振動子それぞれに対応した、1個のFET素子からなる超音波探触子。 - 複数の振動子を備えた超音波探触子であって、
前記複数の振動子への送信信号を増幅し、前記複数の振動子からの受信信号を増幅する送受信増幅回路を具備し、
前記送受信増幅回路は、送信時においてソースフォロア回路として動作し、受信時においてゲート接地回路として動作するFET素子を含む超音波探触子。 - 超音波探触子内の複数の振動子へ送信する信号を増幅するステップと、前記増幅した送信信号を前記振動子へ送信するステップと、該送信信号に基づいて前記振動子から超音波を送信するステップと、前記振動子により超音波を受信するステップと、前記受信した超音波に基づいて前記振動子により受信信号を生成するステップと、該受信信号に基づいて電流加算する電流加算ステップと、を有する超音波診断方法。
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JP2011502741A JP5484440B2 (ja) | 2009-03-04 | 2010-03-01 | 超音波診断装置、及び超音波探触子 |
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JP2012176235A (ja) * | 2011-02-25 | 2012-09-13 | General Electric Co <Ge> | 送信回路、超音波プローブ、及び超音波画像表示装置 |
JP2013153942A (ja) * | 2012-01-30 | 2013-08-15 | Ge Medical Systems Global Technology Co Llc | 送受信回路、超音波プローブ及び超音波画像表示装置 |
KR20160017950A (ko) * | 2014-08-07 | 2016-02-17 | 재단법인대구경북과학기술원 | 유연 멤스 초음파 트랜스듀서 어레이를 이용한 동작 인식 시스템 |
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JP2012217618A (ja) * | 2011-04-08 | 2012-11-12 | Fujifilm Corp | 超音波診断装置 |
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JP2013153942A (ja) * | 2012-01-30 | 2013-08-15 | Ge Medical Systems Global Technology Co Llc | 送受信回路、超音波プローブ及び超音波画像表示装置 |
KR20160017950A (ko) * | 2014-08-07 | 2016-02-17 | 재단법인대구경북과학기술원 | 유연 멤스 초음파 트랜스듀서 어레이를 이용한 동작 인식 시스템 |
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