ULTRASOUND SIGNAL PROCESSING CIRCUITRY AND RELATED APPARATUS AND METHODS
Ultrasound signal processing circuitry and related apparatus and methods are described. Signal samples received from an ultrasound transducer array in an ultrasound transducer based imaging system may be processed, or conditioned, by application of one or more weighting functions. In some embodiments, one or more weighting functions may be applied to the signal samples in the time domain. In other embodiments, the signal samples may be converted to the frequency domain and one or more weighting functions may be applied in the frequency domain. In further embodiments, one or more weighting functions may be applied in the time domain and one or more weighting functions may be applied in the frequency domain. The weighting functions may be channel dependent and/or channel independent. The processed data can be provided to an image formation processor.
1 . A method for processing signals received from an ultrasound transducer array, comprising:
converting the received signals, representative of received ultrasound energy, to a digital domain to provide signal samples;
performing quadrature demodulation of the signal samples followed by Fast Fourier Transform of the demodulated signal samples and signal conditioning in a frequency domain; and
summing frequency domain values corresponding to elevation channels of the ultrasound transducer array following Fast Fourier Transform of the demodulated signal samples and signal conditioning in the frequency domain to provide summed elevation values; and
outputting the summed elevation values for ultrasound image formation processing.
2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein signal conditioning comprises applying a frequency domain weighting function to the frequency domain values.
3 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising applying a time domain weighting function to the demodulated signal samples, wherein Fast Fourier Transform is performed on the time domain weighted signal samples.
4 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising extracting from the signal samples a subset of the signal samples that correspond to an image to be formed, wherein quadrature demodulation is performed on the extracted signal samples.
5 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising downsampling the demodulated signal samples for data reduction, wherein Fast Fourier Transform is performed on the downsampled signal samples.
6 . A method for processing signals received from an ultrasound transducer array, comprising:
converting the received signals, representative of received ultrasound energy, to a digital domain to provide signal samples;
extracting from the signal samples a subset of the signal samples that correspond to an image to be formed;
applying a time domain weighting function to the extracted signal samples;
converting the weighted signal samples to frequency domain values;
applying a frequency domain weighting function to the frequency domain values; and
outputting the weighted frequency domain values for ultrasound image formation processing.
7 . The method of claim 6 , wherein applying the time domain weighting function comprises receiver-dependent weighting of the extracted signal samples.
8 . The method of claim 6 , wherein applying the time domain weighting function comprises excitation-dependent weighting of the extracted signal samples.
9 . The method of claim 6 , wherein applying the time domain weighting function comprises channel-independent weighting of the extracted signal samples.
10 . The method of claim 6 , wherein applying the time domain weighting function comprises channel-dependent weighting of the extracted signal samples.
11 . The method of claim 6 , wherein applying the frequency domain weighting function comprises receiver-dependent weighting of the frequency domain values.
12 . The method of claim 6 , wherein applying the frequency domain weighting function comprises excitation-dependent weighting of the frequency domain values.
13 . The method of claim 6 , wherein applying the frequency domain weighting function comprises channel-independent weighting of the frequency domain values.
14 . The method of claim 6 , wherein applying the frequency domain weighting function comprises channel-dependent weighting of the frequency domain values.
15 . An ultrasound device comprising:
an ultrasound transducer array configured to provide received signals in response to receiving ultrasound energy; and
a processing circuit configured to process the received signals, the processing circuit comprising:
a conversion circuit configured to convert the received signals to a digital domain to provide signal samples;
an extraction circuit configured to extract from the signal samples a subset of the signal samples that correspond to an image to be formed;
a time domain signal conditioning circuit configured to apply at least one time domain weighting function to the extracted signal samples;
a Fast Fourier Transform circuit configured to convert the weighted signal samples to frequency domain values;
a frequency domain signal conditioning circuit configured to apply at least one frequency domain weighting function to the frequency domain values; and
an output circuit configured to output the weighted frequency domain values for ultrasound image formation processing.
16 . The ultrasound device of claim 15 , wherein the time domain signal conditioning circuit is configured to multiply the extracted signal samples by coefficients of the time domain weighting function.
17 . The ultrasound device of claim 15 , wherein the frequency domain signal conditioning circuit is configured to multiply the frequency domain values by coefficients of the frequency domain weighting function.
18 . The ultrasound device of claim 15 , wherein the processing circuit further comprises a quadrature demodulation circuit configured to perform quadrature demodulation of the extracted signal samples and wherein time domain signal conditioning is performed on the demodulated signal samples.
19 . The ultrasound device of claim 15 , wherein the processing circuit further comprises a downsampling circuit configured to downsample the extracted signal samples for data reduction and wherein time domain signal conditioning is performed on the downsampled signal samples.
20 . The ultrasound device of claim 15 , wherein the processing circuit is configured to partially process the extracted signal samples in a first number of channels, to store the partially processed signal samples in a memory, and to complete processing of the partially processed signal samples in a second number of channels less than the first number of channels.
21 . The ultrasound device of claim 15 , wherein the processing circuit further comprises a sum elevation channels circuit configured to perform summing of the weighted frequency domain values corresponding to elevation channels of the ultrasound transducer array to provide summed elevation values and wherein the output circuit is configured to output the summed elevation values.