Method and apparatus for a baseband processor of a receive beamformer system
US6029116A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Aug 20, 1998 |
| Grant date | Feb 22, 2000 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Aug 20, 2018 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG01S15/8993
- WIPO fieldMeasurement
- WIPO sectorInstruments
Abstract
This invention presents a multi-beam baseband processor for making post-beamformation adjustments to the complex (in-phase/quadrature) pre-detection scan line samples acquired from a receive beamformer of an ultrasound imaging system. Specifically, the invention includes a programmable finite impulse response (FIR) filter and a programmable complex multiplier. The programmable filter performs signal shaping and sample-rate conversion. The signal shaping capability may be used to compensate for transducer and analog signal path responses, to increase signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) by rejecting out-of-band noise frequencies, to operate as a matched filter to the transmitted waveform shape, and to act as both a smoothing and anti-aliasing filter during rate-conversion operation. The programmable multiplier permits both amplitude and phase adjustments of the complex data that assures amplitude and phase coherency between acquired scan lines, compensating for the effects of a selected scan format or the differences in ultrasound frequencies used to produce each scan line.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.