Patent · US Expired

Arbitrary signal generator for driving ultrasonic transducers

US6469957B1 · kind B1 · utility

10Cited by
7References
27Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateOct 18, 2000
Grant dateOct 22, 2002
Priority date
Expiry dateNov 5, 2020

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG01N2291/02491
  • WIPO fieldMeasurement
  • WIPO sectorInstruments

Abstract

An arbitrary waveform generator includes an arithmetic element that can access samples from a waveform sample memory and adjust values accessed from the waveform sample memory to modify waveform power or amplitude. In an illustrative embodiment of the arbitrary waveform generator, the arithmetic element is a multiplying digital-to-analog converter (DAC) that has a first input connection for receiving digitized waveform samples and has a second input connection for receiving a reference signal. An output signal from the multiplying DAC is a mathematical product of the digitized waveform samples and the reference signal. In one example, a reference digital-to-analog converter (DAC) generates the reference signal. In some examples, the digitized waveform samples are digitized samples of an analog waveform signal. In some examples, the arithmetic element is incorporated into the arbitrary waveform generator in a manner to maintain transmit signal resolution over a full range of transmit power settings.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.