US 12,239,486 B2
Ultrasound imaging system using an array of transducer elements and an imaging method
Marc Godfriedus Marie Notten, Elsloo (NL); Peter Dirksen, Hilversum (NL); Nico Maris Adriaan de Wild, Eindhoven (NL); Rüdiger Günter Mauczok, Erkelenz (DE); and Antonia Cornelia van Rens, Nuenen (NL)
Assigned to KONINKLIJKE PHILIPS N.V., Eindhoven (NL)
Appl. No. 17/260,346
Filed by KONINKLIJKE PHILIPS N.V., Eindhoven (NL)
PCT Filed Jul. 17, 2019, PCT No. PCT/EP2019/069287
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Jan. 14, 2021,
PCT Pub. No. WO2020/016323, PCT Pub. Date Jan. 23, 2020.
Claims priority of application No. 18184192 (EP), filed on Jul. 18, 2018.
Prior Publication US 2021/0282749 A1, Sep. 16, 2021
Int. Cl. A61B 8/00 (2006.01); B06B 1/02 (2006.01)
CPC A61B 8/4494 (2013.01) [A61B 8/4444 (2013.01); B06B 1/0207 (2013.01); B06B 1/0292 (2013.01); B06B 2201/76 (2013.01)] 2 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. An ultrasound method for performing ultrasound data acquisition using an array of transducer elements, wherein the transducer elements of the array are capacitive micromachined ultrasound transducers (CMUTs), wherein each CMUT comprises only two electrodes, a first electrode and a second electrode separated by a cavity, the transducer elements being grouped into transducer element groups with a set of first conductors with a respective first conductor shared between transducer elements in each of a plurality of first element groups having a first orientation, wherein the respective first conductor is connected to the first electrode of each element of a respective first transducer element group, and a set of second conductors with a respective second conductor shared between transducer elements in each of a plurality of second element groups having a second orientation different from the first orientation, wherein the respective second conductor is connected to the second electrode of each element of a respective second transducer element group, wherein the method comprises generating time sequentially:
first ultrasound data by connecting the element groups of the array or the element groups of a sub-array of the element groups to a first bias voltage circuit (VB) by the respective first conductor, in which all of the transducer elements of the array are activated by the first bias voltage circuit via each respective first conductor and connected to a transmit and receive circuit (T/R) via each respective second conductor; and
second ultrasound data by connecting the element groups of the array or the element groups of the sub-array of the element groups to a second bias voltage circuit by the respective second conductor, in which all of the transducer elements of the array are activated by the second bias voltage circuit via each respective second conductor and connected to the transmit and receive circuit by each respective first conductor,
wherein each respective first conductor is associated with a first circuit, said first circuit being arranged to connect the respective first conductor to the first bias voltage circuit through a first inductor and to the transmit and receive circuit (T/R) through a second capacitor, and each respective second conductor is associated with a second circuit, said second circuit being arranged to connect the respective second conductor to the second bias voltage circuit through a second inductor and to the transmit and receive circuit through a second capacitor.