公开(公告)号：US10856847B2

公开(公告)日：2020-12-08

申请号：US15075942

申请日：2016-03-21

Applicant: Butterfly Network, Inc.

Inventor： Jonathan M. Rothberg ,  Keith G. Fife ,  Tyler S. Ralston ,  Gregory L. Charvat ,  Nevada J. Sanchez

IPC: A61B8/00 ,  A61B8/14 ,  A61N7/00 ,  G01S15/02 ,  G01S15/89 ,  H04R1/00 ,  B81C1/00 ,  G01S7/52 ,  B06B1/02 ,  A61N7/02 ,  A61B8/08

Abstract: To implement a single-chip ultrasonic imaging solution, on-chip signal processing may be employed in the receive signal path to reduce data bandwidth and a high-speed serial data module may be used to move data for all received channels off-chip as digital data stream. The digitization of received signals on-chip allows advanced digital signal processing to be performed on-chip, and thus permits the full integration of an entire ultrasonic imaging system on a single semiconductor substrate. Various novel waveform generation techniques, transducer configuration and biasing methodologies, etc., are likewise disclosed. HIFU methods may additionally or alternatively be employed as a component of the “ultrasound-on-a-chip” solution disclosed herein.

公开(公告)号：US10755692B2

公开(公告)日：2020-08-25

申请号：US16009319

申请日：2018-06-15

Applicant: Butterfly Network, Inc.

Inventor： Tyler S. Ralston ,  Nevada J. Sanchez

IPC: G01S15/89 ,  G10K11/34 ,  G01S7/52

Abstract: A digital microbeamformer apparatus for an ultrasound system includes a plurality of interconnected nodes, with one or more nodes corresponding to at least one channel of the ultrasound system. One or more nodes is configured to communicate data with one or more other nodes via a corresponding beamforming data path, and one or more nodes is coupled to a data output bus shared by one or more other nodes.

公开(公告)号：US10707886B2

公开(公告)日：2020-07-07

申请号：US16392325

申请日：2019-04-23

Applicant: Butterfly Network, Inc.

Inventor： Kailiang Chen ,  Tyler S. Ralston

IPC: H03M1/12 ,  H03M1/00 ,  A61B8/00 ,  H03M1/46

Abstract: An ultrasound device including an asynchronous successive approximation analog-to-digital converter and method are provided. The device includes at least one ultrasonic transducer, a plurality of asynchronous successive-approximation-register (SAR) analog-to-digital converters (ADC) coupled to the at least one ultrasonic transducer, at least one asynchronous SAR in the plurality having a sample and hold stage, a digital-to-analog converter (DAC), a comparator, and control circuitry, wherein a DAC update event following at least one bit conversion is synchronized to a corresponding DAC update event of at least one other ADC in the plurality of ADCs.

公开(公告)号：US20190253061A1

公开(公告)日：2019-08-15

申请号：US16392325

申请日：2019-04-23

Applicant: Butterfly Network, Inc.

Inventor： Kailiang Chen ,  Tyler S. Ralston

IPC: H03M1/00 ,  H03M1/46 ,  H03M1/12 ,  A61B8/00

Abstract: An ultrasound device including an asynchronous successive approximation analog-to-digital converter and method are provided. The device includes at least one ultrasonic transducer, a plurality of asynchronous successive-approximation-register (SAR) analog-to-digital converters (ADC) coupled to the at least one ultrasonic transducer, at least one asynchronous SAR in the plurality having a sample and hold stage, a digital-to-analog converter (DAC), a comparator, and control circuitry, wherein a DAC update event following at least one bit conversion is synchronized to a corresponding DAC update event of at least one other ADC in the plurality of ADCs.

公开(公告)号：US10340866B2

公开(公告)日：2019-07-02

申请号：US16244934

申请日：2019-01-10

Applicant: Butterfly Network, Inc.

Inventor： Amandeep Singh ,  Kailiang Chen ,  Tyler S. Ralston

IPC: H03F3/45 ,  H03M1/38 ,  G01N29/24 ,  G01N29/44 ,  H03M1/12

Abstract: An ultrasound circuit comprising a single-ended trans-impedance amplifier (TIA) is described, The TIA is coupled to an ultrasonic transducer to amplify an electrical signal generated by the ultrasonic transducer in response to receiving an ultrasound signal. The TEA is followed by further processing circuitry configured to filter, amplify, and digitize the signal produced by the TIA.

公开(公告)号：US10187020B2

公开(公告)日：2019-01-22

申请号：US14957395

申请日：2015-12-02

Applicant: Butterfly Network, Inc.

Inventor： Kailiang Chen ,  Keith G. Fife ,  Nevada J. Sanchez ,  Andrew J. Casper ,  Tyler S. Ralston

IPC: H03F3/16 ,  A61B5/00 ,  A61B8/00 ,  H03F1/08 ,  H03F3/45 ,  G01S7/52 ,  A61B8/08

Abstract: A variable current trans-impedance amplifier (TIA) for an ultrasound device is described. The TIA may be coupled to an ultrasonic transducer to amplify an output signal of the ultrasonic transducer representing an ultrasound signal received by the ultrasonic transducer. During acquisition of the ultrasound signal by the ultrasonic transducer, one or more current sources in the TIA may be varied.

公开(公告)号：US10175206B2

公开(公告)日：2019-01-08

申请号：US15689863

申请日：2017-08-29

Applicant: Butterfly Network, Inc.

Inventor： Jonathan M. Rothberg ,  Susan A. Alie ,  Keith G. Fife ,  Nevada J. Sanchez ,  Tyler S. Ralston

IPC: G01N29/24 ,  B81C1/00 ,  B06B1/02 ,  A61B8/00 ,  B81B7/00

Abstract: Micromachined ultrasonic transducers integrated with complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) substrates are described, as well as methods of fabricating such devices. Fabrication may involve two separate wafer bonding steps. Wafer bonding may be used to fabricate sealed cavities in a substrate. Wafer bonding may also be used to bond the substrate to another substrate, such as a CMOS wafer. At least the second wafer bonding may be performed at a low temperature.

公开(公告)号：US20190000422A1

公开(公告)日：2019-01-03

申请号：US16022841

申请日：2018-06-29

Applicant: Butterfly Network, Inc.

Inventor： Lawrence C. West ,  Kailiang Chen ,  Tyler S. Ralston ,  Sarp Satir ,  Jaime Scott Zahorian

IPC: A61B8/08 ,  G01S15/89 ,  G01S7/52

Abstract: Ultrasound devices configured to perform high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) are described. An ultrasound device may include HIFU units configured to emit high acoustic intensities and elasticity detectors configured to determine characteristics of the target area of a human body based on the elasticity of the target area. The elasticity detectors may determine, e.g., whether the target area is healthy, and if not, the type cell in need of treatment (e.g., the type of cancer cell present in the target area). In one example, the elasticity detectors may be configured to determine the stiffness of the target area, which may provide an indication as to the type of cell present in the area, by estimating the velocity of a shear wave propagating away from the target area. The shear wave may arise in response to the application of an ultrasound wave to the target area.

公开(公告)号：US20180364342A1

公开(公告)日：2018-12-20

申请号：US16109457

申请日：2018-08-22

Applicant: Butterfly Network, Inc.

Inventor： Kailiang Chen ,  Tyler S. Ralston ,  Keith G. Fife

IPC: G01S7/52 ,  G01S15/89 ,  G01S7/521 ,  A61B7/04

Abstract: Circuitry for ultrasound devices is described. A multilevel pulser is described, which can provide bipolar pulses of multiple levels. The multilevel pulser includes a pulsing circuit and pulser and feedback circuit. Symmetric switches are also described. The symmetric switches can be positioned as inputs to ultrasound receiving circuitry to block signals from the receiving circuitry.

公开(公告)号：US10094917B2

公开(公告)日：2018-10-09

申请号：US15659134

申请日：2017-07-25

Applicant: Butterfly Network, Inc.

Inventor： Kailiang Chen ,  Tyler S. Ralston ,  Keith G. Fife

IPC: G01S7/00 ,  G01S7/521 ,  H03K17/687 ,  G01S7/52 ,  G01S15/89

Abstract: Circuitry for ultrasound devices is described. A multilevel pulser is described, which can provide bipolar pulses of multiple levels. The multilevel pulser includes a pulsing circuit and pulser and feedback circuit. Symmetric switches are also described. The symmetric switches can be positioned as inputs to ultrasound receiving circuitry to block signals from the receiving circuitry.