Patent ID: 7824338
Filing Date: 2010-11-02
Classification: G01S

Abstract:
1. An apparatus for providing analog ultrasonic imaging data signals, the apparatus comprising: a chip; a transducer array having a plurality of transducer elements that forms part of the chip, each receive element adapted to produce received analog ultrasonic signals on a signal line; a plurality of conditioning circuits adapted to provide signal conditioning to the received analog ultrasonic signals and produce conditioned analog ultrasonic imaging data signals, each conditioning circuit forming another part of the chip, being disposed substantially below one of the transducer cells associated therewith, and coupled to one of the signal lines; and an output circuit that frequency multiplexes the conditioned analog ultrasonic imaging data signals to form the analog ultrasonic imaging data signals, the output circuit being coupled to the plurality of conditioning circuits and forming another part of the chip.