Patents by Inventor Kengo Imagawa
Kengo Imagawa has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).
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Patent number: 11921241Abstract: An ultrasonic probe including: a plurality of transducers; a plurality of low-noise amplifier circuits individually corresponding to the plurality of transducers, the plurality of low-noise amplifier circuits having a variable resistor feedback unit making a resistance value variable by an electrical signal inputted to a control terminal; and a control circuit; wherein the control circuit has a dummy circuit generating a bias voltage of a feedback unit of the low-noise amplifier circuit, and an adding circuit outputting an added signal of a bias voltage by the dummy circuit and a control signal increasing or decreasing with a lapse of time; and the plurality of low-noise amplifier circuits input an output of the adding circuit to the control terminal of the variable resistor feedback unit to perform variable control on a gain of the low-noise amplifier circuit.Type: GrantFiled: February 25, 2021Date of Patent: March 5, 2024Assignee: FUJIFILM HEALTHCARE CORPORATIONInventors: Yutaka Igarashi, Shinya Kajiyama, Kengo Imagawa
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Patent number: 11844653Abstract: To provide a probe including a TGC circuit therein. The probe includes a plurality of receive circuits. Each receive circuit includes: an ultrasound transducer; a transmit/receive switch; a variable attenuator; a first capacitor; and an amplifier. The ultrasound transducer converts the receive signal into a ground level electric signal and outputs the ground level electric signal as a first output signal. The transmit/receive switch is connected to a first signal line, and switches depending on whether to output the first output signal output from the ultrasound transducer to the first signal line. The variable attenuator includes a control terminal and two terminals, and changes a resistance value between the two terminals other than the control terminal based on a control signal input to the control terminal.Type: GrantFiled: May 16, 2022Date of Patent: December 19, 2023Assignee: FUJIFILM Healthcare CorporationInventors: Yutaka Igarashi, Shinya Kajiyama, Kengo Imagawa, Yoshihiro Hayashi
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Patent number: 11660076Abstract: A switch circuit connected to a transducer, a reception circuit connected to the switch circuit, a first switch element connected to a reception terminal provided between the switch circuit and the reception circuit, a first resistance element connected to a control terminal of the switch circuit, a second resistance element provided inside the reception circuit, and a second switch element provided inside the reception circuit are provided.Type: GrantFiled: October 9, 2019Date of Patent: May 30, 2023Assignee: FUJIFILM Healthcare CorporationInventors: Shinya Kajiyama, Kengo Imagawa, Yoshihiro Hayashi
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Publication number: 20220386997Abstract: To provide a probe including a TGC circuit therein. The probe includes a plurality of receive circuits. Each receive circuit includes: an ultrasound transducer; a transmit/receive switch; a variable attenuator; a first capacitor; and an amplifier. The ultrasound transducer converts the receive signal into a ground level electric signal and outputs the ground level electric signal as a first output signal. The transmit/receive switch is connected to a first signal line, and switches depending on whether to output the first output signal output from the ultrasound transducer to the first signal line. The variable attenuator includes a control terminal and two terminals, and changes a resistance value between the two terminals other than the control terminal based on a control signal input to the control terminal.Type: ApplicationFiled: May 16, 2022Publication date: December 8, 2022Inventors: Yutaka Igarashi, Shinya Kajiyama, Kengo Imagawa, Yoshihiro Hayashi
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Patent number: 11357476Abstract: Provided is a probe which transmits an ultrasonic wave to a diagnostic site and receives a reception signal which is a reflected wave.Type: GrantFiled: March 22, 2019Date of Patent: June 14, 2022Assignee: FUJIFILM Healthcare CorporationInventors: Yutaka Igarashi, Shinya Kajiyama, Yohei Nakamura, Kengo Imagawa, Kazuhiro Amino, Takayuki Iwashita
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Patent number: 11331693Abstract: Capacitors, each of which is electrically connected to a capacitor which is the cell of the CMUT mounted in a chip and is used as a DC block capacitor for protecting an amplifying circuit, are formed as many as plural aligned channels in the chip. The capacitor is an electrostatic capacitance element which is not vibrated acoustically.Type: GrantFiled: March 22, 2019Date of Patent: May 17, 2022Assignee: FUJIFILM Healthcare CorporationInventors: Hiroaki Hasegawa, Kengo Imagawa, Shuntaro Machida, Taiichi Takezaki
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Patent number: 11284859Abstract: Provided is a probe which transmits an ultrasonic wave to a diagnostic site and receives a reception signal which is a reflected wave.Type: GrantFiled: March 22, 2019Date of Patent: March 29, 2022Assignee: FUJIFILM Healthcare CorporationInventors: Yutaka Igarashi, Shinya Kajiyama, Yohei Nakamura, Kengo Imagawa, Kazuhiro Amino, Takayuki Iwashita
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Patent number: 11191527Abstract: Provided is a probe which transmits an ultrasonic wave to a diagnostic site and receives a reception signal which is a reflected wave.Type: GrantFiled: March 22, 2019Date of Patent: December 7, 2021Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.Inventors: Yutaka Igarashi, Shinya Kajiyama, Yohei Nakamura, Kengo Imagawa, Kazuhiro Amino, Takayuki Iwashita
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Publication number: 20210362187Abstract: An ultrasonic probe including: a plurality of transducers; a plurality of low-noise amplifier circuits individually corresponding to the plurality of transducers, the plurality of low-noise amplifier circuits having a variable resistor feedback unit making a resistance value variable by an electrical signal inputted to a control terminal; and a control circuit; wherein the control circuit has a dummy circuit generating a bias voltage of a feedback unit of the low-noise amplifier circuit, and an adding circuit outputting an added signal of a bias voltage by the dummy circuit and a control signal increasing or decreasing with a lapse of time; and the plurality of low-noise amplifier circuits input an output of the adding circuit to the control terminal of the variable resistor feedback unit to perform variable control on a gain of the low-noise amplifier circuit.Type: ApplicationFiled: February 25, 2021Publication date: November 25, 2021Inventors: Yutaka IGARASHI, Shinya KAJIYAMA, Kengo IMAGAWA
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Patent number: 10799213Abstract: Provided are an ultrasound probe, an element circuit thereof, and an ultrasound diagnostic device, whereby high image quality is possible and reduced size and lower cost are made possible. Provided is an ultrasound probe, comprising: a 2-D array transducer wherein a plurality of transducers are arrayed two-dimensionally; and a 2-D array IC in which are formed, upon an IC substrate, drive circuits which are disposed upon each of the transducers of the 2-D array transducer to drive each of the transducers at different timings with a prescribed delay quantity, and common current sources which supply drive current to the transducers of the 2-D array transducer. The number n of the common current sources which are formed upon the IC substrate is fewer than the number N of the drive circuits which are formed upon the IC substrate.Type: GrantFiled: November 28, 2014Date of Patent: October 13, 2020Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.Inventors: Takuma Nishimoto, Yutaka Igarashi, Toru Yazaki, Kengo Imagawa, Yusaku Katsube
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Publication number: 20200163652Abstract: A switch circuit connected to a transducer, a reception circuit connected to the switch circuit, a first switch element connected to a reception terminal provided between the switch circuit and the reception circuit, a first resistance element connected to a control terminal of the switch circuit, a second resistance element provided inside the reception circuit, and a second switch element provided inside the reception circuit are provided.Type: ApplicationFiled: October 9, 2019Publication date: May 28, 2020Inventors: Shinya KAJIYAMA, Kengo IMAGAWA, Yoshihiro HAYASHI
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Publication number: 20200077979Abstract: Provided is a probe which transmits an ultrasonic wave to a diagnostic site and receives a reception signal which is a reflected wave.Type: ApplicationFiled: March 22, 2019Publication date: March 12, 2020Inventors: Yutaka IGARASHI, Shinya KAJIYAMA, Yohei NAKAMURA, Kengo IMAGAWA, Kazuhiro AMINO, Takayuki IWASHITA
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Publication number: 20200069287Abstract: Capacitors, each of which is electrically connected to a capacitor which is the cell of the CMUT mounted in a chip and is used as a DC block capacitor for protecting an amplifying circuit, are formed as many as plural aligned channels in the chip. The capacitor is an electrostatic capacitance element which is not vibrated acoustically.Type: ApplicationFiled: March 22, 2019Publication date: March 5, 2020Inventors: Hiroaki HASEGAWA, Kengo IMAGAWA, Shuntaro MACHIDA, Taiichi TAKEZAKI
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Patent number: 10499885Abstract: An objective of the present invention is to provide an ultrasound system which can correct a positive-negative asymmetry in pulse inversion (PI) and obtain a high-image quality ultrasound image. To carryout an asymmetry correction of a transmission assembly circuit comprising an oscillation adjustment amplifier (10) and an ultrasound oscillator array (90), correction data obtained in a calibration mode is stored in a correction memory (46), and positive-negative asymmetry of an overall receiving assembly circuit comprising a computation unit (45) is corrected in a diagnostic mode of the device using the correction data.Type: GrantFiled: May 30, 2014Date of Patent: December 10, 2019Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.Inventors: Kengo Imagawa, Yutaka Igarashi, Toru Yazaki
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Publication number: 20190328369Abstract: Provided is a probe which transmits an ultrasonic wave to a diagnostic site and receives a reception signal which is a reflected wave.Type: ApplicationFiled: March 22, 2019Publication date: October 31, 2019Inventors: Yutaka IGARASHI, Shinya KAJIYAMA, Yohei NAKAMURA, Kengo IMAGAWA, Kazuhiro AMINO, Takayuki IWASHITA
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Patent number: 10448923Abstract: Amplification of a signal by a small circuit size and reduction of a power are achieved. A current controlling current source unit 53 changes an outputting current based on a transition time setting signal tp. A current controlling current source unit 54 changes a drawing current based on a transition time setting signal tn. An amplitude control unit 55 changes a power source voltage supplied to the current controlling current source unit 53 and changes amplitude of a voltage generated by a current outputted from the current controlling current source unit 53, based on amplitude setting signal ap. An amplitude control unit 56 changes a power source voltage supplied to the current controlling current source unit 54 and changes amplitude of a voltage generated by the current drawn by the current controlling current source unit 54, based on amplitude setting signal an.Type: GrantFiled: June 6, 2014Date of Patent: October 22, 2019Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.Inventors: Takuma Nishimoto, Yutaka Igarashi, Yusaku Katsube, Kengo Imagawa
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Publication number: 20170150945Abstract: Amplification of a signal by a small circuit size and reduction of a power are achieved. A current controlling current source unit 53 changes an outputting current based on a transition time setting signal tp. A current controlling current source unit 54 changes a drawing current based on a transition time setting signal tn. An amplitude control unit 55 changes a power source voltage supplied to the current controlling current source unit 53 and changes amplitude of a voltage generated by a current outputted from the current controlling current source unit 53, based on amplitude setting signal ap. An amplitude control unit 56 changes a power source voltage supplied to the current controlling current source unit 54 and changes amplitude of a voltage generated by the current drawn by the current controlling current source unit 54, based on amplitude setting signal an.Type: ApplicationFiled: June 6, 2014Publication date: June 1, 2017Inventors: Takuma NISHIMOTO, Yutaka IGARASHI, Yusaku KATSUBE, Kengo IMAGAWA
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Publication number: 20160310104Abstract: Provided are an ultrasound probe, an element circuit thereof, and an ultrasound diagnostic device, whereby high image quality is possible and reduced size and lower cost are made possible. Provided is an ultrasound probe, comprising: a 2-D array transducer wherein a plurality of transducers are arrayed two-dimensionally; and a 2-D array IC in which are formed, upon an IC substrate, drive circuits which are disposed upon each of the transducers of the 2-D array transducer to drive each of the transducers at different timings with a prescribed delay quantity, and common current sources which supply drive current to the transducers of the 2-D array transducer. The number n of the common current sources which are formed upon the IC substrate is fewer than the number N of the drive circuits which are formed upon the IC substrate.Type: ApplicationFiled: November 28, 2014Publication date: October 27, 2016Inventors: Takuma NISHIMOTO, Yutaka IGARASHI, Toru YAZAKI, Kengo IMAGAWA, Yusaku KATSUBE
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Publication number: 20160120516Abstract: An objective of the present invention is to provide an ultrasound system which can correct a positive-negative asymmetry in pulse inversion (PI) and obtain a high-image quality ultrasound image. To carryout an asymmetry correction of a transmission assembly circuit comprising an oscillation adjustment amplifier (10) and an ultrasound oscillator array (90), correction data obtained in a calibration mode is stored in a correction memory (46), and positive-negative asymmetry of an overall receiving assembly circuit comprising a computation unit (45) is corrected in a diagnostic mode of the device using the correction data.Type: ApplicationFiled: May 30, 2014Publication date: May 5, 2016Applicant: Hitachi, Ltd.Inventors: Kengo IMAGAWA, Yutaka IGARASHI, Toru YAZAKI
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Patent number: 8035071Abstract: The detection part has: a subtraction module for calculating correction data from data of detection systems when a reference-voltage generation module applies a reference voltage to the detection systems; a data-holding module for holding the correction data; an addition module for making a correction of detection data; a comparison module for comparing the detection data with switching data; and a selector for switching data of the detection systems including data subjected to the correction according to the output of the comparison module.Type: GrantFiled: May 7, 2008Date of Patent: October 11, 2011Assignee: Hitachi High-Technologies CorporationInventors: Masami Makuuchi, Ritsurou Orihashi, Masayoshi Takahashi, Wen Li, Kengo Imagawa, Takahiro Jingu