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).

  • Patent number: 11921241
    Abstract: 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: Grant
    Filed: February 25, 2021
    Date of Patent: March 5, 2024
    Assignee: FUJIFILM HEALTHCARE CORPORATION
    Inventors: Yutaka Igarashi, Shinya Kajiyama, Kengo Imagawa
  • Patent number: 11844653
    Abstract: 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: Grant
    Filed: May 16, 2022
    Date of Patent: December 19, 2023
    Assignee: FUJIFILM Healthcare Corporation
    Inventors: Yutaka Igarashi, Shinya Kajiyama, Kengo Imagawa, Yoshihiro Hayashi
  • Patent number: 11660076
    Abstract: 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: Grant
    Filed: October 9, 2019
    Date of Patent: May 30, 2023
    Assignee: FUJIFILM Healthcare Corporation
    Inventors: Shinya Kajiyama, Kengo Imagawa, Yoshihiro Hayashi
  • Publication number: 20220386997
    Abstract: 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: Application
    Filed: May 16, 2022
    Publication date: December 8, 2022
    Inventors: Yutaka Igarashi, Shinya Kajiyama, Kengo Imagawa, Yoshihiro Hayashi
  • Patent number: 11357476
    Abstract: Provided is a probe which transmits an ultrasonic wave to a diagnostic site and receives a reception signal which is a reflected wave.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 22, 2019
    Date of Patent: June 14, 2022
    Assignee: FUJIFILM Healthcare Corporation
    Inventors: Yutaka Igarashi, Shinya Kajiyama, Yohei Nakamura, Kengo Imagawa, Kazuhiro Amino, Takayuki Iwashita
  • Patent number: 11331693
    Abstract: 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: Grant
    Filed: March 22, 2019
    Date of Patent: May 17, 2022
    Assignee: FUJIFILM Healthcare Corporation
    Inventors: Hiroaki Hasegawa, Kengo Imagawa, Shuntaro Machida, Taiichi Takezaki
  • Patent number: 11284859
    Abstract: Provided is a probe which transmits an ultrasonic wave to a diagnostic site and receives a reception signal which is a reflected wave.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 22, 2019
    Date of Patent: March 29, 2022
    Assignee: FUJIFILM Healthcare Corporation
    Inventors: Yutaka Igarashi, Shinya Kajiyama, Yohei Nakamura, Kengo Imagawa, Kazuhiro Amino, Takayuki Iwashita
  • Patent number: 11191527
    Abstract: Provided is a probe which transmits an ultrasonic wave to a diagnostic site and receives a reception signal which is a reflected wave.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 22, 2019
    Date of Patent: December 7, 2021
    Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
    Inventors: Yutaka Igarashi, Shinya Kajiyama, Yohei Nakamura, Kengo Imagawa, Kazuhiro Amino, Takayuki Iwashita
  • Publication number: 20210362187
    Abstract: 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: Application
    Filed: February 25, 2021
    Publication date: November 25, 2021
    Inventors: Yutaka IGARASHI, Shinya KAJIYAMA, Kengo IMAGAWA
  • Patent number: 10799213
    Abstract: 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: Grant
    Filed: November 28, 2014
    Date of Patent: October 13, 2020
    Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
    Inventors: Takuma Nishimoto, Yutaka Igarashi, Toru Yazaki, Kengo Imagawa, Yusaku Katsube
  • Publication number: 20200163652
    Abstract: 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: Application
    Filed: October 9, 2019
    Publication date: May 28, 2020
    Inventors: Shinya KAJIYAMA, Kengo IMAGAWA, Yoshihiro HAYASHI
  • Publication number: 20200077979
    Abstract: Provided is a probe which transmits an ultrasonic wave to a diagnostic site and receives a reception signal which is a reflected wave.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 22, 2019
    Publication date: March 12, 2020
    Inventors: Yutaka IGARASHI, Shinya KAJIYAMA, Yohei NAKAMURA, Kengo IMAGAWA, Kazuhiro AMINO, Takayuki IWASHITA
  • Publication number: 20200069287
    Abstract: 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: Application
    Filed: March 22, 2019
    Publication date: March 5, 2020
    Inventors: Hiroaki HASEGAWA, Kengo IMAGAWA, Shuntaro MACHIDA, Taiichi TAKEZAKI
  • Patent number: 10499885
    Abstract: 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: Grant
    Filed: May 30, 2014
    Date of Patent: December 10, 2019
    Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
    Inventors: Kengo Imagawa, Yutaka Igarashi, Toru Yazaki
  • Publication number: 20190328369
    Abstract: Provided is a probe which transmits an ultrasonic wave to a diagnostic site and receives a reception signal which is a reflected wave.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 22, 2019
    Publication date: October 31, 2019
    Inventors: Yutaka IGARASHI, Shinya KAJIYAMA, Yohei NAKAMURA, Kengo IMAGAWA, Kazuhiro AMINO, Takayuki IWASHITA
  • Patent number: 10448923
    Abstract: 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: Grant
    Filed: June 6, 2014
    Date of Patent: October 22, 2019
    Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
    Inventors: Takuma Nishimoto, Yutaka Igarashi, Yusaku Katsube, Kengo Imagawa
  • Publication number: 20170150945
    Abstract: 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: Application
    Filed: June 6, 2014
    Publication date: June 1, 2017
    Inventors: Takuma NISHIMOTO, Yutaka IGARASHI, Yusaku KATSUBE, Kengo IMAGAWA
  • Publication number: 20160310104
    Abstract: 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: Application
    Filed: November 28, 2014
    Publication date: October 27, 2016
    Inventors: Takuma NISHIMOTO, Yutaka IGARASHI, Toru YAZAKI, Kengo IMAGAWA, Yusaku KATSUBE
  • Publication number: 20160120516
    Abstract: 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: Application
    Filed: May 30, 2014
    Publication date: May 5, 2016
    Applicant: Hitachi, Ltd.
    Inventors: Kengo IMAGAWA, Yutaka IGARASHI, Toru YAZAKI
  • Patent number: 8035071
    Abstract: 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: Grant
    Filed: May 7, 2008
    Date of Patent: October 11, 2011
    Assignee: Hitachi High-Technologies Corporation
    Inventors: Masami Makuuchi, Ritsurou Orihashi, Masayoshi Takahashi, Wen Li, Kengo Imagawa, Takahiro Jingu