An integrated circuit for real-time tissue contrast enhancement in ultrasound diagnostic imaging systems

The design and implementation of a custom-integrated circuit chip for use in an experimental ultrasound imaging system are described. The chip uses a six-stage pipeline to implement an adjustable transfer characteristic containing three degrees of freedom. The adjustable transfer characteristics is implemented using a unique binary search based algorithm. This approach results in less chip area requirement and faster sustained operation than would be allowed by other more obvious approaches