Patent ID: 6524253
Filing Date: 2003-02-25
Classification: B06B,G01S,Y10S

Abstract:
A thinned array for use with an ultrasound device for evaluating a volume of a subject's body, the thinned array being electrically connected to said ultrasound device, said thinned array comprising:(a) a plurality of transmitters configured so that one transmitter insonates one individual segment of said volume at a time; and (b) an array of receivers that simultaneously receive echoes from said volume being evaluated, where said array of receivers is electronically aimed and dynamically focused upon sub-segments of said insonated segment of said volume, wherein said receivers in said array have a spacing that is greater than Â½ the wavelength of ultrasonic energy produced by said transmitters, and said receivers are configured to receive echoes from said sub-segments of said individual insonated segments of said volume of the subject's body in a pattern that is aligned with said insonated segment of the volume insonated by the transmitters, so that receiver grating lobes nearest the echoes coincide with first transmitter nulls, and the deleterious effects of grating lobes are minimized.