Patent ID: 6089096
Filing Date: 2000-07-18
Classification: G01N,G01S,G10K

Abstract:
An imaging system for focusing ultrasound beams in elevational and azimuthal planes; the system comprising:an array having a plurality of rows of imaging elements in an elevational direction and a plurality of columns of imaging elements in an azimuthal direction;a plurality of beamformer channels, each beamformer channel including a transmit beamformer and a receive beamformer;a switching circuit, including a plurality of switches, that allocates, in response to a control signal, at least one beamformer channel to an elevational element of a first aperture having a predetermined number of columns and rows for scanning a first depth of an imaging field, and to an azimuthal element of a column added to the first aperture to form a second aperture for scanning a second depth of the imaging field;a controller providing a control signal for allocating the at least one beamformer channel between the elevational element and the azimuthal element of the array.