Patent ID: 8430819
Filing Date: 2013-04-30
Classification: A61B,G01S,G10K

Abstract:
1. An ultrasound imaging system with a configurable receive aperture comprising: a beamformer including a plurality of channels; a two-dimensional transducer array comprising a plurality of elements, the plurality of elements exceeding the plurality of channels; a processor configured to selectively electrically connect the plurality of elements to the plurality of channels according to a two-dimensional pattern of channel assignments, the two-dimensional pattern comprising a first sub-pattern of two-dimensional channel assignments that is repeated multiple times within the two-dimensional pattern and a second sub-pattern of two-dimensional channel assignments that is repeated multiple times within the two-dimensional pattern, wherein each repetition of the first sub-pattern is configured to be non-adjacent to all other repetitions of the first sub-pattern and each repetition of the second sub-pattern is configured to be non-adjacent to all other repetitions of the second sub-pattern; and a plurality of switches configured to control which the plurality of elements are actively connected to the plurality of channels.