Patent ID: 8038618

Claim:
An ultrasonic diagnostic imaging system for two dimensional and three dimensional imaging comprising: an array transducer having a plurality of transducer elements extending in both the azimuth and elevation directions; a receive beamformer, coupled to receive echo waveforms from elements of the array transducer to produce beamformed echo signals from a volume under observation (VOU); a scan converter, coupled to receive beamformed echo signals from the beamformer, which operates to arrange echo-image data in a desired image format; a two-dimensional/three-dimensional image processor, responsive to echo image data to produce a two-dimensional or a three-dimensional image for display; a user control, operated in conjunction with a displayed two-dimensional or three-dimensional image produced by the image processor, which includes the following: a user-selectable control which operates, when a two-dimensional image of the VOU is displayed and a three-dimensional image is available for display, to display a three-dimensional image of the VOU separate from the two-dimensional image; a user-selectable control which operates, when a three-dimensional image of the VOU is displayed and a two-dimensional image is available for display, to display a two-dimensional cross-sectional image of the VOU separate from the three-dimensional image; and a user selectable control which operates to adjust the viewing reference point of a three-dimensional image by 180°; and a display responsive to the two-dimensional/three-dimensional image processor to display a two-dimensional or three-dimensional ultrasound image.