Patent ID: 7789831

Claim:
A method for forming a synthetic elevation aperture, the method comprising: (a) configuring a multi-dimensional transducer array with a first interconnection of elements, the first interconnection of elements forming one or more first macro elements, each first macro element formed by connecting two or more of the elements together, the first macro elements connected with respective system channels; (b) acquiring a first set of ultrasound data as a function of the first interconnection, the acquiring including steering in different directions with the first macro elements; (c) configuring the multi-dimensional transducer array with a second interconnection of elements, the second interconnection corresponding to a different elevation aperture than the first interconnection and corresponding to second macro elements formed by connecting together different groups of the elements than for the first macro elements; (d) acquiring a second set of ultrasound data as a function of the second interconnection, the acquiring including steering in different directions with the second macro elements; and (e) applying a synthetic elevation aperture process to the first and second sets of ultrasound data.