Patent ID: 8508103

Claim:
A transmitting and receiving sonic transducer, comprising: a two dimensional array of sensor elements, wherein each sensor element within said array is separately addressable via electronic control; and wherein each sensor element is capable of transmitting during a first time interval and alternatively receiving during a second time interval, as directed via said electronic control; and wherein a first set of sensor elements are selected to form a first pattern within said array and a second set of elements are selected to form a second pattern within said array; and wherein said first pattern and said second pattern each form groups of sensor elements that are mutually exclusive and that are proximate to each other; and wherein control electronics are configured to control said first set of sensor elements to transmit and to not receive during a first set of one or more selected time intervals, and said control electronics are configured to control said second set of sensor elements to receive and to not transmit during a second set of one or more selected time intervals, and wherein said first set of selected time intervals to not overlap in time with any of said second set of time intervals.