Patent ID: 7957219

Claim:
An acoustic imaging apparatus comprising: an acoustic probe including, an acoustic transducer having a plurality of acoustic transducer elements arranged in a one-dimensional array, and a variably-refracting acoustic lens coupled to the acoustic transducer, the variably-refracting acoustic lens having a pair of electrodes configured to adjust at least one characteristic of the variably-refracting acoustic lens in response to a selected voltage applied across the pair of electrodes, wherein the at least one characteristic of the variably-refracting acoustic lens that is adjusted in response to the selected voltage applied across the pair of electrodes includes a focus and an elevation of the variably-refracting acoustic lens; an acoustic signal processor coupled to the acoustic transducer; a variable voltage supply configured to apply selected voltages to the pair of electrodes; and a controller configured to control the variable voltage supply to apply the selected voltages to the pair of electrodes to change the focus and the elevation of the variably-refracting acoustic lens.