Patent ID: 6866634

Claim:
An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus comprising: an ultrasonic probe in which a plurality of ultrasonic transducers are arranged on a two-dimensional plane or a three-dimensional curved surface; a transducer group selecting circuit for selecting a plurality of transducer groups at different positions on said transducer-arranged surface; transmitting and receiving means for sending signals having characteristics which are different from each other to each of the transducer groups selected by said transducer group selecting circuit, for transmitting ultrasonic beams all at one time from each selected transducer group to the interior of the object to be examined, and for then receiving echo signals; and means for performing three-dimensional ultrasonic scanning of the object by changing the position of the selected transducer groups at every repetition of the ultrasonic transmission/reception by controlling said selecting circuit, and by controlling said transmitting and receiving means to transmit and receive the ultrasonic beams.