Patent Document ID: 6063033
Application ID: 09322748
Patent Flag: 1

Claim One:
1. A method for imaging matter comprising the steps of: transmitting wave energy during first through I-th transmit firings focused at a transmit focal position, where I&gt;1, none of said first through I-th transmit firings having the same excitation level; transducing wave energy transmitted in said first through I-th transmit firings and returned from said matter to form first through I-th sets of receive signals respectively; beamforming said first through I-th sets of receive signals to form first through I-th receive vectors respectively comprising acoustic data acquired along a receive scan line; applying first through I-th estimation weighting factors to said first through I-th receive vectors respectively to form first through I-th weighted receive vectors respectively, said first through I-th estimation weighting factors being selected to emphasize a first signal component when said first through I-th weighted receive vectors are summed, said first signal component being a nonlinear signal component of order three or greater; summing said first through I-th weighted receive vectors to form a first summed receive vector comprising said first signal component; processing said first summed receive vector to form image display data as a function of said first summed receive vector; and displaying said image display data.