Utrasound imaging system architecture employing switched transducer elements

摘要

An ultrasonic imaging system which uses transform beamforming in a two-dimensional context includes a two-dimensional array of transducer elements, a plurality of groups of local busses, and a plurality of sets of switching circuits. Each transducer element has a signal electrode coupled to a corresponding set of switching circuits which is controlled so that a particular transducer element is selectively coupled to one of the associated group of local busses. Each local bus provides an output signal that is sent from the probe to the console via a respective coaxial cable for each group of local busses. The number of connections that are necessary to be made through each coaxial cable is reduced by the ratio of the number of transducer elements coupled to a set of local busses and the number of busses in that set. Each set of local busses provides the input transform signals to one transform section of the transform preprocessor. A control signal stored in memory determines which local bus each transducer is operatively connected to. The code pattern of the memory therefore specifies the patterns of the transducer element connections to the coaxial cables.