Method and means for steering phased array scanner in ultrasound imaging system.

摘要

A phased array of transducer elements (20) in an ultrasound imaging system is selectively directed by grouping transducer elements in the array to form a plurality of groups of adjacent transducer elements (eg. TI-T4). Electrical signals in each group are mixed (22) with a modulation signal of a fixed frequency, the modulation signal being selectively phased delayed for each electrical signal in the group depending on the angle of direction of a reflection point in an imaged volume. The mixed electrical signals for each group are then summed (26) and selectively time delayed (28), and then all time delayed and summed electrical signals are then summed (30) to form an image beam.