An apparatus (402) includes an analog beamformer (414) that receives a set of analog RF signals. The set of analog RF signals are generated by a corresponding set of transducer elements (406) receiving ultrasound echo signals. The analog beamformer includes a delay network (416) with a set of phase shifting networks (506). Each phase shifting network of the set of phase shifting networks processes a different one of the analog RF signals of the set of analog RF signals. Each phase shifting network of the set of phase shifting networks adds a delay to the corresponding analog RF signal, producing a set of delayed analog RF signals that are aligned in time. The set of phase shifting networks does not use an inductive element to determine or add the delays. The analog beamformer further includes a summer (504) that sums the delayed analog RF signals, producing an analog beam sum.

A noise source visualization data accumulation and display device is provided where at two or more acoustic data are generated by beamforming acoustic signals acquired at different moments by using a plurality of microphone arrays and thereafter, one selected among two or more acoustic data or acoustic data processed therefrom is mapped to one optical image to be displayed.

A method for performing acoustic imaging and measurements may include generating a nonlinear frequency modulation (NLFM) chirp waveform based on a frequency response of at least one transducer. The method may further include generating an apodized signal by applying a window function to the NLFM chirp waveform. The method may further include exciting the at least one transducer with the apodized signal. The method may further include compressing received signals by using one or more matched filters.

The present invention relates to an improved ultrasound imaging method/technique for speckle reduction/suppression in an ultra sound imaging system in which scan conversion and speckle reduction is performed simultaneously in the scan conversion stage avoiding any kind of conventional interpolation. An improved method for speckle reduction in an ultrasound imaging system and an improved ultra sound imaging system for speckle reduction is provided in the present invention. The method comprises steps of receiving in a processor means raw data samples as an input comprising image signals with noises from a logarithmic amplifier, processing the received image signals for scan conversion and speckle reduction in the processor means so as to get pixel value from the raw data samples and to perform speckle reduction so as to provide speckle filtered output image.

An apparatus (402) includes an analog beamformer (414) that receives a set of analog RF signals. The set of analog RF signals are generated by a corresponding set of transducer elements (406) receiving ultrasound echo signals. The analog beamformer includes a delay network (416) with a set of phase shifting networks (506). Each phase shifting network of the set of phase shifting networks processes a different one of the analog RF signals of the set of analog RF signals. Each phase shifting network of the set of phase shifting networks adds a delay to the corresponding analog RF signal, producing a set of delayed analog RF signals that are aligned in time. The set of phase shifting networks does not use an inductive element to determine or add the delays. The analog beamformer further includes a summer (504) that sums the delayed analog RF signals, producing an analog beam sum.

In some embodiments, ultrasound receive beamforming yields beamformed samples, based upon which spatially intermediate pixels (232, 242, 244) are dynamically reconstructed. The samples have been correspondingly derived from acquisition through respectively different acoustic windows (218, 220). The reconstructing is further based on temporal weighting of the samples. In some embodiments, the sampling is via synchronized ultrasound phased-array data acquisition from a pair of side-by-side, spaced apart (211) acoustic windows respectively facing opposite sides of a central region (244) to be imaged. In particular, the pair is used interleavingly to dynamically scan jointly in a single lateral direction in imaging the region. The acquisition in the scan is, along a synchronization line (222) extending laterally across the region, monotonically progressive in that direction. Rotational scans respectively from the window pair are synchronizable into a composite scan of a moving object. The synchronization line (222) can be defined by the focuses of the transmits. The progression may strictly increase.

An ultrasound imaging system (100) includes at least first and second arrays (108) of transducer elements, which are angularly offset from each other in a same plane. Transmit circuitry (112) excites the first and second arrays to concurrently transmit over a plurality of angles. Receive circuitry (114) controls the first and second arrays to concurrently receive echo signals over the plurality of angles. An echo processor (116) processes the received signals, producing a first data stream for the first array and a second data stream for the second array. The first and second data streams include digitized representations of the received echo signals. A sample matcher (118) compares samples of the first and second data streams and determines a cross-correlation there between. A correlation factor generator (120) that generates a correlation factor signal based on the determined cross-correlation. A scan converter (122) generates a 3D image for display based on the correlation factor signal and the first and second data streams.

An interlaced data acquisition scheme is employed in an ultrasound imaging device to reduce the amount of electrical power consumed by the device's transmit firings when collecting video data. Reducing electrical consumption according to the present disclosure reduces battery size, weight and cost; reduces heat generation; reduces need for heat-dissipating materials in the probe and prolongs probe uptime. A reconstruction algorithm is employed to produce images from the interlaced data that are comparable in quality to videos that would be obtained by a conventional (non-interlaced) image acquisition.

The present invention is directed to an ultrasound imaging system and method for Doppler processing of data. The ultrasonic imaging system efficiently addresses the data computational and processing needs of Doppler processing. In a preferred embodiment, the ultrasound imaging system of the present invention includes a processing module; and memory operable coupled to the processing module, wherein the memory stores operational instructions that cause the processing module to map serial data to vector representation, calculate an auto-correlation function of the data, calculate a phase shift of the auto-correlation function to generate a monotonic function covering all values of the phase shift corresponding to a range of Doppler velocities and display the resultant images, for example, as color images.

An interlaced data acquisition scheme is employed in an ultrasound imaging device to reduce the amount of electrical power consumed by the device's transmit firings when collecting video data. Reducing electrical consumption according to the present disclosure reduces battery size, weight and cost; reduces heat generation; reduces need for heat-dissipating materials in the probe and prolongs probe uptime. A reconstruction algorithm is employed to produce images from the interlaced data that are comparable in quality to videos that would be obtained by a conventional (non-interlaced) image acquisition.