Sparse two-dimensional wideband ultrasound transducer arrays

• US 5,911,692 A
• Filed: 01/20/1998
• Issued: 06/15/1999
• Est. Priority Date: 01/20/1998
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: General Electric Company
• Original Assignee: General Electric Company
• Inventors: Itani, Linda Ann, Hussain, Moayyed Abdulhussain, Rigby, Kenneth Wayne
• Primary Examiner(s): MANUEL, GEORGE C
• Application Number:
  US09/010,046
• Time in Patent Office: 511 Days
• Field of Search: 600/444, 600/447, 600/459, 128/916, 73/625, 73/626, 367/103, 367/105
• US Class Current: 600/447
• CPC Class Codes: B06B 1/0622 on one surface

Abstract

An ultrasonic imaging system employs a thinned array of transducer elements in order to reduce the number of signal processing channels. The transducer elements are reduced in number and then selectively located at grid positions in a pattern which reduces the sidelobe levels produced by the array. Thinning is accomplished by discretizing the aperture of the transducer array in two steps. First, a continuous aperture is discretized as a set of concentric rings. Then each ring is replaced by a set of spaced transducer elements. A zero sampling technique is used to determine the number of elements on each ring.

Claims

1. An ultrasound imaging system comprising:

an ultrasound transducer array comprising a grid having a predetermined number of grid points and a plurality of ultrasound transducer elements supported by said grid, each of said transducer elements being located at a respective grid point in a set of grid points selected to be located in a predetermined pattern so that an aperture of said array has smaller sidelobe levels than would be produced by a fully populated grid, the number of ultrasound transducer elements being less than said predetermined number;

transmitter means for activating said ultrasound transducer elements to transmit a series of transmit ultrasound waveforms;

beamforming means for forming receive beams from signals provided by said ultrasound transducer elements in response to reception of ultrasound energy from a reflecting point on which said transmit ultrasound waveforms impinge; and

monitoring means for displaying an image which is a function of said receive beams.

2. The ultrasound imaging system of claim 1 wherein said predetermined pattern is symmetrical relative to a first axis of said aperture.

3. The ultrasound imaging system of claim 2 wherein said predetermined pattern is symmetrical relative to a second axis of said aperture perpendicular to said first axis.

4. The ultrasound imaging system of claim 1 wherein said aperture is generally circular in shape.

5. The ultrasound imaging system of claim 4, wherein each of said set of grid points is closest to a respective one of a set of calculated transducer locations, said set of calculated transducer locations comprising a plurality of subsets of calculated transducer locations, each of said subsets comprising a respective number of calculated transducer locations spaced along a respective one of a plurality of concentric circles.

6. The ultrasound imaging system of claim 1 wherein said aperture is generally elliptical in shape.

7. The ultrasound imaging system of claim 6 wherein each of said set of grid points is closest to a respective one of a set of calculated transducer locations, said set of calculated transducer locations comprising a plurality of subsets of calculated transducer locations, each of said subsets comprising a respective number of calculated transducer locations spaced along a respective one of a plurality of concentric elliptical rings.

8. An ultrasound transducer array for medical imaging, comprising:

a grid having a predetermined number of grid points; and

a plurality of ultrasound transducers supported by said grid, each of said transducers being located at a respective grid point in a set of grid points arranged to form a non-circular aperture, the number of ultrasound transducers being less than said predetermined number,

wherein the grid points of said set are located in a predetermined pattern so that said non-circular aperture of said array has smaller sidelobe levels than would be produced by a fully populated grid coextensive with said non-circular aperture.

9. The ultrasound transducer array of claim 8 wherein said predetermined pattern is symmetrical relative to a first axis of said aperture.

10. The ultrasound transducer array of claim 9 wherein said predetermined pattern is symmetrical relative to a second axis of said aperture perpendicular to said first axis.

11. The ultrasound transducer array of claim 8 wherein said non-circular aperture is generally elliptical in shape.

12. The ultrasound transducer array of claim 11 wherein each of said set of grid points is closest to a respective one of a set of calculated transducer locations, said set of calculated transducer locations comprising a plurality of subsets of calculated transducer locations, each of said subsets comprising a respective number of calculated transducer locations spaced along a respective one of a plurality of concentric elliptical rings.