Ultrasound imaging system using beamforming techniques for phase coherence grating lobe suppression
First Claim
1. A method of ultrasound imaging comprising:
- splitting an array of ultrasound elements into a set of sub-apertures;
sequentially transmitting a plurality of beamformed pulses along a focused line of sight, such that the beamformed pulses are transmitted from different sub-apertures;
after each transmit event, receiving echoes with the array of ultrasound elements, thereby obtaining a set of signals associated with each transmit event;
applying receive beamforming time delays to each set of signals and calculating phase coherence weighting factors for each set of signals;
employing the phase coherence weighting factors to generate a weighted beamformed signal for each set of signals; and
adding the weighted beamformed signals to generate a line of an ultrasound image.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
High-frequency ultrasound imaging can be performed with greater quality and suppressed grating lobes by using methods and systems for effectively reducing the temporal length of transmit grating lobe signals in received ultrasound echoes. Systems and methods are provided for improved high-frequency ultrasound imaging. In various aspects, the method of shortening the time domain of grating lobe signals comprises splitting an array of N transmit elements into K sub-apertures. In further aspects, the grating lobes are suppressed by performing signal processing of the shortened grating lobe signals. In certain aspects, the signal processing method comprises weighting the samples by a calculated phase coherence factor.
36 Citations
23 Claims
-
1. A method of ultrasound imaging comprising:
-
splitting an array of ultrasound elements into a set of sub-apertures; sequentially transmitting a plurality of beamformed pulses along a focused line of sight, such that the beamformed pulses are transmitted from different sub-apertures; after each transmit event, receiving echoes with the array of ultrasound elements, thereby obtaining a set of signals associated with each transmit event; applying receive beamforming time delays to each set of signals and calculating phase coherence weighting factors for each set of signals; employing the phase coherence weighting factors to generate a weighted beamformed signal for each set of signals; and adding the weighted beamformed signals to generate a line of an ultrasound image. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
-
-
12. A system for ultrasound imaging, the system comprising:
-
an imaging array comprising an array of ultrasound elements having an element-to-element pitch greater than 0.5 lambda, wherein lambda is the wavelength of an ultrasound signal; a transmit beamformer coupled to the imaging array, wherein the transmit beamformer is configured to sequentially transmit a plurality of beamformed pulses along a focused line of sight, such that the beamformed pulses are transmitted from different sub-apertures of the array of ultrasound elements; a receive beamformer coupled to the imaging array, wherein the receive beamformer is configured to receive echoes with the array of ultrasound elements, thereby obtaining a set of signals associated with each transmit event; and processing circuitry coupled to the receive beamformer, wherein the processing circuitry is configured to; apply receive beamforming time delays to each set of signals and calculate phase coherence weighting factors for each set of signals; employ the phase coherence weighting factors to generate a weighted beamformed signal for each set of signals; and add the weighted beamformed signals to generate a line of an ultrasound image. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23)
-
Specification