Elevation plane focusing in an ultrasound imaging system

Claim 1

An ultrasound imaging system for effecting beam focusing in a scan plane and in an elevation plane, comprising: an array of ultrasound transducer elements, wherein the plural transducer elements are arranged in the direction of the scan plane and each transducer element is divided into three or more segments in the direction of the elevation plane; activation means for activation of certain ones of the segments of each transducer element for transmission and reception of ultrasound energy, including a transmitter for transmitting a beam of ultrasound energy from the array into a region of interest, and a receiver for receiving a return beam and for generating signals in response; a signal processing section that employs a plurality of signal processing channels, wherein the section includes: a signal processing circuit, a beam former and associated circuits for effecting signal processing and image display, and a controller for effecting system control and allocation of the signal processing channels to the plural transducer elements for focusing in the scan and elevation planes; wherein channel allocation is performed according to beam focal length, and wherein at least one of the channels not allocated to effect scan plane focusing is thereby selectably allocated to effect beam focusing in the elevation plane.