Block-switching in ultrasound imaging

Abstract

Systems of generating and manipulating an ultrasound beam are disclosed. The system uses selective sets of ultrasound elements to generate an ultrasound beam, scanning the beam over a series of ultrasound elements in order to collected echo data covering an area, and generating an image from the resulting data. The scanning process includes shifting the set of ultrasound elements used to form the ultrasound beam by more than one ultrasound element (block-switching) between each step in the scanning process. This is accomplished without loss of image resolution by using area-forming techniques. The block-switching technique enables use of cross-correlation methods during image construction.

1 . A method for three-dimensional ultrasound imaging, comprising:
 exciting a first, second, and third subset of ultrasound transducer elements, wherein the second subset is displaced by more than one transducer element from the first subset and the third subset is displaced by more than one transducer element from the second subset, the sequential excitation of each subset generating consecutive ultrasound beams;   directing the consecutive ultrasound beams into a material under investigation;   detecting echoes generated by each of the three consecutive ultrasound beams; and   generating three-dimensional echo location data using the detected echoes.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein two of the three subsets have no ultrasound transducer elements in common. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein each subset differs in position by at least fifty percent of the number of ultrasound transducer elements in the second subset. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the second subset is the only subset of a plurality of ultrasound transducer elements operative between a time the first subset is operative and a time the third subset is operative. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the center of the first subset is displaced from the center of the second subset by a distance greater than or equal to the width of two ultrasound transducer elements from the plurality of ultrasound transducer elements. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the center of the second subset is displaced from the center of the third subset by a distance greater than or equal to the width of two ultrasound transducer elements in the plurality of ultrasound transducer elements. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein generating the three-dimensional echo location data includes area-forming. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising generating an image using the three-dimensional echo location data. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein the resolution of the image is independent of overlaps between the first, second, and third ultrasound beams. 
     
     
         10 . A method for three-dimensional ultrasound imaging comprising:
 directing three consecutive ultrasound beams into a material under investigation,   wherein
 a second ultrasound beam overlaps with a first ultrasound beam by less than eighty-seven percent of the width of the second ultrasound beam, and 
 a third ultrasound beam overlaps with the second ultrasound beam by less than eighty-seven percent of the width of the second ultrasound beam; 
   detecting echoes generated by each of the three consecutive ultrasound beams; and   generating three-dimensional echo location data using the detected echoes.   
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein generating the three-dimensional echo location data includes area-forming. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 10 , further comprising generating an image using the three-dimensional echo location data. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 12 , wherein the resolution of the image is independent of overlaps between the first, second, and third ultrasound beams. 
     
     
         14 . A method for executing a three-dimensional ultrasound scan, comprising:
 selecting a first subset of ultrasound transducer elements for excitation from an array of ultrasound transducer elements;   exciting the first subset of ultrasound transducer elements;   generating a first ultrasound beam from the first excited subset of ultrasound transducer elements;   transmitting the first ultrasound beam into a material under investigation;   receiving a generated echo;   selecting a second subset of ultrasound transducer elements from the array of transducers, the second subset differing from the first subset by a displacement of more than one transducer element when the three-dimensional ultrasound scan is determined to not be completed.   
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 14 , wherein the subsets have no ultrasound transducer elements in common. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 14 , further comprising:
 generating a second ultrasound beam from the second subset of ultrasound transducer elements;   transmitting the second ultrasound beam into the material under investigation; and   receiving a new generated echo.   
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 14 , further comprising selecting the subset of ultrasound transducer elements and executing a second three-dimensional ultrasound scan. 
     
     
         18 . A method for executing a three-dimensional ultrasound scan, comprising:
 selecting a subset of ultrasound transducer elements for excitation from an array of ultrasound transducer elements;   exciting the subset of ultrasound transducer elements;   generating an ultrasound beam from the excited subset of ultrasound transducer elements;   transmitting the ultrasound beam into a material under investigation;   receiving a generated echo; and   continuing to a query when the scan is determined to be complete.   
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 18 , further comprising selecting the subset of ultrasound transducer elements and executing a second three-dimensional ultrasound scan. 
     
     
         20 . A method for forming a three-dimensional ultrasound image, comprising:
 executing a transmit/receive cycle for an ultrasound beam;   generating echo data from the ultrasound beam;   generating positional data from the echo data using area forming;   storing the positional data;   creating a composite set of positional data; and   generating a three-dimensional image from the composite set of positional data.   
     
     
         21 . The method of  claim 20 , further comprising executing a cross-correlation and adjusting the positional data in response to the cross-correlation. 
     
     
         22 . The method of  claim 20 , further comprising displaying the three-dimensional ultrasound image.