Three-Dimensional (3D) and/or Four-Dimensional (4D) Ultrasound Imaging

Abstract

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.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . An ultrasound imaging system, comprising:
 at least two 1D arrays of transducer elements, including a first array of transducer elements and a second array of transducer elements angularly offset from each other in a same plane;   transmit circuitry that excites the first and second arrays of transducer elements to concurrently transmit beams at each of a plurality of different angles;   receive circuitry that controls the first and second arrays of transducer elements to concurrently receive echo signals at each of the plurality of different angles;   an echo processor that beamforms the received signals from the first and second arrays to produce a first data stream for the first array and a second data stream for the second array, and processes, using a synthetic aperture algorithm, the beamformed signals simultaneously to calculate a 3D beam profile in a defined spatial angle,   wherein the first and second data streams include digitized representations of the received echo signals and a number of samples in a data stream depends on a length of a receive period and on a sample frequency; and   a scan converter that generates a 3D image based on the 3D beam profile.   
     
     
         2 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the first and second arrays of transducer elements are orthogonal to each other. 
     
     
         3 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein one of the first array or the second array includes a contiguous array of transducer elements and the other of the first or second arrays includes two segments, each of which butts up to the contiguous array at a central region of the contiguous array. 
     
     
         4 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the first and second arrays each include two segments, each of which butts up to a non-transducing region. 
     
     
         5 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the first and second arrays each include two segments, each of which butts up to a transducing region. 
     
     
         6 . The system of  claim 5 , wherein the transducing region is shared by the first and second arrays. 
     
     
         7 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the at least two arrays include at least a third array and a fourth array of transducer elements. 
     
     
         8 . The system of  claim 7 , wherein the first, the second, the third, and the fourth arrays of transducer elements are angularly offset from each other by forty-five degrees. 
     
     
         9 . The system of  claim 1 , where the scan converter applies a predetermined threshold value to suppress background scatter-echoes. 
     
     
         10 . The system of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 a controller that controls an angle of the beams of the at least two 1D arrays.   
     
     
         11 . The system of  claim 10 , wherein the controller changes the angle of one of the beams and activates the at least two 1D arrays to transmit and receive. 
     
     
         12 . The system of  claim 10 , wherein the controller sequentially changes the angle of one of the beams for an entire set of angles and activates the at least two 1D arrays to transmit and receive at each angle of the entire set of angles. 
     
     
         13 . The system of  claim 10 , wherein the angle is controlled to focus the beams over a predetermined number of different angles based on a predetermined angular increment for transmit and receive. 
     
     
         14 . The system of  claim 13 , wherein a transmit operation and a receive operation is performed by each of the at least two 1D arrays at each of the angles. 
     
     
         15 . The system of  claim 14 , wherein the angle of one of the beams is incremented over the predetermined number of different angles while the angle of the other of the beams is held constant. 
     
     
         16 . The system of  claim 15 , wherein the angle of the other of the beams is incremented one increment after each time the one of the beams is incremented over the predetermined number of different angles. 
     
     
         17 . The system of  claim 15 , wherein the angle is forty-five degrees and the increment is one degree. 
     
     
         18 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the scan converter determines a gray-scale for the 3D image by multiplying cross-correlation values of a correlation factor signal by averages of amplitudes of samples of the first and second data streams. 
     
     
         19 . A method, comprising:
 concurrently receiving echo signals at each of a plurality of different angles, wherein the echo signals are in response to concurrently transmitted beams at each of the plurality of different angles by at least two 1D arrays of transducer elements, and the at least two 1D arrays includes a first array of transducer elements and a second array of transducer elements angularly offset from each other in a same plane;   beamforming the received signals from the first and second arrays to produce a first data stream for the first array and a second data stream for the second array, wherein the first and second data streams include digitized representations of the received echo signals and a number of samples in a data stream depends on a length of a receive period and on a sample frequency;   processing, using a synthetic aperture algorithm, the first and second data streams simultaneously to calculate a 3D beam profile in a defined spatial angle; and   scan converting the 3D beam profile to generate a 3D image.   
     
     
         20 . A computer readable storage medium encoded with computer executable instructions which when executed by a processor cause the processor to:
 concurrently receive echo signals at each of a plurality of different angles, wherein the echo signals are in response to concurrently transmitted beams at each of the plurality of different angles by at least two 1D arrays of transducer elements, and the at least two 1D arrays includes a first array of transducer elements and a second array of transducer elements angularly offset from each other in a same plane;   beamform the received signals from the first and second arrays to produce a first data stream for the first array and a second data stream for the second array, wherein the first and second data streams include digitized representations of the received echo signals and a number of samples in a data stream depends on a length of a receive period and on a sample frequency;   process, using a synthetic aperture algorithm, the first and second data streams simultaneously to calculate a 3D beam profile in a defined spatial angle; and   scan convert the 3D beam profile to generate a 3D image.