Ultrasound imaging systems, devices and methods that simulate a virtual moving transducer/receiver to implement a synthetic aperture array

A method of ultrasound imaging, the method comprising:

• generating ultra-wideband frequency modulated (UWFM) ultrasound signals that have a time-bandwidth product (TBP) that is larger than 1,
• transmitting the generated ultrasound signals and receiving ultrasound signals via at least one linear array of micromachined ultrasound transducers that are coupled to a patient body, wherein the transmitting and receiving are carried out sequentially through the transducers to the body by switching the transducers one at a time according to a predefined pattern that simulates a moving transmitter and a moving receiver having a virtual velocity which yields a Doppler effect,
• analyzing the received ultrasound signals with respect to the transmitted ultrasound signals and the predefined transmission pattern,
• deriving a tissue response by comparing the received ultrasound signal to the transmitted ultrasound signal from each of the transducers, and
• generating, from the derived tissue response, a far-field ultrasound image of a region of interest (ROI) in the patient body, as a Range-Doppler map of the ROI.

A computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer readable storage medium having computer readable program embodied therewith, the computer readable program comprising:

• computer readable program configured to generate ultra-wideband frequency modulated (UWFM) ultrasound signals that have a time-bandwidth product (TBP) that is larger than 1,
• computer readable program configured to transmit the generated ultrasound signals and receiving ultrasound signals via a linear array of micromachined ultrasound transducers that are coupled to a patient body, wherein the transmitting and receiving are carried out sequentially through the transducers to the body by switching the transducers one at a time according to a predefined pattern that simulates a moving transmitter and a moving receiver having a virtual velocity which yields a Doppler effect,
• computer readable program configured to analyze the received ultrasound signals with respect to the transmitted ultrasound signals and the predefined transmission pattern,
• computer readable program configured to derive a tissue response by comparing the received ultrasound signal to the transmitted ultrasound signal from each of the transducers, and
• computer readable program configured to generate, from the derived tissue response, a far-field ultrasound image of a region of interest (ROI) in the patient body, as a Range-Doppler map of the ROI.