Reconfigurable medical ultrasound transducer arrays with preprocessing

A system for ultrasound imaging, comprising:

• a transducer array for transmitting ultrasound pulses from transmit elements towards a region of interest of a subject, said transducer array also receiving ultrasound echoes that have been reflected from the region of interest of the subject at a first predetermined number of receiving elements of the transducer array, the ultrasound echoes being converted into the first predetermined number of channel signals;
• a preprocessing unit connected to said receiving elements for preprocessing the channel signals to generate preprocessed channel signals;
• and
• a switch unit connected to said preprocessing unit for connecting the preprocessed channel signals into a second predetermined number of output channel signals, the second predetermined number being smaller than the first predetermined number.

A system for ultrasound imaging, comprising:

• a transducer array for transmitting ultrasound pulses from transmit elements towards a region of interest of a subject, said transducer array also receiving ultrasound echoes that have been reflected from the region of interest of the subject at a first predetermined number of receiving elements of the transducer array, the ultrasound echoes being converted into the first predetermined number of channel signals;
• a preprocessing unit connected to said receiving elements for preprocessing the channel signals to generate preprocessed channel signals;
• a switch unit connected to said preprocessing unit for connecting the preprocessed channel signals into a second predetermined number of output channel signals, the second predetermined number being smaller than the first predetermined number;
• and
• an analog-to-digital converter connected to said switch unit for converting the output channel signals into digital signals, a dynamic range of said analog-to-digital converter being related to a ratio between the second predetermined number and the first predetermined number.

A system for ultrasound imaging, comprising:

• a transducer array for transmitting ultrasound pulses from transmit elements towards a region of interest of a subject, said transducer array also receiving ultrasound echoes that have been reflected from the region of interest of the subject at a first predetermined number of receiving elements of the transducer array, the ultrasound echoes being converted into the first predetermined number of channel signals;
• a switch unit connected to said transducer array for connecting the channel signals into a second predetermined number of output channel signals, the second predetermined number being smaller than the first predetermined number;
• and
• an analog-to-digital converter connected to said switch unit for converting the output channel signals into digital signals, a dynamic range of said analog-to-digital converter being related to a ratio between the second predetermined number and the first predetermined number.

A method of ultrasound imaging, comprising the steps of:

• transmitting ultrasound pulses from transmit elements of a transducer array towards a region of interest of a subject;
• receiving ultrasound echoes that have been reflected from the region of interest of the subject at a first predetermined number of receiving elements of the transducer array, the ultrasound echoes being converted into the first predetermined number of channel signals;
• connecting the channel signals into a second predetermined number of output channel signals, the second predetermined number being smaller than the first predetermined number;
• and
• converting the output channel signals into digital signals, a dynamic range of said analog-to-digital converter being related to a ratio between the second predetermined number and the first predetermined number.