Ultrasound imaging system with transmit apodization

A beamformer system for providing transmit apodization in an ultrasound system, comprising:

• a digital memory adapted to store digital samples of a plurality of linear or pulse transmit waveforms,
• a plurality of channel address counters, coupled to the digital memory, each adapted to address a sequence of digital samples of a transmit waveform stored in the memory independently of addressing a digital sample sequence by other channel address counters in the plurality,
• a plurality of transmitter output devices, coupled to the digital memory that are responsive to a sequence of digital waveform samples and adapted, when enabled, to produce a pulse or linear waveform for an array of transducer elements, and
• an array of transducer elements that are each coupled to an output of one or more of the plurality of transmitter output devices and adapted to produce an ultrasound beam from a transmit aperture when actuated by a pulse or linear waveform,
• wherein the plurality of channel address counters are further adapted to address different sequences of digital samples of different transmit waveforms stored in the digital memory, and
• wherein the plurality of transmitter output devices are further adapted to transmit different waveforms from different elements of the transmit aperture during a common transmit event.