Variable delay system

Apparatus for imaging a body, comprising:

• means for transmitting energy into the body;
• a transducer for converting echoes reflected from said body into electrical signals, said transducer being divided into a plurality of defined elements;
• a plurality of delay lines;
• means for respectively applying signals from pairs of said elements to opposite ends of different ones of said plurality of delay lines;
• a plurality of coupling means respectively associated with said plurality of delay lines for sampling, as a predetermined function of time, the signals at different delay stages of their associated delay lines;
• and
• combining means for combining the outputs of said coupling means to form an image representative signal.

A variable delay system for coupling a plurality of elements to a single element, comprising:

• a plurality of delay lines having different numbers of stages;
• means for respectively connecting pairs of said elements to opposite ends of different ones of said plurality of delay lines;
• a plurality of coupling means respectively associated with said plurality of delay lines, each being operative to couple a selected delay stage of its associated delay line to said single element;
• said coupling means being coupled to said single element via delay means which are operative to introduce successively greater delays between said single element and the delay lines having successively lesser numbers of stages;
• and
• means for changing the selected delay stages to which said coupling means are coupled.

A switchable delay system for receiving signals from a plurality of ordered transducer elements and for producing a combination of the signals from said elements, the contributions to said combination from different elements being delayed with respect to each other, and the relative delays attributable to signals from the different elements being switchable under operator control, comprising:

• a plurality of delay lines having different numbers of steps;
• means for respectively applying signals from pairs of said elements to opposite ends of different ones of said plurality of delay lines, the signals from the first and last elements being respectively applied to opposite ends of the delay line having the largest number of stages, the signals from the second and next-to-last elements being respectively applied to opposite ends of the delay line having the next-to-largest number of stages, and so on;
• a combining circuit;
• and
• a plurality of coupling means respectively associated with said plurality of delay lines, each operative to couple the signal at an operator selected one of said delay stages to said combining circuit.

Apparatus for imaging a body, comprising:

• means for transmitting ultrasound energy into the body;
• a transducer for converting ultrasound energy reflected from the body into electrical signals, said transducer being divided into a number of ordered segments;
• a plurality of delay lines having respectively different numbers of stages;
• means for respectively applying the signals from the first and last segments to opposing ends of the delay line having the largest number of stages, the signals from the second and next-to-last segments to opposing ends of the delay line having the next-to-largest number of stages, and so on;
• a plurality of coupling means respectively associated with said plurality of delay lines for sampling, as a function of time, the signals at different delay stages of their respective delay lines;
• and
• means for combining the outputs of said coupling means to form an image-representative signal.