Parallel ultrasonic information processing

In an ultrasonic diagnostic imaging system which transmits ultrasonic energy into the tissue of a patient and receives ultrasonic echoes reflected by the patient in response to such transmissions, apparatus for processing simultaneously more than one vector of echo information for each transmission, which comprises:

• (a) an array of transducer elements for detecting time dependent ultrasonic echo information and converting such echo information into analog signals;
• (b) a plurality of analog to digital converter, one associated with each transducer element and each coupled to receive analog signals from its associated transducer element and for digitizing said analog signals;
• (c) a plurality of delay means, one coupled to each analog to digital converter for delaying each digitized signal received from a respective analog to digital converter to produce at least two vectors of information with independent delay characteristics, each of said delay means including one main delay means for delaying each received digitized signal by a preselected main time period and at least two incremental delay means coupled to said main delay means for additionally delaying the digitized signal delayed by said main delay means by differing incremental time periods, each of said time periods being generally relatively small compared to the corresponding main time period;
• and
• (d) a plurality of summing networks, each coupled to receive digitized time delayed signals from one of said incremental delay means of each of said delay means so that each of said summing networks produces simultaneously one unique vector of time synchronized echo information for each transmission.

In an ultrasonic diagnostic imaging system which transmits ultrasonic energy into the tissue of a patient and receives ultrasonic echoes reflected by the patient in response to such transmission, apparatus for producing simultaneously more than one vector of echo information for each transmission, which comprises:

• an array of receiving transducers;
• a main delay having an input coupled to one of said receiving transducers and an output, and exhibiting a preselected main delay period for received signals passing between its input and output;
• and
• means for selectively providing predetermined small amounts of incremental delay between the output of said main delay and a plurality of output terminals, wherein a plurality of differently delayed signals are simultaneously produced at said output terminals which are derived from a common signal received from said one of said receiving transducers.