Ultrasound imaging method and apparatus using orthogonal Golay codes

An ultrasound imaging method comprising the steps of:

• (a) storing an M number of Golay codes, wherein M is a positive number greater than two, the M number of Golay codes include M number of code sequences, and the code sequences of the Golay codes are orthogonal to each other;
• (b) transmit-focusing ultrasound pulse signals to a transmitting focal point, wherein the transmit-focusing is sequentially performed by the M number of groups of the Golay code sequences converted into the ultrasound pulse signals;
• (c) receiving signals reflected from the transmitting focal point in response to the transmit-focusing with respect to each of the M number of groups;
• (d) performing pulse compression with respect to the received signals, wherein the pulse compression is performed once with respect to each stored Golay code;
• (e) receive-focusing the pulse-compressed signals;
• and
• (f) forming a B-mode image by processing the receive-focused signals.

An ultrasound imaging apparatus comprising:

• (a) means for storing M number of Golay codes, wherein M is a positive number greater than two, the M number of Golay codes includes M number of code sequences, and the code sequences of the Golay codes are orthogonal to each other;
• (b) a plurality of transducers for transmit-focusing ultrasound pulse signals to a transmitting focal point, wherein the the transmit-focusing is sequentially performed by the M number of groups of the Golay code sequences converted into the ultrasound pulse signals and the transducers receive reflected signals from the transmitting focal points in response to the transmit-focusing with respect to each group;
• (c) means for receive-focusing the received reflected signals;
• (d) means for performing pulse compression with respect to the receive-focused signals, wherein the pulse compression is performed once with respect to each stored Golay code;
• and
• (e) means for forming a B-mode image by processing the pulse-compressed signals.

An ultrasound imaging apparatus comprising:

• (a) means for storing M number of Golay codes, wherein M is a positive number greater than two, the M number of Golay codes includes M number of code sequences, and the code sequences of the Golay codes are orthogonal to each other;
• (b) a plurality of transducers for transmit-focusing ultrasound pulse signals to a transmitting focal point, wherein the transmit-focusing is sequentially performed by the M number of groups of the Golay code sequences converted into the ultrasound pulse signals and the transducers receive reflected signals from the transmitting focal points in response to the transmit-focusing with respect to each group;
• (c) means for performing pulse compression with respect to the received signals, wherein the pulse compression is performed once with respect to each stored Golay code;
• (d) means for receive-focusing the pulse-compressed signals;
• and
• (e) means for forming a B-mode image by processing the receive-focused signals.