Method and apparatus for forming a reception beam

A receiving beam-forming method comprising:

• arranging ‘n’ ultrasonic transducer elements into a predetermined form;
• dividing the plurality of ultrasonic transducer elements into multiple blocks, where ‘p’ ultrasonic transducer elements are illuminated by an acoustic signal, where ‘p’≦‘n’;
• repeatedly sampling signals received by ‘p’ ultrasonic transducer elements at a specific scanning frequency;
• forming sample data for the blocks for a scanning cycle, where a scanning cycle is dependent on the scanning frequency;
• storing said sample data;
• and
• forming a receiving beam in a specific direction using selected sample data.

A receiving beam-forming apparatus comprising:

• a multiplexer which multiplexes echo signals received by multiple ultrasonic transducer elements arranged in a predetermined form on a receiving transducer, where the echo signals are multiplexed into a number of signal lines, where the number of signal lines is less than the number of the ultrasonic transducer elements;
• an A/D converter which repeatedly samples the echo signals received by the individual ultrasonic transducer elements at a specific scanning frequency and outputs complex-valued sample data;
• and
• a signal processor which divides the multiple ultrasonic transducer elements into multiple blocks, selects the sample data derived from different scanning cycles for the blocks, where a scanning cycle is dependent on the scanning frequency, and forms the receiving beams using the selected complex-valued sample data.

A receiving beam-forming apparatus comprising:

• a plurality of ultrasonic transducer elements arranged on a predetermined form;
• a plurality of ultrasonic transducer elements receiving echo signals, where the transducer elements are sampled at a specific scanning frequency, forming sample data for a scanning cycle, where a scanning cycle is dependent on the scanning frequency;
• a memory which stores the sample data from multiple scanning cycles;
• and
• a beamformer which forms a receiving beam in a specific direction using the sample data.