Method and apparatus for transmitting multiple beams

Abstract

A method is provided for acquiring ultrasonic data using multi-beam transmission. The method includes transmitting a first transmit beam using a first subset of element and transmitting a second transmit beam using a second subset of the elements. The first and second subsets of elements comprising at least one common element. The first and second beams are transmitted simultaneously. The elements are divided into the first and second subsets that may comprise at least partially different subsets of elements. An ultrasonic system is also provided that comprises a transducer comprising an array of elements and a beamformer for dividing the array of elements into at least first and second subsets of elements. The first and second subsets of elements at least partially overlapping. A transmitter drives the first and second subsets of elements to simultaneously transmit different first and second transmit beams, respectively. A receiver receives receive lines representative of the first and second transmit beams. The transmitter may transmit different first and second coded transmit waveforms from the first and second subsets of elements.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.