Method and apparatus for performing ultrasound imaging

An ultrasound system comprising:

• an ultrasound probe including:
• a transducer array for acquiring ultrasound data;
• a plurality of analog-to-digital (A/D) converters configured to convert analog signals received from the transducer array to digital signals;
• a plurality of complex demodulators configured to generate IQ data pairs that are representative of the digital signals received from the A/D converters;
• a beamformer for partially beamforming the data received from the complex demodulators;
• and
• a digital transceiver to transmit the partially beam formed digital IQ data to a host system;
• and
• a portable host system that constitutes a smartphone or an electronic tablet, the portable host system is in communication with the ultrasound probe, wherein the portable host includes at least one programmable device configured to perform non-medical applications and to perform additional beamforming on the partially beam formed digital IQ data in software, wherein the non-medical applications correspond to at least one of an internet browser, a global positioning function, a music function, a weather function, a mail function, or application that transmit or receive information over the internet not based on processing of ultrasound images.

A method of operating an ultrasound imaging system comprising:

• receiving analog ultrasound data from a transducer array installed in an ultrasound probe;
• partially beamforming the ultrasound data to generate partially beamformed ultrasound data;
• converting the partially beamformed ultrasound data to digital ultrasound data;
• transmitting the digital ultrasound data from the ultrasound probe to a portable host system;
• and
• performing additional beamforming on the digital ultrasound data in software using a programmable device within the portable host system, the portable host system constitutes a smartphone or an electronic tablet, wherein the programmable device is further configured to perform non-medical applications, the non-medical applications correspond to at least one of an internet browser, a global positioning function, a music function, a weather function, a mail function, or application that transmit or receive information over the internet not based on processing of ultrasound images.