System and method for three-dimensional ultrasound imaging

Abstract

Under one aspect, an ultrasound system for producing a representation of an object includes: a concave transducer array configured to transmit ultrasonic pulses into the object and to receive ultrasonic pulses from the object, the ultrasonic pulses from the object containing structural information about the object, each transducer in the array generating an output signal representative of a portion of the structural information about the object; a multi-focal lens structure for focusing the transmitted ultrasonic pulses; a multiplexing structure in operable communication with the concave transducer array and including logic for coupling the output signals from at least one pair of transducers in the concave transducer array; and a beamformer in operable communication with the multiplexing structure and including logic for constructing a representation of structural information about the object based on the coupled output signals from the multiplexing structure.

1 . An ultrasound system for producing a representation of an object, the system comprising:
 a concave transducer array configured to transmit ultrasonic pulses into the object and to receive ultrasonic pulses from the object, wherein the ultrasonic pulses from the object contain structural information about the object, and wherein each transducer in the array generates an output signal representative of a portion of the structural information about the object;   a multi-focal lens structure for focusing the transmitted ultrasonic pulses;   a multiplexing structure in operable communication with the concave transducer array and including logic for coupling the output signals from at least one pair of transducers in the concave transducer array; and   a beamformer in operable communication with the multiplexing structure and including logic for constructing a representation of structural information about the object based on the coupled output signals from the multiplexing structure.   
     
     
         2 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the concave transducer array comprises multiple rows of transducers. 
     
     
         3 . The system of  claim 2 , wherein the logic of the multiplexing structure includes instructions for varying at least one of a depth to which the ultrasonic pulses penetrate the object and an f-number of the array by uncoupling a subset of the transducers from the beamformer. 
     
     
         4 . The system of  claim 1 , further comprising a dome configured to accept the object, wherein the concave transducer array is mounted over a slit in the dome. 
     
     
         5 . The system of  claim 4 , further comprising a motor for rotating the concave transducer array about an axis of the dome, wherein the logic of the beamformer is configured to create image slices of the object located inside the dome as the motor rotates the array. 
     
     
         6 . The system of  claim 5 , further comprising logic for assembling a three-dimensional representation of the object located inside the dome by combining the stored image slices. 
     
     
         7 . The system of  claim 4 , wherein at least one of the multiplexing structure and the beamformer is mounted on the dome. 
     
     
         8 . The system of  claim 4 , further comprising a probe housing, wherein the dome is constructed and arranged within the housing such that the object can be imaged without compression. 
     
     
         9 . The system of  claim 8 , wherein the object is a breast. 
     
     
         10 . A method of producing a representation of an object, the method comprising:
 transmitting ultrasonic pulses into the object with a concave transducer array;   focusing the ultrasonic pulses with a multi-focal lens structure coupled to the array;   receiving ultrasonic pulses from the object, the received ultrasonic pulses containing structural information about the object;   generating a plurality of output signals, each output signal representative of a portion of the structural information about the object;   multiplexing a subset of the output signals; and   obtaining a representation of structural information about the object based on the multiplexed subset of output signals.   
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 10 , further comprising receiving ultrasonic pulses from a variety of angles about the object, obtaining image slices of the object based on the received ultrasonic pulses, and creating a three-dimensional rendering oldie object based on the image slices. 
     
     
         12 . A concave ultrasonic transducer array, comprising:
 a plurality of curvilinear transducer rows, each transducer row comprising at least one ultrasonic transducer element; and   a concave multi-focus lens coupled to the ultrasonic transducer elements.   
     
     
         13 . The array of  claim 12 , wherein the concave multi-focus lens comprises a plurality of lens rows, one lens row coupled to each curvilinear transducer row. 
     
     
         14 . The array of  claim 13 , wherein some of the lens rows have at least one of a different dimension and a different focal length than other of the lens rows. 
     
     
         15 . The array of  claim 12 , wherein at least some of the transducer rows have a different dimension than other of the transducer rows. 
     
     
         16 . The array of  claim 12 , wherein each row comprises between 100 and 1000 transducer elements. 
     
     
         17 . The array of  claim 12 , wherein each row comprises between 300 and 600 transducer elements. 
     
     
         18 .- 21 . (canceled) 
     
     
         22 . A method of multiplexing signals from transducer elements in a concave transducer array, the method comprising:
 turning on rows of transducer elements in the concave transducer array based on a desired elevational beam performance;   turning on columns of transducer elements in the concave transducer array based on a desired azimuthal beam performance; and   connecting the turned on rows and columns to a beamformer.