ULTRASOUND IMAGING SYSTEM USING AN ARRAY OF TRANSDUCER ELEMENTS AND AN IMAGING METHOD
FIG10 shows a schematic representation of the transducer die of FIG4 indicating the direction in which image slices are obtained from the imaging region  FIG9 shows a schematic representation of the transducer die of FIG4 indicating the first and second element groups of transducers
FIG10 illustrates the direction in which the first and second element groups are fired when generating the cross-sectional and longitudinal views in a line-by-line imaging cycle. It should be noted that the transducer die shown in FIG10 is rotated at 90° to the transducer die shown in FIG4.  FIG9 shows a schematic of the transducer die 54, wherein the transducers 56 are grouped into first and second element groups. As discussed above, the transducers need not be arrayed in a grid pattern and may be arranged in a dense packing pattern, a hexagonal packing pattern or any other suitable pattern.
schematic
9
system
20
beamformer
56
transducers transducer
76
in direction
59
second circuits
10
array transducer probe
58
first circuits
54
transducer die
['1. An ultrasound system (9), comprising: an array (55) of transducer elements (56) grouped into element groups, wherein the element groups comprise: a plurality of first element groups having a first orientation; and a plurality of second element groups having a second orientation, different from the first orientation; a set of first conductors (70) with a first conductor shared between elements in each first element group and a set of second conductors (72) with a second conductor shared between elements in each second element group; a first plurality of bias voltage circuits (V B ); and a second plurality of transmit and receive circuits (T/R); wherein each element group is adapted to be activated for transmission or reception by the application of a bias voltage from a bias voltage circuit and controlled by a transmit and receive circuit, wherein the system is adapted to acquire: first ultrasound data in which the element groups of the array, or the element groups of a sub-array of the element groups, are activated by a bias voltage circuit via a first conductor; and second ultrasound data in which the element groups of the array, or the element groups of a sub-array of the element groups, are activated by a bias voltage circuit via a second conductor.']