Abstract: An ultrasonic diagnostic imaging system has a two dimensional array arranged in multiple patches of multiple transducer elements. Each patch of transducer elements is coupled to a group of microbeamformer delay lines having outputs coupled to a channel of a system beamformer, which beamforms the partially summed beams of each patch into a final beamformed signal. The outputs from multiple patches which are not simultaneously used in the active receive aperture are coupled to a common beamformer channel, enabling the number of patches of the array to exceed the number of channels of the system beamformer without the use of multiplexers.

Abstract: A medical diagnostic method, system and related equipment particularly adapted to diagnose disorders of the blood circulation serving the head and neck, and especially the brain. A preferred use of the system is early, rapid, accurate, diagnosis of stroke, especially whether the stroke is due to blockage of a blood vessel or leakage from the blood vessel.