Abstract: Disclosed is a method for producing compounded ultrasound images by beamforming a first and a second low-resolution image using data from a first ultrasound emission, beamforming a third and a fourth low-resolution image using data from a second ultrasound emission, summing said first and said third low-resolution image creating a first high-resolution image and said second and said fourth low-resolution image creating a second high-resolution image, wherein the method further comprises computing a first envelope image for said first high-resolution image and a second envelope image for said second high-resolution image, and processing said first envelope image and said second envelope image creating in a first compounded high-resolution image.

Abstract: A method and apparatus are provided for estimating the velocity vector of a remotely sensed object or group of objects using either ultrasound or electromagnetic radiation. The movement of the object is determined by emitting and receiving a pulsed field with spatial oscillations in both the axial and transverse directions. Using a number of pulsed emissions and the transverse spatial oscillations the received signal is influenced by transverse motion and a new autocorrelation estimator is used for determining the velocity vector.

Abstract: The two-dimensional velocity vector using a pulsed ultrasound field can be determined with the invention. The method uses a focused ultrasound field along the velocity direction for probing the moving medium under investigation. Several pulses are emitted and the focused received fields along the velocity direction are cross-correlated. The time shift between received signals is found from the peak in the cross-correlation function and the velocity is thereby determined.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for recursive ultrasound imaging using a Synthetic Transmit Aperture and by which a new frame is created at every pulse emission. In receive, parallel beam forming is implemented. The beam formed RF data is added to the previously created RF lines. To keep the level of the signal, the RF data obtained previously, when emitting with the same element, is subtracted from the RF lines. Up to 5000 frames/sec can be achieved for a tissue depth of 15 cm with a speed of sound of c=1540 m/s. The high frame rate makes continuous imaging data possible, which can significantly enhance flow imaging. A point spread function 2° wide at −6 dB and grating lobes of ≦−50 dB is obtained with a 64 elements phased array with a central frequency f0=3 MHz using a sparse transmit aperture using only 10 elements (Nxmt=10) during pulse emission. The corresponding images have the quality of a dynamically focused image in transmit and receive.