US Patent 7775982 Method and system for sub-aperture processing

A transducer assembly is provided including a transducer array comprising a plurality ‘M’ of transducer elements and a sub-aperture processor comprising a plurality ‘P’ of input channels and an output channel. The plurality ‘P’ of input channels is coupled to the ‘M’ transducer elements and a plurality ‘R’ of switching elements in operative association with the output channel of the sub-aperture processor to switchably couple the output channel to at least one of a plurality of ‘N’ system channels.