US Patent 7859941 Transmit apodization control for microbeamformers

Apodization control techniques for a microbeamformer including a plurality of microbeamformer channels each including a transducer, a microbeamformer transmitter for driving the transducer, a microbeamformer receiver for receiving signals from the transducer and usually a delay element for delaying the received transducer signals. To improve the generation of waveforms by the transducers, the voltage provided to the microbeamformer transmitters is adjusted and/or the current provided by the microbeamformer transmitters is adjusted. The microbeamformer channels can also be grouped together into patches and/or clusters with the patches and clusters being provided with a common voltage source or current.