ULTRASONIC IMAGING SYSTEM

An ultrasound imaging system provides for high density scanning (transmit/receive) of color flow signals. The ultrasound scan sequence of each transmitted and received color flow ultrasound beam is laterally spaced through the imaging field to calculate flow velocities. The color flow beams are transmitted and received only once at each position along the horizontal scanning axis of the imaging field. The scanning technique of the present invention enables a large number of color flow lines to be acquired while keeping a high frame rate. The color line density is comparable to that of a B-mode image. A method of high-speed calculation or a high-speed autocorrelation is also provided to process the greater number of signals generated by the present scanning technique. A time-sharing scanning technique between color flow and B-mode images is also provided to synchronize blood flow and tissue (B-mode) images together.