Hewlett-packard Company

Agilent Technologies, Inc.

James N Chen

Michael Atlas

Martin K Mason

Robert W King

Gregory G Vogel

John W Duffy

Thaddeus G Minior

Susan Ostrowski

An ultrasonic imaging system having an electronic control and signal processing circuit section interconnected with an improved probe assembly suitable for use in varied applications of ultrasonic imaging, especially in medicine, and in other fields of use. The probe assembly indudes an operator interface and a sensor head, both of which are structurally integrated within a compact housing according to a predetermined spatial relationship, such that an operator can position the probe assembly so as to locate the display adjacent the physical structure that is subject to isonification while simultaneously viewing, on the operator interface, an ultrasonic image of the physical structure. The ultrasonic image is thereby considered to be observable through an 'acoustic window' that is implemented in the view provided in the operator interface.

Ultrasonic imaging system having isonification and display functions

An ultrasound transducer for imaging a target features a piezoelectric transducer element for emitting an ultrasonic wave toward the target and an apodizer fashioned from a thin sheet acoustic blocking layer. The ultrasound acoustic blocking layer is placed between the front surface of the transducer and the target for substantially blocking the ultrasonic wave emission from a portion of the front surface area defining an inactive area. The blocking layer allows transmission of the ultrasonic emission from another portion of the front surface area defining an active area, and includes a thin sheet of polymer blocking material patterned for covering the inactive area of the front surface. The blocking material is attached to the front surface of the transducer element, embedded within an acoustic lens, or incorporated into an adapter which attaches to the body of the transducer. The thin sheet of blocking material is patterned as sawteeth aligned in opposite rows and pointing toward a midline of the transducer. The sawteeth are uniformly shaped and spaced, and positioned anti-symmetric, or the sawteeth are pseudo-randomly shaped and spaced. Alternatively, the thin sheet of blocking material is patterned as a grid of pseudo-randomly selected blocking areas.

Ultrasonic transducer apodization using acoustic blocking layer

A transducer assembly, suitable for medical examinations, for generating an apodized sector shaped beam of energy. A transducer in the form of a crystal, has a ring-like structure on its face which apodizes the signal produced by the transducer by providing a greater amount of attenuation at the transducer's periphery than at the transducer's center.

Ultrasound transducer

This invention provides an ultrasonic transducer probe for medical scanning and a lens assembly for use therein. The probe has a housing in which an ultrasonic transducer array is mounted, there being an opening in the housing adjacent the transducer array. A first lens subassembly is mounted to the transducer and moves therewith if the transducer is rotated. A second lens subassembly is mounted to the housing to fill the opening therein, and includes, for example, a thin plastic film covering the opening and bonded to the housing to seal the opening and a film backing lens or layer. The first lens subassembly is preferably a compound lens. The lens subassemblies are formed of materials having relative acoustic properties, and having mating surfaces which are shaped, to selectively focus ultrasonic signals from the transducers.

Ultrasound probe and lens assembly for use therein

An acoustic damper for substantially reducing the reverberation echoes at the junction between an acoustic signal propagating fluid and a material having an acoustic impedance substantially different from that of the fluid. The damper, which is particularly adapted for use in ultrasonic transducers, is formed of a material having an acoustic impedance which substantially matches the acoustic impedance of the fluid, such material preferably being a foam plastic material having sufficient hardness to be acoustically stable. For preferred embodiments, the damper is formed of a laminate of the layer described above and a second layer of a material which provides high acoustic attenuation, such as cork material.

Acoustic damper

A stand-off device for use with acoustic transducers is described in which a chamber having a diaphragm portion contains liquid, the ratio of the acoustic impedance of said diaphragm to the acoustic impedance of soft body tissue and the ratio of the acoustic impedance of said liquid to the acoustic impedance of said diaphragm being whole numbers or fractions, and said diaphragm being of such thickness that reflections from its diaphragm/body interface, when it is held against the body of a patient, and its liquid/diaphragm interface tends to cancel each other.

Stand-off device with special fluid

A stand-off device for use with an acoustic transducer in the form of a volume having a flexible cup section and a stiff cup section with the lips of the cups joined together and almost filled with liquid. The bottom of the stiff cup section has an opening across which a membrane is mounted and a clip for holding the active section of a transducer in contact with the membrane.

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Chelmsford, MA, United States of America

James N Chen