The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
May. 23, 1995
Filed:
Jan. 13, 1994
Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba, Kawasaki, JP;
Abstract
In an ultrasonic imaging apparatus, ultrasound beams are diffused in the slice direction perpendicular to the scanning direction to thereby scan a three-dimensional region of a subject under examination with wide ultrasound beams. Thus, echoes are detected accumulated in the slice direction. Echoes from the surface of a region of interest, such as a fetus, are stronger than echoes from within the region of interest. As a consequence, an ultrasonic image is produced which approximates a surface image. The amount of data required to produce an ultrasonic image, the ultrasonic beam scanning procedure, and the signal processing system are the same as before, which permits real-time operation. A conventional ultrasonic imaging apparatus can be used without modification except a probe adapter for diffusing ultrasound beams in the slice direction.