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:
Mar. 13, 2001
Filed:
May. 28, 1998
Applicant:
Inventors:
Gregory Sharat Lin, Fremont, CA (US);
Kenneth R. Erikson, Los Gatos, CA (US);
Assignee:
Diasonics, Ultrasound, Inc., Santa Clara, CA (US);
Primary Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
A61B 8/12 ;
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
A61B 8/12 ;
Abstract
A forward-scanning ultrasound catheter probe. An ultrasound catheter probe includes a forward-scanning transducer positioned at the tip of the probe. As such, the forward-scanning transducer may provide images of structures that may lie ahead of the tip of the probe. Furthermore, the forward-scanning transducer is repositioned by a drive mechanism coupled to the front-scanning transducer to provide a sector scan. In one embodiment, a bimorph piezoelectric drive is utilized to sweep the forward-scanning transducer across an arc to provide an imaging area associated with a sector scan.