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:
Sep. 11, 2001
Filed:
Jul. 21, 1999
Veijo T. Suorsa, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Dennis Mendoza, Tracy, CA (US);
Richard Bautista, Palo Alto, CA (US);
Scimed Life Systems, Inc., Maple Grove, MN (US);
Abstract
The present invention provides ultrasound transducers, and imaging assemblies and catheters employing such transducers, that provide improved imaging capabilities. In one embodiment, an ultrasound imaging assembly (,) includes a housing having a distal end (,), a proximal end (,) and a longitudinal axis. A transducer element (,) is included having an outer face. The outer face has a first radius of curvature along a first axis and a second radius of curvature along a second axis. The transducer element is operably attached to the distal end to position the first axis to be generally parallel to the longitudinal axis to provide improved cross-plane resolution.