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:
Jan. 29, 2008
Filed:
Jun. 16, 2004
Hideki Takeuchi, Mitaka, JP;
Hideki Takeuchi, Mitaka, JP;
Aloka Co., Ltd., Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
In an ultrasound diagnosis apparatus, a plurality of sub arrays are defined on a 2D array transducer. The sub array shape pattern of each sub array is adaptively changed in accordance with the beam scanning direction. Each sub array is composed of a plurality of groups, each of which is composed of a plurality of transducer elements. With the change of sub array shape pattern in accordance with a beam scanning direction, the group shape pattern of each group also changes. The sub array shape changes for each sub array, and a variable region is determined by the largest outer edge of the shape changed. The variable regions partially overlap with each other among a plurality of sub arrays. On a 2D array transducer, a plurality of sub arrays are always closely coupled with each other even when each sub array shape is changed.