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:
Jun. 24, 2008
Filed:
Nov. 04, 2005
John Michael Cuffe, Reedsville, PA (US);
Klaus-peter Busch, Rodenbach, DE;
Scott Allen Herbster, Middleburg, PA (US);
John Michael Cuffe, Reedsville, PA (US);
Klaus-Peter Busch, Rodenbach, DE;
Scott Allen Herbster, Middleburg, PA (US);
GE Inspection Technologies, LP, Lewistown, PA (US);
Abstract
The apparatus and method of the present invention provides a plurality of linear amplifiers simultaneously processing an ultrasonic signal. Each amplifier of the plurality of linear amplifiers has a predetermined gain level suitable for achieving the desired output signal level for input to an analog to digital (A/D) converter for processing. The output of each amplifier is sampled by each respective A/D converter at a very high frequency to convert the analog signal output of each of the linear amplifiers to a digital signal. Logic circuits simultaneously monitor all of the output digital signals from the A/D converters. The logic circuits determine which output of the A/D converters has the greatest linear output and stores the selected output in a memory storage device. The saved output waveforms are subsequently combined into a continuous linear digital output that has a dynamic response range that is approximately the sum of the individual dynamic response ranges of the individual amplifiers and A/D converters. The combined continuous linear digital output waveform may be input to a logarithmic conversion to produce a waveform having a wide dynamic range.