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. 17, 2011
Filed:
Mar. 15, 2006
Tatsuo Arai, Nishinomiya, JP;
Tatsuo Arai, Nishinomiya, JP;
Furuno Electric Company, Limited, Hyogo-ken, JP;
Abstract
An ultrasonic bone evaluation apparatus includes stationary and movable standoffs fitted with respective ultrasonic transducers for transmitting and receiving ultrasound, a moving mechanism for moving the movable standoff, an encoder, a controller, and an inner temperature sensor for determining the temperature of an inner tissue of a body part. The moving mechanism moves the movable standoff toward the stationary standoff to sandwich the body part therebetween. The encoder measures the distance between the two transducers whereas the controller determines the time required for the ultrasound to travel between the transducers when the body part is sandwiched between the standoffs. The controller calculates the speed of sound propagating through the body part from distance and time measurement values, corrects the speed of sound through the body part based on the temperature of the body part measured by the inner temperature sensor, and evaluates the bone of the body part based on the corrected speed of sound.