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, 2012
Filed:
Jan. 30, 2006
Takashi Azuma, Kodaira, JP;
Shinichiro Umemura, Sendai, JP;
Tatsuya Nagata, Ishioka, JP;
Hiroshi Fukuda, London, GB;
Shuntaro Machida, Kokubunji, JP;
Toshiyuki Mine, Fussa, JP;
Takashi Azuma, Kodaira, JP;
Shinichiro Umemura, Sendai, JP;
Tatsuya Nagata, Ishioka, JP;
Hiroshi Fukuda, London, GB;
Shuntaro Machida, Kokubunji, JP;
Toshiyuki Mine, Fussa, JP;
Hitachi Medical Corporation, Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
The receive sensitivity of an ultrasound array transducer structured with a diaphragm electro-acoustic transducer () being a basic unit is affected by change in a charge amount with elapsed time due to leakage or the like, which causes drift of the primary beam sensitivity, degradation in the acoustic SN ratio due to a rise in the acoustic noise level, and degradation in the directivity of an ultrasound beam. To addressing this problem, a charge controller (charge monitor) is provided to control charge in an electro-acoustic transducer (). A charge monitoring section () monitors the change in the charge amount. When change in the charge amount is small, transmit sensitivity or receive sensitivity is calibrated by a controller () by, for example, multiplying a receive signal by a calibration coefficient corresponding to the change amount. Further, when the change in the charge amount is large, for example, charges can be re-emitted from a charge emitter ().