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:
Aug. 13, 2013
Filed:
Jan. 16, 2008
Mariko Yamamoto, Kukubunji, JP;
Kunio Hashiba, Tokyo, JP;
Takashi Azuma, Kodaira, JP;
Hitachi Medical Corporation, Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
An ultrasonic imaging device which narrows the width of annular areas to be established, without increasing the number of channels. The controller establishes the annular areastothe number of which is larger than the number of signal lines, along line intersections between wave surfacestoof reflective waves and a multi-dimensional surface of the probe. The controller selects multiple annular areas (0, 0), (0, 1), and (0, 2) with focal depths differing, for example, by an integral multiple of the ultrasonic wavelength λ, out of the multiple annular areas being established, and connects the multiple transducer elements positioned within the selected multiple annular areas with an identical signal line. Accordingly, the received signals from the selected multiple annular areas arrive at multiple time points shifted by the time corresponding to the wavelength, and the signals do not cancel one another out.