Imaging of a region in a scattering medium

• US 20040181143A1
• Filed: 10/07/2003
• Published: 09/16/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 04/17/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ness-Tec Ophthalmic Systems, Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Ness-Tec Ophthalmic Systems, Ltd.
• Inventors: Israel, Henry M.
• Granted Patent: US 7,018,334 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 600/407
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0051 by applying vibrations
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0073 by tomography, i.e. reconstruction of 3D images from 2D projections A61B5/0066 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: C07K 14/365 from Actinoplanes (G)
• CPC Class Codes: C12N 15/52 Genes encoding for enzymes or proenzymes
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 2021/479 Speckle
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 21/4795 spatially resolved investigating of object in scattering medium in vivo A61B

Abstract

A method for imaging a region in a scattering medium, comprising modulating a beam of energy passing through a region of a scattering medium by at least two ultrasonic energy waves having different spatial relationships with said beam of energy so as to form at least two different modulated energy patterns, and detecting and processing said modulated energy patterns to form an image of said region.

Claims

1. A method for imaging a region in a scattering medium, comprising:

modulating a beam of energy passing through a region of a scattering medium by at least two ultrasonic energy waves having different spatial relationships with said beam of energy so as to form at least two different modulated energy patterns; and

detecting and processing said modulated energy patterns to form an image of said region.

2. The method according to claim 1, and further comprising generating ultrasonic energy waves with an ultrasonic energy source and moving said ultrasonic energy source with respect to said beam of energy so as to generate said at least two ultrasonic energy waves that have different spatial relationships with said beam of energy.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein said beam of energy comprises a beam of electromagnetic wave energy.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein said beam of energy comprises a coherent beam of electromagnetic wave energy.

5. The method according to claim 2, wherein moving said ultrasonic energy source comprises translating said ultrasonic energy source.

6. The method according to claim 2, wherein moving said ultrasonic energy source comprises rotating said ultrasonic energy source.

7. The method according to claim 2, wherein moving said ultrasonic energy source comprises translating a pattern of electric signals applied to an array of ultrasonic energy sources within an array configuration.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein said region of said scattering medium is disposed between first and second opposed surfaces thereof, and said modulating comprises propagating ultrasonic pulses through said scattering medium in a direction substantially parallel to each of said first and second surfaces.

9. The method according to claim 8, and further comprising projecting onto the second surface of said scattering medium images of the modulated beams exiting said scattering medium so as to form said modulated energy patterns, each modulated energy pattern corresponding to a different view of said scattering medium.

10. The method according to claim 9, and further comprising:

detecting the modulated energy patterns projected on said second surface;

time resolving the detected modulated energy patterns; and

correlating electrical signal representations of the different views of said scattering medium to generate electrical signal representations of respective images of portions of said scattering medium through which said ultrasonic pulses travel.

11. The method according to claim 10, and further comprising repetitively modulating said beam of energy by ultrasonic energy waves having different spatial relationships with said beam of energy and correlating electrical signal representations of the different views of said scattering medium for a plurality of contiguous time resolved samples to form a two-dimensional image.

12. The method according to claim 10, and further comprising analyzing said images to find a statistical distribution of an image vector texture.

13. The method according to claim 11, and further comprising analyzing said images to find a statistical distribution of an image vector texture and establishing if said time resolved samples are within norms of the distribution.

14. The method according to claim 10, wherein the scattering medium comprises tissue and bone, and further comprising analyzing said images to determine a density of the bone.

15. An imaging system comprising:

an energy beam emitter adapted to emit a beam of energy into a region of a scattering medium;

an ultrasonic energy source adapted and arranged to generate ultrasonic energy waves into said region; and

an actuator adapted to move said ultrasonic energy source with respect to a beam of energy emitted by said energy beam emitter.

16. The imaging system according to claim 15, and further comprising detection apparatus for detecting modulated energy patterns produced by modulation of the beams of energy by the ultrasonic energy waves.

17. The imaging system according to claim 16, and further comprising a processor for processing the modulated energy patterns to form an image of said region.