MEASURING SYSTEM, IMAGE FORMING METHOD, AND PROGRAM
First Claim
1. A measuring system comprising:
- an acoustic wave receiver for receiving acoustic waves which are generated by irradiating light to a specimen, and for converting the received acoustic waves into an electrical signal; and
an image forming apparatus for producing image data by using the electrical signal,wherein the acoustic wave receiver receives at least direct waves in acoustic waves generated from a detection target inside the specimen, which directly reach the acoustic wave receiver, and reflected waves in the acoustic waves generated from the detection target, which have been reflected by an acoustic wave reflecting surface disposed in the specimen, and converts the received waves to respective electrical signals,the image forming apparatus comprising;
a data producing unit for converting the electrical signal converted from the direct waves and the electrical signal converted from the reflected waves to voxel data or pixel data, thereby producing image data;
a determining unit for determining whether, as viewed on the image data, a position of the voxel data or the pixel data converted from the direct waves and a position of the voxel data or the pixel data converted from the reflected waves are symmetrical with respect to a position corresponding to the acoustic wave reflecting surface on the image data; and
a processing unit for executing processing to distinguish or reduce images of the voxel data or the pixel data, which are determined to be not symmetrical by the determining unit.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A measuring system for receiving acoustic waves and producing image data includes an acoustic wave receiver that detects acoustic waves which are generated by irradiating a specimen with pulsed light. The acoustic wave receiver converts the detected acoustic waves into an electric signal, and an image forming apparatus generates image data by using the electric signal. An artifact attributable to a band of an acoustic wave receiver is distinguished and reduced based on the positional relationship among respective voxel data representing an actual image and a reflected image of a light absorber located within the specimen and related artifacts, as viewed on the image data, by utilizing an acoustic wave reflecting surface on which the specimen is disposed.
6 Citations
13 Claims
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1. A measuring system comprising:
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an acoustic wave receiver for receiving acoustic waves which are generated by irradiating light to a specimen, and for converting the received acoustic waves into an electrical signal; and an image forming apparatus for producing image data by using the electrical signal, wherein the acoustic wave receiver receives at least direct waves in acoustic waves generated from a detection target inside the specimen, which directly reach the acoustic wave receiver, and reflected waves in the acoustic waves generated from the detection target, which have been reflected by an acoustic wave reflecting surface disposed in the specimen, and converts the received waves to respective electrical signals, the image forming apparatus comprising; a data producing unit for converting the electrical signal converted from the direct waves and the electrical signal converted from the reflected waves to voxel data or pixel data, thereby producing image data; a determining unit for determining whether, as viewed on the image data, a position of the voxel data or the pixel data converted from the direct waves and a position of the voxel data or the pixel data converted from the reflected waves are symmetrical with respect to a position corresponding to the acoustic wave reflecting surface on the image data; and a processing unit for executing processing to distinguish or reduce images of the voxel data or the pixel data, which are determined to be not symmetrical by the determining unit. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3)
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4. A measuring system comprising:
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an acoustic wave receiver for receiving acoustic waves which are generated by irradiating light to a specimen, and for converting the received acoustic waves to an electrical signal; and an image forming apparatus for producing image data by using the electrical signal, wherein the acoustic wave receiver receives at least direct waves in acoustic waves generated from a detection target inside the specimen, which directly reach the acoustic wave receiver, and reflected waves in the acoustic waves generated from the detection target, which have been reflected by an acoustic wave reflecting surface disposed in the specimen, and converts the received waves to respective electrical signals, the image forming apparatus comprising; a data producing unit for converting the electrical signal converted from the direct waves and the electrical signal converted from the reflected waves to voxel data or pixel data, thereby producing image data; a folded-data producing unit for folding the image data at a position corresponding to the acoustic wave reflecting surface on the image data, thereby producing folded data; and a superimposing unit for superimposing the folded data with the image data before being folded. - View Dependent Claims (5, 6)
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7. An image forming method comprising:
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receiving acoustic waves which are generated by irradiating light to a specimen, at an acoustic wave receiver; converting the received acoustic waves into an electrical signal; and producing image data by using the electrical signal, wherein receiving the acoustic waves includes receiving direct waves in the acoustic waves generated from a detection target located inside the specimen, which directly reach the acoustic wave receiver, and receiving reflected waves in the acoustic waves generated from the detection target, which have been reflected by an acoustic wave reflecting surface disposed in the specimen, wherein converting the received acoustic waves into the electrical signal includes converting the direct waves and the reflected waves into respective electrical signals, and wherein producing the image data by using the electrical signal includes converting the electrical signal converted from the direct waves and the electrical signal converted from the reflected waves to voxel data or pixel data; determining whether, as viewed on the image data, a position of the voxel data or the pixel data converted from the direct waves and a position of the voxel data or the pixel data converted from the reflected waves are symmetrical with respect to a position corresponding to the acoustic wave reflecting surface on the image data; and processing to distinguish or reduce images of the voxel data or the pixel data, which are determined to be not symmetrical in the determining step. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9)
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10. An image forming method for receiving acoustic waves which are generated by irradiating light to a specimen, by an acoustic wave receiver, converting the received acoustic waves to an electrical signal, and producing image data by using the electrical signal,
a data producing step of converting an electrical signal converted from direct waves in acoustic waves generated from a detection target inside the specimen, which directly reach the acoustic wave receiver, and an electrical signal converted from reflected waves in the acoustic waves generated from the detection target, which have been reflected by an acoustic wave reflecting surface disposed in the specimen, to voxel data or pixel data, thereby producing image data; -
a folding step of folding the image data at a position corresponding to the acoustic wave reflecting surface on the image data, thereby producing folded data; and a superimposing step of superimposing the folded data with the image data before being folded. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12)
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13. An imaging system, comprising:
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an acoustic wave receiver configured receive acoustic waves generated by irradiating a specimen with pulsed light, and to convert the received acoustic waves into an electrical signal; an image forming apparatus for producing image data by using the electrical signal, wherein the acoustic waves received at the acoustic waver receiver include direct waves generated from a detection target located inside the specimen and reflected waves generated from the detection target and reflected by a reflecting surface disposed away from the detection target, wherein the acoustic wave receiver converts the received direct waves and reflected waves into respective electrical signals, the image forming apparatus comprising; a data producing unit for converting the electrical signal converted from the direct waves and the electrical signal converted from the reflected waves to voxel data or pixel data, thereby producing image data; a determining unit for determining whether, as viewed on the image data, a position of the voxel data or the pixel data converted from the direct waves and a position of the voxel data or the pixel data converted from the reflected waves are symmetrical with respect to the acoustic wave reflecting surface; and a processing unit for executing processing to distinguish or reduce images of the voxel data or the pixel data, which are determined to be not symmetrical by the determining unit.
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Specification