SUBJECT INFORMATION PROCESSING APPARATUS

• US 20110208035A1
• Filed: 02/15/2011
• Published: 08/25/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 02/23/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Inventors: Baba, Yoshitaka, Nagae, Kenichi
• Granted Patent: US 8,905,931 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 600/407
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0059 using light, e.g. diagnosis by transillumination, diascopy, fluorescence A61B5/0093, A61B5/1455, A61B5/02416 and A61B5/0261 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0095 by applying light and detecting acoustic waves, i.e. photoacoustic measurements
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/4444 related to the probe
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/4483 characterised by features of the ultrasound transducer
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/56 Details of data transmission or power supply

Abstract

Generally, a photoacoustic signal has a wavelength longer than a general ultrasonic signal. That is, it does not matter even if at the time of acquisition of the photoacoustic signal, an element pitch of a probe is several times as large as at the time of acquisition of the ultrasonic signal. Thus, at the time of acquisition of the photoacoustic signal, a plurality of neighboring elements in a receiving element array are collectively considered as one element, and a phasing process is performed. As a result, the same effect as a plurality of phasing addition circuits are disposed in parallel is obtained, and not only a phasing addition process of the photoacoustic signal but also image reconstruction can be performed in real time at a high speed.

Claims

1. A subject information processing apparatus, comprising:

an ultrasonic wave transmitter;

a light source;

a probe including a plurality of receiving elements that receive an ultrasonic wave that is transmitted from the ultrasonic wave transmitter and reflected from the inside of a subject, and a photoacoustic wave generated from the subject in reaction to an irradiation on the subject by the light source;

a plurality of memories that correspond to the plurality of receiving elements, respectively, and store signals received by the corresponding receiving elements;

a controller that performs a control to output the signals stored in the plurality of memories;

a plurality of adders that add signals output from the memories; and

a processor that generates image data of the subject based on outputs from the adders,

wherein the plurality of memories is divided into a plurality of groups,

signals input to the plurality of adders, respectively, are configured to include only one output from the memories belonging to the same group, and

the processor receives a signal obtained by adding the outputs from the plurality of adders and generates image data of the subject when processing a signal based on an ultrasonic wave, and, receives an output from each of the plurality of adders and generates image data of the subject when processing a signal based on a photoacoustic wave.

2. The subject information processing apparatus according to claim 1,

wherein when the memory stores a signal based on a photoacoustic wave, a signal from the receiving element corresponding to the memory is also input to another memory belonging to the same group.

3. The subject information processing apparatus according to claim 1,

wherein the plurality of receiving elements serve as the ultrasonic wave transmitters.

4. The subject information processing apparatus according to claim 1,

wherein the probe comprises a probe including a plurality of ultrasonic wave receiving elements that receive the ultrasonic wave and a probe including a plurality of photoacoustic wave receiving elements that receive the photoacoustic wave;

transmission of the ultrasonic wave by the ultrasonic wave transmitter and reception of the ultrasonic wave by the plurality of ultrasonic wave receiving elements, and light irradiation by the light source and reception of the photoacoustic wave by the plurality of photoacoustic wave receiving elements are sequentially performed, and

the subject information processing apparatus further comprises a probe switch that switches the probe such that in a phase of receiving the ultrasonic wave, the probe including the plurality of ultrasonic wave receiving elements is used, and in a phase of receiving the photoacoustic wave, the probe including the photoacoustic wave receiving element is used.