PHOTOACOUSTIC APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR CONTROLLING THE SAME

• US 20160015274A1
• Filed: 09/30/2015
• Published: 01/21/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 12/11/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Canon Ayutthaya Limited (Canon Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Canon Ayutthaya Limited (Canon Inc.)
• Inventors: Sudo, Yoshiaki, Sato, Akira
• Granted Patent: US 9,675,256 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2560/0233 Optical standards
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2576/00 Medical imaging apparatus involving image processing or analysis A61B1/00009, A61B6/52 and A61B8/52 take precedence; image processing per se G06T; details of algorithms for analysing medical images G06T7/0012
• 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 8/08 Detecting organic movements or changes, e.g. tumours, cysts, swellings A61B8/02 - A61B8/06 take precedence

Abstract

Provided is a photoacoustic apparatus capable of recognizing variation in reception characteristic among a plurality of receiving elements that detect an acoustic wave in the photoacoustic apparatus, with a simple configuration unique to the photoacoustic apparatus.

A photoacoustic apparatus includes a detecting unit including a plurality of receiving elements configured to detect an acoustic wave that is generated when an analyte is irradiated with light; a signal processing unit configured to acquire information about the inside of the analyte from a detected signal acquired from the detecting unit; an optical absorber configured to absorb the irradiation light; and a reception characteristic calculation unit configured to calculate reception characteristic information of the plurality of receiving elements on the basis of detected signals when the plurality of receiving elements receive an acoustic wave that is generated from the optical absorber.

Claims

1. (canceled)

2. A method for controlling a photoacoustic apparatus comprising the steps of:

providing an optical absorber on a center of each receiving elements of a detecting unit including a plurality of receiving elements;

irradiating the optical absorber with light;

receiving an acoustic wave that is generated from the optical absorber when the optical absorber receives the light, by the detecting unit; and

calculating reception characteristic information of the plurality of receiving elements on the basis of detected signals of the plurality of receiving elements.

3. The method according to claim 11, wherein reception sensitivity information of the plurality of receiving elements is calculated in the step of calculating.

4. The method according to claim 12, further comprising a step of correcting a reception signal received by the plurality of receiving elements based on the reception sensitivity information of the plurality of receiving elements calculated in the step of calculating.

5. The method according to claim 13, wherein the reception signal is multiplied by a reciprocal of the calculated reception sensitivity information in the step of correcting a reception signal received by the plurality of receiving elements.

6. The method according to claim 11, wherein frequency characteristic information of the plurality of receiving elements is calculated in the step of calculating.

7. The method according to claim 15, further comprising a step of correcting the reception signal received by the plurality of receiving elements based on the frequency characteristic information of the plurality of receiving elements calculated in the step of calculating.