Device for examination by means of ultrasonic vibrations

• US 4,106,348 A
• Filed: 02/01/1977
• Issued: 08/15/1978
• Est. Priority Date: 02/20/1974
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: US Philips Corporation (Koninklijke Philips N.V.)
• Original Assignee: US Philips Corporation (Koninklijke Philips N.V.)
• Inventors: Auphan, Michel Joseph
• Primary Examiner(s): Queisser, Richard C.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Beauchamp, John P.
• Application Number:
  US05/764,585
• Time in Patent Office: 560 Days
• Field of Search: 73/67.7, 340/5 MP, 340/1 R, 358/112
• US Class Current: 73/624
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/00 Diagnosis using ultrasonic, sonic or infrasonic waves imaging of objects using sonar G01S15/00
• CPC Class Codes: G01H 3/125 for representing acoustic field distribution using optical means G01H9/002; sonar systems for imaging G01S7/56, G01S15/89; acoustic holography G03H3/00
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 29/06 Visualisation of the interior, e.g. acoustic microscopy medical or veterinary diagnosis using sonic waves A61B8/00; representation of acoustic wave distribution G01H3/125, G01H9/002; short-range imaging systems using reflection of acoustic waves G01S15/8906
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 15/02 using reflection of acoustic waves G01S15/66 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 15/8929 using a three-dimensional transducer configuration

Abstract

A device for ultrasonic examination, comprising a flat mosaic of a row of transmission transducers and a number of rows of receive transducers which are symmetrically arranged with respect thereto. The device furthermore comprises means for applying actuation pulses to one transmission transducer at a time, and means for enabling receive transducers in the time interval following each actuation pulse, and for at the same time displaying on an image display device an image of a section of the examined body in a plane perpendicular to the plane of the mosaic and through the line of transmission transducers.

Claims

1. A device for ultrasonic examination of a body situated in an analysis plane, comprising:

a plurality of transmission transducers situated in a row lying in the analysis plane and having a direction of transmission in the analysis plane toward the body;

means for pulsing the transmission transducers one at a time in a predetermined spaced sequence for launching ultrasonic pulses therefrom toward the body;

a plurality of receive transducers situated in each of a plurality of parallel planes which are perpendicular to the row of transmission transducers, the receive transducers being oriented to detect echo pulses reflected from interfaces in the body;

means for determining the depth of an interface, connected to receive signals from said receive transducers, which function to determine the depth of an interface reflecting an echo pulse with respect to the row of transducers from the time of detection of the echo pulse and the position of the detecting receive transducer with respect to the position of the transmission transducer that launched the detected pulse; and

means for displaying, connected to receive signals representing the depth of the interface from the means for determining the depth, which function to display detected echo pulses as image points on a screen, the positions of image points in one rectangular coordinate direction corresponding to the positions of the receive transducers detecting the corresponding echo pulses along the direction of the row of transmission transducers and in the other rectangular coordinate direction corresponding to the determined depths of the reflective interfaces, the image points together forming an image of the reflective interfaces of the body which intersect the analysis plane.

2. A device as defined in claim 1 wherein the receive transducers lie in a plane which also contains the row of transmission transducers, the plane being perpendicular to the analysis plane.

3. A device as defined in claim 2 wherein the receive transducers are arranged in an even number of rows parallel to the row of transmission transducers and symmetrical therewith and each symmetrical pair of receive transducers are electrically connected together as a single receive element.