Ultrasonic measurement method, and apparatus therefor
First Claim
1. An ultrasonic measurement method for measuring acoustic characteristics of an object under investigation by transmitting ultrasonic pulses into the object and detecting an ultrasonic echo signal reflected from within the object, said method comprising:
- a first detection step of transmitting ultrasonic pulses into the object from a first direction and detecting a first ultrasonic echo signal reflected from within the object;
a second detection step of transmitting ultrasonic pulses into the object from a second direction opposite to the first direction and detecting a second ultrasonic echo signal reflected from within the object;
an identifying step of identifying first and second echo pulses, corresponding to a region of interest within the object, from the first and the second ultrasonic echo signals, respectively, anda computation step of calculating acoustic characteristics of the region of interest from the amplitude values of the first and the second echo pulses identified in said identifying step.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A method and apparatus wherein two probes are arranged to oppose each other on either side of an object under investigation and each of two probes emits ultrasonic waves to measure the acoustic characteristics of the object respectively.
Mean attenuation coefficients for small intervals can be calculated solely from the received echo signals by processing signals indicative of echos of the ultrasonic waves from the two probes. Reflection coefficients can be calculated from the mean attenuation coefficients obtained. In addition, a distribution image of either of the mean attenuation coefficient and reflection coefficient distributions are obtained from these mean attenuation coefficients and reflection coefficients for the small intervals.
27 Citations
10 Claims
-
1. An ultrasonic measurement method for measuring acoustic characteristics of an object under investigation by transmitting ultrasonic pulses into the object and detecting an ultrasonic echo signal reflected from within the object, said method comprising:
-
a first detection step of transmitting ultrasonic pulses into the object from a first direction and detecting a first ultrasonic echo signal reflected from within the object; a second detection step of transmitting ultrasonic pulses into the object from a second direction opposite to the first direction and detecting a second ultrasonic echo signal reflected from within the object; an identifying step of identifying first and second echo pulses, corresponding to a region of interest within the object, from the first and the second ultrasonic echo signals, respectively, and a computation step of calculating acoustic characteristics of the region of interest from the amplitude values of the first and the second echo pulses identified in said identifying step. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5)
-
-
6. An ultrasonic measurement apparatus for measuring acoustic characteristics of an object under investigation by transmitting ultrasonic pulses into the object and detecting an ultrasonic echo signal reflected from within the object, said apparatus comprising:
-
ultrasonic transceiving means for transmitting ultrasonic pulses into the object from a first direction and detecting a first ultrasonic echo signal reflected from within the object, and for transmitting ultrasonic pulses into the object from a second direction opposite to the first direction and detecting a second ultrasonic echo signal reflected from within the object; pulse identifying means for identifying first and second echo pulses corresponding to a region of interest within the object, from the first and the second ultrasonic echo signals detected by said ultrasonic transceiving means, respectively; arithmetic means for calculating the acoustic characteristics of the region of interest from the amplitude values of the first and the second echo pulses identified by the pulse identifying means; and display means for displaying the calculated acoustic characteristics in the form of a visible image corresponding to the region of interest. - View Dependent Claims (7, 8, 9, 10)
-
Specification