Multiple transducer selector
First Claim
Patent Images
1. An ultrasonic imager comprising:
- a plurality of ports each capable of being connected to an ultrasonic transducer having a plurality of attributes;
a control unit for polling each port to determine attributes of the transducer connected to each port; and
a display for displaying the transducer attributes determined from the polling of the ports.
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Accused Products
Abstract
An ultrasound imager supports several ultrasonic transducers simultaneously. The imager polls the transducer connection ports to determine which transducers are connected to which port and displays attributes of each transducer in conjunction with a port identification on the screen. The user selects which transducer is to be driven using a trackball or cursor arrow which directs an indicator to point to the selected transducer.
40 Citations
39 Claims
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1. An ultrasonic imager comprising:
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a plurality of ports each capable of being connected to an ultrasonic transducer having a plurality of attributes; a control unit for polling each port to determine attributes of the transducer connected to each port; and a display for displaying the transducer attributes determined from the polling of the ports. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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8. An ultrasonic imager comprising:
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a plurality of ultrasonic transducers for transmitting and receiving ultrasonic signals and converting the received ultrasonic signals to electrical signals, each transducer being individually operable and having a set of attributes; and a control unit coupled to the transducers for individually operating the transducers, the control unit comprising; a display for simultaneously displaying at least some of the set of attributes of each transducer and a selector for determining which transducer is to be operated. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. A method for driving an ultrasonic imager capable of supporting a plurality of replaceable ultrasonic transducers, each transducer being connectable to the imager through at least one of a plurality of imager ports, each transducer having a plurality of attributes, the method comprising:
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determining the attributes of transducers connected to the imager ports; displaying the attributes of transducers for which the attributes have been determined; selecting a transducer connected to one of the plurality of ports for use; displaying an indication of which transducer has been selected; and driving the selected transducer. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25)
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26. An ultrasound imaging system comprising:
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a plurality of ultrasound transducers; electronic circuitry for exciting one of the transducers to emit ultrasonic pulses and for processing ultrasonic echoes received by the one transducer to produce electrical image control signals; means for selectively connecting one of the transducers to the electronic circuitry to operate the selected transducer; means for displaying ultrasonic images on a screen responsive to the image control signals; and means for displaying on the screen a visual representation of the selected transducer. - View Dependent Claims (27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39)
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Specification