Subject information processing apparatus
First Claim
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1. A subject information processing apparatus, comprising:
- an ultrasonic wave transmitter;
a light source;
a plurality of receiving elements that receive an ultrasonic wave that is transmitted from said ultrasonic wave transmitter and reflected from inside a subject, and a photoacoustic wave generated from the subject in reaction to irradiation of the subject by said light source;
a plurality of analog-to-digital converters that convert signals output from said receiving elements to digital signals respectively;
a plurality of memories that store the digital signals in time series output from said analog-digital converters;
a controller that reads out, with respect to each target in the subject, the digital signal corresponding to the position of the target from said plurality of memories;
a plurality of first adders that are electrically connected to said plurality of analog-to-digital converters through said plurality of memories and add digital signals read out from said plurality of memories;
a second adder that add signals output from said plurality of first adders; and
a processor that generates image data of the subject,wherein said memories are grouped into a plurality of groups, each group includes memories corresponding to a predetermined number of contiguous elements, from among said plurality of memories, and memories in the same group are electrically connected to different ones of said first adders respectively,andwherein said processor generates image data of the subject by using an output from said second adder in a case of processing signals derived from ultrasonic waves, and generates image data of the subject by using an output from each of said plurality of first adders in a case of processing signals derived from photoacoustic waves.
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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.
35 Citations
8 Claims
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1. A subject information processing apparatus, comprising:
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an ultrasonic wave transmitter; a light source; a plurality of receiving elements that receive an ultrasonic wave that is transmitted from said ultrasonic wave transmitter and reflected from inside a subject, and a photoacoustic wave generated from the subject in reaction to irradiation of the subject by said light source; a plurality of analog-to-digital converters that convert signals output from said receiving elements to digital signals respectively; a plurality of memories that store the digital signals in time series output from said analog-digital converters; a controller that reads out, with respect to each target in the subject, the digital signal corresponding to the position of the target from said plurality of memories; a plurality of first adders that are electrically connected to said plurality of analog-to-digital converters through said plurality of memories and add digital signals read out from said plurality of memories; a second adder that add signals output from said plurality of first adders; and a processor that generates image data of the subject, wherein said memories are grouped into a plurality of groups, each group includes memories corresponding to a predetermined number of contiguous elements, from among said plurality of memories, and memories in the same group are electrically connected to different ones of said first adders respectively, and wherein said processor generates image data of the subject by using an output from said second adder in a case of processing signals derived from ultrasonic waves, and generates image data of the subject by using an output from each of said plurality of first adders in a case of processing signals derived from photoacoustic waves. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4)
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5. A subject information processing apparatus, comprising:
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a plurality of receiving elements that receive a first ultrasonic wave having a first intermediate frequency propagated from inside a subject, and a second ultrasonic wave having a second intermediate frequency which is lower than the first intermediate frequency and propagated from the subject; a plurality of analog-to-digital converters that convert signals output from said receiving elements to digital signals respectively, a plurality of memories that store the digital signals in time series output from said analog-digital converters; a controller that reads out, with respect to each target in the subject, the digital signal corresponding to the position of the target from said plurality of memories; a plurality of first adders that are electrically connected to said plurality of analog-to-digital converters through said plurality of memories and add digital signals read out from said plurality of memories; a second adder that adds signals output from said plurality of first adders; and a processor that generates image data of the wherein said plurality of memories are grouped into a plurality of groups, each group includes memories corresponding to a predetermined number of contiguous ones of said elements, from among the plurality of memories, and memories in the same group are electrically connected to different ones of said first adders respectively, and wherein the processor generates image data of the subject by using an output from said second adder in a case of processing signals derived from first ultrasonic waves, and generates image data of the subject by using an output from each of said plurality of first adders and in a case of processing signals derived from second ultrasonic waves. - View Dependent Claims (6, 7, 8)
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Specification
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Current AssigneeCanon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
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Original AssigneeCanon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
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InventorsBaba, Yoshitaka, Nagae, Kenichi
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Primary Examiner(s)EVOY, NICHOLAS LANE
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Application NumberUS13/027,361Publication NumberTime in Patent Office1,393 DaysField of SearchNoneUS Class Current600/437CPC Class CodesA61B 5/0059 using light, e.g. diagnosis...A61B 5/0095 by applying light and detec...A61B 8/4444 related to the probeA61B 8/4483 characterised by features o...A61B 8/56 Details of data transmissio...
