Ultrasonic measurement
First Claim
1. A method of ultrasonic measurement to determine the effect of wear, the method comprising the steps of:
- transmitting an ultrasonic signal into an item which is subject to wear,receiving an ultrasonic signal from the item, the received signal comprising a reflection of the transmitted signal from a boundary of the item,repeating the transmitting and receiving steps a plurality of times in a specified period,extracting from each received signal information indicative of a dimension of the item, and determining a time of flight value from the information extracted from a respective received ultrasonic signal, andcombining the plurality of time of flight values extracted from the plurality of received signals to produce a composite time of flight value indicative of the dimension of the item over the specified period, wherein producing the composite time of flight value comprises performing a statistical operation.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Methods and apparatus relate to ultrasound measurement of a dimension such as the thickness (11) of an item (12) which may be worn over time by contact with an item (14). An ultrasonic transceiver (18) couples ultrasound into the item (12). Outgoing ultrasound i results in echos r returning to the transceiver (18). This allows calculation of time of flight to yield a value for the thickness (11). In the examples prescribed, the measurement is repeated a plurality of times in a specified period to extract a dimension from each received signal. Information extracted from the plurality of received signal is used to produce a single value indicative of the dimension of the item (12) over the specified period.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. A method of ultrasonic measurement to determine the effect of wear, the method comprising the steps of:
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transmitting an ultrasonic signal into an item which is subject to wear, receiving an ultrasonic signal from the item, the received signal comprising a reflection of the transmitted signal from a boundary of the item, repeating the transmitting and receiving steps a plurality of times in a specified period, extracting from each received signal information indicative of a dimension of the item, and determining a time of flight value from the information extracted from a respective received ultrasonic signal, and combining the plurality of time of flight values extracted from the plurality of received signals to produce a composite time of flight value indicative of the dimension of the item over the specified period, wherein producing the composite time of flight value comprises performing a statistical operation. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. An apparatus for ultrasonic measurement to determine the effect of wear, comprising:
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an ultrasonic transmitter operable to transmit an ultrasonic signal into an item, which is subject to wear; an ultrasonic receiver operable to receive an ultrasonic signal from the item, the received signal comprising a reflection of the transmitted signal from a boundary of the item; the transmitter and receiver being operable to transmit and receive a plurality of times in a specified period, the receiver being operable to extract from each received signal information indicative of a dimension of the item, and to determine a time of flight value from the information extracted from a respective received ultrasonic signal, and the receiver being operable to combine the plurality of time of flight values extracted from the plurality of received signals to produce a composite time of flight value indicative of the dimension of the item over the specified period, and to perform a statistical operation to produce the composite time of flight value. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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Specification