PHOTOACOUSTIC APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR CONTROLLING THE SAME

• US 20170238810A1
• Filed: 05/05/2017
• Published: 08/24/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 12/11/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Canon Ayutthaya Limited (Canon Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Canon Ayutthaya Limited (Canon Inc.)
• Inventors: Sudo, Yoshiaki, Sato, Akira
• Granted Patent: US 10,314,495 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2560/0233 Optical standards
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2576/00 Medical imaging apparatus involving image processing or analysis A61B1/00009, A61B6/52 and A61B8/52 take precedence; image processing per se G06T; details of algorithms for analysing medical images G06T7/0012
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0059 using light, e.g. diagnosis by transillumination, diascopy, fluorescence A61B5/0093, A61B5/1455, A61B5/02416 and A61B5/0261 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0095 by applying light and detecting acoustic waves, i.e. photoacoustic measurements
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/08 Detecting organic movements or changes, e.g. tumours, cysts, swellings A61B8/02 - A61B8/06 take precedence

Abstract

Provided is a photoacoustic apparatus capable of recognizing variation in reception characteristic among a plurality of receiving elements that detect an acoustic wave in the photoacoustic apparatus, with a simple configuration unique to the photoacoustic apparatus.

A photoacoustic apparatus includes a detecting unit including a plurality of receiving elements configured to detect an acoustic wave that is generated when an analyte is irradiated with light; a signal processing unit configured to acquire information about the inside of the analyte from a detected signal acquired from the detecting unit; an optical absorber configured to absorb the irradiation light; and a reception characteristic calculation unit configured to calculate reception characteristic information of the plurality of receiving elements on the basis of detected signals when the plurality of receiving elements receive an acoustic wave that is generated from the optical absorber.

Claims

1. A photoacoustic apparatus comprising:

a detecting unit including a plurality of receiving elements configured to detect an acoustic wave that is generated when an analyte is irradiated with light;

a signal processing unit configured to acquire information about the inside of the analyte from a detected signal acquired from the detecting unit;

an optical absorber configured to absorb the irradiation light; and

a reception characteristic calculation unit configured to calculate reception characteristic information of the plurality of receiving elements on the basis of detected signals when the plurality of receiving elements receive an acoustic wave that is generated from the optical absorber.