Ultrasound-hall effect imaging system and method
First Claim
1. A method for acquiring information on the conductivity distribution in an object, said method comprising the steps of:
- applying a magnetic field to said object;
applying an excitation signal along a direction non-parallel to said magnetic field and which induces a local charge displacement in said object as said excitation signal propagates in said object, said local charge displacement capable of being induced in the bulk of said object; and
acquiring a signal encoded with information indicative of local conductivity of said object for regions along path traversed by said excitation signal, said signal related to an interaction between said magnetic field and said local charge displacement as said excitation signal propagates in said object, said regions capable of being located in the bulk of said object.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A system and method of imaging based on the interaction of ultrasonic pulses with a magnetic field. A static magnetic field is applied to an object having conductive properties. An ultrasound pulse is propagated into the object, and an electrical signal is detected which is related to the interaction of the ultrasound pulse local displacement of the conductive object and the magnetic field. Alternatively, and equivalently, an electrical pulse is propagated into the object, and an ultrasound signal is detected which is related to the interaction of the electrical pulse generated in the conductive object and the magnetic field. The acquired acoustic signals or the acquired electrical signals are processed to provide an image of the object. The acquired signals are dependent on local conductivity as well as local acoustic properties.
42 Citations
39 Claims
-
1. A method for acquiring information on the conductivity distribution in an object, said method comprising the steps of:
-
applying a magnetic field to said object;
applying an excitation signal along a direction non-parallel to said magnetic field and which induces a local charge displacement in said object as said excitation signal propagates in said object, said local charge displacement capable of being induced in the bulk of said object; and
acquiring a signal encoded with information indicative of local conductivity of said object for regions along path traversed by said excitation signal, said signal related to an interaction between said magnetic field and said local charge displacement as said excitation signal propagates in said object, said regions capable of being located in the bulk of said object. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
-
-
14. A system for acquiring information on the conductivity distribution in an object, said system comprising:
-
a magnet which applies a magnetic field to said object;
means for generating an excitation signal applied along a direction non-parallel to said magnetic field and which induces a local charge displacement in said object as said excitation signal propagates in said object, said local charge displacement capable of being induced in the bulk of said object; and
means for acquiring a signal encoded with information indicative of local conductivity of said object for regions along path traversed by said excitation signal, said signal related to a Lorentz interaction between said magnetic field and said local charge displacement as said excitation signal propagates in said object, said regions capable of being located in the bulk of said object. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17)
-
-
18. An apparatus for acquiring information on the conductivity distribution in an object, comprising:
-
an acoustic transducer coupled to said object and which generates an incident acoustic signal that propagates into the bulk of said object;
a magnetic element that generates a magnetic field in said object;
an electrical signal receiver that receives an electrical signal related to an interaction between said acoustic signal and said magnetic field as said acoustic signal propagates through the bulk of said object. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21, 22)
-
-
23. An apparatus for acquiring information on the conductivity distribution in an object, comprising:
-
a magnetic element that generates a magnetic field in said object;
an electrical signal source that generates a time-varying electrical signal which is applied along a direction non-parallel to said magnetic field and which propagates through the bulk of said object; and
an acoustic transducer coupled to said object and which detects an acoustic signal that propagates through the bulk of said object and relates to an interaction between said time-varying electrical signal and said magnetic field. - View Dependent Claims (24, 25)
-
-
26. A method for imaging the conductivity distribution in an object, said method comprising the steps of:
-
applying an electrical excitation signal and a magnetic field to said object, the electrical excitation signal being along a direction non-parallel to said magnetic field, to induce a local charge displacement in said object as said excitation signal propagates in said object;
acquiring an acoustic signal using a transducer that includes an array of elements that concurrently detect said acoustic signal, said acoustic signal encoded with information indicative of local conductivity of said object for regions along path traversed by said excitation signal, said acoustic signal corresponding to a Lorentz interaction between said magnetic field and said local charge displacement as said excitation signal propagates in said object; and
generating an image from said acoustic signal, said image weighted by a function of conductivity of said object, said image thereby representing the conductivity distribution of said object.
-
-
27. A method for imaging an object, comprising the steps of:
-
applying an electrical excitation to said object in the presence of a magnetic field to cause Hall effect induction of an ultrasonic signal distributed in the bulk of said object;
acquiring the induced distributed ultrasonic signal using an array of ultrasound transducer elements that concurrently detect the induced distributed ultrasonic signal; and
processing the acquired induced distributed ultrasound signal concurrently detected by the array of ultrasound transducer elements to reconstruct an image.
-
-
28. A method for acquiring information on the conductivity distribution in an object, said method comprising the steps of:
-
applying a magnetic field to said object;
applying an excitation signal along a direction non-parallel to said magnetic field and which induces a local charge displacement in said object as said excitation signal propagates in said object;
acquiring a signal encoded with information indicative of local conductivity of said object for regions along path traversed by said excitation signal, said signal related to an interaction between said magnetic field and said local charge displacement as said excitation signal propagates in said object; and
generating an image from said signal, said image weighted by a function of conductivity of said object, said image thereby representing the conductivity distribution of said object.
-
-
29. A method for acquiring information on the conductivity distribution in an object, said method comprising the steps of:
-
applying a magnetic field to said object;
applying an excitation signal along a direction non-parallel to said magnetic field and which induces a local charge displacement in said object as said excitation signal propagates in said object;
acquiring a signal encoded with information indicative of local conductivity of said object for regions along path traversed by said excitation signal, said signal related to an interaction between said magnetic field and said local charge displacement as said excitation signal propagates in said object; and
wherein said excitation signal is an acoustic signal localized along a direction of propagation into said object, and said signal is an electrical signal corresponding to a Lorentz interaction between said magnetic field and local displacement of said object as said acoustic signal propagates through said object; and
wherein multiple acoustic signals are directed along respective propagation directions into said object, thereby spatially scanning said object with multiple acoustic signals.
-
-
30. A method for acquiring information on the conductivity distribution in an object, said method comprising the steps of:
-
applying a magnetic field to said object;
applying an excitation signal along a direction non-parallel to said magnetic field and which induces a local charge displacement in said object as said excitation signal propagates in said object;
acquiring a signal encoded with information indicative of local conductivity of said object for regions along path traversed by said excitation signal, said signal related to an interaction between said magnetic field and said local charge displacement as said excitation signal propagates in said object;
wherein said excitation signal is a time-varying electrical signal, and said signal is an acoustic signal corresponding to a Lorentz interaction between said magnetic field and local electrical current in said object as said time-varying electrical signal propagates through said object; and
wherein said acoustic signal is detected along a given direction, and wherein said given direction is scanned.
-
-
31. A method for acquiring information on the conductivity distribution in an object, said method comprising the steps of:
-
applying a magnetic field to said object;
applying an excitation signal along a direction non-parallel to said magnetic field and which induces a local charge displacement in said object as said excitation signal propagates in said object;
acquiring a signal encoded with information indicative of local conductivity of said object for regions along path traversed by said excitation signal, said signal related to an interaction between said magnetic field and said local charge displacement as said excitation signal propagates in said object;
wherein said excitation signal is a time-varying electrical signal, and said signal is an acoustic signal corresponding to a Lorentz interaction between said magnetic field and local electrical current in said object as said time-varying electrical signal propagates through said object; and
wherein said acoustic signal is detected with a transducer which includes an array of elements that concurrently detect acoustic energy respectively localized along respective directions.
-
-
32. A system for acquiring information on the conductivity distribution in an object, said system comprising:
-
a magnet which applies a magnetic field to said object;
means for generating an excitation signal applied along a direction non-parallel to said magnetic field and which induces a local charge displacement in said object as said excitation signal propagates in said object; and
means for acquiring a signal encoded with information indicative of local conductivity of said object for regions along path traversed by said excitation signal, said signal related to a Lorentz interaction between said magnetic field and said local charge displacement as said excitation signal propagates in said object; and
means for generating an image from said signal, said image weighted by a function of conductivity of said object, said image thereby representing the conductivity distribution of said object.
-
-
33. An apparatus for acquiring information on the conductivity distribution in an object, comprising:
-
an acoustic transducer coupled to said object and which generates an incident acoustic signal that propagates into said object;
a magnetic element that generates a magnetic field in said object;
an electrical signal receiver that receives an electrical signal related to an interaction between said acoustic signal and said magnetic field as said acoustic signal propagates through said object; and
a processor that generates an image of said object based on said electrical signal.
-
-
34. An apparatus for acquiring information on the conductivity distribution in an object, comprising:
-
an acoustic transducer coupled to said object and which generates an incident acoustic signal that propagates into said object;
a magnetic element that generates a magnetic field in said object;
an electrical signal receiver that receives an electrical signal related to an interaction between said acoustic signal and said magnetic field as said acoustic signal propagates through said object; and
wherein said acoustic transducer generates said acoustic signal as a beam localized along a direction of propagation into said object, and wherein said acoustic transducer generates a series of acoustic signals each directed along a respective propagation direction into said object, thereby spatially scanning said object with the series of acoustic signals.
-
-
35. An apparatus for acquiring information on the conductivity distribution in an object, comprising:
-
a magnetic element that generates a magnetic field in said object;
an electrical signal source that generates a time-varying electrical signal which is applied along a direction non-parallel to said magnetic field and which propagates through said object;
an acoustic transducer coupled to said object and which detects an acoustic signal that propagates through said object and relates to an interaction between said time-varying electrical signal and said magnetic field; and
wherein said acoustic transducer detects acoustic energy localized along a given direction, and wherein said given direction is scanned.
-
-
36. An apparatus for acquiring information on the conductivity distribution in an object, comprising:
-
a magnetic element that generates a magnetic field in said object;
an electrical signal source that generates a time-varying electrical signal which is applied along a direction non-parallel to said magnetic field and which propagates through said object;
an acoustic transducer coupled to said object and which detects an acoustic signal that propagates through said object and relates to an interaction between said time-varying electrical signal and said magnetic field; and
wherein said acoustic transducer includes an array of elements that concurrently detect acoustic energy from the object.
-
-
37. A method for acquiring information applicable for imaging an object based on a spatial function of the conductivity constant and the dielectric constant in the object, said method comprising the steps of:
-
applying a magnetic field to said object, said object including dielectric properties;
applying an excitation signal along a direction non-parallel to said magnetic field and which induces a local charge displacement in said object as said excitation signal propagates in said object; and
acquiring a signal encoded with information that is a spatial function of the local conductivity constant and the local dielectric constant of said object for a plurality of regions along a path traversed by said excitation signal, said signal related to an interaction between said magnetic field and said local charge displacement along the path as said excitation signal propagates in said object. - View Dependent Claims (38, 39)
-
Specification