Ultrasonic imaging device

Claim 2

An ultrasonic imaging device for obtaining the imaging information of an object by carrying out scanning of the object with the ultrasonic wave, characterized by: means (32, 34) for transmitting ultrasonic waves and receiving the reflected ultrasonic wave from the object, said ultrasonic wave transmission and reception means being constructed to converge either one of the transmitted ultrasonic beam or the distribution of the reception sensitivity and to diverge the other one; means (36) for processing the received reflected- signal obtained from said ultrasonic wave transmission and reception means in order to obtain image reconstruction data for the object based on the aperture synthesis method.

Claim 3

An ultrasonic imaging device as claimed in Claim 1, further characterized by: means (38) for displaying the reconstructed image according to- the image reconstruction data obtained from said processing means.

Claim 4

An ultrasonic imaging device as claimed in Claim 1, in which said ultrasonic wave transmission and reception means comprises a probe (32) with a plurality of vibrators and means (34) for driving and controlling the vibrators of the probe so as to converge either one of the transmitted ultrasonic wave or the distribution of the reception sensitivity and to give a spread greater than a predetermined value for the other one.

Claim 5

An ultrasonic imaging device as claimed in Claim 3, in which said probe driving and controlling means (34) drives and controls a plurality of vibrators by means of time control which employs delay lines so as to converge either one of the transmitted ultrasonic beam or the distribution of the reception sensitivity.

Claim 6

An ultrasonic imaging device as claimed in Claim 4, in which said probe driving and controlling means (34) comprises a pulser (40) for driving each vibrator within the probe (32), a scan controller (42) for outputting an instruction signal for driving the pulser (40), and a computer (56) for sending a control signal to the scan controller.

Claim 7

An ultrasonic imaging device as claimed in Claim 3, in which said probe driving and controlling means (34) is constructed to drive and control a plurality of vibrators so as to transmit a converging ultrasonic beam and receive the reflected wave with a sensitivity distribution with spread.

Claim 8

An ultrasonic imaging device as claimed in Claim 3, in which said probe driving and controlling means (34) is constructed to drive and control a plurality of vibrators so as to transmit an ultrasonic beam with spread and receive the reflected wave with a converged sensitivity distribution.

Claim 9

An ultrasonic imaging device as claimed in Claim 3, in which said probe driving and controlling means (34) controls the vibrators so as to move the transmitting position of the ultrasonic beam and the receiving position of the reflected wave systematically in succession.

Claim 10

An ultrasonic imaging device as claimed in Claim 1, in which said processing means (36) comprises a receiver (44) for amplifying the received reflected signal to a required level, a phase detector (46) for phasedetecting the signal from the receiver and finding the quadrature components, an A/D converter (48, 50) for digitizing the phase-detected signal, a cosine input buffer (52) and a sine input buffer (54) for storing the digitized cosine and sine components, respectively, a picture memory (58) for storing the picture data, and a computer (56) for transferring the data which are " stored in said cosine input buffer and sine input buffer to said picture memory and carrying out the operation for aperture synthesis.

Claim 11

An ultrasonic imaging device as claimed in Claim 2 , in which said displaying means (38) canprises an output buffer (60) for storing the picture data in the synthesized picture obtained as a result of computer operation, a CRT monitor (66) for displaying the synthesized picture data, a timing controller (64) for generating a synchronous television signal and a data read-out control signal for displaying on the CRT monitor the picture data stored in the output buffer, and a D/A converter (62) for converting the picture data from the output memory to an analog signal, and outputting it to the CRT monitor.

Claim 12

An ultrasonic imaging device as claimed in Claim 3, in which a convergent ultrasonic wave is transmitted and the reflected wave is simultaneously received by means of the plurality of vibrators in order to obtain the hologram data required for the reconstruction of the image by a single transmission of the ultrasonic wave.