Ultrasonic measurement apparatus

Claim 2

An ultrasonic measurement method for measuring an acoustic characteristic of a object under examination by transmitting an ultrasonic pulse into the object and detecting an ultrasonic echo signal reflected from within the object, said method comprising: an ultrasonic transceiving step of transmitting ultrasonic pulses into the object and obtaining ultrasonic echo signals, reflected from within the object, that will have a desired frequency band, and a measurement step of discriminating echo signals regarding a desired region of interest inside the object from the echo signals obtained in said transceiving step, and measuring the acoustic characteristic of the region of interest on the basis of the discriminated echo signals.

Claim 3

The ultrasonic measurement method according to claim 1, wherein said ultrasonic transceiving step includes: a transmitting step of transmitting ultrasonic pulses over a wide band, and a receiving step of receiving ultrasonic echo signals over a wide band from the object and discriminating them according to a single desired frequency band or a plurality of desired frequency_ bands.

Claim 4

The ultrasonic measurement method according to claim 1, wherein the acoustic characteristic is an attenuation coefficient inclusive of an ultrasonic absorption coefficient, a reflection-scattering coefficient and a transmission-scattering coefficient.

Claim 5

The ultrasonic measurement method according to claim 3, wherein said measurement step comprises calculating the attenuation coefficient of the region of interest based on an echo signal ratio, in a desired frequency band, measured with respect to two boundaries in the region of interest.

Claim 6

The ultrasonic measurement method according to claim 3, wherein said measurement step comprises calculating frequency dependence of the attenuation coefficient of the region of interest based on an echo signal ratio, in a plurality of desired frequency bands, measured with respect to two boundaries in the region of interest.

Claim 7

The ultrasonic measurement method according to claim 1, wherein said ultrasonic transceiving step comprises transmitting ultrasonic pulses into, and receiving ultrasonic pulses from, the object in such a manner that echo siganal trains from the region of interest of the object are formed substantially of a plurality of scanning lines, and said measurement step comprises measuring an acoustic characteristic which is composed of mean values formed over predetermined sets of scanning lines of said plurality of scanning lines.

Claim 8

An ultrasonic measurement apparatus for measuring an acoustic characteristic of a object under examination by transmitting an ultrasonic pulse into the object and detecting an ultrasonic echo signal reflected from within the object, said apparatus comprising: ultrasonic transceiving means for transmitting ultrasonic pulses into the object and obtaining ultrasonic echo signals, reflected from within the object, that will have a desired frequency band, measuring means connected to said ultrasonic transceiving means for discriminating echo signals regarding a desired region of interest inside the object from the echo signals obtained in said ultrasonic transceiving means, and for measuring the acoustic characteristic of the region of interest on the basis of the discriminated echo signals; and display means connected to said measuring means for displaying the measured acoustic characteristic as a visible image corresponding to the region of interest.

Claim 9

An ultrasonic measurement apparatus for measuring an acoustic characteristic of a object under examination by transmitting an ultrasonic pulse into the object and detecting an ultrasonic echo signal reflected from within the object, said apparatus comprising: ultrasonic transceiving means for transmitting ultrasonic pulses into the object and obtaining ultrasonic echo signals, reflected from within the object, that will have a desired frequency band, measuring means connected to said ultrasonic transceiving means for discriminating echo signals regarding a desired region of interest inside the object from the echo signals obtained in said ultrasonic transceiving means, and for measuring the acoustic characteristic of the region of interest on the basis of the discriminated echo signals; and display means connected to said measuring means for displaying the measured acoustic characteristic as a visible image corresponding to the region of interest.

Claim 10

The ultrasonic measurement apparatus according to claim 7, wherein said ultrasonic transceiving means comprises: transmitting means for transmitting ultrasonic pulses over a wide band, and receiving means for receiving ultrasonic echo signals over a wide band from the object, said receiving means having a band-pass circuit for passing echo signals of a single desired frequency band or of a plurality of desired frequency bands.

Claim 11

The ultrasonic measurement apparatus according to claim 7, - wherein-the-acoustic characteristic is an attenuation coefficient inclusive of an ultrasonic absorption coefficient, a reflection-scattering coefficient and a transmission-scattering coefficient.

Claim 12

The ultrasonic measurement apparatus according to claim 9, wherein said measurement means has means for calculating the attenuation coefficient of the region of interest based on an echo signal ratio, in a single desired frequency band or in a plurality of desired frequency bands, measured with respect to two boundaries in the region of interest.

Claim 13

The ultrasonic measurement apparatus according to claim 9, wherein said measurement means has means for calculating frequency dependence of the attenuation coefficient of the region of interest based on an echo signal ratio, in a plurality of desired frequency bands, measured with respect to two boundaries in the region of interest.

Claim 14

The ultrasonic measurement apparatus according to claim 7, wherein said ultrasonic transceiving means has means for transmitting ultrasonic pulses into, and receiving ultrasonic pulses from, the object in such a manner that the visible image displayed by said display means is formed substantially of a plurality of scanning lines, and said measuring means has means for measuring an acoustic characteristic which is composed of mean values over predetermined numbers of scanning lines of said plurality of scanning lines.

Claim 15

The ultrasonic measurement apparatus according to claim 7, wherein said display means displays an attenuation coefficient in the desired frequency band in a desired color corresponding thereto.

Claim 16

The ultrasonic measurement apparatus according to claim 11, wherein said display means displays frequency dependence of an attenuation coefficient in a desired color corresponding thereto.

Claim 17

The ultrasonic measurement apparatus according to claim 8, wherein said display means has means for adding an attenuation coefficient in the desired frequency band and a high-frequency band signal produced by said band-pass circuit in said desired frequency band.