Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 6
Claim 1
Independent Claim
252 words
A diagnostic imaging apparatus comprising ultrasonic wave transmit/receive means (21,23 to 25, 27) for applying ultrasonic wave pulses to an object body under diagnosis and for receiving echo signals resulting from these ultrasonic wave pulses, the application of ultrasonic wave pulses and receiving of echo signals being executed as an ultrasonic wave transmit/receive sequence constituting a single process, the sequences comprising pulsed Doppler mode sequences and 2-dimensional B-mode imaging sequences, respectively, the apparatus repetitively executing combinations of these sequences, each combination comprising a plurality of pulse Doppler mode ultrasonic wave transmit/receive sequences and a single 2-dimensional B-mode imaging ultrasonic transmit/receive sequence; demodulator means (38 to 41) for deriving demodulated signals based on received signals that are acquired through the pulse Doppler mode ultrasonic wave transmit/receive sequences of the ultrasonic wave transmit/receive means; sampling means (42 to 44) for performing range gate sampling of the demodulated signals produced from the demodulated means; interpolation means (45) for interpolating sampling values into a series of sampling values which are output from the sampling means, so as to restore the lost sample values of the Doppler signals being lost during execution of the 2-dimensional B-mode ultrasonic wave transmit/receive sequence by the ultrasonic wave transmit/ receive means; Doppler signal processing means (46 to 48) for processing the sampling signals after interpolation has been applied thereby,by the interpolation means; and 2-dimensional B-mode imaging means (28 to 34) for processing the received signals obtained through the 2-dimensional B-mode imaging ultrasonic wave transmit/receive sequence of the ultrasonic wave transmit/receive means.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
252 words
A diagnostic imaging apparatus comprising ultrasonic wave transmit/receive means (21,23 to 25, 27) for applying ultrasonic wave pulses to an object body under diagnosis and for receiving echo signals resulting from these ultrasonic wave pulses, the application of ultrasonic wave pulses and receiving of echo signals being executed as an ultrasonic wave transmit/receive sequence constituting a single process, the sequences comprising pulsed Doppler mode sequences and 2-dimensional B-mode imaging sequences, respectively, the apparatus repetitively executing combinations of these sequences, each combination comprising a plurality of pulse Doppler mode ultrasonic wave transmit/receive sequences and a single 2-dimensional B-mode imaging ultrasonic transmit/receive sequence; demodulator means (38 to 41) for deriving demodulated signals based on received signals that are acquired through the pulse Doppler mode ultrasonic wave transmit/receive sequences of the ultrasonic wave transmit/receive means; sampling means (42 to 44) for performing range gate sampling of the demodulated signals produced from the demodulated means; interpolation means (45) for interpolating sampling values into a series of sampling values which are output from the sampling means, so as to restore the lost sample values of the Doppler signals being lost during execution of the 2-dimensional B-mode ultrasonic wave transmit/receive sequence by the ultrasonic wave transmit/ receive means; Doppler signal processing means (46 to 48) for processing the sampling signals after interpolation has been applied thereby,by the interpolation means; and 2-dimensional B-mode imaging means (28 to 34) for processing the received signals obtained through the 2-dimensional B-mode imaging ultrasonic wave transmit/receive sequence of the ultrasonic wave transmit/receive means.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
58 words
A diagnostic imaging apparatus according to claim 1, in which the r'th value of the interpolation values satisfies the following equation: , wherein λ is the number of sampling pulses which respectively precede and succeed the interpolation point,a i is the interpolation coefficient , and x r+i is the actual sampling value preceding and succeeding the interpolation point.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
35 words
A diagnostic imaging apparatus according to claim 1, in which the interpolation means execute linear interpolation based upon one sampling value immediately preceding the interpolation point and one sampling value immediately succeeding the interpolation point.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
35 words
A diagnostic imaging apparatus according to claim 1, in which the interpolation means execute even-number power interpolation, based upon each n sampling pulses preceding the interpolation point and n sampling pulses succeeding the interpolation point.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
24 words
A diagnostic imaging apparatus according to claim 1, in means which the 2-dimensional B-mode imaging/executes multi-beam receiving for a plurality of acoustic scan lines.