EP0256282A1
Expired / Lapsed
EP
⏱️ 0.0 years remaining
Ultrasonic wave diagnostic apparatus employing interpolated values of weighting data
Assignee: Panasonic Holdings Corp
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Filing: 1987-07-06
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Granted: —
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Expires: 2007-07-06
Abstract
Abstract An ultrasonic wave diagnostic apparatus having an array of electro-acoustic transducer elements (E1÷E64) and respective channels (64) for supplying drive signals to the electro-acoustic transducer elements and amplifying (15) received echo signals from these elements, with the respective overall gains of the channels being controlled by corresponding values of weighting data (16). A set of mutually independent D/A converters (DA1÷DA17), smaller in number than the number of electro-acoustic transducer elements, produce weighting data (13a) for respective ones of the channels that are spaced apart by a fixed number of channels. Respective interpolated values of weighting data for the remaining channels are derived by analog operations executed upon each of successive pairs of D/A converter outputs.
Inventors
- 👤 Yasuhiro Nakamura
- 👤 Ikuo Sakai
- 👤 Masami Kawabuchi
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
EP
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-10-29 14:41
CPC Classifications
G; G10; G10K; G10K11/00; G10K11/18; G10K11/26; G10K11/34; G10K11/341; G10K11/348; G01; G01S; G01S7/00; G01S7/52; G01S7/52017; G01S7/52046; G01S7/52047
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 7
Claim 1
Independent Claim
200 words
An ultrasonic wave diagnostic apparatus comprising an array of electro-acoustic transducer elements driven by electrical signals for transmitting ultrasonic waves to a body which is under examination and for converting ultrasonic wave echoes received from that body into electrical signals, transmitting/receiving circuits for driving respective ones of said electro-acoustic transducer elements in said array by drive signals and for amplifying echo signals which are received by respective ones of said electro-acoustic transducer elements, said transmitting/receiving circuits having a number of channels which is identical to the number of said electro-acoustic transducer elements, and a set of digital-to-analog converters for producing weighting data for controlling the gains of corresponding ones of said channels, and characterized in that the digital-to-analog converters in said set are fewer in number than the number of said channels, with setting of digital data supplied to said digital-to-analog converters being independently performed for the respective digital-to-analog converters of said set, and in comprising interpolation circuit means for operating upon outputs from at least two digital-to-analog converters of said digital-to-analog converter group to produce interpolated weighting data and for controlling the gain of at least one channel of said transmitting/receiving circuits in accordance with said interpolated weighting data.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
200 words
An ultrasonic wave diagnostic apparatus comprising an array of electro-acoustic transducer elements driven by electrical signals for transmitting ultrasonic waves to a body which is under examination and for converting ultrasonic wave echoes received from that body into electrical signals, transmitting/receiving circuits for driving respective ones of said electro-acoustic transducer elements in said array by drive signals and for amplifying echo signals which are received by respective ones of said electro-acoustic transducer elements, said transmitting/receiving circuits having a number of channels which is identical to the number of said electro-acoustic transducer elements, and a set of digital-to-analog converters for producing weighting data for controlling the gains of corresponding ones of said channels, and characterized in that the digital-to-analog converters in said set are fewer in number than the number of said channels, with setting of digital data supplied to said digital-to-analog converters being independently performed for the respective digital-to-analog converters of said set, and in comprising interpolation circuit means for operating upon outputs from at least two digital-to-analog converters of said digital-to-analog converter group to produce interpolated weighting data and for controlling the gain of at least one channel of said transmitting/receiving circuits in accordance with said interpolated weighting data.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
51 words
An ultrasonic wave diagnostic apparatus according to claim 1, in which said interpolation circuit means comprises a plurality of resistors coupled in series between said at least two digital-to-analog converters, for producing said interpolated weighting data as at least one output voltage appearing at a junction between two of said resistors.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
60 words
An ultrasonic wave diagnostic apparatus according to claim 1, in which said interpolation circuit means comprises means for operating on respective weighting voltages produced from said at least two digital-to-analog converters to produce corresponding output voltages of arbitrarily selectable polarity, and analog summing means for summing said output voltages to produce an interpolated weighting voltage as said interpolated weighting data.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
40 words
An ultrasonic wave diagnostic apparatus according to claim 1, in which said operating means further executes multiplication of each of said weighting voltages from said digital-to-analog converters by respective coefficients of arbitrarily selectable magnitude, to produce said corresponding output voltages.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
48 words
An ultrasonic wave diagnostic apparatus according to claim 1, in which said interpolation circuit means comprises a first interpolation circuit for appling weighting data to said drive signals and a second interpolation circuit independent from said first interpolation circuit for applying weighting data to said said echo signals.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
30 words
An ultrasonic wave diagnostic apparatus according to claim 1, in which said weighting data produced from interpolation circuit means are applied to either said drive signals or said echo signals.
References Cited (Backward Citations)
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