Ultrasonic imaging system and improved signal processor therefor

Claim 2

In an ultrasonic scanning device having means to apply ultrasonic pulses to a subject to scan impedance changes in said subject and to detect the resulting sonic reflections and generate electrical signals from said reflections and a receiver to demodulate the received signals, the improvement wherein there is provided differentiating means to differentiate the output signal of said receiver to provide a differential signal and summation means to add said differential signal to a representation of the output signal of said receiver to provide a summation signal.

Claim 3

An ultrasonic scanning system as recited in claim 1, wherein there is provided circuit means to delay the output of said receiver by one-half cycle of the ripple frequency in the receiver output caused by the carrier frequency of the sonic pulses in order to shift said representation of the output signal of said receiver by one-half cycle of said ripple frequency relative to said differential signal.

Claim 4

In an ultrasonic scanning system as recited in claim 2, wherein said differentiating means inverts the signal applied thereto and wherein said circuit means receives the same input signal applied to said differentiator and includes means to invert the signal received thereby.

Claim 5

An ultrasonic scanning system as recited in claim 1, wherein there is provided means to adjust the amplitude of said differential signal relative to said representation of the output signal of said receiver.

Claim 6

A signal processor for use in an ultrasonic scanning or imaging system comprising differentiating means for differentiating the signal applied to the input thereof to provide a differential signal, circuit means for providing a delayed representation of the signal applied to the input thereof, input means for receiving an input signal and applying a representation of said input signal to the input of said differentiating means and the same representation of said input signal to the input of said circuit means, and summing means for adding said differential signal to said delayed representation.

Claim 7

A signal processor for use in an ultrasonic scanning or imaging system comprising differentiating means for differentiating the signal applied to the input thereof to provide a differential signal, circuit means for providing a delayed representation of the signal applied to the input thereof, input means for receiving an input signal and applying a representation of said input signal to the input of said differentiating means and the same representation of said input signal to the input of said circuit means, and summing means for adding said differential signal to said delayed representation.

Claim 8

A signal processor as recited in claim 5, wherein there is provided means to adjust the amplitude of said differential signal.

Claim 9

A signal processor as recited in claim 5, wherein said differentiator inverts the signal applied to the input thereof, and wherein said circuit means includes means to invert the signal applied to the input of said circuit means.

Claim 10

In an ultrasonic imaging device having means to apply ultrasonic pulses to a subject to scan impedance changes in said subject and to detect the resulting sonic reflections and generate electrical signal from said reflections, and a receiver to demodulate the received signals, and an image storage device to store an image of the acoustic impedance changes represented by said electrical signals, the improvement wherein there is provided differentiating means to differentiate the output signal of said receiver to provide a differential signal and summation means to add said differential signal to a representation of the output signal of said receiver to provide a summation signal, and means to apply said summation signal to said image storage device to provide said image of said acoustic impedance changes.

Claim 11

In an ultrasonic imaging device having means to apply ultrasonic pulses to a subject to scan impedance changes in said subject and to detect the resulting sonic reflections and generate electrical signal from said reflections, and a receiver to demodulate the received signals, and an image storage device to store an image of the acoustic impedance changes represented by said electrical signals, the improvement wherein there is provided differentiating means to differentiate the output signal of said receiver to provide a differential signal and summation means to add said differential signal to a representation of the output signal of said receiver to provide a summation signal, and means to apply said summation signal to said image storage device to provide said image of said acoustic impedance changes.

Claim 12

An ultrasonic imaging system as recited in claim 8, wherein there is provided circuit means to delay the output of said receiver by one-half cycle of the ripple frequency in the receiver output caused by the carrier frequency of the sonic pulses in order to shift said representation of the output signal of said receiver by one-half cycle of said ripple frequency relative to said differential signal.

Claim 13

In an ultrasonic imaging system as recited in claim 9, wherein said differentiating means inverts the signal applied thereto and wherein said circuit means receives the same input signal applied to said differentiator and includes means to invert the signal received thereby.

Claim 14

An ultrasonic imaging system as recited in claim 8, wherein there is provided means to adjust the amplitude of said differential signal relative to said representation of the output signal of said receiver.