US4409838A
Expired / Lapsed
US
⏱️ 0.0 years remaining
Ultrasonic diagnostic device
Assignee: US Philips Corp
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Filing: 1981-06-08
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Granted: 1983-10-18
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Expires: 2001-06-08
Abstract
Abstract A device and method for the determination of the internal structure of a body by means of ultrasonic waves which penetrate the body. The invention enables quantitative determination to be made of the relative acoustic parameters (absorption coefficient, body density) as a function of the location.
Inventors
- 👤 Hermann Schomberg
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
US
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-10-24 09:12
CPC Classifications
G; G01; G01S; G01S15/00; G01S15/88; G01S15/89; G01S15/8906; G01S15/895; G01S15/8954; A; A61; A61B; A61B8/00; G01N; G01N29/00; G01N29/04; G01N29/06; G01N29/0609; G01N29/0645; G01N29/34; G01N29/341; G01N29/343; G01N29/44; G01N29/4463; G01S7/00; G01S7/52; G01S7/52017; G01S7/52023; G01S7/52025; G01N2291/00; G01N2291/02; G01N2291/028; G01N2291/0289
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 21
Claim 1
Independent Claim
159 words
A device for determining the internal structure of a body by means of ultrasonic waves which penetrate the body comprising: acoustic transducer means for periodically emitting pulses of planar acoustic waves having a large-bandwidth frequency spectrum into the body, for receiving echos of the waves which are scattered in the body and for forming measurement signals which represent the emitted and received waves; one or more signal processing paths which include: i. means for calculating the Fourier transform of the measurement signals and ii. means for calculating the frequency spectra of the waves by multiplying the Fourier transform of the measurement signal by correction factors which comprise the product of the frequency spectrum of the emitted acoustic waves in the vicinity of the transducer means and a frequency dependent transmission function of the transducer means; means which directly calculate the distribution of the refractive index within the body from the frequency spectra; and means for displaying the calculated distribution.
Claim 2
Independent Claim
159 words
A device for determining the internal structure of a body by means of ultrasonic waves which penetrate the body comprising: acoustic transducer means for periodically emitting pulses of planar acoustic waves having a large-bandwidth frequency spectrum into the body, for receiving echos of the waves which are scattered in the body and for forming measurement signals which represent the emitted and received waves; one or more signal processing paths which include: i. means for calculating the Fourier transform of the measurement signals and ii. means for calculating the frequency spectra of the waves by multiplying the Fourier transform of the measurement signal by correction factors which comprise the product of the frequency spectrum of the emitted acoustic waves in the vicinity of the transducer means and a frequency dependent transmission function of the transducer means; means which directly calculate the distribution of the refractive index within the body from the frequency spectra; and means for displaying the calculated distribution.
Claim 3
Independent Claim
159 words
A device for determining the internal structure of a body by means of ultrasonic waves which penetrate the body comprising: acoustic transducer means for periodically emitting pulses of planar acoustic waves having a large-bandwidth frequency spectrum into the body, for receiving echos of the waves which are scattered in the body and for forming measurement signals which represent the emitted and received waves; one or more signal processing paths which include: i. means for calculating the Fourier transform of the measurement signals; and ii. means for calculating the frequency spectra of the waves by multiplying the Fourier transform of the measurement signal by correction factors which comprise the product of the frequency spectrum of the emitted acoustic waves in the vicinity of the transducer means and a frequency dependent transmission function of the transducer means; means which directly calculate the distribution of the extinction coefficient within the body from the frequency spectra; and means for displaying the calculated distribution.
Claim 4
Independent Claim
159 words
A device for determining the internal structure of a body by means of ultrasonic waves which penetrate the body comprising: acoustic transducer means for periodically emitting pulses of planar acoustic waves having a large-bandwidth frequency spectrum into the body, for receiving echos of the waves which are scattered in the body and for forming measurement signals which represent the emitted and received waves; one or more signal processing paths which include: i. means for calculating the Fourier transform of the measurement signals; and ii. means for calculating the frequency spectra of the waves by multiplying the Fourier transform of the measurement signal by correction factors which comprise the product of the frequency spectrum of the emitted acoustic waves in the vicinity of the transducer means and a frequency dependent transmission function of the transducer means; means which directly calculate the distribution of the extinction coefficient within the body from the frequency spectra; and means for displaying the calculated distribution.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
150 words
A device as claimed in claim 1 or 2 wherein the means which calculate the distribution function to solve the integral equation ##EQU14## which describes the propagation of the acoustic waves scattered by the potential V (r',ω), with ##EQU15## in order to determine the functions f(r) and g(r), which describes the internal structure of the body, G(r-r', ω) being Green's function for the differential operator ∇ 2 +(ω 2 /Co 2 ), ψ(r, ω) being the sum of the frequency spectra (ψ I (r, ω)+ψ S (r,ω)) of the emitted and scattered acoustic waves, r and r' being location vectors, ω being the frequency, Co being the velocity of acoustic waves in water, D being the scanned part of the body and ##EQU16## where n(r)=n(r) (1+i k(r)) is the complex refractive index with its real part n(r), k(r) being the extinction coefficient, and ρ(r) being the density of the body.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
27 words
A device as claimed in claim 3 wherein the transducer means function to emit pulses of ultrasonic waves having a pulse shape which approximates a delta function.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
36 words
A device as claimed in claim 1 or 2 wherein the acoustic transducer means comprise a plurality of acoustic transducer elements for the emission and reception of acoustic waves, said elements being arranged in a row.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
19 words
A device as claimed in claim 5 wherein the transducer means comprise transducer elements arranged in a two-dimensional matrix.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
52 words
A device as claimed in claim 1 or 2 wherein the transducer means comprise a plurality of separate transducer elements and further comprising a plurality of separate signal processing paths, each signal processing path being connected to independently process the measurement signals from a distinct group of one or more transducer elements.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
18 words
The apparatus of claim 7 comprising separate means for calculating the Fourier transform for each signal processing path.
Claim 11
Independent Claim
88 words
A device for determining the distribution of the complex ultrasonic refractive index within a body comprising: pulse-echo measuring means for emitting pulses of planar waves of ultrasound energy into the body and for producing signals which represent the echos of the energy which are scattered from internal body structures; Fourier transformer means for extracting the frequency spectra of the emitted and received ultrasound waves from the signals; and means for directly calculating the spatial distribution of the complex refractive index in the body from the extracted frequency spectra.
Claim 12
Independent Claim
88 words
A device for determining the distribution of the complex ultrasonic refractive index within a body comprising: pulse-echo measuring means for emitting pulses of planar waves of ultrasound energy into the body and for producing signals which represent the echos of the energy which are scattered from internal body structures; Fourier transformer means for extracting the frequency spectra of the emitted and received ultrasound waves from the signals; and means for directly calculating the spatial distribution of the complex refractive index in the body from the extracted frequency spectra.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
40 words
The apparatus of claim 9 further comprising means for generating and displaying a B-scan of the internal structures of the body and means for displaying the distribution of the complex refractive index in conjunction with the display of the B-scan.
Claim 14
Independent Claim
157 words
The apparatus of claims 9 or 10 wherein the means for calculating the distribution of the complex refractive index comprise means which calculate the distribution function to solve the integral equation ##EQU17## which describes the propagation of the acoustic waves scattered by the potential V (r',ω), with ##EQU18## in order to determine the functions f(r) and g(r), which describes the internal structure of the body, G(r-r',ω) being Green's function for the differential operator ∇ 2 +ω 2 /Co 2 , ψ(r,ω) being the sum of the frequency spectra (ω I (r, ω)+ω S (r,ω)) of the emitted and scattered acoustic waves, r and r' being location vectors, ω being the frequency, Co being the velocity of acoustic waves in water, D being the scanned part of the body and ##EQU19## where n(r)=n(r) (1+i k(r)) is the complex refractive index with its real part n(r), k(r) being the extinction coefficient, and ρ(r) being the density of the body.
Claim 15
Independent Claim
72 words
A method for determining the internal structure of a body comprising: transmitting pulses of planar waves of wideband ultrasonic energy into the body; detecting echos of said pulses which are scattered from internal structures of the body and producing electrical signals representative thereof; calculating the frequency spectra of the transmitted and received ultrasound energy; and directly calculating the distribution of the complex ultrasonic refractive index within the body from said frequency spectra.
Claim 16
Independent Claim
72 words
A method for determining the internal structure of a body comprising: transmitting pulses of planar waves of wideband ultrasonic energy into the body; detecting echos of said pulses which are scattered from internal structures of the body and producing electrical signals representative thereof; calculating the frequency spectra of the transmitted and received ultrasound energy; and directly calculating the distribution of the complex ultrasonic refractive index within the body from said frequency spectra.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim
23 words
The method of claim 12 further comprising displaying the distribution of the complex refractive index as a representation of the internal body structures.
Claim 18
Dependent Claim
146 words
The method of claim 12 or 13 wherein the calculation of the complex refractive index comprises solution of the integral equation ##EQU20## which describes the propagation of the acoustic waves scattered by the potential V (r',ω), with ##EQU21## in order to determine the functions f(r) and g(r), which describes the internal structure of the body, G(r-r',ω) being Green's function for the differential operator ∇ 2 +ω 2 /Co 2 , ψ(r,ω) being the sum of the frequency spectra (ψ I (r,ω)+ψ S (r,ω)) of the emitted and scattered acoustic waves, r and r' being location vectors, ω being the frequency, Co being the velocity of acoustic waves in water, D being the scanned part of the body and ##EQU22## where n(r)=n(r) (1+i k(r)) is the complex refractive index with its real part n(r), k(r) being the extinction coefficient, and ρ(r) being the density of the body.
Claim 19
Independent Claim
179 words
A method of calculating the distribution of the complex ultrasonic refractive index in a body from data which represents the frequency spectra of pulses of wideband ultrasonic energy which are introduced into the body as planar waves and of echos of said pulses which are scattered from the body comprising: solving the integral equation ##EQU23## which describes the propagation of the acoustic waves scattered by the potential V (r',ω), with ##EQU24## in order to determine the functions f(r) and g(r), which describes the internal structure of the body, G(r-r',ω) being Green's function for the differential operator ∇ 2 +ω 2 /Co 2 , ψ(r,ω) being the sum of the frequency spectra (ψ I (r,ω)+ψ S (r,ω)) of the emitted and scattered acoustic waves, r and r' being location vectors, ω being the frequency, Co being the velocity of acoustic waves in water, D being the scanned part of the body and ##EQU25## where n(r)=n(r) (1+i k(r)) is the complex refractive index with its real part n(r), k(r) being the extinction coefficient, and ρ(r) being the density of the body.
Claim 20
Independent Claim
179 words
A method of calculating the distribution of the complex ultrasonic refractive index in a body from data which represents the frequency spectra of pulses of wideband ultrasonic energy which are introduced into the body as planar waves and of echos of said pulses which are scattered from the body comprising: solving the integral equation ##EQU23## which describes the propagation of the acoustic waves scattered by the potential V (r',ω), with ##EQU24## in order to determine the functions f(r) and g(r), which describes the internal structure of the body, G(r-r',ω) being Green's function for the differential operator ∇ 2 +ω 2 /Co 2 , ψ(r,ω) being the sum of the frequency spectra (ψ I (r,ω)+ψ S (r,ω)) of the emitted and scattered acoustic waves, r and r' being location vectors, ω being the frequency, Co being the velocity of acoustic waves in water, D being the scanned part of the body and ##EQU25## where n(r)=n(r) (1+i k(r)) is the complex refractive index with its real part n(r), k(r) being the extinction coefficient, and ρ(r) being the density of the body.
Claim 21
Dependent Claim
33 words
The method of ultrasonic diagnosis comprising displaying the distribution of the complex refractive index obtained in accordance with the method of claim 15 as an image which represents internal structures of the body.
References Cited (Backward Citations)
USPTO Annuity & Maintenance Windows
| Annuity Stage | Window Opens | Payment Deadline | Surcharge Period Until | Estimated Fee | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3.5 Years (Year 4) | 1986-10-17 | 1987-04-18 | 1987-10-18 | $2000.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 7.5 Years (Year 8) | 1990-10-17 | 1991-04-18 | 1991-10-18 | $3760.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 11.5 Years (Year 12) | 1994-10-17 | 1995-04-18 | 1995-10-18 | $7700.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |