Variable origin-variable acoustic scanning method and apparatus
US5261408A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Jul 16, 1992 |
| Grant date | Nov 16, 1993 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Jul 16, 2012 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG10K11/343
- WIPO fieldMeasurement
- WIPO sectorInstruments
Abstract
An acoustic scanning method and apparatus implemented by transmitting ultrasonic pressure waves and receiving return echoes on a set of spatially non-overlapping acoustic lines scanned along a transducer array with the active acoustic lines shifted and steered so that each acoustic line originates at an arbitrary point on and at an arbitrary angle to the face of the array. In a preferred embodiment, an extension of each acoustic line may also pass through a substantially common vertex that is not on the face of the transducer array, but preferably behind it a selectable distance to provide an extended field of view. The extended field-of-view is defined by the selectively variable location of the common vertex of the acoustic lines and the physical ends of the array, may use the entire transducer array in the near-field, has high quality resolution in both near and far fields, and may simultaneously transmit and receive two or more ultrasound beams from the same transducer aperture.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.