Phase detection method based on a receiving sequence of sampled values

A phase detection method for evaluating an open or a closed vessel corresponding to a human tissue, comprising the following steps:

• coupling a transmitter to an inlet of a vessel corresponding to a human tissue, and a receiver to an outlet of the vessel, and transmitting a transmitting signal having a known transmitting frequency fw from the transmitter into the vessel;
• acquiring a receiving sequence (Yj) of values (Y0, Y1, . . . , YN−1) of a receiving signal (Y), said values (Y0, Y1, . . . , YN−1) having been sampled with a known sampling frequency fs and said receiving signal (Y) representing a reaction to the transmitting signal;
• providing a sine sequence (Sj) and a cosine sequence (Cj) for each index (j) of the receiving sequence (Yj), said sine sequence (Sj) comprising sine values of consecutive multiples of a known circular frequency (Ω) which depends on the transmitting frequency fw and the sampling frequency fs, and said cosine sequence (Cj) including cosine values of consecutive multiples of the known circular frequency (Ω);
• determining a phase real part (U) of the receiving signal (Y) based on a scalar product of the receiving sequence (Yj) with the cosine sequence (Cj) and a phase imaginary part (V) of the receiving signal based on a scalar product of the receiving sequence (Yj) with the sine sequence (Sj);
• and
• determining a phase at the outlet of the transferring medium based on the phase real part (U), the phase imaginary part (V), the known transmitting frequency, and the known sampling frequency,
• comparing the phase or a bias of the receiving signal to a corresponding phase or a corresponding bias of a receiving signal of a known reference vessel corresponding to a healthy human tissue to evaluate the vessel for abnormalities;
• and
• comparing the phase to a corresponding reference value associated with a reference vessel to identify an abnormal condition.