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US 10,588,598 B2Granted
Ultrasonic inspection apparatus
AssigneeFUJIFILM Corporation
InventorHiroaki Yamamoto
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An ultrasonic inspection apparatus includes: a probe; a transmission unit configured to cause the probe to transmit a ultrasonic beam; a reception unit configured to receive analog element signals output by the probe; an A/D conversion unit configured to perform A/D conversion on the analog element signal to obtain first element data; and a data processing unit configured to generate second element data from a plurality of the pieces of first element data, wherein the data processing unit changes conditions of acquisition of two or more of the pieces of first element data for generating the second element data depending on a depth of a position in which the second element data is obtained.
Claims26
An ultrasonic inspection apparatus that inspects an inspection target using an ultrasonic beam, the ultrasonic inspection apparatus comprising:
- a probe comprising a plurality of elements being arranged in the probe, and uses the plurality of elements to transmit the ultrasonic beam, to receive an ultrasonic echo reflected by the inspection target, and to output an analog element signal according to the received ultrasonic echo;
- and
- processing circuitry, wherein the processing circuitry comprises:
- a transmission unit configured to cause the plurality of elements of the probe to transmit the ultrasonic beam a plurality of times so as to form a predetermined transmission focal point;
- a reception unit configured to receive analog element signals output by the plurality of elements corresponding to the transmission of individual ultrasonic beams-and performs a predetermined processing on the analog element signals;
- an analog-to-digital (A/D) conversion unit configured to perform A/D conversion on the analog element signals processed by the reception unit to obtain a plurality of pieces of first element data,
- wherein the plurality of pieces of first element data are digital element signals, and the plurality of pieces of first element data indicate signal strength with respect to element position and time;
- a data processing unit configured to select two or more pieces of first element data from the plurality of pieces of first element data and to use the two or more pieces of first element data to generate second element data,
- wherein the second element data corresponds to any one of the two or more pieces of first element data, and the second element data indicates the signal strength with respect to element position and time, and
- an image generation unit configured to generate an ultrasound image based on the second element data,
- wherein the data processing unit includes:
- a delay time calculation unit configured to calculate a delay time of the two or more pieces of the first element data, and
- a superposition processing unit configured to perform delay time correction on the two or more pieces of first element data by using the calculated delay time, to shift the two or more pieces of first element data so as to align the two or more pieces of first element data to a reception position of a central element of the probe, and to superimpose the delayed and shifted two or more pieces of first element data to generate the second element data,
- wherein the data processing unit is further configured to change conditions of acquisition of the two or more pieces of first element data to be selected from the plurality of pieces of first element data depending on a depth of a position in which the second element data is obtained.
11 more elements
An ultrasonic inspection apparatus that inspects an inspection target using an ultrasonic beam, the ultrasonic inspection apparatus comprising:
- a probe comprising a plurality of elements being arranged in the probe, and uses the plurality of elements to transmit the ultrasonic beam, to receive an ultrasonic echo reflected by the inspection target, and to output an analog element signal according to the received ultrasonic echo;
- and
- processing circuitry, wherein the processing circuitry comprises:
- a transmission unit configured to cause the plurality of elements of the probe to transmit the ultrasonic beam a plurality of times so as to form a predetermined transmission focal point;
- a reception unit configured to receive analog element signals output by the plurality of elements corresponding to the transmission of individual ultrasonic beams-and performs a predetermined processing on the analog element signals;
- an analog-to-digital (A/D) conversion unit configured to perform A/D conversion on the analog element signals processed by the reception unit to obtain a plurality of pieces of first element data,
- wherein the plurality of pieces of first element data are digital element signals, and the plurality of pieces of first element data indicate signal strength with respect to element position and time;
- a phasing addition unit configured to perform phasing addition on the plurality of pieces of first element data around a line corresponding to the same element to generate a plurality of pieces of first reception data indicating signal strength with respect to time;
- a data processing unit configured to select two or more pieces of first reception data from the plurality of pieces of first reception data and to use the two or more pieces of first reception data to generate second reception data corresponding to any one of the plurality of pieces of first reception data from the plurality of the pieces of first element data on which phasing addition is performed around the line corresponding to the same element, and
- an image generation unit configured to generate an ultrasound image based on the second reception data,
- wherein the data processing unit includes:
- a delay time calculation unit configured to calculate a delay time of the two or more pieces of first reception data, and
- a superposition processing unit configured to perform delay time correction on the two or more pieces of first reception data using the calculated delay time, to shift the two or more pieces of first reception data so as to align the two or more pieces of first reception data to a reception position of a central element of the probe, and to superimpose the delayed and shifted two or more pieces of first reception data to generate the second reception data,
- wherein the data processing unit is further configured to change conditions of acquisition of the two or more pieces of first reception data to be selected from the plurality of pieces of first reception data depending on a depth of a position in which the second reception data is obtained.
11 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.