Ultrasound diagnostic apparatus and control method for ultrasound diagnostic apparatus
AssigneeSeiko Epson Corporation
InventorMitsuru MIYASAKA
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Abstract
Measuring is performed by bringing a gel pad GP which is an acoustic coupling medium into contact with a measuring portion which has concavities and convexities and by sending and receiving ultrasound from a probe via the gel pad GP. At this time, the contact pressure of the probe and the gel pad GP is detected using pressure sensors which are provided in the probe (first pressure sensor and second pressure sensor). Then, ultrasound focusing is performed using the detected pressure of the pressure sensors.
Claims7
An ultrasound diagnostic apparatus which performs measuring by bringing an acoustic coupling medium into contact with a measuring portion which has concavities and convexities and by sending and receiving ultrasound via the acoustic coupling medium, comprising:
- a probe which sends and receives ultrasound;
- a pressure sensor which is provided in the probe which measures the contact pressure between the probe and the acoustic coupling medium;
- and
- a focusing control section which controls either of transmission focusing or reception focusing of the ultrasound (referred to below as “focusing”) using the detected pressure of the pressure sensor.
A control method for an ultrasound diagnostic apparatus, which performs measuring by bringing an acoustic coupling medium into contact with a measuring portion which has concavities and convexities and by sending and receiving ultrasound via the acoustic coupling medium, the method comprising:
- measuring the contact pressure between a probe and the acoustic coupling medium;
- and
- controlling focusing of the ultrasound using the contact pressure.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.