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US 2026/0130647 A1Published application
Ultrasound imaging using apparent point-source transmit transducer
AssigneeMaui Imaging, Inc.
InventorsDonald F. SPECHT, Josef R. CALL
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An apparent point-source transmit transducers comprises a substantially constant-thickness shell of piezoelectric material in a shape of a spherical-section. Such transducers may be sized such that a single apparent point-source transmit transducer may produce ultrasound waveforms with substantial energy in a medium to be imaged. Use of such transducers in three-dimensional ping-based imaging may permit deeper and higher quality imaging than may be possible with conventional transducers.
Claims17
(canceled)
An ultrasound imaging system comprising:
- a probe housing;
- a plurality of apparent point-source transmit transducers disposed on the housing, each apparent point-source transmit transducer shaped as a spherical section having a spherical center point, each of the plurality of apparent point-source transmit transducers configured to transmit a three-dimensional semi-spherical pulse into a target object to be imaged with a point source location that appears to have originated from an apparent point source that lies somewhere other than a surface of the apparent point-source transmit transducer;
- a plurality of receive transducer elements disposed on the housing and being different than the plurality of apparent point-source transmit transducers, and being configured to receive echoes of the three-dimensional semi-spherical pulses;
- a controller configured to control transmission of three-dimensional semi-spherical pulses from one or more of the apparent point-source transmit transducers and to determine a position of reflectors within the object based on a known position of the spherical center point of the one or more apparent point-source transmit transducers, known positions of the plurality of receive transducer elements, a time at which the three-dimensional semi-spherical pulse was transmitted, and times at which the echoes are received.
1 more element
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.