US 5,291,786 AGranted

Ultrasonic microscope

AssigneeOlympus Optical Co., Ltd.

InventorsMitsumori Hayashida, Kiyoshi Fujii

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Abstract

An ultrasonic microscope of this invention generates a transmission signal from a transmission timing circuit, converts this transmission signal into an ultrasonic pulse, radiates the ultrasonic pulse on a sample, receives an echo from the sample, and generates an electrical echo signal corresponding to the echo. This echo signal is distributed by a distributor to generate a plurality of echo signals. The plurality of echo signals are input to a delay circuit and a gate timing signal generator. The gate timing signal generator generates a gate timing signal with reference to an echo signal exceeding a threshold value. A first gate signal generator generates a first gate signal for determining a first gate period with reference to the transmission timing of the transmission signal. The first gate signal is input to a second gate signal generator. When the gate timing signal is generated within the first gate period, a second gate signal for determining a second gate period is generated with reference to this gate timing signal. A predetermined echo component is extracted by the second gate signal from the echo signal delayed by the delay circuit.

Claims15

Dependent claims

An ultrasonic microscope comprising:

transmission timing means for generating a transmission timing signal at a predetermined transmission timing;
ultrasonic pulse transmitting/receiving means for converting a transmission signal generated upon reception of the transmission timing signal into an ultrasonic pulse and radiating the ultrasonic pulse onto a sample and for receiving an echo from the sample and generating an electrical echo signal corresponding to the echo;
distributing means for distributing the echo signal input from said ultrasonic pulse transmitting/receiving means and outputting a plurality of echo signals having the same level;
delay means for receiving one of the plurality of echo signals distributed by said distributing means and delaying the input echo signal by a predetermined period of time;
gate timing signal generating means for receiving remaining ones of the plurality of echo signals distributed by said distributing means, comparing the remaining signals with a preset threshold value, and generating a gate timing signal with reference to the echo signal exceeding the preset threshold value;
first gate signal generating means for generating a first gate signal for determining a first gate period with reference to the transmission timing signal generated by said transmission timing means;
second gate signal generating means for generating a second gate signal for determining a second gate period with reference to the gate timing signal when the gate timing signal is generated within the first gate period;
gate means for receiving the echo signal delayed by said delay means and enabling a gate during the second gate period of the second gate signal to extract an echo component from the echo signal;
and
image forming means for forming an image of the sample from the echo component extracted from said gate means.

7 more elements

An ultrasonic microscope comprising:

transmission timing means for generating a transmission timing signal at a predetermined transmission timing;
ultrasonic pulse transmitting/receiving means for converting a transmission signal generated upon reception of the transmission timing signal into an ultrasonic pulse and radiating the ultrasonic pulse onto a sample and for receiving an echo from the sample and generating an electrical echo signal corresponding to the echo;
distributing means for distributing the echo signal input from said ultrasonic pulse transmitting/receiving means and outputting a plurality of echo signals having the same level;
delay means for receiving one of the plurality of echo signals distributed by said distributing means and delaying the input echo signal by a predetermined period of time;
gate timing signal generating means for receiving remaining ones of the plurality of echo signals distributed by said distributing means, comparing the remaining signals with a preset threshold value, and generating a gate timing signal with reference to the echo signal exceeding the preset threshold value;
first gate signal generating means for generating a first gate signal for determining a first gate period with reference to the transmission timing signal generated by said transmission timing means;
second gate signal generating means for generating a plurality of gate signals for determining non-overlapping gate periods with reference to the gate timing signal when the gate timing signal is generated within the first gate period;
a plurality of gate circuits for receiving the echo signal delayed by said delay means and the plurality of gate signals generated by said second gate signal generating means to enable a plurality of gates during the gate periods of the plurality of gate signals, thereby extracting a plurality of different echo components corresponding to echoes from different portions of the sample from the echo signal;
and
image forming means for forming an image of the sample from the echo components extracted by said gate circuits.

7 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.