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US 8,465,428 B2Granted
Ultrasonic probe and ultrasonic probe system
AssigneeFUJIFILM Corporation
InventorsYoshimitsu Kudoh, Hiroyuki Karasawa
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An ultrasonic probe that can be used in various stiles depending on cases. The ultrasonic probe includes: plural ultrasonic transducers for transmitting ultrasonic waves according to drive signals, and receiving ultrasonic echoes to output reception signals; a signal processing unit for performing signal processing on the reception signals outputted from the plural ultrasonic transducers to generate a transfer signal; and a communication unit adapted to be connectable to any one of plural functional modules, for transmitting the transfer signal generated by the signal processing unit to the connected functional module.
Claims13
An ultrasonic probe system comprising an ultrasonic probe, and plural functional modules each including a connector selectively connectable to said ultrasonic probe and a power supply unit configured to supply electric power to said ultrasonic probe, said ultrasonic probe including:
- plural ultrasonic transducers configured to transmit ultrasonic waves according to drive signals, and receive ultrasonic echoes to output reception signals;
- a signal processing unit configured to perform signal processing on the reception signals outputted from said plural ultrasonic transducers to generate a transfer signal;
- a communication unit configured to be connectable to any one of said plural functional modules, and to transmit the transfer signal generated by said signal processing unit to the connected functional module;
- a storage unit configured to store types of said plural functional modules and operation setting data according to the types of said plural functional modules in association with each other;
- and
- a control unit configured to determine a type of the functional module connected to said communication unit, read out the operation setting data associated with the determined type of the functional module, and control an operation of said ultrasonic probe according to the operation setting data read out from said storage unit.
3 more elements
An ultrasonic probe system comprising:
- an ultrasonic probe including plural ultrasonic transducers configured to transmit ultrasonic waves according to drive signals and receive ultrasonic echoes to output reception signals, a signal processing unit configured to perform signal processing on the reception signals outputted from said plural ultrasonic transducers to generate a transfer signal, and a communication unit configured to transmit the transfer signal generated by said signal processing unit;
- and
- plural functional modules selectively connectable to said communication unit, said plural functional modules including (i) a wired communication module configured to transmit the transfer signal transmitted from said communication unit to an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus main body via wired communication, (ii) a wireless communication module configured to transmit the transfer signal transmitted from said communication unit to the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus main body via wireless communication, and (iii) an image display module configured to display an ultrasonic image based on the transfer signal transmitted from said communication unit;
- and a storage unit configured to store types of said plural functional modules and operation setting data according to the types of said plural functional modules in association with each other;
- and a control unit configured to determine a type of the functional module connected to said communication unit, read out the operation setting data associated with the determined type of the functional module, and control an operation of said ultrasonic probe according to the operation setting data read out from said storage unit.
2 more elements
An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus comprising:
- an ultrasonic probe including plural ultrasonic transducers configured to transmit ultrasonic waves according to drive signals and receive ultrasonic echoes to output reception signals, a signal processing unit configured to perform signal processing on the reception signals outputted from said plural ultrasonic transducers to generate a transfer signal, a communication unit configured to be connectable to any one of plural functional modules, and to transmit the transfer signal generated by said signal processing unit to the connected functional module, a storage unit configured to store types of said plural functional modules and operation setting data according to the types of said plural functional modules in association with each other, and a control unit configured to determine a type of the functional module connected to said communication unit, read out the operation setting data associated with the determined type of the functional module, and control an operation of said ultrasonic probe according to the operation setting data read out from said storage unit;
- an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus main body configured to generate an image signal based on the transfer signal transmitted from the functional module connected to said communication unit;
- and
- said plural functional modules including (i) a wired communication module configured to transmit the transfer signal transmitted from said communication unit to said ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus main body via wired communication, and (ii) a wireless communication module configured to transmit the transfer signal transmitted from said communication unit to said ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus main body via wireless communication.
1 more element
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.