Ultrasound diagnostic apparatus
AssigneeFUJIFILM Corporation
InventorYoshiaki Satoh
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An ultrasound diagnostic apparatus includes an ultrasound probe including a transducer array, and a back unit connected to the ultrasound probe by wireless communication and generating an ultrasound image based on reception signals outputted from the transducer array, the ultrasound probe including a middle unit connected to the back unit by wireless communication and a front unit detachably connected to the middle unit and including the transducer array, and the front unit having a transmission driver that supplies drive signals to the transducer array and causes the transducer array to transmit an ultrasonic beam and a preamplifier that amplifies reception signals outputted from the transducer array.
Claims13
An ultrasound diagnostic apparatus comprising:
- a plurality of front units including transducer arrays having different frequency bands and different drive voltages, transmission drivers configured to supply drive voltages restricted correspondingly to the transducer arrays to transmit ultrasonic beams from the transducer arrays, and preamplifiers having frequency bands restricted correspondingly to the frequency bands of the transducer arrays configured to amplify reception signals outputted from the transducer arrays;
- a middle unit connected to a front unit selected according to an intended diagnosis from the plurality of front units and including an A/D converter configured to convert reception signals amplified in the selected front unit into a digital signal, a reception signal processor configured to frequency-modulate the digital signal obtained through conversion by the A/D converter to a baseband frequency, and a parallel/serial, converter configured to serialize the signal that is frequency-modulated by the reception signal processor, an input device performing input operation into the ultrasound diagnostic apparatus to operate the ultrasound diagnostic apparatus, and a display unit displaying information regarding the selected front unit;
- a connector detachably connecting the selected front unit and the middle unit;
- and
- a back unit connected to the middle unit by wireless communication and configured to generate an ultrasound image based on reception signals amplified in the selected front unit,
- wherein by selecting the front unit according to the intended diagnosis from the plurality of front units and connecting the selected front unit to the middle unit through the connector, a change to a transducer array having a restricted frequency band for the intended diagnosis and a change to a transmission driver and a preamplifier corresponding to the transducer array are made.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.