Patent ID: 11872084
Assignee: UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AS REPRESENTED BY THE SECRETARY OF THE AIR FORCE
Field: Medical technology (Instruments)
Classification: CPC A | IPC A

Claim 0:
1. An acoustic imaging system comprising:
an ultrasound detector configured to receive an acoustic signal that is reflected from an object, the ultrasound detector forming a transducer axis with the object;
a coupling element between the ultrasound detector and the object;
an electromagnetic source configured to generate a probe beam directed toward the acoustic signal and orthogonal to the transducer axis;
a probe beam deflection detector configured to receive a deflected probe beam resulting from an interaction between the probe beam and the acoustic signal; and
a filtering unit configured to determine, using Snell's law and the deflected probe beam, an angle of incidence between the transducer axis and a direction of propagation of the acoustic signal and to generate a filtered acoustic signal by removing portions of the acoustic signal at time intervals during which the determined angle of incidence is greater than a threshold range of angles.