Patent ID: 11857373
Assignee: THE REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA
Field: Measurement (Instruments)
Classification: CPC A  B  G | IPC A  B  G

Claim 6:
7. A system for performing multi-frequency harmonic acoustography for target identification and border detection, the system comprising:
a focused confocal transducer having at least one piezoelectric element;
a hydrophone; and
a signal processing circuit;
the signal processing circuit comprising a computer hardware processor and a non-transitory memory storing instructions executable by the computer hardware processor which, when executed, perform steps comprising:
sending signals to the transducer to emit first and second ultrasonic waves at first and second frequencies from the transducer into a target tissue;
wherein the first and second waves interfere at a focal plane within the target tissue such that the target tissue absorbs energy from the first and second waves and vibrates to emit a third acoustic wave within the target tissue;
analyzing the third acoustic wave to evaluate one or more mechanical properties of the target tissue by analyzing harmonics generated by non-linear properties of the target tissue, wherein a spectral envelope comprising relative strengths of higher harmonics is used to create imaging contrast and unique identifying information associated with the target tissue;
wherein the one or more mechanical properties of the target tissue are selected from the group consisting of: tissue type, size, location with adjacent tissue or physiologic or disease state.