Patent ID: 11857291
Assignee: PHOTOSOUND TECHNOLOGIES INC.
Field: Medical technology (Instruments)
Classification: CPC A  G | IPC A

Claim 0:
1. An instrument for thermoacoustic data acquisition and/or imaging, comprising:
a transducer or a transducer array for receiving thermoacoustic signals from an interrogated object;
a thermoacoustic data acquisition unit comprising a thermoacoustic preamplifier and an analog front end for providing analog to digital conversion of input signals, said data acquisition unit or one or more of its individual components having a fast-disable low power mode and a fast-enable full power mode, each mode being capable of being activated multiple times per second between and during measurement cycles;
wherein the thermoacoustic data acquisition unit is configured to amplify and digitize signals received by said transducer or said transducer array;
a circuit providing digital processing and/or digital control in the instrument;
wherein the instrument is configured to switch said thermoacoustic data acquisition unit or one or more of its components between the fast-disable low power mode and the fast-enable full power mode according to a preset protocol;
wherein the instrument is configured to reduce thermoacoustic preamplifier power consumption many times by keeping the thermoacoustic preamplifier in the fast-disable low power mode for ≥99% of the time during a thermoacoustic measurement cycle.