Patent ID: 9329260
Filing Date: 2016-05-03
CPC Classification: G01S

Claim Text:
1. An ultrasound imaging method for imaging a field of observation in an environment to be imaged containing scatterers, said method comprising several successive measurement steps during each of which: an array of transducers emits an incident ultrasound wave into the field of observation, of center wavelength λ, then raw signals Sj(i,t) picked up by each transducer and representative of a reflected ultrasound wave reverberated from the incident wave by the scatterers in the environment are recorded, i being an index denoting each transducer, j being an index denoting each measurement step, and t denoting the time, the array of transducers extending along at least one dimension and the incident waves mainly being propagated in a direction of propagation perpendicular to the array of transducers, wherein a maximum number C of differential targets is generated, differing from one measurement step to another, each differential target being a scatterer which is present in the field of observation during a measurement step and absent during an immediately adjacent measurement step, the number C being at most equal to INT(A/(5λ) and wherein said method further comprises the following steps: a differential processing step during which the raw signals Sj(i,t) corresponding to successive measurement steps of index j are compared in order to extract differential signals Vj(i,t) representative of variations between raw signals from the successive measurement steps, an adjustment step during which at least one function y=Pj(x) corresponding to each differential signal Vj(i,t) is determined, where x is a space variable denoting a position perpendicular to the direction of propagation and y is a coordinate denoting the position of a point along the direction of propagation corresponding to a travel time t, and a positioning step during which a crest Aj(x0,y0) of said function Pj is determined, corresponding to the position of the differential target.