Patent ID: 9247923
Filing Date: 2016-02-02
CPC Classification: A61B

Claim Text:
1. A received data processing apparatus, comprising: a plurality of conversion units that each perform digitization to digitize signals output from a plurality of acoustic wave detectors that receive acoustic waves generated in a specimen by absorption of light; a plurality of first storage units each of which stores digital signals output from a respective one of said plurality of conversion units, only one of said first storage units receiving and storing digital signals from a given one of said conversion units; a data composition unit that reads digital signals derived from the acoustic waves that originated from a target position in the specimen from said plurality of first storage units, reading from each of said first storage units the digital signal stored therein from said respective one of said conversion units, and adds digital signals read from said plurality of first storage units to compose data of the target position, and an image construction unit that constructs an image based on the composed data of the target position, wherein each of said plurality of first storage units stores at least the digital signals derived from acoustic waves generated by a single pulse of light, and wherein said data composition unit composes photoacoustic tomography data of a plurality of target positions distributed in a three-dimensional region of the specimen by repetitively, for each pixel or voxel, reading digital signals for the single pulse of light stored in each of said plurality of first storage units, based on travel times that are required for acoustic waves from each of the plurality of target positions to reach the detectors.