Patent ID: 9532770
Date: 2017-01-03
CPC Classifications: A61B,G01S

Claim:
1. An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, comprising: a driving circuit configured to drive an ultrasonic transducer to transmit an ultrasonic wave to a subject, wherein the driving circuit is configured to transmit (a) a first ultrasonic transmission with a first period during which the ultrasonic wave has a first sound output, and (b) a second ultrasonic transmission with a second period during which the ultrasonic wave has a second sound output lower than the first sound output, and configured to stop ultrasonic transmission during a non-driving period between the first period and the second period; a receiving circuit configured to generate a reception signal from received ultrasonic waves; a nonlinear component extracting circuit configured to extract a nonlinear component from the reception signal corresponding to the first ultrasonic transmission; and processing circuitry configured to generate first image data based on the nonlinear component; generate second image data from a reception signal corresponding to the second ultrasonic transmission; calculate the non-driving period using at least the first sound output and the first period; and control the drive circuit to perform the first ultrasonic transmission during the first period, stop the ultrasonic transmission during the calculated non-driving period between the first period and the second period, and perform the second ultrasonic transmission during the second period after the calculated non-driving period.