Patent ID: 7029445
Filing Date: 2006-04-18
Classification: A61B,B06B,G01S,G10K

Abstract:
1. An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus comprising a probe having two-dimensional array of transducer elements for transmitting and receiving ultrasonic waves to an object to be examined, in which a circular pattern of transducer elements is formed for transmitting and receiving an ultrasound signal by bundling the transducer elements of said two-dimensional array electronically to compose a multi-ring arrangement of transducer elements in concentric rings, and an ultrasound beam is transmitted and received with application of a delay time between each ring of said multi-ring arrangement, wherein said ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus further comprises means for transmitting and receiving an ultrasonic beam that has been corrected using said multi-ring arrangement by measuring a focusing error due to the presence of a sound speed non-uniformity interior of said object and modifying at least one of the manner of bundling of said multi-ring arrangement or the delay time based on the measuring error, and means for imaging the object with an echo signal formed of the corrected ultrasonic beam, wherein the multi-ring arrangement of transducer elements formed by bundling transducer elements of the two-dimensional array in said probe in concentric rings is divided into a plural number of sections in a radial shape from the center to the outside of the circular pattern, and a focusing error due to the presence of a sound speed non-uniformity part in the object is measured between each section of the divided circular pattern or each section of the concentric rings, and the ultrasonic beam is corrected by feeding back a measured value to delay circuits in said transmitting and receiving means.