Patent ID: 6176829
Filing Date: 2001-01-23
Classification: A61B,G01S

Abstract:
An ultrasonic imaging apparatus comprising:a quadrature diffraction grating transducer (QDGT) comprising an array of transducer elements for receiving a series of pulses of energy at a predetermined pulse rate and generating a plurality of beams at different angles corresponding to a plurality of frequencies toward an object to be imaged;a lens coupled to said QDGT for physically separating different angle beams produced by said QDGT and focusing said beams to produce an array of focused points at spatial positions on said object;a receiver for receiving reflected signals from said object having frequencies corresponding to said spatial positions, said receiver comprising a plurality of frequency filters operating in parallel, each filter selectively tuned to a different frequency for simultaneously receiving and separating the frequency components of said reflected signals to produce sample image data sets corresponding to spatial positions at particular time intervals;means for producing rotational motion between a combination of said QDGT and said lens, and said object to enable generation of sample image data sets at other predetermined spatial positions; andmeans for summing said sample image data sets at each of said predetermined spatial positions to produce a three dimensional image of said object.