Patent ID: 8454517
Filing Date: 2013-06-04
Classification: A61B,G01S

Abstract:
1. An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus comprising: an ultrasonic transmitter unit configured to transmit an ultrasonic wave varied in at least one of phase and amplitude to an object; an ultrasonic receiving unit configured to receive ultrasonic echoes generated by transmitting the ultrasonic wave; an extracting unit configured to extract a first nonlinear signal obtained through modulating the amplitude of the ultrasonic wave and a second nonlinear signal obtained through modulating the phase of the ultrasonic wave from common ultrasonic echoes on a same scanning line; a filter unit configured to execute either a filter process or a process equivalent to the filter process either to the first nonlinear signal and the second nonlinear signal or to the first nonlinear signal processed by a designated process and the second nonlinear signal processed by the designated process with at least two different sets of a middle frequency and a width of a band to extract a second higher harmonic component and a fundamental component; and an adder unit configured to perform weighted addition to the first nonlinear signal and the second nonlinear signal for imaging by (a) changing a first weight value and a second weight value depending on a depth of the object, (b) multiplying the first nonlinear signal by the first weight value to generate a first weighted nonlinear signal, (c) multiplying the second nonlinear signal by the second weight value to generate a second weighted nonlinear signal, and (d) then adding together the first weighted nonlinear signal and the second weighted nonlinear signal; wherein the adder unit further configured to perform the weighted addition by assigning a larger weight coefficient for multiplying the second nonlinear signal than a weight coefficient for multiplying the first nonlinear signal when a target part in the object is relatively shallow, and by assigning a larger weight coefficient for multiplying the first nonlinear signal than a weight coefficient for multiplying the second nonlinear signal when the target part in the object is relatively deep.