Patent ID: 8834375
Filing Date: 2014-09-16
Classification: A61B,G01S,G10K

Abstract:
1. An ultrasound probe, comprising: a plurality of ultrasound transducers configured to transmit ultrasound waves at a predetermined cycle and receive ultrasound echoes from inside of a subject; a plurality of delay circuits configured to receive reception signals from each of the ultrasound transducers and apply a delay processing to each of the reception signals; an adder circuit configured to add and output the reception signals to which the delay processing is performed for each predetermined group of a plurality of groups, wherein the ultrasound probe is configured to control a reception aperture of the ultrasound waves; and a gate circuit configured to switch connection and disconnection of signal paths for each signal path arranged between an ultrasound transducer of the plurality of ultrasound transducers and the adder circuit, and connect only the signal path from the ultrasound transducer corresponding to an initial reception aperture that is previously set after transmitting the ultrasound waves within the cycle of the ultrasound waves, and sequentially connect corresponding signal paths from ultrasound transducers outside the initial reception aperture according to a lapse in time of a reception period.