Patent ID: 9202124
Filing Date: 2015-12-01
Classification: A61B,G06K,G10K

Abstract:
1. An object information acquiring apparatus, comprising: a light source; an acoustic wave detector having an array of elements, each element configured to generate an acoustic signal based on a received photoacoustic wave induced by irradiation of an object with light from said light source; a reconstructor configured to generate image data for a point of interest of the object from acoustic signals, from elements symmetrically positioned with respect to each other relative to a point within an area of said array, while omitting from generation of the image data an acoustic signal from an element that lies within said area but that has no symmetrically-positioned element within said area, said point in said area being a point within said array where a line perpendicular to the array and extending from said point of interest intersects said array; and a position controller configured to move the position of said acoustic wave detector, wherein said reconstructor is further configured to generate the image data for the point of interest using acoustic signals from elements in a virtual reception area comprising elements of said acoustic wave detector at different positions, and wherein said reconstructor is further configured to generate the image data using acoustic signals from symmetrically positioned elements within said virtual reception area with respect to a point where a line perpendicular to said array and extending from said point of interest intersects said virtual reception area, and wherein said position controller is configured to move said acoustic wave detector in such a manner that a part of said array at a position to which said acoustic wave detector is moved overlaps with a part of said array at another position of said acoustic wave detector, and in a case where an element used for generation of the image data for the point of interest is included in an overlapping portion of said array, an average of acoustic signals based on the photoacoustic waves detected by the elements at said overlapping portion is determined as an acoustic signal of said element used for generating the image data for the point of interest.