Patent ID: 7497828
Filing Date: 2009-03-03
Classification: A61B,Y10S

Abstract:
1. A medical method comprising: providing a carrier holding a multiplicity of electromechanical transducers defining respective data gathering apertures; placing said carrier and a patient adjacent to one another so that said transducers are disposed in effective pressure-wave-transmitting contact with the patient; supplying a first plurality of said transducers with electrical signals of at least one pre-established ultrasonic frequency to produce first pressure waves in the patient; receiving, via a second plurality of said transducers, second pressure waves produced at internal tissue structures of the patient in response to said first pressure waves; and performing electronic 3D volumetric data acquisition and imaging of said internal tissue structures by analyzing signals generated by said second plurality of said transducers in response to said second pressure waves, the analyzing of signals generated by said second plurality of said transducers including coherently combining structural data from the respective data-gathering apertures, said carrier including a plurality of rigid substrates containing said data-gathering apertures, the coherently combining of structural data from the respective data-gathering apertures including determining relative positions and orientations of said substrates relative to one another, the determining of relative positions and orientations of said substrates including executing computations according to a self-cohering algorithm.