Patent ID: 7757557

Claim:
An ultrasonic detection system for scanning objects to be tested, the system comprising: a transmit and receive device to generate a test signal and to receive a responsive echo signal; a transducer that converts the test signal to an ultrasonic signal, applies the ultrasonic signal to a target object to be tested, receives an ultrasonic echo signal and produces the echo signal for the transmit and receive device; a signal processing circuit coupled with the transmit and receive device for receiving and processing the echo signal, the signal processing circuit including at least one analog to digital converter for converting an analog version of the echo signal to a digital echo signal comprising streaming digital data obtained at a first sample rate and associated with a first data rate; and a digital tuner circuit including: a first circuit section which is structured to receive the streaming digital data; a second circuit section coupled with the first circuit section and structured to process the streaming digital data at a second data rate which is slower than the first data rate and further structured to create from the streaming digital data intermediate streaming data having a second sample rate; and a third circuit section responsive to the second circuit section to create final streaming digital data representative of the echo signal and characterized by having a third sample rate which is outputted at a third data rate, wherein the third data rate is higher than the first data rate, the third circuit section being configured to produce the third data rate by interpolating the intermediate streaming data to increase the perceived resolution of the streaming digital data by a predetermined factor.