Patent ID: 6905466

Claim:
A method of cooling an imaging ultrasonic transducer in an imaging ultrasonic transducer system, wherein a patient-contacting surface of said imagine ultrasonic transducer is pressed externally against the skin of a patient in order to generate an image, comprising the steps of: determining a temperature of the imaging ultrasonic transducer; and implementing a parameter change in at least one mutable system parameter of the imaging ultrasonic transducer based on the determined temperature, wherein an amount of change in the at least one mutable system parameter is based on an amount of temperature variation from a predetermined operating temperature value; wherein said parameter change will cause a reduction, if necessary, in the temperature of the patient-contacting surface of the imaging ultrasonic transducer to prevent at least one of pain to the patient and damage to the skin of the patient caused by the temperature of the patient-contacting surface.