Patent ID: 8540637

Claim:
A subject information acquisition apparatus comprising: a subject holding member configured to hold a subject; a probe having a plurality of transformation elements that receive an acoustic wave emitted from the subject through the subject holding member and that convert the acoustic wave into electric signals; and a processing section configured to acquire image information using the electric signals, wherein the processing section determines weights for the electric signals or virtual wavefronts corresponding to the electric signals to be added to one another, the weights being determined at least using a thickness of the subject holding member, a sound velocity of a sound propagating through the subject, a sound velocity of a sound propagating through the subject holding member, and arrival times of the acoustic wave from an acoustic-wave generating source in the subject, each of the electric signals or each of the virtual wavefronts being obtained by a corresponding one of the plurality of transformation elements, and wherein the processing section adds the weighted electric signals or the weighted virtual wavefronts to one another, thereby acquiring the image information.