Patent ID: 8465428

Claim:
An ultrasonic probe system comprising an ultrasonic probe, and plural functional modules each including a connector selectively connectable to said ultrasonic probe and a power supply unit configured to supply electric power to said ultrasonic probe, said ultrasonic probe including: plural ultrasonic transducers configured to transmit ultrasonic waves according to drive signals, and receive ultrasonic echoes to output reception signals; a signal processing unit configured to perform signal processing on the reception signals outputted from said plural ultrasonic transducers to generate a transfer signal; a communication unit configured to be connectable to any one of said plural functional modules, and to transmit the transfer signal generated by said signal processing unit to the connected functional module; a storage unit configured to store types of said plural functional modules and operation setting data according to the types of said plural functional modules in association with each other; and a control unit configured to determine a type of the functional module connected to said communication unit, read out the operation setting data associated with the determined type of the functional module, and control an operation of said ultrasonic probe according to the operation setting data read out from said storage unit.