Patent Document ID: 4870623
Application ID: 06508123
Patent Status: 1

Claim One:
1. An acoustic sensing system that comprises: means for transmitting in a gas medium continuous acoustic wave energy at a single frequency which interacts with an object in a sensing region, which acoustic wave energy is reflected by the object; means for detecting the reflected acoustic wave energy with a multiplicity of acoustic receivers that are operable to provide electrical signals representative of the reflected acoustic wave energy; means for processing the electrical signals from said multiplicity of acoustic receivers to obtain at least one of amplitude information and phase information for each of said multiplicity of acoustic receivers; and means for combining said at least one of amplitude information and said phase information from each of said multiplicity of receivers to obtain a single combined signal that represents a geometric parameter that includes at least one of shape, position and orientation information of said object; the means for transmitting being adapted to focus the acoustic wave energy with respect to predominantly one portion of the object to give a strong acoustic reflected signal from said one portion, said single combined signal being a measure of the acoustic wave energy emanating from said one portion.