Patent Document ID: 4319489
Application ID: 06135157
Patent Status: 1

Claim One:
1. In an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus for diagnosing the internal condition of an object medium by projecting an ultrasonic beam thereto from a vibrator array having a plurality of ultrasonic vibrators, the invention comprising: a matrix switching circuit having vertical leadwires connected to each of said plurality of ultrasonic vibrators, delay circuit means having a plurality of individually different delays, horizontal leadwires intersecting said vertical leadwires forming a matrix, said horizontal leadwires being connected to different delays in said delay circuit means, switch control means coupled to said matrix switch circuit for sequentially connecting the intersections of said vertical and horizontal leadwires during leftward inclined and/or rightward inclining linear scanning of said vibrator array, means including said switch control means for scanning said vibrator array in a leftward-inclined linear scan which drives some of the ultrasonic vibrators at individually different times while shifting some of the vibrators sequentially to cause a sequential parallel shift of the ultrasonic beam having an angle of leftward-inclination against said vibratory array, and for scanning said vibrator array in a rightward-inclined linear scan which drives some of the ultrasonic vibrators at individually different times while sequentially shifting some of the vibrators to cause a sequential parallel shift of the ultrasonic beam having an angle of rightward-inclination against said vibrator array, means for scanning said vibrator array in a linear scan which drives some of the ultrasonic vibrators simultaneously with shifting some of the vibrators sequentially to cause a sequential parallel shift of the ultrasonic beam which is substantially perpendicular to said vibrator array, said ultrasonic vibrators which are driven at different times in said leftward-inclined linear scan and said rightward inclined linear scan being alternated between m (m=an integer) and (m+1) vibrators for finely shifting said ultrasonic beams, and means for combining the images obtained through two or more scans of said object medium to form a composite image thereof.