Object information acquisition apparatus, object information acquisition method, and non-transitory computer-readable medium

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9709675-B2
Application number	US-201414253707-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 15, 2014
Priority date	Apr 18, 2013
Publication date	Jul 18, 2017
Grant date	Jul 18, 2017

Abstract

An object information acquisition apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a plurality of transducer elements each configured to transmit an acoustic wave to an object, to receive reflected waves reflected from inside the object, and to convert the reflected waves into a time-series reception signal; and a processor configured to perform frequency domain interferometry combined with adaptive signal processing by using the reception signals output from the plurality of transducer elements and a reference signal so as to obtain acoustic characteristics at a plurality of positions located inside the object. The processor is configured to switch the reference signal to another reference signal at least once in accordance with a target position located inside the object while performing the frequency domain interferometry so as to obtain the acoustic characteristics at the plurality of positions located inside the object.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An object information acquisition apparatus comprising:
a plurality of transducer elements each configured to transmit an acoustic wave to an object, to receive reflected waves reflected from inside the object, and to convert the reflected waves into a reception signal; and
a processor configured to perform frequency domain interferometry combined with adaptive signal processing by using the reception signals output from the plurality of transducer elements and reference signal so as to obtain acoustic characteristics at a plurality of positions located inside the object, wherein
the processor is configured to apply different reference signals in accordance with a target position located inside the object while performing the frequency domain interferometry so as to obtain the acoustic characteristics at the plurality of positions located inside the object,
wherein different reference signals are used in obtaining a power intensity distribution for a first region within an image region and having a first depth range, a power intensity distribution for a second region within the image region and having a second depth range larger than the first depth range, and a power intensity distribution for a third region within the image region and having a third depth range larger than the second depth range.

2. The object information acquisition apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the processor is configured to switch the reference signal to another reference signal at least once in accordance with a depth inside the object while performing the frequency domain interferometry.

3. The object information acquisition apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the processor is configured to switch the reference signal to another reference signal at least once in accordance with a transmission direction of the acoustic waves while performing the frequency domain interferometry.

4. The object information acquisition apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein
the processor is configured to perform the frequency domain interferometry by using a first reference signal in a case of obtaining acoustic characteristics in a first region located inside the object, and
the processor is configured to switch the first reference signal to a second reference signal different from the first reference signal and to perform the frequency domain interferometry by using the second reference signal in a case of obtaining acoustic characteristics in a second region located at a different position from the first region inside the object.

5. The object information acquisition apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the processor is configured to store therein a plurality of reference signals having different waveforms for positions in a depth direction of the object.

6. The object information acquisition apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the processor is configured to store therein a plurality of reference signals having different waveforms for transmission directions of the acoustic waves.

7. The object information acquisition apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein there are overlapping portions comprising:
a first overlapping portion between the first region and the second region; and
a second overlapping portion between the second region and the third region.

8. The object information acquisition apparatus according to claim 7 , wherein:
a power intensity distribution of the first overlapping portion is a combination of the power intensity distribution for the first region and the power intensity distribution for the second region; and
a power intensity distribution of the second overlapping portion is a combination of the power intensity distribution for the second region and the power intensity distribution for the third region.

9. An object information acquisition apparatus comprising:
a plurality of transducer elements each configured to transmit an acoustic wave to an object, to receive reflected waves reflected from inside the object, and to convert the reflected waves into a reception signal; and
a processor configured to perform frequency domain interferometry combined with adaptive signal processing by using the reception signals output from the plurality of transducer elements and reference signal so as to obtain acoustic characteristics at a plurality of positions located inside the object, wherein
the processor is configured to apply different reference signals in accordance with a time taken to receive each of the reflected waves while performing the frequency domain interferometry so as to obtain the acoustic characteristics at the plurality of positions located inside the object
wherein different reference signals are used in obtaining a power intensity distribution for a first region within an image region and having a first depth range, a power intensity distribution for a second region within the image region and having a second depth range larger than the first depth range, and a power intensity distribution for a third region within the image region and having a third depth range larger than the second depth range.

10. An object information acquisition apparatus comprising:
a plurality of transducer elements each configured to transmit an acoustic wave to an object, to receive reflected waves reflected from inside the object, and to convert the reflected waves into a reception signal; and
a processor configured to perform frequency domain interferometry combined with adaptive signal processing by using the reception signals output from the plurality of transducer elements and reference signal so as to obtain acoustic characteristics at a plurality of positions located inside the object, wherein
the processor is configured to apply different reference signals in accordance with a transmission direction of the acoustic waves while performing the frequency domain interferometry so as to obtain the acoustic characteristics at the plurality of positions located inside the object,
wherein different reference signals are used in obtaining a power intensity distribution for a first region within an image region and having a first depth range, a power intensity distribution for a second region within the image region and having a second depth range larger than the first depth range, and a power intensity distribution for a third region within the image region and having a third depth range larger than the second depth range.

11. An object information acquisition method for obtaining acoustic characteristics at a plurality of positions located inside an object by using a plurality of reception signals output from a plurality of transducer elements each configured to receive reflected waves reflected from inside the object, the object information acquisition method comprising:
performing frequency domain interferometry combined with adaptive signal processing, by using the plurality of reception signals output from the plurality of transducer elements and a-reference signal; and
applying different reference signals in accordance with a target position located inside the object,
wherein different reference signals are used in obtaining a power intensity distribution for a first region within an image region and having a first depth range, a power intensity distribution for a second region within the image region and having a second depth range larger than the first depth range, and a power intensity distribution for a third region within the image region and having a third depth range larger than the second depth range.

12. The object information acquisition method according to claim 11 , wherein in the step of switching the reference signal, the reference

Assignees

• Canon Kk

Inventors

• Taki Hirofumi
• Nagae Kenichi
• Sato Toru

Classifications

• G01S7/52

  of systems according to group G01S15/00 · CPC title

• A61B8/4483

  characterised by features of the ultrasound transducer · CPC title

• A61B8/14

  Echo-tomography · CPC title

• G01S7/52047

  for elimination of side lobes or of grating lobes; for increasing resolving power · CPC title

• G01S15/8918

  the array being linear · CPC title