Abstract: A connector is provided for preventing damage to contacts between components of an electrical system which is particularly useful when electrical energy is stored in at least one of the components. The connector includes a mechanically operated latching member for activating and deactivating an electrical interface between the components. In one embodiment, a sensor determines when the connector is being disconnected from one of the components and provides a signal used by one of the components for disabling a power source providing the energy. In another embodiment, the sensor derived disconnect signal controls dissipating the stored energy away from the contacts between the components before the contacts are physically disengaged.

Abstract: This invention measures the total line current in a power cord which is used to energize both a power factor corrected system and non-power factor corrected AC loads. The power factor control loop of the power factor corrected system is then driven to correct the power factor of total line current in the power cord ideally to approach unity.

Abstract: A display processor for an ultrasonic imaging system includes a two-dimensional filter to generate a smoothed image signal I.sub.p from a high spatial resolution image signal I.sub.D. I.sub.p is optimized for high contrast resolution and good tissue differentiation, and I.sub.D is optimized for high detail resolution and the display of fine structural details. I.sub.p and I.sub.D are applied as addressing inputs to a look-up table that provides an output image signal I.sub.O that combines both detail resolution of I.sub.D and contrast resolution of I.sub.p. I.sub.O can display detail resolution as brightness and contrast resolution as color. I.sub.O can also be formed as a weighted combination or sum of I.sub.p and I.sub.D.

Abstract: A drive system with a rotary stop for driving a rotatable load is provided having a motor, a rotary stop and a spring stop assembly for coupling the motor to the rotary stop. The spring stop assembly has a motor-driven gear coupled to a hub by a torsional spring. A position encoder may be attached to the motor. In addition, a drive shaft may be coupled to the motor and the multiturn rotary stop through the spring stop assembly.

Abstract: According to the present invention, an ultrasonic probe for use with a remote ultrasonic imaging system is provided, having a multielement transducer with an upper surface and a lower surface. An ultrasonically attenuative backing material adjoins the lower surface of the multielement transducer. The attenuative backing material is disposed within a container. A circular track is mounted to the container, and a flexible assembly and a carrier band are attached to the container. The carrier band may be operable to rotate the multielement transducer about an axis defined by the circular track. Alternatively, the circular track may be operable to rotate the multielement transducer. Additionally, a method of forming near real-time images of an object in a plane that is oblique to the axis of rotation of the multielement transducer is provided.

Abstract: There is provided a transducer array with a plurality of piezoelectric elements having a minimum and maximum thickness. In one embodiment, the maximum thickness is less than or equal to 140 percent of the minimum thickness. In an alternate embodiment, the maximum thickness is greater than 140 percent of the minimum thickness and the transducer array is capable of simulating the excitation of a wider aperture two-dimensional transducer array. One or more matching layers may be used to further increase bandwidth performance. In addition, a two crystal transducer element as well as a composite transducer structure may be formed using the principles of this invention.

Abstract: There is provided a transducer array with a plurality of piezoelectric elements having a minimum and maximum thickness. In one embodiment, the maximum thickness is less than or equal to 140 percent of the minimum thickness. In an alternate embodiment, the maximum thickness is greater than 140 percent of the minimum thickness and the transducer array is capable of simulating the excitation of a wider aperture two-dimensional transducer array. One or more matching layers may be used to further increase bandwidth performance. In addition, a two crystal transducer element as well as a composite transducer structure may be formed using the principles of this invention.

Abstract: A transducer has tapered piezoelectric layer sides in order to reduce the sidelobe levels. In addition, matching layers disposed on the piezoelectric layer may similarly be tapered to further increase performance. Alternative to tapering the piezoelectric layer, the top electrode and/or the matching layers may be reduced in size relative to the piezoelectric layer such that they generate a wave which destructively interferes with the undesirable lateral wave. There are also described methods for manufacturing a reduced sidelobe transducer.

Abstract: Methods and apparatus for enhancing the clarity of and the diagnostic information in real-time B-mode and M-mode ultrasound displays including a beamformer for acquiring ultrasound receive signals for each ultrasound scan line of a two-dimensional image and processing the receive signals for each ultrasound scan line into detected and filtered video signals for storage in scan line acquisition memory with programmable dynamically variable non-linear filters for processing the video signals with continuously and automatically varying filter responses over a range of low and high pass responses followed by scan converting and display of the non-linearly processed video signals. The non-linear filters may process video signals in range along each ultrasound scan line or azimuthally along multiple ultrasound scan lines of a two-dimensional B-mode image.

Abstract: This invention provides an improved endoscope having control wires for articulating a set of rings and directing a probe which further provides an overload protection device interconnecting the control wires to an operating member. The overload protection device provides a controlled resiliency to inhibit the application of excess tension to the control wires but provides sufficient force to manipulate the probe.

Abstract: An ultrasound transducer comprising an array of individual piezoelectric transducer elements mounted upon an improved backing comprising rigid polymeric or polymer-coated particles fused into a macroscopically rigid structure having remnant tortuous permeability to provide high acoustic attenuation and to permit fluid passage into the backing structure during fabrication.

Abstract: An ultrasound tissue imaging system having an acoustic transducer, B-mode imaging means to produce with said transducer an electronically scanned B-mode image of tissue under examination, Doppler imaging means that accepts and processes large amplitude, low frequency signals to produce with said transducer an electronically scanned acoustic image of moving tissue, and color display means for displaying the B-mode image as a two-dimensional image with echo intensities encoded using a first mapping function and for simultaneously displaying Doppler information from moving tissue as a two-dimensional image using a second and distinct mapping function that is spatially coordinated with and superimposed upon said B-mode image to augment the B-mode image.

Abstract: An acoustic scanning method and apparatus implemented by transmitting ultrasonic pressure waves and receiving return echoes on a set of spatially non-overlapping acoustic lines scanned along a transducer array with the active acoustic lines shifted and steered so that each acoustic line originates at an arbitrary point on and at an arbitrary angle to the face of the array. In a preferred embodiment, an extension of each acoustic line may also pass through a substantially common vertex that is not on the face of the transducer array, but preferably behind it a selectable distance to provide an extended field of view. The extended field-of-view is defined by the selectively variable location of the common vertex of the acoustic lines and the physical ends of the array, may use the entire transducer array in the near-field, has high quality resolution in both near and far fields, and may simultaneously transmit and receive two or more ultrasound beams from the same transducer aperture.

Abstract: A method is described for making a piezoelectric composite for building an acoustic transducer from two or more pieces of piezoelectric material. Each piece of material is cut to form slots or trenches having a uniform pitch spacing and material portions of uniform width such that the material portions of one piece may be received within the slots or trenches of the other. The pieces are then interdigitated and joined to make the piezoelectric composite.

Abstract: An acoustic scanning method and apparatus implemented by transmitting ultrasonic pressure waves and receiving return echoes on a set of spatially non-overlapping acoustic lines scanned along a curved linear transducer array with the active acoustic lines shifted and steered so that each acoustic line originates at an arbitrary point on and at an arbitrary angle to the face of the array. In a preferred embodiment, an extension of each acoustic line may also pass through a substantially common vertex that is a selectable distance behind the array to provide a field-of-view defined by the selectively variable location of the common vertex and the physical ends of the array, may use the entire transducer array in the near-field, has high quality resolution in both near and far fields, and may simultaneously transmit and receive two or more ultrasound beams from the same transducer aperture.

Abstract: A dual mode color Doppler imaging system using a linear array of transducer elements generates and transmits into an organism, such as the human body, an acoustic imaging beam optimized for B-mode imaging and a separate acoustic Doppler beam which is steered at preselected angles relative to the imaging beam and is optimized for Doppler data acquisition. Acoustic imaging echos are acquired and displayed as a B-mode gray-scale image. Doppler data are acquired from multiple sample volumes along the direction of each Doppler beam. The Doppler information acquired along multiple lines is displayed as a color-encoded image that is spatially coordinated with, superimposed upon and simultaneously displayed with, the B-mode gray-scale image.

Abstract: An acoustic scanning method and apparatus implemented by transmitting ultrasonic pressure waves and receiving return echoes on a set of spatially non-overlapping acoustic lines scanned along a transducer array with the active acoustic lines shifted and steered so that each acoustic line originates at an arbitrary point on and at an arbitrary angle to the face of the array. In a preferred embodiment, an extension of each acoustic line may also pass through a substantially common vertex that is not on the face of the transducer array, but preferably behind it a selectable distance to provide an extended field of view. The extended field-of-view is defined by the selectively variable location of the common vertex of the acoustic lines and the physical ends of the array, may use the entire transducer array in the near-field, has high quality resolution in both near and far fields, and may simultaneously transmit and receive two or more ultrasound beams from the same transducer aperture.

Abstract: A biopsy needle guide for assembly with an ultrasound imaging transducer including a transducer nosepiece and a needle guide having at least one set of alignment means and a spring means for securing the needle guide to the transducer nosepiece while simultaneously stretching and holding a sterile cover over the face of the transducer.

Abstract: A dual mode color Doppler imaging system using a linear array of transducer elements generates and transmits into an organism, such as the human body, an acoustic imaging beam optimized for B-mode imaging and a separate acoustic Doppler beam which is steered at preselected angles relative to the imaging beam and is optimized for Doppler data acquisition. Acoustic imaging echoes are acquired and displayed as a B-mode gray-scale image. Doppler data are acquired from multiple sample volumes along the direction of each Doppler beam. The Doppler information acquired along multiple lines is displayed as a color-encoded image that is spatially coordinated with, superimposed upon and simultaneously displayed with, the B-mode gray-scale image.

Abstract: An acoustic imaging system having an array of N transducers arranged for transducing transmit electrical signals into acoustic pulses and for transducing acoustic pulse echos into electrical receive signals has a transducer multiplexer that connects in substantially cyclic order any one of a selected group of M adjacent transducer elements to one of a plurality of substantially identical transmit or receive channels. Each channel includes phase changing means for dynamic focusing, such as a mixer driven by one of a plurality of individually phased clocks. A control demultiplier orders connection of an appropriate one of the differently phased clocks to the mixer of each channel in an order precisely corresponding to the cyclic ordering of the transducer connections by the transducer multiplexer as groups of M adjacent transducer elements are selected to form acoustic scan lines stepped across the entire array.