Abstract: An ultrasonic irradiation apparatus irradiates ultrasonic waves onto a wide area having three-dimensionally curved surfaces. An ultrasonic irradiator having a plurality of ultrasonic transducer is arranged in a plane. The position of at least a portion of the ultrasonic transducers is mutually and flexibly changeable in three dimensions. Ultrasonic transducers are installed on a surface of a flexible and/or elastic sheet member or net member. The ultrasonic irradiator may include a plurality of ultrasonic transducers formed on a flexible piezoelectric sheet member, including driving electrodes arranged on one surface and opposed electrodes arranged on another surface. The ultrasonic irradiator may be installed on or inside of a flexible planar bag containing a fluidic ultrasonic conductive medium. A mechanism is provided for moving or tilting the ultrasonic irradiator with respect to the object, or a band-holding member may be provided for fitting the irradiator to the object.

Abstract: This invention relates to two methods treating such disease as AIDS. The first method includes administering the Trigger Factor such as TNF, which is defined as substance stimulating infected cells to increase HIV replication and hence subjecting the infected cells to death or the programmed death (apoptosis), further administering new-infection suppressor such as AZT and preferably inducer to migrate infected cells (lymphocytes) to the blood system from the lymphatic system, and then continuing extinction of the replicated HIVs by extracorporeal blood processing until all the infected cells die. The second method includes administering electroconductive and/or magnetic microparticles on the surface whereon of which such infectiously adhesive substance to HIVs and infected cells as CD4 is coated, and killing HIVs/infected cells adhered to the microparticles by heating the microparticles with electromagnetic field (wave) applied externally to the patient.

Abstract: An ultrasonic irradiation apparatus is presented which is capable of easily irradiating, with ultrasonic waves, a wide area (range) of an object having three-dimensionally curved surfaces. The apparatus includes an ultrasonic irradiator having a plurality of ultrasonic transducers arranged in planar manner, wherein the position of at least a portion of the ultrasonic transducers is arranged to be mutually and flexibly changeable in three dimensions. The ultrasonic irradiator includes a plurality of ultrasonic transducers installed on a surface of a sheet member being flexible and/or elastic or on a net member being flexible and/or elastic. The ultrasonic irradiator further includes a plurality of ultrasonic transducers composed of a flexible piezoelectric sheet member, wherein driving electrodes are arranged on one surface and opposed electrodes are arranged on another surface facing each other.

Abstract: This invention discloses an equipment for lipolysis of fat of a living body by ultrasound sonication. An effective ultrasound is characterized in low frequency 15-140 kHz region, by an intensity when in a range of 15-50 kHz, which is greater than 10 mw/cm2and below a hemolysis limit, and an intensity when in a range of 50-140 kHz, which is greater than 4 mW/cm2 and below the hemolysis limit or the safety level defined by MI. The invention is further characterized in a high frequency 180-1.3 MHz region, by an intensity when in a range of 180-700 kHz, which is greater than 10 mw/cm2 and below the safety level defined by M.I, and the intensity when in a range of 700 kHz-1.3 MHz, which is greater than 800 mw/cm2and below the safety level defined by MI.

Abstract: An electric cleaner head including a first bank of a plurality of spaced apart nozzles each including an interior passage having a narrower width than length slit. Sources of air flow including at least one suction source are connected to spaces between the subnozzles to generate air flow around a lowest edge of the subnozzles between the subnozzles and spaces between the subnozzles wherein the interior passages of the subnozzles are isolated from the suction source.

Abstract: In a recirculating type cleaner a dust collecting head having a dust collecting port in the bottom thereof is provided, and a nozzle is provided in the dust collecting head. At least a fraction of the after-flow air of a fan is passed through a recirculating tube to the nozzle from which air jet is issued. A contact member is provided in the dust collecting head for contacting carpet piles being cleaned within a portion of the region of the dust collecting port to bend the piles down in the sweeping direction when the cleaner is moved in its sweeping stroke, whereby a gorge is opened in the piles. The nozzle is oriented such that the air jet issued through the nozzle is directed to the bottom of the gorge. Pile bend inverting member is also provided to create the gorge positively by mechanical pushing of the piles just behind the gorge to the reverse direction of the cleaning stroke.

Abstract: In a recirculating type cleaner, a jet nozzle is provided within a dust collecting head formed in the bottom face of the housing, the after-flow air from the suction fan is supplied through a recirculating tube to the jet nozzle. In the after-flow of the fan is provided a branch valve which is controlled by a controller to set the air recircuration ratio at a desired value suitable for any cleaning mode.

Abstract: A recirculating type cleaner having a dust collecting port including a suction port and an outlet in which downstream flow of a fan is recirculated, discharged through said outlet, and drawn into said suction port. Said dust collecting port means has an outer peripheral wall defining an outer boundary of said suction port. The outlet is located within the region of the suction port and has an orifice or opening so constricted as to discharge the downstream flow in the form of a jet and so oriented as to discharge the jet at an angle in the range of 90.degree..+-.30.degree. relative to a surface to be cleaned. The end surface of the boundary wall between the outlet and the suction port and/or the flange or a outer peripheral wall are formed with a plurality of minute channels.

Abstract: An auxiliary recording medium for recording an incoming message is provided in addition to a main recording medium conventionally provided. Thus, an incoming message is first recorded into the auxiliary recording medium and is then recorded into the main recording medium. At the time of playback, the incoming message which has been recorded into the auxiliary recording medium is first played, and the main recording medium simultaneously rewound. Then, the incoming message recorded on the main recording medium is played.

Abstract: A method and device to display in real time a stream line of an inhomogeneous flowing medium such as blood flow in a heart, is disclosed. The object is scanned several times by ultrasonic beam pulses. Echoes appearing within a predetermined time interval at each point of the object are combined to produce an image of speckles formed by the flow. The process is repeated several times, to obtain the motion of the speckles. Differences between the images of spatially correlated speckles obtained within the time interval, produce the segments of the stream lines. Differences between successive frames or successive lines can be used to produce the speckle and several methods of scanning are disclosed to produce the differences between the images to produce the stream lines.

Abstract: A blood flow measuring apparatus provides a two-dimensional blood stream flow velocity distribution diagram which displays a two-dimensional blood stream flow velocity distribution in a region of a living body to be examined and a one-dimensional blood stream flow velocity distribution diagram which displays a one-dimensional blood stream flow velocity distribution in a linear region specified by a line on the examined region with a measuring condition different from the measurement of the two-dimensional blood stream flow velocity distribution. In the present invention, the two-dimensional blood stream flow velocity diagram and the one-dimensional blood stream flow velocity diagram are simultaneously displayed in such a manner that the corresponding portions can be clearly read, and thus the blood stream flow velocity in each portion can be correctly and easily determined.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a signal processing apparatus for quantitatively measuring ultrasonic characteristics of a medium, such as a human body and realizes the high speed quantitative measurement by processing all signals in the time domain. In the processing for eliminating an error, produced by a degree of convergence of the ultrasonic beam, a correcting function that is a function of the depth and frequency is employed. The correcting function is measured in a no-attenuation medium and converted into a form suited to the time domain processing. The function is stored and such frequency characteristics of the function are sequentially read during an actual medium measurement to control the characteristic of a variable characteristic filter to correct the received signal.

Abstract: An apparatus for measuring acoustic characteristic values of a medium by sending ultrasound pulses into the medium and analyzing the reflected waves from the medium. Medium characteristic values are extracted from the reflected waves, and spectrum scalloping is eliminated. The present invention executes the nonlinear filtering process, for example, the median filtering process to the spectrums, applies a model spectrum to the filtered result and thereby facilitates measurement of supressing fluctuation even when a small number of space average samples one used, by obtaining .beta. from such model spectrum.

Abstract: A diagnosis apparatus for discriminating a property of the tissue to be observed from the reflected ultrasonic wave uses the nature of the fine structure of the tissue, and more practically uses the interval of small reflecting bodies dispersely distributed in the tissue as the parameters. The intervals flucatuate. Therefore, an average value and/or a degree of fluctuation is calculated and is displayed. For obtaining the average interval, a method of using the cepstrum of the received signal or a method of using the self-correlation of the received signal can be used.

Abstract: The present invention relates to an apparatus which determines the distribution of the attenuation slope coefficient on a real-time basis using the center frequency shift. In one embodiment, the phase difference between a received signal and a reference signal is determined using EXCLUSIVE OR gates or an inverse trigonometric relation stored in a ROM. The phase difference is input to a differentiator which outputs the center frequency shift of the received signal on a real-time basis. The center frequency shift is input to another differentiator which outputs the attenuation slope coefficient. In other embodiments, the received signal is distributed into received signal bands, having different center frequencies, and signal characteristics of the received signal bands are averaged to remove virtually all effects of spectrum scalloping in the time domain. Thus, the attenuation slope coefficient is obtained without the effects of spectrum scalloping using simple hardware and without Fourier transformation.

Abstract: This invention relates to a system for measuring the non-linear parameter B/A of an ultrasonic medium such as a living tissue, namely the value which indicates a rate of change of the sound velocity with change of pressure, utilizing reflected ultrasonic waves. In this invention, a measuring burst pulse, having a comparatively high frequency, and a pumping pulse, having a comparatively low frequency and a high sound pressure, for giving a change of pressure are transmitted in the same direction while they are superposed, the phase of the reflected waves from each region of the ultrasonic medium is detected as a function of time, and it is then differentiated. Thereby, the distribution of B/A along the transmitting direction of said pulses can be obtained.

Abstract: An ultrasonic sector-scan probe comprises at least an array having a plurality of ultrasonic transducer segments, a window for transmitting and receiving ultrasonic waves and an ultrasonic wave propagation medium filled in a front space between the array and the window. A group of the ultrasonic transducer segments are selectively driven as an aperture and ultrasonic waves emitted therefrom are converged into a beam for transmission and reception. By partly or entirely changing the segments in the group with the ones outside the group the scan line is shifted to a new angle, and a member under test contacted with the window on the outside thereof is sector-scanned by the ultrasonic beam. The array is arranged so that scanning lines of the groups intersect at one point in the window or in its vicinity for sector scan.

Abstract: A method for ultrasonic living body tissue characterization using a transducer and processor. The method includes the steps of transmitting an ultrasonic pulse into the tissue and receiving a reflected pulse, calculating the normalized power frequency spectrum of the reflected pulse, determining the frequency at which the maximum value for the power spectrum occurs, determining the high and low half power frequencies, calculating the upper and lower frequency ratios of the maximum value frequency and the half power frequencies, and determining the power exponent of the frequency of the reflection coefficient. The frequency exponent of the reflection coefficient is used to calculate the attenuation slope of the ultrasonic wave. The attenuation slope or the reflection power exponent is used to generate a tomographic image of the living tissue characteristics for visual non-invasive tissue diagnosis.

Abstract: An ultrasonic sector-scan probe comprises at least an array having a plurality of ultrasonic transducer segments, a window for transmitting and receiving ultrasonic waves and an ultrasonic wave propagation medium filled in a front space between the array and the window. A group of the ultrasonic transducer segments are selectively driven as an aperture and ultrasonic waves emitted therefrom are converged into a beam for transmission and reception. By partly or entirely changing the segments in the group with the ones outside the group the scan line is shifted to a new angle, and a member under test contacted with the window on the outside thereof is sector-scanned by the ultrasonic beam. The array is arranged so that scanning lines of the groups intersect at one point in the window or in its vicinity for sector scan.

Abstract: Ultrasonic waves of at least three independent frequency bands having different center frequencies are transmitted into a living body from its skin surface and reflected waves are analyzed, by which living tissue characteristics are measured. The reflected waves from various depths in the living body are received, their frequency components are separately extracted and energies of the received reflected waves are obtained, thereby obtaining an attenuation coefficient inclination and a space inclination of a frequency power exponent of a reflection coefficient of the living body.