Abstract: A laser processes a circuit board including at least two layers. The two layers are a conductive layer with a plurality of holes and an insulating layer. The conductive layer is disposed on a surface layer of the insulating layer which is to be processed by applying a laser beam to portions of the insulating layer corresponding to the holes of the conductive layer. The circuit board is irradiated with the laser beam, and a reflected laser beam is detected, whereby the laser processing of the insulating layer corresponding to an abnormal hole in the conductive layer is stopped, if the detected value of the reflected laser beam is an abnormal value differing from a desired value. Also, the insulating layer corresponding to the hole is processed when the detected value of the reflected light conforms to the desired value.

Abstract: A skin material which can be precisely and easily bonded to a cushion main body while preventing the working atmosphere from becoming worse due to solvent volatilization; a skinned cushion excellent in air permeability and cushioning properties in the seating area; and a process for producing the skinned cushion are described. The skin material comprises an air-permeable sheet and an adhesive layer formed on the back side of the sheet by applying a melt of a hot-melt adhesive in such a manner as to form scattering dots of the melt or to leave scattering uncoated dot areas and hardening the melt.

Abstract: A skin material which can be precisely and easily bonded to a cushion main body while preventing the working atmosphere from becoming worse due to solvent volatilization; a skinned cushion excellent in air permeability and cushioning properties in the seating area; and a process for producing the skinned cushion are described. The skin material comprises an air-permeable sheet and an adhesive layer formed on the back side of the sheet by applying a melt of a hot-melt adhesive in such a manner as to form scattering dots of the melt or to leave scattering uncoated dot areas and hardening the melt.

Abstract: A laser processing method is presented for processing a circuit board including at least two layers, having a conductive layer with a plurality of holes disposed on a surface layer of insulating layer to be processed by applying laser beam to an insulating layer corresponding to holes of the conductive layer. In this laser processing method or apparatus, a circuit board is irradiated with a laser beam, and a reflected laser beam is detected, whereby the laser process of the insulating layer corresponding to an abnormal hole in the conductive layer is stopped, if the detected value of the reflected laser beam is an abnormal value out of a desired value. Also in this laser processing method or apparatus, the insulating layer corresponding to the hole is processed when the detected value of the reflected light conforms to the desired value.

Abstract: An ultrasonic probe has an elongated form with an end. A transducer element array is disposed in the probe for emitting ultrasonic wave frontward with respect to the end of the probe and receiving echo ultrasonic waves. The transducer element array converts the received echo ultrasonic waves into corresponding electric echo signals. The electric echo signals are processed according to a predetermined aperture synthesis technique, and thereby an image signal is generated on the basis of the electric echo signals. An image of a region in front of the end of the probe is reproduced in response to the image signal.

Abstract: The present invention relates to an ultrasonic examination apparatus which transmits ultrasonic waves into a body to be examined and receives the echo signals therefrom for examination of the inside of the body. The ultrasonic examination apparatus measures acoustic characteristics such as nonlinear parameter within the body using the fact that the characteristic of the reception ultrasonic wave from the inside of the body is varied in accordance with variation of the characteristics within the body. The ultrasonic examination apparatus has first and second ultrasonic transducers for transmitting first ultrasonic pulse and second ultrasonic pulse, respectively. The frequency of the second ultrasonic pulse from the second ultrasonic transducer is higher than that of the first ultrasonic transducer. The first and second ultrasonic pulses are superimposed and transmitted into the body.

Abstract: An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus detects variations of an acoustic characteristic to obtain the fluctuation of temperature within a body to be examined. The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus includes an ultrasonic transducer for transmitting an ultrasonic wave and receiving the reflected ultrasonic wave which is in turn converted into an electric signal. The signal is phase-detected in accordance with a plurality of gate intervals or a plurality of window interval to detect a phase difference therebetween. The relative variation of velocity dispersion before and after heating of the body is obtained on the basis of the phase variation resulting from the variation of the ultrasonic drive frequency.

Abstract: An ultrasonic tomographic diagnosis apparatus suitable for skin disease displays a first ultrasonic tomographic image (12) of an object of a fairly broad area, wherein sizes in depthwise direction (X in FIG. 1) displayed in an enlarged scale in relation to sizes in a direction (Y in FIG. 1) on the skin surface, and further a second ultrasonic tomographic image (13) of an object wherein sizes in depthwise direction and sizes in the direction on the skin surface are displayed in substantially proportional to actual size relations, for a selected part marked by a marker (14) on the first tomographic image (12).While specific embodiments of the invention have been illustrated and described herein, it is realized that modifications and changes will occur to those skilled in the art. It is therefore to be understood that the appended claims are intended to cover all modifications and changes as fall within the true spirit and scope of the invention.

Abstract: In an ultrasonic imaging system echo signals representative of the amplitude of ultrasonic energy returning along a plurality of angularly spaced paths are sampled at a constant speed and stored into a buffer memory. At a speed inversely proportional to the cosine of the angle of said path with respect to a reference line the echo samples are read out of the buffer memory and written into a specified area of a graphic memory at a constant speed in the direction of the rows thereof and at a speed proportional to the tangent of the angle of the path with respect to the reference line in the direction of the columns thereof. At a constant speed echo samples are read out of the graphic memory in the directions of the rows and columns and applied to a monitor to be displayed in a raster scan field.

Abstract: A digital signal processing apparatus is shown which is applicable for real time operation in the power spectrum of the detected outputs of ultrasonic Doppler blood flowmeter. The apparatus comprises a digital operating means, a memory means which is connected to said digital operating means to transfer data thereto and receive data therefrom, a fixed instruction generating portion for generating operating code for the digital operating means and addresses for the memory means, a read only memory for storing data of a squaring operation which has address inputs at the bit position selected as most suitable from the input data bus line of said digital operating means, an overflow detecting means when input data exceeds the region of the address input, and digital saturation circuit, whereby the power spectrum can be calculated by fundamental algorithm of WFTA having a smaller number of operating steps than algorithm FFT.

Abstract: An ultrasonic wave blood flow meter comprises a probe which sends to and receives an ultrasonic wave reflected with Doppler effect from the blood flow, a detecting circuit for converting a frequency variation of the received reflected wave into a first signal whose amplitude varies with frequency and a second signal whose amplitude is kept constant, and first and second effective-value detecting circuits for obtaining d.c. components of the first and second signals. A level discrimination circuit is further provided for discriminating the level of the d.c. component detected by the second effective-value detecting circuit. First and second sensitivity-variable amplifiers are also provided for varying their sensitivities in accordance with the result of the level discrimination circuit. A dividing circuit divides the d.c. component amplified by the first sensitivity-variable amplifier by the d.c.

Abstract: Ultrasonic echo signals are detected in phase and integrated with a period corresponding to an ultrasonic pulse. The integrated values are sampled and the difference between two integrated values is successively frequency-analyzed.

Abstract: Ultrasonic transducers comprising an ultrasonic transducer element, a pair of electrodes provided on opposite sides of the element, and an acoustic impedance-matching layer formed on an ultrasonic wave-radiating surface of the element through one electrode. The acoustic impedance-matching layer is made of a porous polymer film or a composite material comprising thermally expanded resin microspheres dispersed in a cured product of thermosetting resin and has an acoustic impedance not larger than 0.6.times.10.sup.6 Ns/m.sup.3. Two-layer constructions may also be used as the acoustic impedance-matching layer.

Abstract: An ultrasonic imaging system comprises a transducer array including a plurality of elongated piezoelectric transducers successively arranged along a curved surface for emission of diverging beams of acoustic energy and an acoustic diverging lens affixed to the curved surface for increasing the angle of divergence of the emitted acoustic energy. The system includes a source for successively generating burst energy and means for selectively establishing a connection from the energy source to a subarray of the transducers to transmit a beam of acoustic energy therefrom and shifting the connection to the next subarray by at least one transducer in response to the generation of subsequent acoustic energy to cause the emitted acoustic energy to be angulated in an arc scan format. Means are provided for compensating for differences in energy level resulting from the differences in the path-length of the acoustic lens.

Abstract: An ultrasonic transducer array for arc scan imaging systems comprises a plurality of elongated piezoelectric transducers arranged successively to define a convexed energy radiating surface. A plano-concave acoustic diverging lens is attached to the convexed surface to diverge the acoustic energy transmitted from the transducers in an increased steering angle. The transducers are assembled on an impedance matching layer which defines the convexed radiating surface. The acoustic impedance of the diverging lens is substantially equal to the acoustic impedance of the human body, while the acoustic impedance of the impedance matching layer is greater than that of the human body.

Abstract: Ultrasonic echo signals are successively sampled and converted to digital echo data which are written into a first digital memory column by column and then read out row by row into a first buffer memory. The digital echo data which are derived in response to beams successively transmitted in a predetermined direction are written into columns of a second digital memory and read out of the memory in rows into a second buffer memory. The data stored in the first and second buffer memories are read out for digital-to-analog conversion and selectively applied within a television "frame" interval to control electron beam intensity of a single cathode ray tube so as to present tomographic and cardiographic images in different display areas of the tube.

Abstract: A sector scan ultrasonic imaging system comprises a source of a plurality of square wave pulse trains each being delayed by a unit quantization time with respect to adjacent trains, and a plurality of transmitter circuits corresponding to the elements of a transducer array. The duration of each square wave pulse is an integral multiple of the unit quantization time interval. Each transmitter circuit includes a read only memory in which a set of different digital delay time data is stored for the corresponding transducer element and is arranged to be retrieved in response to each angle increment of the ultrasonic beam transmitted from the array. Further included are a data selector for selecting a pulse train in response to a pulse train selection data retrieved from the memory and a programmable counter for counting the pulses of the selected train to generate an output in accordance with a pulse selection data retrieved from the memory.

Abstract: A scan converter is disclosed for use in a sector scan type ultrasound imaging system in which ultrasound echo signals return from targets along a plurality of radial scan lines distributed in a sector field with a substantially equal tangential angular increment with respect to a reference line. The scan converter comprises a sampling circuit which samples the echo signals at a speed inversely proportional to the cosine of the angle of deflection of the radial scan lines with respect to the reference line so that the sampled points align themselves in lateral lines perpendicular to the reference line. The sampled echo signals are converted into digital echo data and stored in a random access memory in the direction of its columns. The stored data are retrieved serially in the direction of the rows and fed into an interpolator for making interpolations between the successively retrieved echo data.

Abstract: A light deflector utilizing the anisotropic Bragg diffraction in an anisotropic medium in which the directions of the wave front normal and the energy propagation of ultrasonic waves are arranged to be different and the frequency range of the ultrasonic wave for causing re-diffraction of light diffracted once by said ultrasonic wave is set outside the driving frequency range. The diffraction efficiency does not fall near the central frequency of the driving ultrasonic frequency range due to the prevention of rediffraction. Further, the driving frequency can be selected over a remarkably wide range compared to that of the conventional light deflector.

Abstract: An acousto-optic filter utilizing the far-off-axis anisotropic Bragg diffraction comprising an optically anisotropic crystal in which a light beam of incidence travels in a direction making a large angle with the crystalline axis and an ultrasonic wave travels in a predetermined direction. In the acousto-optic filter using a paratellurite crystal, the wavelength of the visible light is tuned by changing the frequency of the ultrasonic wave in a low frequency range below 100 MHz. The ultrasonic power required for driving the acousto-optic filter is about 1/500 that of the so far known acousto-optic filters. The bandwidth of the transmitted light can be changed from several angstroms to several hundred angstroms by selecting the incident angle of the light.