Biomedical ultrasonoscope

Claim 1

In a biomedical ultrasonoscope for examination of the interior of a patient's body and having "A", "M", and "C" mode scan electronic circuits whereby "A" "M" or "C" mode scan displays can be selected, the "A" and "M" mode scan electronic circuits including, in combination, a clock generator for generating clock pulses; a cathode ray tube having X, Y, and Z inputs; a sweep generator connected between the clock generator and the X axis input of the cathode ray tube for generating a cathode ray sweep signal synchronized by the clock pulses; and a receiver adapted to be connected to the Z axis input of the cathode ray tube, said "C" mode scan circuit comprising: transducer means including a plurality of ultrasonic transducer elements arranged in a row and adapted to be positioned on the skin of the patient's body for converting a pulsed electrical signal to a pulsed ultrasonic signal, radiating the pulsed ultrasonic signal into the patient's body, picking up echoes reflected from interfaces in the patient's body and converting the echoes to electrical signals; a plurality of analog switches equal in number to the number of ultrasonic transducer elements, each analog switch having an input and an output, each analog switch input being coupled to a respective transducer element, said analog switch outputs all being coupled to said receiver; a plurality of transmitters, each transmitter being coupled to a respective ultrasonic transducer element for transmitting a pulsed electrical signal thereto; a staircase voltage generator connected between the clock generator and the Y axis input of the cathode ray tube for generating a staircase voltage at said Y axis input with voltage steps synchronized by the clock pulses; sequencer means connected to the clock generator, transmitters, analog switches, and staircase voltage generator and responsive to the clock pulses for sequentially actuating the transmitters, sequentially closing said analog switches for a predetermined gate period, and recycling said staircase voltage generator after each frame; said sequencer means including a first counter connected to the clock generator for counting clock pulses, a second counter connected to the first counter for counting multiples of clock pulses, and a plurality of pulse switches, each pulse switch having a data input connected to the first counter, a control input connected to the second counter, and an output connected to a respective one of the plurality of transmitters.