Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 6
Claim 1
Independent Claim
139 words
An ultrasonic medical diagnostic system, comprising: (a) means for propagating ultrasonic energy through a subject; (b) apparatus for producing electrical representations of ultrasonic echoes from within the subject; (c) imaging electronics responsive to the electrical representations to produce information describing internal structure of the subject; (d) said imaging electronics incorporating a delay element requiring for operation receipt of a program of frequency controlled signals; (e) a system for synthesizing a program of output signal frequencies, comprising: (i) an adjustable frequency generator; (ii) a multi-channel memory for digitally storing representations of a set of frequencies corresponding to the program frequencies in a plurality of address channels, each of said channels corresponding to a different predetermined program frequency, and (iii) means for sequentially applying signals stored in the address channels for operating the adjustable frequency generator for producing the frequency program.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
139 words
An ultrasonic medical diagnostic system, comprising: (a) means for propagating ultrasonic energy through a subject; (b) apparatus for producing electrical representations of ultrasonic echoes from within the subject; (c) imaging electronics responsive to the electrical representations to produce information describing internal structure of the subject; (d) said imaging electronics incorporating a delay element requiring for operation receipt of a program of frequency controlled signals; (e) a system for synthesizing a program of output signal frequencies, comprising: (i) an adjustable frequency generator; (ii) a multi-channel memory for digitally storing representations of a set of frequencies corresponding to the program frequencies in a plurality of address channels, each of said channels corresponding to a different predetermined program frequency, and (iii) means for sequentially applying signals stored in the address channels for operating the adjustable frequency generator for producing the frequency program.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
37 words
The system of claim 1, further comprising: updating circuitry associated with the frequency synthesizer for adjusting values of the stored frequency representations to compensate for undesirable variations in frequencies produced in the program by the adjustable generator.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
121 words
The system of claim 2, wherein the update circuitry comprises: (a) a fixed frequency source; (b) a clock for defining a period of counting of a predetermined number of cycles produced by the adjustable frequency generator at a program frequency; (c) means for counting the number of cycles actually produced by the fixed frequency source during the defined period; (d) circuitry for producing signal indicating the number of fixed frequency cycles ideally produced during the defined period at said one program frequency, and (e) a comparator for adjusting a frequency representation relating to said one program frequency in response to a difference between the ideally and actually produced numbers of cycles emanating from the fixed frequency generator during the predetermined period.
Claim 5
Independent Claim
149 words
A method of ultrasonic examination of a subject, said method comprising the steps of: (a) propagating ultrasonic energy into a subject; (b) detecting ultrasonic echoes; (c) converting the ultrasonic echoes to representative electrical signals; (d) applying the electrical signals to a display apparatus and producing therefrom visual information describing the subject; (e) employing in at least one of said displaying and electrical signal producing steps delay circuitry requiring for operation a program of signal frequencies; (f) synthesizing a program of output signal frequencies for use in connection with operation of delay circuitry elements, said synthesizing steps comprising: (i) digitally storing representations of a set of frequencies, each representation corresponding to a different frequency of the frequency program; (ii) selecting various of the frequency representations in a predetermined order, and (iii) producing a program frequency corresponding to its associated selected representation in response to said selection of each said representation.
Claim 6
Independent Claim
149 words
A method of ultrasonic examination of a subject, said method comprising the steps of: (a) propagating ultrasonic energy into a subject; (b) detecting ultrasonic echoes; (c) converting the ultrasonic echoes to representative electrical signals; (d) applying the electrical signals to a display apparatus and producing therefrom visual information describing the subject; (e) employing in at least one of said displaying and electrical signal producing steps delay circuitry requiring for operation a program of signal frequencies; (f) synthesizing a program of output signal frequencies for use in connection with operation of delay circuitry elements, said synthesizing steps comprising: (i) digitally storing representations of a set of frequencies, each representation corresponding to a different frequency of the frequency program; (ii) selecting various of the frequency representations in a predetermined order, and (iii) producing a program frequency corresponding to its associated selected representation in response to said selection of each said representation.