Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 7
Claim 1
Independent Claim
166 words
A method for calibrating acoustic backscattering instrumentation comprising the steps of: positioning a sphere made of high specific acoustic impedance material a given distance from an acoustic transducer, said transducer acting as both a source of acoustic energy and as a detector of acoustic energy; energizing said transducer such that said transducer produces an incident acoustic pulse, said incident acoustic pulse being directed toward said sphere; detecting acoustic signals reflected by said sphere using said transducer; processing said detected acoustic signals in the time domain to separate said detected signals into a first portion which represents the response of a rigid body having the same size and shape as said sphere and into a second portion representing the elastic response of said sphere; and correcting the amplitude of said first portion of said detected acoustic signals by applying a plurality of correction factors to said first portion, the resultant corrected first portion of said detected acoustic signals representing said incident acoustic pulse produced by said transducer.
Claim 2
Independent Claim
166 words
A method for calibrating acoustic backscattering instrumentation comprising the steps of: positioning a sphere made of high specific acoustic impedance material a given distance from an acoustic transducer, said transducer acting as both a source of acoustic energy and as a detector of acoustic energy; energizing said transducer such that said transducer produces an incident acoustic pulse, said incident acoustic pulse being directed toward said sphere; detecting acoustic signals reflected by said sphere using said transducer; processing said detected acoustic signals in the time domain to separate said detected signals into a first portion which represents the response of a rigid body having the same size and shape as said sphere and into a second portion representing the elastic response of said sphere; and correcting the amplitude of said first portion of said detected acoustic signals by applying a plurality of correction factors to said first portion, the resultant corrected first portion of said detected acoustic signals representing said incident acoustic pulse produced by said transducer.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
48 words
The method for calibrating acoustic backscattering instrumentation as recited in claim 1, wherein said step of positioning a sphere comprises the step of: providing said sphere, said sphere having a radius which is larger then that of a wavelength of said incident acoustic pulse produced by said transducer.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
36 words
The method for calibrating acoustic backscattering instrumentation as recited in claim 1 or claim 2, wherein said step of positioning a sphere comprises the step of: providing said sphere, said sphere being made of tungsten carbide.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
53 words
The method of calibrating acoustic backscattering instrumentation as recited in claim 1 or claim 2, wherein said step of positioning a sphere comprises the step of: positioning said sphere from said transducer such that said given distance between said sphere and said transducer is at least ten times the radius of said sphere.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
70 words
The method for calibrating acoustic backscattering instrumentation as recited in claim 1 as claim 2, wherein said step of energizing said transducer comprises the step of: energizing said transducer such that said transducer produces a short incident acoustic pulse having a duration of N cycles with N≦0.014[f o a]where f o is the center frequency of the pulse in KHz and a is the radius of the sphere in centimeters.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
124 words
The method of calibrating acoustic backscattering instrumentation as recited in claim 1 or claim 2, wherein said step of correcting the amplitude of said first portion of said detected acoustic signals comprises the steps of: applying a first correction factor to said first portion of said detected acoustic signals to correct the amplitude of said first portion for said given distance between said sphere and said transducer; applying a second correction factor to said first portion of said detected acoustic signals to correct the amplitude of said first portion for the reflectivity of said sphere; and applying a third correction factor to said first portion of said deteted acoustic signals to correct the amplitude of said first portion for the radius of said sphere.