Direction-finding system for localization of reflection-causing nterfaces in the human body

Claim 1

A system for localizing reflection-causing interfaces, particularly concretions, in the human body, the system comprising: ultrasound pulse transmitter means for transmitting ultrasound pulses in a plurality of directions; a plurality of ultrasound receiver means for receiving the transmitted pulses; gate circuit means coupled to the receiver means for accepting the received ultrasound pulses, the gate circuit means only accepting pulses within a preset time period; amplifier means coupled to the gate circuit means for amplifying the accepted ultrasound pulses; storage means coupled to the amplifier means for storing the amplified ultrasound pulses; MF transformation means coupled to the storage means for transforming the amplified ultrasound pulses into amplified audio pulses within a preset audio frequency range; ML transformation means coupled to the storage means and the MF transformation means, the ML means measuring the time delay between the received ultrasonic pulses, calculating an appropriate audio frequency time delay, and applying the time delay to the MF audio pulses to produce time delayed audio pulses; stereophonic audio output means coupled to said ML transformation means and MF transformation means for outputting a stereophonic audio signal, the presence of a time delay in the audio signals skewing the perceived location of the sound source to an appropriate side.

Claim 2

A system for localizing reflection-causing interfaces, particularly concretions, in the human body, the system comprising: ultrasound pulse transmitter means for transmitting ultrasound pulses in a plurality of directions; a plurality of ultrasound receiver means for receiving the transmitted pulses; gate circuit means coupled to the receiver means for accepting the received ultrasound pulses, the gate circuit means only accepting pulses within a preset time period; amplifier means coupled to the gate circuit means for amplifying the accepted ultrasound pulses; storage means coupled to the amplifier means for storing the amplified ultrasound pulses; MF transformation means coupled to the storage means for transforming the amplified ultrasound pulses into amplified audio pulses within a preset audio frequency range; ML transformation means coupled to the storage means and the MF transformation means, the ML means measuring the time delay between the received ultrasonic pulses, calculating an appropriate audio frequency time delay, and applying the time delay to the MF audio pulses to produce time delayed audio pulses; stereophonic audio output means coupled to said ML transformation means and MF transformation means for outputting a stereophonic audio signal, the presence of a time delay in the audio signals skewing the perceived location of the sound source to an appropriate side.

Claim 9

A system for detecting and localizing a concretion in the human body, the system comprising: ultrasonic pulse transmitter means for transmitting ultrasonic pulses; a plurality of ultrasonic pulse receiver means for receiving ultrasonic pulses after reflection from the concretion; gate circuit means coupled to the receiver means for determining if the receiver means receive the reflected ultrasonic pulses simultaneously and, if reception is not simultaneous, for determining which receiver means received the pulse first and for measuring what the length of delay between the respective reception of the pulses by the receiver means was; MF transformation means coupled to the gate circuit means for transforming the received ultrasonic pulses into audio signals of a preset frequency range; ML transformation means coupled to both the gate circuit means and the MF transformation means for applying the measured time delay between reception of the pulses at the respective receiver means to the audio signals produced by the MF means to produce a stereophonic audio signal having a right and left channel, the time delay skewing the signal to the right or left channel, as appropriate; and stereophonic output means coupled to the ML and MF transformation means for outputting the stereophonic audio signal, the output being skewed to the right and left channel as determined by the measured time delay.

Claim 10

A system for detecting and localizing a concretion in the human body, the system comprising: ultrasonic pulse transmitter means for transmitting ultrasonic pulses; a plurality of ultrasonic pulse receiver means for receiving ultrasonic pulses after reflection from the concretion; gate circuit means coupled to the receiver means for determining if the receiver means receive the reflected ultrasonic pulses simultaneously and, if reception is not simultaneous, for determining which receiver means received the pulse first and for measuring what the length of delay between the respective reception of the pulses by the receiver means was; MF transformation means coupled to the gate circuit means for transforming the received ultrasonic pulses into audio signals of a preset frequency range; ML transformation means coupled to both the gate circuit means and the MF transformation means for applying the measured time delay between reception of the pulses at the respective receiver means to the audio signals produced by the MF means to produce a stereophonic audio signal having a right and left channel, the time delay skewing the signal to the right or left channel, as appropriate; and stereophonic output means coupled to the ML and MF transformation means for outputting the stereophonic audio signal, the output being skewed to the right and left channel as determined by the measured time delay.