This invention provides a signal-processing method that makes it possible to acquire, relatively easily and surely, a highly reliable normalized impulse-response signal without relying on the signal-correction processing after normalization. The signal-processing method of this invention includes a low-frequency extraction step, a high-frequency extraction step and a synthesizing step. In the low-frequency extraction step, only the low-frequency component is extracted from the spectrum of the first normalized signal NS1 obtained by normalizing the target signal S.sub.tgt in the time domain. In the high-frequency extraction step, only the high-frequency component is extracted from the spectrum of the second normalized signal NS2 obtained by normalizing the target signal S.sub.tgt in the frequency domain using the reference signal S.sub.ref. In the synthesizing step, the low-frequency component, derived from the first normalized signal NS1, and the high-frequency component, derived from the second normalized signal NS2, are synthesized to obtain a normalized impulse-response signal NS.

An apparatus may include an ultrasonic sensor system having a first layer stack and a second layer stack. The first layer stack may include a first ultrasonic transmitter and the second layer stack may include a second ultrasonic transmitter. The first layer stack and/or the second layer stack may include an ultrasonic receiver. A frequency splitting layer may reside between the first layer stack and the second layer stack.

An analysis apparatus includes processing circuitry configured to obtain quantitative values of a plurality of types of tissue properties relating to a region of interest of a subject, and generate a diagram of the region of interest based on the quantitative values.

An ultrasonic diagnostic imaging system is used to acquire a fetal image in a sagittal view for the performance of a nuchal translucency measurement. After a fetal image has been acquired, a zoom box is positioned over the image, encompassing a region of interest. The size of the zoom box is automatically set for the user in correspondence with gestational age or crown rump length. The system automatically tracks the region of interest within the zoom box in the presence of fetal motion in an effort to maintain the region of interest within the zoom box despite movement by the fetus.

Systems and methods for treating skin and subcutaneous tissue with energy such as ultrasound energy are disclosed. In various embodiments, ultrasound energy is applied at a region of interest to affect tissue by cutting, ablating, micro-ablating, coagulating, or otherwise affecting the subcutaneous tissue to conduct numerous procedures that are traditionally done invasively in a non-invasive manner. Lifting sagging tissue on a face, neck, and/or body are described. Treatment with heat is provided in several embodiments.

The present invention relates to a monitoring apparatus for monitoring an ablation procedure. The monitoring apparatus comprises an ultrasound signal providing unit for providing an ultrasound signal that depends on received echo series of an object that is ablated. The monitoring apparatus further comprises an ablation depth determination unit for determining an ablation depth from the provided ultrasound signal. The ablation depth can be determined directly from the ultrasound signal and is an important parameter while performing an ablation procedure. For example, it can be used for determining the progress of ablation within the object and for determining when the ablation has reached a desired progression.

Embodiments described herein include apparatus that includes an electrical interface and a processor. The processor is configured to receive, via the electrical interface, a first signal that indicates a time-varying force that was applied to a portion of tissue, and one or more second signals that are derived from ultrasound reflections received from the portion of tissue. The processor is further configured to learn, from the first signal and the second signals, a dependency of a thickness of the portion of tissue on the force applied to the portion of tissue. Other embodiments are also described.

An apparatus includes an imaging probe and is configured for dynamically arranging presentation of visual feedback for guiding manual adjustment, via the probe, of a location, and orientation, associated with the probe. The arranging is selectively based on comparisons between fields of view of the probe and respective results of segmenting image data acquired via the probe. In an embodiment, the apparatus includes a sensor which guides a decision that acoustic coupling quality is insufficient, the apparatus issuing a user alert upon the decision.

A thickness calculation method includes: a signal acquisition step of acquiring a reception signal by transmitting an ultrasonic wave from an ultrasonic probe into a living body and receiving the ultrasonic wave reflected in the living body by the ultrasonic probe; a boundary candidate extraction step of extracting a plurality of boundary candidates from the reception signal; a feature information acquisition step of acquiring feature information based on a change in the reception signal; a state determination step of inputting the feature information and the boundary candidate to a machine learning model that receives the feature information and the boundary candidate and outputs boundary information indicating whether the boundary candidate is a boundary of a tissue in the living body, and acquiring the boundary information; and a thickness calculation step of calculating a thickness of the tissue based on the boundary information.

The present invention relates to an automatic invasive device for body and, more particularly, to an automatic invasive device for body comprising a body press unit capable of pressing a human body part to detect a puncturing position. The present invention also relates to an automatic invasive device for body comprising at least one of a rotatable probe unit, a vacuum tube driving unit, and a body contact material supply unit. The automatic invasive device for body according to the present invention comprises: a syringe needle unit support part that supports a syringe needle that enters the body; and a press unit (500) that presses the body that has a site to be subjected to an invasive procedure.