Device for examining materials using acoustic spectroscopy

Abstract

The invention relates to a device ( 01 ) for examining a biological and non-biological material ( 02 ) via acoustic spectroscopy, said device comprising an ultrasonic transmission device ( 03 ) for transmitting an ultrasonic transmission signal ( 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41 ), an ultrasonic reception device ( 04 ) for receiving a reflected and/or transmitted ultrasonic reception signal after said signal has passed through the material ( 02 ) to be examined, said transmission device ( 03 ) being configured for giving several ultrasonic transmission signals having different frequencies and said reception device ( 04 ) being configured for receiving corresponding ultrasonic reception signals having different frequencies, the time-of-flight values ( 16 ) of the allocated ultrasonic signals being able to be identified from every signal pair consisting of the transmission signal and the reception signal using a first processing device ( 10 ), the attenuation values ( 20 ) of the allocated ultrasonic signal being able to be identified from every signal pair consisting of the transmission signal and the reception signal using a second processing device ( 11 ), and for every frequency of the different transmission signals and reception signals the correspondingly identified time-of-flight values ( 16 ) and attenuation values ( 20 ) being able to be stored as a results dataset ( 21 ) in a storage device ( 17 ) at least temporarily.

1 . A device for examining a biological and non-biological material via acoustic spectroscopy, said device comprising:
 an ultrasonic transmission device for transmitting a plurality of ultrasonic transmission signals, each of the transmission signals being transmitted at a different frequency;   an ultrasonic reception device for receiving a corresponding plurality of reflected or transmitted ultrasonic reception signals after the signals passed through the material to be examined;   a first processing device configured to identify time-of-flight values for each signal pair consisting of one of the plurality of transmission signals and the corresponding reception signal;   a second processing device configured to identify attenuation values for each signal pair consisting of one of the plurality of transmission signals and the corresponding reception signal; and   a storage device in communication with the first processing device and the second processing device, the storage device configured to store the time of flight values and the attenuation values for each frequency in a results dataset.   
     
     
         2 . The device according to  claim 1 , further comprising
 a reduced results dataset derived from the results dataset or from several results datasets using a data reduction device, said reduced results dataset characteristically depicting the results dataset or the several results datasets and having a smaller data volume.   
     
     
         3 . The device according to  claim 2 , wherein
 in the data reduction device, the maximal time-of-flight value and the minimal time-of-flight value can be determined in a result data set and the maximal attenuation value and the minimal attenuation value can be determined in said result data set and stored in the storage device as a reduced results dataset.   
     
     
         4 . The device according to  claim 2 , wherein
 in the data reduction device, the maximal time-of-flight value and the minimal time-of-flight value and the maximal attenuation value and the minimal attenuation value can be determined in said results datasets, said maximal values and minimal values being stored as a reduced results dataset in the storage device.   
     
     
         5 . The device according to  claim 2 , wherein
 in the data reduction device, at least one quantile of the time-of-flight values can be determined in an identified results dataset and at least one quantile of the attenuation values can be determined in said results dataset, said quantiles being stored as a reduced results dataset in the storage device.   
     
     
         6 . The device according to  claim 1 , wherein
 at least one value qualifying the material can be derived from the identified results dataset or the reduced results dataset using an evaluation device.   
     
     
         7 . The device according to  claim 6 , wherein
 the qualifying value is derived in the evaluation device on the basis of a pattern comparison of identified or reduced results datasets with comparative results datasets stored in a databank, said comparative results datasets having been determined by measuring comparative materials having known properties.   
     
     
         8 . The device according to  claim 1 , wherein
 the time-of-flight can be identified with a resolution of at least 10 picoseconds in the first processing device.   
     
     
         9 . The device according to  claim 1 , wherein
 the time of flight is identified by the first processing device using a time-to-digital converter.   
     
     
         10 . The device according to  claim 1 , further comprising
 a signal splitter is provided between the ultrasonic reception device and the first and second processing devices, wherein the signal splitter can direct a received ultrasonic reception signal to the first and second processing devices identically for parallel processing.   
     
     
         11 . The device according to  claim 1 , wherein
 the ultrasonic transmission device and the ultrasonic reception device are configured for being removable or permanent arrangement on an outer surface of a patient's scalp.   
     
     
         12 . The device according to  claim 1 , wherein
 the ultrasonic transmission device can generate longitudinal ultrasonic waves in the lower MHz range.   
     
     
         13 . The device according to  claim 1 , wherein
 the ultrasonic transmission signals having different frequencies are transmitted individually one after the other by the ultrasonic transmission device.   
     
     
         14 . The device according to  claim 1 , wherein
 the ultrasonic transmission signals having different frequencies are modulated onto or added to a shared carrier signal in the ultrasonic transmission device and are then transmitted together.   
     
     
         15 . The device according to  claim 1 , wherein
 the transmission device is configured for giving the ultrasonic transmission signals different amplitudes.