| Patent application number | Description | Published |
| 20080306389 | ULTRASONIC ENDOSCOPE AND ULTRASONIC ENDOSCOPIC APPARATUS - An ultrasonic endoscope having a small size and a slight temperature rise even when the transmission output is increased. The ultrasonic endoscope includes: an ultrasonic transducer part; a Peltier element having a cooling surface coupled to the ultrasonic transducer part and a radiating surface; a flexing part for supporting the ultrasonic transducer part and the Peltier element; a coupling part for coupling the flexing part to an operation part; a covering material for covering the flexing part and the coupling part; a thermal insulating material provided inside of the covering material, for thermally insulating a part from the radiating surface of the Peltier element to the operation part from outside; and a heat-conducting member provided inside of the thermal insulating material and coupled to the radiating surface of the Peltier element, for transferring heat generated in the ultrasonic transducer part to the operation part. | 12-11-2008 |
| 20080312537 | COMPOSITE PIEZOELECTRIC MATERIAL, ULTRASONIC PROBE, ULTRASONIC ENDOSCOPE, AND ULTRASONIC DIAGNOSTIC APPARATUS - A composite piezoelectric material capable of reducing a peak temperature of a vibrator array to be used for transmitting or receiving ultrasonic waves in ultrasonic imaging. The composite piezoelectric material includes: plural piezoelectric materials arranged along a flat surface or curved surface; and an anisotropic heat conducting material having a higher coefficient of thermal conductivity in at least one direction and provided between the plural piezoelectric materials and/or at outer peripheries of the plural piezoelectric materials. | 12-18-2008 |
| 20090030325 | ULTRASONIC PROBE, ULTRASONIC ENDSCOPE, AND ULTRASONIC DIAGNOSTIC APPARATUS - In an ultrasonic probe to be used in an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus for medical use, ultrasonic transducers are cooled while sufficiently absorbing ultrasonic waves released to the back of the ultrasonic transducers without causing attenuation of ultrasonic waves transmitted or received by the ultrasonic transducers. The ultrasonic probe includes: an ultrasonic transducer array including plural ultrasonic transducers for transmitting and receiving ultrasonic waves; an acoustic matching layer provided on a front of the ultrasonic transducer array; a cooling mechanism directly or indirectly provided on a back of the ultrasonic transducer array and including a porous member; a backing material provided on the back of the ultrasonic transducer array via at least the cooling mechanism; and channels for circulation of a liquid heat transfer material in the cooling mechanism. | 01-29-2009 |
| 20090088647 | ULTRASONIC ENDOSCOPE - An ultrasonic endoscope capable of suppressing temperature rise of an insertion part without increase in diameter. The ultrasonic endoscope includes: an ultrasonic transducer part having plural ultrasonic transducers; an exterior member for holding the ultrasonic transducer part; an opening formed in the exterior member; a heat conducting member arranged inside of the exterior member and connected to the ultrasonic transducer part; and a heat radiating member provided on an outer surface of the exterior member and connected to the heat conducting member via the opening. For example, a part of the heat radiating member is located within the opening and the part is connected to the heat conducting member. The heat radiating member is electrically insulated from the ultrasonic transducer part. | 04-02-2009 |
| 20090287086 | ULTRASONIC PROBE, ULTRASONIC DIAGNOSTIC APPARATUS AND ULTRASONIC ENDOSCOPIC APPARATUS - An ultrasonic probe in which a balance between basic performance and suppression of heat generation is achieved by suppressing heat generation of the ultrasonic probe without degrading sensitivity and relative bandwidth of the ultrasonic probe in transmission and reception of ultrasonic waves. The ultrasonic probe includes at least one vibrator for transmitting and receiving ultrasonic waves, the at least one vibrator including a piezoelectric material in which a piezoelectric strain constant d33 is equal to or less than 500 pm/V and a product of the piezoelectric strain constant d33 and a piezoelectric voltage constant g33 is equal to or more than 7000×10 | 11-19-2009 |
| Patent application number | Description | Published |
| 20090086229 | Image Processing Device and Pixel Attribute Identification Method - The printer of the invention performs an area classification process to classify each pixel included in an input image read by a scanner as a pixel in an edge component area or a pixel in a halftone dot area, and performs a correction process with a spatial filter suitable for each area. The area classification process calculates a difference value between luminance values of two arbitrary pixels selected among peripheral pixels in a specific pixel range around each target pixel according to each of multiple differential patterns t, compares the calculated difference value with threshold values provided for each differential pattern t to compute multiple difference detection values ht(x) corresponding to the multiple differential patterns t, and gives weights to the computed difference detection values ht(x) to compute a comprehensive difference detection value H(x). The area classification process identifies whether the target pixel is a pixel in the edge component area or a pixel in the halftone dot area, based on the computed comprehensive difference detection value H(x). This arrangement enables high-speed identification of the attribute of each pixel included in an image by such simple operation, while enabling identification of pixel attribute with high accuracy. | 04-02-2009 |
| 20090091809 | Image Processing Device, Method and Program Product - First integrated data is generated using tone value data. The tone value data represents respective tone values of pixels of an image. The first integrated data represents respective first pixel values of the pixels. The first pixel value is associated with sum of tone values of pixels within a rectangle in the image. The rectangle has two opposing corners represented by a pixel corresponding to the first pixel value and a reference pixel respectively. The reference pixel is a pixel at a predetermined corner of the image. A calculation process is executed. The calculation process includes calculation of a first calculation value of a target rectangle area using the first integrated data. The first calculation value is correlated to sum of tone values within the target rectangle area. The target rectangle area is enclosed by a rectangle defined by pixel boundary lines. The pixel boundary lines represent boundary lines between neighboring pixels in the image. Image processing in relation to the target rectangle area is executed in accordance with the result of the calculation process. In the calculation of the first calculation value, the first calculation value is calculated using respective first pixel values of four calculation pixels. The four calculation pixels are respectively adjacent to four vertexes of the target rectangle area in the direction of the reference pixel. The four vertexes are on the pixel boundary lines. | 04-09-2009 |
| 20100014121 | Printing Apparatus, Printing Method, and Recording Medium - There is provided a printing apparatus that prints an image constituted by a plurality of pixels. The printing apparatus includes a sum correspondence value calculating unit that calculates a sum correspondence value on the basis of a sum value of saturation evaluating values of pixels located within a rectangle in which a corner adjacent to an arbitrary pixel within the image and a corner adjacent to a reference pixel within the image become opposing corners for the arbitrary pixel, a rectangle sum value calculating unit that calculates a sum value within the rectangle on the basis of the sum correspondence value for adjacent pixels that are adjacent to four vertexes of an arbitrary target rectangle of the image for a target pixel located in a predetermined position within the target rectangle, an attribute determining unit that determines the attribute of the target pixel in the image based on the sum value within the rectangle for the target pixel, and a print control unit that prints image data for which image processing on the basis of the attributes of the pixels is performed. | 01-21-2010 |
| 20100165394 | PRINTING SYSTEM, PRINTING APPARATUS AND IMAGE-PRINTING METHOD - A printing system that transfers an image composed of pixels of a first resolution, includes a client and a printing apparatus. The client includes a determining unit that, for a pixel block that is of a size of a pixel of a second resolution that is lower than the first resolution, determines whether or not the pixel block is homogenous on the basis of a difference in color information for a target pixel of the first resolution included in the pixel block; an image-data-for-transfer creating unit that creates image data for transfer by changing pixels of the first resolution included in a pixel block that has been determined to be homogenous from the first resolution to the second resolution; and a transmitting unit that transmits the image data for transfer. The printing apparatus includes a receiving unit that receives the image data for transfer and a high-resolution-image-data creating unit that creates image data representing an image composed of pixels of the first resolution by changing pixels of the second resolution in the image data for transfer from the second resolution to the first resolution. | 07-01-2010 |
| 20100208276 | APPARATUS, SYSTEM, METHOD AND PROGRAM FOR IMAGE PROCESSING - An image processing apparatus includes a data creating unit that creates image data in response to input data representing an image, wherein the image data includes first image data of a first pixel density and a second image data of a second pixel density lower than the first pixel density, and the data creating unit selects a representative color from colors included in the image, creates data, which includes information for specifying a high resolution pixel representing a portion indicating the representative color of the image among a plurality of high resolution pixels arranged with the first pixel density in an image area representing the image, as the first image data, and creates data, which includes a pixel value of a low resolution pixel representing a portion indicating a color different from the representative color of the image among a plurality of low resolution pixels arranged with the second pixel density in the image area, as the second image data. | 08-19-2010 |
| 20100208277 | APPARATUS, METHOD AND PROGRAM FOR IMAGE PROCESSING - An image processing apparatus includes a raster data creating unit that creates raster data representing an image including plural types of objects in response to input data representing the image, wherein the raster data includes high resolution raster data of a first pixel density and a low resolution raster data of a second pixel density lower than the first pixel density, and the raster data creating unit sets any one of pixel values of pixels of the high resolution raster data and pixel values of pixels of the low resolution raster data in an image area of objects of a type other than characters based on variation of colors of the image area represented by a plurality of pixels of the first pixel density, which correspond to one pixel of the second pixel density. | 08-19-2010 |