Received data processing apparatus of photoacoustic tomography

Abstract

There is provided a received data processing apparatus of photoacoustic tomography including a minimum constitution unit data composition unit that sequentially reads receiving digital signals from first storage units and composes minimum constitution unit data of the acoustic wave of the minimum constitution units by performing a delay-and-sum processing. A second storage unit stores the minimum constitution unit data of the entire region of the specimen, and an image construction unit constructs an image of the specimen based on the minimum constitution unit data stored in the second storage unit. A control unit sequentially stores the minimum constitution unit data calculated by the minimum constitution unit data composition unit in the second storage unit and reads the stored minimum constitution unit data of the entire region of the specimen to transmit the minimum constitution unit data to the image construction unit.

1 . (canceled) 
     
     
         2 . A photoacoustic apparatus, comprising:
 a light source;   a receiving element that receives an acoustic wave and converts the acoustic wave into a received analog signal;   a conversion unit that converts the received analog signal into a received digital signal;   a storage unit that stores the received digital signal output from the conversion unit; and   a data composition unit that generates target position data, which is data of the acoustic wave relating to each of target positions in a target region of a specimen, by reading out the received digital signal derived from the target position from said storage unit, in accordance with information relating to a travel time of the acoustic wave from the target position to said receiving element,   wherein said storage unit stores the received digital signal derived from the acoustic wave which has been generated by a single pulse of light, and   wherein said data composition unit composes a plurality of the target position data that are three-dimensionally distributed in the target region, by repetitively reading out the received digital signal derived from the single pulse of light from said storage unit.   
     
     
         3 . The photoacoustic apparatus according to  claim 2 , wherein said storage unit is configured to store the received digital signal in time sequence. 
     
     
         4 . The photoacoustic apparatus according to  claim 2 , wherein
 said light source irradiates the specimen with light multiple times, and   said data composition unit generates the data of the plurality of target positions in the target region within a light-irradiation interval.   
     
     
         5 . The photoacoustic apparatus according to  claim 3 , further comprising a window function weighting factor calculation unit that calculates window function weighting factor based on coordinates of each of the plurality of target positions, and gives a calculated window function weighting factor to said data composition unit. 
     
     
         6 . The photoacoustic apparatus according to  claim 2 , further comprising a plurality of the receiving elements, a plurality of the conversion units, and a plurality of the storage units,
 and a switch unit connecting said plurality of storage units and said data composition unit, wherein said switch unit switches which of said storage units is connected to said data composition unit.