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Abstract

The present invention is generally directed to an apparatus and method of echo identification wherein the sources of echoes generated from interface boundaries in a medium may be more effectively identified in the processing of obtained waveform data to generate higher resolution in the obtained data. The method of the present invention is particularly useful for performing ultrasound reflectometry and medical sonography by obtaining data representative of a medium being studied and suppressing signals from overlapping echo waveforms generated from obstacles adjacent an object under test. More particularly, the method of the invention enables the sources of such echo waveforms to be more effectively identified to yield an indication of the contribution of overlapping echoes to generate higher resolution data signals. The processing includes generating a power spectral estimate of the data which is utilized to obtain a phase estimate thereof. The Maximum Entropy Estimation Method is used to obtain a reliable phase estimate which can then be processed to yield an indication of the delay time to an interface boundary in the medium. The sources of the echo waveforms can then be located and used to increase the resolution of the obtained data.

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First Claim