Wave Focusing Optimization via Aberration Correction
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current methods for focusing waves through heterogeneous media, such as in medical applications like brain therapy, face challenges due to aberrations introduced by the medium, leading to inaccurate focusing and invasive procedures, which are complex and risky.
Innovation Solution
A method that uses a network of sources to emit waves with adjustable phase and amplitude distributions, measuring perturbations induced in the medium to optimize focusing characteristics, allowing for real-time correction of aberrations without invasive procedures.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If CT scan imaging and digital simulation are used to correct aberrations, then focusing accuracy is improved, but execution complexity and time consumption increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The system uses the ultrasound waves themselves to measure aberrations through temporal return signals, eliminating the need for separate CT scans and digital simulations. The waves serve dual purposes: both treatment and measurement, making the system self-characterizing without external imaging equipment.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the mechanical/imaging-based CT scan and stereotaxy frame system with an acoustic field-based measurement system. Instead of physically positioning frames and using complex imaging reconstruction, the system uses acoustic waves to automatically characterize and correct aberrations.
2Manufacturing precision
If stereotaxy frames and repositioning procedures are used, then focusing precision is improved, but ease of operation deteriorates due to complex reconfiguration
Solution Approach 1:
The system automatically characterizes aberrations using temporal return signals without requiring manual repositioning or complex reconfiguration procedures. The waves themselves carry the information needed for correction, eliminating the need for stereotaxy frames and manual alignment operations.
3Manufacturing precision
If invasive biopsy procedures with miniature ultrasound probes are used, then focusing accuracy is improved, but harmful factors increase due to invasiveness
Solution Approach 1:
The system uses the body's own acoustic properties and temporal return signals to characterize aberrations, eliminating the need for invasive miniature probes implanted during biopsy. The measurement process is non-invasive, using the natural acoustic response of the tissue.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent converts the natural acoustic scattering and reflection of ultrasound waves in tissue (which normally causes measurement difficulties) into a beneficial measurement tool. The temporal return signals, originally just echoes, are used to extract aberration information for correction.
4Power
If high-intensity ultrasound waves are used for therapy, then treatment effectiveness is improved, but harmful factors increase due to aberration-induced inaccuracies
Solution Approach 1:
The system measures aberrations using temporal return signals from the ultrasound waves and uses this feedback information to calculate correction filters. The measured phase and amplitude errors are fed back into the system to adjust the wavefront, ensuring accurate focusing even at high intensities.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs aberration characterization and correction filter calculation before the actual therapy treatment. By pre-measuring the acoustic path and computing corrections in advance, the system ensures accurate focusing is achieved when the high-intensity waves are applied for treatment.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Enables precise and non-invasive focusing of waves by adapting the phase shifts in transducers based on measured perturbations, improving treatment accuracy and reducing the complexity and risk of existing methods.
Implementation Method 1
emission, by a network of N sources, of waves An.ejαn (with j denoting a complex number, where j2=−1) exhibiting a spatial phase distribution αn and an amplitude distribution An (1≦n≦N), and propagating to the zone of interest in the medium
Implementation Method 2
measurement of at least one perturbation Im (1≦m≦M) induced by the waves in the zone of interest at each modification m (1≦m≦M) of the phase αn and/or amplitude An distribution
Implementation Method 3
modifications of the spatial phase distribution αn and/or of the amplitude distribution An (1≦n≦N) of the waves emitted simultaneously by a plurality of sources in the network
Implementation Method 4
deduction, from the perturbation measurements Im, of an optimal emission phase distribution αnopt and/or an amplitude distribution Anopt maximising the perturbation induced in the zone of interest
Data Source
AI summary
The invention concerns a method for optimizing the focusing of waves in a zone of interest of a medium, with the waves being emitted by a network of sources to the medium through an aberration-inducing element that introduces an initially indeterminate phase shift. The method according to the invention proposes to use M−1 successive modifications of the emitted wave, each giving rise to a perturbation. According to the invention, the M perturbations are measured in the zone of interest at each modification of the phase and/or amplitude distributions, and these measurements are used to deduce optimal focusing characteristics to maximize the perturbation induced in the zone of interest.