Appeal No. 2001-0250 Page 3
Application No. 08/283,074
tube. A processor processes the transduced signals to provide
an output signal characteristic of the geometry of the volume.
Claim 16, which is representative for our purposes,
follows:
16. A method for imaging a confined volume
comprising,
connecting an open first end of a conduit having
an interior free of sound-absorbing or acoustic
energy-absorbing material to an opening in said
confined volume,
propagating acoustical energy inside said
conduit through said open first end and into said
confined volume through said opening to produce a
first wave traveling towards said opening in said
confined volume and the confined volume producing a
second wave traveling away from said opening towards
said second end in response to the first wave, the
second wave having a wave field in said conduit
representative of said confined volume geometry,
transducing acoustic wave field parameters of
said wave field at least two spaced locations along
said conduit to provide first and second transduced
signals representative of said wave field,
and processing said first and second transduced
signals in accordance with an algorithm that takes
into account said first wave and said second wave to
provide an output signal representative of a
characteristic of said confined volume.
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