| 摘要 |
<p>An apparatus and method are disclosed for acoustically guiding a distal end (14) of a tube (10) within a body (12). An incident sound pulse is generated and propagated down the tube (10) into the body (12). A plurality of microphones (76, 78) are located in the tube (10) and are positioned to detect pulses travelling through the tube (10). A discriminator (110) distinguishes between incident sound pulses and those that are reflected from within the body. The detected sound pulses are processed to provide an indication of the location of the distal end (14) of the tube (10) within the body (12), to assist with the guidance of the insertion into the body (12), to estimate dimensions of the body (12) adjacent the distal end (14) of the tube (10), and to determine if the tube (10) is obstructed.</p> |
