1. A thermoacoustic tomograph for imaging an object, comprising:
at least one excitation source configured to thermally excite the object;
at least one large-area or integrating line detector for detecting acoustic waves caused by the object upon excitation thereof by said source, said at least one detector having a size chosen in dependence on a distance between said detector and a point of the object that is furthest away from said detector, wherein d denotes the distance between said detector and a point of the object that is furthest away from said detector, and wherein said detector has at least one dimension with an extent of at least \u221a{square root over (8)}\xb7d;
a movement device for moving the object andor the at least one detector relative to one another; and
a device connected to said detector for reconstructing an image of the object from the acoustic waves detected by said detector in dependence on a respective position of the object.
2. The tomograph according to claim 1, wherein said at least one detector is a linear detector or a strip-shaped detector having a length of at least \u221a{square root over (8)}\xb7d.
3. The tomograph according to claim 2, wherein said detector is one of a plurality of mutually parallel linear or strip-shaped detectors.
4. The tomograph according to claim 1, wherein said at least one detector is a flat detector, with a surface having a diameter of at least \u221a{square root over (8)}\xb7d.
5. The tomograph according to claim 1, wherein said at least one detector has a planar shape.
6. The tomograph according to claim 1, wherein said at least one detector is concavely curved.
7. The tomograph according to claim 6, wherein said at least one detector has a semi-cylindrical shape.
8. The tomograph according to claim 1, wherein said detector has an upper cut-off frequency of several GHz.
9. The tomograph according to claim 1, wherein said at least one detector is a piezoelectric sensor.
10. The tomograph according to claim 9, wherein said at least one detector is a polyvinylidene fluoride sheet or layer.
11. The tomograph according to claim 9, wherein said at least one detector is a zinc oxide sheet or layer.
12. The tomograph according to claim 1, wherein said at least one detector is an optical sensor.
13. The tomograph according to claim 12, wherein said at least one detector is an optical waveguide.
14. The tomograph according to claim 1, wherein said at least one excitation source is a laser.
15. The tomograph according to claim 14, wherein said laser is an infrared laser.
16. The tomograph according to claim 1, wherein said at least one excitation source is a microwave source.
17. The tomograph according to claim 1, wherein said at least one detector and the object are commonly disposed in a liquid coupling medium.
18. The tomograph according to claim 1, wherein said at least one detector is provided with a protective sheet.
19. The tomograph according to claim 1, wherein said movement device is a stepping motor.
20. The tomograph according to claim 1, wherein said reconstruction device is a computer.
21. The tomograph according to claim 1, which comprises a display connected to said reconstruction device for displaying the image of the object.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. A storage apparatus comprising:
a controller that:
writes, at the time of receiving a request to update at least a part of first data stored in a first storage area by at least a part of second data, the second data to a second storage area other than the first storage area,
determines whether or not a write error occurs,
compares, when the write error does not occur, a first write amount if the controller performs a first combination process for writing the second data to the first storage area with a second write amount if the controller performs a second combination process for writing a differential portion of the first data other than an update portion to the second storage area,
selects one of the first combination process and the second combination process on the basis of a comparison result, and
performs the selected combination process.
2. The storage apparatus according to claim 1 further comprising an addition device which adds a check code to the second data to be written to the second storage area, wherein when the control section writes the second data to the second storage area, the control section determines on the basis of the added check code whether or not the write error occurs.
3. The storage apparatus according to claim 1 further comprising a storage device, wherein:
the first data is used for updating a first portion of corresponding data stored in the storage device;
the second data is used for updating a second portion of the corresponding data; and
the controller updates the first portion of the corresponding data and the second portion of the corresponding data by combined data.
4. The storage apparatus according to claim 1, wherein when the write error occurs, the controller does not combine the first data and the second data and deletes the second data.
5. The storage apparatus according to claim 1, wherein when the write error occurs, the controller gives notice of occurrence of the write error.
6. The storage apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the controller selects based on the comparison result a process that requires a smaller write amount among the first combination process and the second combination process, and performs the selected combination process.
7. The storage apparatus according to claim 3, wherein:
the corresponding data is updated by the first data and is then updated by the combined data; and
the first portion overlaps at least in part with the second portion.
8. The storage apparatus according to claim 1 further comprising a cache memory which includes the first storage area and the second storage area,
wherein the controller:
determines whether or not a storage area included in the cache memory is free; and
selects the second storage area on the basis of a determination result.
9. A control apparatus comprising:
a controller that:
writes, at the time of receiving a request to update at least a part of first data stored in a first storage area by at least a part of second data, the second data to a second storage area other than the first storage area,
determines whether or not a write error occurs,
compares, when the write error does not occur, a first write amount if the controller performs a first combination process for writing the second data to the first storage area with a second write amount if the controller performs a second combination process for writing a differential portion of the first data other than an update portion to the second storage area,
selects one of the first combination process and the second combination process on the basis of a comparison result,
performs the selected combination process, and
updates data that is stored in a storage device and that corresponds to the first data and the second data by data obtained by the selected combination process.
10. A control method of controlling a storage apparatus, the control method comprising:
writing, at the time of receiving a request to update at least a part of first data stored in a first storage area by at least a part of second data, the second data to a second storage area other than the first storage area, and determining whether or not a write error occurs;
comparing, when the write error does not occur, a first write amount if a first combination process for writing the second data to the first storage area is performed with a second write amount if a second combination process for writing a differential portion of the first data other than an update portion to the second storage area is performed,
selecting one of the first combination process and the second combination process on the basis of a comparison result, and
performing the selected combination process.
11. A storage apparatus comprising:
a first controller that:
stores first data in a first storage area,
transmits the first data to a second controller,
writes, at the time of receiving a request to update at least a part of the first data by at least a part of second data, the second data to a second storage area other than the first storage area,
transmits the second data to the second controller,
determines whether or not a write error occurs,
combines, when the write error does not occur, the first data and the second data, and
acquires, when the write error occurs, third data from the second controller, and
the second controller that:
receives the first data from the first controller, and
generates, when the second data is received from the first controller, the third data by combining the first data received from the first controller and the second data received from the first controller.