IMAGING AND LOCATING SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR A SWALLOWABLE SENSOR DEVICE

The present invention is directed to locating and imaging with a swallowable sensor device disposed in a patient. The swallowable sensor device transmits an acoustic signal from inside a patient's body. A plurality of sensing elements receive the acoustic signal. A computation module determines a location of the swallowable sensor device with respect to the plurality of sensing elements based on the acoustic signal received by at least a subset of the plurality of sensing elements. A three-dimensional image of an interior portion of the patient can also be formed based on the received acoustic signal. The three-dimensional image may be formed by stereoscopically displaying two two-dimensional images of the interior portion, wherein the two two-dimensional images correspond to the swallowable sensor device being located at two different locations. Alternatively, the three-dimensional image may be formed by computing three-dimensional pixels of the interior portion.