JP5266348B2 - Ultrasonic diagnostic equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus that can continue ultrasonic diagnostics without impairing the operability of an ultrasonic probe over a long period of time. <P>SOLUTION: A power supply terminal 31 of a power supply unit 3 disposed at a body of an operator is connected with a receiving terminal 15 of an ultrasonic probe 1, and an electric power from a battery 33 in the power supply unit 3 is supplied to each of sections in the ultrasonic probe 1 through a power supply section 32, the power supply terminal 31, and a power receiving terminal 15 and a power receiving section 16 of the ultrasonic probe 1. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2012,JPO&amp;INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, and more particularly, to an ultrasonic probe of an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus that performs diagnosis based on an ultrasonic image generated by transmitting and receiving ultrasonic waves from a transducer array of an ultrasonic probe. It relates to a power supply method.

  Conventionally, in the medical field, an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus using an ultrasonic image has been put into practical use. In general, this type of ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus has an ultrasonic probe with a built-in transducer array and an apparatus main body connected to the ultrasonic probe, and ultrasonic waves are directed toward the subject from the ultrasonic probe. , The ultrasonic echo from the subject is received by the ultrasonic probe, and the received signal is electrically processed by the apparatus main body to generate an ultrasonic image.

  In recent years, an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus that connects an ultrasonic probe and the apparatus main body by wireless communication has been developed to eliminate the troublesomeness of the communication cable connecting the ultrasonic probe and the apparatus main body and improve operability. Has been. In such a wireless ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, for example, as described in Patent Document 1, a rechargeable battery is built in the ultrasonic probe as a power source, and when the battery needs to be charged, The ultrasonic probe is housed in the probe holder installed in the main body of the apparatus, and the battery in the ultrasonic probe is fed from the power supply section of the main body of the apparatus with the external charging contact of the ultrasonic probe connected to the contact on the probe holder side. The

JP 2002-530175 A

  However, in the apparatus of Patent Document 1, since the ultrasonic probe is housed in the probe holder of the apparatus body and the battery is charged, the ultrasonic diagnosis must be interrupted when the battery is charged, which hinders the ultrasonic diagnosis. May come.

  The present invention has been made to solve such a conventional problem, and provides an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus capable of continuing an ultrasonic diagnosis over a long period of time without impairing the operability of the ultrasonic probe. For the purpose.

In the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to the present invention, the ultrasonic probe and the diagnostic apparatus main body are connected by wireless communication, an ultrasonic beam is transmitted from the transducer array of the ultrasonic probe toward the subject, and the ultrasound by the subject is also transmitted. processing the received signals outputted from the transducer array of the ultrasonic probe which receives the wave echo, the diagnostic apparatus body based on the processed received signal an ultrasound diagnostic apparatus which generates an ultrasonic image, ultrasonic each other desorption to any one of the respective plurality of receiving terminals which are electrically connected to each part of the ultrasonic probe, and a plurality of power receiving terminals can be attached to the body of the operator while being arranged at different locations housing of the ultrasonic probe The power supply unit is connected to the power supply unit so as to supply power to each part in the ultrasonic probe.

Good Mashiku is feeding unit is attached to the glove or wristband fitted in the operator's hand.

  According to the present invention, at least one power receiving terminal electrically connected to each part in the ultrasonic probe is disposed on the ultrasonic probe, and the power feeding unit detachably connected to the power receiving terminal is attached to the operator's body. As a result, it is possible to supply power to the ultrasonic probe from the power supply unit attached to the operator's body, and it is possible to continue ultrasonic diagnosis for a long period without impairing the operability of the ultrasonic probe. It becomes.

1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention. 1 is a perspective view showing an ultrasonic probe in Embodiment 1. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a globe to which a power supply unit is attached in Embodiment 1. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a power receiving terminal and a power feeding terminal in Embodiment 1. FIG. FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing an ultrasonic probe in the second embodiment. 6 is a perspective view showing an ultrasonic probe in Embodiment 3. FIG.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.
Embodiment 1
FIG. 1 shows the configuration of an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention. The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus includes an ultrasonic probe 1, a diagnostic apparatus main body 2 connected to the ultrasonic probe 1 by wireless communication, and a power supply unit 3 that is detachably connected to the ultrasonic probe 1.

  The ultrasonic probe 1 has a plurality of ultrasonic transducers 4 constituting a plurality of channels of a one-dimensional or two-dimensional transducer array, and a reception signal processing unit 5 is connected to each of the transducers 4 to receive a reception signal. A wireless communication unit 9 is connected to the processing unit 5 through a data storage unit 6, a phasing addition unit 7 and a signal processing unit 8 in order. A transmission control unit 11 is connected to the plurality of transducers 4 via the transmission drive unit 10, a reception control unit 12 is connected to the plurality of reception signal processing units 5, and a communication control unit 13 is connected to the wireless communication unit 9. ing. A probe control unit 14 is connected to the transmission control unit 11, the reception control unit 12, and the communication control unit 13. Furthermore, the ultrasonic probe 1 includes a power receiving terminal 15 attached to the housing, and a power receiving unit 16 connected to the power receiving terminal 15 and electrically connected to each part that requires power in the ultrasonic probe 1. It has.

Each of the plurality of transducers 4 transmits an ultrasonic wave according to a drive signal supplied from the transmission drive unit 10, receives an ultrasonic echo from the subject, and outputs a reception signal. Each transducer 4 is a vibration in which electrodes are formed on both ends of a piezoelectric body made of, for example, a piezoelectric ceramic represented by PZT (lead zirconate titanate) or a polymer piezoelectric element represented by PVDF (polyvinylidene fluoride). Consists of children.
When a pulsed or continuous wave voltage is applied to the electrodes of such a vibrator, the piezoelectric body expands and contracts, and pulsed or continuous wave ultrasonic waves are generated from the respective vibrators, and the synthesis of those ultrasonic waves. As a result, an ultrasonic beam is formed. In addition, each transducer generates an electric signal by expanding and contracting by receiving propagating ultrasonic waves, and these electric signals are output as ultrasonic reception signals.

  The transmission drive unit 10 includes, for example, a plurality of pulsars, and based on the transmission delay pattern selected by the transmission control unit 11, the ultrasonic waves transmitted from the plurality of transducers 4 pass through the tissue area in the subject. The delay amount of each drive signal is adjusted so as to form a wide ultrasonic beam to be covered and supplied to the plurality of transducers 4.

The reception signal processing unit 5 of each channel generates a complex baseband signal by performing orthogonal detection processing or orthogonal sampling processing on the reception signal output from the corresponding transducer 4 under the control of the reception control unit 12. Then, sample data including information on the area of the tissue is generated by sampling the complex baseband signal. The reception signal processing unit 5 may generate sample data by performing data compression processing for high-efficiency encoding on data obtained by sampling a complex baseband signal.
The data storage unit 6 is configured by a memory or the like, and stores at least one frame worth of sample data generated by the plurality of reception signal processing units 5.

The phasing addition unit 7 selects one reception delay pattern from a plurality of reception delay patterns stored in advance according to the reception direction set in the probe control unit 14, and sets the selected reception delay pattern. Based on this, the reception focus process is performed by adding a delay to each of the plurality of complex baseband signals represented by the sample data. By this reception focus processing, a baseband signal (sound ray signal) in which the focus of the ultrasonic echo is narrowed is generated.
The signal processing unit 8 corrects the attenuation due to the distance according to the depth of the reflection position of the ultrasonic wave on the sound ray signal generated by the phasing addition unit 7, and then follows a normal television signal scanning method. By converting into an image signal (raster conversion), a B-mode image signal that is tomographic image information relating to the tissue in the subject is generated.

The wireless communication unit 9 generates a transmission signal by modulating a carrier based on the B-mode image signal generated by the signal processing unit 8, supplies the transmission signal to the antenna, and transmits radio waves from the antenna. A mode image signal is transmitted. As the modulation scheme, for example, ASK (Amplitude Shift Keying), PSK (Phase Shift Keying), QPSK (Quadrature Phase Shift Keying), 16QAM (16 Quadrature Amplitude Modulation), and the like are used.
The wireless communication unit 9 performs wireless communication with the diagnostic apparatus main body 2 to transmit a B-mode image signal to the diagnostic apparatus main body 2 and to receive and receive various control signals from the diagnostic apparatus main body 2. The control signal thus output is output to the communication control unit 13. The communication control unit 13 controls the wireless communication unit 9 so that the B-mode image signal is transmitted with the transmission radio wave intensity set by the probe control unit 14, and also receives various control signals received by the wireless communication unit 9. Output to the probe controller 14.

The probe control unit 14 controls each unit of the ultrasonic probe 1 based on various control signals transmitted from the diagnostic apparatus main body 2.
The power receiving unit 63 connected to the power receiving terminal 15 is for supplying power to each unit that requires power in the ultrasonic probe 61.
The ultrasonic probe 1 may be an external probe such as a linear scan method, a convex scan method, a sector scan method, or an ultrasonic endoscope probe such as a radial scan method.

  On the other hand, the diagnostic apparatus body 2 includes a wireless communication unit 21, an image processing unit 22 is connected to the wireless communication unit 21, and a display control unit 23 and an image storage unit 24 are connected to the image processing unit 22, respectively. A display unit 25 is connected to the control unit 23. A communication control unit 26 is connected to the wireless communication unit 21, and a main body control unit 27 is connected to the display control unit 23 and the communication control unit 26. Furthermore, an operation unit 28 for an operator to perform an input operation and a storage unit 29 for storing an operation program and the like are connected to the main body control unit 27.

The wireless communication unit 21 transmits various control signals to the ultrasonic probe 1 by performing wireless communication with the ultrasonic probe 1. The wireless communication unit 21 outputs a B-mode image signal by demodulating the signal received by the antenna.
The communication control unit 26 controls the wireless communication unit 21 so that various control signals are transmitted with the transmission radio wave intensity set by the main body control unit 27.
The image processing unit 22 performs various necessary image processing such as gradation processing on the B-mode image signal input from the communication control unit 26, and then outputs the B-mode image signal to the display control unit 23. Store in the storage unit 24.

  The display control unit 23 causes the display unit 25 to display an ultrasound diagnostic image based on the B-mode image signal that has been subjected to image processing by the image processing unit 22. The display unit 25 includes a display device such as an LCD, for example, and displays an ultrasound diagnostic image under the control of the display control unit 23.

  In such a diagnostic apparatus main body 2, the image processing unit 22, the display control unit 23, the communication control unit 26, and the main body control unit 27 are configured by a CPU and an operation program for causing the CPU to perform various processes. These may be constituted by digital circuits. The operation program is stored in the storage unit 29. As a recording medium in the storage unit 29, a flexible disk, MO, MT, RAM, CD-ROM, DVD-ROM or the like can be used in addition to the built-in hard disk.

The power supply unit 3 is for supplying power to the ultrasonic probe 1. The power supply terminal 31 is detachably connected to the power reception terminal 15 of the ultrasonic probe 1 and is electrically connected to the power supply terminal 31. A power supply unit 32 and a battery 33 electrically connected to the power supply unit 32 are further provided.
The power feeding unit 32 is for supplying power from the battery 33 to the power receiving unit 16 of the ultrasonic probe 1 via the power feeding terminal 31 and the power receiving terminal 15 of the ultrasonic probe 1.

As shown in FIG. 2, the power receiving terminal 15 is disposed on the casing 1 a of the ultrasonic probe 1 so as to be exposed to the outside.
On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 3, the power supply unit 3 is attached to a glove 34 that fits in an operator's hand. For example, a power supply terminal 31 protrudes from the abdomen of the finger portion 35 of the glove 34. A power feeding unit 32 and a battery 33 are mounted on the upper portion 36 of the globe 34, and the power feeding terminal 31 and the power feeding unit 32 are connected to each other via a conductive member 37.

Next, the operation of the first embodiment will be described.
First, as shown in FIG. 4, the operator fits the globe 34 in his hand and press-fits the power supply terminal 31 protrudingly formed on the finger portion 35 of the globe 34 to the power reception terminal 15 of the ultrasonic probe 1 to supply power. In a state where the terminal 31 and the power receiving terminal 15 are connected to each other, the casing 1a of the ultrasonic probe 1 is gripped. Thereby, the electric power from the battery 33 in the power supply unit 3 is supplied to each part in the ultrasonic probe 1 through the power supply unit 32, the power supply terminal 31, the power reception terminal 15 of the ultrasonic probe 1 and the power reception unit 16.

  Diagnosis is started in this state. That is, ultrasonic waves are transmitted from a plurality of transducers 4 constituting the transducer array in accordance with a drive signal supplied from the transmission drive unit 10 of the ultrasonic probe 1, and output from each transducer 4 that has received an ultrasonic echo from the subject. The received signal is supplied to the corresponding received signal processing unit 5 to generate sample data, and the sound wave signal is generated by the phasing adder 7, and then the B-mode image signal generated by the signal processor 8 Is wirelessly transmitted from the wireless communication unit 9 to the diagnostic apparatus body 2. The B-mode image signal received by the wireless communication unit 21 of the diagnostic apparatus main body 2 is subjected to image processing such as gradation processing by the image processing unit 22, and then the display control unit 23 based on the B-mode image signal. An ultrasonic diagnostic image is displayed on the display unit 25.

  In this way, by connecting the power supply terminal 31 of the power supply unit 3 attached to the glove 34 that fits in the hand of the operator to the power reception terminal 15 of the ultrasonic probe 1, each part in the ultrasonic probe 1 is connected from the power supply unit 3. Electric power can be supplied. For this reason, it is not necessary to charge the battery built in the ultrasonic probe by storing the ultrasonic probe in the probe holder of the diagnostic apparatus body as in the prior art, and without damaging the operability of the ultrasonic probe 1 for a long period of time. Thus, it is possible to continue the ultrasonic diagnosis.

  In order not to impair the operation of the ultrasonic probe 1, the power supply terminal 31 is preferably arranged on the finger part 35 such as the ring finger or the little finger of the glove 34, or can be arranged on the palm of the glove 34. Moreover, it is preferable to select the arrangement position of the power receiving terminal 15 in the housing 1 a of the ultrasonic probe 1 so that the operator can easily hold the ultrasonic probe 1 according to the arrangement position of the power supply terminal 31 in the globe 34.

  The power receiving terminal 15 is disposed on the housing 1a of the ultrasonic probe 1 so as to be exposed to the outside. However, when the power receiving terminal 31 of the globe 34 is not connected by forming an openable lid, the power receiving terminal 15 is operated from the outside. It can also be configured so that a person's hand or finger is not touched. If such a lid is formed, the possibility that the power receiving terminal 15 is soiled by dust or the like is reduced.

Embodiment 2
FIG. 5 shows an ultrasonic probe 41 according to the second embodiment. The ultrasonic probe 41 has a plurality of power receiving terminals 15a, 15b,... At different positions such as an upper surface, a lower surface, and a side surface of the housing 41a, and these power receiving terminals 15a, 15b,. 41 is connected to the power receiving unit 16 in 41. Other internal configurations of the ultrasonic probe 41 are the same as those of the ultrasonic probe 1 in the first embodiment.
As described above, since the plurality of power receiving terminals 15a, 15b,... Are arranged at different positions of the housing 41a, the operator can connect the power receiving terminal most easily depending on how the ultrasonic probe 41 is gripped. The power supply terminal 31 of the globe 34 can be appropriately connected to the glove 34, and the operability of the ultrasonic probe 41 can be improved while power is supplied.

  In this case, each of the plurality of power receiving terminals 15a, 15b,... Has a unique ID in advance, and the ID of the power receiving terminal to which the power feeding terminal 31 is connected among the plurality of power receiving terminals 15a, 15b,. It is preferable to start feeding after specifying the power receiving terminal by reading.

Embodiment 3
FIG. 6 shows an ultrasonic probe 51 according to the third embodiment. The ultrasonic probe 51 has a flexible power receiving cable 52 drawn out from the housing 51 a, and a power receiving terminal 15 c is disposed at the tip of the power receiving cable 52. The power receiving terminal 15 c is connected to the power receiving unit 16 in the ultrasonic probe 51 via the power receiving cable 52. The other internal configuration of the ultrasonic probe 51 is the same as that of the ultrasonic probe 1 in the first embodiment.

In this way, by arranging the power receiving terminal 15c at the tip of the flexible power receiving cable 52 drawn to the outside from the housing 51a, the power receiving terminal 15c can be freely positioned with respect to the housing 51a of the ultrasonic probe 51 and Therefore, the operability of the ultrasonic probe 51 can be further improved while supplying power.
In this case, the power feeding terminal 31 connected to the power receiving terminal 15c may be attached to the globe 34 as shown in FIG. 3, or may be attached to a wristband that can be fitted by the operator.

  In the first to third embodiments described above, the electric power received by the power receiving unit 16 is directly supplied to each unit in the ultrasonic probe 1, but this is not a limitation, and a battery is built in the ultrasonic probe 1 in advance. Power can be supplied from the power reception unit 16 to the built-in battery of the ultrasonic probe 1, and power can be supplied from the battery to each unit in the ultrasonic probe 1.

  1, 41, 51 Ultrasonic probe, 1a, 41a, 51a housing, 2 diagnostic device body, 3 feeding unit, 4 transducer, 5 received signal processing unit, 6 data storage unit, 7 phasing addition unit, 8 signal processing unit, DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 9 Wireless communication part, 10 Transmission drive part, 11 Transmission control part, 12 Reception control part, 13 Communication control part, 14 Probe control part, 15, 15a, 15b, 15c Power receiving terminal, 16 Power receiving part, 21 Wireless communication part, 22 Image processing unit, 23 display control unit, 24 image storage unit, 25 display unit, 26 communication control unit, 27 main body control unit, 28 operation unit, 29 storage unit, 31 power supply terminal, 32 power supply unit, 33 battery, 34 globe, 35 Finger, 36 Back, 37 Conductive member, 52 Power receiving cable.

Claims (2)

The ultrasonic probe in which the ultrasonic probe and the diagnostic apparatus main body are connected by wireless communication, an ultrasonic beam is transmitted from the transducer array of the ultrasonic probe toward the subject, and an ultrasonic echo from the subject is received. An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus that processes a reception signal output from the transducer array of and generates an ultrasonic image in the diagnostic apparatus body based on the processed reception signal,
A plurality of power receiving terminals electrically connected to each part of each said ultrasonic probe with is arranged in different positions housing of the ultrasonic probe with each other,
An ultrasonic wave comprising: a power supply unit that is attachable to an operator's body and is detachably connected to any of the plurality of power receiving terminals to supply power to each part in the ultrasonic probe. Diagnostic device. The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the power supply unit is attached to a glove or wristband that fits in an operator's hand.

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