JP5622377B2 - Ultrasonic diagnostic equipment - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, and more particularly to a technique for storing audio data.

  A technique is known in which an examiner's findings and the like at the time of diagnosis are supplementarily added to an ultrasonic image obtained by using an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus. For example, character data such as a comment text is attached to an ultrasonic image and recorded. In addition, a technique for recording voice data has been proposed in order to eliminate the complexity of keyboard operation in inputting character data. For example, Patent Documents 1 to 3 describe techniques for storing image data and audio data of ultrasonic images in association with each other.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 1-175832. JP 2003-126091 A JP 2004-113393 A

  In view of the background art described above, the inventor of the present application has repeatedly researched and developed a technique for storing image data and audio data of an ultrasonic image in association with each other.

  The present invention has been made in the course of its research and development, and its purpose is to realize a close correspondence between ultrasonic images and audio data.

  An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus suitable for the above object includes a probe having a plurality of vibration elements that transmit and receive ultrasonic waves, and reception that forms a reception signal along an ultrasonic beam based on signals obtained from the plurality of vibration elements. A processing unit, an image forming unit that forms image data of an ultrasonic image based on a received signal along the ultrasonic beam, a position of interest in the ultrasonic image and audio data related to the position of interest are associated with each other And an audio data processing unit for storing audio data.

  In a preferred embodiment, the voice data processing unit forms a table in which the coordinate data of the position of interest and the voice data related to the position of interest are associated with each other.

  In a desirable specific example, the sound data processing unit forms a table in which coordinate data of a position of interest and sound data related to the position of interest are associated with each other for each frame of an ultrasonic image composed of a plurality of frames. It is characterized by that.

  In a preferred embodiment, the voice data processing unit starts acquisition of voice data related to the position of interest in response to a user operation that specifies the position of interest.

  In a preferred embodiment, the voice data processing unit ends the acquisition of the voice data based on a user operation for instructing termination, a time length determined to be a silent state, or a time length after starting the acquisition. It is characterized by that.

  In a preferred embodiment, the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus displays an audio icon at a position of interest where audio data of the ultrasonic image is stored when reproducing the ultrasonic image.

  In a preferred embodiment, the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus reproduces voice data corresponding to the voice icon in response to a user operation on the voice icon.

  According to the present invention, a close correspondence between the ultrasonic image and the audio data is realized. For example, according to a preferred aspect of the present invention, it is possible to associate a position of interest in an ultrasonic image and audio data related to the position of interest with each other.

1 is a diagram illustrating an overall configuration of an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus that is preferable in the practice of the present invention. It is a figure for demonstrating the management table which an audio | voice data processing part forms. It is a figure for demonstrating acquisition and reproduction | regeneration of audio | voice data.

  Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described.

  FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an overall configuration of an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus suitable for implementing the present invention. The probe 10 is an ultrasonic probe that transmits and receives ultrasonic waves to a subject such as a living body. The probe 10 includes a plurality of vibration elements each of which transmits and receives an ultrasonic wave. The plurality of vibration elements are transmission-controlled by the transmission beam former 12 to form a transmission beam. In addition, the plurality of vibration elements receive the ultrasonic waves reflected from the subject, and signals obtained thereby are output to the reception beam former 14, and the reception beam former 14 forms beam data along the reception beam. .

  The beam data is, for example, RF signal data (RF data), but data (in-phase component data and quadrature component data) obtained by performing quadrature detection processing on the RF signal may be used as beam data. Beam data is formed for each received beam. That is, a plurality of beam data corresponding to a plurality of reception beams are formed one after another.

  The beam processor 16 performs reception processing on each of the plurality of beam data obtained from the reception beamformer 14 to form a plurality of line data. The beam processor 16 appropriately executes, for example, various filter processes such as detection, quadrature detection, logarithmic compression, spatial filter, and frequency analysis as reception processing.

  The image forming unit 18 performs image processing on the line data obtained from the beam processor 16 to form image data. For each frame, the image forming unit 18 forms image data from a plurality of line data belonging to the frame, and sequentially forms a plurality of image data corresponding to the plurality of frames. An ultrasonic image such as a B-mode image or a Doppler image is formed based on the plurality of image data formed in the image forming unit 18.

  The data processing unit 20 forms a display image including an ultrasonic image based on a plurality of image data obtained from the image forming unit 18. The display image formed in this way is displayed on the display unit 40. The data processing unit 20 includes an audio data processing unit 22.

  The audio data processing unit 22 forms audio data based on a signal obtained via the microphone 32, associates the position of interest in the ultrasonic image and the audio data related to the position of interest with each other, and converts the audio data into data Store in the storage unit 24. The voice data processing unit 22 performs voice data storage processing in accordance with a user operation input via the operation device 34. In addition to the sound data, image data of the ultrasonic image is also stored in the data storage unit 24.

  A plurality of functional blocks such as the data processing unit 20 and the data storage unit 24 and the operation device 34 connected to the data processing unit 20 can be realized by, for example, a general-purpose computer. For example, the data storage unit 24 can be realized by a relatively inexpensive and large-capacity hard disk.

  As described above, the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus of FIG. 1 includes the audio data processing unit 22, and associates the position of interest in the ultrasonic image and the audio data related to the position of interest with each other, The image data of the sound wave image is stored in the data storage unit 24. Audio data and image data stored in the data storage unit 24 may be transferred to a computer (not shown) or the like via the communication unit 50.

  Next, the correspondence between the ultrasonic image and the audio data by the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus in FIG. 1 will be described. In addition, about the part (structure) already shown in FIG. 1, the code | symbol of FIG. 1 is utilized also in the following description.

  FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining a management table formed by the audio data processing unit 22. The data storage unit 24 can store a plurality of images, for example, data relating to a plurality of images obtained from a plurality of different subjects. FIG. 2 shows the contents of a table for an image number I among a plurality of images.

  The audio data processing unit 22 forms a management table in which the coordinate data of the position of interest and the audio data related to the position of interest are associated with each other for each frame of the ultrasonic image composed of a plurality of frames.

  For example, as shown in FIG. 2, a plurality of points of interest (interest positions) are set for the frame of frame number 1. For each point of interest, a number for identifying the point of interest and coordinate data indicating the position of the point of interest in the frame are stored. For example, the interest point number 1 has a coordinate value (x1, y1) in a frame expressed in the XY coordinate system. Further, for each interest point, a file name (audio file name) of the audio data corresponding to the interest point is stored. For example, the number 1 interest point is associated with audio data of the audio file name Audio1-1.

  Similarly to the frame number 1, a plurality of points of interest (interest positions) are set for other frames, for example, the frame of frame number 2, and a number for identifying the point of interest for each point of interest. And coordinate data indicating the position of the interest point are stored, and further, for each interest point, a file name of audio data corresponding to the interest point is stored.

  The voice data processing unit 22 starts acquisition of voice data related to the point of interest in response to a user operation that designates the point of interest, and ends acquisition of voice data in response to a user operation that instructs the end. Each time the voice data processing unit 22 acquires voice data, the voice data is associated with the point of interest and the voice data to form the management table shown in FIG. The management table is stored in the data storage unit 24, for example.

  FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining acquisition and reproduction of audio data. FIG. 3 shows a display image 100 used in the acquisition and reproduction. The display image 100 is formed in the data processing unit 20 and displayed on the display unit 40. The display image 100 includes an ultrasonic image 120 formed based on a plurality of image data obtained from the image forming unit 18 and diagnostic information 130 such as a graph obtained by analyzing the ultrasonic image. Yes.

  When acquiring the audio data, the user (examiner) displays the display image 100 including the ultrasonic image 120 of the moving image related to the subject tissue O of the subject, for example, and when a target symptom appears, for example. Using the operation device 34 such as a mouse, a point of interest is set at the image position where the intended symptom appears. For example, a point of interest is set by a double click operation. Then, a voice icon is displayed at the position of the interest point. For example, as shown in FIG. 3, the interest point P1 is set according to the user operation, and the audio icon of the audio data 1 is displayed at the position of the interest point P1.

  When the position of the point of interest is specified and a voice icon is displayed, the voice data processing unit 22 starts acquiring voice data. The user uses the microphone 32 to input, for example, a finding regarding a target symptom by voice. The audio data processing unit 22 forms audio data based on the audio signal obtained from the microphone 32. Then, when the user clicks the voice icon, the voice data processing unit 22 finishes the acquisition of the voice data, performs the closing process of the voice file, assigns the voice file name, and determines the file.

  Note that the acquisition of the audio data may be terminated when the silent time of the sound input via the microphone 32 has elapsed a predetermined time, or the acquisition of the audio data may be performed when a preset recording time has elapsed. It may be terminated. The voice icon may be hidden after the acquisition of the voice data is finished.

  After the voice data 1 corresponding to the point of interest P1 is acquired, when the position of the point of interest P2 is designated according to the user operation, the voice icon of the voice data 2 is displayed at that position, and the point corresponding to the point of interest P2 Audio data 2 can be acquired. A plurality of points of interest can be designated for each frame of the ultrasound image 120 composed of a plurality of frames. Further, each time the voice data is acquired, the management table (see FIG. 2) is formed by associating the points of interest with the voice data.

  In addition, as shown in FIG. 3, the interest point may be set in the diagnostic information 130, and the audio data 3 corresponding to the interest point may be acquired.

  Next, when reproducing the audio data, the user selects, for example, the image data of the subject to be diagnosed from among a plurality of image data stored in the data storage unit 24, and thereby, FIG. As shown, a display image 100 including a moving image ultrasonic image 120 related to the target tissue O is reproduced. Then, an ultrasonic image 120 composed of a plurality of frames is reproduced, and an audio icon is displayed when a frame in which a point of interest is set is reproduced. For example, when a frame in which the point of interest P1 is set is played, a voice icon of the voice data 1 is displayed at the position of the point of interest P1 for several seconds before and after the frame.

  The user operates the displayed audio icon using the operation device 34 such as a mouse, and reproduces the audio data by clicking the audio icon, for example. For example, when the user clicks on the voice icon of the voice data 1, the voice data processing unit 22 refers to the management table (see FIG. 2), and among the plurality of voice data (voice files) stored in the data storage unit 24. The data of the audio data 1 is read out from the audio data 1 and the audio data 1 is reproduced. Audio corresponding to the audio data is output from, for example, a speaker or an earphone.

  Note that the click operation of the audio icon by the user may be omitted, and for example, all the audio data included in the ultrasonic image 120 may be sequentially reproduced in parallel with the reproduction of the ultrasonic image 120. Also, comment data (text data) is formed from voice data using voice recognition processing, and a comment with characters corresponding to the voice data is displayed instead of or in addition to voice data playback. You may display in 100.

  According to the above-described embodiment, since the position of interest in the ultrasonic image and the audio data related to the position of interest are associated with each other, for example, the audio data and the image data are transmitted to a remote place via the communication unit 50. As a result, detailed telemedicine using a close correspondence between the ultrasonic image and the audio data becomes possible. Further, by associating the fetus's parental sound data with the fetal ultrasound image, a service such as providing the parent with data with sound added to the image can be realized.

  As mentioned above, although preferred embodiment of this invention was described, embodiment mentioned above is only a mere illustration in all the points, and does not limit the scope of the present invention. The present invention includes various modifications without departing from the essence thereof.

  18 image forming unit, 20 data processing unit, 22 audio data processing unit, 24 data storage unit, 32 microphone, 34 operation device.

Claims (5)

A probe having a plurality of vibration elements for transmitting and receiving ultrasonic waves;
A reception processing unit that forms a reception signal along the ultrasonic beam based on signals obtained from a plurality of vibration elements;
An image forming unit that forms image data of an ultrasonic image based on a received signal along the ultrasonic beam;
An audio data processing unit that stores the audio data by associating the coordinate data of the position of interest and the audio data related to the position of interest for each frame of the ultrasonic image composed of a plurality of frames;
Have
In response to an operation from the user who displays an ultrasonic image of a moving image related to a target tissue composed of a plurality of frames and sets a position of interest at the image position where the symptom appears, Display an audio icon at the position of interest and start acquiring audio data related to the position of interest ; store the audio data in association with the position of interest and the audio data;
In reproducing an ultrasonic image of a moving image related to a target tissue composed of the plurality of frames, when reproducing a frame in which a position of interest is set, a voice icon of voice data associated with the position of interest is displayed. ,
An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus. The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to claim 1,
The audio data processing unit, in the playback of the moving ultrasound images relating configured target tissue by the plurality of frames, in response to a user operation with respect to the displayed audio icons associated with the speech icon Play audio data,
An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus. The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to claim 2,
The audio data processing unit forms a table associating each other and the sound data relating to the coordinate data and the position of interest location of interest for each frame of ultrasound images formed by the plurality of frames,
An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus. The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3 ,
The voice data processing unit ends the acquisition of the voice data based on the user operation instructing the end, the time length determined to be a silent state, or the time length after starting the acquisition,
An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus. In the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4 ,
Displaying an audio icon at a position of interest where audio data of the ultrasonic image is stored when reproducing the ultrasonic image of the video ,
An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus.

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