JPH03188839A - Ultrasonic diagnostic device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To turn off menu display with simple operation when recording images so as to reduce the work load of an operator by providing a control means for making control of outputting data on characters for menue display to an adding means according to the operating state of an image recording device. CONSTITUTION:A CPU 12 serving as a control means inputs in advance from an image recording device 16 time information s2 necessary for recording images and outputs to an image recording video signal generating portion 14 a menue display blank signal s3 for blanking (turning off) menue display. The signal generating portion 14 stops inputting data on characters for menue display to an adder for a fixed period of time according to time information s2 when the blank signal s3 is input thereto. Therefore only data on tomogram images is output as an image recording video signal s5 from the signal generating portion 14 to the monitor of the recording device 16 and so a tomogram image is displayed and also only the tomogram image and other required information are recorded on a film by print input. There is thus no necessity for an operator to turn off menue display for another display and so the work load of the operator is reduced.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Object of the Invention] (Industrial Application Field) The present invention transmits and receives ultrasonic waves from an ultrasonic probe to a subject, and processes the received signals obtained thereby. The present invention relates to an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus that displays ultrasonic images.

(Prior art) Ultrasonic diagnostic method involves transmitting ultrasonic pulses into a living body from an ultrasound probe equipped with multiple ultrasound transducers, and collecting biological information using reflected waves from various tissues within the living body. is obtained,
It has the advantage of being able to diagnose soft tissues. Each transducer of this ultrasonic probe is driven by a drive signal to generate ultrasonic waves, and the ultrasonic waves are transmitted into the living body. By giving a predetermined delay time to the received signal obtained from the same transducer from inside the living body, the ultrasonic beam is focused at a predetermined distance (position) and the azimuth resolution is increased. Obtaining tomographic images.

In addition, in order to obtain tomographic images with such excellent resolution,
The state of the ultrasound diagnostic equipment must be set appropriately. Furthermore, when a doctor performs measurement, he or she may wish to select measurement items. Therefore, in the past, a menu for changing the setting state of the device, selecting a measurement item, etc. is displayed on a part of the monitor, and using this menu display, the setting state of the device can be changed or a measurement item can be selected. I have performed operations such as.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) However, the conventional ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus has the following problems. When recording image data such as the tomographic image on an image recording device (camera, etc.) after completing operations for changing the settings of the device, only the image data and other necessary information should be recorded. All you need is
The menu becomes unnecessary.

Furthermore, when recording image data on the camera, a small area of the monitor display is used as a menu display area so as not to interfere with the tomographic image, but if the area of the menu display area is small, many Items could not be displayed on one menu screen. Therefore, if the menu display area is increased, it will interfere with the tomographic image that is originally intended to be observed and recorded. Therefore, it was necessary to first turn off the menu display and then record the image, which was a difficult operation.

Furthermore, there is a method of providing a display device for displaying a menu separately from the monitor. However, providing a display device for displaying this menu makes the apparatus complicated and expensive.

Furthermore, there is a method in which the menu is not used, and the operation panel is provided with switches corresponding to the number of available functions. However, this has the problem that the device becomes expensive and the area of the operation panel becomes large.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Therefore, an object of the present invention is to have a simple configuration, and after displaying a menu of device settings, measurement items, etc., the menu display can be turned off with a simple operation when recording an image, thereby reducing the workload of the surgeon. The object of the present invention is to provide an ultrasonic diagnostic device that can be reduced.

[Structure of the Invention] (Means for Solving the Problems) In order to solve the above problems and achieve the objects, the present invention takes the following measures. The present invention transmits and receives ultrasonic waves to and from a subject, detects image data from the obtained received signal,
In an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus in which this image data and character data for setting and displaying a menu for changing the status of the apparatus are added by an adding means and these data are output to an image recording apparatus, the operation of the image recording apparatus is performed. The apparatus is characterized by comprising a control means for controlling output of character data for displaying the menu to the addition means according to a state.

(Effects) By taking such measures, the following effects are achieved. The control means controls to output character data for menu display to the addition means according to the operating state of the image recording device, so that, for example, after displaying the setting state of the ultrasound diagnostic device as a menu on the ultrasound image, etc. When recording an image on the image recording device, if the control means turns off the character data for displaying the menu during a partial period in synchronization with the image recording operation, the image data and other necessary information are sent from the addition means. Only the ultrasound image is recorded on the image recording device, and after the predetermined period of time has elapsed, the ultrasound image and the menu are displayed simultaneously. Therefore, the menu display can be turned off with a simple configuration and a simple operation, and the operator does not have to turn off the menu display one by one, thereby reducing the operator's workload.

(Example) Hereinafter, specific examples of the present invention will be described.

FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram showing an embodiment of an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to the present invention.

The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus includes an ultrasonic probe (1) that transmits and receives ultrasonic waves to and from a subject (not shown). A wave transmitting/receiving circuit 2 that drives the ultrasonic probe 1 and inputs ultrasonic waves from the ultrasonic probe 1. An envelope detection circuit 3 for detecting tomographic image data from the received signal obtained by the wave transmitting/receiving circuit 2. A DSC 4 (digital scan converter) for writing the tomographic image data from the envelope detection circuit 3 into an internal frame memory is provided.

Further, the image recording system 5 for recording tomographic image data from the DSC 4 is configured as follows. The operation panel 10 uses switches to instruct image recording, and the control panel 10 uses a switch as a control means.
The PU 12 inputs character data for setting and displaying menus for changing the state of the ultrasonic diagnostic device, changing measurement items, etc. according to the operating state of the image recording device 16, for example, when recording an image. This is to control the signal to be output to the adder inside the signal generating section 14. Specifically, when recording tomographic image data from the DSC 4 as an image, the CPU 2 outputs a blank signal s3 to the adder of the image recording video signal generating section 14 so as not to display a menu. There is.

The image recording video signal generation section 14 adds the tomographic image data and character data from the DSC 4 using the adder, and sends the ultrasound image to the image recording device 16 as an image recording video signal, and changes the settings of the device, etc. Output the menu for. The image recording device 16 includes a monitor, a camera, a video hard copy, and the like.

Next, the operation of the embodiment configured as described above will be explained. First, in FIG. 1, when the ultrasonic probe 1 is driven by a wave transmitting/receiving circuit 2 while being given a predetermined delay time, ultrasonic waves are transmitted from the ultrasonic probe 1 in a predetermined direction. . Ultrasonic waves reflected from a subject existing in a predetermined direction are received by the ultrasound probe 1 and output to the wave transmitting/receiving circuit 2. That is, the ultrasonic wave is received by the wave transmitting/receiving circuit 2 while being given a delay time that restores the predetermined delay time, and this received signal is output to the envelope detection circuit 3.

Further, the received signal is subjected to envelope detection by the envelope detection circuit 3 to obtain tomographic image (B-mode image) data, which is stored in a frame memory inside the DSC 4. Furthermore, the tomographic image data from the DSC 4 is output to the image recording video signal generating section 14 of the image recording system 5.

Here, a case will be described in which a monitor and a camera are used as the image recording device. First, only the tomographic image and other necessary information are displayed on the monitor in the image recording device 16 as shown in FIG. 2(a).
It shall be displayed as shown in . Next, when the menu display is turned on to change the status of the device, the DS
The tomographic image data outputted from the C4 to the image recording video signal generating section 14 is synthesized by an adder with character data for displaying a menu for changing the state of the apparatus, selecting measurement items, etc.

Since it is output as an image recording video signal to the monitor of the image recording device 16, the tomographic image and menu can be displayed simultaneously as shown in FIG. 2(b).

Next, the case of image recording will be explained. First, the operation panel 10 has a switch for recording an image (for example, a switch with a name such as print, shutter, camera, etc.), and when this switch is pressed, switch information 61 is output to the CPU 12.

The CPU 12 manually inputs time information S2 necessary for recording an image from the image recording device 16 in advance.

Further, the CPU 12 outputs a menu display blank signal S3 for blanking (off) the menu display to the image recording video signal generating section 14, and at the same time or afterwards outputs an image recording start trigger signal S4 to the image recording device 16. .

When the image recording video signal generating section 14 receives the menu display blank signal S3 output from the CPU 12, it stops inputting the menu display character data to the adder for a certain period of time based on the time information S2.

Therefore, only the tomographic image data is output from the image recording video signal generating section 14 as the image recording video signal s5 to the monitor of the image recording device 16, so that during the period as shown in FIG. 2(c), The tomographic image is displayed, and only the tomographic image and other necessary information are recorded on the film by the print input.

The CPU 12 then stores time information S necessary for image recording.
2, the menu display blank signal S3 is released, so that the tomographic image and the menu can be displayed simultaneously as shown in FIG. 2(d).

In this way, the time information S2 necessary for image recording may be an ID signal of the image recording device 16 if the time is fixed by the image recording device 16.

As described above, according to this embodiment, when recording an image after displaying the menu of the device settings, measurement items, etc., the CP
Since the menu display is blanked (off) for a certain period of time in synchronization with image recording by U12, only image data and other necessary information are recorded in the image recording device 16.

Therefore, the menu display can be turned off with a simple operation, and the operator does not have to turn off the menu display one by one, so that the work burden on the operator can be reduced.

Furthermore, since the menu display can be blanked with a simple operation, a large menu display area can be secured, and many menu functions can be used.

Next, a second embodiment of the present invention is shown in FIG. This embodiment does not use the CPU 12, but instead uses a time setting circuit 20.
．． OR circuit 22. Controller 24, gate circuit 26.
Adder 28. It is equipped with a DAC (digital to analog converter) 30.

1 Image recording in this example will be explained below. First, in this case, the operation panel 10 sends the switch-on signal slO for instructing printing to the time setting circuit 20.
At the same time, the switch-on signal slO is outputted to the image recording device 16 as an image recording start trigger signal.

The time setting circuit 20 inputs a switch-on signal slo from the operation panel 10 and a blank time control signal s20 from the image recording device 16, and receives a menu display blank signal sl having a time width corresponding to the image recording device 16.
1, that is, “0”, is output to the OR circuit 22. Note that without performing blank time control by the time setting circuit 20, the maximum value of the normal image recording time (for example, 1 s) is set.
ec ) and output a blank signal for that time width (this is called blanking for a certain period of time).

) Then, the controller 24 outputs a menu display automatic blank on/off signal s12 to the OR circuit 22 for selecting whether or not to erase the menu display during image recording. Therefore, when the operator wishes to record the menu setting state as an image, the controller 24 outputs the menu display automatic blank-off signal s12, that is, '1' to the OR circuit 22.

The OR circuit 22 outputs "1" to the gate circuit 26 based on "0" from the time setting circuit 20 and "1#" from the controller 24, and the gate circuit 26 becomes "open". The character data s13 is output to the adder 28 via the gate circuit 26.

The adder 28 combines the tomographic image data from the DSC 4 and the character data from the gate circuit 26, and outputs the data to the DAC 3.
0 converts the data output from the adder 28 into analog. Further, the image recording device 16 inputs an analog signal from the DAC 30 and prints it on an internal video hard copy.

Therefore, since the menu desired by the surgeon can be recorded, it is useful as diagnostic information.

On the other hand, if the operator does not need to record the menu, the controller 24 outputs a menu display automatic blank-on signal s12, that is, "0", to the OR circuit 22. In this way, the output of the OR circuit 22 becomes "0", so the gate circuit 26 becomes "closed".

Therefore, since the character data from the controller 24 is not output to the adder 28, only the tomographic image data and other necessary information from the DSC 4 are output to the adder 28. D
It is printed via the AC 30 onto a video hardcopy in the image recording device 16.

Therefore, if the surgeon does not want to record the menu, only the tomographic image and other necessary information can be recorded, which is convenient. In addition, as in the first embodiment, the operator can turn off the menu display one by one by a simple operation, that is, by keeping the menu display blank for a certain period of time in synchronization with the switch input on the operation panel 10. There is no need to do this, and the operating burden on the operator can be reduced.

Note that when a camera is used as the image recording device 16, the shutter signal output of the camera can be used as it is as the menu display blank signal without using the time setting circuit 2o.

Note that the present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above. In the above-mentioned embodiments, a tomographic image (B-mode image) has been described, but the present invention can also be applied to a D-mode (Doppler mode) image and a CFM (color flow mapping image). It goes without saying that various other modifications can be made without departing from the gist of the present invention.

[Effects of the Invention] According to the present invention, the control means controls to output character data for menu display to the addition means in accordance with the operating state of the image recording device, so that, for example, if an ultrasound image is When recording an image on the image recording device after displaying a menu of the setting status of the diagnostic device, etc., if the character data for displaying the menu is turned off for a part of the period in synchronization with the image recording operation by the control means, Only the image data and other necessary information are recorded from the adding means in the image recording device, and furthermore, after the predetermined period of time has elapsed, the ultrasound image and the menu are displayed simultaneously.

Therefore, the menu display can be turned off with a simple configuration and a simple operation, and the operator does not need to turn off the menu display each time, so it is possible to provide an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus that can reduce the operator's workload.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram showing an embodiment of an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining the operation of the embodiment, and FIG. 3 is an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to the present invention. the second of
FIG. 2 is a schematic block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention. 1... Ultrasonic probe, 2... Wave transmitting/receiving circuit, 3...
Envelope detection circuit, 4...DSC, 5...image recording system, 10...operation panel, 12...CPU, 14...
・Video signal generation unit for image recording, 16... Image recording device, 20... Time setting circuit, 22... OR circuit, 2
4... Controller, 26... Gate circuit, 28.
...Adder, 30...DAC. 6

Claims (1)

[Claims] Ultrasonic waves are transmitted and received to and from the subject, image data is detected from the received signal obtained, and this image data and character data for setting and displaying menus for changing the status of the device, etc. are added by adding means. An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus that adds the data and outputs the data to an image recording device, further comprising a control means for controlling character data for displaying the menu to be output to the adding means according to an operating state of the image recording device. An ultrasonic diagnostic device characterized by: