CN111329512B - Method for activating ultrasonic probe, ultrasonic imaging apparatus, and computer storage medium - Google Patents

Method for activating ultrasonic probe, ultrasonic imaging apparatus, and computer storage medium Download PDF

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CN111329512B
CN111329512B CN201811549162.5A CN201811549162A CN111329512B CN 111329512 B CN111329512 B CN 111329512B CN 201811549162 A CN201811549162 A CN 201811549162A CN 111329512 B CN111329512 B CN 111329512B
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probe
ultrasonic
unloaded
signal
empty
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CN111329512A (en
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邹耀贤
林穆清
范伟
王文芳
曾德俊
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Shenzhen Mindray Bio Medical Electronics Co Ltd
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Shenzhen Mindray Bio Medical Electronics Co Ltd
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    • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
    • A61B—DIAGNOSIS; SURGERY; IDENTIFICATION
    • A61B8/00—Diagnosis using ultrasonic, sonic or infrasonic waves
    • A61B8/44—Constructional features of the ultrasonic, sonic or infrasonic diagnostic device
    • A61B8/4444—Constructional features of the ultrasonic, sonic or infrasonic diagnostic device related to the probe
    • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
    • A61B—DIAGNOSIS; SURGERY; IDENTIFICATION
    • A61B8/00—Diagnosis using ultrasonic, sonic or infrasonic waves
    • A61B8/44—Constructional features of the ultrasonic, sonic or infrasonic diagnostic device

Abstract

The invention discloses a method for activating an ultrasonic probe.A ultrasonic imaging device can control the probe to emit ultrasonic waves and receive ultrasonic echoes to obtain ultrasonic echo signals; judging whether the probe is unloaded or not based on the ultrasonic echo signal; an ultrasonic imaging device automatically activates the probe when it is determined that the probe is not empty. The method is adopted in the ultrasonic imaging device, so that the operation that a user needs to frequently and manually switch the probe in the using process is avoided, and the usability of the device is improved.

Description

Method for activating ultrasonic probe, ultrasonic imaging apparatus, and computer storage medium
Technical Field
Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to the field of medical ultrasound, and in particular, to a method for activating an ultrasound probe, an ultrasound imaging apparatus, and a computer storage medium.
Background
The ultrasonic device is generally used for a doctor to observe internal tissue structures of a human body, and the doctor places an ultrasonic probe on the surface of skin corresponding to a part of the human body to obtain an ultrasonic image of the part. Ultrasound has become one of the main aids for doctors to diagnose because of its characteristics of safety, convenience, no damage, low price, etc.
In an ultrasonic device, different probes are different in applicable examination positions due to the difference of the frequencies of the probes, for example, a linear array high-frequency probe is commonly used for thyroid examination, a large convex probe is commonly used for adult abdomen, and a linear array probe is commonly used for heart examination. Therefore, in order to meet the needs of various examinations, a plurality of probes are often arranged on one machine for examinations of different parts. In the clinical use process, aiming at different patients and different examination parts, doctors often need to press the probe switching key to switch back and forth between different probes, and the operation is troublesome. In actual clinic, the situation that the probe is forgotten to be switched after being placed on a patient often occurs, and at the moment, a user needs to press a probe switching button again to manually switch the probe, so that the examination rhythm of a doctor is disturbed.
Disclosure of Invention
The embodiment of the application provides a method for activating an ultrasonic probe, which comprises the following steps: the ultrasonic imaging device controls the probe to transmit ultrasonic waves and receives ultrasonic echoes to obtain ultrasonic echo signals; judging whether the probe is unloaded or not based on the ultrasonic echo signal; an ultrasonic imaging device automatically activates the probe when it is determined that the probe is not empty.
In one embodiment, the method further comprises: when all the probes of the ultrasonic imaging device are judged to be unloaded, the steps are repeated: enabling the ultrasonic imaging device to control a probe to transmit an ultrasonic signal and receive an ultrasonic echo signal; and continuously judging whether the probe is unloaded or not based on the ultrasonic echo signal.
In one embodiment, after the ultrasonic device automatically activates the probe, the method further comprises: controlling the activated probe to transmit ultrasonic waves and receive ultrasonic echoes to obtain ultrasonic echo signals; and judging whether the activated probe is empty or not based on the ultrasonic echo signals received by the activated probe.
In one embodiment, when the activated probe is determined to be idle, the ultrasonic imaging device controls other probes to transmit ultrasonic wave signals and receive ultrasonic echo signals; judging whether the other probes are unloaded or not based on the ultrasonic echo signals; and when the probe is determined not to be unloaded, the activated probe is closed.
In one embodiment, the determining whether the probe is unloaded based on the ultrasonic echo signal includes: and judging whether the probe is unloaded or not based on the difference of the ultrasonic echo signals under the condition that the probe is unloaded or not.
In one embodiment, the determining whether the probe is unloaded based on the difference between the ultrasonic echo signals when the probe is unloaded or not unloaded comprises: and judging whether the probe is unloaded or not based on the intensity of the ultrasonic echo signal.
In one embodiment, the determining whether the probe is unloaded based on the strength of the ultrasonic echo signal includes: when the intensity of the ultrasonic echo signal is smaller than a first threshold value, determining that the probe is unloaded; otherwise, determining that the probe is not unloaded.
In one embodiment, the determining whether the probe is unloaded based on the strength of the ultrasonic echo signal includes: processing the ultrasonic echo signal to obtain an ultrasonic image; and judging whether the probe is empty or not based on the signal value of the point in the ultrasonic image.
In one embodiment, the determining whether the probe is empty based on the signal values of the points in the ultrasound image comprises: calculating an average signal value for a point in the ultrasound image; when the average signal value is smaller than a second threshold value, determining that the probe is empty; otherwise, the probe is determined to be not unloaded.
In one embodiment, the determining whether the probe is empty based on the signal values of the points in the ultrasound image comprises: obtaining a maximum value of signal values for a point in the ultrasound image; when the maximum value is smaller than a third threshold value, determining that the probe is empty; otherwise, determining that the probe is not unloaded.
In one embodiment, the determining whether the probe is empty based on the signal values of the points in the ultrasound image comprises: calculating an average signal value for a point in the ultrasound image; calculating a variance of signal values for points in the ultrasound image; when the average signal value is smaller than a second threshold value and the variance is smaller than a fourth threshold value, determining that the probe is empty; otherwise, the probe is determined to be not unloaded.
In one embodiment, the determining whether the probe is empty based on the signal values of the points in the ultrasound image comprises: calculating a variance of signal values for points in the ultrasound image; when the variance is smaller than a fourth threshold value, determining that the probe is empty; otherwise, determining that the probe is not unloaded.
In one embodiment, calculating an average signal value for a point in the ultrasound image comprises: calculating the average value of the signal values of all the points in the ultrasonic image to obtain the average signal value; alternatively, an average of signal values of points in a partial region in the ultrasound image is calculated, and the average signal value is obtained.
In one embodiment, calculating the variance of the signal values for points in the ultrasound image comprises: calculating the variance of the signal values of all the points in the ultrasonic image to obtain the variance of the signal values of the points of the ultrasonic image; alternatively, the variance of the signal values of the points in the partial region in the ultrasound image is calculated, and the variance of the signal values of the points in the ultrasound image is obtained.
In one embodiment, the determining whether the probe is unloaded based on the difference between the ultrasonic echo signals when the probe is unloaded or not unloaded comprises: and judging whether the probe is empty or not by adopting a machine learning method based on a first pre-stored characteristic database and the ultrasonic echo signal.
In one embodiment, the determining whether the probe is unloaded based on the difference of the ultrasonic echo signals under the condition that the probe is unloaded or not comprises: and constructing a first neural network by adopting a deep learning method and a second pre-stored feature database, and judging whether the probe is empty or not based on the first neural network and the ultrasonic echo signal.
In one embodiment, the working parameters of the ultrasonic imaging device used for judging whether the probe is unloaded are the same as or different from the working parameters of the ultrasonic imaging device used for normal imaging after the probe is activated.
In one embodiment, the operating parameters include: at least one of a transmit aperture, a receive aperture, a line density, a depth of focus, a gain, various parameters used in signal processing, and various parameters used in image processing.
An embodiment of the present application provides an ultrasound imaging apparatus, including: the ultrasonic probe comprises a probe, a transmitting circuit, a receiving circuit and a processor, wherein the transmitting circuit stimulates the probe to transmit ultrasonic beams; the receiving circuit receives echo signals corresponding to the ultrasonic beams through the probe; the processor judges whether the probe is empty based on the echo signal; an ultrasonic imaging device automatically activates the probe when it is determined that the probe is not empty.
In one embodiment, the processor further performs the following: when all the probes of the ultrasonic imaging device are judged to be unloaded, the probes are controlled again to transmit ultrasonic signals, and ultrasonic echo signals are received; and continuously judging whether the probe is unloaded or not based on the ultrasonic echo signal.
In one embodiment, the processor further performs the following: controlling the activated probe to transmit ultrasonic waves and receive ultrasonic echoes to obtain ultrasonic echo signals; and judging whether the activated probe is empty or not based on the ultrasonic echo signal received by the activated probe.
In one embodiment, the processor further performs the following: when the activated probe is determined to be empty, the ultrasonic imaging device controls other probes to transmit ultrasonic signals and receives ultrasonic echo signals; judging whether the other probes have no load or not based on the ultrasonic echo signals; and when the probe is determined not to be unloaded, the activated probe is closed.
In one embodiment, the processor determining whether the probe is unloaded based on the echo signals comprises: and judging whether the probe is unloaded or not based on the difference of the ultrasonic echo signals under the condition that the probe is unloaded or not.
In one embodiment, the processor determines whether the probe is unloaded based on a difference between the unloaded state and the unloaded state of the probe of the ultrasonic echo signals, and the determining includes: and judging whether the probe is unloaded or not based on the intensity of the ultrasonic echo signal.
In one embodiment, the processor determines whether the probe is unloaded based on the strength of the ultrasonic echo signal, including: when the intensity of the ultrasonic echo signal is smaller than a first threshold value, determining that the probe is unloaded; otherwise, determining that the probe is not unloaded.
In one embodiment, the processor determines whether the probe is unloaded based on the strength of the ultrasonic echo signal, including: processing the ultrasonic echo signal to obtain an ultrasonic image; and judging whether the probe is unloaded or not based on the signal value of the point in the ultrasonic image.
In one embodiment, the processor determining whether the probe is empty based on signal values of points in the ultrasound image comprises: calculating an average signal value for a point in the ultrasound image; when the average signal value is smaller than a second threshold value, determining that the probe is empty; otherwise, the probe is determined to be not unloaded.
In one embodiment, the processor determining whether the probe is empty based on signal values of points in the ultrasound image comprises: obtaining a maximum value of signal values for a point in the ultrasound image; when the maximum value is smaller than a third threshold value, determining that the probe is unloaded; otherwise, the probe is determined to be not unloaded.
In one embodiment, the processor determines whether the probe is unloaded based on signal values of points in the ultrasound image, including: calculating an average signal value for a point in the ultrasound image; calculating a variance of signal values for points in the ultrasound image; when the average signal value is smaller than a second threshold value and the variance is smaller than a fourth threshold value, determining that the probe is empty; otherwise, the probe is determined to be not unloaded.
In one embodiment, the processor determining whether the probe is empty based on signal values of points in the ultrasound image comprises: calculating a variance of signal values for points in the ultrasound image; when the variance is smaller than a fourth threshold value, determining that the probe is empty; otherwise, determining that the probe is not unloaded.
In one embodiment, said calculating an average signal value for a point in said ultrasound image comprises: calculating the average value of the signal values of all the points in the ultrasonic image to obtain the average signal value; alternatively, an average of signal values of points in a partial region in the ultrasound image is calculated, and the average signal value is obtained.
In one embodiment, the calculating the variance of the signal values of the points in the ultrasound image comprises: calculating the variance of the signal values of all the points in the ultrasonic image to obtain the variance of the signal values of the points of the ultrasonic image; alternatively, the variance of the signal values of the points in the partial region in the ultrasound image is calculated, and the variance of the signal values of the points in the ultrasound image is obtained.
In one embodiment, the processor determines whether the probe is unloaded based on a difference between ultrasonic echo signals when the probe is unloaded or unloaded, including: and judging whether the probe is empty or not by adopting a machine learning method based on a first pre-stored characteristic database and the ultrasonic echo signal.
In one embodiment, the processor determines whether the probe is unloaded based on a difference between ultrasonic echo signals when the probe is unloaded or unloaded, including: and constructing a first neural network by adopting a deep learning method and a second pre-stored feature database, and judging whether the probe is empty or not based on the first neural network and the ultrasonic echo signal.
In one embodiment, the working parameters of the ultrasonic imaging device used for judging whether the probe is unloaded are the same as or different from the working parameters of the ultrasonic imaging device used for normal imaging after the probe is activated.
In one embodiment, the operating parameters include: at least one of a transmit aperture, a receive aperture, a line density, a depth of focus, a gain, various parameters used in signal processing, and various parameters used in image processing.
The application provides a method for activating an ultrasonic probe, an ultrasonic imaging device and a computer storage medium, wherein the ultrasonic imaging device controls the probe to transmit ultrasonic waves and receive ultrasonic echoes to obtain ultrasonic echo signals; judging whether the probe is unloaded or not based on the ultrasonic echo signal; the ultrasound imaging device automatically activates the probe when it is determined that the probe is not empty. Therefore, in the method of the application, the ultrasonic imaging device can judge whether the probe is unloaded or not based on the obtained ultrasonic echo signal; when the probe is determined to be not unloaded, the ultrasonic imaging device automatically activates the probe, so that the user is prevented from frequently and manually switching the probe in the using process, the operation of the user is simplified, and the usability of the device is improved.
Drawings
FIG. 1 is a block diagram of the working principle of an ultrasonic imaging apparatus;
FIG. 2 is a schematic flow chart illustrating an implementation of a method for activating an ultrasound probe according to an embodiment of the present application;
fig. 3 is a first schematic structural diagram of an ultrasonic imaging apparatus according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;
fig. 4 is a schematic structural diagram of a second component of an ultrasound imaging apparatus according to an embodiment of the present application.
Detailed Description
So that the manner in which the above recited features and aspects of the present invention can be understood in detail, a more particular description of the embodiments of the invention, briefly summarized above, may be had by reference to the appended drawings, which are included to illustrate, but are not intended to limit the embodiments of the invention.
The ultrasonic imaging device is generally used for a doctor to observe internal tissue structures of a human body, and the doctor places an ultrasonic probe on the surface of skin corresponding to a part of the human body to obtain an ultrasonic image of the part. Ultrasound has become one of the main aids for doctors to diagnose because of its characteristics of safety, convenience, no damage, low price, etc.
Fig. 1 is a block diagram of an operating principle of an ultrasonic imaging apparatus, in which a group of pulses focused by delay are transmitted to a probe through a transmission circuit, the probe transmits ultrasonic waves to a tissue of a subject to be measured, and receives the ultrasonic waves reflected from the tissue of the subject after a certain delay. The echo signals enter a beam synthesizer to complete focusing delay, weighting and channel summation, ultrasonic images are formed through links such as signal processing, image processing and DSC, and finally the ultrasonic images are displayed.
In an ultrasonic imaging device, different probes are applicable to different inspection parts due to the difference of the frequencies of the probes, for example, a linear array high-frequency probe is commonly used for thyroid gland inspection, a large convex probe is commonly used for adult abdomen, and a linear array probe is commonly used for heart inspection. Therefore, in order to meet the needs of various examinations in a clinic, a plurality of probes are often arranged on one ultrasonic imaging device for examinations of different parts. In the clinical use process, aiming at different patients and different examination parts, doctors often need to press the probe switching key to switch back and forth between different probes, and the operation is troublesome. Meanwhile, in actual clinical practice, the fact that the probe is forgotten to be switched is often found after the probe is placed on a patient, and at the moment, a doctor needs to press the probe switching key again to manually switch the probe, so that the examination rhythm of the doctor is disturbed.
Therefore, the embodiment of the invention provides a method for automatically switching probes, when one probe in a machine contacts a human body, the probe can be automatically activated, the process that a doctor needs to frequently and manually switch the probe is omitted, and the usability of the machine is improved.
According to the method for activating the ultrasonic probe provided in one embodiment of the application, the ultrasonic imaging device can judge whether the probe in the ultrasonic imaging device is empty or not based on the obtained ultrasonic echo signal; when the probe is determined to be not in no-load, the ultrasonic imaging device automatically activates the probe, so that the operation that a user needs to frequently and manually switch the probe in the using process is avoided, and the usability of the ultrasonic imaging device is improved.
The technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the drawings in the embodiments of the present application. It is to be understood that the specific embodiments described herein are merely illustrative of the relevant application and are not limiting of the application. It should be further noted that, for the convenience of description, only the portions relevant to the related applications are shown in the drawings.
An embodiment of the present application provides a method for activating an ultrasound probe, fig. 2 is a schematic implementation flow chart of the method for activating an ultrasound probe provided in the embodiment of the present application, and as shown in fig. 2, in the embodiment of the present application, the method for activating an ultrasound probe by an ultrasound imaging apparatus may include the following steps:
step 101, the ultrasonic imaging device controls the probe to emit ultrasonic waves and receives ultrasonic echoes to obtain ultrasonic echo signals.
In an embodiment of the present application, an ultrasound imaging apparatus may be configured with a probe and a transmit circuit, wherein the transmit circuit may excite the probe to transmit an ultrasound beam.
In an embodiment of the present application, the ultrasound imaging apparatus may further be configured with a receiving circuit, wherein the receiving circuit receives an ultrasound echo corresponding to the ultrasound beam through the probe, so as to obtain an ultrasound echo signal.
In embodiments of the present application, the ultrasound imaging device may be a device for examining various tissues and/or organs of a human body. The number of the probes in the ultrasonic imaging device can be multiple, the probes can be used for inspecting different parts, different tissues and/or organs of a human body, and the probes can be specifically designed according to actual needs and are not specifically limited herein.
And 102, judging whether the probe is unloaded or not based on the ultrasonic echo signal.
In the embodiment of the present application, the probe is idle, which means that the probe is in a transmitting state but the ultrasonic wave transmitted by the probe is not transmitted to the scanning object (for example, human body or animal body), but is directly transmitted to the air, and cannot receive the signal transmitted by the effective tissue and/or organ. The ultrasound image obtained with the probe unloaded is typically a completely black image. Conversely, the probe is not unloaded, which means that the ultrasonic wave emitted by the probe is emitted to the scanning object, the probe can receive the signal reflected from the tissue and/or organ, the obtained ultrasonic image contains the information of the tissue and/or organ, and different tissues and/or organs of the scanning object can be displayed on the image through gray scale hierarchy.
In the embodiment of the application, when the ultrasonic imaging device judges whether the probe is unloaded based on the obtained ultrasonic echo signal, because the signal received by the probe when the probe is unloaded and is hit in the air and the signal received by the probe when the probe is not unloaded and is hit on the human tissue have obvious difference, the method of signal processing or pattern recognition and machine learning can be used for judging whether the probe is unloaded.
In the embodiment of the present application, when the ultrasound imaging apparatus determines whether the probe is idle based on the obtained ultrasound echo signal, the ultrasound imaging apparatus may determine whether the probe is idle by using data in any link (for example, a data source may be consistent with a processing flow of conventional ultrasound imaging) in the ultrasound imaging, for example, links before or after wave velocity synthesis, links in signal processing, links in image processing, links before and after DSC, and the like. In each link, echo data obtained under the condition of no-load and no-load are obviously different, and whether the probe is in no-load or not can be judged by identifying the intensity of an ultrasonic echo signal.
In the embodiment of the application, because the distinction degree of the no-load data and the no-load data is very high, the judgment on whether the probe is no-load can be carried out only by a small amount of data. Therefore, the data source for the probe no-load judgment can adopt a simplified imaging scheme, for example, the probe only has a small number of array elements (namely, the emission aperture is adjusted and the like) to emit so as to obtain ultrasonic data, and then the judgment of whether the probe is no-load is carried out according to the small number of data, so that the judgment speed can be greatly improved. The imaging scheme and the imaging parameters can also be simplified, for example, only data processing of a plurality of specific links is carried out, the complexity of the data processing can be simplified, and the response speed of no-load judgment is improved.
Therefore, in the embodiment of the present application, the operating parameters of the ultrasound imaging apparatus used for determining whether the probe is unloaded may be the same as or different from the operating parameters of the ultrasound imaging apparatus used for normal imaging with the probe after the probe is activated. Wherein the operating parameters include: at least one of a transmission aperture, a reception aperture, a line density, a focal depth, a gain, various parameters used in signal processing, various parameters used in image processing, and the like.
And 103, when the probe is determined not to be unloaded, automatically activating the probe by the ultrasonic imaging device.
In the embodiment of the present application, the probe is not unloaded, which means that the ultrasonic wave emitted by the probe is emitted to the human body, and the probe can receive the signal reflected from the tissue and/or the organ.
In the embodiment of the application, when the ultrasonic imaging device is determined to have a probe which is not unloaded, the ultrasonic imaging device automatically activates the probe to work normally. Wherein, activating the probe means that the system is switched to the probe and the probe is used for scanning; the probe is not idle, so that the probe is contacted with the human body and is the probe which is expected to be used by the user, and the system automatically switches to the probe to scan the patient.
In one embodiment of the present application, the method may further comprise:
step 104, when all the probes of the ultrasonic imaging device are judged to be unloaded, repeating the judging steps of the previous embodiment: enabling the ultrasonic imaging device to control a probe to transmit an ultrasonic signal and receive an ultrasonic echo signal; and continuously judging whether the probe is unloaded or not based on the ultrasonic echo signal.
In embodiments of the present application, an ultrasound imaging device may include multiple probes, and the device may cycle through the probes to determine whether the probes are empty. If the current traversing probe is judged to be unloaded, the current probe does not contact the human body at the current moment, the probe is not the probe which the user wants to use, and other probes need to be continuously traversed. The circular traversal refers to continuing to traverse the next round after one round of traversal is finished, namely if no non-unloaded probe is found (namely all the probes are unloaded) after one round of judgment is finished, continuing to judge the next round, for example, if the existing probe number on the ultrasonic imaging device is 1, 2, 3, 4, \\ 8230, the probe number can be 1, 2, 3, 4, \8230, and the traversal is continued all the time.
In the embodiment of the application, the ultrasonic imaging device can also simultaneously control two or more probes to emit ultrasonic waves together, receive ultrasonic echoes, obtain echo signals, and further simultaneously judge whether the probes are empty. In addition, if all the probes of the ultrasonic imaging device are judged to be unloaded, the judgment of whether the probes in the device are unloaded can be carried out again by the same method (namely, two or more probes are simultaneously controlled to generate ultrasonic waves together \8230;).
In an embodiment of the present application, after step 103, i.e. after the ultrasound device automatically activates the probe, the method further includes:
step 105, controlling the activated probe to emit ultrasonic waves and receive ultrasonic echoes to obtain ultrasonic echo signals; and judging whether the activated probe is empty or not based on the ultrasonic echo signals received by the activated probe.
In the embodiment of the present application, after the probe is activated, during the scanning process of the probe, it can also be determined whether the currently scanned probe is away from the human body, i.e. whether the probe is empty, because the user may wish to switch the probe in the meantime. Therefore, whether the probe is in idle load or not can be judged according to the preset frequency or a period of time at intervals, if the current probe is judged to be not in idle load, the current probe still continues to scan the human body, and therefore the system does not need to switch the probe but continues to use the probe to scan; otherwise, it indicates that the current probe is unloaded, that is, does not contact the human body, and at this time, there is a possibility that the user wants to use another probe, so it is necessary to sequentially traverse other probes on the machine, and adopt the same determination method as above to determine whether the probe is unloaded, and if it is found that another probe is in a non-unloaded state, the probe is activated.
In the embodiment of the present application, the activated probe is determined to be empty by the same determination method as in the foregoing steps 101-102, and specific reference may be made to the foregoing embodiment, which is not described in detail herein.
In an embodiment of the present application, after step 105, the method further includes:
106, when the activated probe is determined to be idle, controlling other probes to transmit ultrasonic signals by the ultrasonic imaging device, and receiving ultrasonic echo signals; judging whether the other probes are unloaded or not based on the ultrasonic echo signals; when it is determined that there is a probe that is not empty, the probe that is activated is turned off (deactivated and no longer scanned).
Wherein when it is determined that the probe being activated is empty, i.e. the probe currently being activated is away from the body, it is an indication that the user may wish to switch probes. Therefore, it is necessary to determine whether other probes in the ultrasound imaging apparatus are idle, and if it is determined that there are probes in other probes that are not idle, it is considered that the user wants to switch the probes: i.e. the user wishes to switch from the activated probe to the non-empty probe, the non-empty probe needs to be activated again after switching off the activated probe.
Meanwhile, the following steps may be further included after step 106: when all other probes in the ultrasonic imaging device are judged to be unloaded, the currently activated probe is kept unchanged. At this time, it may indicate that the user does not wish to switch the probe, and then the probe is still used for scanning, and only the currently activated probe is taken away from the human body during the use of the probe, and the activated probe is determined to be empty at this time.
When the above-mentioned ultrasonic imaging device is judged whether other probes have no load, the following mode can be adopted: the other probes are traversed one by one, or two or more probes are controlled to transmit ultrasonic waves \8230;, which can be judged at the same time, and the specific reference can be made to the embodiment described above.
In an embodiment of the present application, the step 102 of determining whether the probe is unloaded based on the ultrasonic echo signal may include the following steps:
1021. and judging whether the probe is unloaded or not based on the difference of the ultrasonic echo signals under the condition that the probe is unloaded or not.
In the embodiment of the application, when the ultrasonic imaging device judges whether the probe is in an idle state based on the obtained ultrasonic echo signal, because the signal received by the probe which is downwards impacted in the air in an idle state and the signal received by the probe which is downwards impacted on the human tissue in a non-idle state have obvious difference, the ultrasonic imaging device can be used for judging whether the probe is in an idle state.
In an embodiment of the present application, the step 1021 of determining whether the probe is unloaded based on a difference between the unloaded state and the unloaded state of the probe of the ultrasonic echo signal may include the following steps:
and 1021a, judging whether the probe is empty or not based on the intensity of the ultrasonic echo signal.
In the embodiment of the application, whether the probe is unloaded or not can be judged by using data in any link in ultrasonic imaging, and data (such as the intensity of an ultrasonic echo signal) obtained under the condition of no load and no load in each link has obvious difference, so that whether the probe is unloaded or not can be judged by identifying the intensity of the ultrasonic echo signal.
In an embodiment of the present application, the step 1021a of determining whether the probe is unloaded based on the strength of the ultrasonic echo signal may include the following steps:
step 1021a 1 When the intensity of the ultrasonic echo signal is smaller than a first threshold value, determining that the probe is empty; otherwise, the probe is determined to be not unloaded.
In the embodiment of the application, when the probe is idle, the probe directly emits ultrasonic waves into the air, so that effective reflected signals of tissues cannot be received. Therefore, the ultrasound image obtained by the probe under no load is generally a completely black image, and the intensity of the ultrasound echo signal received by the probe is relatively low. On the contrary, if the probe is not empty, the probe directly transmits the ultrasonic wave to the human tissue, the probe can receive the signal transmitted by the tissue, the obtained ultrasonic image contains tissue information, and the intensity of the ultrasonic echo signal received by the probe is relatively high. Therefore, according to the characteristics of the intensity of the ultrasonic echo signal received by the probe under no-load and non-no-load conditions, a first threshold value can be set, and when the intensity of the ultrasonic echo signal is smaller than the first threshold value, the probe is determined to be in no-load condition; otherwise, the probe is determined to be not unloaded. The first threshold may be set according to actual conditions, and is not particularly limited herein.
In an embodiment of the present application, the step 1021a of determining whether the probe is empty based on the intensity of the ultrasonic echo signal may include the following steps:
step 1021a 2 Processing the ultrasonic echo signal to obtain an ultrasonic image; and judging whether the probe is unloaded or not based on the signal values (such as gray values and the like) of the points in the ultrasonic image.
In the embodiment of the application, whether the probe is empty can be judged by using data in any link in ultrasonic imaging, such as links before or after wave velocity synthesis, links in signal processing, links in image processing, links before and after DSC and the like. In each link, the data obtained under the no-load and non-no-load conditions are obvious but different, and whether the probe is in no-load or not can be judged by identifying the intensity of the ultrasonic signal. Taking data before the DSC as an example, a gray image is already formed in a link before the DSC through previous processing, in the image, gray values of points in the image are generally relatively low when the probe is idle, and gray values of the image are generally high and gray values of different areas are often inconsistent when the probe contacts a human body. Therefore, the ultrasonic echo signals can be processed to obtain an ultrasonic image; and judging whether the probe is unloaded or not based on the signal value of the point in the ultrasonic image.
In one embodiment of the present application, step 1021a 2 The determining whether the probe is empty based on the signal value of the point in the ultrasound image may include:
calculating an average signal value for a point in the ultrasound image;
when the average signal value is smaller than a second threshold value, determining that the probe is empty; otherwise, the probe is determined to be not unloaded.
As can be seen from the foregoing description, taking the data before the DSC as an example, the link before the DSC has already formed a gray image through the previous processing, in which the gray values of the points in the image are usually relatively low when the probe is idle (i.e., the average signal values of the points in the image are also relatively low), the gray values are generally high when the probe is not idle (i.e., the average signal values of the points in the image are also relatively high) and the gray values of different areas are often different. Thus, an average signal value for a point in the ultrasound image may be calculated, and a second threshold may be set, and when the average signal value is less than the second threshold, the probe may be determined to be empty; otherwise, the probe is determined to be not unloaded. The second threshold may be set according to actual conditions, and is not particularly limited herein.
In one embodiment of the present application, step 1021a 2 The determining whether the probe is empty based on the signal value of the point in the ultrasound image may include:
obtaining a maximum value of signal values of points in the ultrasound image;
when the maximum value is smaller than a third threshold value, determining that the probe is unloaded; otherwise, determining that the probe is not unloaded.
According to the previous embodiment: the gray value of each point in the gray image is usually relatively low when the probe is in no-load, and the gray value is generally relatively high when the probe is not in no-load, namely the probe is in contact with a human body, so that the maximum value of the signal value of the point in the ultrasonic image can be obtained; setting a third threshold value, and determining that the probe is unloaded when the maximum value is less than the third threshold value; otherwise, the probe is determined to be not unloaded (namely a threshold judgment method). The third threshold may be set according to actual conditions, and is not particularly limited herein.
In one embodiment of the present application, step 1021a 2 The determining whether the probe is empty based on the signal value of the point in the ultrasound image may include:
calculating an average signal value for a point in the ultrasound image;
calculating a variance of signal values for points in the ultrasound image;
when the average signal value is smaller than a second threshold value and the variance is smaller than a fourth threshold value, determining that the probe is empty; otherwise, determining that the probe is not unloaded.
Also, from the foregoing description of the embodiments: the gray scale values of the points in the image are usually relatively low and consistent when the probe is unloaded (i.e. the average signal values of the points in the image are also relatively low and the variance is relatively small), and the gray scale values of the different regions are usually different (i.e. the variance is relatively large) when the probe is not unloaded, i.e. when the probe is in contact with a human body. Therefore, the threshold value judgment method can be combined with the image variance for judgment, the gray value is low and the variance is small when the image is unloaded, the gray value is high when the image is not unloaded, the gray values of different tissues are different, and therefore the variance is large. The fourth threshold may be set according to actual conditions, and is not particularly limited herein.
In one embodiment of the present application, whether the probe is unloaded can also be determined solely according to the variance of the signal values (e.g., gray values) of the points in the ultrasound image. For example, a variance of signal values for points in the ultrasound image may be calculated, and when the variance is less than a fourth threshold, the probe is determined to be empty; otherwise, the probe is determined to be not unloaded.
In one embodiment of the present application, calculating an average signal value of points in the ultrasound image may include the steps of: calculating the average value of the signal values of all the points in the ultrasonic image to obtain the average signal value; alternatively, an average of signal values of points in a partial region in the ultrasound image is calculated to obtain the average signal value.
When the average signal value of the points in the ultrasound image is calculated, the average signal value can be calculated and obtained based on the signal values of all the points in the whole ultrasound image; alternatively, the calculation may be performed based on signal values of points in a partial region in the ultrasound image. The specific setting can be carried out according to actual needs, and is not limited here.
In one embodiment of the present application, calculating the variance of the signal values of the points in the ultrasound image may comprise the steps of: calculating the variance of the signal values of all the points in the ultrasonic image to obtain the variance of the signal values of the points of the ultrasonic image; alternatively, the variance of the signal values of the points in the partial region in the ultrasound image is calculated, and the variance of the signal values of the points in the ultrasound image is obtained.
When the variance of the signal values of the points in the ultrasound image is calculated, the variance can be obtained by calculation based on the signal values of all the points in the whole ultrasound image; alternatively, the calculation may be performed based on signal values of points in a partial region in the ultrasound image. The specific setting can be carried out according to actual needs, and is not limited here. In addition to the above embodiment, in another embodiment of the present application, based on the obvious difference between the signal received by the probe under the no-load condition of the probe and the signal received by the probe under the no-load condition, the method can also be used for determining whether the probe is in the no-load condition by using a machine learning or deep learning method, for example, conventional machine learning methods PCA, KNN, SVM, etc. and deep learning methods CNN, resNet, VGG, mobileNet, etc., and the automatic determination of the no-load condition and the no-load condition can be realized by learning the difference between the no-load data and the no-load data of any link in the ultrasonic imaging.
In the embodiment of the application, after the pre-stored feature database is constructed, a machine learning or deep learning method is designed to learn the features or rules which can distinguish the probe no-load from the probe no-load in the pre-stored feature database so as to realize the no-load judgment.
In an embodiment of the present application, the step 1021, determining whether the probe is unloaded based on a difference between the ultrasonic echo signals when the probe is unloaded or not unloaded, may include the following steps:
and judging whether the probe is empty or not by adopting a machine learning method based on a first pre-stored characteristic database and the ultrasonic echo signal.
In an embodiment of the present application, the step 1021, determining whether the probe is unloaded based on a difference between the ultrasonic echo signals when the probe is unloaded or not unloaded, may include the following steps:
constructing a first neural network by adopting a deep learning method and a second pre-stored feature database, and
and judging whether the probe is unloaded or not based on the first neural network and the ultrasonic echo signal.
According to the method for activating the ultrasonic probe, an ultrasonic imaging device controls the probe to emit ultrasonic waves and receives ultrasonic echoes to obtain ultrasonic echo signals; judging whether the probe is unloaded or not based on the ultrasonic echo signal; the ultrasound imaging device automatically activates the probe when it is determined that the probe is not empty. Therefore, in the implementation of the application, the ultrasonic imaging device can judge whether a probe in the ultrasonic imaging device is empty or not based on the obtained ultrasonic echo signal; when the probe is determined to be not in no-load, the ultrasonic imaging device automatically activates the probe, so that the operation that a user needs to frequently and manually switch the probe in the using process is avoided, and the usability of the device is improved.
Fig. 3 is a schematic structural diagram of an ultrasound imaging apparatus 1 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, and referring to fig. 3, the ultrasound imaging apparatus 1 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure may include a probe 11, a transmitting circuit 12, a receiving circuit 13, and a processor 14. In addition, a display 15 may also be included.
In the embodiment of the present application, the transmitting circuit 12 excites the probe to transmit an ultrasonic beam;
the receiving circuit 13 receives an echo signal corresponding to the ultrasonic beam through the probe;
the processor 14 judges whether the probe is unloaded based on the echo signal; an ultrasonic imaging device automatically activates the probe when it is determined that the probe is not empty.
In an embodiment of the present application, the processor 14 further performs the following operations: when all the probes of the ultrasonic imaging device are judged to be unloaded, the probes are controlled again to transmit ultrasonic signals, and ultrasonic echo signals are received; and continuously judging whether the probe is unloaded or not based on the ultrasonic echo signal.
In an embodiment of the present application, the processor 14 further performs the following operations: controlling the activated probe to transmit ultrasonic waves and receive ultrasonic echoes to obtain ultrasonic echo signals; and judging whether the activated probe is empty or not based on the ultrasonic echo signal received by the activated probe.
In an embodiment of the present application, the processor 14 further performs the following operations: when the activated probe is determined to be idle, controlling other probes to transmit ultrasonic signals and receiving ultrasonic echo signals; judging whether the other probes are unloaded or not based on the ultrasonic echo signals; and when the probe is determined not to be unloaded, the activated probe is closed. Thereafter, the processor 14 may also perform the following operations: the non-empty probe needs to be activated again.
In an embodiment of the present application, the processor 14 may further perform the following operations: when all other probes in the ultrasonic imaging device are judged to be unloaded, keeping the currently activated probe unchanged. At this time, it may indicate that the user does not wish to switch the probe, and then the probe is still used for scanning, and only the currently activated probe is taken away from the human body during the use of the probe, and the activated probe is determined to be empty at this time.
In an embodiment of the present application, the processor 14 determining whether the probe is unloaded based on the echo signal includes: and judging whether the probe is unloaded or not based on the difference of the ultrasonic echo signals under the condition that the probe is unloaded or not.
In an embodiment of the present application, the determining, by the processor 14, whether the probe is unloaded based on a difference between the ultrasonic echo signals when the probe is unloaded or not unloaded includes:
and judging whether the probe is unloaded or not based on the intensity of the ultrasonic echo signal.
In an embodiment of the present application, the processor 14 determines whether the probe is unloaded based on the intensity of the ultrasonic echo signal, including:
when the intensity of the ultrasonic echo signal is smaller than a first threshold value, determining that the probe is empty; otherwise, the probe is determined to be not unloaded.
In an embodiment of the present application, the processor 14 determines whether the probe is unloaded based on the intensity of the ultrasonic echo signal, including:
processing the ultrasonic echo signal to obtain an ultrasonic image;
and judging whether the probe is unloaded or not based on the signal value of the point in the ultrasonic image.
In an embodiment of the application, the processor 14 determines whether the probe is empty based on the signal value of the point in the ultrasound image, including:
calculating an average signal value for a point in the ultrasound image;
when the average signal value is smaller than a second threshold value, determining that the probe is empty; otherwise, the probe is determined to be not unloaded.
In an embodiment of the application, the processor 14 determines whether the probe is empty based on the signal value of the point in the ultrasound image, including:
obtaining a maximum value of signal values of points in the ultrasound image;
when the maximum value is smaller than a third threshold value, determining that the probe is unloaded; otherwise, the probe is determined to be not unloaded.
In an embodiment of the present application, the processor 14 determining whether the probe is empty based on the signal values of the points in the ultrasound image includes:
calculating an average signal value for a point in the ultrasound image;
calculating a variance of signal values for points in the ultrasound image;
when the average signal value is smaller than a second threshold value and the variance is smaller than a fourth threshold value, determining that the probe is empty; otherwise, the probe is determined to be not unloaded.
In an embodiment of the present application, the processor 14 determining whether the probe is empty based on the signal values of the points in the ultrasound image includes:
calculating a variance of signal values for points in the ultrasound image;
when the variance is smaller than a fourth threshold value, determining that the probe is empty; otherwise, the probe is determined to be not unloaded.
In an embodiment of the present application, the calculating an average signal value of points in the ultrasound image includes: calculating the average value of the signal values of all the points in the ultrasonic image to obtain the average signal value; alternatively, an average of signal values of points in a partial region in the ultrasound image is calculated, and the average signal value is obtained.
In an embodiment of the application, said calculating a variance of signal values of points in said ultrasound image comprises: calculating the variance of the signal values of all the points in the ultrasonic image to obtain the variance of the signal values of the points of the ultrasonic image; alternatively, the variance of the signal values of the points in the partial region in the ultrasound image is calculated, and the variance of the signal values of the points in the ultrasound image is obtained.
In an embodiment of the present application, the determining, by the processor 14, whether the probe is unloaded based on a difference between the ultrasonic echo signals when the probe is unloaded or not unloaded includes: and judging whether the probe is empty or not by adopting a machine learning method based on a first pre-stored characteristic database and the ultrasonic echo signal.
In an embodiment of the present application, the determining, by the processor 14, whether the probe is unloaded based on a difference between the ultrasonic echo signals when the probe is unloaded or not unloaded includes: and constructing a first neural network by adopting a deep learning method and a second pre-stored characteristic database, and judging whether the probe is empty or not based on the first neural network and the ultrasonic echo signal.
In the embodiment of the present application, the working parameters of the ultrasonic imaging device used for determining whether the probe is unloaded and the working parameters of the ultrasonic imaging device used for normally imaging with the probe after the probe is activated may be the same or different.
In an embodiment of the application, the operating parameters include: at least one of a transmission aperture, a reception aperture, a line density, a focal depth, a gain, various parameters used in signal processing, various parameters used in image processing, and the like.
In an embodiment of the application, the display 15 is capable of displaying ultrasound images obtained while being scanned by the activated probe.
Fig. 4 is a schematic diagram of a second composition structure of the ultrasound imaging apparatus according to the embodiment of the present application, and as shown in fig. 4, the ultrasound imaging apparatus 1 according to the embodiment of the present application may further include a memory 16 storing executable instructions of the processor 14 and a communication interface 17.
In an embodiment of the present Application, the Processor 14 may be at least one of an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), a Digital Signal Processor (DSP), a Digital Signal Processing Device (DSPD), a ProgRAMmable Logic Device (PLD), a Field ProgRAMmable Gate Array (FPGA), a Central Processing Unit (CPU), a controller, a microcontroller, and a microprocessor. It is understood that the electronic device for implementing the above processor function may be other electronic devices, and the embodiments of the present application are not limited in particular. The ultrasound device 1 may further comprise a memory 16, which memory 16 may be connected to the processor 14, wherein the memory 16 is adapted to store executable program code comprising computer operating instructions, and wherein the memory 16 may comprise a high speed RAM memory and may further comprise a non-volatile memory, such as at least two disk memories.
In an embodiment of the present application, the memory 16 is used for storing instructions and data.
In practical applications, the Memory 16 may be a volatile first Memory (volatile Memory), such as a Random-Access Memory (RAM); or a non-volatile first Memory (non-volatile Memory), such as a Read-Only first Memory (ROM), a flash Memory (flash Memory), a Hard Disk Drive (HDD) or a Solid-State Drive (SSD); or a combination of first memories of the kind described above and provides instructions and data to the processor 14.
In addition, each functional module in this embodiment may be integrated into one processing unit, or each unit may exist alone physically, or two or more units are integrated into one unit. The integrated unit can be realized in a form of hardware or a form of a software functional module.
Based on the understanding that the technical solution of the present embodiment essentially or a part contributing to the prior art, or all or part of the technical solution, may be embodied in the form of a software product stored in a storage medium, and include several instructions for causing a computer device (which may be a personal computer, a server, or a network device, etc.) or a processor (processor) to execute all or part of the steps of the method of the present embodiment. And the aforementioned storage medium includes: various media capable of storing program codes, such as a usb disk, a removable hard disk, a Read Only Memory (ROM), a Random Access Memory (RAM), a magnetic disk, or an optical disk.
According to the ultrasonic imaging device provided by the embodiment of the application, the probe is controlled to transmit ultrasonic waves and receive ultrasonic echoes to obtain ultrasonic echo signals; judging whether the probe is unloaded or not based on the ultrasonic echo signal; an ultrasonic imaging device automatically activates the probe when it is determined that the probe is not empty. Therefore, in the implementation of the application, the ultrasonic imaging device can judge whether a probe in the ultrasonic imaging device is unloaded or not based on the obtained ultrasonic echo signal; when the probe is determined not to be unloaded, the ultrasonic imaging device automatically activates the probe, so that the operation that a user needs to frequently and manually switch the probe in the using process is avoided, and the usability of the device is improved.
Embodiments of the present application provide a computer-readable storage medium, on which a program is stored, which when executed by a processor implements a method of activating an ultrasound probe as described above.
Specifically, the program instructions corresponding to a method of activating an ultrasound probe in the present embodiment may be stored on a storage medium such as an optical disc, a hard disc, a usb disk, or the like, and when the program instructions corresponding to a method of activating an ultrasound probe in the storage medium are read or executed by an electronic device, the method includes the following steps:
the ultrasonic imaging device controls the probe to transmit an ultrasonic signal and receive an ultrasonic echo to obtain an ultrasonic echo signal;
judging whether the probe is unloaded or not based on the ultrasonic echo signal;
when the probe is determined not to be unloaded, the ultrasonic imaging device automatically activates the probe.
As will be appreciated by one skilled in the art, embodiments of the present application may be provided as a method, system, or computer program product. Accordingly, the present application may take the form of a hardware embodiment, a software embodiment, or an embodiment combining software and hardware aspects. Furthermore, the present application may take the form of a computer program product embodied on one or more computer-usable storage media (including, but not limited to, disk storage, optical storage, and the like) having computer-usable program code embodied therein.
The present application is described with reference to flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams of implementations of methods, apparatus (systems) and computer program products according to embodiments of the application. It will be understood that each flow and/or block of the flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, and combinations of flows and/or blocks in the flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, can be implemented by computer program instructions. These computer program instructions may be provided to a processor of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, embedded processor, or other programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, such that the instructions, which execute via the processor of the computer or other programmable data processing apparatus, create means for implementing the functions specified in the flowchart block or blocks and/or flowchart block or blocks.
These computer program instructions may also be stored in a computer-readable memory that can direct a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to function in a particular manner, such that the instructions stored in the computer-readable memory produce an article of manufacture including instruction means which implement the function specified in the flowchart block or blocks.
These computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer or other programmable apparatus to produce a computer implemented process such that the instructions which execute on the computer or other programmable apparatus provide steps for implementing the functions specified in the flowchart block or blocks in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks.
The above description is only a preferred embodiment of the present application, and is not intended to limit the scope of the present application.

Claims (35)

1. A method of activating an ultrasound probe, characterized by:
the ultrasonic imaging device controls the plurality of probes to sequentially and circularly emit ultrasonic waves and receive ultrasonic echoes to obtain ultrasonic echo signals;
judging whether a probe currently emitting ultrasonic waves is empty or not based on the ultrasonic echo signals;
when the probe which currently emits the ultrasonic waves is determined not to be unloaded, the ultrasonic imaging device automatically activates the probe, and the activation refers to switching to the probe and scanning by using the probe.
2. The method of claim 1, further comprising: when all the probes of the ultrasonic imaging device are judged to be unloaded, the steps are repeated: enabling the ultrasonic imaging device to control a probe to emit an ultrasonic signal and receive an ultrasonic echo signal; and continuously judging whether the probe is unloaded or not based on the ultrasonic echo signal.
3. The method of claim 1, wherein: after the ultrasonic imaging device automatically activates the probe, the method further comprises the following steps:
controlling the activated probe to transmit ultrasonic waves and receive ultrasonic echoes to obtain ultrasonic echo signals;
and judging whether the activated probe is empty or not based on the ultrasonic echo signal received by the activated probe.
4. The method of claim 3, wherein: when the activated probe is determined to be idle, the ultrasonic imaging device controls other probes to transmit ultrasonic signals and receives ultrasonic echo signals; judging whether the other probes are unloaded or not based on the ultrasonic echo signals; and when the probe is determined not to be unloaded, the activated probe is closed.
5. The method of claim 1, wherein said determining whether the probe currently transmitting ultrasound waves is empty based on the ultrasound echo signal comprises:
and judging whether the probe is unloaded or not based on the difference of the ultrasonic echo signals under the condition that the probe is unloaded or not.
6. The method of claim 5, wherein: judging whether the probe is unloaded or not based on the difference of the ultrasonic echo signals under the condition that the probe is unloaded or not, wherein the judging step comprises the following steps:
and judging whether the probe is unloaded or not based on the intensity of the ultrasonic echo signal.
7. The method of claim 6, wherein: the judging whether the probe is unloaded or not based on the intensity of the ultrasonic echo signal comprises the following steps:
when the intensity of the ultrasonic echo signal is smaller than a first threshold value, determining that the probe is empty; otherwise, the probe is determined to be not unloaded.
8. The method of claim 6, wherein: the judging whether the probe is unloaded or not based on the intensity of the ultrasonic echo signal comprises the following steps:
processing the ultrasonic echo signal to obtain an ultrasonic image;
and judging whether the probe is empty or not based on the signal value of the point in the ultrasonic image.
9. The method of claim 8, wherein: the determining whether the probe is empty based on the signal values of the points in the ultrasound image comprises:
calculating an average signal value for a point in the ultrasound image;
when the average signal value is smaller than a second threshold value, determining that the probe is empty; otherwise, determining that the probe is not unloaded.
10. The method of claim 8, wherein: the determining whether the probe is empty based on the signal values of the points in the ultrasound image includes:
obtaining a maximum value of signal values of points in the ultrasound image;
when the maximum value is smaller than a third threshold value, determining that the probe is empty; otherwise, the probe is determined to be not unloaded.
11. The method of claim 8, wherein: the determining whether the probe is empty based on the signal values of the points in the ultrasound image includes:
calculating an average signal value for a point in the ultrasound image;
calculating a variance of signal values for points in the ultrasound image;
when the average signal value is smaller than a second threshold value and the variance is smaller than a fourth threshold value, determining that the probe is empty; otherwise, the probe is determined to be not unloaded.
12. The method of claim 8, wherein: the determining whether the probe is empty based on the signal values of the points in the ultrasound image comprises:
calculating a variance of signal values for points in the ultrasound image;
when the variance is smaller than a fourth threshold value, determining that the probe is empty; otherwise, determining that the probe is not unloaded.
13. The method of claim 9 or 11, wherein calculating an average signal value for a point in the ultrasound image comprises:
calculating the average value of the signal values of all the points in the ultrasonic image to obtain the average signal value;
alternatively, the first and second electrodes may be,
calculating an average of signal values of points in a partial region in the ultrasound image, obtaining the average signal value.
14. The method of claim 11 or 12, wherein calculating the variance of the signal values for the points in the ultrasound image comprises:
calculating the variance of the signal values of all the points in the ultrasonic image to obtain the variance of the signal values of the points of the ultrasonic image;
alternatively, the first and second electrodes may be,
and calculating the variance of the signal values of the points in the partial area in the ultrasonic image, and obtaining the variance of the signal values of the points in the ultrasonic image.
15. The method of claim 5, wherein: judging whether the probe is unloaded or not based on the difference of the ultrasonic echo signals under the condition that the probe is unloaded or not, wherein the judging step comprises the following steps:
and judging whether the probe is empty or not by adopting a machine learning method based on a first pre-stored characteristic database and the ultrasonic echo signal.
16. The method of claim 5, wherein: judging whether the probe is unloaded or not based on the difference of the ultrasonic echo signals under the condition that the probe is unloaded or not, wherein the judging step comprises the following steps:
constructing a first neural network by adopting a deep learning method and a second pre-stored feature database, and
and judging whether the probe is unloaded or not based on the first neural network and the ultrasonic echo signal.
17. The method according to any one of claims 1-16, wherein: and obtaining working parameters of the ultrasonic imaging device used for judging whether the probe is in idle load, wherein the working parameters are different from the working parameters of the ultrasonic imaging device used for imaging by using the activated probe after the probe is activated.
18. An ultrasound imaging apparatus, wherein the ultrasound imaging apparatus comprises: a plurality of probes, a transmitting circuit, a receiving circuit and a processor,
the transmitting circuit stimulates a plurality of probes to sequentially and circularly transmit ultrasonic beams;
the receiving circuit receives echo signals corresponding to the ultrasonic beams through the probe which currently emits the ultrasonic beams;
the processor judges whether the probe currently emitting the ultrasonic beam is empty or not based on the echo signal; when the probe which transmits the ultrasonic beam currently is determined not to be idle, the ultrasonic imaging device automatically activates the probe, and the activation refers to switching to the probe and scanning by using the probe.
19. The ultrasound imaging apparatus according to claim 18,
the processor further performs the following operations: when all the probes of the ultrasonic imaging device are judged to be unloaded, the probes are controlled again to transmit ultrasonic signals, and ultrasonic echo signals are received; and continuously judging whether the probe is unloaded or not based on the ultrasonic echo signal.
20. The ultrasound imaging apparatus of claim 18, wherein the processor further performs the following:
controlling the activated probe to transmit ultrasonic waves and receive ultrasonic echoes to obtain ultrasonic echo signals; and judging whether the activated probe is empty or not based on the ultrasonic echo signal received by the activated probe.
21. The ultrasound imaging apparatus of claim 18, wherein the processor further performs the following: when the activated probe is determined to be idle, controlling other probes to transmit ultrasonic signals and receiving ultrasonic echo signals; judging whether the other probes are unloaded or not based on the ultrasonic echo signals;
and when the probe is determined not to be unloaded, the activated probe is closed.
22. The ultrasound imaging apparatus of claim 18, wherein the processor determining whether the probe is unloaded based on the echo signals comprises: and judging whether the probe is unloaded or not based on the difference of the ultrasonic echo signals under the condition that the probe is unloaded or not.
23. The ultrasound imaging apparatus according to claim 22,
the processor judges whether the probe is unloaded based on the difference of the ultrasonic echo signals under the condition that the probe is unloaded or not, and the method comprises the following steps:
and judging whether the probe is unloaded or not based on the intensity of the ultrasonic echo signal.
24. The ultrasound imaging apparatus of claim 23, wherein the processor determining whether the probe is empty based on the intensity of the ultrasound echo signals comprises:
when the intensity of the ultrasonic echo signal is smaller than a first threshold value, determining that the probe is empty; otherwise, the probe is determined to be not unloaded.
25. The ultrasound imaging apparatus of claim 23, wherein the processor determining whether the probe is empty based on the intensity of the ultrasound echo signals comprises:
processing the ultrasonic echo signal to obtain an ultrasonic image;
and judging whether the probe is unloaded or not based on the signal value of the point in the ultrasonic image.
26. The ultrasound imaging apparatus of claim 25, wherein the processor determining whether the probe is empty based on signal values of points in the ultrasound image comprises:
calculating an average signal value for a point in the ultrasound image;
when the average signal value is smaller than a second threshold value, determining that the probe is empty; otherwise, the probe is determined to be not unloaded.
27. The ultrasound imaging apparatus of claim 25, wherein the processor determines whether the probe is empty based on signal values of points in the ultrasound image, comprising:
obtaining a maximum value of signal values for a point in the ultrasound image;
when the maximum value is smaller than a third threshold value, determining that the probe is empty; otherwise, the probe is determined to be not unloaded.
28. The ultrasound imaging apparatus of claim 25, wherein the processor determining whether the probe is empty based on signal values of points in the ultrasound image comprises:
calculating an average signal value for a point in the ultrasound image;
calculating a variance of signal values for points in the ultrasound image;
when the average signal value is smaller than a second threshold value and the variance is smaller than a fourth threshold value, determining that the probe is empty; otherwise, the probe is determined to be not unloaded.
29. The ultrasound imaging apparatus of claim 25, wherein the processor determines whether the probe is empty based on signal values of points in the ultrasound image, comprising:
calculating a variance of signal values for points in the ultrasound image;
when the variance is smaller than a fourth threshold value, determining that the probe is empty; otherwise, the probe is determined to be not unloaded.
30. The ultrasound imaging apparatus of claim 26 or 28, wherein the calculating an average signal value for a point in the ultrasound image comprises:
calculating the average value of the signal values of all the points in the ultrasonic image to obtain the average signal value;
alternatively, the first and second electrodes may be,
and calculating the average value of the signal values of the points in the partial area in the ultrasonic image to obtain the average signal value.
31. The ultrasound imaging apparatus according to claim 28 or 29,
the calculating a variance of signal values for points in the ultrasound image comprises:
calculating the variance of the signal values of all the points in the ultrasonic image to obtain the variance of the signal values of the points of the ultrasonic image;
alternatively, the first and second electrodes may be,
and calculating the variance of the signal values of the points in the partial area in the ultrasonic image, and obtaining the variance of the signal values of the points in the ultrasonic image.
32. The ultrasound imaging apparatus of claim 22, wherein the processor determines whether the probe is unloaded based on a difference in ultrasound echo signals with the probe unloaded or unloaded, comprising:
and judging whether the probe is empty or not by adopting a machine learning method based on a first pre-stored characteristic database and the ultrasonic echo signal.
33. The ultrasound imaging apparatus of claim 22, wherein the processor determines whether the probe is unloaded based on a difference in ultrasound echo signals with the probe unloaded or unloaded, comprising:
and constructing a first neural network by adopting a deep learning method and a second pre-stored feature database, and judging whether the probe is empty or not based on the first neural network and the ultrasonic echo signal.
34. The ultrasound imaging apparatus of any of claims 18 to 33, wherein the operating parameters of the ultrasound imaging apparatus used to determine whether the probe is unloaded are obtained differently from the operating parameters of the ultrasound imaging apparatus used when imaging with the activated probe after activation of the probe.
35. A computer-readable storage medium, having a program stored thereon, for use in an ultrasound imaging apparatus, wherein the program, when executed by a processor, implements the method of any of claims 1-17.
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GB201417164D0 (en) * 2014-09-29 2014-11-12 Renishaw Plc Measurement Probe
CN111526817B (en) * 2017-12-28 2024-02-13 爱惜康有限责任公司 Controlling activation of an ultrasonic surgical instrument based on presence of tissue

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