JP2001292994A - Ultrasonic diagnostic equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reduce the number of received signal processing circuits of A/D converters or the like, in an ultrasonic diagnostic equipment having a digital beam former(DBF). SOLUTION: A plurality of vibration elements 10a for constituting one receiving opening is sectioned into an A group and a B group. Transmission/reception is performed for each group per azimuth, received signals of respective groups are added in a group adding part 34, and a received signal same as the conventional received signal is formed. Since transmission/reception is performed for each group, the scale of the DBF 30 can be reduced.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, and more particularly, to an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus having a digital beamformer (DBF) provided with an A / D converter for each vibration element (channel).

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, an analog beamformer has been used, but recently, a digital beamformer has been frequently used. In such a method, an A / D converter and a delay unit for converting an analog reception signal into a digital signal are provided for each vibration element, and phasing addition is performed on the digital signal.

FIG. 7 shows the configuration of a transmission / reception unit in a conventional ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus. The array transducer 10 includes a plurality of transducer elements 10a, and a transmitter 12a is provided for each transducer element 10a. An A / D converter 16 and a delay unit 18 are provided for each vibration element 10a. Here, reference numeral 14 denotes a processing unit that processes a signal before executing the phasing addition, and the received signal processing unit 14
Is composed of a plurality of reception signal processing circuits 14a (A / D converters 16 and delay units 18) provided for each vibration element 10a (channel). An adder 20 that performs phasing addition is provided at a stage subsequent to the reception signal processing unit 14. Sign 1
3 represents DBF.

[0004]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION However, DBF
Although the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus using the method can improve the image quality of the ultrasonic image, there is a problem that the size of the receiving circuit is inevitably increased and the cost is increased.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned conventional problems, and an object of the present invention is to reduce the circuit scale of an apparatus and reduce costs.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention comprises an array vibrator comprising a plurality of vibrating elements for transmitting and receiving ultrasonic waves, and a receiving aperture on the array vibrator. Group selecting means for dividing the plurality of vibrating elements into a plurality of groups and selecting each of the groups, and a phasing for adding a plurality of element received signals output from the selected group and outputting a group received signal And a group adding unit that adds the group received signals among a plurality of groups forming the receiving aperture and outputs an aperture received signal.

According to the above configuration, the receiving aperture is constituted by all the vibrating elements (for example, in the case of electronic sector scanning) or a part of the vibrating elements (for example, in the case of electronic linear scanning) which constitute the array vibrator. Incidentally, the transmission aperture is also constituted by a full vibrating element (for example, in the case of electronic sector scanning) or a partial vibrating element (for example, in the case of electronic linear scanning).

In any case, the receiving aperture is composed of a plurality of vibrating elements, and these vibrating elements are divided into a plurality of groups. Each group may be formed by block division, or may be formed by alternately performing group setting for each vibration element.

After the group division as described above, each group is selected in a predetermined order under the control of the group selection means, and a plurality of element reception signals from the selected group are phased and added. Further, the group reception signal of each group is added by the group addition means, and an aperture reception signal similar to the conventional device is generated.

Thus, according to the above configuration, it is necessary to perform transmission and reception by the number of groups per beam, but it is possible to reduce the number of processing circuits required for processing element reception signals. That is, it is not necessary to operate the processing circuits by the number of all channels constituting the reception aperture, and the reception signal processing similar to the conventional one can be achieved only by operating the processing circuits by the number of channels constituting the group. In other words, according to the present invention, one processing circuit can be shared by a plurality of channels, and as a result, the configuration of the receiving circuit can be simplified.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an array vibrator comprising a plurality of vibrating elements for transmitting and receiving ultrasonic waves, and transmitting means for supplying a transmitting signal to the plurality of vibrating elements. A plurality of vibrating elements forming a receiving aperture on the array vibrator are divided into a plurality of groups, and group selecting means for sequentially selecting each group among the plurality of groups, and a plurality of groups output from the selected group. A conversion unit that converts the element reception signal into a digital signal; a delay processing unit that performs delay processing on each of the plurality of element reception signals converted into the digital signal; and a plurality of element reception signals after the delay processing are added. A phasing addition means for outputting a group reception signal; and a group addition means for adding the group reception signal among a plurality of groups constituting the reception aperture and outputting an aperture reception signal. Characterized in that it comprises a means.

According to the above configuration, a plurality of reception groups are set for one beam, phasing addition is performed for each group, and an A / D converter, a delay device, and the like can be shared by each group. The size of the receiving circuit can be reduced, and the cost can be reduced.

Preferably, the conversion unit and the delay processing unit are configured by A / D converters and delay units whose number is smaller than the number of the plurality of vibrating elements constituting the reception aperture.

Preferably, the group adding means includes a line memory for temporarily storing a group reception signal obtained earlier, a group reception signal obtained last and a group reception signal read from the line memory. And an adder that outputs the aperture reception signal. The line memory is a memory that generally stores a reception signal for one beam. For example, in the case where one reception aperture is composed of three groups, if the second reception signal is obtained in a state where the first group reception signal is stored in the line memory, the reception obtained by adding them is performed. The signal is stored in the line memory, and then, when the third received signal is obtained, the third received signal is added to the added received signal read from the line memory, and the ultrasonic signal is added according to the added signal. One line of the image is formed. Then, by repeating this, the entire ultrasonic image is formed.

[0015] Preferably, the group addition means is provided at a stage preceding the detection unit. By performing the addition of the group reception signals in the state of the RF signal, the original reception beam can be appropriately formed.

Preferably, the transmission of ultrasonic waves is performed by the number of groups per reception aperture. As a result, the frame rate is reduced, but the scale of the receiving circuit can be reduced to a fraction.

[0017]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a main configuration of an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to the present invention. FIG. 1 particularly shows a configuration of a transmission / reception unit in the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus.

In FIG. 1, the array vibrator 10 includes a plurality of vibrating elements 10a. In the present embodiment, the plurality of vibration elements 10a are divided into two groups, an A group and a B group. For example, when electronic sector scanning is performed, a transmitting aperture and a receiving aperture are formed using all the vibrating elements 10a, and each of the vibrating elements 10a is correspondingly distributed to either the A group or the B group. . On the other hand, when the electronic linear scanning is applied, the transmission aperture and the reception aperture are formed by using only a part of the vibration elements 10a among all the vibration elements 10a, and constitute the reception aperture (or the transmission / reception aperture). Each vibration element 10a
Will be distributed to the A group or the B group.
Incidentally, in this case, the transmitting aperture and the receiving aperture are scanned on the array transducer 10 with the scanning of the ultrasonic beam.

The transmitting unit 12 is connected to the array vibrator 10. The transmission unit 12 is configured by a transmission circuit 12a provided for each vibration element 10a. A receiving unit is provided for the array transducer 10 in parallel with the transmitting unit 12. In the present embodiment, the receiving unit constitutes a digital beamformer (DBF) 30. A switching unit 32 is provided between the DBF 30 and the array vibrator 10, and the switching unit 32 includes a plurality of switching units 32a provided for each of the plurality of reception signal processing circuits 14a constituting the DBF 30. . Each switch 32a is a circuit for selecting a group connected to the reception signal processing circuit 14a.

The received signal processing circuit 14a comprises an A / D converter 16 and a delay unit 18 in this embodiment.
The A / D converter 16 is a circuit that converts a received signal into a digital signal, and the delay unit 18 is a circuit that performs a delay process on the received signal for phasing addition. The reception signal (digital signal) output from each reception signal processing circuit 14a is input to the adder 20, and the adder 20 performs so-called phasing addition.

As shown in the configuration of FIG. 1, in this embodiment, the switches 32a and the reception signal processing circuits 14a are provided by the number of the vibrating elements 10a constituting each group. That is, in the related art, the reception signal processing circuit 14a is connected to all the vibrating elements 10a constituting the array vibrator 10 (or the receiving aperture). However, in the present embodiment, a method called group selection is introduced. Thus, the number of reception signal processing circuits 14a in the DBF 30 can be significantly reduced.

The received signal output from the adder 20 is input to the group adder 34. In the example of FIG. 1, the group adder 34 includes a line memory 36 and an adder 38.
It is composed of The line memory 36 stores a received signal corresponding to the A group. Then, the pre-acquired first received signal read from the line memory 36 and the second received signal corresponding to the B group bypassing the line memory 36 are added by the adder 38, and the added received signal is added to the subsequent stage. Is output to the detector.

FIG. 2 is a timing chart showing the operation of the configuration shown in FIG. Here, (A) shows a group selected by the switch 32. As shown, A group and B for each orientation
Groups are selected in order. The delay amount of each delay unit 18 is variably set according to the set direction and the selected group. That is, 2 per direction
The transmission and reception are performed twice, and the received and phased and added signal is obtained by the two transmissions and receptions.

FIG. 3B shows a received signal (line data) output from the adder 20, and the received signals are output in order according to the set azimuth and the selected group. Here, 1a represents a received signal of group A for azimuth # 1, 1b represents a received signal of group B for azimuth # 1, and so on.
Reference numerals 2a and 2b denote received signals of the A group and the B group for the azimuth # 2, respectively.

FIG. 2C shows a write period in the line memory 36. In FIG.
And the received signal 2a are intermittently stored.
Also, (D) shows a reading period of the line memory 36. When the received signal 1b is obtained, the stored received signal 1a is read from the line memory 36, and these are read (E). Are added on the adder 38 as shown by the above, and the combined reception signal as an addition signal is output to the subsequent detector.

As described above, the plurality of vibrating elements forming the receiving aperture are divided into a plurality of groups, the received signals are obtained for each group, and the received signals of each group are finally synthesized and added. Can be obtained. Therefore, although the frame rate is reduced, the number of received signal processing circuits in the DBF 30 can be significantly reduced, and the size of the device can be reduced, and the cost of the device can be reduced.

FIG. 6 shows a specific example of group setting. (A) shows a group setting method similar to that shown in FIG. 1, in which the array vibrator or the receiving aperture is divided into two groups on the left and right, and received signals are individually obtained. In the example shown in (B), A and B groups are alternately set for a plurality of vibrating elements constituting an array vibrator or a receiving aperture. Becomes possible. Of course, various methods other than those described above can be used for setting the group.

FIG. 5A shows the concept of beam forming at the time of transmission. As shown in FIG. 5, in this embodiment, at the time of transmission, an array vibrator or a reception aperture (transmission aperture) is formed. Transmit beam 1 using a vibrating element
02 is formed. Here, F1 represents a transmission focus point. On the other hand, as shown in (B), at the time of reception, the reception aperture is divided into two groups, and a reception beam (semi-reception beam) is formed individually for each group. Here, reference numeral 104 denotes a semi-reception beam formed by the A group, and reference numeral 10 denotes
Reference numeral 6 denotes a reception beam formed by the B group. Reference F2 represents a reception focus point. These two reception beams 104 and 106 originally constitute one reception beam as a whole. However, in the present embodiment, as described above, one reception beam is intentionally used.
One receiving beam is divided into a plurality, thereby reducing the size of the receiving circuit.

FIGS. 3 and 4 show another embodiment. In the configuration example shown in FIG. 3, the group adder includes a line memory 40 and an adder 42, and an output of the adder 42 is connected to an input of the line memory 40. For example, when one reception aperture is constituted by four groups, in the line memory 40, the reception signals of each group are cumulatively added stepwise. Then, 3
When the sum of the received signals of the two groups is stored, when the received signal corresponding to the fourth group is obtained, the stored received signals are read out, and are added to the adder 42. The signals are added and output to the subsequent detector as an added signal. In FIG. 3, 1a + 1b + 1 is the sum of the first to third received signals.
c, and the fourth received signal is represented by 1d. The sum of them is represented by 1a + 1b + 1c + 1d.

FIG. 4 shows the operation of the configuration shown in FIG. 3. As shown in FIG. 3A, the receiving apertures for each direction are divided into four groups A to D. The received signal is obtained as shown in FIG. Then, as shown in (C), when the four received signals are added, the clear processing for the line memory 40 is executed. (D) shows data read from the line memory 40, and (E) shows the output of the adder 42. As shown in (F), an added signal obtained by adding four received signals is used in the display processing.

[0032]

As described above, according to the present invention,
It is possible to reduce the circuit scale of the device and reduce the cost.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a main configuration of an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a timing chart showing the operation of the configuration shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a main configuration according to another embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a timing chart showing the operation of the configuration shown in FIG.

FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining a transmission beam and a reception beam.

FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining group setting.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing a main configuration of a conventional ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus.

[Explanation of symbols]

Reference Signs List 10 array vibrator, 12 transmission unit, 14 reception signal processing unit, 16 A / D converter, 18 delay unit, 20 adder, 30 digital beamformer (DBF), 32
Switching section, 34 group addition section.

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. An array vibrator comprising a plurality of vibrating elements for transmitting and receiving ultrasonic waves, and a plurality of vibrating elements constituting a receiving aperture on the array vibrator are divided into a plurality of groups, and each group is divided into a plurality of groups. Group selecting means for selecting, a plurality of element reception signals output from the selected group are added, and a phasing addition means for outputting a group reception signal; and An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus comprising: a group addition unit that adds a group reception signal and outputs an aperture reception signal. 2. An array vibrator comprising a plurality of vibrating elements for transmitting and receiving ultrasonic waves, transmitting means for supplying a transmission signal to the plurality of vibrating elements, and a receiving aperture on the array vibrator Grouping means for dividing the plurality of vibrating elements to be divided into a plurality of groups and sequentially selecting each group among the plurality of groups, and a converting unit for converting the plurality of element reception signals output from the selected group into digital signals, respectively. A delay processing unit that performs delay processing on each of the plurality of element reception signals converted to the digital signal; and a phasing addition that adds the plurality of element reception signals after the delay processing and outputs a group reception signal. Means, and a group addition means for adding the group reception signals among a plurality of groups constituting the reception aperture and outputting an aperture reception signal. That the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus. 3. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the conversion unit and the delay processing unit have a smaller number of A / Ds than the number of the plurality of vibrating elements forming the reception aperture.
An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus comprising a converter and a delay unit. 4. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said group addition means comprises: a line memory for temporarily storing a group reception signal obtained previously; a group reception signal obtained last; An adder that adds a group reception signal read from a line memory and outputs the aperture reception signal. 5. The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said group addition means is provided at a stage prior to a detection unit. 6. The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to claim 1, wherein ultrasonic waves are transmitted by the number of groups per one reception aperture.