JP2005052342A - Ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To simplify production management and sales management by easily corresponding to the improvement in a frame rate and reducing the types of ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus. <P>SOLUTION: The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus is provided with a probe 10 formed by disposing a plurality of oscillators, a transmission part 14, a receiving part 22 and a display part 30 displaying an ultrasonic diagnostic image. The receiving part 22 is provided with a plurality of receiving circuits 20, the respective receiving circuits 20 divide oscillator groups 32-1 to 32-n constituting calibers into a plurality of sets of adjacent oscillators, respective sets are connected to each other via changeover switches 19-1 to 19-k, and preparatory terminals 25-1 to 25-k connectable to a receiving circuit with the same constitution to the receiving circuit 20 are provided in the oscillator side of the changeover switches 19-1 to 19-k. This constitution can easily correspond to the improvement in the frame rate and reduce the type of the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus in which a receiving circuit is reduced in size.

  The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus irradiates ultrasonic waves to a diagnostic part of a subject through a probe in which a plurality of transducers are arranged, and receives and amplifies a reflected echo signal generated from the subject by a receiving unit. After the phasing addition, an ultrasound diagnostic image (for example, a B-mode image, an M-mode image, a Doppler image, etc.) is reconstructed from the reflected echo signal.

  In such an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, it is possible to improve the resolution of the ultrasonic diagnostic image by increasing the aperture to reduce the beam diameter of the ultrasonic beam, so the number of transducers constituting the aperture is reduced. It is common to increase it. However, increasing the number of transducers increases the size of the transmission / reception circuit. Therefore, to reduce the number of transmission / reception circuits and reduce the number of electrical / electronic components and cables, the high-voltage switch is used to select the transducer group that configures the aperture from multiple transducers. Transmission / reception circuits are provided in the number corresponding to the number of the vibrators.

  Furthermore, in order to reduce the size of the receiving circuit, it has been proposed to divide the group of vibrators constituting the aperture into adjacent vibrator sets and connect each set to one receiving circuit via a changeover switch. (For example, refer to Patent Document 1).

JP 2001-292994 A (FIG. 1)

  However, in the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus described in Patent Document 1, since adjacent transducers are alternately switched by a changeover switch, in order to receive reflected echo signals from each transducer without omission, an ultrasonic transmission / reception operation is performed. Must be repeated twice. Therefore, since the frame rate of the ultrasonic diagnostic image is reduced, in the case of a heart diagnosis that requires a relatively high frame rate, an appropriate diagnostic image that follows the movement of the heart may not be obtained.

  However, on the other hand, when imaging the abdomen or the fetus of the womb, the movement of the living tissue is relatively slow, so that it is not necessary to increase the frame rate as much as the heart. Therefore, conventionally, a plurality of types of products have been designed and manufactured according to the functions of the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, such as for high frame rate and low frame rate. As a result, there is a problem that production management and sales management become complicated because it is necessary to produce a variety of products in small quantities.

  An object of the present invention is to simplify production management and sales management by making it possible to easily cope with an increase in frame rate and reducing the types of ultrasonic diagnostic apparatuses.

  An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus of the present invention includes a probe in which a plurality of transducers that transmit and receive ultrasonic waves to and from a subject, a transmission unit that generates a drive signal that drives the transducers, A receiving unit for amplifying and phasing and adding a reflected echo signal output from the probe; and a display unit for displaying an ultrasound diagnostic image reconstructed based on the reflected echo signal from the receiving unit, The receiving unit has a plurality of receiving circuits, and each receiving circuit divides a group of transducers constituting the aperture into a plurality of adjacent transducers and is connected to each set via a changeover switch. A spare terminal to which a receiving circuit having the same configuration as the receiving circuit can be connected is provided on the transducer side of the changeover switch.

  According to this, when a relatively low frame rate is used as a standard, and a relatively high frame rate is required, the same receiving circuit is simply connected to the spare terminal, so that two types of frame rates can be easily handled. it can. That is, since the frame rate can be easily improved as necessary, a device configuration with a relatively low frame rate may be mass-produced as a standard specification. Accordingly, it is not necessary to design and manufacture a plurality of types of ultrasonic diagnostic apparatuses for each required frame rate, so that production management and sales management are simplified.

  In addition, in order to improve the frame rate of the standard ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, a reception circuit having the same configuration as that of the standard reception circuit is added. As a result, not only the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus but also the standardization of the receiving circuit can be achieved.

  In this case, the change-over switch electrically connects the transducer A among the plurality of transducers in each set, for example, the two transducers A and B, to the receiving circuit, and the second ultrasonic wave When a transmission operation is performed, switching control is performed so that the transducer B is electrically connected to the reception circuit.

  In addition, when a plurality of transducer groups in each set are connected to the receiving circuit in order by the changeover switch, in order to ensure the resolution of the ultrasonic diagnostic image, an ultrasonic wave is transmitted for each changeover, The reflected echo signals acquired by the transducers in the set are synthesized. For example, when the first ultrasonic transmission operation is performed, the reflected echo signals received by each pair of transducers A are subjected to reception processing by each receiving circuit, and then added by an adder to be stored in the storage means. Accumulated temporarily. Similarly, when the second ultrasonic transmission operation is performed, the reflected echo signals received by each pair of transducers B are added by the adder and output. The output reflected echo signal is combined with the first reflected echo signal read from the storage means by the beam combiner. As a result, the synthesized reflected echo signal has the same resolution as when the reflected echo signal is received by all transducers constituting the aperture, and the resolution of the ultrasonic diagnostic image can be ensured.

  The receiving circuit includes an amplifier circuit that amplifies the reflected echo signal input from the changeover switch, a delay circuit that delays the reflected echo signal output from the amplifier circuit, and the like.

  According to the present invention, production management and sales management can be simplified by easily adapting to an increase in frame rate and reducing the types of ultrasonic diagnostic apparatuses.

  An embodiment of an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus to which the present invention is applied will be described with reference to the drawings. In the present embodiment, a group of transducers constituting the aperture is divided into groups of two adjacent transducers, a reception circuit is provided for each of the groups via a changeover switch, and the reception circuit is provided on the transducer side of the changeover switch side. This is an example in which the number of types of ultrasonic diagnostic apparatuses can be reduced by providing a connection terminal that can be expanded to easily cope with an improvement in the frame rate of ultrasonic diagnostic images. FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram of a receiving circuit provided for every two adjacent transducers, and FIG. 3 is an additional receiving circuit. FIG. 4 shows a circuit diagram of the receiving unit in the case of FIG.

  As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus 1 includes a probe 10, a transmission unit 14 having a transmission processing circuit 12 and a transmission circuit 13, and transmission / reception having transmission / reception separation switches 16-1 to 16-n. A separation unit 16, a high voltage changeover switch 18 that is a diameter selection switch, a channel selection switch 19 having changeover switches 19-1 to 19-k, and the like are provided. In addition, a receiving unit 22 having a receiving circuit 20 and an adding circuit 21, a signal processing circuit 24, an image processing circuit 26, a digital scan converter 28 (hereinafter referred to as DSC), a display monitor 30 as a display unit, and a control unit for controlling each unit 31 etc. are also provided and comprised.

  A plurality of (eg, 150) transducers are arranged in a strip shape on the probe 10. Among the plurality of vibrators, a plurality of (for example, 50) vibrators 32-1 to 32-n having a diameter are selected by the high voltage changeover switch 18. That is, in order to ensure a diagnosable range, the transmission / reception position is controlled to be changed in order by scanning the aperture while bundling ultrasonic beams. Note that n represents the number of vibrators constituting the aperture.

  The vibrators 32-1 to 32-n are divided into sets of two adjacent vibrators. The receiving unit 22 is electrically connected via the changeover switches 19-1 to 19-k for each divided group. That is, the number of reception channels (k) corresponds to half of the number (n) of the transducers 32-1 to 32-n.

  Connection terminals 25-1 to 25-k, which are spare terminals, are provided on the transducer side of the changeover switches 19-1 to 19-k. The connection terminals 25-1 to 25-k are connected to the input side of the added receiving unit when a receiving unit having the same hardware configuration as that of the receiving unit 22 is added, and is composed of a connector or the like. ing.

  The receiving unit 22 includes a plurality of receiving circuits 20-1 to 20-k, one adding circuit 21, and the like. The reception circuits 20-1 to 20-k include amplification circuits 23-1 to 23-k, analog / digital conversion circuits 27-1 to 27-k (hereinafter referred to as AD conversion circuits), and delay circuits 29-1 to 29-k. And so on. The adder circuit 21 includes an adder 34, a line memory 36 as a storage means, a beam selector 37, a beam combiner 38, and the like. The receiving unit 22 is a printed circuit board on which receiving circuits 20-1 to 20-k, an adding circuit 21 and the like are wired. The connection terminals 25-1 to 25-k are preferably formed in a slot shape into which the side of the printed board can be inserted in order to make the receiving unit 22 easily detachable. Note that the channel selection switch 19 may also be printed on the substrate of the receiving unit 22.

  The detailed configuration of the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus 1 configured as described above will be described together with the operation. First, the probe 10 is brought into contact with the body surface of the subject. Among the transducer groups of the probe 10, the transducers 32-1 to 32-n are selected by the high voltage changeover switch 18. Next, in order to perform the first ultrasonic transmission, a driving pulse is transmitted from the transmission unit 14 based on a command from the control unit 31 via the transmission / reception separation switches 16-1 to 16-n. 32-n. Then, ultrasonic waves are transmitted from the transducers 32-1 to 32-n to the subject. The transmission / reception separation switches 16-1 to 16-n are electronic switches using electronic components such as mechanical switches or semiconductor elements, and are switched based on a command from the control unit 31.

  The reflected echo signal generated from the subject is received by the transducers 32-1 to 32-n via the transmission / reception separation switches 16-1 to 16-n. Of the reflected echo signals received, the reflected echo signals received by the odd-numbered transducers 32-1, 32-3,..., 32- (2n−1) are changed over from the changeover switches 19-1 to 19−. k is input to the receiving unit 22. The input reflected echo signals are amplified by the receiving amplifiers 20-1 to 20-k, and then converted into digital signals by the AD conversion circuits 27-1 to 27-k. The digitized reflected echo signal is delayed and phased by the delay circuits 29-1 to 29-k based on predetermined delay data. The phased reflected echo signals are added by the adder 34 and focused. Then, the beam selector 37 is switched to the line memory 36 side to select a storage address, whereby the added reflected echo signal is stored in the line memory 36.

  Next, on the basis of a command from the control unit 31, the second ultrasonic transmission and reception are performed from the transducers 32-1 to 32-n to the subject. In this case, the reflected echo signals from the even-numbered transducers 32-2, 32-4,..., 32- (2n) among the received reflected echo signals are sent to the changeover switches 19-1 to 19-k. Thus, delay and phasing addition are performed in the same manner as the reflected echo signal received for the first time.

  Then, when the beam selector 37 is switched to the beam combiner 38 side, the phased and added reflected echo signal is output to the beam combiner 38. At this time, the reflected echo signal acquired by the first transmission operation is read from the line memory 36 and output to the beam combiner 38. Accordingly, the beam combiner 38 combines the first reflected echo signal and the second reflected echo signal to form an ultrasonic beam. Thereby, the ultrasonic beam was received by all the transducers 32-1 to 32-n constituting the aperture while the number (k) of the reception channels was half of the number (n) of the transducers constituting the aperture. It is formed with a beam width equivalent to the case, that is, with an equivalently narrow beam width. The formed ultrasonic beam is subjected to processing such as detection by the signal processing circuit 24, and then an ultrasonic diagnostic image (for example, a B-mode image) is reconstructed by the image processing circuit 26. The reconstructed ultrasonic diagnostic image is converted into a display signal by the DSC 28 and displayed on the display monitor 30.

  In such an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus 1, the adjacent transducers, for example, the transducer 32-1 and the transducer 32-2 are alternately switched by the changeover switch 19-1 for each ultrasound transmission operation. In order to receive the reflected echo signals received by the transducers 32-1 and 32-2 without omission, the ultrasonic wave transmission / reception operation must be repeated twice. Therefore, since the frame rate decreases, for example, when diagnosing the heart, an appropriate diagnostic image that follows the movement of the heart may not be obtained. In this regard, in the present embodiment, in the case of a diagnosis that requires a relatively high frame rate, the receiving unit 40 is inserted into the slot in addition to the receiving unit 22, and the receiving circuits 20-1 to 20 -k of the receiving unit 40. Is connected to the connection terminals 25-1 to 25-k so that the frame rate can be easily improved.

  Here, the configuration and operation when the receiving unit 40 is added will be described. As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the receiving unit 40 is configured to have the same hardware as the receiving unit 22 in order to share parts and reduce the cost of production management / sales management. . The receiving circuits 20-1 to 20-k of the receiving unit 40 are electrically connected to the odd-numbered vibrators 32-1, 32-3, ... 32- (2n-1) via the connection terminals 25-1 to 25-k. Is connected (imaged). Thereby, the reflected echo signals from the odd-numbered vibrators 32-1, 32-3,..., 32- (2n-1) among the vibrators 32-1 to 32-n constituting the aperture are received by the receiving unit 40. After amplification and phasing addition, the beam switch 48 is switched to the beam combiner 50 side, and then input to the adder 42 via the beam combiner 50. The reflected echo signal output from the beam switch 48 may be temporarily stored in the line memory 49.

  On the other hand, the receiving circuits 20-1 to 20-k of the receiving unit 22 are electrically connected (connected) to the even-numbered vibrators 32-2 to 32- (2n) via the changeover switches 19-1 to 19-k. Image). As a result, the reflected echo signals output from the even-numbered transducers 32-2 to 32- (2n) are amplified and phased and added by the receiver 22 via the changeover switches 19-1 to 19-k. When the beam switch 37 is switched to the beam combiner 38 side, the beam switch 37 is input to the adder 42 via the beam combiner 38.

  Then, the adder 42 adds the reflected echo signal output from the beam combiner 50 and the reflected echo signal output from the beam combiner 38. An ultrasonic diagnostic image is reconstructed based on the added reflected echo signal. Accordingly, if ultrasonic waves are transmitted once, the odd-numbered transducers 32-1, 32-3,..., 32- (2n-1) and even-numbered transducers 32-2 to 32- (2n). The reflected echo signals received by the are processed simultaneously. Therefore, the frame rate can be improved as compared with the case where the ultrasonic transmission operation is repeated twice. The reflected echo signal output from the adder 34 is input to the beam combiner 50 via the beam combiner 38, and is added to the reflected echo signal from the adder 47 by the beam combiner 50. Good. As a result, the adder 42 becomes unnecessary, and the circuit scale can be reduced.

  According to the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus having such expandability, when a relatively low frame rate is standard and a relatively high frame rate is required, the receiving unit 40 is added and the receiving circuit 20 of the receiving unit 40 is added. By connecting -1 to 20-k to the connection terminals 19-1 to 19-k, respectively, it is possible to easily cope with two types of frame rates. In other words, since the frame rate can be easily improved as necessary, it is only necessary to mass-produce the same product with a relatively low frame rate device configuration as a standard specification. Therefore, it is not necessary to design and manufacture a plurality of types of ultrasonic diagnostic apparatuses for each required frame rate, so that production management and sales management can be simplified.

  Further, since two adjacent vibrators, for example, the vibrator 32-1 and the vibrator 32-2, or the vibrator 32-3 and the vibrator 32-4 are divided into a pair, the two adjacent vibrators The difference in distance from each transducer to the observation site is a slight difference. Therefore, even if the reflected echo signals received by the adjacent transducers 32-1 and 32-2 are delayed based on the common delay data by the delay circuit 29-1, the image quality of the ultrasonic diagnostic image is deteriorated. There is no.

  Further, when the aperture is moved, the control mechanism may be complicated because recalculation and rewriting processing of delay data for delaying each reflected echo signal and the like occur. For example, paying attention to the left-right symmetry of the ultrasonic beam and using a switch that simultaneously drives the transmitting and receiving circuits that have a symmetrical positional relationship when forming the beam, it is necessary to rotate the switch as the aperture moves. Control becomes complicated. In this regard, according to the present embodiment, each delay data for delaying the reflected echo signals received by the receiving circuits 20-1 to 20-k is always continuous, that is, the relative delay amount of each delay data is always constant. Therefore, complicated calculation and control are not required, and the aperture can be moved by simple on-off control.

  As described above, the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus of the present invention has been described based on the embodiment. However, instead of dividing two adjacent transducers into a set, a plurality of adjacent transducers may be divided into a set. Good. For example, FIG. 5 is a circuit configuration diagram when three adjacent vibrators are divided into sets, and FIG. 6 is a circuit diagram of a phasing processing unit in the case of FIG. As shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, the difference from the circuit configuration of FIG. 2 is that three adjacent vibrators, for example, vibrators 32-1, 32-2, and 32-3 are divided into one set. It is. Accordingly, the number of reception channels, that is, the number (k) of the reception circuits 20-1 to 20-k is one third of the number (n) of transducer groups constituting the aperture. Further, the changeover switches 19-1 to 19-k are controlled so as to be switched in order so that the three vibrators make one round for each transmission operation.

  The changeover switch 19-1 is provided with a connection terminal 55-1 on the vibrator 32-1 side and a connection terminal 55-2 on the vibrator 32-2 side. In other words, two of the three vibrators are divided into one set and are connected to the connection terminals 55-1 to 55-p. In addition, when the three transducers are made into one set in this way, since the ultrasonic transmission operation is repeated three times, in addition to the line memory 36 that accumulates the reflected echo signal received by the first operation. A line memory 51 for accumulating the second reflected echo signal is provided. By dividing a plurality of adjacent vibrators into sets as described above, a plurality of receiving units can be added, so that the frame rate can be increased in stages and fine adjustment of the frame rate becomes possible.

  When a plurality of adjacent transducers are divided into groups, the difference in the distance from each transducer to the diagnostic site increases as the number of transducers in the group increases. Therefore, if the reflected echo signal received by each transducer is delayed based on the common delay data, the image quality of the ultrasound diagnostic image may deteriorate.

  In addition, according to the present embodiment, the user can add a receiving board having a receiving unit, that is, a receiving circuit as necessary, as long as there is a standard ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, so that the initial cost can be minimized. In addition, it is possible to reduce the additional cost as compared with a case where different types of ultrasonic diagnostic apparatuses having a high frame rate are separately prepared.

1 is a block diagram of an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a block diagram of the receiving circuit provided for every two adjacent vibrators. It is a block diagram when a receiving circuit is added. The circuit diagram of the receiving part is shown. It is a block diagram of other embodiment of this invention. It is a circuit diagram of the phasing addition part of other embodiment of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus 10 Probe 14 Transmission part 20 Reception circuit 19-1 Changeover switch 22 Reception part 23-1 Amplification circuit 29-1 Delay circuit 25 Connection terminal 30 Display monitor 34 Adder 36 Line memory 38 Beam combiner

Claims (3)

A probe formed by arranging a plurality of transducers that transmit and receive ultrasonic waves to and from the subject, a transmission unit that generates a drive signal that drives the transducers, and a reflected echo that is output from the probe A receiver for amplifying and phasing the signal; and a display for displaying an ultrasound diagnostic image reconstructed based on the reflected echo signal from the receiver;
The receiving unit includes a plurality of receiving circuits, and each receiving circuit divides a group of transducers constituting the aperture into a plurality of adjacent transducers and is connected to each set via a changeover switch. An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus characterized in that a spare terminal capable of connecting a receiving circuit having the same configuration as the receiving circuit is provided on the transducer side of the changeover switch.   The receiving unit sequentially switches an adder that adds the reflected echo signals output from the receiving circuits, a storage unit that accumulates the reflected echo signals output from the adder, and the changeover switch. 2. The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: a beam synthesizer that adds and synthesizes and outputs the reflected echo signals output from the storage means and the adder. The receiving circuit includes an amplifier circuit that amplifies the reflected echo signal input from the changeover switch, and a delay circuit that delays the reflected echo signal output from the amplifier circuit. The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to 1 or 2.

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