JP2005058577A - Ultrasonic diagnostic system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To compress/encode video data photographing the position of a probe or the like together with ultrasonic moving picture data while preventing the increase of a data amount and non-matching of a time phase at the time of compressing/encoding the ultrasonic moving picture data, and preserving or distributing the data through a network. <P>SOLUTION: The video data from a video camera 24 are captured through an external video interface part 22, the video image data are composited with the ultrasonic moving picture data from an ultrasonic picture photographing part 11 in a picture composition processing part 21, and the composite image data are compressed/encoded in an MPEG encoder 14. The picture composition processing part 21 is controlled by a picture composition control part 23, which is operated corresponding to the operation of an operation panel 13, thus only the ultrasonic moving picture data can be sent to the MPEG encoder 14 by turning OFF the picture composition when videos are not required or the size and position of the video to be composited can be adjusted. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus for use in medical diagnosis, and particularly compresses and encodes an ultrasonic moving image when the captured ultrasonic moving image is stored in a digital storage device or transmitted via a network. The present invention relates to an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus.

  The ultrasonic diagnostic device enters an ultrasonic beam into a subject (the body of the examinee) via a probe (ultrasound transducer), receives the reflected wave with the probe, and processes the received signal By doing so, a tomographic image inside the body is obtained, or an image representing the velocity of blood flow or the like is drawn using the Doppler phenomenon, and it is widely used for medical diagnosis.

  When recording and storing captured images (ultrasound moving images) in a digital storage device or transmitting them over a network, compress the amount of data to reduce storage capacity, or support network bandwidth Therefore, data compression is performed. Since an ultrasonic image captured by this ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus is often a moving image, MPEG for moving image compression is used as a compression method.

  In general, in an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, an icon called a body mark indicating a part where an image is taken (a position where a probe is applied on the body of a subject) is displayed together with an ultrasonic moving image, or a still image is displayed. It has a function of saving in a state where the body mark is superimposed when saving.

  Therefore, even in the case of recording after ultrasonic video image compression processing or network distribution, it is also possible to compress such a body mark superimposed on the ultrasonic image. However, with this type of body mark alone, there is a problem that it is difficult to know which part of the image is actually taken from which direction. In other words, in practice, there are many cases where images are taken sequentially while moving the region to be imaged, and this is not possible. In addition, when observing and diagnosing on the remote side via a network, it is impossible to accurately instruct how to change the photographing position even if it is intended to be instructed.

  Therefore, it is conceivable to use a separate video camera to shoot a video image showing the position and appearance of the probe. However, if two types of video data, that is, video data and ultrasonic image data, are compressed and stored in parallel or distributed over the network, the amount of data increases and data loss may occur depending on the capacity and bandwidth of the transmission system. It is also difficult to match the time phases of both moving image data when reproducing and decoding stored data.

  The present invention has a problem that the amount of data increases when the video image data showing the position and state of the probe that has taken the image is compressed and stored or distributed over the network together with the ultrasonic moving image data. It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus so as not to cause the problem of time phase mismatch.

  In order to achieve the above object, in the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to the present invention, an ultrasonic moving image capturing unit, a video interface unit for inputting external video data, and an external input through the video interface unit An image composition processing unit that inputs video data and ultrasonic moving image data from the ultrasonic moving image capturing unit and synthesizes an external video image with an ultrasonic image, and an encoder that compresses the synthesized image data It is characterized by being provided.

  Video data from an external video camera or the like can be captured via the video interface unit. The captured video data is combined with ultrasonic moving image data, and then the combined image data is compressed. Therefore, instead of compressing two sets of moving image data, one set of moving image data is compressed, so the amount of data does not increase and both moving image data are integrated. There will be no discrepancy in time. When the probe is applied to the body of the subject and an ultrasonic moving image is taken, the position of the probe is projected with a video camera or the like, and the video data is captured via the video interface unit. When the data volume increases and data loss occurs over the transmission band, or when the stored compressed / encoded data is later played back and decoded, the time phase between the ultrasonic moving image and the video image is completely They are consistent and have no connection to the difficulty of matching these time phases.

  Furthermore, if an image composition control unit that controls the image composition processing unit and performs image composition control including on / off control of composition of an external video image to an ultrasonic image is provided, video can be displayed when it is unnecessary. Since the image synthesis can be turned off to make only the ultrasonic moving image, the information amount of the ultrasonic moving image portion can be increased.

  Since the video image is combined with the ultrasonic moving image, if the position of the probe is copied to the video image, the probe position of the displayed ultrasonic moving image can be immediately identified, and the remote side It becomes easy to instruct to change the shooting position and direction. Also, when the compressed / encoded data is saved, played back, decoded, displayed, and observed, the time phases of both moving images are completely the same, so the ultrasonic moving image currently displayed This eliminates the inconvenience of not knowing at which probe position and direction the image was taken.

  Since the image composition control unit is provided, the composition of the video image with respect to the ultrasonic moving image can be turned off. If the position of the probe does not change and is turned off in this way, the amount of information in the ultrasonic moving image portion increases, and diagnosis can be performed with a high resolution.

  Next, an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus embodying the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus is provided with a remote side 30 in addition to the main body side 10, and these are connected via a network.

  The main body side 10 includes an ultrasonic imaging unit 11 to which an ultrasonic probe 12 is connected. The ultrasonic probe 12 includes an ultrasonic transducer array, is applied to a subject (a body such as a subject's abdomen), transmits an ultrasonic beam into the body, and receives a reflected wave from the inside of the body. The ultrasonic imaging unit 11 controls transmission / reception of ultrasonic waves via the ultrasonic probe 12 and creates an image by processing the obtained ultrasonic data. For example, when obtaining a fan-shaped B-mode image, the directional angle of transmission and reception ultrasonic waves is controlled by electronic control to perform a sector scan (fan scan) of the ultrasonic beam, and the received data is processed to obtain a sector image. create. The ultrasonic moving image photographed in this way is displayed on an image display device (not shown) or the like and is sent to the image composition processing unit 14.

  The operation panel 13 is used for setting the shooting mode, setting the depth / sensitivity, and the like. A signal input from the operation panel 13 is sent to the ultrasonic imaging unit 11 to set the mode. The operation panel 13 is provided with operation buttons for switching on / off of image composition, which will be described later, and adjusting the composition size and composition position.

  On the other hand, this ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus is provided with an external video interface unit 22, to which an external video camera 24 is connected to input a video signal. This video signal is converted into digital video data by the external video interface unit 22 and then sent to the image composition processing unit 21. The image composition processing unit 21 is controlled by the image composition control unit 23, and the image composition control unit 23 sends a control signal to the image composition processing unit 21 in accordance with the operation on the operation panel 13.

  When the ultrasonic probe 12 is applied to the body of the subject and an ultrasonic moving image is taken, the video camera 24 is set so that the position and direction of the probe 12 with respect to the body are captured. The video image in which the probe 12 is captured is synthesized by the image synthesis processing unit 21 with the ultrasonic moving image. The size and size of the video image to be superimposed on which part of the ultrasonic moving image can be adjusted by an operation on the operation panel 13. For this reason, a video image can be superimposed on a relatively low importance portion of the ultrasonic moving image with a small size so that the position and direction of the probe 12 can be understood, so that observation of the ultrasonic moving image is not hindered. Can be.

  The image data obtained by the synthesizing process is compressed and encoded by the MPEG (or MPEG2) encoder 14 and sent to the network via the network adapter 15 or sent to the storage device 16 for recording. On the remote side 30, the MPEG encoded data sent to the network adapter 31 via the network is sent to the MPEG decoder 32, where it is compressed and decoded, and an ultrasonic moving image is displayed on an image display device (not shown).

  Therefore, when making a diagnosis while observing an ultrasonic moving image on the remote side 30, it is possible to determine in what position and direction of the probe 12 the ultrasonic moving image being observed is taken. Since the video image superimposed on the wave image can be seen at a glance, it is easy to make an accurate diagnosis, and it is easy to give an accurate instruction when instructing the operator on the main body side 10 to change the probe position and direction. become.

  Further, when the compressed / encoded data stored in the storage device 16 is reproduced later, decoded by an MPEG decoder (not shown), and displayed on a display device for observation, the reproduced ultrasonic moving image and the reproduced video are also displayed. Since the images are part of the same image and merged, the time phases of the two images are completely the same, and the mismatch does not pose a problem.

  Further, as described above, the operation panel 13 is provided with an operation button for switching on / off of the synthesis of the video image with respect to the ultrasonic moving image. A control signal for turning off the composition processing is output from the composition control unit 23 to the image composition processing unit 21, and the image composition processing unit 21 stops the image composition processing and outputs only the ultrasonic moving image data to the MPEG encoder 14. Therefore, when there is no need to represent the position of the probe 12, such as when the position of the probe 12 does not change, the image composition processing can be arbitrarily turned off. At this time, since the compressed / encoded image data does not include video image data, the amount of data of the ultrasonic moving image data portion can be increased, and can be reproduced on the remote side 30 or from the storage device 16. Sometimes, a more accurate diagnosis can be made by observing an ultrasonic moving image in a state where there is a large amount of data.

  In the description of the above embodiment, each unit is expressed by hardware, but can be realized by software. In addition, specific configurations and the like can be variously changed.

  Realizes an ultrasound diagnostic device that can compress and store external video images together with ultrasound moving images and distribute them over the network without increasing the amount of data and causing the problem of time phase mismatch it can. In addition, when it is unnecessary, it is possible to turn off the synthesis of the external video image to the ultrasonic moving image, thereby realizing an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus capable of increasing the information amount of the ultrasonic moving image portion. is there. Since the ultrasonic moving image and the video image representing the probe position are displayed in synchronization with each other, the effect is great if applied to use for educational purposes.

The block diagram which shows one Example of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Main body side of ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus 11 Ultrasonic image photographing part 12 Ultrasonic probe 13 Operation panel 14 MPEG encoder 15, 31 Network adapter 16 Storage device 21 Image composition processing part 22 External video interface part 23 Image composition control part 30 Ultrasound 32 MPEG decoder on remote side of diagnostic device

Claims (2)

  An ultrasonic moving image capturing unit; a video interface unit for inputting external video data; external video data input via the video interface unit; and ultrasonic moving image data from the ultrasonic moving image capturing unit; An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus comprising: an image synthesis processing unit that synthesizes an image of an external video to an ultrasound image, and an encoder that compresses the synthesized image data.   2. The ultrasonic wave according to claim 1, further comprising an image synthesis control unit that controls the image synthesis processing unit to perform image synthesis control including on / off control of synthesis of an external video image into an ultrasonic image. Diagnostic device.

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