JP2005296156A - Medical image display device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To realize the rotating operations of three axes or more and the changeover of different processing functions just by a mouse and to improve the operability of a medical image display device. <P>SOLUTION: The medical image display device is provided with a pointing device for indicating an optional point on the screen of a display means by pressing a button as an input means. Different kinds of processing functions are allocated to a plurality of areas (a), b and c for which the display screen 200 of a picked-up image is divided by a prescribed division pattern. The specification of a desired area by the pointing device is received, and the processing function allocated to the specified area is executed by the operation of the pointing device. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to an image display apparatus for displaying an image captured by a medical image diagnostic apparatus such as an X-ray CT apparatus or an MRI apparatus, and in particular, rotation, movement, enlargement / reduction, filtering, window level window The present invention relates to a medical image display apparatus in which the operability of a display image processing function such as a width change is improved.

Two-dimensional or three-dimensional image data acquired by a medical image diagnostic apparatus such as an X-ray CT apparatus or an MRI apparatus is displayed as an image on an image display apparatus integrated with or remote from the medical image diagnostic apparatus and used for diagnosis. . The displayed image is subjected to image processing such as ROI setting, rotation, enlargement / reduction, and filtering according to the purpose of diagnosis. In order to enable such image processing, the monitor of the medical image display apparatus usually displays a menu screen for selecting image processing separately from the captured image, and selects a desired processing and is necessary for the processing. A numerical value is input or a button displayed as a GUI is pressed.

As for the operation of the medical image display device, for example, Patent Document 1 discloses that an image displayed in a multi-window can be selected from individual processing or batch processing by a mouse click operation. Further, Patent Document 2 discloses an image device that displays detailed information regarding an operation key when an operation key displayed on a screen is operated.
JP-A-7-182489 JP 2003-250766 A

  In general, image processing software has a function of selecting a display image with a mouse cursor and performing a process of enlarging / reducing or rotating the image. For example, switching from a rotation process to an enlargement / reduction process is provided. Since selecting different processes cannot be performed by continuous mouse operations, the user needs to switch the processing mode (mouse mode) via a menu or the like. In the medical image field, a three-dimensional image is often rotated and observed in the three axes of X, Y, and Z instead of a flat image, and this is not the case with a mouse operation that is an operation on a two-dimensional plane. Can't cope with the case.

  SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to improve the operability of a medical image display apparatus by enabling a rotation operation of three or more axes or switching between different processing functions with only a mouse.

  In order to achieve the above object, a medical image display device of the present invention includes a storage unit that stores image data captured by a medical imaging device, a display unit that displays the image data as a captured image, and processes the image data. A display control means for controlling the display of the captured image on the display means; and an input means for sending a command to the display control means by a user operation. The input means is configured to display a screen of the display means by pressing a button. A pointing device for designating an arbitrary point on the display device, wherein the display control unit assigns different types of processing functions to a plurality of regions obtained by dividing the display screen of the captured image, and specifies a desired region by the pointing device And executes a processing function assigned to the designated area by operating the pointing device. A.

  The processing functions assigned by the display control means include, for example, rotation processing in the three-axis directions of X, Y and Z for a three-dimensional image, setting of threshold upper limit value / lower limit value, transparency setting, rotation, enlargement / reduction for a two-dimensional image, Includes filtering, window level / window width changes, image updates, etc.

In a preferred aspect of the medical image display apparatus of the present invention, the display control means has a plurality of cursor graphics corresponding to each processing function as a cursor graphic indicating the position specified by the pointing device, and the pointing device specifies A cursor graphic of the function assigned to the area where the position exists is displayed at the position.
The display control unit has a division pattern of the area as a mask image, and displays or hides the overlap pattern with the captured image.

  In a further preferred aspect of the medical image display apparatus of the present invention, the display control means has a table describing a plurality of types of screen division patterns and allocation of processing functions to the plurality of divided areas. The designation of the division pattern and the designation of the processing function assigned to each area of the designated division pattern are received and written to the table.

  By assigning different processing functions to multiple areas that divide the screen, it is not necessary to switch the image processing mode of the pointing device by the menu screen or keyboard operation, and can be easily performed only by operating the pointing device. The operability of image processing can be greatly improved.

In particular, as the position indicated by the pointing device changes, the cursor shape of the processing function assigned to the area at that position is displayed, so that the processing function can be specified using the cursor graphic as an index. Further improvement. In addition, the division pattern itself may be displayed or hidden as necessary.
In a further preferred aspect of the present invention, it is possible to realize a customization function that allows the user to arbitrarily set the screen division pattern (division method and number) and the assignment of processing functions to the divided areas.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the medical image display apparatus of the present invention will be described.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an overall outline of a medical image display apparatus. The medical image display apparatus 10 stores image data captured by the medical image diagnostic apparatus 20 and various data and programs necessary for display. A storage unit 11, a monitor 12 for displaying an image, a control unit 13, and a keyboard 14 and a mouse (pointing device) 15 are provided as input devices for inputting various commands to the control unit 13. The control unit 13 includes a main control unit 131, a calculation unit 132 that performs various processes and calculations using image data, a display control unit 133 that controls image display, and the like, and the calculation unit 132 and the display control unit 133. And a memory unit 134 that stores conditions necessary for computation and processing, GUI images, and the like. The storage unit 11 stores, for example, three-dimensional image data captured by an X-ray CT apparatus, and a tomographic image, a projection image, a volume rendering image, and the like obtained by performing image processing on the data.

  The display control unit 133 performs various processes necessary for the image data stored in the storage unit 11, for example, gradation conversion, coloring, layout, etc., and displays them on the monitor 12, and receives a command from the input device, Change or update the displayed image. Specifically, the image can be changed by rotating, moving, enlarging / reducing, filtering (sharpening / smoothing), changing the window level / window width, and the like. The change of the window level and the window width is a process of changing the window start position and width of the CT value when, for example, a predetermined gradation is assigned to the CT value in the CT image.

  These processes are known processes in image processing, and are incorporated in advance in the display control unit 133 as a program. Furthermore, in the medical image display apparatus of the present invention, each of these processing functions (programs) is associated with an area of a screen that displays a captured image. The association between each processing function and the screen area may be set in advance or may be customized by the user. The user can select and execute a processing function associated therewith by operating the mouse to select a desired area.

Examples of assignment of processing functions to screen areas are shown in FIGS.
The embodiment shown in FIG. 2 is a case suitable when the captured image is a two-dimensional image. In the present embodiment, a screen 200 on which a captured image 202 as shown in FIG. 2B is displayed is divided into nine areas a and b divided by two lines 203 vertically and horizontally as shown in FIG. , C,... I. These areas are assigned rotation, movement, enlargement / reduction, filtering (sharpening / smoothing), and window level / window width change. Different functions may be assigned to the plurality of areas, but in the illustrated embodiment, a plurality of areas such as rotation are assigned to the areas a and c, filtering is assigned to the areas b and h, and scaling is assigned to the areas d and f. The same function is assigned to the area.

  Further, in this embodiment, in order to make the function of each area easy to understand for the user, a graphic 204 such as an arrow representing the function is displayed in the corresponding area. In FIG. 2, for the sake of explanation, the figure 204 is shown on the outside of the screen 200, but these are displayed at the positions indicated by, for example, ● in the figure. Such a figure 204 is stored in advance in the memory unit 134, and is displayed by being combined with the captured image in the display control unit 133. The four lines 203 dividing the area may be displayed or may not be displayed. Alternatively, the user may select display / non-display.

  The embodiment shown in FIG. 3 shows a case where processing of a three-dimensional image, particularly rotation processing is performed. In the illustrated embodiment, a volume rendering image 302 as shown in (b) is displayed as a captured image, and the display screen 300 is divided into nine regions a, b, c,... I as in FIG. It is divided into. The regions b and h are rotated around the X axis, the regions d and f are rotated around the Y axis, the regions a, c, g and i are rotated around the Z axis, and the region e is arbitrary. Each direction (oblique axis) rotation is assigned. Also in this case, it is preferable to display the graphic 304 representing the contents of each rotation process in the corresponding area, and the line 303 separating the areas may be displayed or not displayed.

  Note that FIG. 3 shows a case in which only the rotation processing in the three-axis directions is assigned to each area of the screen, but in addition to these rotations, the threshold upper limit value / A lower limit setting, transparency setting, etc. may be added. In addition, for a two-dimensional image, image update, cine display, and the like can be included.

  The association between these processing functions and the divided areas can be stored in the memory unit 134 as an area correspondence table 400 as shown in FIG. 4, for example, and the area 410 is designated by the operation of the pointing device. Then, the processing function 420 assigned to the designated area is executed.

  Furthermore, in the medical image display apparatus of this embodiment, the display control unit 133 has a function of changing the cursor shape according to the position (coordinates) of the mouse cursor. For this reason, the cursor shape corresponding to the image processing function is stored as a table in the memory unit 134 in advance, and when the mouse is operated, the display control unit 133 reads the position (coordinates) of the cursor and puts it in the area where the cursor exists. Displays the cursor shape corresponding to the assigned function.

  FIG. 5 shows an example of the function table 500. This function table defines the execution program for each function 510 such as enlargement / reduction, movement, filtering, window level / window width change, rotation, etc., and is stored together with the graphic (display mark) 520 and mouse cursor graphic 530 for each function. Has been. The figures 520 and 530 are prepared as image files. The display mark is a mark displayed for each area in order to indicate the function assigned to each divided area, and may be displayed or hidden together with the division pattern (line separating the areas) as necessary. it can.

  Next, the operation of such a medical image display apparatus will be described with reference to FIGS. 6 and 7 by taking the case of image processing of a two-dimensional image as an example. Here, it is assumed that processes P1 to P9 such as rotation and enlargement are assigned to nine areas a to i on the screen as shown in FIG. 6 is a display screen, and FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a flow of processing performed by the display control unit 133 by a mouse operation.

  First, when a user inputs a patient ID, an imaging date, and the like through the input device 16, image data to be displayed is read from the storage unit 11, and a predetermined cross-sectional image is displayed. As shown in FIG. 6, the screen 60 includes an image unit 61 that displays image data and a GUI unit 62 that accepts input by the user. The image unit 61 can display a plurality of types of images. It can be a window. In the case of a multi-window, when the user makes an image by clicking the mouse, for example, a line that divides the screen area over the selected image is displayed, and the function assigned to that area in each area A graphic showing is displayed. This is the preprocessing (FIG. 7: step 700), and at this time, the mouse drag flag D and the processing flag P are cleared (D = 0, P = 0).

  The mouse operation consists of “mouse button press”, “mouse move”, and “release button”. The mouse move includes the movement without pressing the button and the movement with the button pressed (drag). included. Each operation generates a “mouse button down” event, a “mouse move” event, and a “mouse button up” event, and jumps to processing 710, 720, and 730 defined in advance by the occurrence of each event, and processing is performed. These processes 710 to 730 are so-called event drive programs, and are executed when an event occurs.

  When the mouse button is pressed and the “mouse button down” event occurs, the process jumps to the “mouse button down” process 710. Here, the process of setting the mouse drag flag D = 1 is performed.

  When the “mouse Move” event is generated by moving the mouse, the process 720 is divided depending on whether the mouse drag flag D = 0 or D = 1. When D = 0 (FIG. 7: A), the position coordinate of the mouse cursor is acquired (721), the region a to i in which the coordinate is located is determined (722), and assigned to that region. A process of changing the shape of the mouse cursor according to the function is performed, and the function code of the area is set in the processing flag P (723). The mouse cursor shape is changed with reference to the function table 500.

  In the example of FIG. 2, when the mouse cursor is moved to the area a in a state where the mouse button is not pressed, the cursor shape is changed to a figure indicating the rotation assigned to the area a and the processing flag is set to P = 1. Set to. The “mouse Move” event occurs every time the mouse moves. As shown in FIG. 8, when the mouse cursor is in the area d, a cursor shape 802 indicating enlargement is displayed, and when the mouse cursor moves to the area a 801. It changes to a cursor shape indicating rotation.

  On the other hand, when the mouse drag flag D = 1 when the “mouse Move” event occurs (FIG. 7B), the process jumps to the function set in the process flag at that time, and the process is started ( 725). When the mouse button is released, a “mouse button up” event is generated, jumping to the “mouse button up” process 730, and the mouse drag is cleared (D = 0).

  In this case, the display of the division pattern and the display mark indicating each area is displayed, for example, when the mouse is moved without pressing the mouse button, disappears when dragging is started, and is displayed when the mouse button is released. Display / non-display may be switched as in the case of restoring.

  In the processing of each function, for example, in the case of filtering shown in FIG. 2, when the mouse cursor is moved to the left, the mouse cursor (coordinates) is sequentially read out, and an image smoothing process corresponding to the amount of movement is executed. Conversely, when the mouse cursor is moved to the right, image sharpening corresponding to the amount of movement is executed. In this case, the filtering process is linked to the horizontal movement of the mouse cursor, so after pressing the mouse button, move the mouse cursor up and down to the center of the screen and operate the mouse cursor using a wide area. Thus, the process can be executed. Similarly, in the case of enlargement / reduction assigned to the left and right areas, processing is executed in conjunction with the vertical movement of the mouse cursor, and the mouse cursor is moved in the horizontal direction and operated in the center of the screen. be able to. The process ends when the mouse button is released.

  The case where different processes such as rotation, filtering, and movement are executed on the two-dimensional image has been described above. However, the 3D image rotation process as shown in FIG. 3 can be executed in the same manner. In this case, when display of a 3D image is selected by the user, a volume rendering image as shown in FIG. 3B, for example, is displayed on the image unit 61, and a line indicating a region is superimposed on the 3D image. A graphic showing the function for each area is displayed. For example, when it is desired to rotate the 3D image around the Z axis, if the mouse cursor is moved to the area c to which the rotation processing around the Z axis (referred to as P3) is assigned, the processing flag is rotated around the Z axis. Since the process is set (P = 3), when the mouse button is pressed and dragged here, the rotation process around the Z axis is executed. In the rotation process, for example, the upward movement of the mouse cursor is clockwise and the downward movement is counterclockwise, and the display image is rotated at a rotation angle corresponding to the movement amount.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, the processing of the display image can be selected and executed only by the mouse operation, and the mouse mode switching and the processing selection operation by the menu are unnecessary, and the operability of the image processing is greatly improved. can do.

Next, a screen area division and processing function assignment customization function will be described.
In the medical image display apparatus that realizes this function, a plurality of types of division patterns are stored in the memory unit 134 of the control unit 13 in advance. For example, as shown in FIG. 9, a plurality of types 901 to 905 having different division methods are prepared in advance as mask image data, and are displayed when customization is performed. For each mask image data, in order to identify the area, for example, a different pixel value is written for each area, and it is determined which area is by reading out the pixel value of the mask image corresponding to the position of the mouse cursor. It can be done.

  When the customization is executed, the function assignment table 400 shown in FIG. 4 is blanked, the area division pattern is selected by the user's operation, and the contents are recorded by assigning the function to each area.

The customization procedure will be described below with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.
First, when customization is selected on the setting screen or the like, a plurality of division patterns as shown in FIG. 9 are displayed (step 101). The user selects one division pattern in consideration of the type and frequency of processing functions to be used. When the division pattern is selected, the selected division pattern and the guidance display are displayed (step 102), and the user assigns a function to each area of the division pattern according to the guidance display. When one function is assigned to one area, a graphic representing the function assigned to that area is displayed (step 103). Various methods can be adopted as the guidance display. For example, a pull-down menu is displayed in the area so that a desired function can be selected. Alternatively, the division pattern and the function table 500 as shown in FIG. 5 are displayed in parallel, and the figure of the function table is dragged and assigned to a desired area by a mouse drag operation.

  When a function is assigned to each area in this way, the contents are written in the function assignment table 400 and stored together with the selected division pattern. By repeating the above operation for all areas, the assignment of functions to the divided patterns and the areas included in the divided patterns is completed (step 104). After that, it is the same as when a function table is prepared in advance. When processing is performed on the display image, figures are displayed on the display image in each area of the set division pattern, and if necessary, A mask image showing the division pattern is displayed.

  According to the image display apparatus of this embodiment, the processing function can be assigned to an arbitrary area of an arbitrary division pattern in consideration of the type and frequency of the processing function that the user wants to use, and the operability can be improved.

The figure which shows the whole outline | summary of the medical image display apparatus of this invention The figure which shows one Example of the allocation of the process to the area | region of a screen The figure which shows the other Example of the allocation of the process to the area | region of a screen The figure which shows an example of a function allocation table The figure which shows an example of a function table The figure which shows an example of the screen for performing image processing Flow chart showing processing procedure The figure explaining the change of the cursor shape accompanying the movement of the mouse cursor Diagram showing multiple types of division patterns Flow chart showing the customization process

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Medical image display apparatus, 11 ... Memory | storage part, 12 ... Monitor, 13 ... Control part, 15 ... Mouse, 16 ... Input device, 20 ... Image diagnostic apparatus, 133 ... Display control unit, 134 ... Memory unit

Claims (4)

Storage means for storing image data captured by a medical imaging apparatus; display means for displaying the image data as a captured image; display control means for processing the image data and controlling display of the captured image on the display means; In the medical image display device comprising input means for sending a command to the display control means by a user operation,
The input means includes a pointing device that indicates an arbitrary point on the screen of the display means by pressing a button;
The display control unit assigns different types of processing functions to a plurality of areas obtained by dividing the display screen of the captured image, accepts designation of a desired area by the pointing device, and performs the designation by operating the pointing device. A medical image display device that executes a processing function assigned to an area.   The display control means has a plurality of cursor graphics corresponding to each processing function as a cursor graphic indicating a position designated by the pointing device, and is assigned to an area where the position exists at a position designated by the pointing device. The medical image display apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a cursor graphic having a specified function is displayed.   The medical image display apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the display control unit has a division pattern of a region as a mask image, and displays or hides the overlap pattern with the captured image. The display control means has a table describing assignment of processing functions to a plurality of types of division patterns and a plurality of divided areas, and each of the designated division patterns and the designated division patterns via the input means. 4. The medical image display apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a designation of a processing function to be assigned to an area is received and written into the table.