JP2006158732A - Ultrasonic diagnostic equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide ultrasonic diagnostic equipment capable of removing noise using echo information data temporally before and after respective echo information data constituting a B mode ultrasonic tomographic image even if exogenous noise is not similarly superimposed on respective signals. <P>SOLUTION: This ultrasonic diagnostic equipment is provided with a cine memory 5 amplifying and detecting ultrasonic echo signals for measuring a diagnosis object site and storing them as the echo information data, a noise determination part 11 determining whether the echo information data have noise or not, and a noise correcting part defining a mean value of the echo information data temporally before and after the echo information data determined to have the noise as a correction value of the echo information data determined to have the noise. This ultrasonic diagnostic equipment displays the B mode ultrasonic tomographic image, or the tomographic image of the diagnosis object site, based on the corrected echo information data. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus that removes noise from an ultrasonic image.

  FIG. 4 shows a main part of a conventional ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus for removing noise from an ultrasonic image (see Patent Document 1).

  In FIG. 4, a conventional ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus includes four transducers 101a to 101d that transmit and receive ultrasonic waves, and four first-stage amplifiers 102a to 102d that amplify signals obtained from the transducers 101a to 101d. And four second stage amplifiers 103a to 103d, addition circuits 104a and 105 for adding the amplified signals, and an inverting addition circuit 104b for adding and inverting the amplified signals.

  The first-stage amplifiers 102a to 102d and the second-stage amplifiers 103a to 103d are configured by either inverting amplifiers or non-inverting amplifiers, and are inverted with respect to the four signals obtained from the vibrators 101a to 101d. The amplifier and the non-inverting amplifier are arranged in different combinations. Further, an adder 104a is arranged so as to add two signals having the same phase as the signal generated by the vibrator among the signals from the vibrators 101a to 101d having passed through two stages of the inverting amplifier or the non-inverting amplifier. An inverting adder 104b is arranged to add and invert the two signals. Further, an adder 105 is arranged so as to add the output from the adder 104a and the output from the inverting adder 104b.

With this configuration, when external noise is similarly generated in each signal during amplification, signals having inverted noise phases are added to each other, so that the external noise can be canceled out.
JP-A-7-136161

  The conventional ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus has a problem in that noise cannot be removed unless external noise is similarly superimposed on each signal from each transducer.

  The present invention has been made in order to solve the conventional problem. Even when no external noise is similarly superimposed on each signal, echoes before and after the time of each echo information data constituting the B-mode ultrasonic tomographic image are provided. It is an object of the present invention to provide an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus capable of removing noise using information data.

  In order to solve the above problem, an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus of the present invention includes a storage unit that stores ultrasonic echo signals reflected and received by a diagnosis site as a plurality of continuous echo information data, and a plurality of echoes. Conversion means for converting information data into B-mode ultrasonic tomographic image frame data, which is image data, and display means for displaying the B-mode ultrasonic tomographic image frame data converted by the conversion means as a B-mode ultrasonic tomographic image And, for each echo information data among a plurality of echo information data stored in the storage means, a difference between the value of the target echo information data and the value of the echo information data before and after the target echo information data is obtained, and the difference is predetermined A determination unit that determines that the target echo information data has noise and a pair that is determined to have noise by the determination unit. Correction means for correcting the value of the echo information data to be the value of the echo information data estimated from the values of the echo information data before and after the target echo information data, and the display means is corrected by the correction means A B-mode ultrasonic tomographic image is displayed based on the echo information data thus obtained.

  With this configuration, it is possible to detect noise that changes greatly in a short time, as seen in static noise, and to remove noise from the target echo information data using the values of the target echo information data before and after the target. Correction can be performed.

  In addition, when the determination unit determines that the target echo information data has noise, the correction unit determines the average value of the echo information data before and after the target echo information data as the target echo information data. You may make it the structure set as the corrected value.

  With this configuration, the target echo information data can be sequentially corrected from the relationship before and after the echo information data.

  In the present invention, even when external noise is not superimposed on each signal in the same manner, the noise can be removed by using echo information data before and after each echo information data constituting the B-mode ultrasonic tomographic image. An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus can be provided.

  The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. 1 includes an ultrasonic probe 1, a received signal processing unit 2, a digital scan converter (conversion unit) 3, a display unit (display unit) 4, a cine memory (storage unit) 5, and a cine memory. Read control unit 6, image processing unit 7, cine memory write control unit 8, system control unit 9, input unit 10, noise discrimination unit (discrimination unit) 11, noise correction processing unit (correction unit) 12 It consists of

  The ultrasonic probe 1 transmits ultrasonic waves and receives reflected waves as ultrasonic echo signals. The reception signal processing unit 2 performs signal processing such as amplification and detection on the ultrasonic echo signal. The cine memory 5 stores the signal-processed ultrasonic echo signal as a plurality of continuous echo information data (acoustic scanning line data). The digital scan converter 3 converts the format so that the echo information data from the reception signal processing unit 2 and the cine memory 5 can be displayed on the display unit 4 as B-mode ultrasonic tomographic image frame data of an arbitrary cross section of the diagnosis site. . The cine memory read control unit 6 includes a cine memory read address counter, and transmits echo information data of the cine memory 5 to the noise determination unit 11 and the image processing unit 7.

  The noise determination unit 11 determines whether there is noise in the echo information data. The input unit 10 is for setting various conditions for the operation of the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, such as a threshold for determining that the operator has noise. The noise correction processing unit 12 performs a process for removing noise of echo information data determined by the noise determination unit 11 as having noise. The image processing unit 7 converts the echo information data given by the cine memory read control unit 6 and the noise correction processing unit 12 into B-mode image frame data based on the previous echo information data stored in the cine memory 5. The cine memory write control unit 8 includes a cine memory write address counter and writes B-mode image frame data to the cine memory 5. The system control unit 9 controls the reception signal processing unit 2, the digital scan converter 3, the cine memory 5 and the like based on data given by the input unit 10 or the like.

  The operation of the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus configured as described above will be described with reference to FIG.

  The ultrasonic echo signal obtained by the ultrasonic probe 1 is subjected to amplification, detection and the like in the reception signal processing unit 2. A signal from the reception signal processing unit 2 is converted into B-mode ultrasonic diagnostic image frame data by the digital scan converter 3 and output as a B-mode ultrasonic image by the display unit 4. The signal from the received signal processing unit 2 is stored in the cine memory 5 as continuous echo information data.

  The echo information data stored in the cine memory 5 is determined by the noise determination unit 11 for the presence or absence of noise. If there is noise, it is corrected by the noise correction processing unit 12 and converted into B-mode image frame data by the image processing unit 7. . The converted B-mode image frame data is stored in the cine memory 5 by the cine memory write control unit 8. The B-mode image frame data stored in the cine memory 5 is converted into B-mode ultrasonic tomographic image frame data by the digital scan converter 3 and displayed on the display unit 4 as a B-mode image.

  FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining the operation of noise removal processing in the present embodiment. FIG. 2A shows echo information data before noise removal processing, and FIG. 2B shows echo information data after noise removal processing. 2A and 2B, the horizontal axis represents the time when the echo information data is detected, and the vertical axis represents the value of the echo information data (the amplitude of the ultrasonic signal).

  In the echo information data, an appropriate threshold value is set from the input unit, and the value of each echo information data and the value of the echo information data before and after that are sequentially compared. By determining that there is noise, it is possible to determine the presence or absence of noise in the echo information data shown in FIG. The echo information data determined to have noise in this way is subjected to approximation processing based on the temporal context of past echo information data and continuous echo information data accumulated in the noise correction processing unit 12 and corrected echoes. Information data is determined. As a result, it is possible to obtain echo information data from which noise is removed as shown in FIG.

  FIG. 3 is a flowchart of an example of noise correction processing of the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to the present embodiment. A threshold for determining whether or not there is noise is set by the input unit 10 (step S101). The cine memory read control unit 6 reads the echo information data from the cine memory 5 (step S102). The echo information data next to the earliest echo information data of the read echo information data is set to echo information data (hereinafter referred to as target data) for determining whether or not there is noise (step S103). The noise determination unit 11 compares the value of the target data with the value of the echo information data one data earlier in time, and determines whether or not the difference is within the threshold (step S104).

  If the difference is not within the threshold value, the noise correction processing unit 12 determines that the target data includes noise, and targets the average value of the echo information data one data earlier and the subsequent echo information data in terms of time. A correction value of the data is set (step S105), and it is determined whether the echo information data after the target data is the last echo information data of the echo information data (step S106). If the difference is within the threshold value in step S104, the cine memory read control unit 6 determines whether or not the echo information data that is later in time than the target data is the last echo information data (step S106). If the echo information data after the target data is not the last echo information data, the echo information data after one data in time is set as the target data (step S107), and the process returns to step S104. If the echo information data after the target data is the last echo information data in step S106, the noise correction process is terminated.

  In FIG. 3, the correction value of the target data is an average value of one data before and after the target data. However, the correction value is obtained by approximation by an n−1 order polynomial based on n pieces of echo information data. Alternatively, it may be obtained by a method of calculating based on a tendency of a plurality of points before or after, or may be obtained by approximation of different methods.

  The echo information data determined and corrected as described above is stored in the cine memory 5 by the cine memory write control unit 8 via the image processing unit 7 and is displayed on the display unit 4 via the digital scan converter 3 on the B mode image. Is displayed.

  According to such an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus in the present embodiment, it is possible to determine whether or not there is noise in the echo information data, and to display a B-mode image from which noise has been removed in the direction of the acoustic scanning line.

  The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus of the present invention can remove noise from echo information data mixed with noise, and can remove noise even when different noise is mixed in each input of the ultrasonic probe, Since a clear B-mode image can be displayed, it can be used in medical fields such as ultrasonic diagnosis.

1 is a block diagram of an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. 4A and 4B are diagrams for explaining noise removal in the embodiment of the present invention, where FIG. 5A is a diagram before noise removal, and FIG. 5B is a diagram after noise removal. Flow chart of noise correction processing of ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to embodiment of the present invention The figure which shows the principal part of the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus which performs the conventional noise removal

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Ultrasonic probe 2 Received signal processing part 3 Digital scan converter 4 Display part 5 Cine memory 6 Cine memory reading control part 7 Image processing part 8 Cine memory writing control part 9 System control part 10 Input part 11 Noise discrimination | determination part 12 Noise correction processing part

Claims (2)

Storage means for storing ultrasonic echo signals reflected and received at the diagnosis site as a plurality of continuous echo information data;
Conversion means for converting the plurality of echo information data into B-mode ultrasonic tomographic image frame data which is image data;
Display means for displaying the B-mode ultrasonic tomographic image frame data converted by the converting means as a B-mode ultrasonic tomographic image;
For each echo information data among a plurality of echo information data stored in the storage means, a difference between the value of the target echo information data and the values of the echo information data before and after the echo information data is obtained, and the difference is determined in advance. A discriminating means for determining that the target echo information data has noise when the value is equal to or greater than a value;
Correction means for correcting the value of the target echo information data determined to have noise by the determination means to the value of the echo information data estimated from the values of the echo information data before and after the target echo information data And
The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, wherein the display means displays a B-mode ultrasonic tomographic image based on the echo information data corrected by the correction means. When the discriminating means determines that the target echo information data has noise, the correction means uses the average value of the echo information data before and after the target echo information data as the target echo information. The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the data is a corrected value.

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