JP2008104630A - Image diagnostic apparatus and image processing program - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a technique for explicitly displaying and easily performing re-printing in an image diagnostic apparatus. <P>SOLUTION: The image diagnostic apparatus comprises: a means for gathering the images of an object; a means for printing gathered images; a display means 10 provided with a first area for displaying the gathered image and a second area for displaying the image for which printing is instructed by the printing means; and a means for temporarily keeping the images for which printing is instructed. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a technique for printing / saving medical images, and more particularly to a technique applied to an image diagnostic apparatus.

  In the medical image diagnostic apparatus, what is confirmed on the screen is printed. However, since there is a difference between the display on the screen and the printed matter, even if the display on the screen is just right, it may be difficult to see on the printed matter. In order to reprint, it was necessary to wait until the confirmation of the printed matter was completed.

  In this case, generally, since printing takes time, the inspection is stopped every time printing is performed. For this reason, there exists a problem that inspection time becomes long. There is also a method to save the printed image in the storage device and check it later, but since the image to be saved is not only printing, it is useful to search for the printed image from the saved image. There is a problem that it takes time.

  Further, in the routine inspection, the portion to be printed and the number of printed sheets are determined depending on the portion to be inspected, but the only way to know whether all inspection / printing has been completed is to count the printed matter. For this reason, it is necessary to wait for printing completion confirmation until printing is completed.

  As described above, a printing operation occurs during the inspection. However, since the printing process takes time, when the printed matter is confirmed and then proceeded to the next time, the inspection rhythm is disturbed and the inspection time becomes longer. For this reason, the throughput decreases. On the other hand, when only the print instruction is given and the inspection is advanced, the printed matter is confirmed after the fact. For this reason, when re-printing occurs, it is necessary to redo the inspection.

  An object of the present invention is to provide a technique for explicitly displaying reprinting or simply performing reprinting in an image diagnostic apparatus.

  An image diagnostic apparatus according to an aspect of the present invention includes means for collecting an image of a subject, means for printing the collected image, a first area for displaying the collected image, and the printing means. The image processing apparatus includes: a display unit having a second area for displaying an image instructed to print; and a unit for temporarily storing the image instructed to print. The present invention is not limited to an apparatus, and can also be realized as an invention of a method or program realized by the apparatus.

  According to the present invention, printing can be performed again without disturbing the inspection rhythm, and the inspection throughput can be increased. Further, by displaying the print image as a thumbnail, it is possible to eliminate an omission in the routine inspection in which the inspection site is determined.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a display example of a medical image according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1 shows a display example of an image obtained by an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus and a print result as an image of the image diagnostic apparatus. In addition, as an image diagnostic apparatus, there are an X-ray diagnostic apparatus, an MRI diagnostic apparatus, and the like, but since these use conventional ones, illustration and description are omitted.

  As shown in FIG. 1, when displaying a medical image, the display unit 10 displays a thumbnail 17 of an image for which a print instruction has been issued on a part of the screen, in addition to the image display area 12 for displaying a medical image. A thumbnail display area 15 is provided. For example, when printing of the displayed image is started (that is, a printing instruction is given), a thumbnail of the printed image is displayed in this area. When printing is finished, for example, in the thumbnail display area 15 A printed mark (for example, a check mark) is added to the thumbnail corresponding to the displayed medical image. As a result, the image being printed and the printed image can be confirmed at a glance. In this case, if there is an image currently being printed in the thumbnail display area 15, for example, “△ printing is in progress”, “△ has been printed”, or “△ / □” By displaying such as “the number of prints in the middle, □ is the total number of prints”, the progress of printing can be confirmed.

  In FIG. 1, the thumbnails 17 of the printed (or printing) images are displayed in two columns in the direction of the arrow. However, the display method is not limited to this, and one column may be used, or three or more columns may be displayed. good. Further, when all the thumbnails cannot be displayed in the thumbnail display area 15, the thumbnails may be switched and displayed, for example, by displaying that the thumbnails are scrolled with an arrow or the like.

  As described above, there are cases where, for example, a picture is dark with respect to a printed image, and therefore it is desired to reprint it after correcting (adjusting) it brightly or to reprint to make a copy. In this case, in this embodiment, when a thumbnail 17 of an image desired to be reprinted is clicked, a print dialog 18 as shown in FIG. 2 is displayed. For example, a “reprint button” and an “image quality adjustment button” (not shown) are prepared in the print dialog 18, and image quality adjustment (lightness, saturation, hue, etc.) using the “image quality adjustment button” as necessary. Adjustment) and “reprint button” can be used for reprinting.

In the above configuration, the flow of processing will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a process flow of the image processing apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention.
When a printing operation is performed (step S1), print data is accumulated in the print queue. At this time, an image for which printing has been instructed (hereinafter referred to as “print data”) is stored in a temporary file (a temporary storage file or area in the image diagnostic apparatus, such as a hard disk), and thumbnails are displayed. In addition, a check is made for those that have been printed (step S2). Note that the image instructed to be printed is accumulated and stored in this temporary file. Then, the inspection is further continued (step S3).

  If it is desired to check the printed material and reprint it (YES in step S4), the thumbnail to be reprinted is clicked (step S5). As a result, a print dialog as shown in FIG. 2 is displayed, and image quality adjustment is performed as necessary (step S6). Then, reprinting is performed by instructing reprinting (step S7).

  When reprinting is not performed (NO in step S4), the processes from step S1 to step S3 are repeated until the inspection for one day is completed. When the inspection for one day is completed, the print data temporarily saved in the temporary file is deleted (step S9). Note that the print data stored in the temporary file may be deleted at the end of the day's inspection, for example, by user designation, or when the diagnostic imaging apparatus is started the next day. You may make it. It can be set arbitrarily.

Another example is shown with reference to FIG. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing another example of thumbnail display in the thumbnail display area 15.
As in FIG. 2, an image display area 12 and a thumbnail display area 15 are provided in the display unit 10. In this case, the printed thumbnail is checked as in FIG. 2 (FIG. 4A), but in this embodiment, a unique ID 19 common to printing is added to the thumbnail. (FIG. 4B). Thereby, since correspondence with printed matter can be taken immediately, it is easy to check for missing prints. In addition, the thumbnails of the printed items may be checked, but as shown in FIG. 4C, it is possible to clearly indicate that the printing has been completed by changing the luminance, color, and saturation. The thumbnail may be blinked during printing, and a check mark may be added when printing is completed.

  As described above, in this embodiment, an image for which printing has been instructed is stored in a temporary storage location and displayed as a thumbnail on the screen. Here, as a result of checking the printed matter, if it is desired to reprint after adjusting the image quality, a print dialog can be displayed by clicking the thumbnail displayed on the screen, and the image can be reprinted after adjusting the image quality. Also, by assigning unique numbers to printed materials and thumbnails, you can quickly find thumbnails from printed materials and vice versa. Furthermore, by displaying the number of printed sheets, it is possible to easily distinguish whether or not all inspection sites have been inspected.

  In the above embodiment, printing has been described. However, the present invention can also be applied to a case where inspection data is transferred to an external storage device such as an optical disk or a magneto-optical disk, a server, or the like. That is, for the medical image temporarily stored in the medical image diagnostic apparatus, a thumbnail of the acquired image data is displayed as in the case of printing, and the image data is transferred to an external storage device or the like. At this point, a check mark or other display may be added to the thumbnail. The presence / absence of data transfer to the external storage device may be used together with the thumbnail display applied to printing in the above embodiment. In this case, two check fields for printing and data transfer may be provided on the thumbnail to display the printed or transferred display. In addition, the display during printing, printed or transferred display, It may be specified in other ways.

  The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the invention at the stage of implementation. For example, although the apparatus has been described above, the present invention may be a program or a method invention for achieving the above functions. Further, the above embodiments include inventions at various stages, and various inventions can be extracted by appropriately combining a plurality of disclosed constituent elements.

  In addition, for example, even if some structural requirements are deleted from all the structural requirements shown in each embodiment, the problem described in the column of the problem to be solved by the invention can be solved, and the effect described in the effect of the invention Can be obtained as an invention.

It is a figure which shows the example of a display of the medical image which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating an example of a print dialog display when a thumbnail is selected. 6 is a flowchart showing a flow of processing of the image processing apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention. It is a figure which shows the example of the other thumbnail display in a thumbnail display area.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Display part 12 ... Image display area 15 ... Thumbnail display area 17 ... Thumbnail 18 ... Print dialog 19 ... ID

Claims (10)

Means for collecting images of the subject;
Means for printing the collected images;
Display means having a first area for displaying the collected image and a second area for displaying an image instructed to be printed by the printing means;
An image diagnostic apparatus comprising: means for temporarily storing the image instructed to print. 2. The diagnostic imaging apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image instructed to be printed is displayed as a thumbnail for each printing instruction. 3. The diagnostic imaging apparatus according to claim 2, wherein display for reprinting is performed by selecting one of the thumbnail displayed images. The image diagnostic apparatus according to claim 3, wherein image quality adjustment of an image can be performed by the display for reprinting. 3. The diagnostic imaging apparatus according to claim 2, wherein a symbol indicating a printing status including waiting for printing, printing in progress or completion of printing is added to the thumbnail. 3. The diagnostic imaging apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the thumbnail is given a unique number corresponding to a printed matter. 3. The diagnostic imaging apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the second area displays at least one of a number of printed instructions, a number of actually printed sheets, and a remaining number of printed sheets. A diagnostic imaging apparatus. 2. The diagnostic imaging apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the temporarily stored image is erased by a predetermined operation. 9. The image diagnostic apparatus according to claim 1, wherein an image transferred to an external storage device or a server and its status are also displayed in the second area. Diagnostic device. In an image processing program applied to an image apparatus having a function of collecting an image of a subject and printing the image on a printing apparatus or displaying the image on a display apparatus,
Means for displaying the collected image in a first area of the display device and displaying an image instructed to be printed by the printing means in a second area;
An image processing program comprising: means for temporarily storing the image instructed to be printed.

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