JP2012024196A - Ultrasonic image display and control program for the same - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an ultrasonic image display preventing that diagnosis is performed by viewing an ultrasonic image wherein image quality deteriorates.SOLUTION: This ultrasonic image display includes: an ultrasonic probe 2 having ultrasonic vibrators 2a of a plurality of channels, performing transmission of ultrasonic waves by the ultrasonic vibrators 2a, and receiving echo signals; a decision part 323 deciding whether or not an effective echo signal reflected from inside a transmission target of the ultrasonic wave is received in the ultrasonic vibrator 2a of each channel; and an addition part 327 adding the echo signals of the channels decided that they are effective in the decision part 323 to create an RF (radio frequency) signal.

Description

  The present invention relates to an ultrasonic image display device that displays an ultrasonic image and a control program therefor.

  The ultrasonic image display device transmits and receives ultrasonic waves using an ultrasonic probe, and generates and displays an ultrasonic image based on the obtained echo signal. In such an ultrasonic image display device, the ultrasonic probe has a plurality of ultrasonic transducers, and transmits and receives ultrasonic waves from these ultrasonic transducers. Then, an echo signal obtained by each of the ultrasonic transducers is added to create an RF (radio frequency) signal for one sound line, and the ultrasonic image is created based on the RF signal to be displayed on the display unit. it's shown.

JP 2010-68957 A

  By the way, in order to irradiate ultrasonic waves into the ultrasonic wave transmission / reception target, it is necessary that the transmission / reception target and the ultrasonic probe are in contact with each other. However, when the operator performs ultrasonic transmission / reception by the ultrasonic probe while looking at the display unit, a part of the ultrasonic transmission / reception surface of the ultrasonic probe is separated from the surface of the transmission / reception target and a non-contact portion is generated. There is a case. Since the echo signal received by the ultrasonic transducer located in such a non-contact portion becomes noise, the S / N ratio is deteriorated and the image quality of the ultrasonic image is deteriorated.

  Further, since the ultrasonic wave transmitted from the ultrasonic transducer in the non-contact portion is not irradiated into the transmission / reception target, the signal intensity of the RF signal is reduced. Therefore, the luminance of the ultrasonic image created based on this RF signal is lowered, and the image quality of the ultrasonic image is deteriorated.

  In addition, if the ultrasonic wave transmitted from the ultrasonic transducer in the non-contact portion is not irradiated in the transmission / reception target, the direction and focus of the formed ultrasonic beam are different from those assumed. Become. Thereby, the image quality of an ultrasonic image deteriorates.

  However, even if the image quality of the ultrasonic image deteriorates as described above, it may not be easy to determine whether the image quality is deteriorated. Therefore, an operator who has seen an ultrasonic image obtained by transmitting and receiving ultrasonic waves while the non-contact portion is generated makes a diagnosis without noticing that the image quality has deteriorated. There is a risk of doing it.

  An invention according to a first aspect made to solve the above-described problem is an ultrasonic probe that has an ultrasonic transducer of a plurality of channels, transmits ultrasonic waves by the ultrasonic transducer, and receives an echo signal. A determination unit that determines whether or not an effective echo signal reflected from within an ultrasonic transmission target has been received in the ultrasonic transducer of each channel, and an echo of the channel that is determined to be effective by the determination unit An ultrasonic image display device comprising: an adder that adds signals to create an RF signal.

  According to a second aspect of the invention, in the first aspect of the invention, a switch unit for turning on and off the output of each echo signal to the adder unit is provided for each channel, and the switch unit is determined to be valid by the determination unit. The ultrasonic image display device according to claim 1, wherein the ultrasonic image display device is turned on when it is turned on and turned off when it is determined as invalid.

  The invention of the third aspect is the invention of the first or second aspect, further comprising a gain multiplication unit that multiplies the echo signal by a gain set according to the number of echo signals added by the addition unit. It is the characteristic ultrasonic image display apparatus.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the invention, the adding unit multiplies each echo signal by a weighting coefficient set for each channel based on the determination result of the determining unit and adds the weighted coefficient. The ultrasonic image display device is characterized in that a weighting coefficient is set to zero for a channel determined to be invalid by the determination unit.

  According to a fifth aspect of the invention, the ultrasonic wave of each channel in an ultrasonic probe that has a multi-channel ultrasonic transducer in a computer and transmits an ultrasonic wave by the ultrasonic transducer to receive an echo signal. In the vibrator, a determination function for determining whether or not an effective echo signal reflected from within an ultrasonic transmission target is received, and a weighted addition function for weighting and adding each echo signal by a predetermined weighting coefficient are executed. The weighted addition function is a control program for an ultrasonic image display device, wherein the weighting coefficient of a channel determined to be invalid by the determination function is set to zero.

  The invention of the sixth aspect includes an ultrasonic probe having a plurality of channels of ultrasonic transducers, transmitting ultrasonic waves by the ultrasonic transducers and receiving echo signals, and ultrasonic transducers of the respective channels A determination unit that determines whether an effective echo signal reflected from within an ultrasonic transmission target is received, and a transmission / reception parameter setting unit that sets an ultrasonic transmission / reception parameter based on a determination result of the determination unit; And an ultrasonic image display device.

  According to a seventh aspect of the invention, in the sixth aspect of the invention, the transmission / reception parameter setting unit determines a gain to be multiplied with the echo signal or the RF signal of each channel based on the determination result of the determination unit. It is an ultrasonic image display device characterized by setting.

  An eighth aspect of the invention is the ultrasonic image display device according to the third or seventh aspect of the invention, wherein the gain increases as the number of channels determined to be invalid increases.

  The invention of the ninth aspect includes an ultrasonic probe having a plurality of channels of ultrasonic transducers, transmitting ultrasonic waves by the ultrasonic transducers and receiving echo signals, and ultrasonic transducers of the respective channels A determination unit that determines whether or not a valid echo signal reflected from within the ultrasonic transmission target is received, and an indication display that indicates the position of the ultrasonic transducer of the channel that is determined to be invalid by the determination unit And an instruction display control unit for displaying the ultrasonic image on a display unit for displaying an ultrasonic image.

  An invention according to a tenth aspect includes an ultrasonic probe having a plurality of channels of ultrasonic transducers, transmitting ultrasonic waves by the ultrasonic transducers and receiving echo signals, and ultrasonic transducers of the respective channels A determination unit that determines whether or not an effective echo signal reflected from within an ultrasonic transmission target has been received, and an error region display that indicates an error region that is identified based on the determination result of the determination unit, An ultrasonic image display device comprising: an error region display control unit that displays an ultrasonic image displayed on the unit.

  An eleventh aspect of the invention is the invention of the tenth aspect, further comprising an error area specifying unit that specifies the error area, and the error area specifying unit is based on a transmission / reception parameter specified from a determination result of the determination unit. The ultrasonic image display apparatus is characterized in that the error region is identified by comparing the transmission ultrasonic beam calculated in this way with a reference transmission ultrasonic beam calculated based on a predetermined transmission / reception parameter.

  A twelfth aspect of the invention is the invention according to any one of the first to fourth and sixth to eleventh aspects, wherein the determination unit is configured to transmit the echo signal to a transmission / reception surface of the ultrasonic probe on a transmission / reception surface of the ultrasonic probe. An ultrasonic image display device characterized in that a determination is made in comparison with a reference echo signal acquired in advance by transmitting and receiving ultrasonic waves in a non-contact state with a surface.

  The invention according to a thirteenth aspect is the invention according to any one of the first to fourth and sixth to eleventh aspects, wherein the capacitance between the transmission / reception surface of the ultrasonic probe and the surface of the ultrasonic transmission / reception target is detected. In the ultrasonic image display apparatus, the determination unit performs determination based on a detection signal of the capacitance sensor.

  In the invention of the fourteenth aspect, in the invention of any one of the first to fourth and sixth to thirteenth aspects, even if the determination unit determines that the determination result for each channel is invalid, The ultrasonic image display apparatus is characterized in that, when the determined channels are adjacent to each other and do not continue for a predetermined number, they are determined to be valid.

  According to the invention of the above aspect, the determination unit determines whether an effective echo signal reflected from within an ultrasonic transmission target is received, adds the echo signals of channels determined to be effective, and adds RF signals. Since the signal is generated, even if a part of the transmission / reception surface of the ultrasonic probe is not in contact with the surface of the ultrasonic transmission / reception target, in the ultrasonic image generated based on the RF signal, S / The N ratio can be maintained. Therefore, when the transmission / reception surface of the ultrasonic probe is in a non-contact state with the surface to be transmitted / received, the S / N ratio can be improved as compared with the conventional case. As described above, it is possible to prevent a diagnosis from being made by looking at an ultrasonic image having deteriorated image quality.

  In addition, according to the invention of the above other aspect, since transmission / reception of ultrasonic waves is performed according to transmission / reception parameters set based on the determination result of the determination unit, a part of the transmission / reception surface of the ultrasonic probe is a surface to be transmitted / received. Even in a non-contact state, transmission / reception parameters corresponding to the transmission / reception parameters are set and ultrasonic transmission / reception is performed. Therefore, even if a non-contact portion occurs on a part of the transmission / reception surface of the ultrasonic probe, the image quality of the ultrasonic image can be maintained. In addition, the image quality when the non-contact portion is generated in this way can be improved as compared with the conventional case. As described above, it is possible to prevent a diagnosis from being made by looking at an ultrasonic image having deteriorated image quality.

  Further, according to the invention of the above other aspect, the echo signal is multiplied by the gain set based on the determination result of the determination unit, so that the transmission / reception surface of the ultrasonic probe is not in contact with the surface to be transmitted / received Even if it becomes a state, the echo signal of each said channel or the said RF signal is multiplied by the gain according to it. Thereby, the brightness | luminance of an ultrasonic image is maintainable. Accordingly, since the brightness of the ultrasonic image when a non-contact portion is generated on a part of the transmission / reception surface of the ultrasonic probe can be made higher than before, the image quality can be improved as compared with the conventional case. As described above, it is possible to prevent a diagnosis from being made by looking at an ultrasonic image having deteriorated image quality.

  In addition, according to the invention of the above other aspect, since the instruction display indicating the position of the ultrasonic transducer of the channel determined to be invalid by the determination unit is displayed, the ultrasonic wave is transmitted and received while looking at the display unit. Can recognize that the transmitting / receiving surface of the ultrasonic probe is in a non-contact state with the surface to be transmitted / received. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the diagnosis from being performed by looking at the ultrasonic image having deteriorated image quality.

  Further, according to the invention of the above other aspect, since the error region specified based on the determination result of the determination unit is displayed on the ultrasonic image of the display unit, the region in which the image is deteriorated in the ultrasonic image Can know. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the diagnosis from being performed by looking at the ultrasonic image having deteriorated image quality.

It is a block diagram which shows an example of schematic structure of embodiment of the ultrasonic image display apparatus which concerns on this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the transmission / reception part in the ultrasonic image display apparatus shown in FIG. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the receiving part shown in FIG. It is a figure which shows an example of the reference signal and echo signal which are compared in the determination part shown in FIG. It is explanatory drawing which shows an example of the transmission opening for every sound ray. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the display control part in the ultrasonic image display apparatus shown in FIG. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the control part in the ultrasonic image display apparatus shown in FIG. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the other example of the receiver in an ultrasonic image display apparatus. In the modification of 2nd embodiment, it is a conceptual diagram which shows the receiving beam assumed that it is formed using the initially set transmission / reception parameter. In the modification of 2nd embodiment, it is a conceptual diagram which shows the receiving beam formed at the time of the actual transmission / reception including an invalid channel. It is a conceptual diagram which shows the receiving beam formed with the transmission / reception parameter set based on the determination result in the modification of 2nd embodiment. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the display control part of 3rd embodiment. It is a figure which shows an example of the instruction | indication display displayed on a display part in 3rd embodiment. It is a figure which shows the other example of the instruction | indication display displayed on a display part in 3rd embodiment. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the display control part of 4th embodiment. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the control part of 4th embodiment. It is a figure which shows an example of the error area instruction | indication display displayed on the display part. It is a figure which shows the graph showing the characteristic of a 1st transmission ultrasonic beam and a 2nd transmission ultrasonic beam. It is a figure which shows the transmission / reception surface of the ultrasonic probe provided with the electrostatic capacitance sensor. FIG. 20 is a partially enlarged view of FIG. 19.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 1 includes an ultrasonic probe 2, a transmission / reception unit 3, an RF signal processing unit 4, a display control unit 5, a display unit 6, an operation unit 7, a control unit 8, an HDD (hard disk drive: Hard). Disk Drive) 9 is provided. The ultrasonic image display apparatus 1 is an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus that displays an ultrasonic image based on an echo signal acquired by transmitting / receiving ultrasonic waves to / from a patient (a target for transmitting / receiving ultrasonic waves), for example.

  The ultrasonic probe 2 includes a plurality of ultrasonic transducers 2a (see FIG. 3) arranged in an array, and a voltage is applied to the ultrasonic transducers 2a to generate ultrasonic waves on the patient. Is transmitted and the echo signal is received. The ultrasonic probe 2 has ultrasonic transducers of (n + 1) channels (n is an arbitrary natural number) from 0 channel to N channel as the ultrasonic transducer 2a. The ultrasonic probe 2 is an example of an embodiment of an ultrasonic probe in the present invention.

  The transmission / reception unit 3 performs transmission / reception of ultrasonic waves by the ultrasonic probe 2 according to predetermined transmission / reception parameters described later, and includes a transmission unit 31 and a reception unit 32 as shown in FIG. The transmitter 31 drives the ultrasonic probe 2 with a predetermined transmission parameter, and scans the scan surface in an acoustic ray sequence with an ultrasonic beam. The transmission unit 31 drives the ultrasonic probe 2 by a control signal from the control unit 8.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the receiving unit 32 includes a circuit including a preamplifier 321, an AD conversion unit 322, a determination unit 323, a switch unit 324, a delay unit 325, a gain multiplication unit 326, and an addition unit 327 in order from the previous stage side. ing. The preamplifier 321, the AD conversion unit 322, the determination unit 323, the switch unit 324, the delay unit 325, and the gain multiplication unit 326 are provided for each ultrasonic transducer 2a (each channel). .

  The preamplifier 321 is received by the ultrasonic transducer 2a in order to suppress the phenomenon that the intensity of the echo signal near the surface is increased due to the reflection of the ultrasonic wave on the ultrasonic wave transmitting / receiving surface of the ultrasonic probe 2. The gain correction in the depth direction is performed for each echo signal. In the preamplifier 321, the shallower the echo signal is multiplied by a lower gain.

  The AD converter 322 AD converts the echo signal whose gain has been corrected by the preamplifier 321. The determination unit 323 is an example of an embodiment of the determination unit in the present invention, and determines whether or not a valid echo signal is received in the ultrasonic transducer 2a of each channel. Here, the effective echo signal is an echo signal obtained by transmitting / receiving ultrasound in a state where the transmission / reception surface of the ultrasonic probe 2 is in contact with the body surface of the patient and reflecting from the patient's body. . On the other hand, an ineffective echo signal, that is, an invalid echo signal, is transmitted and received with the ultrasound probe 2 being in contact with the body surface of the patient and reflected from the patient's body. This is an echo signal not obtained.

  The determination unit 323 will be described in detail. The determination unit 323 performs determination by comparing the echo signal AD-converted by the AD conversion unit 321 with a predetermined reference echo signal for each channel.

  More specifically, the reference echo signal is an echo signal acquired in advance by performing transmission / reception of ultrasonic waves in a state where the ultrasonic probe 2 is not in contact with the body surface of the patient. The reference echo signal is input from the control unit 8 to the determination unit 323. FIG. 4 shows an example of such a reference echo signal. In FIG. 4, RS is a reference echo signal. S is an echo signal AD-converted by the AD converter 322 and input to the determination unit 323. It is assumed that the reference echo signal RS and the echo signal S are signals of one sound line received by one ultrasonic transducer 2a.

  For example, the determination unit 323 has a predetermined difference between a cumulative addition value of one sound ray for the signal strength of the reference echo signal RS and a cumulative addition value of one sound ray for the signal strength of the input echo signal S. If it is equal to or greater than the threshold TH, it is determined to be valid. On the other hand, if it is less than the threshold TH, it is determined to be invalid. Incidentally, the threshold value TH may be adjustable.

  Here, when a part of the ultrasonic probe 2 is not in contact with the body surface of the patient, an invalid echo signal is received in the ultrasonic transducer 2a that is adjacent to the predetermined number of consecutive ultrasonic transducers 2a. There are many. Therefore, even if the determination unit 323 determines that the channel is determined to be invalid in the determination result for each channel, the determination unit 323 determines that the channel is determined to be valid if the channels determined to be invalid are adjacent to each other and do not continue for a predetermined number. Good.

  As will be described later, the determination unit 323 applies not only the ultrasonic transducer 2a that transmits a ultrasonic wave by applying a voltage, but also all ultrasonic transducers including the ultrasonic transducer 2a that does not transmit the ultrasonic wave. The effectiveness of 2a may be determined.

  The switch unit 324 turns on / off the output of the echo signal to the rear stage side. By turning on / off the switch unit 324, the echo signal output to the adding unit 327 and added is divided into the echo signal not output to the adding unit 327 and added. The switch unit 324 is turned on / off by an input signal from the determination unit 323. The switch unit 324 is an example of an embodiment of a switch unit in the present invention.

  Specifically, the switch unit 324 is turned on when it is determined to be valid by the determination unit 323 and is turned off when it is determined to be invalid. However, from the viewpoint of securing real-time characteristics, the determination result of the determination unit 323 for one sound ray is not reflected on the on / off of the switch unit 324 for the sound ray, and an echo signal of the next sound ray is input. You may make it reflect on on-off at the time of being performed. In this case, since the transmission aperture may be different for each sound ray, the determination unit 323 performs transmission as well as the ultrasonic transducer 2a of the channel to which the ultrasonic wave is transmitted by applying a voltage. It is preferable that the ultrasonic transducer 2a having no channel is also determined. Specifically, referring to FIG. 5, for example, after transmitting ultrasonic waves using the ultrasonic transducers 2a0 to 2a7, ultrasonic waves are transmitted using the ultrasonic transducers 2a2 to 2a9. . The ultrasonic transmission using the ultrasonic transducers 2a0 to 2a7 is for the sound ray L1, and the ultrasonic transmission using the ultrasonic transducers 2a2 to 2a9 is for the acoustic ray L2. Suppose that

  The ultrasonic transducers 2a8 and 2a9 are not used for transmitting ultrasonic waves for the sound rays L1, but are used for transmitting ultrasonic waves for the sound rays L2. Therefore, when the determination result of the determination unit 323 for the sound ray L1 is reflected on the on / off of the switch unit 324 when the echo signal of the sound ray L2 is input, the ultrasonic transducers 2a8 and 2a9. Need to be determined by the determination unit 323. Therefore, for the sound ray L1, the ultrasonic transducers 2a8 and 2a9 are not used for transmission, but the ultrasonic transducers 2a8 and 2a9 receive echo signals, and based on the echo signals, the determination unit 323 Make a decision. Based on the determination result, the on / off state of the switch unit 324 at the time of receiving the echo signal for the sound ray L2 is set.

  Incidentally, the echo signal used for creating the ultrasonic image is an echo signal received by the transmitting ultrasonic transducer 2a. Therefore, for the sound ray L1, since the echo signals received by the ultrasonic transducers 2a8 and 2a9 are not used for creating an ultrasonic image, the switch unit 324 in the channel of the ultrasonic transducers 2a8 and 2a9. Is turned off when the echo signal of the sound ray L1 is input.

  The delay unit 325 performs a delay process for phasing the echo signal of each channel. The gain multiplier 326 multiplies the echo signal by a predetermined gain. The adder 327 adds the echo signals to create an RF signal. The gain multiplier 326 is an example of an embodiment of a gain multiplier in the present invention. The adding unit 327 is an example of an embodiment of the adding unit in the present invention.

Here, the gain multiplied in the gain multiplier 326 is set by the controller 8. Specifically, the gain k is defined as in (Equation 1) below.
k = ka × kb (Formula 1)
ka is a coefficient set according to the on / off state of the switch unit 324, that is, the number of echo signals added by the adding unit 327, and is a common coefficient in the gain multiplying unit 326 of each channel. On the other hand, kb is a coefficient set for each gain multiplying unit 326 of each channel regardless of the on / off state of the switch unit 324. Therefore, the gain k is set to k1, k2,..., KN for each gain multiplier 326.

  Here, the determination result of the determination unit 323 is input to the control unit 8. And ka is set based on the determination result of the said determination part 323 by the transmission / reception parameter setting part 81 mentioned later. Further, kb is set by the control unit 8 based on the input of the operation unit 7, for example. Incidentally, the on / off state of the switch unit 324 may be input to the control unit 8, and the transmission / reception parameter setting unit 81 may set ka based on this.

Describing ka in more detail, this ka is set larger as the number of channels determined to be valid is smaller (the number of channels determined to be invalid is larger). In other words, the smaller the switch unit 324 that is turned on (the more switch units 324 that are turned off), the larger ka is set. Accordingly, the gain k becomes a gain corresponding to the number of echo signals added by the adding unit 327. For example, ka may be set as in (Equation 2) below.
ka = M / (M−x) (Formula 2)
In (Expression 2), M is the number of ultrasonic transducers 2a that have received echo signals used to create an ultrasonic image, that is, the number of ultrasonic transducers 2a that have transmitted ultrasonic waves, and x is the ultrasonic wave. This is the number of ultrasonic transducers 2a determined to be invalid among the ultrasonic transducers 2a that have transmitted.

  As described above, as the number of switch units 323 that are turned off increases, k increases, so that the luminance of the ultrasound image can be ensured even if the number of channels determined to be invalid increases. .

  Here, the ka may not be multiplied by the echo signal of each channel, but may be multiplied by the RF signal to which each echo signal is added. In this case, although not particularly illustrated, a gain multiplier for multiplying the ka signal by the ka signal is provided at the subsequent stage of the adder 327.

  The RF signal processing unit 4 performs a predetermined process for creating an ultrasound image on the RF signal output from the receiving unit 32. For example, the RF signal processing unit 4 performs predetermined processing such as logarithmic compression processing and envelope detection processing on the RF signal output from the transmission / reception unit 3 to create B-mode data. The B mode data output from the RF signal processing unit 4 is input to the display control unit 5.

  The display control unit 5 includes a memory 51 and a display image control unit 52 as shown in FIG. The memory 51 is configured by a semiconductor memory (Memory) such as a RAM (Random Access Memory) and a ROM (Read Only Memory), for example. The memory 51 stores, for example, B-mode data output from the RF signal processing unit 4. The B mode data may be stored in the HDD 9.

  The display image control unit 52 scans the data output from the RF signal processing unit 4 with a scan converter to create image data, and an ultrasonic image based on the image data is displayed on the display unit 6. To display. For example, the image data creation unit 52 scan-converts the B-mode data with a scan converter to create B-mode image data, and causes the display unit 6 to display the B-mode image.

  The display unit 6 includes an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display), a CRT (Cathode Ray Tube), or the like. The operation unit 7 includes a keyboard and a pointing device (not shown) for an operator to input instructions and information.

  The control unit 8 includes a CPU (CentRal Processing Unit). The control unit 8 reads the control program stored in the HDD 9 and causes the RF signal processing unit 4 and the display control unit 5 to execute functions.

  The control unit 8 has a transmission / reception parameter setting unit 81 as shown in FIG. The transmission / reception parameter setting unit 81 sets ultrasonic transmission / reception parameters based on the input from the operation unit 7. For example, the transmission / reception parameter setting unit 81 sets, for example, a gain multiplied by the gain multiplication unit 325, a delay amount in the delay unit 324, an acoustic output of ultrasonic waves to be transmitted, an ultrasonic transmission opening, and the like as transmission / reception parameters.

  Now, the operation of the ultrasonic image display apparatus 1 of this example will be described. First, the ultrasonic echo 2 is transmitted and received in the air without contacting the patient's body surface, and the reference echo signal RS is acquired. To do. Thereafter, the ultrasonic probe 2 is brought into contact with the body surface of the patient to transmit and receive ultrasonic waves, and an ultrasonic image is created and displayed based on the obtained echo signals. At this time, echo signals of channels determined to be invalid are not added by the adding unit 327 when the switch unit 324 is turned off. Therefore, even if a part of the transmission / reception surface of the ultrasonic probe 2 is not in contact with the body surface of the patient, the echo signal received by the ultrasonic transducer 2a in the non-contact part is used to create an ultrasonic image. Is not used, the S / N ratio can be maintained. Thereby, when a part of the transmission / reception surface of the ultrasonic probe 2 is not in contact with the body surface of the patient, the S / N ratio can be improved as compared with the conventional case.

  In addition, the gain k corresponding to the number of echo signals added by the adder 327 is multiplied by the gain multiplier 326, and the luminance of the ultrasonic image is maintained even when the number of channels determined to be invalid increases. Can do. Accordingly, when a non-contact portion is generated on a part of the transmission / reception surface of the ultrasonic probe 2, the luminance of the ultrasonic image can be made higher than before, and the image quality can be improved as compared with the conventional case.

  As described above, it is possible to prevent diagnosis by looking at an ultrasonic image whose image quality has deteriorated in terms of S / N ratio and luminance.

  In the first embodiment, only the gain kb, which is a coefficient set for each gain multiplication unit 326 of each channel, regardless of the on / off state of the switch unit 324 may be used. That is, it is not necessary to multiply ka. Even in this case, the image quality from the viewpoint of the S / N ratio can be maintained.

  Next, a modification of the first embodiment will be described. In the transmission / reception unit 3, the determination unit 323, the switch unit 324, the delay unit 325, the gain multiplication unit 326, and the addition unit 327 are configured by circuits, but the same functions are executed by a control program. You may let them. Specifically, the transmitting / receiving unit 3 executes a determination function that determines whether or not a valid echo signal has been received by each of the ultrasonic transducers 2a in the same manner as the determination unit 323, although not illustrated. A delay unit that executes a delay processing function that performs a delay process on the echo signal received by each ultrasonic transducer 2a, and each delayed echo signal is set based on the determination result. And an addition unit that executes a weighted addition function for performing weighted addition using a weighting coefficient, and the functions of these units may be executed by a control program. However, in this case, the preamplifier 321 and the AD conversion unit 322 are configured by circuits.

  In the weighted addition function, the echo signals of the channels determined to be valid are multiplied and multiplied by the same coefficient as the gain k in the above embodiment. On the other hand, the weighting coefficient for the echo signal of the channel determined to be invalid is set to zero. Accordingly, only the echo signals of the channels determined to be valid are added.

(Second embodiment)
Next, a second embodiment will be described. Only differences from the first embodiment will be described below.

  As shown in FIG. 8, in this example, the receiving unit 32 'has the same configuration as the receiving unit 32 of the first embodiment except that the receiving unit 32' is not provided, and the preamplifier 321, An AD conversion unit 322, a determination unit 323, a delay unit 325, a gain multiplication unit 326, and an addition unit 327 are included.

  The gain k multiplied by the gain multiplier 326 is also defined by the above (Equation 1). The ka is also set by the transmission / reception parameter setting unit 81 based on the determination result of the determination unit 323, for example, according to the above (Formula 2), as in the first embodiment. Therefore, as the number of channels determined to be invalid increases, the ka is set to increase, and as a result, k is also set to increase.

  According to such a configuration, even if the number of channels determined to be invalid increases, the gain k is set large, so that the luminance of the ultrasonic image can be maintained. Accordingly, when a non-contact portion is generated on a part of the transmission / reception surface of the ultrasonic probe 2, the luminance of the ultrasonic image can be made higher than before, and the image quality can be improved as compared with the conventional case. As described above, it is possible to prevent diagnosis by looking at an ultrasonic image whose image quality has deteriorated in terms of luminance.

  Next, a modification of the second embodiment will be described. In this example, the transmission / reception parameter setting unit 81 also determines the transmission / reception parameters other than the gain k, such as the delay amount by the delay unit 325, the acoustic output of ultrasonic waves, and the ultrasonic transducer 2a that performs transmission. You may set based on the determination result of H.323.

  For example, as shown in FIG. 9, ultrasonic waves are transmitted / received in a state where transmission / reception parameters are set so as to transmit ultrasonic waves using the ultrasonic transducers 2a0 to 2aN, and as a result, as shown in FIG. Assume that it is determined that the channels of the ultrasonic transducers 2a0, 2a1, 2a2, and 2a3 are invalid. In this case, as shown in FIG. 9, in the initial transmission / reception parameters, the delay amount and the like are set so that the reception beam BM1 is formed. Incidentally, the arc Ar shown in FIGS. 9 to 11 is a line (delay line) schematically representing the delay amount.

  However, in actual transmission / reception of ultrasonic waves, as shown in FIG. 10, an invalid channel is included. Therefore, when the reception beam is formed with the initial transmission / reception parameters, the initially assumed reception beam BM1 differs from the beam direction and focus. Receive beams BM2 are formed. Therefore, the image quality of the ultrasonic image created based on the reception beam BM2 is deteriorated.

  Therefore, the transmission / reception parameter setting unit 81 resets the transmission / reception parameters based on the determination result of the determination unit 323. For example, the channels determined to be invalid by the determination unit 323 are the ultrasonic transducers 2a0, 2a1, 2a2, and 2a3 of the four channels on one end side of the ultrasonic probe 2, so that the other end as shown in FIG. It is set to stop transmission of ultrasonic waves from the ultrasonic transducers 2aN, 2a (N-1), 2a (N-2), and 2a (N-3) of the four channels on the side. Since the transmission sound output is reduced by narrowing the transmission opening in this manner, the setting of the sound output is increased.

  In this way, when the transmission / reception unit 3 performs transmission / reception for the next sound ray using the reset transmission / reception parameters, as shown in FIG. 11, the beam direction and the focal position are the same as those of the reception beam B1. An ultrasonic image based on the reception beam BM3 is created. Therefore, even when a non-contact portion is generated on a part of the transmission / reception surface of the ultrasonic probe, the image quality of the ultrasonic image can be maintained. In addition, the image quality when the non-contact portion is generated in this way can be improved as compared with the conventional case. As described above, it is possible to prevent a diagnosis from being made by looking at an ultrasonic image having deteriorated image quality.

(Third embodiment)
Next, a third embodiment will be described. Hereinafter, only differences from the first and second embodiments will be described.

  In this example, the display control unit 5 includes an instruction display control unit 53 in addition to the memory 51 and the display image control unit 52 as shown in FIG. The instruction display control unit 53 is an example of an embodiment of the instruction display control unit of the present invention. As shown in FIGS. 13 and 14, the ultrasonic transducer 2a of the channel determined to be invalid by the determination unit 323. An instruction display I indicating the position of the image is displayed on the display unit 6. The instruction display I is displayed so as to indicate a portion corresponding to the position of the ultrasonic transducer 2 a of the channel determined to be invalid in the ultrasonic image G displayed on the display unit 6.

  An instruction display I shown in FIG. 13 is an upper end portion of the ultrasonic image G, and is displayed outside the ultrasonic image G in a substantially U shape. In addition, an instruction display I shown in FIG. 14 is an upper end portion of the ultrasonic image G and is displayed in a thick line in the ultrasonic image G. However, the instruction display I is an example and is not limited to those shown in the drawings.

  Thus, in this example, when a part of the transmission / reception surface of the ultrasonic probe 2 is separated from the body surface of the patient and a non-contact portion is generated, the instruction display I is displayed on the display unit 6. . Accordingly, an operator who transmits and receives ultrasonic waves while looking at the display unit 6 on which the ultrasonic image G is displayed is an ultrasonic image obtained when the ultrasonic probe 2 is not in contact with the body surface. Is displayed, and it can be recognized that the image quality is deteriorated. Further, since the indication display I is displayed, it can be recognized that the transmission / reception surface of the ultrasonic probe 2 is not in contact with the body surface. Can be transmitted / received again by contacting the body surface. In addition, since the instruction display I is displayed at the position of the ultrasonic transducer 2a of the channel determined to be invalid, the position of the non-contact portion on the transmission / reception surface of the ultrasonic probe 2 can be known. Accordingly, the entire transmission / reception surface of the ultrasonic probe 2 can be reliably brought into contact with the body surface. As a result, it is possible to reliably display an ultrasonic image with good image quality. As described above, it is possible to prevent a diagnosis from being made by looking at an ultrasonic image having deteriorated image quality.

(Fourth embodiment)
Next, a fourth embodiment will be described. Only differences from the first to third embodiments will be described below.

  In this example, the display control unit 5 includes an error area display control unit 54 in addition to the memory 51, the display image control unit 52, and the instruction display control unit 53 as shown in FIG. In addition to the transmission / reception parameter setting unit 81, the control unit 8 has an error region specifying unit 82 as shown in FIG.

  The error area display control unit 54 is an example of an embodiment of the error area display control unit in the present invention, and shows an error area on the ultrasonic image G displayed on the display unit 6 as shown in FIG. An error area display E is displayed (portion indicated by hatching in FIG. 17). This error area display E is an area in which an image of a patient cannot be correctly displayed by transmitting / receiving ultrasonic waves in a state where a part of the transmission / reception surface of the ultrasonic probe 2 is not in contact with the body surface of the patient ( This is a region where the image quality is deteriorated). The error area display E is displayed in color on the ultrasonic image G, for example. However, the background ultrasonic image G is preferably transmitted and displayed.

  The error region specifying unit 82 is an example of an embodiment of the error region specifying unit in the present invention, and specifies the error region of the ultrasonic image G based on the determination result of the determination unit 323. The error area display control unit 54 displays the error area display E in the error area specified by the error area specifying unit 82.

  The specification of the error area by the error area specifying unit 82 will be described in detail. The error region specifying unit 82 uses a transmission ultrasonic beam calculated based on a transmission / reception parameter specified from the determination result of the determination unit 323 as a reference transmission ultrasonic beam calculated based on a predetermined transmission / reception parameter. The error area is specified by comparison. The set transmission / reception parameter is a parameter set based on an input from an operator when ultrasonic transmission / reception is performed, while the transmission / reception parameter is a parameter in actual transmission / reception.

  More specifically, the error region specifying unit 82 calculates the characteristics of the transmission ultrasonic beam in consideration of the channel determined to be invalid by the determination unit 323. This transmission ultrasonic beam is a beam obtained by performing transmission / reception of ultrasonic waves to acquire an echo signal, performing determination by the determination unit 323, and considering the determination result, and transmitting actual ultrasonic waves. It is a beam formed by. Incidentally, the error area display E is displayed on the ultrasonic image G created based on the echo signal for the transmitted ultrasonic beam. Further, the error region specifying unit 82 calculates the characteristics of the reference transmission ultrasonic beam based on the set transmission / reception parameters. Therefore, the reference transmission ultrasonic beam is a beam on setting, and may be different from the transmission ultrasonic beam formed by actual transmission of ultrasonic waves.

  Here, the characteristic of the transmission ultrasonic beam and the characteristic of the reference transmission ultrasonic beam are characteristics represented by the relationship between the depth in the transmission direction and the signal intensity of the beam. FIG. 18 is a graph showing the characteristics of the transmission ultrasonic beam and the characteristics of the reference transmission ultrasonic beam. In FIG. 18, a graph gr1 is a graph representing an example of the characteristic of the transmission ultrasonic beam, and a graph gr2 is a graph representing an example of the characteristic of the reference transmission ultrasonic beam.

It said error area specifying unit 82, and the transmission ultrasound beam and the reference transmission ultrasonic beam portions er error region the difference D of the signal strength exceeds a predetermined threshold D _TH of. The error area specifying unit 82 specifies the portion er for each sound ray. When the error region specifying unit 82 specifies an error region in each sound ray, the error region display control unit 54 displays the error region display E.

  According to this example, since the error area display E is displayed, it is possible to know the area where the image is deteriorated in the ultrasonic image G. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the diagnosis from being performed by looking at the ultrasonic image having deteriorated image quality.

  As mentioned above, although this invention was demonstrated by the said embodiment, of course, this invention can be variously implemented in the range which does not change the main point. For example, in the above-described embodiment, the determination unit 323 includes a cumulative addition value for one sound line of the signal strength of the reference echo signal RS and a cumulative addition value for one sound line of the signal strength of the input echo signal S. Is determined based on whether or not the difference is greater than or equal to a predetermined threshold TH, but is not limited thereto. For example, the determination unit 323 may perform the determination by comparing the accumulated addition value between the reference echo signal RS and the echo signal S with respect to a predetermined range in the depth direction instead of one sound ray segment. . The determination unit 323 is effective if the difference between the average signal intensity of the reference echo signal RS for one sound line and the average signal intensity of the echo signal S for one sound line is equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold. It may be determined that a simple echo signal has been received. Further, the determination unit 323 may perform determination by comparing the average signal intensity between the reference echo signal RS and the echo signal S for a predetermined range in the depth direction instead of a single sound ray segment. .

  Furthermore, the determination unit 323 may determine that the reference echo signal RS and the echo signal S are valid when the number of data having a signal intensity difference equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold is equal to or greater than a predetermined number. The number of data in this case may be the number of a single sound ray or a number in a predetermined range in the depth direction.

  The determination by the determination unit 323 is not limited to the determination by comparing the echo signal S and the reference echo signal RS. For example, the determination unit 323 may perform the determination based on the capacitance between the ultrasonic transmission / reception surface of the ultrasonic probe 2 and the body surface of the patient. In this case, as shown in FIGS. 19 and 20, the ultrasonic probe 2 is provided with a capacitance sensor 21 for detecting the capacitance between the transmitting / receiving surface 20 of the ultrasonic probe 2 and the body surface of the patient. Provide.

  A plurality of the capacitance sensors 21 are provided in the arrangement direction of the ultrasonic transducers 2a, and two rows are provided at positions away from the ultrasonic transducers 2a so as not to interfere with transmission / reception of ultrasonic waves. Yes. In this example, the determination unit 323 determines the channels of the plurality of ultrasonic transducers 2 a based on the capacitance detected by the capacitance sensors 21. Here, the determination is performed in units of three ultrasonic transducers 2a, and a pair of electrostatic capacitances on both sides in the longitudinal direction (direction orthogonal to the arrangement direction) of the ultrasonic transducers 2a per unit of determination target. Sensors 21a and 21b (see FIG. 20) are provided. For example, the determination unit 323 determines the channels of the ultrasonic transducers 2am, 2a (m + 1), and 2a (m + 2) based on the capacitances detected by the capacitance sensors 21a1 and 21b1. The channels of the sound wave vibrators 2a (m + 3), 2a (m + 4), and 2a (m + 5) are determined based on the capacitance detected by the capacitance sensors 21a2 and 21b2.

The determination unit 323 may determine that the determination unit 323 is invalid when any one of the capacitances Ca and Cb detected by the pair of capacitance sensors 21a and 21b is equal to or less than a threshold value _CTH. You may determine with invalidity, when both electrostatic capacitance Ca and Cb become below threshold value _CTH . For example, for the channels of the ultrasonic transducers 2am, 2a (m + 1), and 2a (m + 2), the capacitance Ca1 detected by the capacitance sensor 21a1 and the static detected by the capacitance sensor 21b1. of capacitance Cb1, it may be determined to be invalid if it becomes less than either one but the threshold C _TH, invalid if none of the capacitances Ca1, Cb1 is below the threshold C _TH May be determined.

  Further, the ultrasonic image display apparatus according to the present invention is not limited to an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus that displays an ultrasonic image as a medical image.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Ultrasonic image display apparatus 2 Ultrasonic probe 2a Ultrasonic transducer 21 Capacitance sensor 53 Instruction display control part 54 Error area display control part 81 Transmission / reception parameter setting part 82 Error area specification part 323 Judgment part 324 Switch part 326 Gain multiplication Part 327 Adder

Claims (14)

An ultrasonic probe having an ultrasonic transducer of a plurality of channels, transmitting ultrasonic waves by the ultrasonic transducer, and receiving an echo signal;
In the ultrasonic transducer of each channel, a determination unit that determines whether an effective echo signal reflected from within an ultrasonic transmission target is received, and
An adder for adding an echo signal of a channel determined to be valid by the determination unit to create an RF signal;
An ultrasonic image display device comprising: A switch unit for turning on and off the output of each echo signal to the adding unit is provided for each channel,
The ultrasonic image display device according to claim 1, wherein the switch unit is turned on when it is determined to be valid by the determination unit, and is turned off when it is determined to be invalid.   The ultrasonic image display device according to claim 1, further comprising a gain multiplication unit that multiplies the echo signal by a gain that is set according to the number of echo signals added by the addition unit.   The addition unit multiplies each echo signal by a weighting coefficient set for each channel based on the determination result of the determination unit, and performs addition, and the channel determined to be invalid by the determination unit The ultrasonic image display apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a weighting coefficient is set to zero. On the computer,
In the ultrasonic transducer of each channel in the ultrasonic probe that has an ultrasonic transducer having a plurality of channels and transmits an ultrasonic wave by the ultrasonic transducer to receive an echo signal, A determination function for determining whether a reflected valid echo signal has been received;
A weighted addition function for weighting and adding each echo signal by a predetermined weighting factor, and
In the weighted addition function, a control program for an ultrasonic image display device, wherein a weighting coefficient of a channel determined to be invalid by the determination function is set to zero. An ultrasonic probe having an ultrasonic transducer of a plurality of channels, transmitting ultrasonic waves by the ultrasonic transducer, and receiving an echo signal;
In the ultrasonic transducer of each channel, a determination unit that determines whether an effective echo signal reflected from within an ultrasonic transmission target is received, and
A transmission / reception parameter setting unit that sets ultrasonic transmission / reception parameters based on the determination result of the determination unit;
An ultrasonic image display device comprising:   The ultrasound image according to claim 6, wherein the transmission / reception parameter setting unit sets a gain to be multiplied to the echo signal or the RF signal of each channel based on a determination result of the determination unit. Display device.   The ultrasonic image display device according to claim 3, wherein the gain increases as the number of channels determined to be invalid increases. An ultrasonic probe having an ultrasonic transducer of a plurality of channels, transmitting ultrasonic waves by the ultrasonic transducer, and receiving an echo signal;
In the ultrasonic transducer of each channel, a determination unit that determines whether an effective echo signal reflected from within an ultrasonic transmission target is received, and
An instruction display control unit that displays an instruction display indicating the position of the ultrasonic transducer of the channel determined to be invalid by the determination unit on a display unit that displays an ultrasonic image;
An ultrasonic image display device comprising: An ultrasonic probe having an ultrasonic transducer of a plurality of channels, transmitting ultrasonic waves by the ultrasonic transducer, and receiving an echo signal;
In the ultrasonic transducer of each channel, a determination unit that determines whether an effective echo signal reflected from within an ultrasonic transmission target is received, and
An error region display control unit for displaying an error region display indicating an error region specified based on a determination result of the determination unit on an ultrasonic image displayed on the display unit;
An ultrasonic image display device.   An error region specifying unit for specifying the error region, wherein the error region specifying unit uses a transmission ultrasonic beam calculated based on a transmission / reception parameter specified from a determination result of the determination unit as a predetermined set transmission / reception parameter; The ultrasonic image display apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the error region is specified by comparison with a reference transmission ultrasonic beam calculated based on the reference transmission ultrasonic beam.   The determination unit compares the echo signal with a reference echo signal acquired in advance by performing ultrasonic transmission / reception in a state where the transmission / reception surface of the ultrasonic probe is not in contact with the surface of the ultrasonic transmission / reception target. The ultrasonic image display device according to claim 1, wherein the determination is performed. A capacitance sensor for detecting a capacitance between a transmission / reception surface of the ultrasonic probe and a surface of an ultrasonic wave transmission / reception target;
The ultrasonic image display apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the determination unit performs determination based on a detection signal of the capacitance sensor.   The determination unit determines that the channel is determined to be valid if the channel determined to be invalid is not adjacent to the predetermined number of consecutive channels even if the channel is determined to be invalid in the determination result for each channel. The ultrasonic image display apparatus as described in any one of Claims 1-4 and 6-13.

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