JP2592201Y2 - Ultrasound diagnostic equipment - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus for displaying an image of two intersecting scan planes as a three-dimensional image.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 4 is a view for explaining the structure of a conventional bi-plane probe and its scan plane. The biplane probe shown in FIG. 4 is often used as an insertion probe. At an angle (for example, 60 °, 90 °, etc.), the ultrasonic scan beam inserted into the body through the opening of the living body and transmitted / received via the acoustic lens from the two transmitting / receiving sections provided at the head thereof. Since they intersect, two scan planes (hereinafter referred to as planes A and B) in the living body can be simultaneously displayed to perform diagnosis.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a display example of two scan planes by a conventional biplane probe. Conventionally, as shown in FIG. 5, images of two intersecting scan planes A and B are displayed side by side as separate plane images. Therefore, it is not convenient to grasp the positional relationship between the surface A and the surface B and the positional relationship between each surface and the probe, and to inspect the three-dimensional positional relationship of the affected part in the living body.

[0004]

In an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus that displays an image on two scan planes using a conventional biplane probe, images obtained by two scans are simply displayed side by side. The three-dimensional positional relationship between the two images and the positional relationship between each image and the probe are not clear, and there is a problem that it is difficult to correctly grasp the three-dimensional position of the affected part in the living body.

The present invention has been made in order to solve such a problem, and the three-dimensional positional relationship between images on two scanning planes obtained by using a biplane probe and the positional relationship between each image and a probe are disclosed. It is an object of the present invention to obtain an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus that can be clarified and correctly grasp the three-dimensional position of an affected part in a living body.

[0006]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus comprising: a biplane probe;
In an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus for displaying images of two intersecting scan planes, image conversion means for converting display image data of the two scan planes into stereoscopic display image data in which intersecting planes are stereoscopically displayed, Data storage means for storing the three-dimensional display image data of the two scan planes converted by the image conversion means for a display screen, and sequentially displaying the three-dimensional display image data stored in the data storage means on a display device. Image display means.

The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to a second aspect of the present invention is the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to the first aspect of the present invention, wherein the three-dimensional display image data of the two scan planes converted by the image conversion means is converted into: Data storage means for storing in a different storage area for each surface by the amount of the display screen, and three-dimensional display image data of two scan planes stored in different storage areas of the data storage means are sequentially read out in parallel. Image display means for displaying the image data of the surface on the color display device in different colors.

The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to a third aspect of the present invention is the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to the first aspect of the present invention, wherein the planes which intersect the display image data of the two scan planes in a three-dimensional manner. For each of the three-dimensional display image data to be displayed and the two scan planes which are displayed on the front and back and overlap each other, the sum of the products obtained by multiplying the image data of each plane by a predetermined weighting factor is added. It is provided with image conversion means for calculating data and using the calculated value as stereoscopic image data to be displayed.

[0009]

According to the present invention, in an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus for displaying an image of two intersecting scan planes using a biplane probe, the image conversion means includes display image data of the two scan planes. Are respectively converted into stereoscopic display image data in which the planes intersecting each other are stereoscopically displayed, and the data storage means stores the stereoscopic display image data of the two scan planes converted by the image conversion means for the display screen. The image display means sequentially reads the stereoscopic display image data stored in the data storage means and causes the display device to display the data.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to the first aspect, the data storage means stores the three-dimensional display image data of the two scan planes converted by the image conversion means. The image display means stores the image data corresponding to the display screen in a different storage area for each plane, and the image display means sequentially reads out the stereoscopic display image data of the two scan planes stored in the different storage areas of the data storage means in parallel. The image data of the surface is displayed on the color display device in different colors.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to the first aspect of the present invention, the image conversion means is provided so that the planes which intersect the display image data of the two scan planes in a three-dimensional manner. For each of the three-dimensional display image data to be displayed and the two scan planes which are displayed on the front and back and overlap each other, the sum of the products obtained by multiplying the image data of each plane by a predetermined weighting factor is added. Data is calculated, and the calculated value is used as stereoscopic image data to be displayed.

[0012]

1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to the present invention. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes a biplane probe, which is provided at its head with two transmitting / receiving sections A and B in which ultrasonic transmitting / receiving elements are arrayed. Reference numeral 2 denotes a transmitting / receiving unit, which individually transmits and receives and amplifies an ultrasonic wave on the scanning planes A and B via the transmitting / receiving units A and B in the biplane probe 1. Reference numeral 3 denotes an echo signal processing unit which individually performs electronic focus processing and the like on the two-surface echo signals output from the transmission / reception unit 2. Reference numeral 4 denotes a log amplifier, which separately amplifies the signals of the two surfaces subjected to the focus processing by logarithm and outputs the amplified signals. This logarithmic amplifier is used because the dynamic range of the signal to be amplified is wide. Reference numeral 5 denotes a detection signal correction unit that individually performs detection, linear correction, and A / D conversion of the signal of each surface amplified by the log amplifier 4, and outputs digital data of the A surface and the B surface. 6
Denotes a digital scan converter unit (hereinafter, referred to as a DSC unit), which includes a memory unit 7 and a signal processing unit 8.

The DSC unit 6 according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the block diagram of FIG. Reference numeral 9 denotes a CRT display, which displays video data output from the DSC unit 6.
The CRT display 9 has a case for monochrome and a case for color. Reference numeral 10 denotes a system controller which controls the entire apparatus. The system controller 10 generally has a built-in microprocessor (hereinafter referred to as CPU), a read-only memory (hereinafter referred to as ROM) in which a control program is stored, and the like. 1
Reference numeral 1 denotes a keyboard, for example, a system controller 1
0 is input with control command data and the like.

FIG. 2 is a detailed block diagram of the DSC unit according to the present invention. In the figure, reference numeral 21 denotes a # 1 memory, which stores video data of a scanning A plane based on the transmitting / receiving section A in the biplane probe 1. Reference numeral 22 denotes a # 2 memory, which stores video data of the scanning B surface based on the wave transmitting / receiving unit B. Reference numeral 23 denotes a # 3 memory, which is the two-scan plane A
The image data for three-dimensional display in which the plane and the plane B intersect is stored. The # 3 memory may be a monochrome memory or a color memory depending on whether the CRT display 9 is for monochrome or color. In the case of a color memory, at least two frame memories (a memory for one screen to be displayed is generally referred to as a frame memory) corresponding to two colors used among the three primary colors (R, G, B) are included. It is a thing. 1 for monochrome memory
One frame memory is enough. An example of a three-dimensional display read out from the # 3 memory 23 and displayed will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. The # 1 memory 21 to # 3 memory 23 correspond to the memory unit 7 in FIG.

In FIG. 2, reference numeral 24 denotes an arithmetic processing unit which sequentially reads the image data of the A and B surfaces from the # 1 memory 21 and the # 2 memory 22, respectively, and places the image data of the two surfaces on the corresponding two-dimensional display positions. The video data for stereoscopic display that accurately displays the image data is calculated, and the image data resulting from this calculation is # 3
It is stored in the memory 23. 25 is an address generator,
In response to a control command from the arithmetic processing unit 24, # 1 memory 21, # 2
An address signal is generated and supplied to each of the memories 22 and # 3 memory 23. By supplying this address signal, data can be written to and read from each memory. Reference numeral 26 denotes a D / A converter, which converts digital video data read from the # 3 memory 23 into an analog video signal and supplies the analog video signal to the CRT display 9. Note that CR
When the T display 9 is for color, the number of D / A converters equal to the number of colors to be used is provided. The arithmetic processing unit 24, the address generation unit 25, and the D / A converter 26 correspond to the signal processing unit 8 in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a view showing an example of image display on a CRT display. FIGS. 3A and 3B are examples of a three-dimensional image display according to the present invention. In the present invention, it is possible to display a three-dimensional image rotated about a line intersecting the plane A and the plane B, and the image shown in FIG.
An example in which the image can be displayed as the image shown in FIG. In this case, since the arrow indicating the insertion direction of the probe is also displayed, the relative positional relationship between the probe and the image data becomes clear. (C) of the same figure is an example of a conventional planar image display, which is shown for comparison. In the stereoscopic image display examples shown in FIGS. 3A and 3B, the positional relationship between the plane A and the plane B is clearly displayed. Techniques have been devised for displaying the image data of the other surface, which is superimposed on the back side of one surface, ie, the portion indicated by hatching in the figure, by various display methods.

First, when the CRT display 9 is for color, two frame memories are provided in the # 3 memory 23,
A and B separately stored in each frame memory
The image data of the surface is displayed in different colors. For example, if the image data of the surface A is displayed as red (R) and the image data of the surface B is displayed as green (G), two image data of the surface A and the surface B can be simultaneously displayed in the hatched portion. Further, the image displayed in the two mixed colors indicates that the image data is exactly the intersection of the two ultrasonic beam planes.

Next, when the CRT display 9 is for monochrome, each image data value x _i (signal amplitude value indicating the intensity of the received signal) on the front side surface of the portion indicated by the hatching is a weighting factor K. ₁ is multiplied by ₁ , each image data value y _i on the back side is multiplied by a weighting coefficient K ₂ , and the sum data K ₁ x _i + K ₂ y _i obtained by adding the two multiplied values is used for monochrome. It is displayed as image data.
Here, K ₁ and K ₂ satisfy the following equations (1) to (3), respectively. 0 ≦ K ₁ ≦ 1 (1) 0 ≦ K ₂ ≦ 1 (2) K ₁ + K ₂ = 1 (3)

Here, specific numerical examples of the weight coefficients K ₁ and K ₂ are shown in the following (1) to (4). (1) When K ₁ = 0.8 and K ₂ = 0.2, the data value of the front side surface is set to 80% and the data value of the back side surface is set to 20%.
The sum is displayed. (2) In the case of K ₁ = 0.5 and K ₂ = 0.5, the data value of each surface on the front side and the back side is set to 50%, and the added value is displayed. (3) When K ₁ = 1 and K ₂ = 0, the data value of the front side surface is displayed as it is, and the data of the back side surface is not displayed at all. (4) When K ₁ = 0 and K ₂ = 1, the data value on the back surface is displayed as it is, and the data on the front surface is not displayed at all. Thus, the values of the weighting factors K ₁ and K ₂ are
By variably setting using, for example, it is possible to perform various displays on the portions indicated by hatching.

Further, as shown in FIG.
It is also possible to display a three-dimensional image rotated by an arbitrary angle about a line intersecting the plane and the plane B as an axis. Therefore, when the image data of the hatched portion is displayed only by the data of the front side surface using the monochrome display (the K ₁ =
1, K ₂ = 0), by rotating this axis, it is possible to display the image data of the back surface that was not displayed until then. (B) of FIG. 3 is (a) of FIG.
Is a stereoscopic image display example in which is rotated by 90 °, and is displayed with an arrow indicating the insertion direction of the probe. Further, by applying the stereoscopic image display method based on the rotation of the axis not only to a monochrome display but also to a color display, more precise image diagnosis can be performed. The calculation of the coordinate position of the stereoscopic image and the display data by the axis rotation are all performed by the arithmetic processing unit 2.
4 is performed.

The operation of FIG. 1 will be described with reference to FIGS. When the biplane probe 1 is inserted into the body through the opening of the living body and is driven by the transmission / reception unit 2, the two planes A and B provided at the head thereof intersect each other.
The scanning of the ultrasonic beam is performed on the two scanning planes A and B. The reflected wave from the living body is received by each of the elements in the transmitting and receiving units A and B, and these received signals are individually amplified by the transmitting and receiving unit 2. The output signal from the transmission / reception unit 2 is subjected to electronic focus processing by the echo signal processing unit 3 for each of the A and B planes, and is output as a two-channel signal. After the signals of the two channels are logarithmically amplified by the log amplifier 4, the detection and correction of the signal and A / D conversion are performed by the detection signal correction unit 5, and are output as digital data of the A and B planes, respectively. Is done.

The digital data of plane A and plane B output from the detection signal correction unit 5 are temporarily stored in the # 1 memory 21 and the # 2 memory 22 in the DSC unit 6, respectively. The arithmetic processing unit 24 sequentially reads out the image data of the A side and the B side from the # 1 memory 21 and the # 2 memory 22, respectively, and displays the image data of both sides accurately at the corresponding two-dimensional display position. The video data for display is calculated, and the image data resulting from the calculation is stored in the # 3 memory 23.

The image conversion processing is performed by two signal processings of coordinate conversion and data conversion. First, the coordinate conversion process means that the coordinate position of each pixel on the plane A and plane B in planar display (which may be considered as each address of the # 1 and # 2 memories 21 and 22) corresponds to each pixel on the corresponding three-dimensional display surface. (Which may be considered as each address of the # 23 memory 23). In other words, # 1
And calculating the write address to the # 3 memory 23 from the read address for the # 2 memories 21 and 22. Next, the data conversion process is a data value conversion resulting from the fact that the number of pixels on two scan planes in flat display does not match the number of pixels on the corresponding scan plane in stereoscopic display.
For the sake of simplicity, assuming that two pixels at a certain position in planar display are now one pixel in stereoscopic display,
A sum data value obtained by adding a product obtained by multiplying each of the two image data values at the corresponding position of the two-dimensional display by 0.5 is used as the image data value at the corresponding position of the three-dimensional display. Image data obtained by performing some kind of data value conversion on the image data read from the # 1 and # 2 memories 21 and 22 is written to the calculated write address of the # 3 memory 23 as described above. .

The CRT display 9 is for monochrome,
When the # 3 memory 23 has only one frame memory, the arithmetic processing unit 24 performs the processing shown in FIGS.
It is necessary to perform another data conversion process for the hatched portion in. That the data portion front surface and back surface indicated by the hatching are displayed overlapping, data K of the sum of the predetermined weighting process to the data of the A side and B side ₁ x _i + K ₂ y _i , respectively, and the calculated data is used to calculate the calculated # 3
The data is written to the address position of the memory 23.

When the shaft is further rotated as shown in FIG. 3B, the arithmetic processing unit 24
The write address of the # 3 memory 23 is newly calculated based on the rotation angle instructed by, for example, and the # 1 and # 2 memories 21
, 22 are rewritten at the new write address of the # 3 memory 23. At the same time, the direction of the probe insertion direction arrow is changed according to the instructed rotation angle, and this changed data is also written in the # 3 memory 23.

When the CRT display 9 is for color and the # 3 memory 23 has two frame memories, the arithmetic processing unit 24 reads the A and B planes read from the # 1 and # 2 memories 21 and 22. After the signal processing, the data is written into separate frame memories in the # 3 memory 23, respectively.

The monochrome or color stereoscopic image data read from the # 3 memory 23 is converted into an analog signal by the D / A converter 26, and is converted into an analog signal by the CRT display 9 as shown in FIG. The stereoscopic image as shown is displayed in monochrome or color.

Further, by applying the present invention to the color flow mapping (CFM) of the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, the image except for the blood flow on the two scan planes is intentionally displayed in monochrome, and only the blood flow image is displayed in color. Is also possible. In this case, the blood flow image is displayed particularly prominently.

In this embodiment, a three-dimensional image display example of two intersecting scanning planes has been described. However, it is obvious that the present invention can be applied to three-dimensional or more three-dimensional scanning image display. .

[0030]

As described above, according to the present invention, in an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus for displaying images of two intersecting scan planes using a biplane probe, the display image data of the two scan planes are mutually exchanged. Since the planes intersecting with each other are converted into three-dimensional display image data that is displayed three-dimensionally and stored in the data storage unit, and the three-dimensional display image data read from the data storage unit is displayed on the display device. The three-dimensional positional relationship between the images on the two scan planes and the positional relationship between each image and the probe are clarified, and the effect of correctly grasping the three-dimensional position of the affected part in the living body is obtained.

According to the present invention, the image-converted three-dimensional display image data of the two scan planes are stored in different storage areas of the data storage means for each plane, and the different storage areas of the data storage means are respectively stored. 2 read from area
Since the three-dimensional display image data of one scan plane is displayed on the color display device in different colors, the image data of the other plane, which is displayed on the back side of one plane, can be clearly displayed. Is obtained.

Further, according to the present invention, for a portion in which the two scan planes of the three-dimensional display image are displayed on the front and back so as to overlap each other, the sum of the products obtained by multiplying the image data of each plane by a predetermined weighting factor is added. Calculate the data of
Since the calculated value is displayed as stereoscopic display image data, even if a low-cost monochrome display device is used,
The effect that the image data of the part where the two surfaces overlap can be clearly displayed.

Further, by applying the present invention to the color flow mapping (CFM) of the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, the image except the blood flow on the two scan planes is intentionally displayed in monochrome, and only the blood flow image is displayed in color. Therefore, the blood flow image can be displayed in a particularly prominent manner.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a detailed block diagram of a DSC unit according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an image display example of a CRT display.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating the structure of a conventional biplane probe and its scan plane.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a display example of two scan planes by a conventional biplane probe.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Biplane probe 2 Transmission / reception part 3 Echo signal processing part 4 Log amplifier 5 Detection signal correction part 6 DSC part 7 Memory part 8 Signal processing part 9 CRT display 10 System controller 11 Keyboard 21 # 1 memory 22 # 2 memory 23 # 3 memory 24 arithmetic processing unit 25 address generation unit 26 D / A conversion unit

Continuation of front page (58) Field surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁶ , DB name) A61B 8/14

Claims (2)

(57) [Scope of request for utility model registration] 1. A bi-plane probe for transmitting and receiving an ultrasonic wave so as to form two intersecting scan planes; an image data generating unit for generating image data based on a signal received from the bi-plane probe; An image display unit that stereoscopically displays the two scan planes on the basis of image data from the image data generation unit, wherein the image data generation unit includes the two scan planes. For a portion where the planes intersect and are displayed, the original image data of each scan plane is multiplied by a predetermined weighting coefficient, and two products corresponding to the respective scan planes obtained by the multiplication are added,
An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus which outputs a value obtained by the addition as image data. 2. A bi-plane probe for transmitting and receiving an ultrasonic wave from each of two ultrasonic generators provided side by side in the direction of insertion of a subject so as to form a scan plane; Image data generating means for generating image data based on a received signal; displaying a three-dimensional image of the two scan planes based on the image data from the image data generating means; An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, comprising: an image display unit that displays an image by using an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus.