JP3099901B2 - Ultrasound diagnostic equipment - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[Object of the Invention]

[0002]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus having various switching functions such as a display magnification switching function, a pan / zoom function, a transmission focus function, a reception focus function, and an STC function.

[0003]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in this type of ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, when the display enlargement is switched, the display enlargement ratio adjusting function is manually adjusted independently of the probe frequency.

Also, in the conventional apparatus, in order to secure the setting data of the transmission / reception focus, the focus point and the number of simultaneously driven elements are stored in the internal memory of the apparatus by the number of transmission focus steps and the number of reception focus steps according to the probe. It has the function of storing. However, whether to set the transmission focus position to which stage is to be set manually or set automatically only at the center of the image irrespective of the probe frequency even when the setting is made automatically. . Further, the focus switching interval in the reception focus was always constant regardless of the probe frequency.
Further, for the STC setting, the STC changeover switch and the sound field depth at which the gain is changed by the changeover switch correspond one-to-one.

[0005]

Accordingly, in the case of this type of conventional ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, the display magnification is switched every time the probe frequency is switched to a different one. A manual operation for changing the setting is required, and a manual operation for changing the setting is also necessary for the focus setting. For the STC, for example, if the sound field depth is 15 cm, it can be adjusted with eight STC volumes, and if the sound field depth is 5 cm (or the magnification is tripled), it should be adjusted only with three STC volumes. become. In this case, there is a problem that the fine adjustment of the gain by the STC cannot be performed at fine intervals even when the image is enlarged.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus which is excellent in operability when optimizing each setting content by various switching functions. Is to do.

[Structure of the Invention]

[0008] The present invention according to claim 1 provides various settings.
Transmit and receive ultrasonic waves based on the volume and generate ultrasonic images
Switching probe frequency in ultrasonic diagnostic equipment
And the correspondence between the probe frequency and the display magnification.
Means to memorize the engagement and according to the switching of the probe frequency
Control means for changing the display enlargement ratio and the storage means.
Settings that change the remembered correspondence according to manual operation
It is characterized by having a changing means. Claim 2
The present invention has at least an STC function and a pan function.
Transmit and receive ultrasonic waves based on various settings.
In an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus that generates an ultrasonic image,
Pan setting means to change the setting and STC adjustment
Pan setting by a plurality of STC volumes and pan setting means
When the setting is changed, the sound corresponding to each STC volume
The depth of the field is automatically changed and the STC volume
STC curve according to the value of sound field and the corresponding sound field depth
It is characterized by comprising means for performing. Claim 3
The present invention provides at least a display magnification switching function,
Zoom function, transmit focus function, receive focus
Function, STC function,
Multiple STC volumes for C adjustment
Each time the frequency is switched, the display magnification and transmission
The first automatic setting function for setting the focus, and enlargement of the display
Each time the rate and pan / zoom settings are made, the STC volume
Second automatic setting function to set the sound field depth corresponding to the sound
And the display magnification and transmission set by the automatic setting function.
Focus, sound field depth corresponding to STC volume
Setting change function that changes the setting according to manual operation
Pan / zoom setting means for changing pan / zoom settings
And the sound field depth corresponding to the STC volume is displayed.
Each time it is changed according to the magnification, pan / zoom settings,
Depending on the value of the STC volume and the corresponding sound field depth
The stored STC curve is stored at any time, and the stored STC curve is stored.
STC voltage regulator that outputs STC voltage based on voltage
And control means having functions.
You.

[0009]

With the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to the present invention, the control for optimizing the settings of the various switching functions in accordance with the probe frequency is performed by the optimizing control means at the time of selecting the probe. It will be.

[0010]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram schematically showing an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to a first embodiment to which the present invention is applied.

The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to the first embodiment has a CPU 1 as a control center of the whole system, and transmits and receives signals by a system controller 2 under the control of the CPU 1.
It operates a receiving system 3 and a DSC (digital scan converter) 4. In the figure, 5 is a probe, 6 is a manual operation unit, 7 is a first memory, 8 is a second memory, and 9 is a display system.

The system controller 2 and the DSC
4 has a function of switching the magnification of display and a function of panning and zooming.
The combination of the transmission and reception systems 3 has a transmission focus function and a reception focus function.

On the other hand, when the probe 5 is selectively connected to the transmission / reception system 3 (hereinafter, referred to as “probe selection”), the CPU 1 (including the first memory 7 and the second memory 8) changes the probe frequency. There is no optimization control means for performing control for optimizing each setting content by the above various switching functions according to the probe frequency or the combination of the probe frequency and the setting condition based on the operation of the manual operation unit 6 every time the switching is performed. Is what it is. And this CPU1
For example, when a predetermined clear operation is performed by the manual operation unit 6, the content itself has an update function of clearing the content stored in the second memory 8 and returning the content to the same content as the first memory 7.

According to the system configuration of the first embodiment,
The automatic setting of the display magnification according to the probe frequency can be performed as follows.

At the time of probe selection, the CPU 1 reads probe frequency information from the transmission / reception system 3, and according to the read probe frequency, as shown in Table 1, for example, 3.75.
15MHz Depth for MHz, 10cmD for 5MHz
When the frequency is 7.5 MHz, data indicating the display depth of field for automatically setting the display enlargement ratio is transferred from the CPU 1 to the system controller 2 in a relation such as 8.0 Depth.
The system controller 2 that has received this controls the DSC 4 so that display according to the size is possible.

[0016]

[Table 1]

The data to be automatically set (for example, the data in Table 1) is stored in the first memory 7 in advance.

When the data of the enlargement ratio of the display automatically set as described above is changed by the manual operation of the manual switch 6, the changed content is always stored in the second memory 8 for each probe. The probe is registered in the second memory 8 by turning on a registration switch of the manual operation unit 6, or every time the probe 5 is selected, the enlargement ratio of the display is automatically set in the second memory 8 from the next time. Become so. That is, it has a resume function.

Further, it is also possible to automatically set the focus of the transmission / reception system according to the probe frequency, which is as follows.

As is well known, the penetration corresponding to the probe frequency is determined by the probe frequency, the attenuation characteristics of the living body, and the S / N ratio of the device. The spatial resolution also changes depending on the probe frequency. Therefore,
The sound field depth that can be diagnosed by the probe frequency and the resolution at which the sound field depth should be diagnosed are naturally determined.

Therefore, in this case, at the time of selecting a probe, the CPU 1 reads probe frequency information from the transmission / reception system 3, and according to the read probe frequency, for example, as shown in FIG. If the frequency is 3.75 MHz, the transmission focus is set at the center of the depth of 0 to 15 cm.
In the relation that the transmission focus is applied to the center of 7.5 cm, and also in the reception focus, if the probe frequency is 3.75 MHz, 4 equally spaced intervals of 0 to 15 cm are provided.
Focus on the point and if 7.5 MHz, depth 0
Data indicating transmission / reception focus is stored in the CPU 1 in such a manner as to focus on four points at evenly spaced intervals of 7.5 cm.
To the system controller 2. The system controller 2 receiving this controls the DSC 4 so that display according to the focus can be performed.

In addition, the transmission and reception automatically set as described above
When the data of the reception focus is changed by the manual operation of the manual switch 6, the changed contents are always stored in the second memory 8 for each probe, or are changed by turning on the registration switch of the manual switch 6. The transmission / reception focus is automatically set by the contents of the second memory 8 every time the data is registered in the second memory 8 or selected by the probe 5. That is, it has a resume function.

As described above, in the first embodiment of the present invention, each time the probe frequency is switched, the display magnification and the transmission / reception focus are optimized by the display magnification switching function and the transmission / reception focus function. The optimization automatic setting function to perform automatic setting, the display magnification obtained by the optimization automatic setting function, the transmission / reception focus settings, and the display magnification switching function and the transmission / reception a setting mechanism that changes the reception focusing function, enlargement of the display that is configurable by the setting change mechanism, a storage function from time to time stored or registered storage of transmission and reception focusing in each probe, is the storage an updating function for updating the data, are building optimization control means having a. Therefore, the switching of the display enlargement ratio and the focus setting can be automatically performed by the optimization control means according to the probe frequency.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram schematically showing an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to a second embodiment to which the present invention is applied.

The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to the second embodiment includes a third memory 10, a fourth memory 11, an STC curve generating circuit 12, and an STC volume 13 in addition to the same components as those in the first embodiment. . Then, under the control of the CPU 1, the system controller 2 performs write / read control on the third memory 10 and the fourth memory 11, and the STC
The output of the STC volume 13 is controlled by the system controller 2 and the ST controller.
The circuit is added to the C-curve generating circuit 12. In this system configuration, the optimization automatic setting function in the optimization control means includes an STC volume value and a corresponding sound field depth each time a display enlargement ratio and pan / zoom are set. Automatic setting optimized by the STC function including the generation circuit 12 and the STC volume 13 is included.

That is, automatic setting for optimizing the display depth of field to be displayed as an image according to the display magnification and pan / zoom settings set as described in the first embodiment is shown in FIGS. This is performed according to the relationship shown in FIG.

FIGS. 4 (a) and 4 (b) show the display depth of field when the correspondence between the STC volume value and the sound field depth is switched from 20 cm Depth to 8 cm Depth, respectively.

[0028] In addition, make bread at the time of 8cmDepth setting, table
When the field of view becomes 5 cm to 13 cm, the volume value of the STC volume and the correspondence shown in FIG.
The sound field depth to be changed is automatically switched to the correspondence as shown in FIG.

This will be described with reference to the system configuration of FIG.
4A, 4B, or 5 is determined by the CPU 1 , and the contents of the third memory 10 are determined based on the situation.
The C curve data is read out and the STC curve generation circuit 1
At 2, an STC curve is created. At this time, if the setting of the STC curve is changed by the STC volume 12,
The data changed by the STC volume 13 is added to the contents of the third memory 10 and stored in the fourth memory 11 as needed. Then, when the enlargement ratio or the pan and zoom setting of the display has changed, the optimum range of the content of the fourth memory 11 is selected, STC curve is created by STC generator 12. Thereby, the STC generation circuit 12 generates S
STC is transmitted to the transmission / reception unit 3 and the DSC 4 based on the TC curve.
The generation circuit 12 outputs the STC voltage to the transmission / reception unit 3 and the DSC 4 based on the STC curve. In other words, the combination of the CPU 1, the system controller 2, the third memory 10, the fourth memory 11, the STC generation circuit 12, and the STC volume 13 has an STC voltage adjustment function. Then, for example, when a predetermined clear operation is performed by the manual operation unit 6, the CPU 1
Also, as in the case of the second memory 8, an update function is provided which clears the stored contents and makes the same contents as the first memory 7.

As described above, in the second embodiment of the present invention, each time the probe frequency is switched, the display enlargement ratio and the transmission / reception focus are optimized by the display enlargement ratio switching function and the transmission / reception focus function. An optimization automatic setting function for performing setting and automatic setting for optimizing the STC volume value and the corresponding sound field depth by the STC function each time the display magnification and pan / zoom are set; The display magnification ratio, transmission / reception focus, STC volume value and the corresponding sound field depth obtained by the automatic setting function are set according to the manual operation.
A setting content change function to be changed by the zoom function, the transmission / reception focus function, and the STC function, and a display enlargement ratio and a transmission / reception focus that are changed by the setting content change function are stored or registered as needed for each probe. The STC curve value is stored whenever necessary according to the display magnification, the pan / zoom setting, and the STC volume value and the corresponding sound field depth that differ.
An optimization control unit having an STC voltage adjustment function of outputting an STC voltage based on a curve and an update function of updating data stored in the storage function and the STC voltage adjustment function is constructed. Therefore, the switching of the magnification of display and the focus setting can be automatically performed by the optimization control means according to the probe frequency, and individual changes can be made according to changes in the probe frequency, the sound field depth, and the magnification of display. Automatically optimizes the sound field depth corresponding to the STC volume value.

As described above, according to each embodiment of the present invention,
The setting contents by various switching functions can be automatically optimized according to the probe frequency or a combination of the probe frequency and other setting conditions. Therefore, it is not necessary to operate a changeover switch for operating various switching functions, which has been conventionally required, and the inspection speed and the inspection time for ultrasonic diagnosis are increased. Further, since the optimum focus can always be obtained, it is convenient for improving the resolution or the resolution of the ultrasonic image. Further, as described above, since the setting of the switch is unnecessary and the automatic setting for the optimization is performed, the burden on the inspector is reduced, and the inspection data due to the setting error in the device handling by the inspector or the difference in the setting is reduced. This is advantageous in that there is no difference in the number of switches, and is also advantageous from the viewpoint of reducing the number of switches in the entire apparatus.
Because of these various advantages, even a doctor who is not familiar with the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus can easily use the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus of each embodiment of the present invention.

In each of the above-described embodiments of the present invention, two or four memories are used for storing data, but the number of memories used is not limited. Also, the system configuration is not limited to the configuration of each of the above embodiments, and the setting contents by the setting content change switching function can be automatically optimized according to the probe frequency or a combination of the probe frequency and other setting conditions. All possible system configurations are included in the present invention.

[0033]

As described above, according to the present invention, the magnification of the display can be switched and the focus can be automatically set according to the probe frequency. Further, the sound field depth and the STC volume value corresponding to the STC volume can be automatically optimized according to the switching of the pan and zoom settings and the change of the display magnification.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram schematically showing an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to a first embodiment to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a state in which focus setting is automatically optimized according to a probe frequency.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram schematically showing an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to a second embodiment to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of correspondence between STC volume values and sound field depths before and after switching sound field depths.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a state in which a display field of view is switched by performing panning.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 CPU 2 System controller 3 Transmission / reception part 4 DSC 5 Probe 6 Manual operation part 7 1st memory 8 2nd memory 9 Display system 10 3rd memory 11 4th memory 12 STC curve generation circuit 13 STC volume

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuation of front page (56) References JP-A-2-99042 (JP, A) JP-A-2-99043 (JP, A) JP-A-60-29139 (JP, A) JP-A-2-29 189141 (JP, A) JP-A-63-279827 (JP, A) JP-A-63-154160 (JP, A)

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] 1. An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus for transmitting and receiving ultrasonic waves to generate an ultrasonic image based on various setting contents, comprising: means for switching a probe frequency; and a correspondence relationship between the probe frequency and a display magnification. Memorize
And means, in response to the switching of the probe frequency, and a control means for changing the display magnification, the correspondence relationship stored in said storage means in response to manual operation
An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus comprising a setting content changing means for changing . 2. It has at least an STC function and a pan function.
Then, in an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus that transmits and receives ultrasonic waves to generate an ultrasonic image based on various setting contents, a pan setting means for changing pan settings, a plurality of STC volumes for performing STC adjustment, When the pan setting is changed by the pan setting means, each ST
Automatically changing the sound field depth corresponding to the C volume
To the value of the STC volume and the corresponding sound field depth.
An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus , comprising: means for generating an STC curve in response . (3)at leastDisplay magnification switching function,
Pan / zoom function, transmit focus function, receive focus
In an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus having a ST function and an STC function,A plurality of STC volumes for performing STC adjustment;  Each time the probe frequency changes, the display magnification andSending
Shin focusThe first automatic setting function to set the display, and every time the display magnification and pan / zoom are setS
Sound field depth corresponding to TC volumeSet the second self
Automatic setting function, the display magnification set by the automatic setting function,Send
Of the sound field depth corresponding to theEach setting
A setting content change function that changes the content according to manual operation,Pan / zoom setting means for changing pan / zoom settings, The sound field depth corresponding to the STC volume is Magnify the display
Depending on the rate, pan and zoom settingsEach time it is changed,
Depending on the value of the STC volume and the corresponding sound field depthS
The TC curve is stored at any time, and the stored STC curve is stored.
STC voltage adjustment function to output STC voltage based on
And a control means comprising:
Wave diagnostic device.