JP4314062B2 - Ultrasonic diagnostic equipment - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus including a transducer that actually transmits and receives ultrasonic waves, a multiplex circuit provided between an ultrasonic transmission circuit and an ultrasonic reception circuit, and in particular, switching of a main switch of the multiplexer circuit. The present invention relates to a technique for reducing noise generated sometimes.
[0002]
[Prior art]
As described in [Patent Document 1], a conventional ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus is used to connect a beamformer to a multi-row transducer array having more electrically independent elements than channels of the beamformer. The multiplexer selectively configures the switches in response to receiving a multiplexer status command and a number of switches that multiplex imaging data between the transducer elements and the beamformer channel. And a controller for dynamic selection of multi-row apertures and control of beamforming. The active aperture can be scanned along at least one axis of the array and the shape of the active aperture can be changed electronically. This multiplexer supports transmit and receive apertures suitable for synthetic aperture beamforming.
[0003]
[Patent Document 1]
JP 2000-217822 A [0004]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
However, in the above-described prior art, leakage of an adjacent transmission signal is applied to the transducer array (vibrator) regardless of timing when a certain transducer array is not used during ultrasonic transmission / reception, The array reception signal has leaked into the beamformer reception signal and has not been sufficiently considered.
[0005]
The object of the present invention is to improve the off-isolation characteristics of the multiplexer circuit by using the characteristics of the ultrasonic transmission / reception sequence in order to reduce the deterioration of the ultrasonic image due to leakage of adjacent signals during ultrasonic transmission / reception. An object of the present invention is to provide an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus capable of improving the image quality of an ultrasonic image.
[0006]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to achieve the above object, in the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus of the present invention, signals transmitted between a transducer, a transmission circuit system, and a reception circuit system are transmitted from an n-channel ultrasonic transmission / reception channel to an ultrasonic wave of one channel. An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus including a multiplexer circuit that selects a transmission / reception channel and switches a circuit connected to one transducer by a main switch including m transducers, M sub-switches arranged on the side connected to the vibrator and the output side of the multiplexer circuit and connected to the ground level when noise occurs at the time of switching the main switch for the m vibrators. And n sub switches are provided for transmission / reception signals connected to the ultrasonic transmission / reception channel .
[0011]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, an ultrasonic apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.
FIG. 1 is a block configuration diagram showing an embodiment of an ultrasonic apparatus.
Here, the thick line indicates the flow of the ultrasonic transmission / reception signal, and the thin line indicates the flow of the control signal.
[0012]
As shown in the figure, the ultrasonic apparatus includes an ultrasonic probe 1 that transmits / receives ultrasonic waves to / from a measurement target region of a subject, and a transmission wave transmission focus process on the ultrasonic probe 1 to generate ultrasonic waves. A transmission circuit system 2 that is a transmission means for transmission, a reception circuit system 3 that includes a phasing means that performs reception focus processing of a reception wave that is output from the ultrasonic probe 1, and an output from the reception circuit system 3 An ultrasonic display circuit system 4 for displaying an ultrasonic tomogram using the received signal and an image display 5 such as a monitor for displaying ultrasonic image information output from the ultrasonic display system 4. In particular, in the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus of the present invention, a multiplexer circuit system 6 is newly provided between the transmission circuit system 2 and the reception circuit system 3 and the ultrasonic probe 1, and the multiplexer circuit internal switch New multiplexer control circuit 7 that controls switching To provided, in particular, the multiplexer circuit system 6, a configuration of the internal switch, the shown so in FIG. 2, an ultrasound device characterized by having a structure comprising n main switch and the noise removing switch.
[0013]
Next, the detailed configuration and operation of the ultrasonic apparatus configured as described above will be described. The ultrasonic probe 1 has functions of transmitting and receiving ultrasonic waves into the subject and receiving reflected waves of ultrasonic waves from within the subject, and emits ultrasonic waves and receives reflected waves. It has a plurality of transducers arranged in the original or two dimensions.
[0014]
The transmission circuit system 2 transmits ultrasonic waves to the ultrasonic probe 1. In the plurality of transmission channels inside the transmission circuit system 2, transmission is performed to a plurality of transducers for each transmission channel. Focus control is performed.
[0015]
The receiving circuit system 3 takes in reflected waves of a plurality of channels received by a plurality of transducers of the ultrasonic probe 1, and gives a reception focusing process, that is, a phasing process, with different delay times for each channel.
[0016]
The ultrasonic display system 4 calculates and reconstructs an ultrasonic tomographic image or an ultrasonic Doppler image from the output of the receiving circuit system 3.
[0017]
The image display 5 visualizes the ultrasonic image information calculated and reconstructed by the ultrasonic display system 4, and includes a monitor.
[0018]
Here, the multiplexer circuit system 6 newly provided between the transmission circuit system 2 and the reception circuit system 3 and the ultrasonic probe 1 actually transmits and receives ultrasonic waves in the ultrasonic probe 1. For one or more transducers, one transmission / reception channel is selected from a plurality of ultrasonic transmission or ultrasonic reception channels.
[0019]
In FIG. 2, the number of transducers that transmit and receive ultrasonic waves is m, and the number of transmission and reception channels is n. In order to select one transmission / reception channel from n transmission / reception channels, n main switch circuits 10 are connected to one vibrator per one transducer. For example, if the main switch circuit is constituted by a relay, noise is superimposed on the transmission / reception signal line due to chattering of the relay at the time of switching. In this case, the ultrasonic transducer is transmitted as an unnecessary ultrasonic transmission waveform, which affects the ultrasonic image as noise. In addition, the reception circuit system 3 is input as an unnecessary ultrasonic reception signal and affects the ultrasonic image as noise. In the above description, the generation of noise in the main switch using a relay has been described as an example, but the same adverse effect occurs in an electrical switch.
[0020]
Therefore, in the present invention, a noise removal switch circuit (1) 8 for reducing noise generated when the main switch is turned on / off is newly provided for the number of m circuits between the main switch and the vibrator.
[0021]
Furthermore, in the present invention, the number of n noise removal switch circuits (2) 9 for reducing noise generated when the main switch is turned on / off between the main switch and the transmission circuit 2 and the reception circuit 3 is reduced to n. Newly provided.
[0022]
The operations of the noise removal switch circuit (1) 8 and the noise removal switch circuit (2) 9 will be described with reference to FIG.
FIG. 3 illustrates an actual operation using the multiplexer circuit 6 of the present invention.
In FIG. 3, the noise elimination switches (1) and (2) are connected to the ground level in the “H” state, and the main switches of the vibrators # 0 to #n are switched at the rising edge of each switching signal. It is assumed that the connection state is switched based on the control information of the multiplexer control circuit 7.
[0023]
Here, using the characteristics of the ultrasonic transmission / reception sequence, the main switch is turned off by setting the noise elimination switch to a fixed potential such as the ground and lowering the impedance of the transmission / reception channel signal during the period of no transmission / reception. The switching noise generated in step 1 is sent to the ground level.
[0024]
Specifically, the noise removal switch (1) 8 is connected to the ground level for the time before and after switching of each vibrator to lower the impedance of the transmission / reception signal line. For this reason, noise generated when the main switch is switched flows to the ground level via the noise changeover switch (1) 8, so that no noise is generated in the transmission / reception signal line. Such an operation is repeated for vibrators # 0 to #m.
[0025]
Furthermore, the multiplexer control circuit 7 operates so that the noise elimination switch (2) 9 is connected to the ground level during the time when the noise changeover switch (1) 8 of the vibrators # 0 to #m is performing the on / off operation. Therefore, the transmission / reception channels # 0 to #n have lower impedance, and the influence of switch switching noise can be reduced.
[0026]
Since the multiplexer circuit 6 is configured in this way, the transmission / reception signal in the ultrasonic apparatus of the present invention is a signal that is less affected by the switch switching noise as in the second signal from the bottom of FIG. Alternatively, since there is no mixing of unnecessary reception signals, it is possible to provide a high-quality ultrasonic image that does not affect the ultrasonic image.
[0027]
In addition, when it is time for any transducer not to transmit / receive ultrasonic waves, the noise removal switch (1) 8 is left connected to the ground. By doing so, unnecessary ultrasonic waves are neither transmitted nor received, so that transmission / reception signals connected to other transducers are not affected and are not affected. . By carrying out such an operation, the off-isolation characteristic as a switch circuit is improved.
[0028]
Since the multiplexer circuit 6 is configured in this way, in the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus of the present invention, not only a probe in which transducers are arranged one-dimensionally as shown in FIG. 1, but also m1 as shown in FIG. Even for a probe with × m2 transducers arranged, m1 × m2 noise removal switch circuits (1) 8 and main switch circuit 10 and n noise removal switch circuits (2) 9 By adopting the configuration, ultrasonic transmission / reception can be performed without superimposing switching noise of the main switch 10 on the ultrasonic transmission / reception signal, so that an ultrasonic image with less noise can be provided.
[0029]
As described above, according to the present embodiment described above, the following effects are obtained.
(1) As a configuration of the multiplexer circuit system 6 between the vibrator 1 and the transmission circuit system 2 and the reception circuit system 3, noise removal switches 8 and 9 are provided before and after the main switch 10 for switching each transmission / reception channel. For example, it was connected to the ground. When the main switch 10 is switched, the noise removal switches 8 and 9 are turned on to allow the switching noise of the main switch 10 to flow to the ground.
(2) With the above operation, there is no possible to superimpose the switching noise of the main switch 10 to the transmitting and receiving signal lines.
(3) According to the above (2), unnecessary noise generated when the main switch 10 is switched can be suppressed, so that unnecessary ultrasonic transmission and unnecessary reception signals are not superimposed on the transmission / reception signals.
(4) As described above, it is possible to provide an ultrasonic image with less noise and easy diagnosis.
[0030]
【The invention's effect】
The present invention improves the off-isolation characteristic of a multiplexer circuit by utilizing the characteristics of an ultrasonic transmission / reception sequence in order to reduce the deterioration of the ultrasonic image due to leakage of adjacent signals during ultrasonic transmission / reception. Thus, there is an effect of providing an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus capable of improving the image quality of an ultrasonic image.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the overall configuration of an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing details of a multiplexer circuit of the present invention.
FIG. 3 is a timing chart illustrating the operation of the multiplexer circuit of the present invention.
FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing the overall configuration of an ultrasonic apparatus in which the multiplexer circuit of the present invention is applied to a probe in which transducers are arranged two-dimensionally.
[Explanation of symbols]
1 ... Ultrasonic probe, 2 ... Ultrasonic transmission circuit system, 3 ... Ultrasonic reception circuit system, 4 ... Ultrasonic display circuit system, 5 ... Image display, 6 ... Multiplexer circuit system, 7 ... Multiplexer control circuit, 8, 9 ... Noise reduction switch, 10 ... Main switch

Claims (3)

A circuit for selecting one ultrasonic transmission / reception channel from n-channel ultrasonic transmission / reception channels and connecting the signal transmitted between the transducer, the transmission circuit system, and the reception circuit system to one transducer. An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus comprising a multiplexer circuit that is switched by a main switch comprising m transducers on the side connected to the transducer and the output side of the multiplexer circuit with respect to the main switch For the m transducers, m sub-switches are connected to the ground level when noise occurs when the main switch is switched, and transmission / reception signals connected to the ultrasonic transmission / reception channel are An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus comprising n sub switches . The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the sub switch performs timing control so that switching noise of the main switch is not superimposed on a transmission / reception signal line. 3. The super-type according to claim 1, wherein when the vibrator does not transmit / receive ultrasonic waves, the sub-switch on the side connected to the vibrator is controlled to be connected to a ground level. 4. Ultrasonic diagnostic equipment.

Images