JP4426320B2 - Ultrasonic diagnostic equipment - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, and in particular, to an image adjustment technique thereof.

  An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus is used for observing the inside of a living body. The ultrasonic wave has a high intensity of reception of a reflected wave in a hard or dense tissue part, for example, a muscle, while it is weak in a soft part, particularly a liquid part such as blood. In the image display of the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, it is usual that the luminance is high in a portion where the reception intensity is high, that is, the luminance is bright, and the portion where the intensity is low is dark. In an image formed based on information of a certain cross section, that is, a tomographic image, a portion with low reception intensity appears black (dark) and can be observed. However, when three-dimensional information is displayed two-dimensionally by rendering processing, a dark part is hidden in a white and bright part, and thus cannot be observed in a three-dimensional image obtained by rendering processing. Therefore, with such a display method, it is not possible to answer a request for observing, for example, how a blood vessel runs in a living body. In addition, even if the hiding due to the rendering process does not occur, the blood vessel is displayed darkly, resulting in a three-dimensional image having no stereoscopic effect.

  Therefore, for example, in Patent Document 1 below, by reflecting the reception intensity of the reflected wave and displaying it, the dark part is originally brightened, and conversely, the originally bright part is darkened, thereby reflecting the reflected wave such as a blood vessel. The area where the intensity of the image becomes weaker is raised and can be displayed three-dimensionally.

JP 2002-336253 A

  The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus is provided with a knob for brightening or darkening a displayed image to obtain an easy-to-see image. By operating this knob, the value of the reception intensity of the reflected wave is increased or decreased, and as a result, the brightness of the image is adjusted. However, when the intensity value of the reflected wave is inverted and the image is displayed based on the inverted information as in the above-mentioned publication, the operation direction of the knob is opposite to the case where a normal image that is not inverted is displayed. There is a problem of becoming. That is, in the normal image, the display image becomes bright when the knob is operated to the right, but in the inverted image, the image becomes dark by the same right operation. In the same operation to the right, the image becomes bright in some cases and dark in some cases, so the operator feels uncomfortable.

  An object of the present invention is to make it possible to adjust brightness even when displaying an inverted image, as in the case of displaying an image normally.

  In the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus of the present invention, when the value of the reception intensity of the reflected wave is changed in order to adjust the brightness of the displayed image, the reception intensity value is changed between a normal image display and an inverted image display. The direction of increase / decrease is the reverse direction. For example, in the case of normal image display, if the knob is operated to the right, the received intensity value is increased, and if the image is brightened. Decrease the value. In the reverse image display, the received intensity value is inverted and displayed, so that darker pixels before the inversion process become brighter when displayed. As a result, the operation direction of the knob matches the increase / decrease direction of the brightness of the display image in both normal image display and inverted image display.

  Here, in order to adjust the intensity value of the received signal, what the operator investigates is described as a “knob”, but the form of the knob may be any. For example, a rotary type, a type that slides up and down or left and right, and a shape that resembles a real knob on the display panel, and that can be operated by dragging it with a pointing device. This is also referred to as a “knob” in the present specification and claims.

  The operator can perform increase / decrease adjustment of the brightness of the display image without being aware of whether it is normal image display or reverse image display, and thus can perform an operation without a sense of incongruity.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus 10 of the present embodiment. The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus 10 includes a probe 12 that transmits an ultrasonic wave inside a living body to be observed, and receives a reflected wave reflected by a tissue in the living body. The probe 12 includes a plurality of ultrasonic transducers (not shown), and the transducer 14 drives each transducer. The main body control unit 16 controls the transmission / reception unit 14, and each transducer is driven at a timing determined by the main body control unit 16 and transmits ultrasonic waves. The transmission direction of the ultrasonic wave to be transmitted can be scanned in the main scanning direction and the sub-scanning direction orthogonal to the main scanning direction, whereby three-dimensional ultrasonic information in the living body can be obtained. The ultrasonic wave reflected by the tissue in the living body excites the transducer of the probe 12 and a voltage is induced. The transmission / reception unit 14 takes in the voltage induced in the vibrator at a predetermined timing and sends it to the signal processing unit 18 as a reception signal. The signal processing unit 18 calculates and stores reflected wave information for each part (pixel) in the living body from the received signal. This reflected wave information is, for example, the intensity value of the received reflected wave for each pixel (hereinafter referred to as a received intensity value).

  Display is performed on the monitor 20 based on the information of the reflected wave. When performing monitor display, the ultrasound diagnostic apparatus generally expresses the received intensity value of the reflected wave with luminance, and displays a portion with a high intensity value bright and a portion with a low intensity dark. If the obtained information is three-dimensional information, the three-dimensional calculation processing unit 22 performs processing for representing the three-dimensional information on the plane of the monitor 20, and the monitor 20 is based on the processed information. Display. The three-dimensional arithmetic processing is, for example, a rendering process, that is, a process of preventing a portion hidden in an object in front from being displayed when an object to be observed is viewed from a certain point in space. Form. In the present specification and claims, an image that can grasp the three-dimensional shape even if it is such a planar image is referred to as a three-dimensional image.

  As described above, when the object to be observed is a part with weak reflection such as a blood vessel, the luminance of this part becomes dark and it is difficult to display it because it is hidden in the surrounding high luminance part. Therefore, the luminance inversion processing unit 24 performs a process of inverting the relationship between the reception intensity value and the luminance to make the part with the high intensity value bright and the part with the low intensity dark. For example, as shown in FIG. 2, in the case of normal display, as shown by the alternate long and short dash line, the received intensity value is increased and the display is performed with the brightness being increased. The luminance is determined by the function indicated by the solid line and the display is performed. About this function, it is preferable to set it as an appropriate function according to differences in observation objects.

  In order to make it easier to see the image displayed on the monitor 20, that is, to make it easier to observe the observation target, the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus 10 is provided with adjusting means for processing the information of the reflected wave. The adjusting means is provided in the input unit 26 provided on the operation panel of the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus 10. The adjusting means may be a dial type knob (a) or a slider type knob (b) as shown in FIG. 3, for example. The adjusting means is provided with a gain knob 28 for increasing / decreasing the reflected signal intensity value and an STC slider 30 for adjusting control called STC (sensitive time control). The STC is a control for correcting that the attenuation increases as the ultrasonic wave reaches a deeper position in the living body. The reflected wave reflected at a deeper position is a control for increasing the gain. The means for adjusting the function indicating the relationship between the depth and the gain is the STC slider 30, and the gain can be set by adjusting the slider 30 provided for each representative depth, and the function is determined based on the set gain. And STC control is executed. Therefore, the STC slider can be regarded as an adjustment knob that adjusts the gain for each depth. The STC slider 30 can be composed of a plurality of sliding adjustment knobs that adjust the gain for each depth as shown in FIG. The position of each knob that defines a standard STC function is the position indicated by 0 in the center of the figure. If you want to change the gain at a certain depth, slide the knob corresponding to that depth to Make adjustments. Further, the input unit 26 is provided with a mode selection switch 32 for selecting whether to perform the inversion processing described above or to perform normal display without inversion.

  In response to the operation of the gain knob 28, the STC slider 30, and the mode selection switch 32, the panel control unit 34 sets the gain value corresponding to the operation of the gain knob 28 and the gain value (STC value) for each depth of the STC slider 30. Is sent to the correction unit 36. The correction unit 36 performs predetermined processing on the gain value and the STC value and sends the processed value to the main body control unit 16. The processing of the correction unit 36 will be described in detail later. The main body control unit 16 sends the gain value and the STC value to the signal processing unit 18, and the signal processing unit 18 increases or decreases the reception intensity value of the ultrasonic wave sent from the transmission / reception unit 14. In addition, the main body control unit 16 instructs the luminance inversion processing unit 24 to perform inversion control based on the mode selection signal.

  In the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus 10 of the present embodiment, when the gain knob 28 and the STC slider 30 are operated rightward in normal image display without inversion, the gain value and the STC value increase. Is adjusted to be higher and brighter. When the gain value and the STC value are applied to the inverted image as they are, an image is darkened by an operation to the right to brighten a normal image, and the operation becomes uncomfortable. In order to eliminate this, a correction unit 36 is provided in the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus 10 of the present embodiment. In the normal image display mode (mode OFF), the correction unit 36 outputs the gain value and STC value as they are input from the panel control unit 34. When the panel control unit 34 sends a signal indicating that a mode for displaying an inverted image is selected (mode ON), the gain value and STC value sent from the panel control unit 34 are inverted, The data is sent to the main body control unit 16.

  FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of input and output of gain values of the correction unit 36 in each of normal image display and image display with inverted luminance. FIG. 5A shows a case where the operator has operated the gain knob 28 10 steps to the right from the neutral position (± 0). In the normal display mode (OFF), the input (+10) and the output (+10) match. In the display mode (ON) in which the luminance is inverted, the input is “+10”, whereas the output is reversed to “−10”. FIG. 5B shows a case where the gain knob 28 is operated 10 steps to the left from the neutral position. In this operation, the input is “−10”. In contrast to this input, the output is “−10” for normal display, and the output is “+10” for reverse display. Similarly, in the inversion mode, the input / output signs are inverted even in operations other than 10 steps.

  In the mode for displaying the luminance inverted image, the sign of the gain input from the panel control unit 34 is inverted by the correction unit 36, so that the operation of the gain knob 28 for the operator to increase the luminance is performed by signal processing. The unit 18 acts to reduce the received signal strength (received signal strength value) of each pixel. However, when the luminance is inverted by the luminance inversion processing unit 24, the previous operation is an operation for increasing the luminance in the image after the inversion processing. As a result, the brightness adjustment operation for the normal image and the operation for the reverse image match, and the operator is prevented from feeling uncomfortable. In FIG. 1, when the inversion mode is ON, the gain value is inverted using an inverter. However, other operations such as providing a multiplier that multiplies the gain value by “−1” are provided. A gain value with an opposite sign may be obtained by processing.

  As for the STC value, the gain value for each depth is adjusted in the same manner as the gain knob 28, so that it is possible to deal with the display of the luminance inverted image.

  The gain knob 28 and the STC slider 30 may have a form other than the rotary type and the sliding type shown in FIG. Alternatively, a knob may be displayed on the display screen, and the knob may be operated with a pointing device such as a trackball or a mouse.

  In the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus 10, when the reverse display mode is selected, the correction unit 36 performs control so as to reverse the sign of the gain value and the STC value, but the operator manually corrects the correction unit 36. It is also possible to select whether or not to execute the correction process in.

  FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus 40 according to another embodiment. Constituent elements similar to those of the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus 10 shown in FIG. The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus 40 is a configuration example of an apparatus that simultaneously displays an image with inverted luminance and a normal image. An example of the inverted image is a three-dimensional image that has been subjected to rendering processing in the same manner as the above-described ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus 10, and a normal image is a tomographic image at an arbitrary cross section.

  The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus 40 has a first signal processing unit 18A and a second signal processing unit 18B separately for each image. The functions of these processing units 18A and 18B are the same as those of the signal processing unit 18 described above, and the obtained ultrasonic information is sent to the display processing unit 42. The display processing unit 42 includes the luminance inversion processing unit 24 and the three-dimensional calculation processing unit 22 described above, and forms three-dimensional image information based on the obtained ultrasonic information. In addition, it has a tomographic image creation unit 44 for creating a tomographic image at an arbitrary cross section. The image information formed by the three-dimensional calculation processing unit 22 and the tomographic image creation unit 44 is sent to the monitor 20 and displayed simultaneously. Moreover, you may make it display simultaneously on a separate monitor.

  When a normal image and a reverse image are displayed at the same time, if adjustment is performed with the same gain value and STC value, one image becomes bright and the other image becomes dark. In the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus 40 of this embodiment, the gain value and STC value for normal images and the gain value and STC value for inverted images are generated, respectively, and the first signal processing unit 18A and the second signal processing unit 18B are generated. To send. Specifically, the gain value and STC value generated by the panel control unit 34 are sent directly to the main body control unit 16, and the gain value and STC value are corrected via the correction unit 36 and sent to the main body control unit 16. There is. The correction process in the correction unit 36 is the same as that in the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus 10 described above. The corrected values, that is, the inversion gain value and the inversion STC value are also sent to the main body control unit 16. The main body control unit 16 sends a gain value and an STC value used for a normal image, here a tomographic image, to a first signal processing unit 18A that performs processing of ultrasonic information used for the tomographic image. On the other hand, a reversal gain value and a reversal STC value whose signs are reversed are sent to the second signal processing unit 18B that performs processing of ultrasonic information used for the reversal image.

  Since the sign of the gain value and the STC value is inverted for the inverted image, the luminance is increased by the same operation as the input operation for increasing the luminance of the normal image, and the luminance change in the same direction as the normal image displayed at the same time occurs. There is no sense of incongruity in operation.

1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus 10 of the present embodiment. It is a figure which shows the relationship between the receiving intensity of a reflected wave, and the brightness | luminance of a display. It is a figure which shows the example of the form of a knob. It is a figure which shows the example of the form of an STC slider. It is a figure which shows the relationship between the input signal of the correction | amendment part 36, and an output signal. It is a block diagram which shows schematic structure of the ultrasonic diagnosing device 40 of other embodiment.

Explanation of symbols

  10, 40 Ultrasound diagnostic apparatus, 16 Main body control unit, 18 Signal processing unit, 18A First signal processing unit, 18B Second signal processing unit, 22 Three-dimensional arithmetic processing unit, 24 Luminance inversion processing unit, 26 Input unit, 28 Gain knob, 30 STC slider, 32 mode selection switch.

Claims (6)

In an ultrasound diagnostic apparatus for obtaining ultrasound images by transmitting and receiving ultrasound to and from a living body
An adjustment knob operated by an operator, having an adjustment knob for increasing or decreasing the received intensity value of each pixel obtained based on the received ultrasonic information,
Even inverted image ultrasound image obtained by inverting the received intensity values even normal image provided, increase or decrease the brightness of the image provided as the operation direction of the adjusting knob match,
The provided images are a three-dimensional image formed by inverting the received intensity value, and a tomographic image formed based on a normal received intensity value, which are provided at the same time, and the luminance of these images is Increase / decrease is controlled by a common adjustment knob,
Ultrasonic diagnostic equipment. The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the adjustment knob is a knob that equally increases or decreases the reception intensity value of each pixel. The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the adjustment knob is provided for each target area for increase / decrease in the received intensity value, and the increase / decrease in the received intensity value can be adjusted for each area. In an ultrasound diagnostic apparatus for obtaining ultrasound images by sending and receiving ultrasound to and from a living body,
An adjustment knob that is operated by an operator, and an adjustment knob that adjusts a gain value that increases or decreases the reception intensity value of each pixel obtained based on received ultrasonic information;
A luminance inversion processing unit for inverting the received intensity value increased or decreased by adjusting the gain value;
An inverted image forming unit that forms an ultrasonic image based on the inverted received intensity value;
Including
When performing image formation by inverting the reception intensity value, a gain value correction unit that reverses the gain value adjusted by the adjustment knob;
A normal image forming unit that forms an ultrasonic image based on the received intensity value that is not inverted;
Have
When performing normal image formation, the adjusted gain value is used as it is, and the adjustment knob is shared.
Ultrasonic diagnostic equipment. The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the reverse image forming unit forms a three-dimensional image. 5. The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the inverted image forming unit forms a three-dimensional image, and the normal image forming unit forms a tomographic image, and these images are simultaneously formed. An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus having a display for display.

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