JP5271033B2 - Ultrasound diagnostic imaging equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent read from becoming difficult when reducing and printing contents displayed on a screen of a monitor on rolled paper. <P>SOLUTION: When printing the contents displayed on the screen of the monitor 30 on the rolled paper by a printer 40, a print direction indicating whether to print the display contents vertically or to print them horizontally to the rolled paper can be selected. Also, the print direction is automatically selected corresponding to the contents displayed on the screen. Thus, an easy-to-view print result is obtained without putting burdens on an operator, the time and labor of specifying the print direction are saved, and errors when specifying it are prevented as well. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&amp;INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an ultrasonic diagnostic imaging apparatus including a dedicated printer for printing an ultrasonic image or the like displayed on a monitor, and is capable of changing the printing direction according to the content displayed on the monitor. The present invention relates to a sound image diagnostic apparatus.

  An ultrasonic diagnostic imaging apparatus transmits ultrasonic waves to a subject via an ultrasonic probe, receives reflected waves from the living body of the ultrasonic waves, and generates ultrasonic waves based on the received ultrasonic signals. An image is generated, and the generated ultrasonic image is displayed on a monitor for diagnosis. In the ultrasonic diagnostic imaging apparatus, a B mode for observing a tomographic image of a soft tissue of a living body, and a morphological change of a heart, blood vessel, or the like over time by arranging the one-line tissue image in parallel along a time axis. There are various operation modes such as an M mode for observing in detail, and a Doppler mode for acquiring a blood flow spectrum and a spatial spread using the Doppler effect. Furthermore, it is possible to measure structural dimensions such as distance, area, volume, etc. from the B-mode image, and measure temporal changes from the M-mode image. It covers the abdomen, mammary gland, urinary organs, obstetrics, gynecology, etc. and is used daily in the medical field because of its low invasiveness and real-time image observation.

In various operation modes, in addition to ultrasound images, the monitor displays various information such as information about the subject, information about the screen layout, information about the operation mode, information about measurement conditions and measurement results, and characters and symbols. And so on. The ultrasonic image displayed on the monitor and the character information such as the measurement result are printed and stored using a dedicated printer as necessary (see, for example, Patent Document 1). .
JP 2007-190214 A

  By the way, the size of a monitor screen for displaying an ultrasonic image in the ultrasonic diagnostic imaging apparatus is about 38 cm in width, for example, but a dedicated printer connected to the ultrasonic diagnostic imaging apparatus has an width of about 11 cm, for example. Many use roll paper. For this reason, if the content displayed on the monitor screen is printed with a dedicated printer, it will be reduced to a size that fits the dimensions of the printing paper, so the characters will be particularly small and difficult to read or read. There was a problem that.

  The present invention has been made to solve such problems.

In order to solve the above-described problem, the ultrasonic diagnostic imaging apparatus according to the embodiment forms an ultrasonic image based on a reflected wave from the subject of the ultrasonic wave transmitted to the subject, and characters together with the ultrasonic image. In an ultrasonic diagnostic imaging apparatus that selectively displays information on a monitor screen, the print information that is connected to the ultrasonic diagnostic imaging apparatus main body and displayed on the monitor screen is displayed vertically or horizontally with respect to the roll paper. When printing the print information and the print information on the roll paper, the print information with respect to the roll paper is automatically set to landscape by detecting that the print information includes character information. Printing direction selection means.

The ultrasonic diagnostic imaging apparatus according to the embodiment is an ultrasonic diagnostic imaging apparatus that selectively displays character information together with an ultrasonic image on a monitor screen. When printing information including at least a part of the displayed contents is printed vertically or horizontally on the roll paper, and when printing the print information on the roll paper, the print information includes character information. And a printing direction selection unit that automatically sets the printing direction with respect to the roll paper to the horizontal direction by detecting that the printing is performed.

  As shown in the section of the means for solving the above problems, according to the invention of each claim described in the claims of the present invention, the following effects can be obtained.

According to the ultrasonic diagnostic imaging apparatus of the embodiment, the printing direction can be automatically changed when the content displayed on the monitor screen makes it difficult to see the print result. Therefore, an easy-to-view print result can be obtained without imposing a burden on the operator, and mistakes can be prevented.

  Hereinafter, an embodiment of an ultrasonic diagnostic imaging apparatus according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIGS.

  FIG. 1 is a system diagram showing a schematic configuration of an embodiment of an ultrasonic diagnostic imaging apparatus according to the present invention. First, with reference to this figure, a schematic diagram of an ultrasonic diagnostic imaging apparatus according to the present invention is shown. The configuration will be described.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the ultrasonic diagnostic imaging apparatus includes an ultrasonic probe 10 having a transducer that transmits and receives ultrasonic waves to and from a subject P, and controls a transmission signal and processes a reception signal. An ultrasonic diagnostic imaging apparatus main body 20 that generates a sonic image, a monitor 30 that can display a generated ultrasonic image, such as a liquid crystal display or a plasma display, and a content that is displayed on the monitor 30. And a printer 40 for printing.

  One or a plurality of ultrasonic probes 10 having different specifications depending on the purpose of diagnosis are detachably coupled to the ultrasonic diagnostic imaging apparatus main body 20 and are selectively used. Further, the monitor 30 may be fixed to the ultrasonic diagnostic imaging apparatus main body 20 or may be movably mounted.

  The ultrasonic diagnostic imaging apparatus main body 20 includes a control processing unit 21, a transmission / reception unit 22, a signal processing unit 23, an operation panel unit 24, and a biological information unit 25. The control processing unit 21 includes a microprocessor, a memory, and the like, and organically controls operations of the transmission / reception unit 22, the signal processing unit 23, the monitor 30, and the like according to a signal from the operation panel unit 24 or a preprogrammed procedure. To do.

  The transmission / reception unit 22 includes a transmission circuit 26 and a reception circuit 27, and the transmission circuit 26 applies a high-frequency voltage pulse to the ultrasonic transducer provided at the tip of the ultrasonic probe 10. In response to this voltage pulse, the ultrasonic transducer vibrates mechanically, whereby an ultrasonic pulse is generated and emitted to the subject P.

  On the other hand, the ultrasonic pulse radiated from the ultrasonic probe 10 to the subject P propagates in the living body, is reflected one after another at the discontinuous surface of the acoustic impedance during propagation, and returns to the ultrasonic probe 10. . This reflected wave is converted into an electric signal by the ultrasonic transducer of the ultrasonic probe 10 and supplied to the receiving circuit 27 as an ultrasonic signal. In the receiving circuit 27, an ultrasonic signal is amplified by a preamplifier (not shown), and then an analog signal is converted into a digital signal by an A / D converter and further subjected to reception delay calculation and the like, and then sent to the signal processing unit 23. It is done.

  The signal processing unit 23 includes an echo signal processing unit 28 and an image data generation unit 29. Therefore, the ultrasonic signal from the receiving circuit 27 is first converted into a B-mode image signal by performing envelope detection, logarithmic amplification and the like in the echo signal processing unit 28. The converted B-mode image signal is supplied to the image data generation unit 29, and is temporarily stored after processing by a digital scan converter (DSC) that converts the image signal into a standard television scanning system image signal. Then, the stored digital format signal is read out and converted into an analog format signal by the D / A conversion circuit, and the luminance signal converted into the analog format is supplied to the monitor 30 to be a B-mode image. Is displayed.

  In addition, although the image generation in the B mode has been illustrated, various other processes for generating an image such as the M mode, the Doppler mode, and the three-dimensional mode are performed. Since it is not specially related to the purpose, description thereof will be omitted here.

  The operation panel unit 24 is used by an operator to input various setting values, instructions, and the like to the ultrasonic diagnostic imaging apparatus main body 20, and includes various switches and a touch command screen. 21 is connected. In addition, the biological information unit 25 acquires various biological information such as electrocardiograms and heart sounds from the subject P and supplies them to the control processing unit 21. The printer 40 prints the content displayed on the monitor 30 on the roll paper under the control of the control processing unit 21, and the print direction on the roll paper is set to the vertical direction according to the display content of the monitor 30. , Can be in the horizontal direction.

  Next, the operation of the ultrasonic diagnostic imaging apparatus according to the present invention configured as described above will be described.

  FIG. 2 shows an example of display contents displayed on the monitor 30. Although only text information is displayed as the contents of the report in FIG. 2, it goes without saying that the display contents are an ultrasonic image or text information added to the ultrasonic image.

  Now, since the screen size of the monitor 30 is about 38 cm in width, for example, there is no inconvenience for a doctor or the like to observe an image displayed on the monitor 30 or read character information. However, when the contents displayed on the screen of the monitor 30 are printed by a dedicated printer 40 (for example, Sono Printer: product name of Toshiba Medical Systems Co., Ltd.), the dedicated content connected to the ultrasonic diagnostic imaging apparatus main body 20 is used. Since the width of the roll paper of the printer 40 is, for example, about 11 cm, the print is reduced in accordance with the width dimension of the roll paper. FIG. 3 exemplifies the result printed by the dedicated printer 40, and FIG. 3A prints the display content in the vertical direction with respect to the roll paper so that it is in the same orientation as the screen of the monitor 30. It is a thing.

  FIG. 3 is a diagram for conceptually explaining that the content displayed on the screen of the monitor 30 is reduced and printed on the roll paper of the printer 40. FIG. It is not an accurate representation of the dimensional ratio. However, it can be understood by comparing FIG. 2 and FIG. 3 that it becomes difficult to interpret the display contents by performing reduced printing.

  Therefore, in the present invention, when the content displayed on the screen of the monitor 30 is reduced and printed on the roll paper of the printer 40, the width of the roll paper is utilized to the maximum by changing the printing direction. The content displayed on the screen of the monitor 30 is to be printed so as to be displayed as large as possible. That is, FIG. 3 (a) shows that the display contents are printed vertically on the roll paper of the printer 40 so that it is in the same orientation as the screen of the normal monitor 30, and this is shown in FIG. As shown in (b), it is intended to print the roll paper sideways. In the present specification, what is printed in the direction shown in FIG. 3A with respect to the length direction of the roll paper is defined as the vertical direction, and is printed in the direction shown in FIG. The thing is defined as the horizontal direction.

  3A and 3B, the width of the roll paper of the printer 40 is the same, but the content displayed on the screen of the monitor 30 is printed in the vertical direction. As shown in FIG. 3B, by printing in the horizontal direction as shown in FIG. 3B, the image is enlarged and displayed by the aspect ratio of the screen. It will be.

  Next, switching means for switching the printing direction when printing the contents displayed on the screen of the monitor 30 with the printer 40 will be described.

  As one means, the operator can switch manually. That is, when printing the contents normally displayed on the screen of the monitor 30 with the printer 40, the operator presses a print switch (or button) (not shown) provided on the operation panel unit 24, thereby instructing the instruction. Is transmitted to the control processing unit 21, and the control processing unit 21 interprets the instruction content and operates the printer 40 to print the content displayed on the screen of the monitor 30. Therefore, the printer 40 prints the content displayed on the screen of the monitor 30 in a predetermined direction.

  Therefore, in the present invention, a print direction selection switch is provided in advance so that the operation panel unit 24 can select the print direction. For example, instead of a normal print switch, a landscape print switch and a portrait print switch are provided, and if the operator tries to print while keeping the same orientation as the screen while looking at the screen of the monitor 30, the portrait print switch push. Accordingly, the control processing unit 21 supplies print data to the printer 40 so as to print the content displayed on the screen in the vertical direction. On the other hand, when the operator presses the landscape print switch, the control processing unit 21 supplies print data to the printer 40 so as to print the content displayed on the screen in the landscape direction. In this way, the contents displayed on the screen of the monitor 30 can be printed in a direction according to the intention of the operator.

  The above-described means is troublesome that the operator has to determine the printing direction as necessary. In addition, it takes time and effort to select the vertical / horizontal direction, and the switch for selecting the print direction may be pressed incorrectly, which may result in wasteful printing in an unintended direction.

  In order to eliminate such annoyance and waste, the printing direction is automatically selected according to the contents displayed on the screen of the monitor 30 without the operator's operation, or the operator sets in advance. Next, a second means that can determine the printing direction based on the information will be described.

  That is, when the operator presses a print switch (or button) (not shown) provided on the operation panel unit 24, the control processing unit 21 determines what is displayed on the screen of the monitor 30, and According to the displayed contents, it is determined whether the contents displayed on the screen are printed vertically or horizontally on the roll paper, and print data is supplied to the printer 40 according to the determination. Here, when only the ultrasonic image is displayed on the screen of the monitor 30, the control processing unit 21 performs control so that the printing direction is the vertical direction. For example, in addition to the ultrasonic image, the mode information of the image In the case where character information such as screen layout information, character size information, measurement screen information, report screen information, and notes such as annotations is included, the control processing unit 21 controls the print direction to be landscape. . Of course, when the ultrasonic image is not displayed and only the character information is displayed, the printing direction may be controlled to be landscape.

Note that conditions for controlling the printing direction may be separately stored as preset information. In this case, the control processing unit 21 checks whether or not the content displayed on the monitor 30 matches (is included) with the preset information for controlling the printing direction. Thus, the printer 40 is controlled. The preset information may be edited by the operator. The operator calls up the portrait / landscape print preset menu from the panel of the operation panel unit 24, and checks and saves the item to be landscape printed. In this case, the control processing unit 21 checks whether or not the content displayed on the monitor 30 matches the preset information stored by the operator, and controls the printer 40 to print in landscape orientation if they match. To do. In this case, landscape printing is designated. However, portrait printing may be designated, and both portrait and landscape may be included.

  FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a processing flow in the case of automatically selecting the printing direction in accordance with the contents displayed on the screen of the monitor 30.

  That is, in step 1, the operator presses the print switch. As a result, in step 2, the control processing unit 21 determines whether or not the content displayed on the screen of the monitor 30 includes content that satisfies a specific condition. Here, if it is determined that the specific condition is included (YES), the process proceeds to step 3, and the control processing unit 21 sends the contents displayed on the screen to the printer 40 so as to print in the horizontal direction. Supply print data. On the other hand, if it is determined in step 2 that the specific condition is not included (NO), the process proceeds to step 4 and the control processing unit 21 prints the content displayed on the screen in the vertical direction. Print data is supplied to the printer 40.

  As described in detail above, according to the present invention, the operator can change the contents displayed on the screen of the monitor 30 on a narrow print sheet such as roll paper as necessary. The print direction can be selected in the vertical direction / horizontal direction, or the print direction is automatically determined according to the content displayed on the screen of the monitor 30, or printing is performed based on information preset by the operator. Since the direction can be determined, it is possible to make it easier to see even a reduced print.

1 is a system diagram showing a schematic configuration of an embodiment of an ultrasonic diagnostic imaging apparatus according to the present invention. It is explanatory drawing which showed an example of the display content currently displayed on the screen of the monitor of an ultrasonic image diagnostic apparatus. In order to explain the operation of the present invention, it is an explanatory diagram showing the result of reduced printing with a printer. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a processing flow when automatically selecting a printing direction in the present invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Ultrasonic probe 20 Ultrasound image diagnostic apparatus main body 21 Control processing part 22 Transmission / reception unit 23 Signal processing unit 24 Operation panel unit 30 Monitor 40 Printer P Subject

Claims (4)

In an ultrasonic diagnostic imaging apparatus that forms an ultrasonic image based on a reflected wave from the subject of ultrasonic waves transmitted to the subject, and selectively displays character information on the monitor screen together with the ultrasonic image,
A printer that is connected to the ultrasonic diagnostic imaging apparatus main body and that prints print information displayed on the monitor screen vertically or horizontally with respect to the roll paper ;
When printing the print information on the paper roll, by detecting that it contains text information to the print information, the print direction selection means for automatically setting the printing direction with respect to the roll paper sideways ,
An ultrasonic diagnostic imaging apparatus comprising: In an ultrasonic diagnostic imaging apparatus that selectively displays character information together with an ultrasonic image on a monitor screen,
A printer that is connected to the ultrasonic diagnostic imaging apparatus body and that prints print information including at least a part of the content displayed on the monitor screen in a portrait or landscape orientation with respect to the roll paper;
A printing direction selection means for automatically setting a printing direction to the roll paper in a landscape orientation by detecting that the printing information includes character information when printing the printing information on the roll paper; ,
An ultrasonic diagnostic imaging apparatus comprising: The print direction selection means has registered in advance a print direction for printing the display content vertically or horizontally on the roll paper when the print information does not include character information. Select based on preset information
The ultrasonic diagnostic imaging apparatus according to claim 1 or 2 . The character information is at least one of image character information, screen layout information, character size information, measurement screen information, report screen information, and an annotation memo.
The ultrasonic diagnostic imaging apparatus according to claim 1 .

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