JP6041957B1 - Ultrasonic diagnostic equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

When parallel reception is performed, a luminance difference generated between two adjacent received data blocks is eliminated or reduced. An adaptive filtering process is performed between a first received data string in a first block and a second received data string in a second block. Specifically, the difference between the first average value of the first received data string 46 and the second average value of the second received data string is calculated as the luminance change evaluation value (inter-block evaluation value). The first standard deviation of the first received data string 46 is calculated as the first variation evaluation value (first block evaluation value), and the second standard deviation of the second received data string is calculated as the second variation evaluation value (second (Evaluation value in block) It is determined whether to perform correction based on these evaluation values. The correction is applied to the end data d, e (and a, h). In that case, the intermediate data b, c, f, and g are maintained. [Selection] Figure 2

Description

  The present invention relates to an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, and more particularly to processing of reception data obtained by executing a parallel reception method.

  The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus is an apparatus that forms an ultrasonic image based on a reception signal obtained by transmitting / receiving ultrasonic waves to / from a living body. In ultrasonic diagnosis, a parallel reception method is adopted for increasing the frame rate and other purposes. The parallel reception method is a method in which a plurality of reception beams per transmission beam are simultaneously formed in parallel. These received beams are aligned in the beam scanning direction, and constitute a received beam train as a whole. Under the parallel reception method, usually, one scanning plane (two-dimensional data capture area) is constituted by a plurality of received data strings arranged in the beam scanning direction.

  In the reception beam former in the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, reception beam data is generated in units of reception beams by a plurality of phasing addition processes for a plurality of reception signals output from a plurality of vibration elements. One frame data is composed of a plurality of received beam data arranged in the beam scanning direction. Under the parallel reception method, as described above, a plurality of reception beam data are simultaneously acquired for each transmission beam. A plurality of received beam data acquired at the same time can be referred to as a received beam data block.

  When attention is paid between two adjacent received data blocks, a luminance difference is likely to occur there. This is because the correlation is relatively high in each received data block, but the correlation is relatively low between two adjacent received data blocks. The luminance difference appears as a striped pattern on the ultrasonic image (Patent Document 1). This striped pattern is a factor that degrades the image quality of the ultrasonic image. The fact that the ultrasonic image has a striped pattern is sometimes referred to as Blocky.

WO2005 / 065547 Publication

  In order to reduce or eliminate the stripe pattern, it is conceivable to apply a smoothing filter that smoothes the luminance in the beam scanning direction or a notch filter that removes a specific spatial frequency component. However, if the filtering process is uniformly applied in the beam scanning direction, the ultrasonic image is blurred or the image quality is excessively deteriorated.

  Patent Document 1 discloses a technique for optimizing a filter coefficient in accordance with the position of each reception beam with respect to a transmission beam in a parallel reception method. This is a filtering process within each received data block, and is not a filtering process across two adjacent received data blocks. That is, it is not a local filtering process according to the luminance relationship between two adjacent received data blocks.

  An object of the present invention is to prevent or suppress the occurrence of a stripe pattern when a parallel reception method is executed. Alternatively, an object of the present invention is to eliminate or alleviate a luminance difference generated between two adjacent received data blocks in accordance with an actual luminance situation between the two adjacent received data blocks.

  The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to the present invention receives received data composed of a plurality of received beam data per transmitted beam in accordance with a parallel receiving system that forms a plurality of received beams arranged in the beam scanning direction for each transmitted beam. A block generation unit that generates a block; a processing unit that processes a plurality of reception data blocks generated by the block generation unit; and a luminance change evaluation value indicating a luminance change between two adjacent reception data blocks; And a filter processing unit that executes a filtering process for eliminating or mitigating a luminance difference between the two adjacent reception data blocks based on a variation evaluation value indicating a luminance variation in the two adjacent reception data blocks It is characterized by including these.

  According to the above configuration, based on two adjacent received data blocks (hereinafter also simply referred to as “blocks”), two adjacent received data blocks (hereinafter simply “between blocks” or “adjacent blocks”). A luminance change evaluation value (inter-block evaluation value) is calculated for the "interval"), and a variation evaluation value is calculated based on these two blocks. Desirably, the luminance change evaluation value is an evaluation value indicating the magnitude of the difference between the luminance level of one block and the luminance level of the other block. Desirably, the variation evaluation value is an evaluation value indicating the degree of uniformity of luminance around the block. A variation evaluation value may be calculated for each individual block. In general, when the luminance change between blocks is large, it can be said that an apparent line (stripe pattern component) is likely to occur. On the other hand, when the luminance uniformity between the blocks is high, it can be said that, in general, even if an apparent line is generated, it is not noticeable. Therefore, the presence / absence of the filtering process or the degree thereof is determined in consideration of the luminance situation of the local portion and the luminance situation of the background.

  Preferably, the filter processing unit includes a first received data sequence included in a first received data block of the two adjacent received data blocks, and a second of the two adjacent received data blocks. And an inter-block calculator that calculates the luminance change evaluation value based on a second received data string included in the received data block. According to this configuration, the filtering process is executed in units of two received data strings (received data string pairs). At this time, the luminance change evaluation value is calculated between two received data strings.

  Desirably, a plurality of first received data sequences arranged in the depth direction are defined in one block, and a plurality of second received data sequences arranged in the depth direction are also defined in the other block. Each received data string is preferably composed of a plurality of received data arranged in the beam scanning direction. Each received data string may be composed of a plurality of received data arranged two-dimensionally. It is desirable that the received data string pair is composed of two received data strings that are adjacent to each other and acquired from the same depth. It is desirable to adaptively switch the presence / absence and degree of filtering according to the actual situation for each depth between blocks. It is desirable to configure so that data that does not require correction can be saved.

  Preferably, the filter processing unit further calculates a first variation evaluation value indicating a variation in luminance in the first received data sequence, and a second indicating a variation in luminance in the second received data sequence. An in-block computing unit that calculates a variation evaluation value, the first received data string and the second based on the luminance change evaluation value, the first variation evaluation value, and the second variation evaluation value And a filter for eliminating or mitigating a luminance difference with respect to the received data string. According to this configuration, it is possible to consider the magnitude of luminance uniformity in each received data string in the filter processing. Note that a variation evaluation value indicating the uniformity of the two received data strings as a whole may be calculated.

  Preferably, each of the first reception data string and the second reception data string includes a plurality of reception data arranged in the beam scanning direction at the same depth. Preferably, the luminance change evaluation value is a difference between an average luminance value for the first received data sequence and an average luminance value for the second received data sequence.

  Preferably, the first variation evaluation value is a standard deviation for the first received data sequence, and the second variation evaluation value is a standard deviation for the second received data sequence. You may use the average value of the brightness | luminance already calculated in the case of calculation of a standard deviation.

  Preferably, the filter processing unit includes first end data corresponding to an end on the second received data sequence side in the first received data sequence, and the first end data in the second received data sequence. At least one of the second end data corresponding to the end on the reception data string side is corrected. According to this configuration, it is possible to prevent the entire received data sequence from being unnecessarily changed by correcting the end data in the received data sequence rather than correcting the entire received data sequence. That is, both correction and storage can be achieved. Preferably, the filter processing unit performs a correction for bringing the first end data closer to the second end data and a correction for bringing the second end data closer to the first end data. If the two end data (the luminance values thereof) are brought close to each other, the luminance difference generated between the received data strings can be reduced. Since smoothing is performed locally, it is possible to reduce the portion to be corrected as the entire image while eliminating or reducing the stripe pattern.

  Preferably, the filter processing unit stores one or a plurality of intermediate data other than both-end data in the first received data sequence, and stores one or a plurality of intermediate data other than the both-end data in the second received data sequence. Hold. According to this configuration, since the data other than both ends in the received data sequence are stored, there is an advantage that image quality deterioration, particularly edge blurring due to correction can be reduced. In addition to the filter processing described above, other filter processing may be combined. For example, there is a notch filter as such a filter. It is a filter that exhibits the effect of suppressing specific frequency components.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to prevent or suppress the occurrence of a striped pattern when executing the parallel reception method. Or according to this invention, the brightness | luminance difference which arises between two adjacent received data blocks can be eliminated or reduced according to the actual luminance situation between two adjacent received data blocks.

1 is a block diagram showing a preferred embodiment of an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to the present invention. It is a conceptual diagram for demonstrating the effect | action (the algorithm performed there) of the process part between blocks. It is a figure for demonstrating the determination conditions of whether to perform a filter process. It is a flowchart explaining the 1st example of filter processing. It is a flowchart explaining the 2nd example of filter processing. It is a flowchart explaining the 3rd example of filter processing. It is a flowchart explaining the 4th example of filter processing. It is a flowchart explaining the 5th example of filter processing. It is a block diagram which shows a modification.

  DESCRIPTION OF EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 shows a preferred embodiment of an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to the present invention, and FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the overall configuration thereof. This ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus is an apparatus that forms an ultrasonic image based on reception information obtained by transmitting / receiving ultrasonic waves to / from a living body in the medical field.

  The probe 10 includes an array transducer that transmits and receives ultrasonic waves. The array transducer is composed of, for example, a plurality of vibration elements arranged in a straight line. An ultrasonic beam is formed by the array transducer and scanned electronically. Various methods such as an electronic linear scanning method and an electronic sector scanning method are known as electronic scanning methods. A 2D array transducer may be provided instead of the 1D array transducer. The above ultrasonic beam is a concept including a transmission beam and a reception beam.

  In the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus of this embodiment, a plurality of reception beams per transmission beam are formed in parallel and simultaneously according to the parallel reception method. The number of reception beams formed simultaneously is, for example, 4, but the number is only an example. In FIG. 1, only two reception beams 16 and 18 formed on both sides of the transmission beam 14 are schematically shown. In FIG. 1, in order to distinguish the transmit beam 14 and the receive beams 16 and 18 in terms of expression, the two receive beams 16 and 18 are represented by two arrows pointing upward. In practice, the reception focal point dynamically moves from a shallower side to a deeper side according to the receiving dynamic focus method.

  The transmission beam former 20 is an electronic circuit for forming a transmission beam during transmission. A plurality of transmission signals having a fixed delay relationship are generated in parallel by the transmission beamformer and supplied to the plurality of vibration elements. As a result, a transmission beam 14 is formed.

  The reception beam former 22 is an electronic circuit that generates beam data corresponding to a reception beam by applying a phasing addition process to a plurality of reception signals output from a plurality of vibration elements during reception. In the present embodiment, a plurality of phasing and adding processes based on a plurality of received signals are performed after a single transmission according to a parallel reception method, thereby a plurality of receptions corresponding to a plurality of reception beams arranged in the beam scanning direction. Beam data is generated. It constitutes the above received data block. One received data block is obtained with one transmission / reception as a unit. The reception beamformer is understood as a block generation unit or block generation means in view of its function. The reception beamformer can be configured by a circuit such as an FPGA or an ASIC.

  The beam data processing circuit 24 is a circuit that processes the beam data output from the reception beam former 22. It is constituted by a detection circuit, a logarithmic conversion circuit, and the like.

  The inter-block filter processing unit 26 is an electronic circuit that applies a filter process that eliminates or reduces a luminance difference generated between two adjacent blocks. In this case, as will be described in detail later, a plurality of received data string pairs are specified for each depth, and a specific plurality of received data string pairs are set such that a luminance difference between them is eliminated or alleviated. Is corrected. Such a filtering process includes a luminance change evaluation value indicating a luminance change between two reception data constituting a reception data sequence pair, and a variation evaluation indicating uniformity or variation in luminance in the two reception data sequences. And adaptively and locally based on the value. The luminance change evaluation value is calculated for each received data string pair (between received data strings), and specifically, is calculated as a difference between two average values obtained for two adjacent received data. The luminance change evaluation value can be considered as an evaluation value between blocks. The variation evaluation value is actually calculated for each received data string. However, one variation evaluation value may be calculated for the two received data as a whole. The variation evaluation value calculated for each received data string is considered as an intra-block evaluation value that indicates the level of luminance uniformity (or variation) in the background or vicinity of the region of interest.

  As described above, based on a plurality of evaluation values, it is determined whether or not to perform luminance correction for eliminating the luminance difference between blocks, or the degree of such luminance correction is determined. The inter-block filter processing unit 26 can be configured by a circuit such as an FPGA or an ASIC. The function may be realized by the main CPU. In the configuration shown in FIG. 1, individual beam data before scan conversion is a processing target.

  The notch filter 28 is, for example, an electronic circuit that executes filter processing for suppressing a specific frequency component in the beam scanning direction with respect to the received frame. This notch filter 28 also has the effect of reducing the stripe pattern. In the present embodiment, in the preceding stage of the notch filter 28, the inter-block filter processing unit 26 suppresses the inter-block luminance difference as pre-processing, and then the notch filter processing is executed. . It is also possible to provide the inter-block filter processing unit 26 after the notch filter 28. However, according to this embodiment, it is possible to locally apply a light notch filter process to a striped pattern portion after adaptively applying an inter-block filter process in the previous stage to locally suppress a large luminance difference. it can. Therefore, according to the present embodiment, although depending on the situation, it is generally possible to remove almost all of the striped pattern with almost no deterioration in image quality. It is not essential to provide a notch filter, and the entire striped pattern may be suppressed only by the inter-block filter processing unit 26.

  The DSC (digital scan converter) 30 is an electronic circuit that converts a received frame into a display frame. It has various functions such as a coordinate conversion function, a pixel interpolation function, and a frame rate conversion function. When the electronic sector scanning method is executed, conversion from polar coordinates to Cartesian coordinates (simultaneous interpolation processing) is executed in the DSC 30, so it is desirable to provide an inter-block filter processing unit 26 before the DSC 30. An ultrasonic image is formed by the DSC 30. The display processing unit 32 has an image composition function and the like, and an ultrasonic image is displayed on the screen of the display 34 connected thereto. The ultrasonic image is, for example, a two-dimensional tomographic image. Of course, other images may be displayed. The control unit 36 includes a CPU and a program. The controller 36 controls the operation of each component shown in FIG.

  Processing in the inter-block filter processing unit 26 shown in FIG. 1 will be described with reference to FIG. In FIG. 2, a part of the received frame is schematically drawn in the upper part. The reception frame is composed of a plurality of blocks arranged in the beam scanning direction (y direction). It includes a first block 38 and a second block 40. Each of the blocks 38 and 40 includes four beam data 42 arranged in the beam scanning direction in the illustrated example. That is, in this example, the number of parallel receptions is 4. Each beam data 42 includes a plurality of received data (echo data) 42a arranged in the depth direction (x direction). Each reception data 42a has a luminance value (echo value).

  In the first block 38 and the second block 40, a received data string exists for each depth. In other words, each of the blocks 38 and 40 is composed of a plurality of received data strings arranged in the depth direction. Each received data string is composed of four received data arranged in the beam scanning direction. In FIG. 2, in particular, a first received data string 46 belonging to the first block 38 and a second received data string 48 belonging to the second block 40 are shown. They constitute a received data string pair. The first received data string 46 includes four received data a, b, c, and d arranged in the beam scanning direction, and the second received data string includes four received data e, f, and g arranged in the beam scanning direction. , H. In the first received data sequence 46, received data a and d are end data, and received data b and c are intermediate data. In the second received data string 48, received data e and h are end data, and received data f and g are intermediate data. In the received data sequence pair composed of the first received data sequence 46 and the second received data sequence 48, the end data closest to the second received data sequence 48 in the first received data sequence 46 is the received data d. Of the two received data strings 48, the end data closest to the first received data string 46 is the received data e. In this embodiment, as will be described in detail below, the luminance value is corrected only for each piece of end data, and the luminance value is stored for each piece of intermediate data. Reference numeral 44 indicates between blocks where a luminance step may occur. In order to eliminate or alleviate such a luminance step, the luminance values of the two end data d and e that are adjacent to each other are corrected as necessary for each received data string pair. That is, for each received data string pair, the luminance difference between the two received data strings constituting it is reduced. Note that FIG. 2 illustrates the processing between the first block 38 and the second block 40, but the same filter processing is applied between the blocks.

  In the lower part of FIG. 2, a plurality of functions (or algorithms executed therein) of the inter-block filter processing unit 26 are expressed by a plurality of blocks. As shown as block 50, based on the four luminance values of the four received data a, b, c, and d constituting the first received data string 46, the average value thereof is set as the first average value. Calculated. Similarly, as shown as block 52, based on the four luminance values of the four received data e, f, g, and h constituting the second received data sequence 48, the average value thereof is the second. Calculated as an average value. As shown as block 54, the difference between the first average value and the second average value is computed as the average value difference. The average value difference is an absolute value in the present embodiment, but it may have a sign. The average value difference is an evaluation value between blocks that indicates the magnitude of the luminance change between two adjacent received data strings 46 and 48.

  On the other hand, as shown as a block 56, based on the four luminance values of the four received data a, b, c, and d constituting the first received data string 46, the standard deviations thereof are the first. Calculated as standard deviation. Similarly, as shown as block 58, based on the four luminance values of the four received data e, f, g, and h constituting the second received data sequence 48, the standard deviation for them is the first. Calculated as 2 standard deviations. Each of the first standard deviation and the second standard deviation indicates a variation degree of the luminance value, and can be said to be an evaluation value within the block. One standard deviation may be calculated from the entire two received data strings. In any case, it is evaluated in what state the luminance distribution centering on the part to be processed is present.

  When the average value difference between the two adjacent reception data strings 46 and 48 is large, the necessity for correction increases. On the other hand, when the standard deviation calculated | required about those received data strings 46 and 48 is large, the necessity for correction | amendment becomes low. Therefore, in the present embodiment, the average value difference (evaluation value between blocks) and the two standard deviations (two evaluation values within the block) are comprehensively considered in the filter processing.

  The block 60 and the block 62 correspond to a filter or a filter main part. As shown in block 60, in the determination, whether or not to correct the two end data d and e is determined based on the plurality of evaluation values as described above. In that case, it may be determined whether or not to individually correct each end data. Further, not the presence / absence of correction but the degree of correction (mixing ratio k) may be determined. In the present embodiment, when the correction execution is determined in the determination indicated by the block 60, the two end data d and e are corrected together as indicated by the block 62. Specifically, the brightness value indicated by the end data d is brought closer to the brightness value indicated by the end data e, and the brightness value indicated by the end data e is brought closer to the brightness value indicated by the end data d. Actually, two luminance values are mixed with a constant coefficient, and the luminance value after mixing is given to each end data. By performing such correction adaptively for each depth, it is possible to eliminate or mitigate a luminance difference that occurs between blocks. Each block is configured as an electronic circuit or a software function. In the calculation of the first standard deviation, the already calculated first average value may be used. Similarly, in the calculation of the second standard deviation, the already calculated second average value may be used.

  FIG. 3 shows specific contents of the block 54 and the block 60 shown in FIG. The blocks 54 and 60 shown in FIG. 2 correspond to the blocks 54A and 60A shown in FIG. 3, respectively. As shown in block 54A, an average difference is calculated based on the first average value and the second average value. In this example, it is an absolute value. As shown in block 60A, the average value difference, the first standard deviation, and the second standard deviation are referred to when determining whether or not to correct. In the illustrated example, the first standard deviation is smaller than r times the average value difference (first condition), and the second standard deviation is smaller than r times the average value difference (second condition). When the condition is satisfied, execution of correction is determined. This is because the luminance difference between blocks is corrected to improve the luminance difference when the luminance difference between the blocks is large to some extent, that is, when the luminance difference is visually noticeable. Is the condition. For example, when correction is performed on the edge data of interest, 0.5 is given to the mixing ratio k, for example. In that case, an average value of two luminance values of the two end data is given to two adjacent end data. Here, k can be defined as a numerical value between 0 and 1.0. If the mixing ratio of 0.7 is given to the edge data of interest, the luminance value of the edge data can be stored to some extent. It is desirable to vary the mixing ratio according to various situations. When correction is not performed on the edge data of interest, 1.0 may be given as the value of k, for example. In that case, substantially no blending will occur. In the present embodiment, the correction of the luminance value is performed on each piece of end data, and is not applied to each piece of intermediate data.

  When the number of data constituting the received data string is large, a plurality of data corresponding to end portions in the data string may be corrected. The above r is also considered as a correction sensitivity coefficient, and may be a numerical value between 0 and 1.0, for example. If it is 0, the luminance value is stored in all cases, and if it is infinite, the luminance value is corrected in all cases. The coefficient r may be varied according to the depth. The coefficient r may be varied according to the address in the scanning direction. For each right end data in the right end block and each left end data in the left end block, since there is no data adjacent thereto, the luminance value may be maintained as it is. Other exception handling may be applied as necessary.

Examples of calculation formulas applied to individual received data are given below.

The meanings of the symbols in the above calculation formula are as follows.

  For example, the calculation formula (1) is applied to the left end data d in the first received data string 46 shown in FIG. The calculation formula (2) is applied to, for example, the right end data e in the second received data string 48 shown in FIG. The calculation formula (3) is applied to, for example, the intermediate data f and g in the second received data string 48 shown in FIG. The above formula is repeatedly applied in units of received data string pairs.

  The degree of correction may be determined instead of the presence or absence of correction. Even in such a case, it is desirable that the mixing ratio is variably set based on a plurality of evaluation values (particularly, based on an evaluation value indicating a luminance difference between blocks and an evaluation value indicating luminance variations around the blocks). .

The average value can be calculated by the following equation (4). The standard deviation can be calculated by the following equation (5).

  Next, some specific examples of the filter processing in the inter-block processing unit will be described with reference to FIGS. 4 to 8, the same step number is assigned to a plurality of steps having similar contents.

  In the first example shown in FIG. 4, in S10, eight beam data (two blocks) are stored in the memory in the inter-block filter processing unit in S10. A plurality of beam data for one frame may be stored on the memory. In S12, two adjacent received data strings (one received data string and the other received data string) are specified for each depth. In S14, for each depth, the first average value and the second standard deviation are calculated for one received data string, and the second average value and the second standard deviation are calculated for the other received data string. In S16, for each depth, it is determined whether or not to correct two adjacent end data. When correction is performed, in S18, two adjacent end data are referred to and their contents are corrected. When correction is not performed, two adjacent end data are stored. Intermediate data other than edge data is always stored.

  In the second example shown in FIG. 5, in S20, the mixing ratio k is adaptively determined for each depth based on the first average value, the second standard deviation, the second average value, and the second standard deviation. Is set. In S18, two adjacent end data are corrected based on the mixing ratio k for each depth. In that case, the mixing rate k may be applied uniformly to the two end data, or the mixing rate k may be applied individually to each end data. Various methods for determining the mixing ratio k can be adopted.

  In the third example shown in FIG. 6, in S22, each beam data is smoothed along the depth direction. In S24, the presence or absence of correction is determined, or the mixing ratio k is determined. The other steps are as described above. In the process of S18, the beam data before smoothing shown in S10 may be a correction target.

  In the fourth example shown in FIG. 7, a plurality of mixing ratios k arranged in the depth direction are smoothed along the depth direction. Each blending ratio after smoothing is used for correction of end data in S18.

  In the fifth example shown in FIG. 8, a thinning process along the depth direction is applied to the four beam data in S28. That is, the number of data is reduced. In S12, the received data string pair is specified for each depth in the eight beam data after the thinning process, and after a plurality of evaluation values are calculated in S14, the mixing ratio k is calculated for each depth in S20. The In S30, a process of developing the plurality of mixing ratios k calculated in S20 in the depth direction (for example, a process of copying a neighboring mixing ratio with respect to the thinned depth) is executed. As a result, the mixing ratio k is specified for each depth. In S18, end data correction using the mixing ratio k is executed for each depth. The contents shown in FIGS. 4 to 8 are only examples, and other processes may be adopted.

  According to the above embodiment, it is possible to eliminate or suppress the stripe pattern that may occur on the ultrasonic image by eliminating or mitigating the luminance step between the blocks. Therefore, the image quality of the ultrasonic image can be improved. In particular, since adaptive and local filtering is applied, an advantage that an ultrasonic image can be stored as much as possible can be obtained.

  FIG. 9 shows a modification of the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus. In FIG. 9, the same components as those shown in FIG. In this ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, for example, electronic linear scanning is applied. The DSC 70 is provided in the subsequent stage of the beam data processing circuit 24, and the inter-block filter processing unit 72 is provided in the subsequent stage. That is, after receiving frame data composed of a plurality of beam data is converted into display frame data, the above-described filtering process is applied to each of a plurality of lines corresponding to a plurality of receiving beams.

  26 Interblock filter processing unit, 38 1st block, 40 2nd block, 44 block, 46 1st received data string, 48 2nd received data string, 50 1st average value, 52 2nd average value, 54 average value Difference, 56 1st standard deviation, 58 2nd standard deviation, 60 judgment, 62 correction.

Claims (9)

A block generation unit that generates a reception data block constituted by a plurality of reception beam data per transmission beam in accordance with a parallel reception system that forms a plurality of reception beams arranged in the beam scanning direction for each transmission beam;
A processing unit for processing a plurality of reception data blocks generated by the block generation unit, and a luminance change evaluation value indicating a luminance change between two adjacent reception data blocks, and the two adjacent reception data blocks A filter processing unit that executes a filter process for eliminating or mitigating a luminance difference between the two adjacent reception data blocks based on a variation evaluation value indicating a luminance variation in
An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus comprising: The apparatus of claim 1.
The filter processing unit includes a first reception data sequence included in a first reception data block of the two adjacent reception data blocks, and a second reception data of the two adjacent reception data blocks. A second received data sequence included in the block, and an inter-block calculator that calculates the luminance change evaluation value based on
An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus comprising: The apparatus of claim 1.
The filter processing unit further includes:
An intra-block computing unit that computes luminance variation in the first received data sequence as a first variation evaluation value, and computes luminance variation in the second received data sequence as a second variation evaluation value;
Based on the luminance change evaluation value, the first variation evaluation value, and the second variation evaluation value, a luminance difference between the first received data sequence and the second received data sequence is eliminated. Or a mitigating filter,
An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus comprising: The apparatus of claim 2.
Each of the first reception data string and the second reception data string includes a plurality of reception data arranged in the beam scanning direction at the same depth.
An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus. The apparatus of claim 2.
The luminance change evaluation value is a difference between an average luminance value for the first received data string and an average luminance value for the second received data string.
An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus. The apparatus of claim 3.
The first variation evaluation value is a standard deviation for the first received data string,
The second variation evaluation value is a standard deviation for the second received data string.
An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus. The apparatus of claim 2.
The filter processing unit includes first end data corresponding to an end on the second received data sequence side in the first received data sequence, and the first received data sequence in the second received data sequence. Correcting at least one of the second end data corresponding to the side end,
An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus. The apparatus of claim 7.
The filter processing unit executes correction for bringing the first end data closer to the second end data, and correction for bringing the second end data closer to the first end data.
An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus. The apparatus of claim 7.
The filter processing unit stores one or a plurality of intermediate data other than both-end data in the first received data sequence, and holds one or more intermediate data other than the both-end data in the second received data sequence;
An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus.

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