JPH0224142B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Technical Field of the Invention] The present invention relates to an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus having a data update processing function, for example, using arithmetic averaging for data between temporal frames.

[Technical background of the invention and its problems]

For arithmetic averaging between temporal frames,
It has been theoretically proven, and there are also some research examples, such as off-line processing. In addition, in recent years, attempts have been made to improve the S/N by performing (x _i + x _{i +1} )/2 iterative processing as pseudo averaging processing in contact compound scan ultrasonic diagnostic equipment, and it has also been incorporated into the equipment. . Furthermore, attempts have been made in conventional ultrasonic diagnostic apparatuses to suppress noise by taking the average between two frames.

By the way, in the conventional technology, it is only possible to perform a process such as (x _i +x _i+1 )/2 iterative process as an example of pseudo-averaging process, and as a result, the final data is inevitably multiplied. It was not possible to sufficiently obtain the desired data update processing effect (for example, S/N improvement). Further, for the above-mentioned reasons, the processing results are subject to spatial distortion or are relatively strongly influenced by the movement of the measurement object.

In the prior art, it has been impossible to correctly perform a process equivalent to arithmetic averaging processing in accordance with the number of data updates on a processing target where the number of data updates is uneven.

Furthermore, with conventional technology, the processing target is limited to a narrow range because it is not possible to know the number of data updates, and images cannot be displayed until a series of data collection is completed. It was impossible to display the

Furthermore, with the conventional technology, it is not possible to expect a low-frequency effect on spatial motion in MAX processing, etc., which has a slight noise suppression effect. Therefore, it is necessary to improve both spatial resolution and S/N. was impossible.

[Purpose of the invention]

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances.
The purpose of the present invention is to provide an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus that improves both N and spatial resolution, is capable of displaying in real time, and has the above-mentioned improvement effect for images having any data update frequency distribution. do.

[Summary of the invention]

The outline of the present invention for achieving the above object includes a data calculation means having at least a function of adding previously captured data and newly captured data, and a function of dividing the added data; a frame memory for storing data added by the data calculation means; an access number memory for storing the number of data additions by the data calculation means; and a DSC control means for controlling write and read operations of the frame memory and the access number memory. It is characterized in that it is equipped with the following and performs update processing on the imported data.

[Embodiments of the invention]

Examples of the present invention will be described below.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to the present invention. FIG. 1 shows an ultrasonic probe that performs, for example, a linear compound scan (combined scan of a linear scan and a sector scan) under the control of a transmitting/receiving means 2. The image data obtained as a result is transferred to the A/D installed in the subsequent stage.
(Analog-digital) The signal is input to the converting means 10 and converted into a digital signal. The output of this A/D converting means 10 is connected to one input side of an adding means 3 having two inputs, and the output side of the adding means 3 is connected to a frame memory 4 for storing image data. connected to the input side of the Here, the addition means 3 and the division means 8 constitute a data calculation means 11. The access count memory 6 is, for example, the frame memory 4.
is a memory of the same size as the adding means 3;
It stores the number of additions of image data in . And DSC (Digital Scan Converter)
The control means 7 controls the write and read operations of the frame memory 4 and the access count memory 6, and the data read by the DSC control means 7 is input to the division means 8, respectively. connected so that This division means 8 divides the output data of the frame memory 4 by the number of additions which is the output of the access number memory 6, and the result is displayed on the display means 9 disposed at the subsequent stage.

Next, the operation of the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus configured as described above will be explained.

For example, image data collected by a compound scan is converted into a digital signal by an A/D conversion means 10 and then written into a frame 4 via an addition means 3. This writing is DSC
This is done in response to a control signal from the control means 7, and at the same time, the same address as the frame memory is specified for the access count memory 6, and 1 is added to its contents to be stored as the update count of the image data. The above is the write operation accompanying data collection.

Next, a read operation performed in parallel with this write operation will be explained. The image data and the number of additions are read out as a set of data from the frame memory 4 and the access number memory 6, respectively, according to a control signal from the DSC control means 7,
A dividing means 8 divides the image data by the number of additions, and displays this on a display means 9 in real time.

Further, the image data read out from the frame memory 4 is returned to the input terminal of the adding means 3, and after being added to the newly collected image data, it is written into the frame memory 4 again. Simultaneously with this writing, the number of additions of image data is stored in the access number memory 6 at the same address as the frame memory. Then, the image data and the number of additions are read out as a set of data from the frame memory 4 and the access number memory 6, respectively, and by dividing the image data by the number of additions in the dividing means 8, a so-called arithmetic average is obtained. is calculated and displayed on the display means 9 in real time. The series of operations described above is repeated every time new image data is collected.

In this way, by performing the image data update process in the same frame, both the S/N and spatial resolution can be improved. Here, the above-mentioned S/N improvement could not be achieved by the conventional (x _i +x _i+1 )/2 iterative processing, where n is the number of data updates. It is possible to obtain an S/N value of √ times. In addition, regarding spatial performance improvement, as a result of computer simulation, the maximum deflection angle ±
When performing a linear compound scan with a scanning angle of 15° and a scanning angle interval of 5°, the improvement is approximately 10%.

Further, since the access count memory is provided, even if, for example, completely irregular image data is written to the frame memory, desired data updating processing can be reliably executed.

Note that the above-mentioned embodiment is merely an example, and various modifications can be made within the scope of the gist of the present invention.

For example, as shown in Figure 2, the frame memory is
By using a layer (one layer in the above embodiment), for example, when one of the frame memories reaches the number of additions that overflows, a changeover switch S ₁ , which is operated by the control means included in the DSC control means 7, is activated.
By switching to the other frame memory using _S2 , it is possible to always display images for which the intended processing has been completed. At this time, frame memories that are not being used are cleared.

Furthermore, as shown in FIG.
Based on the output (number of additions), the following process w _i x _i +x _i+1 /w _i +1 . Here, in equation (1), w _i is the number of additions stored in the access number memory, and x _i is the input data to be collected.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As is clear from the above description, according to the present invention, by performing data update processing based on the number of additions stored in the access number memory, S/N
In addition to improving spatial resolution and data processing, real-time display is possible even during data processing, and even when data is input with no regularity, the desired data update process can be ensured. It is possible to provide an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus that exhibits excellent effects such as being able to perform the following steps.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to the present invention, and FIGS. 2 and 3 are block diagrams showing modifications of the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus shown in FIG. 1. 3... Adding means, 4, 5... Frame memory,
6... Access count memory, 7... DSC control means, 8... Division means.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A data calculation means having at least a function of adding previously taken data and newly taken data and a function of dividing the added data, and storing the data added by the data calculation means. It includes a frame memory, an access count memory that stores the number of data additions by the data calculation means, and a DSC control unit that repeatedly controls write and read operations of the frame memory and the access count memory each time new data is collected. An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus characterized in that the acquired data is updated.