JPH02305565A - Ultrasonic diagnosing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To improve response of display of an ultrasonic tomographic image and to reduce the generation of random noise by a method wherein, with the increase in the number of transmission focus stages, the number of frames by means of which the value of a weight factor K is increased or/and frames are averaged is decreased. CONSTITUTION:A picture memory 7 for ultrasonic waves to contain picture data of a frame obtained through transmission and receipt of ultrasonic beams and a picture memory 14 for display to contain picture data by means of which frames are averaged are provided. A total sum of a value obtained by multiplying picture data of a present frame, read from the picture memory 7 for ultrasonic waves, by a weight factor K and a value obtained by multiplying picture data, by means of which frames until a preceding frame are averaged, by a weight factor (1-K) is stored in the original position of the picture memory 14 for display. Even when the number of transmission focus stages is increased and a collecting time of picture data is increased as a result of a fact that picture data produced by increasing the weight factor K responding to the number of focus stages is stored in the picture memory 14 for display to display the picture data, a picture having rapid response can be displayed.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Summary] Regarding an ultrasound diagnostic apparatus that averages and displays image data obtained by transmitting and receiving ultrasound beams between frames, as the number of transmission focus stages increases, the value of the weighting coefficient is increased or / And an ultrasound system that stores image data of frames obtained by transmitting and receiving ultrasound beams, with the aim of reducing the number of frames for which inter-frame averaging is performed, improving the response of displayed images, and reducing random noise. and a display image memory for storing image data averaged between frames, and a value obtained by multiplying the image data of the current frame read from the ultrasound image memory by a weighting coefficient K; The sum of the values obtained by multiplying the image data read from the display image memory and subjected to the inter-frame average up to the previous frame by a weighting coefficient (1-K) is stored in the display image memory, and the number of focus stages is The above weighting coefficient K corresponds to an increase in
The image data generated by enlarging the image data is stored in the display image memory and displayed. It also includes a plurality of ultrasound image memories that sequentially store image data of frames obtained by transmitting and receiving ultrasound beams, and a display image memory that stores image data that has been averaged between frames,
Each of the image data of the frame up to a predetermined number (M) before the current frame image data read from the plurality of ultrasound image memories is multiplied by the weighting coefficient and the sum of the results is calculated. is stored in the display image memory, and the number of frames is decreased up to the predetermined number (M) in response to an increase in the number of focus stages, or the weighting coefficient K is increased, or the number of frames is decreased and the weight is The configuration is such that both the coefficients are increased and the generated image data is stored in the display image memory and displayed.

(Industrial Application Field) The present invention relates to an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus that averages and displays image data obtained by transmitting and receiving ultrasonic beams between frames.

[Conventional technology]

Conventionally, in ultrasonic diagnostic apparatuses, inter-frame averaging has been used as a method for reducing random noise in ultrasonic diagnostic images. In this case, as shown in Fig. 7, the image data of the current frame is multiplied by the weight Wo, the image data of the previous frame is multiplied by the weight W, and so on, and the sum of these is calculated and displayed on the screen. The following (11) display images are displayed.

Display image = image data of the current frame XW6 + image data of the previous frame XW, +...+N image data of the previous frame XW, ... (1) Here,
W@ = to, Wt = (1-K)' K (0kuni≦
1).

For example, there is a circuit shown in FIG. 8 as a circuit for creating the above-mentioned +1) display image. This will be briefly explained below.

In FIG. 8, ultrasonic waves are emitted from an ultrasonic probe 25 and reflected, which are received by the ultrasonic probe 25 and converted into digital image data via a transmitting/receiving circuit 24 and an A/D 26. It is converted and stored in the ultrasound image memory 27. The frame unit image data taken out from the ultrasound image memory 27 is multiplied by the multiplier 28 and input to the adder 30, and the display image memory 31
The image data subjected to the inter-frame average from
The resulting image data is input to the adder 30. This adder 30 calculates the sum of the image data multiplied by K and the image data multiplied by (1-K), and stores the sum in the display image memory 31 in such a manner that it is overwritten at the original address. The stored image data displays an ultrasonic tomographic image on the CRT 33 via the video output circuit 32.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] Random noise can be reduced by the conventional inter-frame averaging described above. However, because the inter-frame average between the image data of the current frame and the image data that has been averaged between frames up to the previous frame is calculated and displayed, the number of transmission focus steps increases and the ultrasound frame rate increases. When it decreases, the change in the displayed image slows down and an afterimage remains, resulting in gaps that are difficult to observe.

The present invention aims to increase the value of the weighting coefficient and/or reduce the number of frames for which inter-frame averaging is performed as the number of transmission focus stages increases, thereby improving the response of the displayed image and reducing random noise. There is.

[Means to solve problems]

Means for solving the problem will be explained with reference to FIGS. 1 and 6.

In FIGS. 1 and 6, the ultrasound image memory 7 is a memory that stores image data of frames obtained by transmitting and receiving ultrasound beams.

The ultrasound image memory 7-1 is a memory that sequentially stores a plurality of image data of frames obtained by transmitting and receiving ultrasound beams.

The display image memory 14 is a memory that stores image data subjected to inter-frame averaging.

[Effect]

As shown in FIG. 1, the present invention includes an ultrasound image memory 7 that stores frame image data obtained by transmitting and receiving ultrasound beams, and a display image memory 7 that stores frame image data that has been averaged between frames. A memory 14 is provided, and a value obtained by multiplying the image data of the current frame read from the ultrasound image memory 7 by a weighting coefficient K and an inter-frame average up to the previous frame read from the display image memory 14 are applied. The sum of the values obtained by multiplying the image data by the weighting coefficient (1-K) is stored in the original position of the display image memory 14, and the image is generated by increasing the weighting coefficient K corresponding to the number of focus steps. The data is stored in the display image memory 14 and displayed. Further, as shown in FIG. 6, there are a plurality of ultrasound image memories 7-1 that sequentially store image data of frames obtained by transmitting and receiving ultrasound beams, and a display that stores image data that has been averaged between frames. The image memory 14 is provided with a weight corresponding to a weighting coefficient for each image data of a predetermined number (M) of frames before the current frame image data read from the plurality of ultrasonic memories 7-1. are respectively multiplied and the sum is stored in the display image memory 14, and the number of frames is decreased up to a predetermined number (M) corresponding to an increase in the number of focus stages, or the weighting coefficient K is increased, or the number of frames is The number is decreased and the weighting coefficient K is increased, and the generated image data is stored in the display image memory 14 and displayed.

Therefore, as the number of transmission focus stages increases, it is possible to increase the value of the weighting coefficient and/or reduce the number of frames for which inter-frame averaging is performed, thereby improving the response of the displayed image and reducing random noise.

〔Example〕

Next, the configuration and operation of one embodiment of the present invention will be explained in detail using FIGS. 1 to 6.

In FIG. 1, an operation panel 1 is a panel for performing various operations such as selecting an ultrasonic scanning mode and an image display mode.

The system controller 2 controls the display control section 3, the transmission/reception circuit 4, and the switching control section 1 in response to selection of an ultrasound scanning mode, an image display mode, etc. from the operation panel l.
It controls the O111 and the like.

The display control unit 3 includes an ultrasound image memory 7 and a multiplier 8.9.
, the display image memory 14, etc.

The transmitter/receiver circuit 4 sends out transmission pulses to the ultrasound probe 5 and amplifies the reception signal received by the ultrasound probe 5.

The ultrasonic probe 5 emits ultrasonic waves to a living body and receives ultrasonic waves reflected and returned from the living body.

The A/D 6 converts the ultrasonic analog reception signal input from the transmitting/receiving circuit 4 into a digital reception signal (image data).
It is converted into .

The display image memory 7 is a memory that stores image data converted into digital data by the A/D 6.

A multiplier 8 converts the image data of the current frame read from the ultrasound image memory 7 into a weighting coefficient corresponding to the number of transmission focus stages. The value of the weighting coefficient is increased to improve the response of the display image as the number of transmission focus stages increases. I have to.

The multiplier 9 converts the image data read from the display image memory 14 and subjected to the inter-frame average up to the previous time into (1-,
) or 1-KN).

Here, as the number of transmission focus stages increases, (1-Kl> or 1-Kl> or 1-
, the value of ) is decreased.

The switching control section 10 takes out the result of multiplication by one of the multipliers 8 and inputs it to the adder 12 .

The switching control unit 11 takes out the result of multiplication by one of the multipliers 9 and inputs it to the adder 12 .

The adder 12 adds the image data of the current frame multiplied by a predetermined weighting coefficient inputted from the switching control unit 1o and the image data up to the previous frame multiplied by the predetermined weighting coefficient, and calculates the difference between frames. This is an average.

The display image memory 14 is a memory that stores image data after being averaged between frames.

The video output circuit 15 is a circuit for reading a serial video signal from the display image memory 14 and displaying an ultrasonic tomographic image or the like on the CRTI 6.

The CRTI 6 displays ultrasonic tomographic images and the like.

Next, the operation of the configuration shown in FIG. 1 will be explained.

(1) In response to an instruction from the system controller 2, the transmitter/receiver circuit 4 inputs a transmission pulse to the ultrasound probe 5, and transmits the ultrasound pulse to the living body. Then, the received signal reflected back and received by the ultrasonic probe 5 is inputted to the A/D 6 via the transmitting/receiving circuit 4. This A/D
The image data converted into digital data in step 6 is stored in an ultrasound image memory 7. At this time, one image data is generated by extracting only a corresponding portion from a plurality of image data in accordance with the number of transmission focus stages, and is stored in the ultrasound image memory 7.

(2) Regarding the image data read from the ultrasound image memory 7, a predetermined weighting coefficient Kt that increases as the number of transmission focus stages increases (i = an integer from 0 to M)
The switching control unit 10 takes out the result of multiplication by any one of the multipliers (1) to (-) and inputs it to the adder 12, and the image is read out from the display image memory 14. The data is multiplied by one of the multipliers 9 corresponding to a predetermined weighting coefficient Kj (i=an integer from 0 to M), and the result is taken out by the switching control section 11 and input to the adder 12. The adder 13 converts the two input image data into jJ[
IX and average between frames, and the result is stored in the original 7 dress positions of the display image memory 14.

(m) The video output circuit 15 converts the image data read from the display image memory 14 and subjected to inter-frame averaging corresponding to the number of transmission focus stages into a video signal and inputs it to the CRTI 6 to display an ultrasound diagnostic image.

As described above, the number of transmission focus stages can be increased by displaying on the CRT 16 an ultrasonic tomogram that has been averaged between frames using a weighting coefficient that is inversely proportional to the number of transmission focus stages. Even if the image data collection time increases due to this increase, it becomes possible to display images with a quick response.

FIG. 2 shows a block diagram of another embodiment of the present invention.

This consists of a multiplier 8.9 in FIG. 1, a switching control section 10.11,
Instead of the adder 12, the result after being averaged between frames in advance in association with the address in the ROM 1) is used as data.
M sets corresponding to the weighting coefficients KI or weighting coefficients are written in advance, and one of them is selected. Here, the image data is 8 bits, the number of transmission focus stages is 6 stages, the 8-pit image data of the current frame read from the ultrasound image memory 7 is set to address AO to A7, and the image data is read from the display image memory 14. The 8-focus image data subjected to the inter-frame average up to the previous frame are designated as addresses A8 to A15, and the switching signals for switching from the weighting coefficient Kl to the weighting coefficient & are designated as addresses A16 to A18. Then, the results of inter-frame averaging are applied to data Do to D7.
It is written in advance so that it can be taken out.

FIG. 3 shows an example of weight W for a frame.

Here, the horizontal axis represents the number of frames, where "0" represents the current frame and '1' represents the previous frame.

The vertical axis represents the weight W. This weight W is expressed by the following formula.

W0=K・・・・・・・・・・・・−−・(2) W+
= (I K)K・・・・・・・・・・・・(3)W
z = (I K)” K・・・・・・・・・・(4
)WM = (1-K)' K...-1...-(
5) Here, W8 is the weight for the M previous frame. By multiplying the image data of each frame by the weights shown in (2) to (5) and finding the sum,
Image data obtained by performing inter-frame averaging of the current frame can be obtained. Therefore, as the value of the weighting coefficient increases, the influence of the previous frame's image data on the current frame's image data after inter-frame averaging becomes sharper, as is clear from the curve in Figure 3. Can be made smaller. Taking advantage of this temporality, this embodiment increases the value of the weighting coefficient as the number of transmission focus stages increases, as explained using FIG. 1 and FIG. It is designed to display an image.

FIG. 4 shows an example of the address map of the ROM 1) having the configuration shown in FIG.
One of these is selected by an address signal input from the system controller 2 in FIG. 2 to addresses A16 to A18.

FIG. 5 shows an example of the relationship between the number of transmission focus stages and the frame rate. Here, the frame rate represents the number of frames displayed per second, and one frame time represents the approximate number of frames displayed per second. 0 representing time For example, if the number of transmission focus stages is 1, the frame rate will be 30, and 0
．． The ultrasonic tomographic image is displayed in 033 seconds. Next, if the number of transmission focus steps is set to 6, the frame rate becomes 5, and the ultrasonic tomographic image is displayed in CF, 2 seconds.
According to the embodiment described above, the weighting coefficient K is increased and inter-frame averaging is performed to apparently speed up the above response.

FIG. 6 shows a configuration diagram of another embodiment of the present invention.

This process sequentially stores the received image data in an ultrasound image memory 7-1 consisting of a plurality of ultrasound image memos (1'l+fx) and ultrasound image memory (1'l), and reads images from these. The data is multiplied by a multiplier 8-1 consisting of a multiplier (11 to a multiplier (M)), the sum of these multiplications is obtained by an adder 12-1, and this is averaged between frames and used for display. This sixth image is stored in the image memory 14.
With the configuration shown in the figure, the received data is stored frame by frame in the ultrasound image memo (January 1) or the ultrasound image memory (previously), so the number of frames to be averaged between frames can be arbitrarily selected. In this embodiment, as the number of transmission focus stages increases, the number of frames to be averaged between frames is reduced to speed up the response.In addition, multipliers (1) to (?I) For any one of the coefficients from 1 to the weighting coefficients,
Ultrasonic image memory 11+ or ultrasonic image memory C
Since the image data extracted from M) is multiplied, as the number of transmission focus stages increases, the weighting coefficient K is increased to speed up the response. Furthermore, the above may be used in combination, and as the number of transmission focus stages increases, the number of frames may be reduced and the weighting coefficient may be increased to speed up the response. Instead of M), the ROM is filled in advance with the result of multiplying the weighting coefficient by 1 or the weighting coefficient with A, inputting the image data as an address, and outputting the result as data. It's okay.

In addition, Fig. 6 1, 2.4.5.6.14.15.16,
The configuration is the same as that in FIGS. 1 and 2. In addition, the ultrasound image memory control unit 7-2 stores the image data of the current frame in the ultrasound image memo (January 1) or the ultrasound image memory (1) of the ultrasound image memory (A). At the same time, the stored image data is sequentially transferred from the ultrasound image memory (1) to the ultrasound image memory (2), from the ultrasound image memory (2) to the ultrasound image memory (3), and so on. It is intended to be transferred to

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, according to the present invention, as the number of transmission focus stages increases, the value of the weighting coefficient is increased or
In addition, since a configuration is adopted in which the number of frames in which inter-frame averaging is performed is reduced, it is possible to improve the response of displaying an ultrasonic tomographic image and to reduce random noise.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of one embodiment of the present invention, FIGS. 2 and 6 are block diagrams of other embodiments of the present invention, FIG. 3 is an example of weight W for a frame, and FIG. 4 is an example of a ROM address map. , Fig. 5 is an example of the relationship between the number of transmission focus stages and the frame rate, Fig. 7
The figure is an explanatory diagram of inter-frame averages, and FIG. 8 shows an example of a conventional configuration. In the figure, 1 is the operation panel, 5 is the ultrasound probe, 7.7-1
is an ultrasound image memory, 7-2 is an ultrasound image memory control unit, 8.8-1.9 is a multiplier, 10111 is a switching control unit, 12.12-1 is an adder, and 14 is a display image. Memory, 16 represents CRT, and 1) represents ROM. Tokiyoshi Applicant Fujitsu Limited

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) In an ultrasound diagnostic device that averages and displays image data obtained by transmitting and receiving ultrasound beams between frames, an ultrasound image memory that stores image data of frames obtained by transmitting and receiving ultrasound beams ( 7) and a display image memory (14) that stores image data subjected to inter-frame averaging.
), and a value obtained by multiplying the image data of the current frame read from the ultrasound image memory (7) by a weighting coefficient K, and up to the previous frame read from the display image memory (14). The sum of the values obtained by multiplying the inter-frame averaged image data by a weighting coefficient (1-K) is stored in the display image memory, and the weighting coefficient K is increased in response to an increase in the number of focus steps. An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus characterized in that it is configured to store and display image data generated by the display in the display image memory (14). (2) In ultrasonic diagnostic equipment that averages and displays image data obtained by transmitting and receiving ultrasound beams between frames, multiple ultrasound systems that sequentially store image data of frames obtained by transmitting and receiving ultrasound beams It is equipped with an image memory (7-1) and a display image memory (14) that stores image data subjected to inter-frame averaging, and displays the current information read from the plurality of ultrasound image memories (7-1). A weighting coefficient is multiplied by a weight corresponding to each of the image data of frames up to a predetermined number (M) before the image data of the frame, and the sum is stored in the display image memory (14). , In response to an increase in the number of focus stages, the number of frames is reduced to the predetermined number (M), or the weighting coefficient is increased, or both the number of frames is reduced and the weighting coefficient K is increased. An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus characterized in that the image data is stored in the display image memory (14) and displayed.