JPH0321229A - Ultrasonic diagnosing apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To obtain a good ultrasonic image by employing a control section for modifying the delay time in a sending-receiving circuit according to the curvature information on the ultrasonic sending-receiving surface in an annular ray probe. CONSTITUTION:When a curvature information on an annular ray probe 1 is inputted from an operation panel 6, a delay time suitable for the probe 1 is obtained with a system controller 5 and the delay time is set in a sending- receiving circuit 2. With the delay time setting, sending and receiving of ultrasonic waves are performed via the probe 1, reception echo is processed with a signal processing circuit 3 and an ultrasonic wave image is displayed on a display section 4. Because the displacement of focal point due to error is corrected by the delay time setting considering the manufacturing error in the curvature of the ultrasonic wave sending-receiving surface in the annular ray probe, continuation of ultrasonic wave image at each receiving stage is improved in a receiving dynamic focus, and a good ultrasonic wave image for diagnosis is obtained.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Purpose of the Invention (Field of Industrial Application) The present invention uses an annular array probe to collect ultrasound information of a subject and displays it for diagnosis. Related to ultrasonic diagnostic equipment.

(Prior art) Conventionally, an annular array probe consisting of a plurality of ring-shaped transducers arranged concentrically has been used to collect ultrasound information on a subject and display it for diagnosis. .

Reception focus can be applied by adding a predetermined delay time to the reception echoes obtained by each ring-shaped transducer of this annular array probe, and reception dynamic focus can be applied by sequentially changing the delay time. be able to.

(Problem to be Solved by the Invention) However, there is a manufacturing error in the curvature of the ultrasonic wave transmitting/receiving surface of the annular array probe, which causes a deviation between the set focus point and the actual focus point. FIG. 3 shows the relationship between the set focus point and the actual focus point, and here the standard curvature is R75. As is clear from this characteristic diagram, the focus point set with R75 as the standard curvature actually deviates significantly from the set focus point due to the deviation of the curvature.

That is, if the focus point of the probe 1a with the standard curvature of R75 is at the position indicated by 7 in FIG. This causes the focus point to shift. For this reason, the conventional apparatus has a disadvantage in that during reception dynamic focus, the connection between ultrasound images at each reception interval deteriorates, making it impossible to obtain a good image.

Therefore, the present invention aims to eliminate the above-mentioned drawbacks, and its purpose is to improve the quality of ultrasound images by correcting the focus point shift caused by manufacturing errors in the curvature of the ultrasound transmitting/receiving surface of the annular array probe. The object of the present invention is to provide an ultrasonic diagnostic device that can obtain the following.

[Configuration of the Invention (Means for Solving the Problems) In order to solve the above problems, the present invention comprises a plurality of ring-shaped transducers arranged concentrically, and transmits ultrasonic waves toward a subject. At the same time, the annular array probe receives a portion of the transmitted ultrasound reflected from the subject, and the ultrasound beam is focused in the annular array probe based on a preset delay time, and the ultrasound beam is focused on the subject. In an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus has a transmitting/receiving unit that collects ultrasonic information, and displays the collected ultrasonic information for diagnosis. A control section is provided for correcting the delay time in the transmitting/receiving circuit.

(Function) According to the above structure, the delay time in the transmitting/receiving circuit is corrected based on the curvature information of the ultrasound transmitting/receiving surface of the annular array probe. Therefore, the focus point shift caused by manufacturing errors in the curvature of the ultrasonic transmitting and receiving surfaces is corrected, and a good ultrasonic image can be obtained.

(Example) Hereinafter, the present invention will be specifically explained with reference to Examples.

FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of the invention.

Reference numeral 1 denotes an annular array probe, which is made up of a plurality of ring-shaped vibrators arranged concentrically. Reference numeral 2 denotes a transmitting/receiving circuit, which transmits and receives ultrasonic waves via the annular array probe 1, and includes a transmitting delay section, a pulser, a receiving delay section, a preamplifier, and the like. A signal processing circuit 3 is arranged after the transmitting/receiving circuit 2, and the received echo from the transmitting/receiving circuit 2 is processed by the signal processing circuit 3. Further, a display section 4 is disposed downstream of the signal processing circuit 3, and the processing output of the signal processing circuit 3 is displayed on the display section 4.

Reference numeral 5 denotes a system controller comprising a CPU (central processing unit), and this system controller 5 controls the operation of the entire apparatus of this embodiment.

6 is an operation panel through which various parameter information can be input.

In this embodiment, the curvature information of the ultrasonic wave transmitting/receiving surface of the annular array probe 1 is inputted via the operation panel 6. Based on this curvature information input, the system controller 5 corrects the delay time in the transmitting/receiving circuit 2 to an appropriate value.

Therefore, the control section in the present invention is functionally realized by this system controller 6. Here, the delay time t of the i-th oscillator in the annular array probe 1 is expressed as follows. Note that each vibrator has an equal area, and the ultrasonic wave transmitting/receiving surface has a concave shape.

In the above formula, a is the radius of the maximum aperture, R is the curvature, N is the total number of elements, Fo is the convergence point, C is the speed of sound, M is the division method, x,
is the distance from the center of the probe transmitting/receiving surface to the center of each vibrator.

Therefore, by correcting the delay time by inputting the curvature R and setting the corrected delay time in the delay section in the transmitting/receiving circuit 2,
It becomes possible to modify the delay time in consideration of manufacturing errors in the curvature of the ultrasound transmitting and receiving surface of the probe.

In the above structure, when the curvature information of the annular array probe 1 is inputted from the operation panel 6, the system controller 5 calculates a delay time suitable for the probe 1, and sets it in the transmitting/receiving circuit 2. With this delay time setting, ultrasonic waves are transmitted and received via the probe l, received echoes are processed by the signal processing circuit 3, and an ultrasonic image is displayed on the display unit 4.

In this way, in this embodiment, the focus point shift caused by the error is corrected by setting the delay time in consideration of the manufacturing error in the curvature of the ultrasound transmitting and receiving surface in the annular array probe 1. The connection between ultrasound images at different stages is improved, and ultrasound images that are good for diagnosis can be obtained. Note that, similarly to the above, it is also possible to modify the transmission delay time every time the probe is replaced.

Although one embodiment of the present invention has been described above, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment.

For example, in the connector on each annular array probe side,
A memory may be provided to store curvature information of the ultrasound transmitting/receiving surface of the probe, and the curvature information may be read by the system controller 5 when the connector of the probe is attached to the main body of the apparatus.

In addition, instead of calculating the delay time each time the annular array probe is replaced, several types of delay time pattern information are pre-stored in the device's internal memory in consideration of curvature errors, and each time the probe is replaced, the optimal delay time pattern information is stored in the device's internal memory. The delay time pattern information may be read from the memory and set in the transmitter/receiver circuit 2.

[Effects of the Invention] As detailed above, according to the present invention, a good ultrasound image can be obtained by correcting the focus point shift caused by manufacturing errors in the curvature of the ultrasound transmitting/receiving surface of the annular array probe. It is possible to provide an ultrasonic diagnostic device that can be used.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing one embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 (
FIG. 3 is a characteristic diagram showing the relationship between the set focus and the actual focus point when using an annular array probe. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1... Annular array probe, 2... Transmission/reception circuit, 5... System controller (control unit). 10 (b+

Claims (1)

[Claims] an annular array probe consisting of a plurality of ring-shaped transducers arranged concentrically, which transmits ultrasonic waves toward a subject and receives reflected components of the transmitted ultrasonic waves from the subject; and a transmitter/receiver unit that focuses the ultrasound beam in the annular array probe based on a set delay time and collects ultrasound information of the subject, and displays the collected ultrasound information for diagnosis. An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to the present invention, further comprising a control section that corrects a delay time in the transmitting/receiving circuit based on curvature information of an ultrasonic transmitting/receiving surface of the annular array probe.