JPH0323853A - Ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To preserve an examination result without simultaneously carrying a recording apparatus and a main body by mounting an A/D converter converting the ultrasonic image signal inputted from an ultrasonic probe to a digital signal and a detachable external memory medium. CONSTITUTION:A transmission part 60 and a receiving part 65 respectively performing the transmission and reception of a signal with a probe 3 and an A/D converter 75 converting a receiving signal to a digital signal are mounted and the operating signal from an operating part 40 is inputted. A control part 80 taking in the digital signal to perform the control of the writing and reading thereof with respect to a memory card 100 and also performing the control of the whole if necessary is constituted. An image is once stored in the external memory medium 100 detachable to a main body 10 and, when recording is inputted through the input part 21 of a recording apparatus 200 of a separate room, the image data stored in the external memory medium 100 is read by a control part 220 to be outputted to an output part 230 as an image. Therefore, one recording apparatus can correspond to a plurality of diagnostic apparatuses.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial Field of Application] The present invention relates to an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, and particularly to a portable ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus.

[Conventional technology]

Ultrasonic diagnostic equipment is currently widely used as an imaging diagnostic equipment, and its examination target covers almost the whole body. This is because ultrasound examinations are safe and can be repeated repeatedly without causing pain to patients.

Such ultrasound diagnostic equipment applies an ultrasound probe to the surface of the object to be inspected, transmits ultrasonic signals to the object to be inspected, processes the received echo signals, and creates an image (tomographic image) of the object to be inspected. ), but in order to make the device easier to carry, various proposals have been made to reduce the overall size of the device by using a flat type liquid crystal display device, etc. (Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 6 2-2 2 7 3 2 6, JP 51-136442, JP 6 (1983) (]-
148546).

Ultrasound diagnostic equipment has become widespread and can perform whole-body examinations, so it can be used not only in hospital examination rooms, but also in outpatient clinics, wards, and even outside hospitals. There is a strong desire for a portable jujube-shaped ultrasonic diagnostic device.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

By the way, most of the current ultrasound diagnostic devices are large, stationary types, and even some of the small ones mentioned above have a main body,
Although the display device and display device are portable, the essential recording device is a separate unit, so it is extremely inconvenient to transport the complete set, and the actual location of use is therefore limited. It is.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned conventional problems, and aims to reduce the size of the device so as not to limit the testing location, and to record test results without having to carry the recording device and the main body at the same time. The purpose of the present invention is to provide a portable ultrasonic diagnostic device that can be stored and stored.

[Failure to solve the problem]

To this end, the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus of the present invention includes a Δ/D converter that converts an ultrasonic image signal input from an ultrasonic probe into a digital signal, and a removable external storage medium. It is characterized by comprising a control unit that reads a digital signal from the D converter and stores it in the external storage medium or controls reading of the stored data, and a display unit that displays the digital signal from the control unit. .

[Effect]

The present invention captures the ultrasonic echo signal input from the ultrasonic probe, processes the image, displays the image of the inspected area, and when a clear image is obtained, displays the image data directly or temporarily in a buffer memory. The data can be stored in an external storage medium that can be attached to and removed from the main body, and the image can be displayed as needed. Also, the external storage medium can be inserted into a recording device and the image data can be printed out. The data obtained by testing at a location can be stored in an external storage medium, and then printed out by setting it on a recording device installed at a predetermined location such as an examination room. It becomes possible to obtain inspection data even if the

〔Example〕

Examples will be described below with reference to the drawings.

Fig. 1 is a diagram showing the system configuration of the present invention, Fig. 2 is a perspective view showing the structure of the device main body, Figs. 3 and 4 are block diagrams showing the circuit configuration of the device main body, and Fig. 5 is a recording system. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the circuit configuration of the device.

In the figure, 10 is the main body, 20 is the display section, 30 is the profile, 40
50 is a reproduction section, 50 is a card storage section, 60 is a transmission section, 65 is a reception section, 75 is an A/D conversion section, 80 is a control section, 85 is a buffer memory, 100 is a memory card, 200 is a recording device, 210 220 is an input section, 220 is a control section, and 230 is an output section.

As shown in FIG. 1, the present invention imports inspection data,
The display device main body 10 and the recording device 200 are linked via an external storage medium 100 such as a memory card, and data obtained by inspection at an arbitrary location is transferred to the external storage medium 100.
The examination data is input to the marking device 200 using an external storage medium 100 and printed out.

The device main body 10 has a display section 20 as shown in FIG.
, a simulation section 40 consisting of switches, etc., and a memory card 100
A card storage section 50 into which a card is inserted is provided, and by setting a memory card 100, test data can be stored in the card. and,
In order to improve the +Ii band characteristics, a miniaturized design is applied, and the internal electronic circuit has a structure as shown in FIG. 3 or 4.

In FIG. 3, a transmitting section 60 and a receiving section 65 that transmit and receive signals to and from the probe 30, an A/D converting section 75 that converts the received signal into a digital signal, and a mock signal from the operating section 40 are input. The received signal may be amplified accordingly. A control unit 80 that takes in digital signals and controls writing and reading from the memory card 100, and also performs overall control such as displaying data on the display unit as necessary.
It is constructed from. In order to achieve miniaturization, the image display section 20 is most preferably a flat display such as a liquid crystal display, and the probe 30 is preferably of a mechanical sector type, for example.

In this way, most of the transmitting/receiving sections, A/D conversion section, control section, memory, display section, etc. require known circuit configurations, so by introducing recent surface mounting technology (SMT),
The main body can be made small enough to be easily carried.

The one shown in Fig. 4 differs from the one in Fig. 3 in that the captured image data is temporarily stored in the buffer memory 85, and the data at the moment when a clear image is obtained is stored in the buffer memory 85. The data is stored in the sofa memory 85, and subsequent image input is interrupted so that the image is stored in the buffer memory 8.
The image No. 5 can be displayed on the display unit 20 as a still image.

Furthermore, even if the memory card runs out of capacity during the test and the memory card is being replaced, the data can be temporarily stored in the sofa memory to prevent the test from being interrupted.

As shown in the circuit configuration of FIG. 5, in the recording device 200, when a memory card is set, the image data stored in the memory card 100 is transferred to the input unit 210 by the control unit 220.
, and output as an image to the output unit 230. The image output method is preferably a thermal printing method, a laser method, or the like.

The external storage medium 100 is suitably portable and has a large image storage capacity, most preferably a memory card with integrated semiconductor memory elements or an optical memory card, and a magnetic recording medium such as a magnetic disk (flexible disk) may also be used. good.

Next, an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to the present invention will be explained.

The portable main body 10 and the probe 30 send a tomographic image of the subject to the control section 80 via the A/D conversion section 75 and display it on the display section 20. When the examiner obtains an image (tomographic image) necessary for the examination, the examiner presses the image still switch on the operation unit 40 to capture the image data at that time.

At this time, in the configuration shown in FIG. 3, the control section 80 can store the image data at that moment in the memory card using the operation signal as a trigger.

In addition, in the configuration shown in FIG. 4, the control unit 80 uses the imitation signal as a trigger to store the entire image data at that moment in the buffer memory 85 (this memory 1), and then inputs subsequent images. The image in the buffer memory 85 is displayed as a still image on the display section 20.The contents of the buffer memory are read out by the simulation section or automatically by the control section 80 and transferred to the memory card. and memorized.

Note that it is most desirable to store image data as a still image when a clear image is obtained, but if the capacity of the medium memory is large, moving image data may be stored without being limited to this.

In this way, the external memory 1, the internal medium lO, which can be attached to and detached from the main body 10.
The image is temporarily stored in O, and the recording is performed using the input unit 2 of the recording device 200 shown in FIG. 5, which is placed in a separate room, for example, an examination room.
10, the image data stored in the external storage medium 100 is read out by the control section 220 and output as an image to the output section 230.

Therefore, there is no need to carry the recording device along with the main body of the device, and you can simply take the diagnostic device to the place where the patient is, store test data on a memory card at any location, and set it in the recording device. By doing so, data can be displayed or printed out, and one recording device can be used for a plurality of diagnostic devices.

Note that when the storage capacity of the external storage medium 100 runs out, you can continue recording (storing) images by replacing it with a new external storage medium 100, so when the capacity of the external storage medium 100 becomes full, you can switch to a new medium one by one. By exchanging
In principle, image storage can be performed without limit, and if a bathophore memory is provided, the external storage medium 100 can be stored.
Since the image is stored in the buffer memory even when the image is replaced, the desired image will not be lost.

Writing (recording) of an image to the external storage medium 100 is performed by operating the recording switch in the operation section 40, and the remaining capacity of the medium 100 is monitored by the control section 80. It is possible to notify the inspector using the memory full lamp.

In this way, ultrasonic diagnostic equipment records images as needed, and if an image for the purpose of diagnosis (examination) is obtained, it is normal to leave a record of the image. In the case of integrated devices, images can be recorded by connecting the screen of the display unit 20 to a video printer or the like in a separate unit and printing out the image, or by connecting the video output signal to a VTR device in a separate unit and recording the image on a magnetic tape. They used methods such as recording images to. Therefore, it was necessary to carry a recording device separate from the main body to the inspection site at the same time, which greatly impaired the 1j2 band performance of the system as a whole.
Therefore, testing locations have been limited. In contrast, in the present invention, images are temporarily stored in a removable external storage medium, so there is no need to carry the diagnostic device itself and the recording device at the same time. Diagnosis 11 can be easily performed even in such places.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above, according to the present invention, inspection data is imported,
Since the main body of the display device and the recording device are linked through an external storage medium, there is no need to carry the main body of the diagnostic device and the recording device at the same time as in the past, and the desired image can be stored faithfully. By printing out the images stored in a separate room after the examination using a separate 62M"Jk, the ultrasound diagnostic equipment itself during the examination becomes smaller and lighter, improving portability and ensuring image recording. There are no restrictions on the location of the test, and it can be carried out not only in hospitals such as outpatient diagnostic rooms and wards, but also in the field, in mountain villages, and in ordinary homes outside of hospitals.

Ultrasound image data is stored on a memory card, etc., and the patient is automatically notified when the memory card capacity is saturated.
The subject is aware of the notification and can continue storing the image data by replacing the memory card with a new one, thereby allowing the test to continue. In addition, by providing a buffer memory, image data can be stored in the buffer memory when the memory card is replaced, making it possible to continuously and sequentially store large amounts of still image data in the memory card. Become.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Figure 1 is a diagram showing the system configuration of the present invention, Figure 2 is a perspective view showing the configuration of the device main body, Figures 3 and 4 (and Figure 5 are diagrams showing the circuit configuration of the device main body, It is a diagram showing the structure of the recording device. 10. Main body, 20. Display section, 30. Probe, 40.
. . . Imitation unit, 50 . . . Card storage unit, 80 . . . Control unit, 85 . Applicant Terumo Corporation

Claims (3)

[Claims] (1) Equipped with an A/D converter that converts the ultrasound image signal input from the ultrasound probe into a digital signal, and a removable external storage medium, and further reads the digital signal from the A/D converter. An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus comprising: a control unit that controls reading of data stored in or stored in the external storage medium; and a display unit that displays digital signals from the control unit. (2) The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a buffer memory for temporarily storing the digital signal read from the A/D converter when the digital signal is not stored in the external storage medium. . (3) The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, further comprising a recording device that reads data stored in the removable external storage medium and displays or outputs the data.