JPH03272749A - Ultrasonic diagnosis device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To carry out simultaneous plural sound-ray receiving with a uniform sound- ray density by providing a delay-circuit control means by which the depth of wedge characteristic of separate delay circuits is decreased as the depth in an organism increases to form a receiving sound-ray that is nearly in parallel with a sending sound- ray and is slightly different in its position. CONSTITUTION:A sending sound-ray SL is formed in the direction perpendicular to a probe 2, and the sending sound-ray SL is moved in the progress of time. By means of common delay circuits 5, 6 and separate delay circuits 7a, 7b, 12a, 12b, ultrasonic echo signals are received from two directions slightly different in the angle from that of the sending sound-ray SL. In the separate delay circuits 7a, 7b, a scan controller 9 controls the delay time in such a way that the depth of wedge characteristic becomes large in the shallow part of an organism and that it becomes small in the deep part thereof. Thus, by appropriately changing the focus distance by means of a common delay circuit 6, a receiving sound-ray RL being nearly in parallel with the sending sound-ray SL is formed. And, the synthesized sound-ray TL of the sending sound-ray SL and the receiving sound-ray RL becomes nearly parallel in the vicinity of the sending sound-ray SL, and becomes parallel, and uniform in its density in the tomographic image.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Field of Application] This invention relates to an ultrasonic diagnostic device, and more specifically,
This invention relates to improving the non-uniformity of sound ray density in an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus that receives multiple sound rays simultaneously.

[Prior Art] FIG. 4 is a block diagram of five conventional ultrasonic diagnostic apparatuses capable of simultaneously receiving two sound rays.

In this ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus 5, the scan controller 59. Transmission delay circuit 53. The driver 4 and the probe 2 form a transmission sound line SL perpendicular to the probe 2, as shown by the broken line in FIG. 5, and each time the time changes, the transmission sound line SL is move.

Common delay circuits 55 and 56, individual delay circuits 57a and 57b with wedge-shaped characteristics, and individual delay circuit 6
2a and 62b, as shown in FIG. 5, simultaneously form two receiving sound rays RL whose positions differ from the transmitting sound ray SL by an angle θ.

The common delay circuit 56 is a variable delay circuit, and can track the depth and change the focus distance by the scan controller 59.

The received data of the two received sound rays R and L obtained at the same time are as follows:
processed by signal processing circuits 58a and 58b, respectively;
Sent to DSC60.

The DSC 60 forms an image based on the received data and displays the tomographic image on the CRT II.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] In the conventional ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus 51 described above, the transmission sound ray SL
As shown in FIG. 5, the total sound ray TL, which combines the sound ray SL and the reception sound ray RL, is located between the transmission sound ray SL and the reception sound ray RL, and has a direction different from the transmission sound ray SL by an angle θ/2. have sex.

Therefore, when considering the entire tomographic image, as shown in FIG. 6, the density of the total sound rays TL becomes non-uniform, resulting in a problem that uniform resolution cannot be obtained.

Furthermore, if this non-uniformity of the total sound ray density is not taken into consideration, distortion will occur in the image, but signal processing that takes this into consideration has the problem of being extremely complicated.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus that can simultaneously receive multiple sound rays with uniform sound ray density.

[Means for Solving the Problems] The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus of the present invention uses a common delay circuit and individual delay circuits having wedge-shaped characteristics to transmit a plurality of receiving sound rays at slightly different positions from a transmitting ultrasound ray. In ultrasonic diagnostic equipment that simultaneously receives multiple sound rays, the depth of the wedge-shaped characteristic of each delay circuit is made smaller as it gets deeper into the body, so that the depth of the wedge-shaped characteristic of each delay circuit is made smaller as it gets deeper into the body, so that it is approximately parallel to the ultrasound transmission sound ray and slightly positioned. The configuration is characterized in that it includes a delay circuit control means for forming different received sound rays.

[Function] In the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus of the present invention, the delay circuit control means:
The depth of the wedge-shaped characteristic of each individual delay circuit is controlled so that it becomes smaller as it gets deeper into the body.

Therefore, the steering angle of the received sound ray is large in the shallow part of the body and small in the deep part of the body, so that the received sound ray can be formed substantially parallel to the transmitted sound ray.

Therefore, the total sound rays become substantially parallel to each other, and the sound ray density can be made uniform.

[Example] Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in more detail based on the example shown in the drawings. Note that this invention is not limited to this.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an ultrasonic diagnostic bag full according to an embodiment of the present invention.

In this ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus 1, a scan controller 9. Transmission delay circuit 3. The driver 4 and the probe 2 cause the probe 2 to move as shown by the broken line in FIG. 2(b).
A transmission sound R5L is formed in a direction perpendicular to , and this transmission sound ray SL is moved depending on the time.

By the common delay circuits 5 and 6, 1 individual delay circuit 7a and 7b, and 1 individual delay circuit 12a and 12b,
Transmission sound! Ultrasonic echo signals are received from two directions with slightly different angles from SL.

The common delay circuit 6 is a variable delay circuit, and the scan controller 9 controls the delay time so that the focus distance increases as the depth of the body increases.

The individual delay circuits 7a and 7b are also variable delay circuits, and as shown in FIG. controls the delay time. Therefore,
As shown in FIG. 2(b), the steering angle in the receiving direction is large (θs) in the shallow part of the body and small (θd) in the deep part of the body.

Thus, by appropriately changing the focus distance of the common delay circuit 6, it is possible to form a received sound ray RL that is substantially parallel to the transmitted sound j#sL.

Then, the total sound ray TL, which is a combination of the transmitted sound ISL and the received sound ray RL, is approximately parallel to the transmitted sound ray SL, and the third
As shown in the figure, the total sounds $117L in the tomographic image are parallel to each other and have uniform density.

The signal processing circuits 8a and 8b perform signal processing on the reception sound rays RL on both sides of the transmission sound ray SL, respectively, and perform DSC
Output to IO.

DSCIO images the obtained data and converts it to CRTII.
Display the image on.

As understood from the above explanation, this ultrasonic diagnostic bag W
According to No. 1, since the sound ray density becomes uniform, the resolution becomes uniform. Furthermore, the image processing becomes simple and does not cause image distortion.

Other embodiments include those in which the present invention is applied to other scanning methods (for example, convex scanning) in which the transmission sound ray SL is moved.

[Effects of the Invention] According to the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus of the present invention, the uniformity of sound ray density can be improved and uniform resolution can be obtained. Further, signal processing becomes simple and image distortion does not occur.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2(a) is an explanatory diagram showing changes in wedge-shaped characteristics depending on depth, and FIG. 2(b) is an illustration of the depth of the steering angle. FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing the distribution of sound rays according to the present invention. FIG. 4 is a block diagram of an example of a conventional ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus. FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram of the steering angle in the device, and FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing the distribution of sound rays in the conventional device shown in FIG. (Explanation of symbols) 1...Ultrasonic diagnostic device 2...Probe 5...Common reception delay circuit (fixed) 6...Common reception delay circuit (variable) 7a, 7b・...Individual reception delay circuit (variable) with wedge-shaped characteristics 12a, 12b...Individual reception delay circuit (fixed) 9
... Scan controller SL ... Transmission sound ray RL ... Reception sound ray TL ... Total sound ray θS, θd ... Steering angle.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A common delay circuit and individual delay circuits having wedge-shaped characteristics form a plurality of receiving sound rays at slightly different positions from the transmitting ultrasound ray, thereby simultaneously receiving a plurality of sound rays. In ultrasonic diagnostic equipment, delay circuit control reduces the depth of the wedge-shaped characteristic of each delay circuit as it gets deeper into the body, forming a receiving sound ray that is approximately parallel to the ultrasound transmitting sound ray but at a slightly different position. An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus characterized by comprising means.