JPH0477661A - Echo receiving gain setting system for ultrasonic measuring apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To achieve a higher setting workability in measuring conditions by a method wherein brightness is adjusted to produce an optimum image and a gain for obtaining the measuring data corresponding to the variation of the brightness for producing the optimum image is determined from the variation of the brightness. CONSTITUTION:When 'brightness' is selected in a work selection menu, a display data increase/decrease program 9c is started. An operator increases or decreases a brightness value of a display data by a proper operation to set a brightness of a measuring video on a display 12 to the optimum value. According to the results, a new gain is calculated by a gain setting program 9d corresponding to the variation of the brightness of the display data to be written into a measuring condition memory area 9a. Then, the gain is set on a receiver of an ultrasonic flaw detector 4. This eliminates the adjustment of gains otherwise required by the repetition of measurements thereby improving setting workability of measuring conditions.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an echo reception gain setting method for an ultrasonic measuring device, and more specifically, it is possible to easily set the gain of the receiver of an ultrasonic flaw detector to a gain that provides an appropriate peak value. The present invention relates to an ultrasonic image inspection device that can perform

[Prior Art] An ultrasonic image inspection device controls a scanning device that can move a focused probe in X, Y, and Z directions to display longitudinal and transverse cross-sectional images at a predetermined position inside a subject on a screen. In this case, in order to obtain the desired image, it is necessary to set appropriate measurement conditions and perform ultrasound measurement. The measurement conditions include the settings of the scanning device (scanning stroke and pitch), the settings of the transmitter/receiver circuit of the ultrasonic flaw detection section (gain and gate position), and the display type settings of the imaging device (binary display, gray scale display, color display). ) etc.

Conventionally, when setting each measurement condition, the internal state is visualized through preliminary scanning measurements, and the measurement conditions are determined from the image obtained so that the image is most easily seen for the range to be investigated. There is. For example, the length of each side (vertical and horizontal) of the range to be investigated can be determined by reading from a scale displayed in the video or by counting the number of pixels.

This is because the measurement image is displayed in such a manner that the pixel pitch of the measurement image is equal to the scanning pitch. Therefore, regarding the positional relationship in the whole image of the range to be investigated, the amount of deviation from the center position of the whole image can be found in the same way, and thereby the actual measurement position can be specified.

On the other hand, in order to make the image brightness and display colors easier to see, it is somewhat possible to directly adjust the brightness of the display. However, in order to obtain an optimal measurement output and a better display image, the amplification degree (gain) of the receiving circuit (receiver) on the ultrasonic flaw detector side must be adjusted. If the image is too bright, the gain is lowered, and if the image is too dark, the gain is increased appropriately. Since this gain adjustment is related to the acquisition conditions of measurement data, it has conventionally been determined based on experience by an operator who is familiar with measurement.

[Problem to be Solved] In this way, conventionally, an operator first obtains a -way image, then selects the field of view, that is, the position and range within the image, and uses that value as the control value for the scanning mechanism. In addition, the gain of the receiver on the ultrasonic flaw detector side is set in order to display an appropriate measurement image. In this case, the measurement position and range will hardly change because the location is specified, but the brightness is directly related to the internal state of the object, so the image is recalculated using new settings and the brightness of the image is as expected. If it is not as expected, repeat the same adjustment until you are satisfied.

Therefore, this gain adjustment work has the drawback of being time-consuming. Furthermore, in the case of an operator who is not familiar with measurement, it is difficult to obtain an image based on appropriate measurement data, and the measurement is repeated many times.

The purpose of the present invention is to solve the problems of the prior art, and to provide an ultrasonic image that allows the gain of the receiver of an ultrasonic flaw detector to be easily set to a gain that allows an appropriate peak value to be obtained. The purpose is to provide inspection equipment.

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to achieve such an object, the configuration of the ultrasonic image inspection apparatus of the present invention is such that an image processing device increases or decreases the brightness value of display data according to external control. The display includes a brightness value increase/decrease means, and a gain setting means for increasing/decreasing the gain of the receiver in response to the increase/decrease of the brightness value set by the brightness value increase/decrease means. The measurement image displayed according to the data is selected in an optimal display state.

[Operation] In this way, the brightness is adjusted to obtain an optimal image, and the gain for obtaining measurement data corresponding to the amount of change in brightness up to the optimal image is determined from the amount of change in brightness and set in the receiver. Therefore, the distribution of the measured values of the measured data regarding the peak value obtained by the newly set gain falls within an appropriate range, resulting in an optimal gain that provides a wide dynamic range.

As a result, gain adjustment by repeated measurements is no longer necessary, and workability in setting measurement conditions can be improved.

Moreover, even an operator who is not familiar with measurement can easily obtain an appropriate image. Furthermore, since the brightness correction value is fed back to the gain, it is possible to prevent the gain from becoming too small and resulting in a decrease in resolution, which would occur if the image was made easier to see by simply adjusting the brightness.

[Embodiment] Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an ultrasonic image inspection apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of the relationship between brightness and peak value, and between peak value and gain.

In FIG. 1, 20 is an ultrasonic image inspection apparatus, and 1 is its scanning mechanism having an XYZ movement mechanism.

Reference numeral 3 denotes a focus type probe, which is attached to the scanning mechanism 1 and performs t-scanning in the X direction with respect to the subject 16.
Perform sub-scanning in the direction or X direction.

The ultrasonic image inspection apparatus 20 obtains an A scope image at each measurement point from this XY constant scanning and XZ constant scanning, and based on this, the measurement data of the B scope image and the ? I
It has a function of generating display data of tll constant data and color data, and displaying a B scope image and a C scope image.

It is assumed that the object 16 has a boundary part, such as a joint surface, which is to be inspected at a certain depth from the surface.

The scanning mechanism 1 is controlled by a scan control bag FIj, 2, and the scan control device 2 is controlled by an image processing device 10 via an interface 7.

The probe 3 is connected to an ultrasonic flaw detector "a4", and the ultrasonic flaw detector 4 is composed of a pulser/receiver, etc., and is connected to the probe 3 from the transmitting terminal at a predetermined measurement cycle in accordance with a control signal from the image processing device 10. A pulse signal is sent, and an echo reception signal from the probe 3 obtained in response to the generation of the pulse signal is received at the reception terminal, amplified, further detected, and sent to the peak detection circuit 5.

The peak detection circuit 5 applies a gate to a predetermined position from the detected echo reception signal to detect the peak value of a necessary echo portion. It outputs it to the A/D conversion circuit 6. The gate position is determined by the image processing device 10 via the interface 7.
Receives it as a setting signal from. In response to this setting signal, the peak detection circuit 5 detects, for example, a surface echo, counts time, and generates a gate signal of a predetermined width. The circuit for that purpose is built in here.

The A/D conversion circuit 6 converts the peak value analog signal obtained in response to the control signal from the image processing device 10 into, for example,
It is converted into a digital value in 8 bits and 256 steps, and sent to the bus 13 as an input data value that can be processed by the microprocessor (MPU) 8 of the image processing device 10.

As a result, a peak value is detected by the peak detection circuit 5 for each measurement point of the object 16 scanned in the X direction with the probe 3, and the peak value is passed to the MPU 8. The MPU 8 sequentially stores data of these peak values in the memory 9 corresponding to each measurement point.

In addition to the MPU 8, the bus 13 is connected to an operation panel (not shown), a memory 9 storing various programs and data, an image memory 111, a display 12, and the like.

The display 12 includes a touch screen 14.
is attached to the screen. This touch screen 14 connects to the bus 1 via a touch screen interface 15.
3, and the touch position is connected to MP by interrupt processing.
Read into U8. The memory 9 also stores a δ11 constant condition area 9a, a video enlargement program 9b, a display data value increase/decrease program 9CN, a gain setting program 9d1, a display processing program, and the like.

Furthermore, on the display 12, "increase and decrease brightness" is displayed.
Work items (or patterns) for “bright display” and “dark display”
is displayed, and when you touch that part on the touch screen 14, the value of the brightness display data stored in the image memory 11 increases or decreases at a predetermined rate. As shown in FIG. 2(a), this luminance display data has a -order functional relationship with the peak value (as measured data). Therefore, an increase or decrease in this display data corresponds to an increase or decrease in the peak value (value of measurement data).

Here, the pixels of the display screen of the display 12 are 640X
Assuming 400 dots, the image memory 11 has a storage area in which display data (luminance data of 8 bits and 256 gradations) is stored for each pixel, and the pixels of the display 12 correspond to the measurement positions. It is a so-called bitmap type display. Of this bitmap, the area where the display data of the ultrasound measurement image is actually stored is usually a smaller area, for example, set to about 480 x 320 dots, and the area outside of this area is covered by window processing. Various work orders [ ] are displayed.

The measurement condition area 9a stores the set values themselves (hereinafter referred to as parameters, etc.) such as parameters and gains that determine various measurement conditions set when performing measurements.

The video enlargement program 9b generates and inserts complementary data that takes a value between two pieces of display data according to a specified enlargement ratio, generates enlarged display data in which the display data is increased, and displays it. is stored at a predetermined address in the image memory 11 and processed for enlarged display.

Note that the parameters etc. include the set gain value for the ultrasonic flaw detector 4 and the voltage applied to the probe 3, as well as the gate generation timing and the gate I/width regarding the ultrasonic flaw detection. In addition, regarding scanning, the x, y, z standard value of the image center position during scanning measurement, and the
These include each stroke and measurement pitch of Y-plane scanning. The display information includes video display colors and brightness conversion parameters. In addition to these, there are also measurement settings for each component of each other device.

The display data value increase/decrease program 9C is executed by an input interrupt from the touch screen 14 obtained via the touch screen interface 15. The MPU 8 receives a coordinate input signal from the touch screen 14 by executing this program, and determines whether it is a "bright display" item [l instruction or a "dark display" item instruction. In the case of the "bright display" item instruction, the brightness value of each display data in the image memory 11 is increased by several percent to 10% at regular time intervals, for example, if it continues to be touched. . In addition, in the case of the "dark display" item instruction, the brightness value of each display data in the image memory 11 is similarly decreased at a rate of several to 10% at fixed time intervals while it is being touched. let

As a result, the brightness on the screen of display 12 increases or decreases accordingly.

The operator ends this brightness increasing/decreasing operation when the optimal brightness is displayed. At this time, the image memory 11
Each brightness value of the display data corresponds to a brightness value in a state where an optimal peak value is obtained.

When such brightness operation is completed (when the input interrupt signal from the touch screen 14 disappears), this program process changes the gain value written in the measurement condition area 9a based on the increase/decrease amount to that increase/decrease amount. Change 3 to one that increases or decreases by the corresponding amount. As shown in FIG. 2(b), the relationship between the peak value and the gain of the receiver of the ultrasonic flaw detector 4 can be made into a -order functional relationship when a linear amplifier is used. Therefore, the gain can be simply determined as the amount corresponding to the increase/decrease in the peak value from the increase/decrease in luminance. Therefore, by rewriting the gain value to a value that increases or decreases in accordance with the function shown in FIG. 2(b), it is possible to set a gain that provides a peak value corresponding to the optimum brightness state. Note that after the gain is rewritten, this program next starts the gain setting program 9d.

The gain setting program 9d is activated by the display data value increase/decrease program 9c and generates a control value for setting the lever of the ultrasonic flaw detector 4 to the gain based on the rewritten gain written in the measurement condition area 9a. and add it to the ultrasonic flaw detector 4.

Next, the overall operation of setting measurement conditions including gain will be explained. First, ultrasonic measurement is performed on the subject under an appropriate gain.

At this time, the measurement data obtained by detecting the peak value of the echo reception signal is developed into 256-gradation display data according to the value, and this is stored in the address corresponding to each measurement point in the image memory 11. Ru. Note that the brightness of the display 12 at this time is set to a preset standard brightness state. Therefore, a measurement image corresponding to the peak value measured in this brightness state is displayed on the display 12.

Note that at this time, a work menu is displayed next to the measurement image together with the measurement image by window processing. This work menu includes an item called "luminance". At this time, the coordinates of each pixel in the measurement image correspond to the position coordinates of each measurement point in the scanning device, and the measurement conditions including the corresponding gain are stored in the measurement condition area 9a. □ Furthermore, the display coordinate position of the work item can also be obtained corresponding to the pixel.

Therefore, the brightness may be changed in this display state, but normally the first measurement image has a wide display range and is a reduced image that does not obscure the part to be observed.

In addition to the gain, in ultrasonic measurements, other i'fl
It is also necessary to set certain conditions at the same time. Then, touch and select the item "Enlarge" from the work selection menu.

Thereby, the MPU 8 receives the input interruption from the touch screen 14, starts and executes the video enlargement program 9b.

Next, when the operator touches a desired video part on the touch screen 14, the coordinates of the pixel directly below the touch screen 14 are inputted to the MPU 8 via the touch screen interface 15. At this time, by executing the video enlargement program 9b, the MPU 8
Coordinate transformation is performed so that the pixel data of the input pixel coordinates, that is, the display data, is centered on the image, and the display data generated from the original data measured within the dot range of the measurement image display area is converted to the original image row. The images are arranged in the image memory 11 at twice the interval for each column. Furthermore, as the display data to be placed between the pixels of the display data arranged twice, for example, data of two points to fill in the space between the data of two adjacent points is obtained by linear approximation (
Alternatively, the average value of the two points can be used to supplement two points) and then inserted as interpolated data. As a result, display data of a four times enlarged image is generated. That is image memory 11
will be further memorized. As a result, a quadrupled partial measurement image is displayed on the display 12, centering on the designated portion. In addition, the magnification rate is here to simplify the calculation,
One can be selected from 4, 9, 16...times.

Now, in the above enlarged display state, a new measurement pitch and measurement range for the scanning device can be obtained by establishing a correspondence between the coordinates of each enlarged pixel and the position coordinates of the scanning device. Therefore, the measurement pitch and measurement range are calculated from the center coordinates and the range of the displayed image in the enlarged image, and the corresponding data stored in the measurement condition storage area 9a is rewritten.

By doing so, in the next measurement, this enlarged image can be obtained as a normal measurement image. That is, this means that the measurement range and measurement pitch are set.

As described above, the positional coordinates of the scanning device, which is the center position of the enlarged image, the image display range, and the display pitch are determined. In this state, the next step is to adjust the brightness.

This is started by selecting the item "luminance" from the work selection menu displayed in the outer frame of the displayed image. When this is selected, the work menu will be “
``L'' is displayed in the ``bright display'' and ``dark display'' sections.
The items ``bright display'' and ``dark display'' may be displayed outside the margin using key patterns.

At this time, the MPU 8 executes the display data value increase/decrease program 9.
Start and run c. Therefore, the operator appropriately operates the "bright display" or "dark display" pattern or these items in the work menu to increase or decrease the brightness value of the display data to increase the brightness of the displayed image. Or lower it.

When the brightness of the measurement image on the display 12 is set to the optimum value in this way, a new gain is calculated by the gain setting program 9d corresponding to the amount of increase/decrease in the brightness of the display data, and the new gain is calculated by the gain setting program 9d. Condition storage area 9
written to a. Then, the gain is set in the receiver of the ultrasonic flaw detector 4.

In addition, in order to obtain an image with optimal brightness in the above cases, for multi-gradation display data, colors are assigned to correspond to the gradations, a color display measurement image is displayed, and the color display state is changed to obtain the optimal brightness. It is also possible to select a state.

In this way, it is possible to set the optimal measurement conditions, including gain, by simply performing - number of scan measurements and adjusting the visual field and brightness by interacting with the screen displaying the measurement image. . In other words, the operator can use the man-machine interface to set measurement conditions for obtaining a measurement image as the final result to be obtained in ultrasound image measurement from measurement images obtained under arbitrarily set measurement conditions. What's more, adjustments can be made in a short time, and when the adjustment is finished, is it final? 11+ It is the time when the fixed conditions are set.

As explained above, in the embodiment, the brightness on the display screen is adjusted by increasing or decreasing the brightness value of the display data, but the display data is not corrected for the first measurement image obtained. Alternatively, by adjusting the brightness of the display 7 to obtain a desired image, the amount of change corresponding to the adjusted brightness may be obtained from the standard brightness or the initially set brightness.

In this case, by converting it to gain and returning it to the gain of the receiver of the ultrasonic flaw detector, and increasing or decreasing the gain in accordance with the brightness adjustment bone, an appropriate measurement image can be obtained in the standard brightness state or the initial brightness state. is obtained. This can be done, for example, by changing the voltage value for adjusting the brightness when adjusting the brightness on the screen of the display using a brightness adjustment knob or the like.

In such a case, the adjustment between brightness and gain can be calculated as a ratio, and by converting the amount of change in brightness into gain, it is possible to set the gain to obtain the optimal peak value. Note that it may be necessary to calculate the gain by multiplying the ratio by a correction constant or the like in order to take correspondence between the brightness adjustment system and the gain system.

Furthermore, instead of increasing or decreasing the brightness value of display data, directly measured data may be increased or decreased.

[Effects of the Invention] As can be understood from the above explanation, in this invention, the amount of change in brightness for obtaining an optimal image is obtained by adjusting the brightness to obtain an optimal image, and thereby Since it is possible to find the increase/decrease amount to obtain the optimal peak value for the value, by converting it to the gain of the receiver and setting it, the distribution of the measurement data obtained as the peak value will be within the appropriate range, and the dynamic range will be adjusted. can be taken over a wide range, so the optimum gain has been set.

As a result, gain adjustment by repeated measurements is no longer necessary, and workability in setting measurement conditions can be improved.

Moreover, even an operator who is not familiar with measurement can easily obtain an appropriate image. Furthermore, since the brightness correction value is fed back to the gain, it is possible to prevent the gain from becoming too small and the resolution to deteriorate, which would occur if the image was made easier to see by simply adjusting the brightness.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an ultrasonic image inspection apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of the relationship between brightness and peak value, and between peak value and gain. 1... Scanning mechanism, 2... Scan control device, 3...
・Probe, 4... Ultrasonic flaw detector, 5... Echo width detection circuit, 6... Time measurement circuit, 7... Interface, 8... Microprocessor (MPU), 9.
...Memory, 9a...Measurement condition area, 9b...Video enlargement program, 9c...Display data value increase/decrease program, 9d...Gain setting program, 10...Image processing device, 11... Image memory, 12
...Display, 13...Bath, 14...Touch screen, 15...Touch screen interface, 16...141 body, 20...Ultrasonic measuring device. Patent applicant: Hitachi Construction Machinery Co., Ltd.

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) A receiver that receives an ultrasonic echo reception signal and amplifies or attenuates it, a peak value detection circuit that detects the peak value in the echo reception signal that receives the output from this receiver, and detection by this peak value detection circuit. and an image processing device that generates display data of a brightness value according to a peak value of the measured value and displays a measurement image on a display screen, the image processing device comprising:
a brightness value increase/decrease means for increasing/decreasing the brightness value of the display data according to external control; and a gain for increasing/decreasing the gain of the receiver in response to the increase/decrease in the brightness value set by the brightness value increase/decrease means. an echo reception gain setting method for an ultrasonic measuring apparatus, characterized in that the measurement image displayed is selected in an optimum display state according to the display data set to be increased or decreased by the brightness value increase/decrease means. . (2) The brightness value increase/decrease means directly increases/decreases the display brightness of the display instead of increasing/decreasing the brightness value of the display data, and the gain is increased/decreased in accordance with the increase/decrease setting. An echo reception gain setting method for an ultrasonic measuring device according to claim 1, characterized in that: (3) a receiver that receives an ultrasonic echo reception signal and amplifies or attenuates it; a peak value detection circuit that detects a peak value in the echo reception signal from the output from the receiver; An ultrasonic measurement device comprising an image processing device that sequentially collects peak values as measurement data, generates display data of brightness values according to the values of the measurement data, and displays a measurement image on a display screen, The image processing device includes a measurement value increase/decrease means for increasing/decreasing the value of the measurement data in accordance with external control, and a measurement value increase/decrease means for increasing/decreasing the value of the measurement data according to control from the outside, and the receiver in response to the increase/decrease in the value of the measurement data set by the measurement value increase/decrease means. and a gain setting means for increasing or decreasing the gain of the measuring device, wherein the measurement image displayed is selected to be in an optimum display state according to the value of the measurement data set to be increased or decreased by the measurement value increase or decrease means. Echo reception gain setting method for sonic measurement equipment.