JPH0549635A - Ultrasonic diagnostic device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To realize a cinestore function without allowing the memory capacity of a host CPU to be insufficient, and also, to effectively utilize a DSC RAM by providing a means for saving line drawing/character information in an area determined in advance in the DSC RAM at the time of executing cinestore. CONSTITUTION:An area determined in advance in a DSC RAM 1 is constituted so that it can be used as a line drawing/character information memory for saving line drawing/character information at the time of cinestore. A cinememory and the line drawing/character information memory are divided into plural pieces of page, and when the cinestore is executed, a host CPU 7 executes write to the page concerned of the line drawing/character information memory. On the other hand, when the saved display contents are redisplayed by the cinestore, the DSC 1 and the host CPU 7 of the cinememory read out the contents of each page concerned of the line drawing/character information memory. Both page contents are synthesized and redisplayed.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus having a cine-store function capable of storing a diagnostic image desired to be stored and kept while observing an ultrasonic diagnostic image using a cine loop. ..

[0002] In the medical field, various devices for diagnosing injuries such as internal organs that cannot be seen from the front,
The device is in use. One of such devices is an ultrasonic diagnostic device. With this device, the inside of the body can be seen relatively clearly by a simple operation. Also, it is introduced in many medical institutions because it does not cause pain to patients.

[0003]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining display contents of an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus. In FIG. 4, each function from the input of the ultrasonic data sent in real time to the DSC RAM 10 to the display of the ultrasonic diagnostic image on the CRT display unit 13 is shown as a block diagram. The ultrasonic data is stored in the cine memory area in the DSC RAM 10 for each image frame. This ultrasonic data is subjected to address conversion in the address conversion unit 11, and T
It is written in the V memory 12. The ultrasonic diagnostic image written in the TV memory 12 is displayed on the CRT display unit 13.

Apart from the ultrasonic diagnostic image, many line drawing / character information such as probe frequency, diagnostic depth, and markers are sent from the host CPU 14 to the CRT display unit 13. Therefore, the CRT display unit 13 displays the line drawing / character information together with the ultrasonic diagnostic image. The area of the cine memory shown in FIG. 4 is an example divided into 64 pages. One page can store ultrasonic data corresponding to the display content of one screen. Ultrasonic diagnostic equipment
Since about 30 sheets of data are output per second, each page content of the cine memory is updated with new ultrasonic data after about 2 seconds have passed.

FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining the cine loop function. Freezing the ultrasonic data causes the host CP
DSC RAM when frozen by the control of U20
Data of an arbitrary page stored in the area of the cine memory in 15 can be read and displayed. This is the cine loop function. The selection unit 16 is a host CP
Under the control of U20, the data of any page of the cine memory is read. This data is address-converted in the address converter 17 and written in the TV memory 18. The ultrasonic diagnostic image written in the TV memory is CR along with the line drawing / character information output by the host CPU 20.
It is displayed on the T display unit 19.

FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining a conventional cine store. When observing an ultrasonic diagnostic image using the cine loop function, if it is desired to store and retain any page contents in the cine memory area in the DSC RAM 21, the page can be moved to the store area. After that, even if ultrasonic data is input, the page content is retained. This function is the cine store function. The cinestored data can be displayed again on the CRT display unit 25 when the ultrasonic data is frozen.

In FIG. 6, the contents of "page 2" are cinestored. The remaining 63 excluding this "Page 2"
Ultrasonic data can be written on one page.
On the other hand, the line drawing / character information to be displayed together with the contents of “page 2” is stored in the CPU RAM 27.
When the display contents saved by the cine store are to be displayed again, the ultrasonic data is frozen and the contents of "Page 2" are read from the cine memory, and the CPU RAM
The corresponding line drawing / character information is also read from 27.
The contents of "page 2" are converted in address by the address conversion unit 23 and written in the TV memory 23. This data is sent to the CRT display unit 25 together with the line drawing / character information output by the host CPU 26, and the display content saved by the cine store is displayed again.

[0008]

When the cine store is performed, the page storing the data to be saved is moved to the store area in the cine memory, and thereafter, this page becomes the input disabled state. The ultrasonic data input thereafter is written in another page of the cine memory. Therefore, as far as the cine memory is concerned, there is no need to expand the area even if the cine store is repeated many times.

However, in terms of CPU RAM,
Each time the cinestore is performed, the area for storing the line drawing / character information must be expanded. The line drawing / character information corresponding to one screen has a size of about 50 to 100 bytes. That is, each time you cinestore, C
The free area of PU RAM will decrease significantly. Therefore, if the cine store is repeated, there is a problem that the memory capacity becomes insufficient. CP for cine store
Adding U RAM is very uneconomical.

In view of such conventional problems, the present invention provides an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus having a cine store function,
The purpose of the present invention is to realize the cine-store function without making the memory capacity of the host CPU insufficient and to effectively utilize the DSC RAM.

[0011]

According to the invention, the above objects are achieved by the means recited in the claims. That is, the present invention provides a D that stores ultrasonic data.
SC RAM and DS for reading ultrasonic data from the DSC RAM and outputting image data representing an ultrasonic tomographic image
C, a host CPU that outputs line drawing / character information including a probe frequency, a diagnostic depth, and a marker, a CRT display unit that displays the image data and the line drawing / character information on the same screen, and a DSC RAM.
In an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus having a cine-store function for storing the data corresponding to the display contents of one screen after freezing the ultrasonic data input to the DSC RAM, the line drawing / character information is stored in the DSC RAM.
The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus is provided with means for storing it in a predetermined area inside.

[0012]

The number of lines of the ultrasonic beam projected onto the subject at a certain angle is 120 in a known example. For the ultrasonic beam, image data of 512 points in the traveling direction can be obtained. Therefore, the ultrasonic data corresponding to the display content for one screen has a size of 60 kilobytes. However, the image data of one point is 8
It has a bit of information. If the cine memory has 64 pages, an area of about 3.8 megabytes is required. However, a general RAM has a power of two. In other words, if you configure a DSC RAM that can secure an area of approximately 3.8 megabytes for cine memory,
The capacity will eventually be 4 megabytes.

As described above, there is an unused area in the DSC RAM, and an area of 160 kilobytes is left in the above example. On the other hand, the area for storing line drawing / character information for one screen at the time of cine store is 100
A bite is enough. Even if the line drawing / character information for 64 screens is cinestored, it is sufficient that the total is 640 bytes, and this size is considerably smaller than the remaining area of 160 kilobytes in the DSC RAM.

FIG. 1 illustrates the principle of the present invention. As mentioned above, the line drawing / character information is
Since all can be saved in the DSC RAM1, the present invention secures an area for storing the line drawing / character information in the DSC RAM1. When the cine store is performed, the host CPU 7 writes the line drawing / character information in the area. The address conversion unit 4 performs address conversion and writes to the TV memory 5.
The contents are displayed on the CRT display unit 6 together with the line drawing / character information.

[0015]

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of a DSC RAM according to the present invention. The DSC RAM shown in FIG. 2 has a capacity of 4 megabytes, of which an area of approximately 3.8 megabytes can be used as a cine memory.
The remaining area of 160 kilobytes is configured to be used as a line drawing / character information memory for storing line drawing / character information at the time of cine-store. The cine memory is a DSC (Digital Scan Converter).
ter) for exclusive access. One line drawing / character information memory is open to the outside and can be directly accessed from the host CPU.

The cine memory and the line drawing / character information memory are each divided into 64 pages. When the cine store is performed, the host CPU writes to the corresponding page of the line drawing / character information memory. On the other hand, when the display contents saved by the cinestore are displayed again, the DSC reads the corresponding page contents of the cine memory, and the host CPU reads the corresponding page contents of the line drawing / character information memory. Both page contents will be combined and re-displayed.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing another configuration example of the DSC RAM according to the present invention. DSC RAM shown in FIG.
Has a capacity of 4 megabytes similar to that shown in FIG. The DSC RAM of FIG. 3 is divided into 64 pages. Each page is divided into an area serving as a cine memory and an area serving as a line drawing / character information memory. When cine store, the host CPU8
The line drawing / character information to be saved is sent to the DSC 9. D
SC9 writes to the area of the line drawing / character information memory in the corresponding page of the DSC RAM.

On the other hand, when the display contents saved by the cine store are to be displayed again, the DSC 9 reads all the corresponding page contents under the control of the host CPU 8. Thus, by adopting the configuration shown in FIG.
It is possible to realize the cine store function without imposing a heavy load on the PU 8. The DSC 9 generates data representing a tomographic image of the ultrasonic beam projection site based on the ultrasonic data at each point in the traveling direction of the ultrasonic beam.

[0019]

As described above, according to the present invention,
In an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus having a cine-store function, line drawing / character information can be reliably stored without adding any CPU RAM used by the host CPU, so that the cine-store can be repeated without causing a memory capacity shortage. It has the advantage that it can be done.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating the principle of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a configuration example of a DSC RAM according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing another configuration example of the DSC RAM according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating display contents of the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a cine loop function.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a conventional cine store.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1, 10, 15, 21 DSC RAM 4, 11, 17, 23 Address conversion unit 5, 12, 18, 24 TV memory 6, 13, 19, 25 CRT display unit 7, 8, 14, 20, 26 Host CPU 9 DSC 16 Selector 27 CPU RAM

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A DSC RAM for storing ultrasonic data.
A DSC that reads out ultrasonic data from the DSC RAM and outputs image data representing an ultrasonic tomographic image; a host CPU that outputs line drawing / character information including a probe frequency, diagnostic depth, and a marker; CR that displays line drawing and character information on the same screen
When performing cine store in an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus having a T display unit and having a cine store function of storing the data corresponding to the display contents of one screen after freezing the ultrasonic data input to the DSC RAM An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus comprising means for storing the line drawing / character information in a predetermined area in the DSC RAM.