JPH0626242Y2 - Ultrasonic diagnostic equipment - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (a) Field of Industrial Application The present invention relates to an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, and more particularly, to an improvement in the case of displaying echo signal data obtained under various display modes as an image. .

(B) Conventional technology and its problems In general, an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus displays various kinds of information about a subject based on echo signal data obtained by transmitting and receiving ultrasonic waves. These information display modes include B mode for displaying a tomographic image and D mode for displaying Doppler signals.
Mode, M mode for displaying the time change of the distance to the echo source in the subject, and the like.

By the way, the conventional ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus is provided with a single image memory a in which echo signal data is stored as shown in FIG. 5, and the level adjustment is performed on the input side and the output side of the image memory a. There are some gamma conversion circuits b and c provided for the use. In the apparatus having this configuration, the echo signal data obtained based on the transmission / reception of ultrasonic waves is stored in the image memory a after the input level is corrected by the gamma conversion circuit b on the input side. On the other hand, the echo signal data stored in the image memory a is read in synchronization with the TV scanning regardless of the writing speed. Then, the gamma conversion circuit c on the output side adjusts the brightness level to a level required for image reproduction, and then outputs it to the CRTd. Further, by blocking the writing of the echo signal data to the image memory a and only reading it, a so-called phrase image can be obtained.

Both the input side and output side gamma conversion circuits b and c are composed of, for example, a writable look-up table memory or the like. Therefore, with respect to the gamma conversion circuit b on the input side, if optimum level conversion data corresponding to each display mode is written in a predetermined area in advance, it is possible to use the display mode switching signal every time the display mode is switched. It is possible to select the memory area in which the data is stored.

On the other hand, although the level can be adjusted by rewriting the memory content of the gamma conversion circuit c on the output side, conventionally, once the echo signal data is written in the image memory a, all of the echo signal data is in the display mode. However, since they can be handled collectively as mere image display data, they cannot be distinguished for each display mode. Therefore, especially when the image is frozen, the level adjustment of the display image is performed exclusively by the gamma conversion circuit c on the output side, but even if the memory content is changed, it is not possible to distinguish each display mode. , As shown in FIG.
It is not possible to individually adjust the brightness level of each image in each display mode in a state where each of the B mode, D mode, and M mode images is displayed on the same screen.

The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and an object thereof is to enable level adjustment individually for each image of various display modes displayed on the same screen even in a frozen state. To do.

(C) Means for Solving the Problems In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention has a single image memory for storing echo signal data, and the input side and the output side of this image memory are In an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, each of which is provided with a gamma conversion circuit for level adjustment, echo signal data obtained under various display modes such as B mode, D mode and M mode on the input side of the image memory. An identification code adding circuit for adding an identification code for identifying each display mode is provided.

(D) Operation Therefore, according to the above configuration, when the echo signal data obtained based on the transmission and reception of ultrasonic waves is written in the image memory, the identification code according to each display mode is added by the identification code addition circuit. It As a result, the echo signal data with the identification code is stored in the image memory. As a result, when the echo signal data is read while the image is frozen, the optimum level of the gamma conversion circuit on the output side can be selected based on the identification code added to the echo signal data. Thus, when images in various display modes are displayed frozen on the same screen, it is possible to individually adjust the brightness level for each image in each display mode.

(E) Embodiment FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a main part of an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, reference numeral 1 indicates the whole ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, 2 is a single image memory for storing echo signal data, and 4 and 6 are level adjustments provided on the input side and output side of the image memory 2, respectively. Is a gamma conversion circuit, and 8 is a CRT. Then, the above image memory 2
Is an 8-bit RAM, and each of the gamma conversion circuits 4 and 6 on the input side and the output side is a lick-up table memory whose memory contents are rewritable.

The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus 1 of this embodiment is characterized in that the image memory 2
An identification code adding circuit 10 for adding an identification code for identifying each display mode to echo signal data obtained under various display modes such as B mode, D mode and M mode is provided on the input side of It is that you are. As shown in FIG. 2, the identification code adding circuit 10 includes a switch circuit 12 which is switched in response to a display mode switching signal provided from a CPU (not shown) in accordance with a display mode of echo signal data, and this switch circuit. It is generated by switching twelve. Identification signal of "1" and "0" (2 bits)
And the echo signal data (6 bits) obtained based on the transmission and reception of ultrasonic waves, and outputs as 8-bit data.

Therefore, in the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus of this embodiment, the echo signal data (6 bits) obtained based on the transmission / reception of ultrasonic waves is first corrected in the input level by the gamma conversion circuit 4 on the input side, It is input to the identification code adding circuit 10. A display mode switching signal is given to the identification code adding circuit 10 from a CPU (not shown) according to a display mode,
In response to this switching signal, the switch circuit 12 is switched and an identification code (2 bits) is added to the echo signal data as shown in FIG. For example, B
"00" for mode, "0" for D mode
In the 1 "and M modes, the identification code of" 10 "is added and output to the image memory 2 through the buffer circuit 14. Then, the echo signal data with the identification code is stored in the image memory 2. To be done.

On the other hand, the echo signal data stored in the image memory 2 is
It is read out in synchronization with TV scanning regardless of the writing speed, and is input to the gamma conversion circuit 6 on the output side. In the gamma conversion circuit 6, optimum level conversion data according to each display mode is written in a predetermined storage area in advance.
The above identification code is given as a selection signal of the storage area for each display mode. As a result, the echo signal data read from the image memory 2 is converted into a luminance level necessary for image reproduction by the gamma conversion circuit 6 and then CR
It is output at T8.

Even when the image is frozen, the optimum data storage area corresponding to each display mode of the gamma conversion circuit 6 is selected based on the identification code added to the echo signal data read from the image memory 2. As shown in FIG. 4, the brightness levels of the images displayed on the same screen for each display mode are individually adjusted for each display mode.

(F) Effect As described above, according to the present invention, excellent effects such as level adjustment can be individually performed for each image in various display modes even in the freeze state.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a main part of an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram of an identification code adding circuit, and FIG. 3 is a state in which an identification code is added to echo signal data. FIG. 4 is a schematic view, FIG. 4 is an explanatory view showing a state in which various display modes are displayed on the same screen, and FIG. 5 is a block diagram of a conventional ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus. 1 ... Ultrasonic diagnostic device, 2 ... Image memory, 4 ... Input side gamma conversion circuit, 6 ... Output side gamma conversion circuit, 8 ...
... CRT, 10 ... Identification code addition circuit.

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] 1. An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus having a single image memory for storing echo signal data, wherein gamma conversion circuits for level adjustment are provided on an input side and an output side of the image memory, respectively. The input side of the image memory is provided with an identification code addition circuit for adding an identification code for identifying each display mode to echo signal data obtained under various display modes such as B mode, D mode and M mode. An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus characterized by the above.