JPH08238242A - Ultrasonic diagnosing apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To enable loop reproduction by allowing the selecting of an image alone in an interest time phase section set in an image memory automatically once after the interest time phase section is set on a vital waveform in an ultrasonic diagnosing apparatus. CONSTITUTION: In an ultrasonic diagnosing apparatus which has an image memory means 5, an organic signal detection means 6, an organic signal memory means 7 and an instrumental conditions setting means 10, an interest time phase section loop reproduction control means 13 is provided to select an image in an interest time phase section alone on an organic waveform set by the instrumental condition setting means 10 from among a plurality of images recorded by the image memory means 5 and performs a loop reproduction of an image memory. In the loop reproduction of an image memory, this enables loop reproduction of an animation image in the interest time phase section alone each time without requiring user's setting, thereby the animation image alone in the time phase desired can be observed steadily at a slow speed.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image memory loop reproducing technique for an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, and more particularly to an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus capable of loop reproducing an image of only a time phase region of interest on an electrocardiographic waveform.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A conventional ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus is provided with a loop reproducing means for temporarily recording a scanned image in a large-capacity image memory and repeatedly reproducing the recorded moving image. According to this loop reproducing means, the movement of the blood vessel, the heart, etc. can be observed in detail by decreasing the reproducing speed. In addition, in the case of high frame rate images, which have been made possible by recent technological innovations, heart valves that perform complicated movements that could not be visually observed in real time can be reliably grasped by slowing the playback speed. Therefore, it is an essential function especially in an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus for a circulatory organ. By the way, conventionally, the following methods have been used as the loop reproduction method.

(1) Full-recorded image reproducing method This is the simplest method of loop-reproducing all the images stored in the image memory. In order to make it easier to see the connection of the time phases between images at the loop end, the R wave information on the electrocardiographic waveform is recorded at the same time during image recording, and during loop playback, the oldest R wave time phase in the image memory is recorded. In some cases, the section from the image of to the image of the latest R wave time phase is reproduced.

(2) Playback section designation playback method This is a method in which the user designates images at both ends of the playback section. Thereby, only the image of the user's interest section can be loop-reproduced.

[0005]

The present inventor has found the following problems as a result of examining the above-mentioned prior art.

In the conventional ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, when it is attempted to observe a moving image of a time phase region of interest on the electrocardiographic waveform, for example, a systole, (1) in the all-recorded image reproducing system, the observation is performed. Since the image of the time phase section outside the target (here, diastole) is also reproduced, the user spends unnecessary observation time. Also, for detailed observation, the slower the reproduction speed, the more unnecessary observation time increases. Not only was there a problem with time, but there was also the problem of being unable to concentrate on image observation.

Further, in (2) the reproduction section designation reproduction method, since the image reproduction section can be set, there is no problem that the above-mentioned unnecessary observation time occurs. But,
Since the time phase of the electrocardiographic waveform at the end of the image memory recording is not always the same, the playback interval of the image memory is manually set to correspond to the time interval of interest on the electrocardiographic waveform each time of playback. There is a problem that it has to be done and it is annoying.

An object of the present invention is to once set a time phase interval of interest on an electrocardiographic waveform, for example, a time phase at the time of contraction, after that only the image of the time phase interval of interest set in the image memory will be used. It is an object to provide an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus capable of automatically selecting and performing loop reproduction.

The above and other objects and novel features of the present invention will be apparent from the description of this specification and the accompanying drawings.

[0010]

The outline of the representative one of the inventions disclosed in the present application will be briefly described as follows.

[0011] Ultrasonic transmitting / receiving means for transmitting / receiving ultrasonic waves to / from the subject, tomographic scanning means for repeatedly obtaining tomographic data in the subject at a predetermined cycle by using a reflected echo signal from the ultrasonic transmitting / receiving means, and this tomographic An image storage unit that stores a plurality of time-series images obtained by a scanning unit, a biological signal detection unit that detects a biological wave of the subject, a biological signal storage unit that stores the time-series biological signal information, and the image In the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, which has an image display unit for displaying image data output from the storage unit, an apparatus condition setting unit for setting various conditions of the apparatus, and an apparatus control unit for controlling the entire apparatus, the image Of the plurality of images stored in the storage means, only the image of the time phase of interest section on the biological waveform set by the device condition setting means is selected, and the time phase of interest zone loop reproduction is performed. It is provided with a flop regeneration control means.

[0012]

According to the above-mentioned means, once the time phase section of interest on the biological waveform is set, only the image corresponding to the time phase section of interest can be automatically loop-reproduced during loop reproduction of the image memory. It is possible to intensively observe the motion of the moving image in the time phase section of interest without the user's effort.

[0013]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the schematic arrangement of an embodiment of the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus of the present embodiment has a probe 1
An ultrasonic transmission / reception circuit 2, an A / D converter 3, a buffer memory 4, an image memory 5, an electrocardiographic detection circuit 6, and an R
Wave trigger signal memory 7, D / A converter 8, image display 9, operation panel 10, main controller 11
And a time phase interval loop reproduction controller 13 of interest.

The probe 1 transmits and receives ultrasonic waves to and from the subject 12, and has a plurality of transducers built therein. The ultrasonic transmission / reception circuit 2 includes a pulser for forming an ultrasonic beam to be transmitted from the ultrasonic transducer provided in the probe 1 to the subject 12, a transmission delay circuit, and reflection from the inside of the subject 12 ( (Reception) An amplifier that amplifies an electric signal obtained by receiving and converting an echo signal by the probe 1, and an adjustment that adds a received signal whose phase is aligned by giving a predetermined delay time to the received signal and outputs the added signal. The phase circuit includes a phase detector and a wave detector that detects the signals phased and added by the phase circuit. The probe 1 and the ultrasonic wave transmission / reception circuit 2 constitute an ultrasonic wave transmission / reception means. By scanning the ultrasonic beam in the body of the subject 12 with the ultrasonic wave in a fixed direction by the probe 1, It is designed to obtain a tomographic image.

The A / D converter 3 receives the reflected echo signal from the ultrasonic wave transmitting / receiving circuit 2 and converts it into a digital signal. The buffer memory 4 has two line memories therein, and the digital signal output from the A / D converter 3 is stored in the two line memories for each scanning line or plural scanning lines of the ultrasonic beam. The writing and reading are alternately repeated and sent to the image memory 5 described later. The A / D converter 3, the buffer memory 4, and a main coin roller 11, which will be described later, constitute a tomographic scanning means.

The image memory 5 serves as an image storage means for sequentially storing a plurality of time-series image data output from the buffer memory 4 and forming a tomographic image.
It is composed of, for example, a semiconductor memory having a storage capacity capable of storing images of a plurality of frames.

The electrocardiographic detection circuit 6 is a biological signal detecting means for detecting the electrocardiographic waveform of the subject 12. Although not shown, an isolation amplifier for insulating and amplifying an electrocardiographic signal obtained from the electrode attached to the subject 12 and a reference R based on the waveform of the obtained electrocardiographic signal are included therein.
An R-wave timing detection circuit that detects the wave time phase and generates an R-wave trigger signal is built in.

The R wave trigger signal memory 7 is a biological signal storage means for storing the R wave trigger signals output from the electrocardiographic detection circuit 6 in a fixed order. The image memory 5
Similarly to the above, for example, it is composed of a semiconductor memory.

The D / A converter 8 includes the image memory 5
The image data output from the device is converted into an analog video signal. The image display 9 inputs the analog video signal from the D / A converter 8 and the biological waveform from the electrocardiographic detection circuit 6 and displays it as an image by a television display system. It consists of a monitor. Then, the D / A converter 8 and the image display 9
And constitute image display means for displaying the image data output from the image memory 5.

The operation panel 10 is a device condition setting means for externally setting various conditions (mode, freeze, etc.) of the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus. For example, various switches and knobs, a trackball, a touch panel. Etc.

The main controller 11 is a device control means for controlling the operation of each of the above-mentioned components based on various condition setting information sent from the operation panel 10. For example, a central processing unit (CPU) and various information. Is composed of a memory or the like for storing

The interest time phase section loop reproduction controller 13
After storing a plurality of tomographic images in the image memory 5, the image memory is stored in the R wave trigger signal memory 7 based on the R wave trigger signal stored in the R wave trigger signal memory 7 so as to correspond to the time phase region of interest designated in advance by the operation panel 10. 5 is calculated, and the image memory 5 is calculated based on the calculated reproduction section.
This is for loop playback.

Next, the operation of the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus of this embodiment will be described in detail with reference to FIG.

First, the setting of the time phase section of interest required in the present invention will be described. The user usually
Before performing image observation using the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus of the present embodiment, the following time phase zone of interest to be observed is set in advance.

Ts: Elapsed time from the R wave time phase to the loop reproduction start time phase Te: Elapsed time from the R wave time phase to the loop reproduction end time phase However, both Ts and Te are the R wave time If it is before the phase, that is, older than the R wave time phase in time, the sign is negative, and conversely,
The sign is positive if it is after the R-wave time phase, that is, if it is temporally newer than the R-wave time phase. Also, Ts ≦ Te must be satisfied.

The elapsed times Ts and Te are set using a knob on the operation panel 10 or a keyboard. For example, when the systole is mainly observed, specifically, the time phase section of interest is from 0.05 seconds [s] before the R wave to 0.30 seconds [s] after the R wave. That is,

[0028]

## EQU1 ## Ts = -0.05 seconds [s], Te = + 0.30 seconds [s] ... (1) are set. This set value is notified to the interested time phase section loop reproduction controller 13 via the main controller 11. Of course, the time phase section of interest can be set not only before image observation but also during image memory loop reproduction. For example, the entire systole was initially set as the observation target, but it is conceivable that the observation target is narrowed down to only the early systole where an abnormal movement occurs after image observation.

The setting of the time phase section of interest is stored in the non-volatile memory inside the main controller 11, and the set value is retained even when the power of the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus is turned off. In other words, once the settings have been made, there is no need for re-setting unless the user makes a change.

Next, the operation of the interest time phase section loop reproduction controller 13, which is the core of the present invention, will be described in detail with reference to FIGS.

FIG. 2 shows an operation of converting an electrocardiographic waveform ((a) in FIG. 2) obtained from the subject 12 into an R wave trigger signal ((b) in FIG. 2) in the electrocardiographic detection circuit 6. It is shown. A steep rise to the R wave, which is the peak of the electrocardiographic waveform, is detected and converted into a rectangular pulse. The signal level changes from low (L) to high (H) at the rising edge of the R wave, and returns to low (L) after a fixed time. That is, the electrocardiographic detection circuit 6 creates an R wave trigger signal that is high (H) at the timing of the R wave and low (L) at other times. The R wave trigger signal is sequentially stored in the R wave trigger signal memory 7.

FIG. 3 shows the operation of the time phase interval loop reproduction controller 13 of interest. FIG. 3 (a)
Shows the state of the R wave trigger signal memory 7. In the R wave trigger signal memory 7, when the R wave trigger signal is high (H), it is recorded as "1", and when it is low (L), it is recorded as "0". Assuming that the maximum recording data number is NR and the sampling time per data is ΔTR, the maximum recording time TR of this R wave trigger signal memory can be obtained by the following formula.

[0033]

## EQU2 ## TR = NR × ΔTR (2) FIG. 3B shows the R wave trigger signal corresponding to FIG. FIG. 3C shows the state of the image memory 5. It is assumed that the image memory 5 can record NI images. In addition, the scanning time per image is ΔTI
Then, the maximum recording time TI of this image memory is obtained by the following equation.

[0034]

## EQU3 ## TI = NI × ΔTI (3) If the information of the R-wave trigger signal memory is applied at the time of reproducing the image memory, TR = TI needs to be satisfied. By the way, the scanning time ΔTI per image varies depending on various conditions of the apparatus, such as the scanning line density and the scanning angle. Therefore, the memory capacity may be set so that TR = TI at ΔTI which is the smallest depending on the conditions of the device. For convenience, in the present embodiment, TR = T
I have.

Both the R-wave trigger signal memory 7 and the image memory 5 are circular memories which sequentially store from the head of the memory and, when reaching the rear end of the memory, store again from the head of the memory. In FIG. 3, for the sake of clarity, it is assumed that the user has performed a recording stop operation through the operation panel 10 just when the memory end is reached.

In such a state, the reproduced display image as shown in FIG. 3D is determined by the processing procedure shown in FIG.

FIG. 4 shows, in PAD format, the processing procedure for searching the R wave information in the R wave trigger signal memory 7 based on the above-mentioned settings and selecting the loop reproduction image.

The processing sequence shown in FIG. 4 will be described below with reference to FIG.

(Step 1) First, the data "1" corresponding to the R wave in the R wave trigger signal memory 7 shown in FIG. 3 is searched from the top of the memory (on the left side of the drawing), and the found data position is stored.

As shown in (step 1) of FIG. 4, the R wave trigger signal memory 7 is stored in the one-dimensional table RM (i) (i =
1 to NR). If the variable RR is the number of R wave data and the variable i is a loop counter, the table RM indicating the R wave data position in the R wave trigger signal memory 7 is obtained by the flow shown in FIG.

As shown in (step 1) of FIG. 4, if RR = 0, it means that there is no R wave data in the R wave trigger signal memory and the processing is interrupted.

(Step 2) After that, the processes of steps 2 to 4 are repeated for the number of R wave data. In addition,
The variable i represents a loop counter and is an integer from 1 to RR.

In step 2, the R wave trigger signal memory 7
Is the reference time (0 second [s])
Then, the elapsed time to the R wave data position is calculated. This R wave elapsed time table TR (i) is expressed by the following equation (4).
(See (b) of FIG. 3 and (step 2) of FIG. 4).

[0044]

## EQU4 ## TR (i) = R (i) × ΔR (4) (4) (Step 3) In Step 3, the R wave elapsed time obtained in Step 2 and the time phase of interest preset by the user From the sections (variable names Ts, Te), the elapsed time at both ends of the image memory reproduction target section with respect to the time phase section of interest is obtained. Here, the elapsed time at each end of the image memory reproduction target section is the reproduction start elapsed time (table name TR
s) and reproduction end elapsed time (table name TRe), TRs (i) and TRe (i) are obtained by the following equations (5) and (6) ((b) of FIG. 3 and FIG. 4). (Step 3)).

[0045]

[Equation 5] TRs (i) = TR (i) + Ts ………… (5)

[0046]

## EQU00006 ## TRe (i) = TR (i) + Te ... (6) (Step 4) In Step 4, obtained in Step 3,
The reproduction start image number and the reproduction end image number can be obtained by dividing the reproduction start elapsed time and the reproduction end elapsed time by the scanning time (ΔTI) per image. That is, the reproduction start image number (table name Ls) and the reproduction end image number (table name Le)
Is obtained by the following equations (7) and (8). (See (d) of FIG. 3 and (step 4) of FIG. 4).

[0047]

[Formula 7] Ls (i) = (TRs (i) + Tk) / ΔTI ………… (7)

[0048]

[Equation 8] Le (i) = (TRe (i) + Tk) / ΔTI (8) where Tk is the maximum ΔTI for scanning one image.
Since there is a time difference within the image, it is determined which portion of one image is scanned at which moment is the elapsed time of the image. Here, let the time when the center of the image is scanned be the elapsed time of the image.

[0049]

[Formula 9] Tk = ΔTI / 2 (9) (see (c) of FIG. 4).

As described above, the reproduction start image number and the reproduction end image number for all the R wave time phases in the image memory 5 are obtained by performing the processing of steps 2 to 4 for all the R wave data. You can The above process may be executed inside the apparatus when the recording end operation of the image memory or the loop reproduction start operation is performed by the operation panel 10. Without any user configuration
The image memory reproduction range is set for the time phase of interest.

When the loop reproduction start operation is performed by the operation panel 10, the obtained Ls (i), Le
Based on (i), the image memory may be reproduced in the following order.

Ls (1) → ... → Le (1) → Ls (2)
→ ... → Le (2) → Ls (2) ... → ... Ls (RR) → ...
→ Le (RR) → Ls (1) → (hereinafter circulation).

In FIG. 3D, image numbers 2 to 5 are displayed.
And 11 to 14 are reproduction ranges. The reproduction order is as follows. 2 → No. 3 → No. 4 → No. 5 → No. 11
→ No. 12 → No. 13 → No. 14 → No. 2 (hereinafter referred to as “circulation”), and loop reproduction can be performed only in the time phase section Ts to Te of interest.

When the operation panel 10 is operated to reverse the direction of loop reproduction, the image memory may be reproduced in the reverse order.

As described above, the time phase interval loop reproduction controller 13 of interest
The operation of was explained. By the way, when the time phase interval of interest is set to be short, the number of images stored in the image memory 5 NI
To the number NL of images to be loop-reproduced with respect to
= NL / NI is considerably reduced. In such a case, the usability of detailed observation is improved by making the initial reproduction speed sufficiently small in advance. Specifically, if the reproduction speed equivalent to that at the time of image recording is set to 1, it can be realized by setting the initial speed to 1 / K. As a result, at the start of reproduction, the time required for one loop reproduction of the image memory is constant, so when the time phase section of interest is wide, it can be reproduced at a slightly faster speed, and when the time phase section of interest is narrow, It will be possible to observe at a slow speed.

Further, not all the time phase sections of interest in the image memory may be the objects of loop reproduction, but only the newest section may be the objects of reproduction. Specifically, the repetition of (step 2) to (step 4) in FIG.
Only RR is required. For a moment during real-time observation,
When you see an abnormal operation in the time phase section of interest, only the latest image of the time phase section of interest is required until the next time phase of interest section arrives, that is, when the freeze operation, that is, the recording stop operation is performed. , It can be said that it is a necessary means for improving the observation efficiency.

Although the present invention has been specifically described based on the embodiments, it is needless to say that the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments and various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the invention.

[0058]

The effects obtained by the representative ones of the inventions disclosed in this application will be described below.

In the image memory loop reproduction, since the moving image only in the interested time phase section can be loop-reproduced without requiring the setting of the user, only the moving image of the time phase to be observed can be displayed without burdening the user. You can observe it at a slow speed.
As a result, the diagnostic accuracy and diagnostic efficiency can be improved.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block configuration diagram showing a schematic configuration of an embodiment of an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining an operation of converting an electrocardiographic waveform into an R wave trigger signal according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining the operation of the time phase interval loop reproduction controller of the present embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure of a time phase interval loop reproduction controller of the present embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Probe 2 Ultrasonic wave transmitting / receiving circuit 3 A / D converter 4 Buffer memory 5 Image memory 6 Electrocardiographic detection circuit 7 R wave trigger signal memory 8 D / A converter 9 Image display 10 Operation panel 11 Main controller 12 Target Specimen 13 Interest phase loop reproduction controller

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. Ultrasound transmitting / receiving means for transmitting / receiving ultrasonic waves to / from a subject, and tomographic scanning means for repeatedly obtaining tomographic data in the subject at a predetermined cycle using reflected echo signals from the ultrasonic transmitting / receiving means, An image storage unit that stores a plurality of time-series images obtained by the tomographic scanning unit, a biological signal detection unit that detects a biological wave of the subject, and a biological signal storage unit that stores the time-series biological signal information, In an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus having image display means for displaying image data output from the image storage means, device condition setting means for setting various conditions of the device, and device control means for controlling the entire device, Of the plurality of images stored by the image storage means, only the image of the time phase of interest section on the biological waveform set by the device condition setting means is selected, and the time phase of interest section for loop reproduction is selected. Ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus characterized in that a flop regeneration control means.