JPH11169368A - Ultrasonograph - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reduce its storage capacity when ultrasonic image data are recorded in an external device in an ultrasonograph. SOLUTION: The first brightness signal Y1 is outputted as a signal corresponding to a B mode image from a detector 14 and on the other hand, the second brightness signal Y2 corresponding to a color Doppler image and two color difference signals R-Y2 and B-Y2 are outputted from a color coding tool 22. In a converter 26, the first brightness signal Y1 and the second brightness signal Y2 are added. Informations on a formed synthesized brightness signal and two color difference signals R-Y2 and B-Y2 can be outputted thereby to an external device through an encoder 32 or the informations can be inputted from the external device like this through a decoder 36. Various output terminals and input terminals are provided in the apparatus main body. As not an RGB system but a signal embodiment based on a Y/color difference system is used for inputting image data, capacity of the data can be reduced without generating deterioration of the quality of the image.

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, and more particularly, to an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus that displays a luminance image and a color Doppler image.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A conventional general ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus has a luminance image forming section and a Doppler image forming section, and a display apparatus has a color two-dimensional Doppler image on a B-mode image as a luminance image, for example. Are composited and displayed. In some cases, a Doppler image is displayed in color on an M-mode image as another luminance image.

In a conventional ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, a signal form after image processing is a so-called RGB form. This is in accordance with the input specification of the color display. Therefore, when an image signal is recorded on a VTR or the like, the signal form has been converted to the specifications of the recording apparatus.

[0004]

When an ultrasonic image in which a luminance image and a color Doppler image are combined is recorded in a recording apparatus, the amount of data to be recorded is as small as possible in consideration of a recording capacity and a data transfer rate. Less is better.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to reduce the data amount of an ultrasonic image.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a transmitting / receiving means for transmitting / receiving an ultrasonic wave, and an amplitude value corresponding to luminance based on a signal received from the transmitting / receiving means. A luminance image is created, and a first image representing the luminance image is created.
A luminance image processing unit that outputs a luminance signal, a Doppler image extracted from a reception signal from the transmission / reception unit to create a Doppler image in which a color is associated with the Doppler information, a second luminance signal representing the Doppler image, Doppler image processing means for outputting two color difference signals, combining means for combining the first luminance signal and the second luminance signal to generate a combined luminance signal, based on the combined luminance signal and the two color difference signals And an image display means for displaying an image on the basis of the image data, wherein information of the combined luminance signal and the two color difference signals is transferred to the outside.

According to the above arrangement, the information of the luminance image and the information of the Doppler image are output as they are or mixed.
Compared with the RGB system, the Y / color difference system can reduce the amount of information, so that there is an advantage that the data transfer rate and the amount of recorded information can be reduced. When an RGB display device is provided, the luminance signal and the two color difference signals are converted to R and R signals.
A circuit for converting into a GB signal is provided.

Preferably, the combined luminance signal and the 2
Information of the two color difference signals is recorded in the recording device. Preferably, the composite luminance signal and the 2
Means for reading information of two color difference signals.

In a preferred aspect of the present invention, a digital output terminal for outputting information of the combined luminance signal and the two color difference signals as digital signals, and inputting information of the combined luminance signal and the two color difference signals as digital signals. A digital input terminal, an analog output terminal that outputs information of the combined luminance signal and the two color difference signals as analog signals, an analog input terminal that inputs the information of the combined luminance signal and the two color difference signals as analog signals, One or a plurality of terminals such as a monochrome output terminal for outputting information of the combined luminance signal are provided.

If various input / output terminals are provided, data can be recorded by a recording method according to a user's request.

[0011]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the overall configuration of an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to the present invention. This ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus is an apparatus that combines and displays a monochrome tomographic image and a color Doppler image by transmitting and receiving ultrasonic waves.

In FIG. 1, a probe 10 is an ultrasonic probe for transmitting and receiving ultrasonic waves, and a transmission signal is supplied from a transceiver 12 to a vibrator built in the probe 10. The received signal output from the probe 10 is transmitted and received by the transceiver 1
2 is processed. The transceiver 12 is controlled by a transmission / reception control unit (not shown), and a two-dimensional data acquisition area is formed when the ultrasonic beam is scanned by the transmission / reception control.

The received signal output via the transceiver 12 is input to the detector 14 and the quadrature detector 16. In the detector 14, the envelope component is extracted from the received signal. That is, echo data for forming a so-called B-mode image is extracted. The data is output as a first luminance signal Y1. The first luminance signal is obtained by associating the amplitude of the signal with the luminance value.

The quadrature detector 16 is a circuit for performing known quadrature detection on a received signal. Thereby, the received signal is converted into a complex signal. The complex signal is a known MTI
After being input to the filter 18 and being filtered by this, the complex signal is input to the autocorrelator 20 and a known autocorrelation operation is executed. As the autocorrelation result, velocity information and dispersion information that are Doppler information are generated. The information is input to the color coder 22.

The color coding unit 22 forms a Doppler image in which the speed and the variance correspond to the hue and the brightness, respectively. Specifically, the Doppler image is output as a second luminance signal Y2 and two color difference signals R-Y2 and BY-2. That is, it is converted into a signal form based on the Y / color difference method.

In the output circuit 24, a first luminance signal, a second luminance signal, and two color difference signals are input to a converter 26. The converter 26 has a function of converting an ultrasonic transmission / reception system into a TV scanning system. Further, the converter 26 generates a composite luminance signal Y by adding the first luminance signal and the second luminance signal. The two color difference signals RY2 and BY2 output from the color coding unit 22 via the converter 26 are respectively converted to Y / Y signals.
These are output as they are as two color difference signals RY and BY based on the color difference format. These combined luminance signal and two color difference signals are input to a matrix circuit 28 via a selection circuit 27, and are converted into three color signals based on the RGB format in the matrix circuit 28. Then, these signals are returned to analog signals in the D / A converter 29, and then the analog signals are sent to the monitor 30 to display an ultrasonic image. The ultrasonic image is an image obtained by combining a two-dimensional tomographic image (B-mode image) and a two-dimensional Doppler image. The combined luminance signal and the two color difference signals output from the converter 26 are input to an encoder 32. The encoder 32 uses the international standard CCIR R
A serial signal conforming to the EC 601 is generated and output to the digital recording device 34 via the output terminal 100. Then, the digital recording device 34 records the image data as a digital signal.

A signal output from the digital recording device 34 is input to the decoder 36 via the input terminal 102.
The decoder 36 restores the above-described combined luminance signal and two color difference signals. These signals are temporarily stored in the frame memory 38.

The apparatus main body is provided with an output terminal 104 in addition to the above-mentioned output terminal 100 and input terminal 102. The output terminal 104 outputs a synthesized luminance signal. For example, the monochrome peripheral device 40 is connected to the terminal. By doing so, the echo data can be stored as monochrome data.

In the encoder 44, a composite signal is generated based on the two color difference signals.
The composite luminance signal and its composite signal are converted into analog signals in a D / A converter 45, and the analog signals are output to the outside via output terminals 106 and 108. For example, a VTR 42 is connected to the output terminals 106 and 108 so that image data is recorded in the VTR 42 as in the related art. Where V
An M0 image recording device or the like may be connected instead of the TR. The apparatus main body is provided with input terminals 110 and 112 in addition to the various output terminals and input terminals described above, and to these terminals, a reproduction signal output from the VTR 42 is input. Specifically, the input terminal 110 receives the above-described composite luminance signal, and the input terminal 112 receives the above-described composite signal. A / D converter 47
In the above, the composite luminance signal and the composite signal are converted into digital signals, and the digitalized composite signal is restored to two color difference signals in the decoder 46. Then, the combined luminance signal input via the input terminal 110 and the two color difference signals output from the decoder 46 are stored in the frame memory 38 as described above. Each signal once stored in the frame memory 38 is read out and input to the selection circuit 27 described above. The selection circuit 27 is a circuit that selects one of the two inputs. Then, as described above, three color signals based on the RGB format are generated based on those signals.

Incidentally, the data size required for normal display of the two color difference signals can be reduced to less than half of the luminance signal. If necessary, processing such as data compression may be performed on each of the two color difference signals. According to the above-described embodiment, a signal based on the Y / color difference method is generated inside the apparatus main body and can be output to the outside as it is, so that it is possible to reduce the data capacity in the external recording of the ultrasonic image as compared with the related art. Become. Further, with such a configuration, the data transfer rate can be reduced. Further, there is an advantage that the capacity of the frame memory 38 can be reduced for the same reason as described above.

According to the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, since various output terminals and input terminals are provided in the apparatus main body,
Various devices owned by the user can be connected. In particular, there is an advantage that an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus corresponding to the digital recording device 34 can be configured.

[0023]

As described above, according to the present invention,
It is possible to reduce the amount of data when outputting or recording data of an ultrasonic image.

[Brief description of the drawings]

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

[Explanation of symbols]

10 probe, 12 transceiver, 14 detector, 16
Quadrature detector, 20 autocorrelator, 22 color coding device, 24 output circuit, 26 converter, 28 matrix circuit, 32 encoder, 34 digital recording device, 36 decoder, 38 frame memory, 40
Monochrome peripherals, 42 VTRs, 44 encoders, 4
6 Decoder.

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A transmitting and receiving means for transmitting and receiving an ultrasonic wave, and a first luminance representing a luminance image in which a luminance image whose amplitude value corresponds to luminance is created based on a reception signal from the transmitting and receiving means. A luminance image processing means for outputting a signal, a Doppler information extracted from a reception signal from the wave transmitting / receiving means to create a Doppler image in which a color is associated with the Doppler information, and a second luminance signal and a second luminance signal 2 representing the Doppler image. Doppler image processing means for outputting two color difference signals, combining means for combining the first luminance signal and the second luminance signal to generate a combined luminance signal, based on the combined luminance signal and the two color difference signals An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus comprising: an image display unit configured to perform image display; and information of the combined luminance signal and the two color difference signals is transferred to the outside. 2. The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to claim 1, wherein information on the combined luminance signal and the two color difference signals is recorded in a recording device. 3. An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising means for reading out information on said combined luminance signal and said two color difference signals from said recording device. 4. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a digital output terminal for outputting information of the combined luminance signal and the two color difference signals as a digital signal, and digitally outputting information of the combined luminance signal and the two color difference signals. An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus comprising: a digital input terminal for inputting a signal. 5. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein an analog output terminal that outputs information of the combined luminance signal and the two color difference signals as an analog signal, and an analog output terminal that outputs information of the combined luminance signal and the two color difference signals. An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, comprising: an analog input terminal for inputting a signal. 6. The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a monochrome output terminal for outputting information of the combined luminance signal.