JPS61238233A - Ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] This bulletin contains application data before electronic filing, so abstract data is not recorded.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, and particularly relates to an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus that can realize high resolution and easy-to-see images in image processing.

[Prior Art] As shown in FIG. 3, in a conventional ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, pulse waves generated from a transmitter 23 are supplied to an ultrasonic probe 21 under the control of a control circuit 30. , the echo signal of the ultrasonic beam generated from the ultrasonic probe 21 is sent to the ultrasonic probe 2.
The received signal is received by the ultrasonic probe 21 by the amplifier 22, amplified by the amplifier 22, compressed (logarithmically amplified) by the logarithmic amplifier 24, and then detected by the detection circuit 25.

Then, image processing is performed by an analog image processing circuit, and this image data is sent to the A/I under the control of the control circuit 30.
) The converter 27 performs A/D conversion and digitizes the image to obtain digital image information.

This image information is then stored in the image memory 28 under the control of the control circuit 30. Furthermore, this data is read from the image memory 28 and sent to the CRT display 29, where it is displayed as predetermined video information.

In this way, in the conventional ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus 20, analog image processing is performed after the ultrasonic reception signal passes through an amplifier, a logarithmic amplifier, and a detection circuit, and then A/D conversion is performed to generate digital image information. Writing to image memory.

The sampling period of the A/D converter at this time is equal to the sampling period of the pixels of the image memory.

[Problem to be solved] Image processing in conventional ultrasound diagnosis performs filter processing, etc. on data between image pixels in this way, but digital image processing of ultrasound images in this case However, since the sampling of the A/D converter and the pixels of the image memory are equal, a sufficient filter effect cannot be obtained.

[Object of the Invention] The present invention has been made in view of the problems of the prior art. The purpose is to provide a sonic diagnostic device.

[Means for solving the problem] This invention performs image processing, particularly high-pass filter processing, using a sampling signal that is an integral multiple of the sampling corresponding to a pixel in an image memory, thereby producing a high-quality image. As a means for achieving the above object, an A/D converter converts ultrasound echo data into A/D;
a filter processing circuit having a memory circuit and an arithmetic circuit for storing time series of ultrasonic echo data digitized by the A/D converter; a sampling circuit for sampling data obtained from the filter processing circuit; The ultrasonic echo data sampling frequency in the A/D converter is higher than that of the sampling circuit.

[Operations] With this configuration, the number of data used for image processing can be an integral multiple of the image memory, making it possible to freely select filter characteristics and improving image quality. .

[Example] Hereinafter, an example of the present invention will be described in detail using the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram centered on a digital image processing circuit of an embodiment of an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus to which the present invention is applied;
FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the overall configuration of an embodiment of the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus. Note that the same items as in Figure 3 are:
Indicated by the same reference numerals.

As shown in FIG. 2, the ultrasound diagnostic apparatus 1 uses a digital image processing circuit 31 instead of the conventional analog image processing circuit 26, and an A/D converter 29 is installed in front of the digital image processing circuit 31. Adopt the installed configuration.

Then, the output signal from the m-wave circuit 25 is transmitted to the A/D converter 2.
9, sent to the digital image processing circuit 31, and subjected to digital filter processing, the data is sent to the image memory 28 and recorded. In addition, in this case A
The sampling frequency of the /D converter 29 is the same as that of the image memory 2.
The frequency is set to be an integral multiple of the number of pixels.

By the way, the signal obtained from the ultrasonic probe 21 is transmitted to the amplifier 22. m-wave circuit 2 via logarithmic amplifier 24
5 and reaches the A/D converter 29.

Next, the specific processing will be explained in detail.

As shown in FIG. 1, the digital image processing circuit 31
The detection output signal is A/D converted by the A/D converter 29 according to the fck clock, and the signal is simultaneously transferred to the shift registers 2, 3, 4, 5. I (Next, I will accumulate in these.

Here, the shift registers 2.3.4, 5.6 are x(n
+i) data (however, i knee 2 to 2) is stored therein, and the clock fck has a frequency that is an integral multiple of the number of pixels in the image memory 28.

Well, +'t at this time! Assuming that the input data from the wave circuit 25 is x (n), weighting function generators 8, 9, and 10.11 give weights to the obtained x (n), and the arithmetic unit 14 calculates the weights, and then performs filter processing. and image data y (
n) is obtained.

Note that the arithmetic unit 14 is a so-called ROM-based arithmetic unit, and includes weighting function generators 8, 9, . 10°11 is also RO
It can be configured with M.

Here, in the figure, the image data y (n) is y(
n)=Σx (n+1)・A (f)[:0,
A(1) :1 1=±1. A(i) =-1/4 1=±2. The difference equation becomes A(i) = -1/4, which forms the characteristics of the high-pass filter. Note that AC+) is a weighting function generator s
,9. This is a weighting function based on to and it.

The output y(n) of the arithmetic unit 14 is once latched by the latch circuit 13 and inputted to the image memory 18 as y(m). Image data y (
m) is latched by the latch circuit 13 by the clock frequency divided by the frequency divider 12 and becomes 1/
The sampled data is reduced to k and used as image data. Therefore, the data in the image memory 28 is y(+i)
;(do]/k).

This work means converting the signal x(t) into y(m), and by configuring as described above, the shift registers 2, 3, 4, 5, 8° weighting function generator s
,9. It is possible to arbitrarily set the weighting function A(1) by using ROM for to, tt and the arithmetic unit 14.

With such a configuration, it becomes possible to freely select filter processing for various image data.

That is, as shown in this embodiment, since the processing is performed by a digital circuit, if a ROM is used, weighting functions can be freely selected, and filter processing for various images can be freely set. .

Note that this can also be applied to a digital phasing type device.

[Effects of the Invention] According to the present invention, there is an A/[) converter for A/D converting ultrasound echo data, and a time series of ultrasound echo data digitized by the A/D converter is stored. It is equipped with a filter processing circuit having a memory circuit and an arithmetic circuit, a sampling circuit that samples data obtained from this filter processing circuit, and an image memory that stores this sampled data, and is a super Since the sampling frequency of the sound wave echo data is higher than the sampling frequency of the sampling circuit, the number of data used for image processing can be an integral multiple of the image memory.

As a result, it becomes possible to freely select filter characteristics, and image quality can be improved.

Further, since the processing is performed by the digital circuit, if a ROM is used, it is possible to freely set filter processing for various images by arbitrarily selecting a weighting function.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram centered on a digital image processing circuit of an embodiment of an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus to which the present invention is applied;
FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the overall configuration of an embodiment of an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, and FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the overall configuration of a conventional ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus. ■... Ultrasonic diagnostic device, 2, 3, 4, 5.6... Soft register, 7... Clock generation circuit, 8.9°t
o, tt...Weighting function generation circuit, 14... Arithmetic circuit, 13... Latch circuit, 28... Image memory, 29... A/D converter.

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) Filter processing that includes an A/D converter that A/D converts ultrasound echo data, and a storage circuit and arithmetic circuit that stores the time series of ultrasound echo data digitized by this A/D converter. circuit, a sampling circuit that samples data obtained from the filter processing circuit, and an image memory that stores the sampled data, wherein the sampling frequency of the ultrasonic echo data in the A/D converter is set to the sampling frequency of the ultrasound echo data in the A/D converter. An ultrasonic diagnostic device characterized by having a sampling frequency higher than that of a circuit.