JPS6315944A - 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 [Object of the Invention] (Industrial Application Field) The present invention relates to an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus that visualizes ultrasonic information of a subject for diagnosis.

(Prior Art) In a conventional ultrasound diagnostic apparatus, for example, information for M-mode image formation is collected once every five ultrasound rate pulses, and information is collected four times every five ultrasound rate pulses. Information for B-mode image formation is being collected at a high rate. The collected M mode image information and B mode image information are each displayed in a predetermined area on the display screen of the television monitor.

In this display, the M mode image is thinned out according to a preset sweep speed, and is displayed at a maximum sweep speed of 1 second. Originally, M mode was a mode for observing the movement of heart valves, etc., but in recent years there has been a demand for observing fast moving objects such as vocal cords in M mode.

However, when displaying an M-mode image at a maximum sweep speed of 1 second, there is no problem with relatively slow-moving objects such as heart valves, but vocal cords (which vibrate at tens to hundreds of Hz) When the movement is fast, such as in the case of cases where movement is fast, minute changes in the time direction cannot be captured.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) As mentioned above, in the conventional device, when a region that is quickly affected, such as the vocal cords, is to be observed, M
This poses a problem in that mode images cannot be displayed.

The present invention was made in view of the above circumstances, and its purpose is to enable the display of M-mode images at a descending speed, and to enable diagnosis even when observing fast-moving parts such as the vocal cords. Another object of the present invention is to provide an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus that can display an excellent M-mode image.

[Structure of the invention]

(Means for Solving the Problems) The present invention fixes the data writing operation to the frame memory in the scan conversion system that converts the ultrasonic scanning of the transmitting and receiving system to the television display scanning to the operation during B-mode image formation, and , a control system having a control mode that fixes the information gathering operation of the transmitting and receiving system to the M mode image information gathering operation, and external input means for selecting this control mode.

(Function) When the above control mode is selected by the external input means, the control system fixes the data writing operation to the frame memory to the operation during B-mode image formation, and also fixes the information gathering operation of the transmitting and receiving system to the M-mode image forming operation. Fixed to information gathering behavior. As a result, the M-mode image information collected in the transmitting/receiving system is written into the frame memory using the same address designation as when forming the B-mode image, and an M-mode image is formed on the frame memory. The formed M-mode image is displayed at the timing of the display system, and the sweep speed at this time is the product of the repetition period of the ultrasonic rate pulse and the number of ultrasonic rasters for display, so the high-speed M-mode image Display becomes possible.

(Example) Hereinafter, the present invention will be specifically explained with reference to Examples.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. This device includes an ultrasound probe 1, a transmission/reception system 30, a scan conversion system 40, a display system 50, a control system 60, and a scanning panel 16.

The ultrasonic probe 1 transmits ultrasonic waves toward a subject P and receives reflected waves of the transmitted ultrasonic waves from the subject P. It consists of vibrators arranged in an array.

The transmission system 50 collects B-mode image and M-mode image information of the subject P by performing ultrasound scanning via the ultrasound probe 1, and includes a high-voltage switch 3, a transmission circuit 4, and a transmission delay circuit. 5, a preamplifier circuit 6, a reception delay circuit 7, a detection circuit 8, and an A/D conversion circuit 9. The high-voltage switch 3 includes a vibrator (for example, 12
The transmission circuit 4 generates an excitation pulse (drive pulse) to be applied to the vibrator, and the transmission delay circuit 5 shifts the timing at which the excitation pulse is generated. The preamplifier circuit 6 also includes a high voltage switch 3
The reception delay circuit 7 gives a predetermined delay time to the amplified reception echo, and the detection circuit 8 detects a predetermined frequency component from the output of the delay circuit 7. A/D
The conversion circuit 8 converts the output of the detection circuit 8 into a digital signal. The reflected component of the ultrasonic wave transmitted from the ultrasonic probe 1 by applying the excitation pulse returns to the probe l.
The signal is received by a preamplifier circuit 6, a receiver circuit 7, a detector circuit 8, and an A/D converter circuit in order, and then taken into a scan conversion system 40 disposed at a subsequent stage.

The scan conversion system 40 converts the ultrasonic scanning of the transmitting/receiving system 30 into television display scanning, and is usually referred to as a DSC (digital scan converter). Here, input buffer memory (1-B) 10, frame memory (F・M) 11, output buffer memory (
0.B)12.

The display system 50 visualizes the ultrasound information of the subject P based on the scan conversion output of the scan conversion system 40, and includes a D/A conversion circuit 13 and a CRT that converts the output of the output buffer memory 12 into an analog signal. Display 14
It consists of

The control system 60 is in charge of controlling the operation of the transmission/reception system 30 and the scan conversion system 40, and operates in linear scan control mode,
It has three basic control modes: normal M mode and high speed M mode. The linear scan control mode is a control mode when collecting B-mode image information of a predetermined tomographic plane of the subject P by linear scanning, and the normal M mode is a control mode when collecting M-mode image information using a conventional method. The specific control contents are the same as those of the conventional device. The high-speed M mode is a control that fixes the data writing operation to the frame memory 11 in the scan conversion system 40 to the operation during B-mode image formation, and fixes the information collection operation of the transmission/reception system 30 to the M-mode image information collection operation. mode, which is a feature of the device of this embodiment. Here, the CPU
(Central processing unit) 15, transmission control data generation unit 17,
Reception control data generation section 18, transmission and reception control section 19, DS
It is configured to include a C control section 20, a multiplexer 21, and an address generation circuit 22, and is configured to execute each of the above control modes.

The transmission control data generator 17 generates delay data and ultrasonic rate pulses to be sent to the transmission delay circuit 5, and the reception control data generator 18 generates delay data to be sent to the reception delay circuit 7. Both are under the control of the transmission/reception control section 19. The DSC control unit 20 controls the operation of the input buffer memory 10 and the output buffer memory 12, and controls the address generation circuit 22.
It controls the operation of the This address generation circuit 2
2 is DSC? Address data for the frame memory 11 is generated under the control of the li control section 20. There are two types of address data: address data (B) for B-mode image formation and address data (M) for M-mode image formation. Note that the address data (M) referred to here is data that is normally used only in the M mode.

Further, the multiplexer 21 selects each of the above address data and sends it to the frame memory 11.

The operation panel 16 is for inputting various information collection conditions, data processing conditions, etc. by operator operation.
Each control mode in the control system 60 is also selected via this operation panel 16.

The switch 23 switches the selected operation mode of the multiplexer 21, and is provided on the operation panel 23, for example. When the movable contact piece 24 of this switch 23 is located on the contact a side (as shown), the multiplexer 2
The control signal input terminal of No. 1 is grounded, and in this state, the multiplexer 21 inputs address data (
B) is selected and sent to the frame memory 11. Further, when the movable contact piece 24 of the switch 23 is located on the contact side, the control signal input terminal of the multiplexer 21 is connected to the DSC control unit 20, and in this state, the multiplexer 21 outputs an output from the DSC control unit 20. Address data for forming B mode (B
) and address data (M) for M-mode image formation are selected and sent to the frame memory 11.

In this sense, the operation panel 1 including this switch 23
6 are collectively referred to as external input means.

Next, the operation of the embodiment device configured as above will be explained.

B-mode image display> When displaying a B-mode image of the subject P on the CRT display 14, an instruction to that effect is given to the control system 60 via the operation panel 16. At this time, the movable contact piece 24 of the switch 23
is located on the contact a side. In this state, the device of this embodiment executes a linear scan under the control of the control system 60, and
Form a mode image. B-mode image formation by linear scanning is performed by changing the ultrasound beam address to B+ as shown in Figure 2.
-B and yo, and the third
As shown in the figure, this is done by switching the rask addresses on the frame memory 11 in the order of -L, . The timing relationship during this linear scan is shown in Figure 5 (al
~ (shown in dl. +al in the figure is the generation timing of the rate pulse, (1)) is the generation timing of the excitation pulse, (C) is the ultrasonic rask address on the frame memory 11, and (d) is the ultrasonic wave address. This is a sound wave beam address. Since the movable contact piece 24 of the switch 23 is located on the contact a side, the multiplexer 21 selects address data (B) for B-mode image formation, and data is written into the frame memory 11 according to this address.

The B-mode image formed by this writing is displayed on the CRT display 14 at the timing of the display system 50.

<B-mode image and normal M-mode image display> When displaying the B-mode image and the normal M-mode image in different areas on a single screen, the control system 60 is instructed to that effect via the operation panel 16. At the same time, the movable contact piece 2 of the switch 23
Switch 4 to the contact side. In this state, multiplexer 2
1 selects address data (B) for B-mode image formation and address data (M) for normal M-mode image formation in accordance with a switching signal output from the DSC control unit 20, and stores them in the frame memory 11. Output to. Then, for example, information collection for forming a normal M mode image is performed at a rate of once every five ultrasonic rate pulses, and a B mode image and a normal M mode image are formed on the frame memory 11, both of which are displayed on a CRT display. It will be displayed on 14.

High-speed M-mode image display> When displaying a high-speed M-mode image, an instruction to that effect is given to the control system 60 via the operation panel 16, and the movable contact piece 24 of the switch 23 is switched to the contact a side. As a result, the multiplexer 21 selects address data (B) and outputs it to the frame memory 11 in the same manner as in the case of B-mode image formation. Further, the high voltage switch 3 selects a predetermined vibrator involved in transmitting and receiving ultrasonic waves for obtaining an M-mode image. In this control mode, since no B-mode image is formed, the transducer is not switched.

That is, as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5 (tel), the ultrasound beam address is fixed to, for example, B, which corresponds to a desired part of the subject P, and ultrasound transmission and reception is performed only at this position.

The M-mode image information collected by such wave transmission and reception is sent to the frame memory 1 via the input buffer memory 10.
However, as mentioned above, since the address data for B-mode image formation is selected by the multiplexer 21, writing to the frame memory 11 is performed in the same way as when forming a B-mode image (i.e., the display The ultrasonic waves are performed in the order of ultrasonic rask addresses L1 to L). As a result, as shown in FIG.
is formed, and this M mode image 25 is displayed on the CRT display 14.

Here, the sweep time in high-speed M mode image display is the product (T-N) of the repetition period T of the ultrasonic rate pulse (see Figure 5, ta)) and the number n of ultrasonic rasters for display, allowing high-speed display. becomes.

Note that sampling positioning in high-speed M-mode image display can be performed by setting an M-mode sampling marker at a desired position on the previously displayed B-mode image.

This setting is performed via the operation panel 16.

In this way, in the device of this embodiment, the data writing operation to the frame memory 1 in the scan conversion system 40 is performed by B.
In addition to fixing the operation to the mode image formation, the transmitting/receiving system 30
The control system 60 has a control mode that fixes the information gathering operation to the M mode image information gathering operation, and external input means (16, 23) for selecting this control mode, and the external input means selects the control mode. By selecting , high-speed M-mode image display is possible, and M-mode image information is not collected every 5 ultrasonic rate pulses as in the past. Even when observing a fast-moving region like this, it is possible to display an M-mode image that can sufficiently capture minute changes in the time direction. Further, since the hardware change may be a small-scale change such as installing a switch 23 on the operation panel 16, it is advantageous in terms of cost.

Although one embodiment of the present invention has been described above, it goes without saying that the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, and various modifications can be made.

For example, in the embodiment described above, the switch 23 is provided and the selected operation mode of the multiplexer 21 is switched by this switch 23, but it is also possible to directly control the selection operation mode switching of the multiplexer 21 by the DSC control section 20. be.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As detailed above, according to the present invention, it is possible to display a high-speed M-mode image, and even when a fast-moving region such as the vocal cords is to be observed, an M-mode image that is good for diagnosis can be displayed. It is possible to provide an ultrasonic diagnostic device that can perform

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a block diagram of an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus that is an embodiment of the present invention, Fig. 2 is an explanatory diagram of linear scanning, Fig. 3 is an explanatory diagram of rask address switching in frame memory, and Fig. 4 is an M mode image. An explanatory diagram of an ultrasonic scan during information collection, FIGS. 5(a) to (e) are operation timing diagrams of the apparatus of this embodiment, and FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram of a high-speed M mode image formed in a frame memory. . 1... Ultrasonic probe, 11... Frame memory,
16.23...external input means, 30...transmission/reception system,
40...Scan conversion system, 50...Display system, 60...
control system. Agent Patent Attorney Ken Nori Chika Kanshu Norio Ogo

Claims (1)

[Claims] An ultrasonic probe that transmits ultrasonic waves toward a subject and receives reflected waves of the transmitted ultrasound waves from the subject, and performs ultrasonic scanning via this probe to detect the B mode of the subject. An ultrasonic device comprising: a transmitting/receiving system that collects image and M-mode image information; a scan converting system having a frame memory and converting the ultrasonic scanning of the transmitting/receiving system into television display scanning; and a display system that visualizes the scan conversion output. In the ultrasound diagnostic apparatus, a control mode is provided in which the data writing operation to the frame memory in the scan conversion system is fixed to the operation during B-mode image formation, and the information gathering operation of the transmitting and receiving system is fixed to the M-mode image information gathering operation. An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus comprising: a control system; and external input means for selecting the control mode.