KR101028355B1 - Ultrasound diagnostic device and method of forming scan line data - Google Patents

Abstract

An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus capable of simplifying a chip structure by reducing the number of data lines between a channel and a scan line data forming unit and a method of forming scan line data using the same are provided. The ultrasound diagnosis apparatus includes a plurality of channel groups, a scan line data forming unit for forming data of a plurality of scan lines, and a scan line data forming unit, which correspond to the channel groups one-to-one, and serve a part of a plurality of scan lines. And a sub scan line data forming unit for forming scan line data. The scanline data forming method of the ultrasound diagnostic apparatus may include receiving at least one first subscanline data forming unit from among at least one channel group among the plurality of channel groups; Receiving at least one second sub scan line data forming unit of the plurality of sub scan line data forming units through the first sub scan line data forming unit; Forming, by each of the sub scan line data forming units, partial data of the scan lines using received data of a corresponding channel group; And adding the partial data of each scan line to form data of each scan line.

Ultrasound, image, channel, received data, transmission, data line, partial data

Description

ULTRASOUND DIAGNOSTIC DEVICE AND METHOD OF FORMING SCAN LINE DATA}

The present invention relates to an ultrasound diagnosis apparatus, and more particularly, to an ultrasound diagnosis apparatus and a scanline data forming method including a reception data transmission line between a scanline data forming unit and a channel.

The ultrasonic signal transmitted from the transducer of the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus is reflected at an acoustic impedance discontinuous surface (reflector surface) inside the object, and the transducer converts the received reflected ultrasonic signal into an electrical received signal. An ultrasound image showing the internal state of the object is formed using the received signal. Multiple transducer arrays in the form of arrays are used to improve the resolution of ultrasound images. In the case of using a plurality of transducers, it is possible to effectively prevent the spread of ultrasonic waves, and to focus the ultrasonic beam electronically and to improve the sensitivity than when using only one transducer.

The focusing of the ultrasonic wave is divided into transmission focusing and reception focusing. During transmission focusing, the ultrasonic transmission order of the transducers is determined by reflecting the difference in distance between each transducer and the focusing point. Accordingly, the ultrasonic waves transmitted from all transducers contributing to one ultrasonic wave transmission / reception (forming one scan line) are simultaneously added in the same phase at one focal point, thereby maximizing the amplitude of the transmitted ultrasonic waves. In the reception focusing, the ultrasonic wave received by each transducer is delayed to have the same phase so that the ultrasonic waves reflected from the focusing point simultaneously reach each transducer.

In order to increase the resolution, the focusing point should be large, but the same signal processing process has to be repeated by the number of focusing points in order to obtain a single image. As the focusing point increases, the frame rate decreases. In order to solve this problem, it is possible to use dynamic dynamic focusing, in which the number of transmission focus points is fixed and the number of reception focus points is increased to finely focus. However, as the number of transmission focus points is fixed, there is a limit in improving the resolution. In US Pat. No. 6,231,511, a system and method for obtaining data of a corresponding scan line using all transmission focus signals of adjacent adjacent transmission scan lines are presented.

In order to improve the lateral resolution and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of an ultrasound image, the received signal from the full aperture transducer (channel) that contributed to one reception (more accurately, the RF obtained from the received signal) It is ideal to implement synthetic aperture imaging (SAI) at a full frame rate by transmitting data to a signal focusing unit and a beam forming unit. However, in order to perform SAI at the maximum frame rate using the signals received from all transducers, a low resolution image (LRI) corresponding to all scan lines must be formed simultaneously, and the HRI (high previously formed using LRIs) -resoultion image) should be updated. Therefore, since the reception signals of all the transducers that contributed to one reception must be corresponded to the entire scan line, the hardware H / W configuration becomes very complicated.

When the number of channels is N and the number of scan line data forming units is M, when considering focusing delay and apodization, the data line between the channel and the scan line data forming units is M × N. M RF buffers and accumulators are required for storing and updating the number of scan lines and scan lines. For example, if N = M = 128, 16384 data lines are required in the connection structure between the channels CH0 to CH7 and the scanline data generators SC0 to SC7 shown in FIG. 1. Considering the development level of semiconductor processing technology, it is not easy to implement a complex connection structure on a printed circuit board (PCB) as shown in FIG.

An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus and a scanline data forming method capable of simplifying a chip structure by reducing the number of data lines between a channel and a scanline data forming unit are provided.

Ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, a plurality of channels for providing received data; A scan line data forming unit including a plurality of sub scan line data forming groups for forming sub scan line data of scan lines using the received data and a data adder for adding the sub scan line data to form scan line data; And an image processor configured to form an ultrasound image by using the scan line data. The sub scan line data forming group may include a plurality of sub scan line data forming units which form partial scan line data of each of the scan lines using the received data and provide a transmission path of the received data; A first data line configured to transmit the received data between at least some of the plurality of sub scan line data forming units and the plurality of channels; And a second data line transmitting the received data between neighboring sub-scan line data forming units.

The scanline data forming method according to an embodiment of the present invention is a method of forming scanline data using received data provided from a plurality of channel groups, wherein the scanline is provided using received data provided from each of the channel groups. Forming respective piece of data; And adding partial data of each scan line formed from the received data of all channel groups to form scan line data of the scan line.

According to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, a scanline data forming method includes a plurality of channel groups, a scanline data forming unit for forming data of a plurality of scanlines, and a scanline data forming unit corresponding to the channel group. A method of forming scan line data in an ultrasound diagnostic apparatus, the method comprising: a sub scan line data forming unit configured to form sub scan line data of a part of the plurality of scan lines; Receiving, by a first sub-scanline data forming unit, received data from at least one channel group of the plurality of channel groups; Receiving at least one second sub scan line data forming unit of the plurality of sub scan line data forming units through the first sub scan line data forming unit; Forming, by each of the sub scan line data forming units, partial data of the scan lines using the received data of a corresponding channel group; And adding the partial data of each scan line to form data of each scan line.

Only a portion of the plurality of sub scan line data forming units included in the scan line data forming unit directly receive the received data from the channel, and a separate data line is provided between neighboring sub scan line data forming units to form all the sub scan line data. By receiving the received data to the unit, the number of data lines between the channel and the scan line data forming unit can be reduced, and the chip area and power consumption can be reduced.

Reference Example

Referring to FIG. 2, the channels CH0 to CH7 and the scanline data generators SC0 to SC7 that contribute to one ultrasonic signal reception are divided into a plurality of groups G1 and G2. A plurality of scanline data generators SC0 to SC7 may be implemented on independent application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) for each of the groups G1 and G2. Received data formed on channels of the same group are transmitted to the scanline data formers of the same group. For example, as shown in FIG. 2, the received data of the group G1 channels CH0 to CH3 is transmitted to the scanline data generators SC0 to SC3 of the group G1, and similarly, the received data of the group G2 channels CH4 to CH7 is received. It is transmitted to the scanline data formers SC4 to SC7 of the group G2. When the number of channels is constant, as the number of groups increases, the number of channels corresponding to one scanline data generator decreases, so that the number of data lines between the channel and the scanline data generator also decreases. However, in the connection structure shown in FIG. 2, since the data is not shared between the groups G1 and G2, the received data of all channels CH0 to CH7 contributing to the reception of one ultrasonic signal is included in each scan line. It cannot be reflected in data formation.

Hereinafter, embodiments of an ultrasound diagnosis apparatus and a scanline data forming method capable of reducing the number of data lines, chip area, and power consumption between the channel and the scanline data forming unit will be described.

Figure 3 shows an example of the configuration of the ultrasound diagnostic apparatus 100 for forming an ultrasound image with a plurality of scan lines in accordance with the present invention. The channel 10 of the ultrasound diagnostic apparatus includes a transducer 11 and an analog-digital converter (ADC) 12. The received signal output from the transducer 11 is converted into digital received data (RF data) by the ADC 12. An amplifier (not shown) may be further included for amplifying the signal output from the transducer 11 and outputting the amplified signal to the ADC 12. In addition, although not shown in FIG. 3, the ultrasound diagnosis apparatus 100 further includes a transmission beam forming unit and a reception beam forming unit required for transmitting and receiving an ultrasonic signal.

The scan line data forming unit 20 forms the scan line data using the received data, and the image processor 30 forms the ultrasound image using the scan line data. The display unit 40 displays an ultrasound image.

Referring to FIG. 4, channels CH0 to CH127 simultaneously participating in one ultrasonic transmission and reception are divided into a plurality of first channel groups CGA, CGB, CGG, and CGD. The scanline data forming unit 20 includes a plurality of sub scanline data forming groups GA, GB, GC, and GD. The plurality of sub-scanline data forming groups GA to GD correspond to the first channel group CGA to CGD one-to-one, and form sub-scanline data of the plurality of scan lines from the data of the corresponding first channel group. The sub scan line data forming groups GA to GD share the data of the scan line to be formed by the scan line data forming unit 20. For example, when the scanline data forming unit 20 wants to form data of 128 scanlines using the received data of the channels CH0 to CH127 that contribute to one ultrasonic signal transmission and reception, four subscans The line data forming groups GA to GD form partial data of 128 scan lines, respectively, using data of the first channel group CGA to CGD corresponding one-to-one. Accordingly, partial data of each scan line is output from the plurality of sub scan line data forming groups GA to GD. As shown in the example of FIG. 4, in the scan line data forming unit 20 including four sub scan line data forming groups GA to GD, four sub scan line data P _An , P _Bn , P for each scan line. _Cn , P _Dn ) is formed. The data summers AC1, AC2, and AC3 add the sub scan line data P _An , P _Bn , P _Cn , and P _Dn for each scan line, and output the scan line data.

The first channel group is divided into a plurality of second channel groups, and each of the sub scan line data forming groups GA to GD includes a plurality of sub scan line data forming units. As shown in FIG. 5, the first channel group CGA is divided into a plurality of second channel groups CG0, CG1, CG2, and CG3, and one sub scanline data forming group GA is divided into a plurality of subchannels. The scan line data forming units 21, 22, 23, and 24 are included. At least one first data line CA0, CA1, CA2, and CA3 is provided to transmit received data between the first channel group CGA and the sub scanline data formation group GA. The first data lines CA0, CA1, CA2, and CA3 are implemented as low-voltatge difference signaling (LVDS) driver blocks to form the channel 10 and the sub scan line data forming units 21 to 24. Can act as an ADC interface between

Channels in the same second channel group CG0 to CG3 share the same first data line CA0 to CA3. For example, eight channels CH0 to CH7 of channel group CG0 share data line CA0, channels CH8 to CH15 of channel group CG1 share data line CA1, and channels CH16 to CH23 of channel group CG2 represent data line CA2. Channel CH24 to CH31 of the channel group CG3 share the data line CA3.

Only some of the sub scan line data forming units 21 and 24 of all the sub scan line data forming units 21 to 24 implemented on the sub scan line data forming group GA have the first data lines CA0, CA1, and CA2. Receives the received data transmitted via CA3). For example, the received data of the channel groups CG0 and CG1 is transmitted to the sub scan line data forming unit 21 through two data lines CA0 and CA1 of the four first data lines CA0, CA1, CA2, and CA3. The received data of the channel groups CG2 and CG3 may be transmitted to the sub scan line data forming unit 24 through the first data lines CA2 and CA3. The sub scan line data forming units 22 and 23 do not receive the received data through the first data lines CA0 to CA3, and neighbor the sub scan line data forming units through the second data lines CB0 to CB3. 21, 24) to receive the received data. As such, the sub scan line data forming units 21 to 24 on the sub scan line data forming group GA may include at least one first sub scan line data forming unit 21 directly connected to the first data lines CA0 to CA3. , And the second sub scan line data forming units 22 and 23 which are not connected to the first data lines CA0 to CA3.

Received data transmitted to the sub scan line data forming unit 21 through the first data lines CA0 and CA1 is sequentially transmitted to the other sub scan line data forming units 22 to 24 of the sub scan line data forming group GA. Is passed to. Similarly, the received data transmitted to the sub scan line data forming unit 24 through the first data lines CA2 and CA3 are sequentially transmitted to the sub data scan line data forming units 23 to 21. To this end, as illustrated in FIG. 6, the internal scan lines I0, I1, I2, and I3 corresponding to the first data lines CA0 to CA4 are provided in the sub scan line data forming units 21 to 24. . Received data output from the sub scan line data forming units 21 to 24 via the internal data lines I0, I1, I2, and I3 is divided into two sub scan line data forming units 21 and 22, 22 and 23, 23 and 24. The received data output through the second data lines CB0, CB1, CB2, and CB3 provided between the second and second data lines CB0, CB1, CB2, and CB3 are adjacent to the sub-scan line data forming unit 21. 22, 22 and 23, 23 and 24). The second data lines CB0 to CB3 may be implemented as LVDS driver blocks to serve as bus interfaces.

The second channel group CG0 to CG3, the first data lines CA0 to CA3, the internal paths I0 to I3, and the second data lines CB0 to CB3 correspond to one-to-one paths. The data input / output and transmission directions of the first data lines CA0 to CA3, the internal paths I0 to I3, and the second data lines CB0 to CB3 are all received data received in the sub scan line data formation group GA. It is transmitted to all the sub scan line data forming units 21 to 24 and determined to reduce the area and power consumption of the sub scan line data forming group GA and the sub scan line data forming units 21 to 24 as much as possible. desirable.

The sub scanline data formation group GB, GC, and CD also have the same configuration as the sub scanline data formation group GA. The sub-scanline data forming units 21, 22, 23, and 24 of each of the sub-scanline data forming groups GA, GB, GC, and CD not only provide a transmission path of the received data, but also correspond to a corresponding second channel group. The partial data P _Xn of each scan line is formed using the received data of CG0 to CG3. " _X " in "P _Xn " is an identifier of the sub scanline data formation group, and n represents a scanline. For example, "P _A0 " represents partial data of scan line 0 formed in the sub scanline data formation group GA represented by the identifier "A" as shown in FIG.

A configuration of the sub scan line data forming units 21 to 24 will be described with reference to FIG. 7. For example, the number of the partial data forming units A32 to A63 of the scan lines 32... Scan line 63 provided in the sub scan line data forming unit 22 is the scan that the sub scan line data forming unit 22 is responsible for. It is equal to the number of lines SC32 to SC63. Referring to FIG. 6, the partial data forming units A32 to A63 receive data and sub scan line data input via second data lines CB0 and CB1 between the sub scan line data forming units 21 and 22. The partial data P _A32 to P _A63 are formed using the received data input through the second data lines CB2 and CB3 between the forming units 22 and 23.

The partial data forming unit Xn receives the received data R _k provided from the channels k through the first data line or the second data line, and receives the weight w _nk reflecting the relationship between the scan line n and the channel k. The received data R _k is multiplied, and as shown in Equation 1, the received data reflecting the weights of all the channels k are summed to form the partial data P _Xn .

For example, the received data R ₀ , R ₁ ... R ₃₁ provided from the 32 channels CH0 to CH31 of the second channel group CG0 to CG3 may be stored in the sub scan line data forming unit 22. When input to, the partial data forming unit A32 multiplies the predetermined weight w _nk according to the relationship between the scan line 32 and the channels CH0 to CH31 (w ₃₂₀ R ₀ , w ₃₂₁ R ₁ ... w ₃₂₃₁ R ₃₁ ), The received data reflecting the weights are added to form partial data P _A32 of scan line 32 (P _A32 = w ₃₂₀ R ₀ + w ₃₂₁ R ₁ + ... + w ₃₂₃₁ R ₃₁ ).

The partial data P _An of each scan line formed by the partial data forming unit An of the sub scan line data forming unit 22 is output to the data summer AC1 shown in FIG. 4. As shown in FIG. 7, only the scan line and the first data line or the second data line, which are in charge of the sub scan line data forming units 21 and 23 to 24, are the same as the sub scan line data forming unit 22. Preferably, the sub scan line data forming units 21 to 24 may be implemented as an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC). In FIG. 7, reference numeral 22a denotes a data receiver Rx, and 22b denotes a data transmitter Tx.

8 is a schematic diagram illustrating a data providing structure between a sub scan line data forming group and a scan line data forming unit according to an embodiment of the present invention, in which scan line data of scan lines 0 to 127 is a sub scan line data forming group; It is shown that it is formed by the sum of the partial data respectively formed at (GA ~ GD).

In the embodiment shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, it is shown that some of the sub scan line data forming units 21 and 24 receive the received data through the first data lines CA0 to CA4. Like the formation group GA-1, the sub scan line data forming units 21 to 24 receive the received data directly from the first data lines CA0 to CA3 in a one-to-one correspondence with the first data lines CA0 to CA3. Can be. Each of the sub scan line data forming units 21 to 24 receives received data from the corresponding channel groups CG0 to CG3 through the first data lines CA0 to CA3, and receives data of the non-corresponding channel group. Receives received data through second data lines CB0 to CB3 provided between the sub scan line data forming units.

FIG. 10 shows an example of a configuration of a scanline data forming group GA-2 for forming 256 scanline data from 32 channels of received data. In the scan line data forming group GA or GA-1 forming partial data of 128 scan lines, four sub scan line data forming units 21 to 24 forming sub data of 32 scan lines are provided. In the scan line data forming group GA-2, the number of sub scan line data forming units 21 to 28 forming partial data of 32 scan lines is increased to eight. As such, the sub scan line data forming unit implemented in the form of an ASIC can be freely changed according to the number of scan lines, thereby facilitating the design and change of the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus.

The present invention relates to hardware (H / W), especially channels and main scanlines, in systems that perform synthetic aperture imaging (SAI) at full frame rate using received data of all channels that contribute to one-time ultrasound reception. The number and structure of data lines between the data forming units are simple, and data transmission and reception between the sub scan line data forming units within the main scan line data is possible, thereby reducing the area and power consumption of the chip.

In another embodiment of the present invention, a method of forming scanline data using received data provided from a plurality of channel groups, wherein the partial data of each scanline is formed using received data provided from each channel group. The scanline data of each scanline is formed by adding the partial data for each scanline formed from the received data of the channel group.

The aforementioned scanline data forming method may be implemented using the ultrasound diagnostic apparatus shown in FIGS. 4 to 6. That is, a plurality of channel groups, a scan line data forming unit for forming data of a plurality of scan lines, and the scan line data forming unit are provided in the scan line data forming unit to correspond to the channel group one-to-one, and serve as a sub scan part of the plurality of scan lines. Scan line data is formed using an ultrasound diagnostic apparatus including a sub scan line data forming unit configured to form scan line data. That is, at least one first sub scan line data forming unit of the plurality of sub scan line data forming units receives received data from at least one channel group of the plurality of channel groups. The second sub scan line data forming unit of the plurality of sub scan line data forming units receives the received data through the first sub scan line data forming unit. Each of the sub scan line data forming units forms partial data of a scan line using received data of a corresponding channel group, and combines the partial data of each scan line to form data of each of the scan lines. By using such scanline data forming methods, the number of data lines between the reception data providing unit and the scanline data forming unit may be reduced.

It is to be understood that the above described embodiments are merely illustrative of some of the various embodiments employing the principles of the present invention. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention.

1 is a schematic diagram showing a connection structure between a conventional channel and a scan line data forming portion.

2 is a schematic view showing a connection structure between a channel and a scan line data forming portion according to a reference example.

Figure 3 is a block diagram of the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

4 is a schematic diagram of a scan line data forming unit including a plurality of sub scan line data forming groups one-to-one corresponding to a first channel group according to an embodiment of the present invention.

5 is a schematic diagram illustrating a connection structure between a second channel group and a sub scan line data forming unit according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

6 is a schematic diagram showing an example of the configuration of an internal data line of a scan line data forming unit according to an embodiment of the present invention;

7 is a schematic diagram showing a configuration of a sub scan line data forming unit according to an embodiment of the present invention.

8 is a schematic diagram showing a data providing structure between a sub scanline data forming group and a scanline data forming unit according to an embodiment of the present invention;

9 is a schematic diagram illustrating a connection structure of a sub scan line data forming group and a second channel group according to an embodiment of the present invention.

10 is a schematic diagram showing an increase in the number of sub scan line data forming portions in a sub scan line data forming group according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Claims (11)

As an ultrasound diagnostic device, A plurality of channels for providing received data; A scan line data forming unit including a plurality of sub scan line data forming groups for forming sub scan line data of scan lines using the received data and a data adder for adding the sub scan line data to form scan line data; And An image processing unit for forming an ultrasound image using the scan line data, The sub scan line data forming group is A plurality of sub scan line data forming units configured to form partial scan line data of each of the scan lines using the received data and to provide a transmission path of the received data; A first data line configured to transmit the received data between at least some of the plurality of sub scan line data forming units and the plurality of channels; And And a second data line for transmitting the received data between neighboring sub-scan line data forming units. The method of claim 1, The plurality of channels are divided into a plurality of first channel groups that correspond one-to-one to the sub scan line data formation group. The first channel group is divided into a second channel group corresponding to the sub scan line data forming unit. The sub scan line data forming units of each of the sub scan line data forming groups are in charge of dividing the plurality of scan lines, and receive partial data of the corresponding scan line by using received data provided from a channel of the second channel group. Shaped, ultrasound diagnostic device. The method of claim 2, The sub-scanline data forming unit may multiply the received data by a predetermined weight between all channels of the corresponding second channel group and the plurality of scanlines, and add the received data in which the weight is reflected to add the portion of the scanline. Ultrasound diagnostic apparatus for forming data. The method of claim 2, The sub scan line data forming unit may further include an internal data line corresponding to the first data line or the second data line and providing a transmission path of the received data. The method of claim 2, The plurality of sub scan line data forming units, A first sub scan line data forming unit connected directly to the first data line; And And a second sub scan line data forming unit not connected to the first data line. The method of claim 5, Each of the sub scan line data forming units is implemented as an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC). The method of claim 2, Wherein each channel comprises a transducer and an analog-to-digital converter. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 7, And at least one of the first data line and the second data line is implemented as an LVDS driver block. A method of forming scanline data using received data provided from a plurality of channel groups, the method comprising: Forming partial data of each scan line using received data provided in each channel group; And And forming scanline data of the scanline by summing partial data for each scanline formed from received data of all channel groups. A plurality of channel groups, a scan line data forming unit for forming data of the plurality of scan lines, and a sub-scan line of some scan lines provided in the scan line data forming unit to correspond to the channel group one-to-one and in charge of the plurality of scan lines A scan line data forming method of an ultrasound diagnostic apparatus including a sub scan line data forming unit for forming data, the method comprising: Receiving at least one first sub-scanline data forming unit of a plurality of sub-scanline data forming units from the at least one channel group of the plurality of channel groups; Receiving a second sub scan line data forming unit from the plurality of sub scan line data forming units through the first sub scan line data forming unit; Forming, by each of the sub scan line data forming units, partial data of the plurality of scan lines using the received data of a corresponding channel group; And Adding partial data of the plurality of scan lines to form data of each scan line; The scanline data forming method of the ultrasound image comprising a. The method of claim 10, In the step of forming the partial data, The sub-scanline data forming unit multiplies the received data by a predetermined weight between all channels of the corresponding channel group and the plurality of scanlines, and adds the received data with the weights to form the partial data of the scanline. Method of forming scanline data of an ultrasound image.

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