KR101120816B1 - Ultrasound image system for controlling gain of region of interest - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention provides an ultrasound imaging system that can correct only a part of an ultrasound image according to a user's selection. The ultrasonic imaging system, the ultrasonic image display unit; A user input unit which receives a region of interest from the ultrasound image displayed on the display unit and outputs position information of the region of interest; A processor configured to form ultrasound image data based on an ultrasound echo signal input from the outside and receive position information of the ROI from the user input unit; A storage unit storing the ultrasound image data; And forming a gain control image that receives the ultrasound image data from the storage unit under control of the processor and forms an ultrasound image of which the gain of the ROI is adjusted based on the position information of the ROI input from the processor. Contains wealth.

Ultrasound image, region of interest, gain value, PGC (Post Gain Control)

Description

ULTRASOUND IMAGE SYSTEM FOR CONTROLLING GAIN OF REGION OF INTEREST}

1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a conventional ultrasound imaging system.

Figure 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an ultrasonic imaging system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

3 is a photograph showing an ultrasound image displayed on a display unit.

Figure 4 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a re-image forming unit according to an embodiment of the present invention.

5 is a photograph showing an ultrasound image in which a gain of a region of interest is adjusted.

* Description of reference numerals for the main parts of the drawings *

20: scan conversion unit 40: display unit

110: user input unit 120: processor

130: image processing unit 200: gain control image forming unit

210: signal classification unit 220: PGC

230: re-image processing unit

The present invention relates to an ultrasound system, and more particularly to an ultrasound imaging system for selectively adjusting the gain of the ROI.

The ultrasound diagnostic apparatus, which is easy to use and is widely used in the diagnostic medical field because it is harmless to the human body, acquires an ultrasound image of the biological tissue by using the reflection, scattering, and absorption characteristics of the ultrasonic wave generated when the ultrasound passes through the biological tissue in the object. do. The scattering intensity of the ultrasonic signal actually received from the object reflects the difference in acoustic impedance, and the frequency shift amount of the ultrasonic signal due to the Doppler effect reflects the movement speed, that is, the velocity component with respect to the traveling direction of the ultrasonic beam.

Ultrasound diagnosis uses a probe including a plurality of ultrasonic transducers implemented in an array form. In order to ensure that ultrasonic waves transmitted from multiple transducers converge at a desired point, that is, focal point at the same time, a beam focus is used to perform transmit focusing to adjust the ultrasonic transmission order of each transducer using a beamformer. To form. In addition, the beamformer adjusts the time difference of the reflected waves returning from the focus to each transducer so as to form the reception beam by performing the receiving focusing to adjust the reflected waves at the same time.

An ultrasound image is formed based on the reception beam.

As shown in FIG. 1, the conventional ultrasound imaging system includes a signal processor 10, a digital scan converter 20, an image manager 30, and a display 40.

The signal processor 10 processes the input ultrasonic echo signal in a form capable of image processing to form digital data.

The scan converting unit 20 scan converts data input from the signal processing unit 10. Since the ultrasound scan direction and the monitor scan direction are perpendicular to each other, the scan conversion unit changes the direction of the image. Data input from the signal processor 10 is sequentially stored in the memory of the scan converter in the vertical direction, and data stored in the memory is sequentially output along the horizontal direction.

The image processor 30 repeatedly transmits the data stored in the scan converter 20 to the display 40.

On the other hand, since the reception beam, that is, the ultrasonic echo signal, is very small in size, it must be amplified before signal processing or time delay. Amplification uses a method of adjusting the overall gain and a time gain compensation (TGG) method for compensating attenuation according to the object depth. It also removes noise and small echo signals contained in the amplified signal.

Gain adjustment may also proceed after the ultrasound image formation. For example, the image may be corrected by applying a gain curve to the entire freeze image displayed at the request of the user.

The conventional ultrasound image correction method has a disadvantage in that the user needs to adjust the gain of the entire image even when the user wants to adjust the gain of only a specific portion of the displayed image. That is, the user cannot correct the gain of only a portion of the ROI selected by the user, and the image correction time becomes longer as the gain of the entire image is corrected.

An object of the present invention is to provide an ultrasound imaging system that can correct only a part of an ultrasound image according to a user's selection.

The ultrasonic imaging system according to the present invention includes an ultrasonic image display unit; A user input unit for receiving a region of interest among the ultrasound images displayed on the display unit and outputting position information of the region of interest; forming ultrasound image data based on an ultrasonic echo signal input from the outside, and generating the ultrasonic image data from the user input unit. A processor receiving position information of the ROI; A storage unit storing the ultrasound image data; And forming a gain control image that receives the ultrasound image data from the storage unit under control of the processor and forms an ultrasound image of which the gain of the ROI is adjusted based on the position information of the ROI input from the processor. Contains wealth.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described.

As shown in FIG. 2, the ultrasound imaging system according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a user input unit 110, a processor 120, a digital scan converter 20, and an image manager 130. The gain control image forming unit 200 and the display unit 40 are included.

Among the components of the ultrasound imaging system illustrated in FIG. 2, the scan converter 20 and the display 40 have the same functions as those of the ultrasound imaging system of FIG. 1, and thus a detailed description thereof will be omitted.

As shown in FIG. 3, the display 40 displays an ultrasound image IM1, an image signal spectrum ISS1, and a gray scale bar GB1.

As shown in FIG. 3, the user input unit 110 provides a function for the user to select a region of interest (ROI) within the ultrasound image currently displayed on the display unit 40, and positions of the region of interest. Print information. The user input unit 110 may be implemented as a touch screen. While the user observes the currently displayed ultrasound image, the selection of the ROI is completed by simply touching a desired point using a separate selection tool such as a finger or a stylus. In addition, the user input unit 110 may be implemented as a mouse. The region of interest may be selected by following the trajectory of the movement of the mouse or by connecting the positions of at least two points selected by using the mouse. The region of interest may be selected in a freeze mode.

In addition, the user input unit 110 may receive a gain value set by the user. To this end, the user input unit 110 may include a knob or a keyboard for gain control. The gain value input through the user input unit 110 is transmitted to the processor 110.

The processor 120 processes the input ultrasonic echo signal in a form capable of image processing to form image data A in digital form. In this case, the processor 120 generates and adds screen position information to the image data A. FIG. In addition, the processor 120 receives location information of the ROI from the user input unit 110. The processor 120 outputs the image data A to the scan converter 20, which is a storage unit, and outputs, to the image processor 130, whether the location information of the ROI is input from the user input unit 110. The position information C of the ROI is output to the gain control image forming unit 200.

When the location information of the ROI is not input from the user input unit 110 to the processor 120, the image processor 130 may repeatedly display the data stored in the scan converter 20 on the display unit 40. do. When the location information of the ROI is input to the processor 120, the image processor 130 transfers the scan information from the scan converter 20 to the display 40 immediately before the location information of the ROI is input to the processor 120. The transferred data to the gain control image forming unit 200. As described above, when the location information of the ROI is input in the freeze mode, the image processor 130 transfers the data stored in the scan converter 20 to the gain control image forming unit 200 before switching to the freeze mode. .

The gain control image forming unit 200 includes a signal classifying unit 210, a PGC 220, and a reimage processing unit 230 as shown in FIG. 4.

The signal classifier 210 receives data stored in the scan converter 130 through the image processor 130, classifies the data by identifying a packet structure of the input data. That is, the signal classifying unit 210 analyzes the packet structure of the input data, header (8bit) + color (8bit) + power doppler (8bit) + BW (black & white) (8bit), and analyzes each input data. Analyzes whether the data corresponds to B-mode, M-mode, Doppler mode, color mode, or power doppler mode, and displays the mode type information in the header. To reconstruct the packet. The signal classifier 210 outputs the data classified into the B-mode, the M-mode, or the Doppler-mode to the PGC 220, and outputs the data classified into the color-mode or the power Doppler-mode. Will output

The PGC 220 selects data of the ROI based on the location information of the ROI input from the processor 100 and the screen position information of the data input from the signal classifier 210. The PGC 220 forms a region of interest mask based on the location information of the region of interest input from the processor 100, and determines that the input data is the region of interest data if the input data is data within the region of interest mask. It is determined that the data is not.

Immediately transferred to the re-image processing unit 230, in the case of the data of the region of interest, extract the BW signal from the data packet of the region of interest, adjust the gain of the extracted BW signal, and then reflect the gain adjusted BW signal Reconstruct the data packets in the area.

In the process of adjusting the gain of the extracted BW signal, the gain is adjusted according to the gain value input from the user input unit 110. When the gain value is not input from the user input unit 110, the PGC 220 may adjust the gain of the BW signal according to a preset gain value.

The reimage processor 230 reconstructs an ultrasound image in which a gain value of the ROI is adjusted based on data input from the PGC 220 and color-mode or power-Doppler mode data input from the signal classifier 210. do.

The ultrasound image formed by the reimage processor 230 is displayed on the display 80.

By adjusting the gain of the ROI in the ultrasound image shown in FIG. 3, the gain-adjusted ultrasound image IM2, the image signal spectrum ISS2, and the post gray scale bar GB2 are adjusted as shown in FIG. 5. You can get it.

According to the present invention as described above, the gain of the region selected by the user can be arbitrarily adjusted without adjusting the gain of the entire displayed ultrasound image. Accordingly, the image processing time according to the gain adjustment can be shortened.

Claims (5)

An ultrasound image display unit; A user input unit which receives a region of interest from the ultrasound image displayed on the display unit and outputs position information of the region of interest; A processor configured to form ultrasound image data based on an ultrasound echo signal input from the outside and receive position information of the ROI from the user input unit; A storage unit storing the ultrasound image data; And A gain adjusting image forming unit configured to receive the ultrasound image data from the storage unit under the control of the processor and form an ultrasound image of which the gain of the ROI is adjusted based on the position information of the ROI input from the processor Including ultrasonic imaging system. The method of claim 1, The gain control image forming unit, A post gain controller (PGC) for controlling the gain of the region of interest to form image data with a gain value of the region of interest adjusted; And And a reimage processor configured to form an ultrasound image based on the image data input from the PGC. The method of claim 2, The gain control image forming unit, And a data classifying unit configured to classify data input from the storage unit for each mode to reconstruct data, and to transfer the reconstructed data to the PGC. 4. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, The user input unit receives a gain value from a user and delivers the gain value to the processor. The gain control image forming unit adjusts the gain of the ROI according to the gain value input from the processor. 4. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, The gain control image forming unit adjusts a gain of the ROI according to a preset gain value.

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