KR20110040184A - Organic light emitting diodes touch screen and ultrasound system with the same - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: An OLED touch screen and an ultrasonic system including the same are provided to reduce the thickness of a screen by applying an OLED to a display for an ultrasonic image. CONSTITUTION: A control panel(110) receives a user instruction. A controller(120) controls the formation and display of an ultrasonic imager. An ultrasonic diagnosing unit(130) forms an ultrasonic image based on an ultrasonic signal transmitted to and reflected to an object. An OLED panel displays a menu. A touch sensor detects the contact position of the OLED panel.

Description

 ORGANIC LIGHT EMITTING DIODES TOUCH SCREEN AND ULTRASOUND SYSTEM WITH THE SAME}

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to ultrasonic systems, and more particularly, to an organic light emitting diodes (OLED) touch screen and an ultrasonic system comprising the same.

Ultrasound systems have non-invasive and non-destructive properties and are widely used in the medical field for obtaining information inside an object. Ultrasound systems can provide a high resolution image of internal tissues to a doctor in real time without the need for direct surgical surgery, which is very important in the medical field.

In general, the ultrasound system includes a probe, a main body, a control panel, and a display unit. The probe includes a conversion element formed of a piezoelectric material for transmitting and receiving ultrasonic signals. The probe electrically stimulates the conversion element to form and transmit an ultrasonic signal to the human body. The ultrasonic signal transmitted to the human body is reflected at the boundary of discontinuous human tissue, and the ultrasonic echo signal transmitted from the boundary of the human tissue to the conversion element is converted into an electrical signal. The main body performs focusing of the ultrasound signal and reception focus of the ultrasound echo signal, and forms an ultrasound image of the object based on the received focused signal. The control panel is provided on one side of the main body, and includes a touch screen, a keyboard, a trackball, a plurality of buttons, etc. for performing a function of acquiring and controlling an ultrasound image, a menu control function, a measurement and an annotation function, and the like. The display unit displays an ultrasound image formed in the main body.

Meanwhile, in order to display the ultrasound image formed in the main body on the display, the ultrasound system sets a screen focus for activating the screen and then displays the ultrasound image on the display. The ultrasound system converts the screen focus from the display unit to the touch screen when a user instruction is input from the user through the touch screen. When the input of the user instruction (instruction) is completed, the ultrasound system switches the screen focus from the touch screen to the display unit.

Conventional ultrasound system has a problem that can not be clearly provided to the user how the ultrasound image displayed on the display unit without the screen focus changes according to the user instruction due to the above-described switching of the screen focus.

The present invention provides a touchable organic light emitting diodes (OLED) device and an ultrasonic system including the same.

An ultrasound system for forming an ultrasound image of the present invention includes a control panel including an OLED (organic light emitting diodes) touch screen operable to display at least one menu and to receive a user's instructions in a touch manner.

In addition, the ultrasound system for forming an ultrasound image of the present invention includes a display unit including an OLED touch screen that displays at least one menu and the ultrasound image, and operates to receive a user's instructions in a touch manner.

The OLED touch screen of the ultrasonic system of the present invention also includes an OLED panel operative to display at least one of at least one menu and an ultrasound image; And a touch sensing unit mounted on the OLED panel, the touch sensing unit operable to detect a contact position by sensing a contact with the OLED panel.

According to the present invention, the ultrasound system not only has a display for displaying an ultrasound image but also uses a touch panel screen for image control or function operation. Existing touch panel screen is composed of LCD, LCD driver, and touch controller, so the design of the touch panel screen of the control panel is relatively thick. If a touchable OLED is used, a touch panel much thinner than an LCD touch panel can be realized while maintaining the function of the touch panel. And since OLED has a wider viewing angle than LCD, users can easily observe the touch panel in any posture.

In addition, when the touchable OLED is applied to the display for displaying the ultrasound image, there is an advantage of being thinner than the LCD, and the ultrasound image can be controlled or a function can be manipulated while watching the ultrasound image.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the following description, well-known functions or constructions will not be described in detail if they obscure the subject matter of the present invention.

First Example

1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an ultrasound system 100 according to a first embodiment of the present invention. The ultrasound system 100 includes a control panel 110, a controller 120, an ultrasound diagnosis unit 130, and a display 140.

The control panel 110 receives a user instruction. In the present embodiment, the control panel 110 includes an OLED (organic light emitting diodes) touch screen 111 that operates to receive a user instruction in a touch manner. In addition, the control panel 110 may include a trackball (not shown) for receiving a user instruction corresponding to the movement of a cursor, a keyboard (not shown) for receiving a user instruction corresponding to text input, and a TGC of an ultrasound image. The apparatus may further include a slider (not shown) for receiving a user instruction corresponding to a (Time Gain Compensation) setting and a button unit (not shown) including a dial button, an up-down button, a knob button, and the like.

The OLED touch screen 111 displays at least one menu and receives instructions of a user. Here, the menu may include a menu for selecting an application corresponding to a diagnosis part of the object, a menu for selecting a diagnosis mode for forming an ultrasound image of the object, a menu for optimizing the ultrasound image, and the like. In addition, the user instruction may include menu selection information for selecting a menu by touching the user. In the present embodiment, the OLED touch screen 111 includes an OLED panel (not shown) and a touch sensing unit (not shown).

OLED panels have a plurality of scan lines and data lines arranged in a matrix, and a diode and a capacitor are provided at each intersection of the scan line and the data line. The capacitor here corresponds to the parasitic capacitor present in the OLED panel. Diodes and capacitors make up the pixel. In the case of a color OLED panel, three diodes and three capacitors corresponding to R (Red), G (Green), and B (Blue) respectively constitute one pixel. The scan line driver is coupled to the scan line, and the data line driver is coupled to the data line. The scan line driver outputs a scan signal of a high or low level through the scan line, and the data line driver outputs a driving current through the data line. The scan line driver selectively sets one scan line of the plurality of scan lines to a low level. The driving current output from the data line driver through the data line flows through the diode and the capacitor coupled to the scan line selected by the scan line driver. When the capacitor is charged, the driving current flows through the diode to the scan line driver. At this time, the brightness of the pixel is determined according to the amount of current flowing through the diode. The same operation is performed sequentially and repeatedly for all the scan lines to provide a predetermined image through the OLED panel.

The touch detector detects a contact of a user and detects a contact position. For example, if a user's hand or an object touches a character or a specific location displayed on the OLED panel, the touch sensing unit detects the location of the touch panel so as to receive an input directly on the screen. The touch sensing unit may use infrared rays, and do not touch two films on the surface of the OLED panel and allow the film at the point where the user touches to convert the resistance values of the X and Y axes into analog-to-digital converters. Another method is to extract coordinates based on OLED panel resolution. Therefore, when a user touches a letter or a picture of the OLED panel, the user can grasp the user's selection from the contact coordinates and process the corresponding command by a computer so that the desired information can be easily obtained.

The OLED touch screen 111 according to the present embodiment can display a menu with a wide viewing angle and a fast response speed, so that the user can easily select the menu as well as easily view the menu in any posture.

The controller 120 controls the display of the menu and the reception of the user instruction. The controller 120 controls the transmission and reception of the ultrasonic signal according to the user instruction. The controller 120 controls signal processing for forming ultrasound data and image processing for forming an optimal ultrasound image according to a user instruction. The controller 120 controls the formation and display of an ultrasound image according to a user instruction.

The ultrasound diagnosis unit 130 transmits an ultrasound signal to the object under the control of the controller 120 and receives an ultrasound signal (that is, an ultrasound echo signal) reflected from the object to form an ultrasound image.

2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the ultrasonic diagnostic unit 130 according to the first embodiment of the present invention. The ultrasound diagnosis unit 130 includes a transmission signal forming unit 131, an ultrasound probe 132 including a plurality of transducer elements (not shown), a beam former 133, and an ultrasound data forming unit 134. And an ultrasound image forming unit 135.

The transmission signal forming unit 131 forms a transmission signal to be applied to each of the plurality of conversion elements in consideration of the position and focusing point of the conversion element. The transmission signal includes a transmission signal for obtaining an ultrasound image corresponding to a user instruction from the OLED touch screen 111.

When the transmission signal is provided from the transmission signal forming unit 131, the ultrasound probe 132 converts the transmission signal into an ultrasound signal and transmits the ultrasound signal to the object, and receives the ultrasound echo signal reflected from the object to form a reception signal. The ultrasonic probe 132 may be implemented as a convex probe, a linear probe, or the like.

When the received signal is provided from the ultrasonic probe 132, the beam former 133 converts the received signal into analog-digital form to form a digital signal. In addition, the beam former 133 receives and focuses the digital signal in consideration of the position and the focusing point of the conversion element to form the reception focus signal.

When the reception focus signal is provided from the beamformer 133, the ultrasound data forming unit 134 forms the ultrasound data using the reception focus signal. In the present embodiment, the ultrasound data may be radio frequency (RF) data or IQ data. In addition, the ultrasound data forming unit 134 may perform various signal processing (for example, gain adjustment, filtering processing, etc.) for forming ultrasound data.

When ultrasound data is provided from the ultrasound data forming unit 134, the ultrasound image forming unit 135 forms an ultrasound image using the ultrasound data. In addition, the ultrasound image forming unit 135 may perform image processing for optimizing the ultrasound image on the ultrasound image.

Referring back to FIG. 1, the display 140 displays an ultrasound image provided from the ultrasound diagnosis unit 130.

2nd Example

3 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an ultrasound system 300 according to a second embodiment of the present invention. The ultrasound system 300 includes a display 310, a controller 320, and an ultrasound diagnosis unit 330. The ultrasound system 300 may include a trackball (not shown) for receiving user instructions corresponding to movement of a cursor, a keyboard (not shown) for receiving user instructions corresponding to input of text, and a TGC (Time) of the ultrasound image. Control panel (not shown) including a slider (not shown) and a button portion (not shown) including dial buttons, up-down buttons, knob buttons, and the like for receiving user instructions corresponding to the Gain Compensation setting. It may further include.

The display 310 displays at least one menu and receives an instruction of a user. Here, the menu may include a menu for selecting an application corresponding to a diagnosis part of the object, a menu for selecting a diagnosis mode for forming an ultrasound image of the object, a menu for optimizing the ultrasound image, and the like. In addition, the user instruction may include menu selection information for selecting a menu by touching the user. In addition, the display 310 may display an ultrasound image provided from the ultrasound diagnosis unit 330. 4 is an exemplary view showing a display unit 310 according to a second embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIG. 4, an ultrasound image UI and a menu II may be displayed on the display 310. As an example of measuring a length between two specific points of an ultrasound image, in the related art, an item to be measured is selected using a control panel, and a measurement point of an ultrasound image is selected using a track ball. In the present invention, since the touch of the display 310 is possible, the item to be measured can be selected by the user's touching on the display 310, and the measurement point can be selected by the user's touching on the display 310, thereby moving the eye. This reduces the length, allowing faster length measurements.

In the present embodiment, the display 310 may include an OLED touch screen (not shown). The OLED touch screen is the same as the OLED touch screen 111 in the first embodiment and thus will not be described in detail in this embodiment.

The controller 320 controls the display of the menu, and controls the reception of the user instruction. The controller 320 controls transmission and reception of an ultrasonic signal according to a user instruction. The controller 320 controls signal processing for forming ultrasound data and image processing for forming an optimal ultrasound image according to a user instruction. The controller 320 controls the formation and display of an ultrasound image according to a user instruction.

The ultrasound diagnosis unit 330 forms an ultrasound image by transmitting an ultrasound signal to the object under the control of the controller 320 and receiving an ultrasound signal (that is, an ultrasound echo signal) reflected from the object. The ultrasound diagnosis unit 330 is the same as the ultrasound diagnosis unit 130 in the first embodiment and thus will not be described in detail in this embodiment.

In addition, while the present invention has been described in connection with some embodiments, it is to be understood that various modifications and changes can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as will be understood by those skilled in the art. You will need to know It is also contemplated that such variations and modifications are within the scope of the claims appended hereto.

1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an ultrasonic system according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the ultrasonic diagnostic unit according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 3 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an ultrasonic system according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

4 is an exemplary view showing a configuration of a display unit according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

Claims (7)

An ultrasound system for forming an ultrasound image, A control panel that displays at least one menu and includes an organic light emitting diodes (OLED) touch screen operable to receive a user's instructions by touch. Ultrasound system comprising a. The method of claim 1, wherein the OLED touch screen, An OLED panel operative to display the menu; And A touch sensing unit mounted on the OLED panel and configured to detect a contact position by sensing a contact with the OLED panel Ultrasound system comprising a. The method of claim 1, A control unit operative to control display of the menu and to control reception of the user instruction Ultrasonic system further comprising. An ultrasound system for forming an ultrasound image, A display unit including an OLED touch screen for displaying at least one menu and the ultrasound image, and is operable to receive a user's instructions by a touch method Ultrasound system comprising a. The method of claim 4, wherein the OLED touch screen, An OLED panel operative to display the menu and the ultrasound image; And A touch sensing unit mounted on the OLED panel and configured to detect a contact position by sensing a contact with the OLED panel Ultrasound system comprising a. The method of claim 4, wherein A controller operable to control the display of the menu and the ultrasound image and to control the reception of the user instruction Ultrasonic system further comprising. OLED touch screen of ultrasonic system, An OLED panel operative to display at least one of at least one menu and an ultrasound image; And A touch sensing unit mounted on the OLED panel and configured to detect a contact position by sensing a contact with the OLED panel OLED touch screen of the ultrasonic system comprising a.

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