KR20120069066A - Ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus - Google Patents

Ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus Download PDF

Info

Publication number
KR20120069066A
KR20120069066A KR1020100130443A KR20100130443A KR20120069066A KR 20120069066 A KR20120069066 A KR 20120069066A KR 1020100130443 A KR1020100130443 A KR 1020100130443A KR 20100130443 A KR20100130443 A KR 20100130443A KR 20120069066 A KR20120069066 A KR 20120069066A
Authority
KR
South Korea
Prior art keywords
beamformer
probe
signal
conversion element
pin
Prior art date
Application number
KR1020100130443A
Other languages
Korean (ko)
Inventor
현용철
Original Assignee
삼성메디슨 주식회사
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by 삼성메디슨 주식회사 filed Critical 삼성메디슨 주식회사
Priority to KR1020100130443A priority Critical patent/KR20120069066A/en
Publication of KR20120069066A publication Critical patent/KR20120069066A/en

Links

Images

Classifications

    • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
    • A61B—DIAGNOSIS; SURGERY; IDENTIFICATION
    • A61B8/00—Diagnosis using ultrasonic, sonic or infrasonic waves
    • A61B8/13—Tomography
    • A61B8/14—Echo-tomography
    • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
    • A61B—DIAGNOSIS; SURGERY; IDENTIFICATION
    • A61B8/00—Diagnosis using ultrasonic, sonic or infrasonic waves
    • A61B8/44—Constructional features of the ultrasonic, sonic or infrasonic diagnostic device
    • A61B8/4477—Constructional features of the ultrasonic, sonic or infrasonic diagnostic device using several separate ultrasound transducers or probes
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G01—MEASURING; TESTING
    • G01N—INVESTIGATING OR ANALYSING MATERIALS BY DETERMINING THEIR CHEMICAL OR PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
    • G01N29/00—Investigating or analysing materials by the use of ultrasonic, sonic or infrasonic waves; Visualisation of the interior of objects by transmitting ultrasonic or sonic waves through the object
    • G01N29/22—Details, e.g. general constructional or apparatus details
    • G01N29/24—Probes
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G01—MEASURING; TESTING
    • G01S—RADIO DIRECTION-FINDING; RADIO NAVIGATION; DETERMINING DISTANCE OR VELOCITY BY USE OF RADIO WAVES; LOCATING OR PRESENCE-DETECTING BY USE OF THE REFLECTION OR RERADIATION OF RADIO WAVES; ANALOGOUS ARRANGEMENTS USING OTHER WAVES
    • G01S15/00—Systems using the reflection or reradiation of acoustic waves, e.g. sonar systems
    • G01S15/88—Sonar systems specially adapted for specific applications
    • G01S15/89—Sonar systems specially adapted for specific applications for mapping or imaging
    • G01S15/8906—Short-range imaging systems; Acoustic microscope systems using pulse-echo techniques

Landscapes

  • Health & Medical Sciences (AREA)
  • Life Sciences & Earth Sciences (AREA)
  • Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Remote Sensing (AREA)
  • Radar, Positioning & Navigation (AREA)
  • General Health & Medical Sciences (AREA)
  • Pathology (AREA)
  • Animal Behavior & Ethology (AREA)
  • Veterinary Medicine (AREA)
  • Heart & Thoracic Surgery (AREA)
  • Medical Informatics (AREA)
  • Molecular Biology (AREA)
  • Surgery (AREA)
  • Radiology & Medical Imaging (AREA)
  • Nuclear Medicine, Radiotherapy & Molecular Imaging (AREA)
  • Public Health (AREA)
  • Biomedical Technology (AREA)
  • Acoustics & Sound (AREA)
  • Biophysics (AREA)
  • General Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • Computer Networks & Wireless Communication (AREA)
  • Gynecology & Obstetrics (AREA)
  • Chemical & Material Sciences (AREA)
  • Analytical Chemistry (AREA)
  • Biochemistry (AREA)
  • Immunology (AREA)
  • Ultra Sonic Daignosis Equipment (AREA)

Abstract

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a probe for transmitting and receiving an ultrasonic signal, and a beamformer unit configured to provide a transmission signal to the probe and to focus the received signal provided from the probe to form received data. The array includes a plurality of conversion elements, and the beamformer unit includes a first beamformer and a second beamformer each having a plurality of signal channels, and the conversion element for signal transmission among the conversion element arrays of the probe includes the first beamformer. Only one of the first beamformer and the second beamformer is pin-mapped, and a signal receiving conversion element of the conversion element array of the probe is only pin-mapped with the other of the first beamformer and the second beamformer. An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus characterized by the above-mentioned.

Description

Ultrasonic Diagnostic Apparatus {Ultrasonic Diagnostic Apparatus}

The present invention relates to an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, and more particularly, an ultrasonic wave that can prevent the beamformer from overheating due to concentration of a load in a specific beamformer in a specific diagnostic mode, for example, a CW mode. It relates to a diagnostic device.

Ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus using ultrasound is widely used in the medical field for obtaining information inside the test object due to the non-invasive and non-destructive diagnostic characteristics. Ultrasonic diagnostic devices are very important in the medical field because they can provide images of internal tissues to a doctor in real time without the need for observation techniques that invade human tissues such as surgical procedures. Recently, high performance ultrasound diagnostic apparatuses have been used to generate two-dimensional or three-dimensional diagnostic images of an internal shape of an object.

The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus generally uses a conversion element formed of a piezoelectric material to transmit and receive an ultrasonic signal. The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus generates an ultrasonic signal transmitted to the human body by electrically stimulating the conversion element and transmits the ultrasonic signal to the human body. The ultrasonic signal transmitted to the human body is reflected at the boundary of the human tissue and the ultrasonic echo signal transmitted from the boundary of the human tissue to the conversion element is converted into a high frequency signal. The ultrasound diagnosis apparatus amplifies and signal-processes the converted high frequency signal to generate useful data including an ultrasound image of a tissue.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a connection structure between a probe and a beamformer in a general ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus. Here, the probe 100 having 192 conversion element elements and the first beamformer having 64 signal channels, respectively. A connection structure between the beamformers 300 including the BB1 and 310 and the second beamformers BF2 and 320 is taken as an example. Typically, the ultrasound diagnosis apparatus uses the mux unit 200 as shown in FIG. 1 to perform pin mapping between 192 conversion element elements and 128 signal channels of the beamformer unit. The first mux 210 of the mux unit 200 is a two-to-one mux, and pin-to-pin mapping of 1 to 32 conversion elements and 129 to 160 conversion elements to 32 signal channels of the first beamformer 310 is performed. Then, pin-to-pin mapping of 33 to 64 conversion elements and 161 to 192 conversion elements to another 32 signal channels of the first beamformer 310 is performed. In addition, the second mux 220 of the mux unit 200 is a one-to-one mux, and 65 to 96 and 97 to 128 converters are used as one to one on 64 signal channels of the second beamformer 320. Pin mapping. The mapping relationship according to this is the same as "192element general probe" of FIG.

In addition, the pin mapping structure for the probe having 128 conversion element elements is the same as the “128element general probe” of FIG. 2, and the pin mapping structure for the phased array probe having 80 conversion element elements is As shown in FIG. 2, the pin mapping structure for the phased array probe having 64 conversion element elements is shown as “64element PA Probe” of FIG. 2.

However, according to the conventional pin mapping structure, when the phased array probe is used, the load is concentrated on the second beamformer 320 under a diagnosis mode such as CW mode (continuous wave mode, continuous wave mode), and thus overheating occurs. There was a problem. This will be described in detail as follows.

CW mode is a diagnostic mode that is mainly used in the area of the heart, and is a mode in which load is easy to concentrate because each beamformer channel continuously transmits and transmits a pulse signal, and is mainly a phased array having 80 change element elements. A probe or phased array probe with 64 conversion element elements is used. However, when the pin mapping structure between the phased array probe and the beamformer in the CW mode follows the conventional method as shown in FIG. 2, as shown in FIG. 32, the 32 beams of the second beamformer 320 in the CW mode are shown. Since the signal channels are allocated for transmission and the other 32 signal channels are allocated for reception, the load is more concentrated in the second beamformers BF2 and 320 compared to the first beamformers BF1 and 310, thereby overheating. There was a fear of this.

Alternatively, as shown in FIG. 3, if pin mapping is sequentially performed to the first beamformers BF1 and 310 and the second beamformers BF2 and 320 with respect to the phased array probe, this time is reversed. A greater load is applied to the first beamformers BF1 and 310, resulting in overheating of the first beamformers 310.

Therefore, the technical problem to be achieved by the present invention is an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus that can prevent the beamformer from overheating due to the concentration of the load in a specific beamformer in a specific diagnostic mode, for example, CW mode (continuous mode). To provide.

In order to achieve the above technical problem, the present invention provides an ultrasound diagnostic apparatus including a probe for transmitting and receiving an ultrasonic signal, and a beamformer unit for providing a transmission signal to the probe and focusing the received signal provided from the probe to form received data The conversion element array of the probe includes a plurality of conversion elements, and the beamformer unit includes a first beamformer and a second beamformer each having a plurality of signal channels, and among the conversion element arrays of the probes. The signal transmitting conversion element is pin-mapped with only one of the first beamformer and the second beamformer, and the signal receiving conversion element of the conversion element array of the probe is the remaining of the first beamformer and the second beamformer. It is characterized in that the pin mapping only with the other, it provides an ultrasound diagnostic device.

In the present invention, the probe is preferably a phased array probe.

In the present invention, the probe is a phased array probe having 80 conversion elements, and the first and second beamformers each have 64 signal channels. In the present invention, in the CW mode, 40 conversion elements of the 80 conversion elements of the probe are preferably pin-mapped with the first beamformer, and the remaining 40 conversion elements are pin-mapped with the second beamformer.

In the present invention, the probe is a phased array probe having 64 conversion elements, and the first and second beamformers each have 64 signal channels. In the present invention, in the CW mode, 32 of the 64 conversion elements of the probe are preferably pin-mapped with the first beamformer and the remaining 32 are pin-mapped with the second beamformer.

In the present invention, the probe is a phased array probe having 96 conversion elements, and the first and second beamformers each have 64 signal channels. In this case, in the CW mode, 96 probes It is preferable that 48 conversion elements of the conversion elements are pin mapped to the first beamformer, and the remaining 48 conversion elements are pin mapped to the second beamformer.

The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to the present invention pin-maps a signal transmission conversion element and a signal reception conversion element among the conversion element arrays of a probe used in a diagnostic mode such as a CW mode to a specific beamformer, thereby to a specific beamformer. Since the load is concentrated, the beamformer can be prevented from overheating.

1 is a block diagram illustrating a connection structure between a probe and a beamformer in a general ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus.
2 is a mapping diagram illustrating a pin mapping method between a transducer and a beamformer of a probe in a conventional ultrasound diagnostic apparatus.
3 is a mapping diagram illustrating another pin mapping method between a transducer and a beamformer of a probe in a conventional ultrasound diagnostic apparatus.
Figure 4 is a simplified diagram showing the configuration between the probe and the beamformer in the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 5 is a mapping diagram illustrating a pin mapping method between a transducer and a beamformer of a probe in an ultrasound diagnostic apparatus according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in more detail with reference to Examples. These embodiments are only for illustrating the present invention, and the scope of rights of the present invention is not limited by these embodiments.

Figure 4 is a simplified diagram showing the configuration between the probe and the beamformer in the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, Figure 5 is a transducer and beam of the probe in the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to the present embodiment As a mapping diagram for explaining a pin mapping method between formers, the present invention will be described with reference to the following.

The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to the present exemplary embodiment provides a probe 500 for transmitting and receiving an ultrasonic signal, and provides a transmission signal to the probe 500 through the mux unit 600 and focuses a received signal provided from the probe 500. And a beamformer unit 700 for forming received data, wherein the converter element array of the probe 500 includes a plurality of converter elements, and the beamformer unit 700 includes a plurality of signal channels, respectively. And a first beamformer 710 and a second beamformer 720, and a signal transmitting conversion element (not shown) of the conversion element array of the probe 500 includes the first beamformer 710 and the second beamformer 720. Only one of the beamformers 720 is pin-mapped, and a signal receiving conversion element (not shown) of the conversion element array of the probe 500 includes the first beamformer 710 and the second beamformer 720. It is characterized in that only the other one of the pin mapping. In this case, in particular, a phased array probe may be used for the probe 500.

The operation of this embodiment configured as described above will be described in more detail. In the present embodiment, a case in which the first beamformer 710 and the second beamformer 720 each have 64 signal channels will be described as an example.

As shown in FIG. 5, when using a general probe having 192 conversion element elements or a general probe having 128 conversion element elements, the first beamformer may be sequentially formed from the first conversion element element. 710 and pin mapping are performed on each signal channel of the second beamformer 720.

However, in the case of connecting a phased array probe having 80 conversion element elements mainly used in CW mode, the pin mapping structure is configured as “80element PA Probe” of FIG. 5. That is, as shown in FIG. 5, 40 conversion element elements including 9 to 40 conversion elements, which are used as conversion elements for signal transmission in the CW mode, among the 80 conversion element elements are provided to the first beamformer 710. Assign. Of the 80 conversion elements, 40 conversion element elements including 41 to 72 conversion elements, which are used as conversion elements for signal reception in the CW mode, are allocated to the second beamformer 720.

In addition, when connecting a phased array probe having 64 conversion element elements mainly used in CW mode, the pin mapping structure is configured as “64element PA Probe” of FIG. 5. That is, as shown in FIG. 5, 1 to 32 conversion element elements, which are used as conversion elements for signal transmission in the CW mode, among 64 conversion element elements are allocated to the first beamformer 710 for signal reception. 33 to 64 conversion element elements used as the conversion element is allocated to the second beamformer 720.

In addition, in the case of connecting a phased array probe having 96 conversion element elements, the pin mapping structure is configured as “96element PA Probe” of FIG. 5. That is, as shown in FIG. 5, among the 96 conversion element elements, 48 conversion element elements including 17 to 48 conversion elements used as conversion elements for signal transmission in CW mode are assigned to the first beamformer 710. Assign. Of the 96 conversion element elements, 48 conversion element elements including 49 to 80 conversion elements used as conversion elements for signal reception in the CW mode are allocated to the second beamformer 720.

In this configuration, in the CW mode, the signal channel of the first beamformer 710 may be used exclusively for signal transmission, and the signal channel of the second beamformer 720 may be used exclusively for signal transmission. . In addition, according to the pin mapping structure, when a phased array probe is used, a load is applied to the first beamformer 710 and the second beamformer 720 during signal transmission and signal reception under a diagnostic mode such as CW mode. By being distributed in a balanced manner, the load is not applied to any one beamformer so that the phenomenon of overheating of the specific beamformer can be prevented.

Meanwhile, in the above embodiment, the first beamformer 710 is used for signal transmission and the second beamformer 720 is used for signal reception, but according to the embodiment, the pin mapping may be performed in reverse. have.

As described above, the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to the present embodiment pin-maps the signal transmission conversion element and the signal reception conversion element among the conversion element arrays of the probes used in the diagnostic mode such as the CW mode to separate beamformers. By concentrating the load on a specific beamformer, the beamformer can be prevented from overheating.

Meanwhile, in the present embodiment, the probe and the mux part are described as being separated, but according to the exemplary embodiment, the mux part may be configured to be physically embedded in the housing of the probe, and the present embodiment includes the case.

In addition, even in the case of the B mode (including the D mode and the C mode) that transmits and receives not the CW mode, the above-described embodiment may be applied when the phased array probe is used. That is, since some of the pulsers, LNAs, TGCs, ADCs, and focus logics constituting the beamformer are partially operated but not partially, the first beamformer 310 and the second beam are configured as shown in FIG. 5. When the former 320 divides the operation, it is possible to prevent the load from being concentrated on the specific beamformer.

100: probe
200: musbu
210: first mux 220; Second mux
300: beamformer unit
310: first beamformer 320: second beamformer
500 probe
600: musbu
700: beamformer
710: first beamformer 720: second beamformer

Claims (8)

A ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus comprising a probe for transmitting and receiving an ultrasonic signal, and a beamformer unit configured to provide a transmission signal to the probe and to focus the received signal provided from the probe to form received data.
The conversion element array of the probe includes a plurality of conversion elements, and the beamformer unit includes a first beamformer and a second beamformer each having a plurality of signal channels.
The signal transmission conversion element of the probe element array of the probe is pin-mapped only with any one of the first beamformer and the second beamformer, and the signal reception conversion element of the probe element array of the probe is the first beamformer. And pin mapping only with the other of the second beamformer.
The method of claim 1,
And the probe is a phased array probe.
The method of claim 2,
The probe is a phased array probe having 80 conversion elements, wherein the first and second beamformers each have 64 signal channels.
The method of claim 3, wherein
In CW mode, 40 of the 80 conversion elements of the probe pin mapping with the first beamformer and the remaining 40 conversion elements are pin mapped with the second beamformer Diagnostic device.
The method of claim 2,
And the probe is a phased array probe having 64 conversion elements, and the first and second beamformers each have 64 signal channels.
6. The method of claim 5,
In the CW mode, 32 of the 64 conversion elements of the probe pin mapping with the first beamformer and the remaining 32 pin mapping with the second beamformer.
The method of claim 2,
The probe is a phased array probe having 96 conversion elements, wherein the first and second beamformers each have 64 signal channels.
8. The method of claim 7,
In CW mode, 48 of the 96 conversion elements of the probe pin mapping with the first beamformer and the remaining 48 conversion elements are pin mapping with the second beamformer Diagnostic device.
KR1020100130443A 2010-12-20 2010-12-20 Ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus KR20120069066A (en)

Priority Applications (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
KR1020100130443A KR20120069066A (en) 2010-12-20 2010-12-20 Ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus

Applications Claiming Priority (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
KR1020100130443A KR20120069066A (en) 2010-12-20 2010-12-20 Ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus

Publications (1)

Publication Number Publication Date
KR20120069066A true KR20120069066A (en) 2012-06-28

Family

ID=46687395

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
KR1020100130443A KR20120069066A (en) 2010-12-20 2010-12-20 Ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus

Country Status (1)

Country Link
KR (1) KR20120069066A (en)

Similar Documents

Publication Publication Date Title
RU2475891C2 (en) Systems and methods for ultrasonic devices, including multiple antenna arrays of image converter
JP5725720B2 (en) Subject information processing device
JP6489797B2 (en) Subject information acquisition device
US20140046188A1 (en) System and Method for Ultrasonic Diagnostics
WO2013042773A1 (en) Ultrasonic diagnosis device
EP3380863B1 (en) Ultrasound systems with microbeamformers for different transducer arrays
US9801612B2 (en) Ultrasound diagnostic apparatus
RU2715598C2 (en) Probe with ultrasonic matrix converter for shear waves visualization
US10426436B2 (en) Ultrasonic imaging apparatus and control method thereof
EP3329854B1 (en) Three-dimensional imaging ultrasonic scanning method
JP2010207490A (en) Ultrasonograph and sonic speed estimation method
US10076245B2 (en) Specimen information acquisition apparatus and specimen information acquisition method
EP3037180B1 (en) Ultrasonic probe and manufacturing method thereof
US11950960B2 (en) Ultrasound imaging with deep learning-based beamforming and associated devices, systems, and methods
CN114010222A (en) Double-frequency array type ultrasonic endoscopic probe and imaging method thereof
WO2006057092A1 (en) Ultrasonographic device
US10660612B2 (en) Ultrasound probe and ultrasound imaging device
JP5519949B2 (en) Ultrasonic probe and ultrasonic probe system
US20180235580A1 (en) Ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus and method for controlling the same
KR20120069066A (en) Ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus
KR20210076730A (en) Ultrasound diagnositic apparatus and controlling method of thereof
Jonveaux et al. Review of current simple ultrasound hardware considerations, designs, and processing opportunities
KR20110003056A (en) Ultrasonic probe and ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus
JP2006192031A (en) Ultrasonic image diagnostic device
KR102324390B1 (en) Portable Hybrid Ultrasonic Diagnostic Apparatus

Legal Events

Date Code Title Description
A201 Request for examination
E601 Decision to refuse application