KR20160066393A - Minimized portable ultrasound imaging system, and method thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a portable ultrasound imaging system wherein an ultrasonic probe and image processing and image displaying units thereof are physically separated from each other. The portable ultrasound imaging system comprises: an ultrasonic probe generating an ultrasonic signal by measuring an ultrasonic wave on a subject; a communications module selecting at least one communications method to discover an ultrasound image processing repeater and a display device that are capable of real-time communications, and transmitting / receiving data to / from the discovered ultrasound image processing repeater and display device; an interface inducing a user to select a display device that the user wants, by providing feedback on the discovered at least one display device to the user; and a control unit controlling, if the ultrasound probe is operated by the user, the communications module to discover ultrasound image processing repeaters and display devices that are currently able to communicate, selecting at least one among the discovered ultrasound image processing repeaters, and controlling the selected display device to display an ultrasound image signal, the ultrasound image signal being generated by image-processing of the generated ultrasonic signal performed by the selected ultrasound image processing repeater.

Description

[0001] The present invention relates to a minimized portable ultrasound imaging system,

The present invention relates to a portable ultrasound imaging system, and more particularly, to a portable ultrasound imaging system in which an ultrasound probe is physically separated from an image processing and image output thereof to display ultrasound images on a device desired by a user using a portable ultrasound probe.

Medical imaging technology is a diagnostic technology that visualizes muscle, tendons, and many internal organs, their size, structure and pathological damage in real time by using ultrasonic or photoacoustic means. It is also used to visualize the fetus in periodic or emergency situations. Ultrasound has been used to image the human body for at least 50 years, which is one of the most widely used diagnostic techniques in modern medicine. This technique has advantages in that it is cheaper and easier to move than magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) or x-ray computed tomography (CT).

The principle of ultrasound imaging is as follows. First, a probe is brought into contact with an object to be measured, an ultrasonic wave is generated, and the reflected ultrasonic wave is received to form an image. When ultrasonic waves are generated, a sound wave passes through the medium in a very short time, and a reflected wave is generated when the acoustic impedance passes between two different mediums. In the ultrasound imaging technology, images are formed by measuring the reflected waves and then invert the distance through the time until the reflected sound returns.

A variety of ultrasound medical imaging techniques have been proposed utilizing the advantage of real-time and nondestructive / non-invasive imaging of such ultrasound images. Since such an ultrasonic system is very large in size and heavy in weight, it has to be fixed in a specific place, and even a small ultrasonic system has a weight of 10 kg or more, which is not easy to carry and can not be carried. In recent years, the ultrasound medical imaging system, which has been implemented as a large-sized apparatus in the past, is being developed as a portable apparatus of a smaller size, and the following prior art documents provide a general idea of a portable ultrasound system.

Korean Unexamined Patent Publication No. 10-2008-0046888, published May 28, 2008, Madison Co., Ltd.

The portable ultrasonic image processing apparatus is miniaturized. However, since the image processing operation for the ultrasonic signal is a task requiring high-level computing and the power consumption is large, the portable ultrasonic image processing apparatus is overcome the limitation of requiring a large- . In addition, the display device for ultrasound image output also solves the fundamental problem that the image quality can not be increased by limiting the size.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a portable ultrasound imaging system including: an ultrasound probe for generating ultrasound signals by measuring ultrasound waves on an object to be measured; A communication module for searching an ultrasound image processing repeater and a display device capable of real-time communication by selecting one of at least one communication method, transmitting and receiving data to and from the ultrasound image processing repeater and the display device; An interface for guiding the user to select a desired display device by feeding back the one or more discovered display devices to the user; And controlling the user to search the ultrasound image processing repeater and the display device that are currently communicable with the communication module when the ultrasound probe is operated, selecting one of the searched ultrasound image processing repeaters, and transmitting the generated ultrasound signal to the selected ultrasound image And a controller for controlling the selected display device to display the ultrasound image signal generated by the processing repeater.

In the portable ultrasound imaging system according to an exemplary embodiment, the communication module can select one of wired cable communication, wireless Wi-Fi communication, or usb communication method to communicate.

In the portable ultrasound imaging system according to an exemplary embodiment, the controller can select the best communication among the one or more ultrasound image processing repeaters found.

In the portable ultrasound imaging system according to an exemplary embodiment, the controller may be configured to control the ultrasound image processing repeater and the display device using data communication.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an ultrasonic image processing method comprising: operating a user with an ultrasonic probe; The ultrasonic probe measuring ultrasonic waves on an object to be measured to generate an ultrasonic signal; Searching at least one ultrasonic image processing repeater and a display device each capable of communicating with the communication module at present; Feedbacking the display device discovered through the interface to the user to induce user selection; Selecting a smoothest communication among the ultrasound image processing repeaters for which the controller searches; Processing the ultrasound signal generated using the selected ultrasound image processing repeater, and outputting the ultrasound image to the selected display device.

Embodiments of the present invention can simplify the probe and maximize the portability by separating modules requiring high-level computing for ultrasound analysis and image generation. Further, by concentrating image processing, it is possible to perform comprehensive analysis and data collection on a plurality of ultrasound input values, and intensive analysis of ultrasound medical data can be performed through a medical institution server, thereby providing comparative data Calculation becomes possible.

By separating the apparatus for outputting the ultrasound image, the portability of the ultrasound image system can be maintained while maximizing the image quality. By using various display devices, the user can directly check the ultrasound image from a desired device.

1 is a block diagram illustrating a portable ultrasound imaging system and a peripheral device thereof according to an embodiment of the present invention.
2 is a flowchart illustrating an ultrasound image processing method according to another embodiment of the present invention.

Prior to the description of the concrete contents of the present invention, for the sake of understanding, the outline of the solution of the problem to be solved by the present invention or the core of the technical idea is first given.

Although the ultrasonic processing apparatus is becoming smaller in size, the processing process of generating an image by processing an ultrasonic signal corresponds to a task requiring a lot of computing. Since a large-sized screen is essential according to the quality of an ultrasonic image, There is a limit in downsizing the size of the processing apparatus. In order to overcome these limitations, in the embodiments of the present invention, a probe capable of acquiring an ultrasonic signal, a relay device for performing image processing, and a display device for displaying an image are physically separated to centralize the technical features of each configuration, A portable ultrasound imaging system capable of performing ultrasound measurement and image processing everywhere can be utilized.

1 is a block diagram illustrating a portable ultrasound imaging system 100 and a peripheral device thereof according to an embodiment of the present invention. The peripheral device includes an ultrasound image processing repeater 200 and a display device 300, and may further include a medical institution server 400 according to an embodiment.

The portable ultrasound imaging system 100 includes a probe 110, a communication module 120, an interface 130 and a controller 140. The portable ultrasound imaging system 100 interacts with an object to be measured through the probe 110, ≪ / RTI > Further, data communication with the ultrasound image processing repeater 200, the display device 300, and the medical institution server 400 can be performed using the communication module 120.

The probe 110 generates ultrasound signals by measuring ultrasonic waves on an object to be measured. Since the object to be measured can be a human being, the embodiments of the present invention provide a small-sized ultrasound image system that can be carried, so that only the existing medical personnel can remove the boundary where the ultrasonic measurement was possible, The measured object and the user may be the same person. When the user, who is the patient, performs the ultrasonic measurement using the probe 110, the user can select the display device 300 to reproduce the ultrasound image generated for the ultrasound through the interface 130, which will be described later.

The communication module 120 searches the ultrasound image processing repeater 200 and the image display 300 capable of real-time communication by selecting one of the one or more communication methods. And can transmit and receive data to and from the ultrasound image processing repeater 200 and the image display 300.

Specifically, the communication module 120 can select one of wired cable communication, wireless Wi-Fi communication, or usb communication method to communicate. The wired cable communication can be an RGB cable, an HDMI cable, etc., and it is possible to select a wired cable which is compatible with a device to communicate with. Wireless Wi-Fi communication, on the other hand, is a way to communicate with devices physically located remotely, allowing remote devices to be utilized. The ultrasound image processing repeater 200 has a limitation in that it is required to have high performance computing and is small in size and has a feature of being fixed due to its weight. Therefore, the ultrasound image processing repeater 200 and the communication module 120 can transmit and receive data using wireless communication. The display device 300 may be a device physically located close to the user for confirming the ultrasound result directly by the user. However, if necessary, the ultrasound image may be transmitted to a doctor or the like at a remote location. In this case, The device will be able to transmit and receive data using wireless communication.

The usb communication method is a method of transmitting data quickly and safely when the size of the generated ultrasonic signal is large. In this communication method, the user directly contacts the target device to transmit data. Therefore, the present invention can be applied to an ultrasound image processing repeater and a display device existing within a movable range of the user.

The ultrasound image processing repeater 200 and the display device 300 capable of real-time communication can be connected using a wired cable or a device capable of communicating with the wireless communication enabled. In addition, since they must be controllable by the control unit 140 to be described later, they must be compatible with each other so that they can communicate with each other using a method such as device registration with the portable ultrasound imaging system 100 before use. In particular, the display device 300 may have various types, and a device that is convenient for a user is highly likely to be selected. For example, it could be a mobile device such as a user's smart phone, a tablet, a notebook, or a TV. To this end, the communication module 120 may be equipped with various types of cable connection modules, Wi-Fi modules, and ubs terminals.

As described above, embodiments of the present invention can maintain the portability of the ultrasound imaging system 100 while maximizing the image quality by separating the device for outputting the ultrasound image. It is possible to confirm the ultrasound image directly from a device desired by the user by utilizing the various display devices 300. [

The interface 130 induces the user to select the display device 300 by feeding back one or more of the display devices 300 searched to the user. Since the portable ultrasound imaging system 100 is small enough to be portable, the interface 130 may have a small-sized display portion. It is possible to reproduce text rather than a display portion for reproducing an image, thereby exposing a name of a communicable peripheral device or a specific ID so that a user can select a desired one among them.

The control unit 140 controls the user to search the ultrasound image processing repeater 200 and the display device 300 that are currently communicable with the communication module 120 when the ultrasound probe 110 is operated. One of the ultrasound image processing repeaters 200 is selected and the user selects the ultrasound image generated by the probe 110 through the interface 130 when the display device 300 is selected, 200 controls the selected display device 300 to display the ultrasound image signal generated by the image processing.

That is, the controller 140 selects and controls the ultrasound image processing repeater 200 and the display device 300 to process the generated ultrasound signals. Various communication methods can be used to send and receive data to and from each device. For this purpose, it is necessary that the control unit 140 is set in the same manner as the user registration so as to be able to control using data communication before use.

The controller 140 can select the best communication among the plurality of ultrasound image processing repeaters 200 that have been searched. This is because the ultrasound signal data can be transmitted smoothly without any trouble and transmitted to the display device 300 This is because there is a high possibility that the work will be processed without any problem. However, it is not always necessary to select a smooth communication, and similarly to the display device 300, it is possible to feed back the name of an object that can be communicated to the user. In addition, since the ultrasound image processing repeater 200 physically located close to the ultrasound image processing repeater 200 may have the best communication state, the ultrasound image processing repeater 200 can be located at a location physically close to the ultrasound imaging system 100. For example, a patient who is a user may select an ultrasound image processing repeater 200 located in a medical room using the ultrasound imaging system 100 to perform image processing. Although it is possible to freely implement the selection of the ultrasound image processing repeater 200, it is necessary to select one ultrasound image processing repeater 200 to process ultrasound signals. Unlike the conventional ultrasonic measuring apparatus, the embodiments of the present invention can not perform the image processing function internally. In addition, since the selected ultrasound image processing repeater 200 must transmit the generated ultrasound image to the display device 300, the ultrasound image processing repeater 200 capable of communicating with the selected display device 300 should be selected.

Embodiments of the present invention may additionally interact with the medical institution server 400. Although not shown in FIG. 1, the ultrasonic signal can be directly transmitted using the communication module 120. Or the ultrasound image processing repeater 200 may collect the medical data through data communication with the medical institution server 400. [ The ultrasound image processing repeater 200 can generate an ultrasound image of the received ultrasound signal and can directly check the abnormality of the data using an existing database (e.g., data stored in the medical institution server). In the case of ultrasound measurement for medical purposes, the comparative data necessary for diagnosis of the disease can be calculated together with the object to be measured.

For example, when the subject to be measured is a human's lung, a user who is a patient performs ultrasonic measurement, and the ultrasound image processing repeater 200 processes the ultrasound image on the ultrasound image, so that a normal person of the medical institution server 400, When the image data is collected and transmitted together with the display device 300, the display device 300 displays not only the ultrasound result of the object to be measured but also the comparison data. This can be an easy way to check for anomalies if you are not a medical professional.

In addition, the ultrasound image processing repeater 200 may connect to the medical institution server 400 to transmit and receive various data for data concentration and analysis.

As described above, since embodiments of the present invention can perform image processing and display of ultrasound images using wireless communication, various types of repeaters and display devices can be utilized. This can be utilized more efficiently, can be downsized, and can be supplied easily because it takes an advantage in price competition and is more advantageous than the conventional integrated type ultrasonic device.

2 is a flowchart illustrating an ultrasound image processing method according to another embodiment of the present invention. Each step of the ultrasound image processing method of FIG. 2 corresponds to the detailed configuration of the portable ultrasound imaging system of FIG. 1 as described below, and a detailed description thereof will not be repeated.

In step S201, the user operates the ultrasonic probe. The user is a person who wants to perform ultrasound measurement, and can be implemented in a miniaturization device that can carry the embodiments of the present invention. Therefore, unlike an existing medical person performing ultrasound measurement, a patient can be a direct user have.

In step S202, the ultrasonic probe measures an ultrasonic wave to be measured and generates an ultrasonic signal. The ultrasound signal is transmitted to the ultrasound image processing repeater for analysis and image processing in the form of an analog signal. This is because the probe and the module for image processing functions are disadvantageous in the embodiment of the present invention. And corresponds to the probe 110 of FIG.

In step S203, the communication module searches for one or more ultrasonic image processing repeaters and display devices each capable of communicating at present. Specifically, a physically separated ultrasound image processing repeater and a display device are searched. It can search for currently available peripheral devices for real-time ultrasound processing and utilize various kinds of peripheral devices. And corresponds to the communication module 120 of FIG.

In step S204, the display device retrieved through the interface is fed back to the user to induce user selection. The user can confirm the ultrasound result measured on the display device desired by the user. For example, the user can check the image of the ultrasound signal just measured through the mobile device.

The interface corresponds to the configuration 130 of FIG. 1, and is characterized in that the user has a display part capable of feeding back a list (name or kind) capable of identifying the searched device.

In step S204, the control unit selects the best communication among the detected ultrasound image processing repeaters. This is the configuration included in the control unit 140 of FIG. As described above, it is not always necessary to select a smooth communication, and a user other than the control unit may be allowed to select an ultrasound image processing repeater.

In operation S205, the ultrasound signal generated using the selected ultrasound image processing repeater is subjected to image processing and the ultrasound image is output to the selected display device. And is included in the control unit 140 of FIG. 1 along with step S204.

According to the embodiments of the present invention, the user can easily select a desired display device to confirm the ultrasound result, and can easily carry out the ultrasound imaging using the ultrasound image system which is portable and small and can exchange data with other peripheral devices by using various communication equipments Ultrasonic measurement and ultrasonic image confirmation can be easily performed.

Furthermore, the present invention can be embodied as computer-readable codes on a computer-readable recording medium. A computer-readable recording medium includes all kinds of recording apparatuses in which data that can be read by a computer system is stored.

Examples of the computer-readable recording medium include a ROM, a RAM, a CD-ROM, a magnetic tape, a floppy disk, an optical data storage device and the like, and also a carrier wave (for example, transmission via the Internet) . In addition, the computer-readable recording medium may be distributed over network-connected computer systems so that computer readable codes can be stored and executed in a distributed manner. In addition, functional programs, codes, and code segments for implementing the present invention can be easily deduced by programmers skilled in the art to which the present invention belongs.

The present invention has been described above with reference to various embodiments. It will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and details may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims. Therefore, the disclosed embodiments should be considered in an illustrative rather than a restrictive sense. The scope of the present invention is defined by the appended claims rather than by the foregoing description, and all differences within the scope of equivalents thereof should be construed as being included in the present invention.

100: Portable ultrasound imaging system
110: probe 120: communication module
130: Interface 140:
200: ultrasound image processing repeater
300: image indicator
400: medical institution server

Claims (5)

An ultrasonic probe for generating an ultrasonic signal by measuring ultrasonic waves on an object to be measured;
A communication module for searching an ultrasound image processing repeater and a display device capable of real-time communication by selecting one of at least one communication method, transmitting and receiving data to and from the ultrasound image processing repeater and the display device;
An interface for guiding the user to select a desired display device by feeding back the one or more discovered display devices to the user; And
The control unit controls the user to search the ultrasound image processing repeater and the display device that are currently communicable with the communication module when the ultrasound probe is operated, selects one of the ultrasound image processing repeaters that have been searched for, and transmits the generated ultrasound signal to the selected ultrasound image processing And a controller for controlling the selected display device to display the ultrasound image signal generated by the image processing of the repeater. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the communication module selects one of a wired cable communication, a wireless Wi-Fi communication, and a usb communication method to communicate with the portable ultrasound imaging system. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the control unit selects the best communication among the one or more ultrasound image processing repeaters found. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the controller is configured to control the ultrasound image processing repeater and the display device using data communication. A step in which the user operates the ultrasonic probe;
The ultrasonic probe measuring ultrasonic waves on an object to be measured to generate an ultrasonic signal;
Searching at least one ultrasonic image processing repeater and a display device each capable of communicating with the communication module at present;
Feedbacking the display device discovered through the interface to the user to induce user selection;
Selecting a smoothest communication among the ultrasonic image processing repeaters for which the controller searches; And
Processing the ultrasound signal generated using the selected ultrasound image processing repeater, and outputting the ultrasound image to the selected display device.

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