JPH0288047A - Electronic scanning type ultrasonic tomography device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To perform simultaneous display at a real time of a tomographic image having two different surfaces in a manner to suppress lowering of real time property to a minimum without lowering picture quality by a method wherein selection of a vibrator group is switched at a high speed, and switching of an electronic switch capable of displaying a plurality of fault images simultaneously at a real time is effected by an automatically controllable control circuit. CONSTITUTION:Electronic switches 2a and 2b, e.g., a diode switch, and a control circuit to drive the electronic switch, e.g., electronic switches 2a, 2b, are arranged as a switch for vibrator groups 1a and 1b of a biplane type ultrasonic probe 1 to the vibrator groups 1a and 1b, respectively, of the biplane type ultrasonic probe 1, and a control circuit 4 to drive the electronic switches 2a and 2b is provided. Thus, switching of transmission and receipt of ultrasonic waves to the two vibrator groups 1a and 1b is performed at each one scanning line and upon completion of scanning of one screen. After orderly storage is effected at a frame memory to display respective fault images, display on a television monitor 13 is performed, orderly rewriting is made at a real time, and a fault image having two different surfaces is displayed at a real time.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to an ultrasonic tomography device for observing tissues in a living body by transmitting and receiving ultrasound waves, and is particularly suitable for obtaining tomographic images of a living body in real time. This invention relates to an electronic scanning ultrasonic tomography device.

[Prior art]

The conventional electronic scanning ultrasonic tomography device
As described in No. 97 and Japanese Patent Publication No. 68-60010, in order to obtain tomographic images in two orthogonal directions with one ultrasound probe, the circuit for transmitting and receiving ultrasound is divided into two.
By connecting each transmission/reception circuit system to two orthogonal transducer groups provided on one ultrasound probe, tomographic images of each can be obtained simultaneously.

In addition, in a device equipped with an ultrasonic probe switching function, by connecting two groups of transducers provided on one ultrasonic probe in the same way as two independent ultrasonic probes, Can you use the switching function of the ultrasound probe to alternately display two different tomographic images, or can you freeze one image and then display the other image in real time? The tomographic images of two planes were displayed in parallel in one image using a method such as ``1''.

FIG. 3 shows a circuit example of a conventional electronic scanning type ultrasonic tomography apparatus using a pipe lane type ultrasonic probe.

In Fig. 3, la and lb are oscillator groups, 2a', 2
b' is a switch group consisting of an electromagnetic switch, 8 is a switch drive circuit group, 4 is a control circuit, 5 is a pulse generator, 6 is a delay pulse generation circuit group, 7 is a transmitting/receiving separation circuit group, and 8 is an amplification circuit. circuit group, 9 is a delay circuit group, 10 is a synthesis circuit, 11 is a signal processing circuit, 12 is a digital scan converter (hereinafter referred to as DS)
C), 13 is a television monitor, and 14 is a drive signal switch group consisting of an electromagnetic switch.

In this conventional circuit, as shown in FIG. 3, the switch drive circuit group 3 has a single configuration, and a drive signal switching group 14 composed of an electromagnetic switch is provided for switching the drive signal.

In the conventional circuit configuration, an electromagnetic switch is used to switch the drive signal for switching the transducer groups 1a and 1b, so high-speed switching is not possible, and tomographic images from the two transducer groups can be viewed simultaneously in real time. cannot be displayed. Therefore, 1
A parallel display method has been used in which tomographic images obtained by one transducer group are stored in the memory of the DSC 12 and kept stationary, and tomographic images obtained by other transducer groups are displayed in real time.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

However, although the above-mentioned conventional technology can display tomographic images from two different planes, the former results in a decrease in image quality because the circuit that is an element in forming the image is divided into two. There was a problem.

Furthermore, the latter method does not take into consideration the fact that two tomographic images are displayed simultaneously in real time, and in particular, the problem is that it is not sufficient to understand two-dimensional images of two orthogonal tomographic images. was there.

In addition, in conventional technology, switching devices for ultrasonic probes use low-speed switching devices such as electrical switching means using electromagnetic switches, so high-speed switching is not possible and automatic switching is not possible. Even if alternate switching is performed, there is a problem in that real-time performance is greatly impaired.

Furthermore, electrical switching devices such as electromagnetic switches have a problem with their lifespan due to repeated switching.

The present invention has been made to solve the above problems.

The object of the present invention is to provide an ultrasound probe for ultrasound tomography in which a plurality of independent transducer groups are arranged in order to obtain tomographic images of a plurality of different planes, and an ultrasound probe for ultrasound tomography in which a plurality of independent transducer groups are arranged. In an ultrasonic tomography device that is equipped with a switch that can switch between each transducer group and can switch the ultrasonic transmission and reception functions of each transducer group, it is possible to simultaneously produce tomographic images of two different planes. It is an object of the present invention to provide a technology that can display time without deteriorating image quality and minimizing deterioration in real-time performance.

The above and other objects and novel features of the present invention will become apparent from the description of this specification and the accompanying drawings.

[Means to solve the problem]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides an ultrasonic tomographic ultrasonic probe (hereinafter referred to as a pipe lane type ultrasonic probe) in which a plurality of independent transducer groups are arranged in order to obtain tomographic images of a plurality of different planes. An electronic device that is equipped with a switch that can switch between the transducer group (called an ultrasonic probe) and each transducer group of the ultrasonic tomography probe, and that allows the ultrasonic transmission and reception functions of each transducer group to be switched. In the scanning ultrasonic tomography apparatus, the switching device is an electronic switching device that selects and switches the transducer group at high speed and can display multiple tomographic images simultaneously in real time. The most important feature is that switching is performed by a control circuit that can automatically control the switching.

[Effect]

According to the above-mentioned means, an electronic switching device such as a diode switch and a control circuit for driving the same, such as an electronic switching device as a switching device for the transducer group of a pipe lane ultrasonic probe, can be used as a switching device for the transducer group of a pipe lane ultrasonic probe. By providing a control circuit for each transducer group of the probe and driving each switch, it is possible to control ultrasonic waves for two transducer groups arranged in a pipe lane ultrasonic probe, for example. Switching between transmission and reception is performed for each scanning line or when scanning of one screen is completed, and after being sequentially stored in the frame memory for displaying each tomographic image, it is displayed on the television monitor, It can be rewritten sequentially in real time.

These means display tomographic images of two different planes simultaneously in real time.

[Embodiments of the invention]

Hereinafter, one embodiment of the present invention will be specifically described using the drawings.

In all the figures, parts having the same functions are denoted by the same reference numerals, and repeated explanations thereof will be omitted.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of an electronic scanning ultrasonic tomography apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 1, the electronic scanning ultrasonic tomography apparatus of this embodiment uses a pipe lane type ultrasonic probe 1 in which two sets of transducer groups 1a and 1b are arranged to detect different in vivo conditions. Two cross-sectional tomographic images are obtained simultaneously in real time, and in this embodiment, a combination of a linear type and a convex type is used.

The vibrator groups 1a and 1b are respectively connected to electronic switch groups 2a and 2b which can be switched electronically, such as diode switches. These electronic switch groups 2a and 2b
are driven by respective electronic switch drive circuit groups 3a and 3b controlled by signals from the control circuit 4.

Further, the electronic switching groups 2a and 2b are connected to the vibrator groups 1a and 1.
In addition to selecting b, a small number of transducer groups that transmit and receive ultrasonic waves are selected in each transducer group, and by sequentially switching them, the position of the ultrasonic beam can be moved and cross-sectional information can be obtained. It has the ability to obtain

After information on one cross section is obtained from one transducer group 1a (or lb), the electronic switch groups 2a and 2b are selectively driven by the electronic switch drive circuit groups 3a and 3b, and the other transducer group 1b is selectively driven. (or la). In this way, by switching the vibrator group 1a or 1b to be driven, information on different cross sections can be successively obtained.

Transmission of ultrasonic waves is performed by signals from a delayed pulse generation circuit group 6 that generates high-voltage pulses whose position is controlled to form an ultrasonic beam using a signal from a pulse generator 5 . This high voltage pulse is applied to a small number of vibrator groups selected from the vibrator group 1a or 1b through the electronic switch group 2a or 2b.

The applied high-pressure pulses are converted into ultrasonic waves by each vibrator and transmitted into the living body. The ultrasonic waves from each transducer are
Since the phase is controlled, the ultrasonic beam passes through the living body and generates reflected echoes at various parts of the living tissue.

Reception of reflected echoes of ultrasound waves is performed by a small number of transducer groups selected from the transducer group 1a or 1b. The selection of the transducer to receive is performed by the electronic switching devices 2a and 2b in the same way as in the case of transmission, and the received signal passes through the same system path as the high-voltage pulse of the transmission and is high-voltage separated by the transmitting/receiving wave separation circuit 7 to become a receiving signal. .

Each received signal is amplified by an amplifier group 8, then phased by phase control in a delay circuit group 9, and then converted into one video signal by a combining circuit 10. The video signal is processed by the signal processing circuit 11
The signal is then input to the DSC 12, where it is scan-converted into a television signal and displayed on the television monitor 13.

The DSC: 12 controls writing to the memory based on the position information of the ultrasonic transmitting/receiving position, and also controls the writing to the television monitor 13.
The tomographic images obtained from the two transducer groups 1a and 1b are simultaneously displayed in parallel and displayed as a real-time image.

FIG. 2 shows a signal waveform diagram of control signals of the electronic scanning ultrasonic tomography apparatus of this embodiment.

As shown in FIG. 2, the transmission and reception of ultrasonic waves is synchronized with synchronization signal A, and transducer switching signals B, B2. ...B, B
,,1. ”B n and C1,C,,j+jlcK.

C8 and 1. ...Cn is switched sequentially.

Further, the transducer group switching signal generated in the control circuit 4 is sent to the DSC 12 together with the synchronization signal A, and becomes a synchronization signal that forms an address signal for a memory for storing tomographic images.

As can be seen from the above description, according to this embodiment, an electronic switching device 2a such as a diode switch is used as a switching device for the transducer groups 1a and 1b of the pipe lane type ultrasonic probe 1.
and 2b, and a control circuit 1 for driving the same, for example, electronic switching devices 2a and 2b are arranged for each transducer group 1a and 1b of the pipe lane ultrasonic probe 1, and each electronic switching device 2a By providing the control circuit 4 for driving the probes 1 and 2b, for example, the pipe lane ultrasonic probe 1
The transmission and reception of ultrasonic waves to and from the two transducer groups 1a and 1b arranged in the transducer group 1a and 1b are switched for each scanning line or when one frame of scanning is completed, and the switching is performed for each scanning line, or when the scanning of one screen is completed, and the switching of the transmission and reception of ultrasonic waves to the two transducer groups 1a and 1b arranged in After being sequentially stored in the memory, they are displayed on the television monitor 13 and sequentially rewritten in real time.

These means display tomographic images of two different planes simultaneously in real time.

That is, in the conventional circuit configuration shown in FIG. 3 mentioned above,
Since the drive signal switching group 14 consisting of an electromagnetic switch is used to switch the drive signal for switching between the two transducer groups 1a and 1b, high-speed switching is not possible.
It is not possible to display tomographic images obtained by b at the same time in real time. Therefore, the tomographic image obtained with one transducer group is
Previously, a parallel display method was used in which the C12's memory stored the data and held it still, and the tomographic images from other transducer groups were displayed in real time. The fault device does not use an electromagnetic switch,
Since two sets of electronic switching device drive circuit groups 3a + 3b are provided, switching of the drive signal for switching the transducer groups 1a and lb is the same as selecting a small number of transducer groups within the transducer groups 1a and 1b. Because it operates with functions, high-speed switching is possible.
Two tomographic images are displayed simultaneously in real time.

In the above embodiment, the electronic switching devices 2a and 2b are used only for the purpose of switching between the two transducer groups 1a and 1b, but they are generally used in linear type ultrasound probes and convex type ultrasound probes. Since an electronic switch and a switching signal control circuit are used for the purpose of selecting a group of transducers to be transmitted and received from among the group of transducers and switching them sequentially, the switching of the cross section, which is the object of the present invention, is performed using a switching signal control circuit. It can also be used for control.

Although the present invention has been specifically explained above based on examples,
It goes without saying that the present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above, and that various modifications can be made without departing from the gist thereof.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, according to the present invention, tomographic images of two different planes obtained by a pipe lane ultrasonic probe can be switched alternately at high speed, so that they can be displayed simultaneously in real time. Can be done.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of an electronic scanning ultrasonic tomography apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a signal waveform diagram of the control signal of the electronic scanning ultrasonic tomography apparatus of this embodiment. FIG. 3 is a block diagram for explaining the schematic configuration of a circuit example of a conventional electronic scanning ultrasonic tomography apparatus. It is a diagram.

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) In order to obtain tomographic images of multiple different planes, an ultrasonic diagnostic probe is equipped with multiple independent transducer groups, and each transducer group of the ultrasonic diagnostic probe is An electronic scanning ultrasonic tomography apparatus is provided with a switch that enables switching between the ultrasonic transmission and reception functions of each transducer group, and the switch is configured to switch the selection of the transducer group at high speed. An electronic scanning ultrasonic tomography apparatus characterized in that the electronic switching device is capable of displaying a plurality of tomographic images simultaneously in real time, and that switching of the electronic switching device is performed by an automatically controllable control circuit. .