JPH03280937A - Ultrasonic diagnostic device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To observe a high-quality static image by providing the first control means performing the scanning with a small number of focal point stages and a coarse ultrasonic scanning line interval and the second control means performing the scanning with a large number of focal point stages and a dense ultrasonic scanning line interval. CONSTITUTION:The first control means (real time mode control means) performing the scanning with a small number of focal point stages and a coarse ultrasonic scanning line interval and the second control means (non-real time mode control means) performing the scanning with a large number of focal point stages and a dense ultrasonic scanning line interval are provided on a mode switching circuit 8. When the static image mode is selected, the first control means is switched to the second control means by a switching means 9. When the static image mode is selected, the scanning with a large number of focal point stages and a coarse ultrasonic scanning line interval is performed, and a high-quality static image can be observed.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention [Objective of the Invention] (Industrial Application Field) The present invention provides a tomographic image by processing signals related to ultrasound reception obtained by scanning an ultrasound beam onto a subject. The present invention relates to an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus that obtains and displays ultrasonic image information.

(Prior Art) The usefulness of ultrasonic diagnostic equipment lies in the fact that images of the form and function of circulatory organs, including the heart, can be observed in real time without worrying about the effects on living organisms.

When diagnosing a moving organ such as the heart, increasing the number of frames is advantageous because the behavior of the heart can be accurately captured.

Furthermore, when scanning a probe at a high speed for screening purposes, increasing the number of frames is advantageous because efficient diagnosis can be performed.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) As mentioned above, increasing the number of frames is effective when diagnosing moving objects and in terms of diagnostic efficiency;
When it is fixed or semi-fixed as the device mode, the following problems arise. That is, achieving an increase in the number of frames comes at the cost of coarsening the ultrasound scanning line density or reducing the number of focal stages due to limitations on the round-trip time of ultrasound within the living body. Therefore, when the number of frames is increased as described above, if you try to freeze the image and observe it, the ultrasonic scanning line density is coarse or the number of focal stages is small, and in any case, the image quality is very low. I have no choice but to make this observation.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus that makes it possible to observe still images with high image quality while taking advantage of the diagnostic mode with a large number of frames.

[Structure of the Invention] (Means for Solving the Problems) The present invention has a structure in which the following measures are taken to solve the above problems and achieve the objects.

That is, the invention according to claim 1 provides an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus capable of varying the number of focal stages and the interval between ultrasound scanning lines in at least one of ultrasound transmission and reception, in which the number of focal stages is small and the ultrasound scanning line interval is coarse. The first scan of
and a second control means for performing scanning with a large number of focal stages and a close interval between ultrasonic scanning lines, and when the still image mode is set, the first control means controls the second control means. It is characterized by comprising a switching means for switching to the control means.

Further, the invention according to claim 2 provides an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus capable of varying the number of focal stages in at least one of ultrasonic transmission and reception, comprising: a first control means for performing scanning with a small number of focal stages; and a second control means for executing multiple scans, and a switching means for switching from the first control means to the second control means when the still image mode is set.

Furthermore, the invention according to claim 3 provides an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus capable of varying an interval between ultrasonic scanning lines, including a first control means for performing scanning with a coarse interval between ultrasonic scanning lines; and a second control means for performing fine scanning, and a switching means for switching from the first control means to the second control means when set to still image mode.

(Function) According to the invention according to claim 1, diagnosis of a moving object is facilitated by performing scanning with a small number of focal stages and a coarse interval between ultrasound scanning lines, and is effective in terms of diagnostic efficiency. When the still image mode is set, scanning is performed with a large number of focus stages and a close interval between ultrasonic scanning lines, making it possible to observe high-quality still images.

Further, according to the invention according to claim 2, the diagnosis of a moving object is facilitated by executing scanning with a small number of focal stages, and this is effective in terms of diagnostic efficiency, and when the still image mode is set, the focal stage is Scanning with a large number of stages is executed, making it possible to observe high-quality still images.

Furthermore, according to the invention according to claim 3, it is possible to easily diagnose a moving object by performing scanning with a coarse interval between ultrasonic scanning lines, and it is effective in terms of diagnosis efficiency, and it is possible to perform scanning in a still image mode. When set, scanning is performed with dense ultrasonic scanning line intervals, making it possible to observe high-quality still images.

(Embodiment) An embodiment of the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus of this embodiment, and shows an example of application to a sector electronic scanning type ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus. FIG. 2 is a timing chart showing the operation of the same embodiment. Figure 3(a)(b)
FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of scanning in the same embodiment.

As shown in Fig. 1, the probe 1 for sector electronic scanning is constructed by arranging a large number of micro ultrasonic transducers, and the ultrasonic deflection related to transmission and reception is controlled by transmitting and receiving delay control of all the transducers. is to be carried out. A transmitter 2 and a receiver 3 are connected to the probe 1.
The transmitter/receiver delay control is performed for all the transducers.

The signal groups from all the transducers received by the receiver 3 are added together and sent to the signal processor 4, where, for example, a tomographic image or a color flow mapping (CFM) image is generated, and the DS
A C (digital scan converter) 5 converts the ultrasonic scan into, for example, a standard TV scan, and the image is displayed on a monitor 6.

Further, the controller 7 gives a transmission delay control command including transmission focus control to the transmitter 2, gives a reception delay control command including reception focus control to the receiver 3, and gives a reception delay control command including reception focus control to the signal processor 4. A reference signal and the like used for detection are supplied to the DSC 5, and a scan conversion reference signal and the like are supplied to the DSC 5.

The above structure is the same as the conventional one, and the following are the features of this embodiment. That is, the mode switching circuit 8 and the freeze switch 9 constitute the operation panel.
, a scanning line setting switch 10, a scanning line setting circuit 11, a focus setting switch 12, and a focus setting circuit 13.

Here, the mode switching circuit 8 has a real-time mode control means and a non-real-time mode control means for controlling the operation of the transmitter 2 and the receiver 3, and these means are usually in the form of a program. ing. By operating the freeze switch 9, execution of the control means for real-time mode is switched to execution of the control means for non-real-time mode.

Here, the real-time mode control means scans with n scanning lines and 1-stage focus, and the non-real-time mode control means scans with 3n scanning lines and 3-stage focus. It is something that will be done.

According to the scanning line setting switch 9 and the scanning line setting circuit 10, the number of scanning lines in at least one of the above-mentioned real-time mode control means and non-real-time mode control means can be set within a predetermined range as desired by the operator. For example, if the number of scanning lines is halved, the number of frames can be doubled, which improves real-time performance, making it possible to perform probes at a faster speed for diagnosing moving organs such as the heart or for screening purposes. This is suitable for scanning. On the other hand, if the number of scanning lines is doubled, the number of frames becomes 1/2, and high-quality diagnosis becomes possible although real-time performance is impaired.

Further, according to the focus setting switch 11 and the focus setting circuit]2, the number of focus steps including the focus position in at least one of the real-time mode control means and the non-real-time mode control means can be controlled within a predetermined range as desired by the operator. For example, if the number of focal stages is changed from 2 to 1, the number of frames can be doubled if there is no change in the number of scanning lines, and if the number of focal stages is changed from 3 to 1, the number of scanning lines remains the same. In some cases, the number of frames can be tripled, improving real-time performance and making it suitable for diagnosing moving organs such as the heart and for scanning probes at high speeds for screening purposes. . Conversely, if you change the number of focal stages from one to two, the number of frames will increase by 172 if there is no change in the number of scanning lines, and if you increase the number of focal stages from one to three, there will be no change in the number of scanning lines. In this case, the number of frames becomes 1/3 times as large, and high-quality diagnosis becomes possible, although real-time performance is compromised.

According to the present embodiment configured as described above, as shown in FIG. 2, when the freeze switch 9 is turned on, as shown in FIG.
The control means for real-time mode shown in a) is changed to the control means for non-real-time mode, and scanning is performed with 30 scanning lines and 3-stage focus as shown in FIG. 3(b), although real-time performance is impaired. High-quality diagnosis becomes possible.

On the other hand, when the freeze switch 9 is turned OFF, the non-real-time mode control means is changed to the real-time mode control means, and the scanning is performed with n scanning lines and one-step focus to detect moving organs such as the heart. This is suitable for diagnosis or for scanning a probe at a high speed for screening purposes.

In the above example, the real-time mode control means and the non-real-time mode control means are assumed to have changed both the focus and the scanning line density, but this is not limited to this, and the real-time mode control means and the non-real-time mode control means have been changed. When changing to the control means for non-real-time mode, the scanning line density may be unchanged and only the number of focus stages may be increased (Fig. 4(a) to Fig. 4(b)); When changing from the control means for the mode to the control means for the non-real-time mode, the number of focal stages may remain unchanged and the scanning line density may become denser (see FIGS. 5(a) to 5(b)). ), also in this case, turning on the freeze switch 9 is advantageous because it is possible to observe a high-quality still image.

Furthermore, although all of the above examples describe sector electronic scanning, they can also be applied to linear electronic scanning.

Note that control of the scanning line density in sector electronic scanning is realized by controlling the delay pattern given to each transducer of probe 1, and control of scanning line density in linear electron scanning is achieved by controlling the combination of transducers to be transmitted and received in probe 1. It will be realized.

Note that although the above example describes tomographic image display,
It can also be applied when displaying a CFM image superimposed on a tomographic image. In addition, various modifications can be made without departing from the gist of the present invention.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, according to the invention according to claim 1, it is possible to easily diagnose a moving object by performing scanning with a small number of focal stages and coarse ultrasound scanning line intervals, and to improve the diagnosis. This is effective in terms of efficiency, and when set to the still image mode, scanning is performed with a large number of focal stages and a close interval between ultrasonic scanning lines, making it possible to observe high-quality still images.

Further, according to the invention according to claim 2, it is possible to easily diagnose a moving object by executing a scan with a small number of focal stages, and it is effective in terms of diagnosis efficiency, and when the still image mode is set, the focal stage is Scanning with a large number of stages is executed, making it possible to observe high-quality still images.

Furthermore, according to the invention according to claim 3, it is possible to easily diagnose a moving object by performing scanning with a coarse interval between ultrasonic scanning lines, and it is effective in terms of diagnosis efficiency, and it is possible to perform scanning in a still image mode. When set, scanning is performed with dense ultrasonic scanning line intervals, making it possible to observe high-quality still images.

Therefore, according to the present invention, it is possible to provide an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus that makes it possible to observe still images with high image quality while taking advantage of the diagnostic mode with a large number of frames.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an embodiment of the ultrasound diagnostic apparatus according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a timing diagram showing the operation of the embodiment, and FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of scanning of the embodiment. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of scanning in which the scanning line density is unchanged and only the number of focus stages is increased, and FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of scanning in which the number of focal stages is unchanged and the scanning line density is dense. 1... Probe, 2... Transmitter, 3... Receiver,
4... Signal processor, 5... DSC, 6... Monitor, 7... Controller, 8... Mode switching circuit, 9...
Freeze switch, 10...Scanning line setting switch, 1
1... Scanning line setting circuit, 12... Focus setting switch, 13... Focus setting circuit.

Claims (3)

[Claims] (1) In an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus capable of varying the number of focal stages and the interval between ultrasonic scanning lines in at least one of ultrasound transmission and reception, a first scan with a small number of focal stages and a coarse interval between ultrasound scanning lines and a second control means for performing scanning with a large number of focal stages and a close interval between ultrasonic scanning lines, and when the still image mode is set, the first
An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus comprising a switching means for switching from the control means to the second control means. (2) In an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus capable of varying the number of focal stages in at least one of ultrasound transmission and reception, a first control means executes a scan with a small number of focal stages, and a second control means executes a scan with a large number of focal stages. An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus comprising: a control means, and a switching means for switching from the first control means to the second control means when set to a still image mode. (3) In an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus capable of varying the interval between ultrasonic scanning lines, a first control means executes scanning with a coarse interval between ultrasonic scanning lines, and a first control means executes scanning with a fine interval between ultrasonic scanning lines. 2. An ultrasound diagnostic apparatus, comprising: a switching means for switching from said first control means to said second control means when set to a still image mode.