JPH0515531A - Ultrasonic diagnostic equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Abstract] [Purpose] An object of the present invention is to provide an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus capable of easily and quickly identifying each observation mark. [Structure] An ultrasonic imaging image obtained by transmitting and receiving ultrasonic waves to and from a subject is displayed in M mode.
In the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus 1 including the pointing device 11 for adding the measurement marker indicating the measurement section at the time measurement on the mode display image and the coordinate conversion circuit 12, the measurement marker is colored with a different color depending on the channel. It is characterized in that memories 13A, 13B and 13C are provided.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus for photographing an examination site of a subject by using ultrasonic waves, and more particularly to M
The present invention relates to an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus having an improved function of adding markers for observation such as time measurement markers, traces and calipers in mode.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in this type of ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, an observation mark as shown in FIG. 6 has been added to a display image on which a captured image of a subject is displayed.
This figure shows an M mode display image in which a captured image is displayed in the M mode. When time measurement is performed on this M mode display image, for example, the measurement markers A11 and A12 are used as the start and end points of the measurement section. In combination, the arithmetic processing unit (not shown) measures the time between the two measurement markers A11 and A12, and the measured time is displayed.

The time measurement by the measurement marker representing such a time phase can be performed a plurality of times on the same screen, and one measurement is regarded as one channel, and the measurement markers of a plurality of channels are displayed on the same display screen. You can At this time, a number indicating the channel number is written near each measurement marker. 6, A11 and A12 are channel 1 measurement markers, B11 and B12 are channel 2 measurement markers,
N11 and N12 indicate channel N measurement markers.

Further, when the photographed image is displayed in the B / M mode, the EC displayed on the M mode display image in FIG. 6 is displayed.
It is also possible to display a B-mode image (not shown) in synchronization with the G signal 102, and the time phase thereof is indicated by the ECG synchronization time phase marker 103. Furthermore, it is also possible to trace the contour of a specific part in the display image and display this contour line on the display screen. This contour line is called a trace.

[0005]

However, in the case of the above-mentioned prior art, the same kind of mark is displayed in the same color in the observation marks such as the measurement marker, the ECG synchronization time phase marker, and the trace. It is difficult to quickly identify each mark from the display screen when marks of the same type are close to each other, or when measurement markers of a plurality of channels are displayed on the same screen. For example, in FIG.
In, the channel number is written near each measurement marker, but since the arrangement order of the measurement markers is irregular, it is not easy to identify the channel of each measurement marker by looking at the display screen.

The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems of the prior art. The object of the present invention is to provide an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus capable of easily and quickly identifying each observation mark. To provide.

[0007]

In order to achieve the above object, according to the present invention, an ultrasonic photographed image obtained by transmitting and receiving ultrasonic waves to and from an object is displayed in M mode. In the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus including the mark adding means for adding the observation mark on the M-mode display image, the mark coloring means for coloring the same kind of the mark with a different color according to the contents is provided. Characterize. Further, in the present invention, when measuring the time in a predetermined section on the M-mode display image, a measurement marker indicating the section is displayed as an observation mark, and one time measurement is set as one channel and a plurality of channels are set. In the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus in which the measurement marker is displayed on the same display screen, the measurement marker may be colored with a different color for each channel by the mark coloring means.

[0008]

In the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus of the present invention having the above-mentioned structure, even if a plurality of observation marks of the same type are displayed on the same display screen, the respective observation marks have their contents by the mark coloring means. Since it is colored with different colors according to
Each observation mark can be identified at a glance by looking at the display screen. Especially, when the time measurement in the M mode is performed on a plurality of channels, if each measurement marker is colored with a different color for each channel, even if the arrangement order of each measurement marker is irregular, the measurement screen can be easily displayed. Moreover, the channel of each measurement marker can be quickly identified.

[0009]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram schematically showing the configuration of an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, reference numeral 1 denotes an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus. When performing ultrasonic imaging, the ultrasonic probe 2 is driven by a transmission / reception circuit 3 to transmit / receive ultrasonic waves to / from an object (not shown). Do the waves. The reflected echo received by the ultrasonic probe 2 is amplified by the transmission / reception circuit 3 and is subjected to signal processing such as detection by the signal processing circuit 4 and then converted into image data, and the image memory 6 in the data storage unit 5 is processed. Stored in. This image data is sent to the video signal generation circuit 7, converted into a video signal, and sent to the display unit 8 such as a CRT display, and the photographed image of the examination site of the subject is displayed on the display screen of the display unit.

Further, the apparatus 1 includes a control section 9 for controlling each section of the apparatus, an input section 10 such as a keyboard for inputting various data such as photographing conditions, and a measurement marker for measuring time on the M mode display screen. A pointing device 11 such as a trackball for designating the position of the track marker, and a coordinate conversion circuit 12 for converting a measurement marker position indicating signal input from the pointing device 11 into measurement marker data.
Is provided. The pointing device 11 and the coordinate conversion circuit 12 play a role as a mark adding unit that adds a measurement marker as an observation mark on the display screen. This measurement marker can be displayed in a plurality of channels on the same display screen, with one time measurement as one channel.

In the data storage unit 5, in addition to the image memory 6, three color memories 13A, 1 as mark coloring means for coloring measurement markers in different colors for each channel.
3B and 13C are provided. Each color memory 13A, 1
Reference numerals 3B and 13C are memories for one screen corresponding to the three primary colors of red, green and blue, respectively, and the measurement marker data sent from the coordinate conversion circuit 12 is given red color by being given different color information for each channel. Memory (hereinafter referred to as R memory) 13A, green memory (hereinafter referred to as G memory) 13
B, blue memory (hereinafter referred to as B memory) 13C.

In this embodiment, the color memories corresponding to the three primary colors are provided for three screens as described above, and when the time is measured on the M mode display screen, the measurement marker is set as follows. Is displayed.

First, the operator uses the pointing device 1
When the position of the measurement marker of channel 1 is designated by 1 in accordance with the start point and the end point of the measurement section, this measurement marker position information is used as measurement marker data by the coordinate conversion circuit 12,
This measurement marker position data is sent to the control unit 9. An arithmetic processing unit (not shown) measures the time for the measurement section indicated by the measurement marker position data, and this measurement time is displayed on the display unit 8. At the same time, the position data for the measurement marker obtained by the coordinate conversion circuit 12 is sent to the R memory 13A, and the display bit for instructing the display is written in the memory address of the R memory 13A corresponding to this measurement marker position.

Next, when the operator designates the position of the measurement marker of channel 2, the display bit is similarly written in the memory address of the G memory 13B corresponding to the position of the measurement marker of channel 2. In this way
Each measurement marker is associated with a different color for each channel, and the display bit is written to the memory address corresponding to each measurement marker position in the color memory corresponding to this color.

When the measurement marker is colored with a color other than the three primary colors, the three primary colors are combined to represent this color. For example, in the case of coloring in yellow, the display bit is written at the same address in the G memory 13B and the B memory 13C. In addition, these color memories 13A, 13B, 13C
A non-display bit indicating that the measurement marker is not displayed is written in the memory address that does not correspond to the measurement marker position.

These color memories 13A, 13B, 13C
The measurement marker display data of is read in the scanning direction to the display unit 8 together with the image data in the image memory 6,
The video signal generation circuit 7 converts the video signal into an NTSC system or PAL system video signal, an RGB signal, or the like and sends the video signal to the display unit 8. The display unit 8 displays an image in which measurement markers of a plurality of channels are marked on the captured image of the subject according to the video signal.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing such a display screen. In FIG. 2, bars A1 and A2 are measurement markers of channel 1, bars B1 and B2 are measurement markers of channel 2, and bars C1 and C2 are channels 3. The measurement marker is shown.
Further, the measurement markers A1 and A2 of the channel 1 are colored red, the measurement markers B1 and B2 of the channel 2 are colored green, and the measurement markers C1 and C2 of the channel 3 are colored blue.

In this example, the measurement markers of channels 1, 2, and 3 are colored red, green, and blue as described above, but if the colors are different for each channel, these measurement markers are operated by the same operation as above. It may be colored with other colors. Further, instead of writing the display / non-display bit as described above on the screens of the color memories 13A, 13B, 13C, the grayscale value bit may be written to change the luminance of the measurement marker. FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a main configuration of an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to another embodiment of the present invention.

In this embodiment, the color memory has three
A color memory for two screens (hereinafter, this color memory is referred to as an RG memory) 23, which is not provided with three planes corresponding to colors and includes only one screen of R memory and one screen of G memory, has a data storage unit 25. It is provided inside. In the figure, 26 is an image memory, 29 is a control unit, and 27 is a video signal generating circuit. Further, a decoding circuit 21 for decoding the measurement marker display data sent from the RG memory 23 is provided between the RG memory 23 and the video signal generating circuit 27. The other constituent elements are the same as those in the above-described embodiment shown in FIG.

Also in this embodiment, when measuring the time in the M mode, each measurement marker has a different color for each channel, but in the case of this embodiment, it is 2 bits for the RG memory 23. Three colors are represented. That is, the color of the measurement marker is expressed by the combination of the three colors represented by 2 bits and the display / non-display bit is written in the address of the RG memory 23 corresponding to the position of the measurement marker.

The color information of the measurement marker read from the RG memory 23 is separated into color information of three colors by the decoding circuit 21 and sent to the video signal generating circuit 27 as measurement marker display data. At the same time, the image data of the subject is transferred from the image memory 26 to the video signal generating circuit 27.
The video signal generating circuit 27 converts these data into video signals and sends them to the display unit 8. Thereby,
An image in which the measurement marker is colored in a different color for each channel on the captured image is displayed on the screen of the display unit 8. Since only the RG memory 23 for two screens is provided as the color memory in this embodiment, the memory can be saved as compared with the above embodiment shown in FIG. FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a main configuration of an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to still another embodiment of the present invention.

In this embodiment, the color memory 13 is used.
A graphic plane corresponding to colors such as A, 13B, 13C, and 23 is not provided, and the position and color of the measurement marker are stored in the marker memory 36 as position information and color information on the time axis. This data is sorted in the order in which it is displayed in the scanning direction on the display unit 8, and when the order of the data changes due to correction or addition of the position of the measurement marker, the order of the data is changed. Further, for example, as shown in FIG. 5, a pointer is prepared so that the channel of each data can be identified, and the pointer is rewritten when the order of the data is changed.

The data storage section 35, the image memory 36, the control section 39, the video signal generating circuit 37 and the display section 38 shown in FIG. 4 are the same components as the corresponding portions in FIG. In the embodiment, the video signal generation circuit 37
Between the display unit 38 and the display unit 38, a video signal synthesizing circuit 33 for synthesizing the measurement marker video signal and the captured image video signal.
Is provided, and an equal comparator 32 is provided between the marker memory 31 and the video signal synthesizing circuit 33. The other components are the same as those in the above-described embodiment shown in FIG.

When the measurement marker is displayed on the M-mode display image, a control signal is sent from the control unit 39 to the marker memory 31 and the image memory 36 as shown in FIG. The image data is read in synchronization with the scan on the display unit 8 and sent to the video signal generation circuit 37, and the measurement marker data in the marker memory 31 is sent to the equal comparator 32.

Then, the video signal synthesizing circuit 33 synthesizes the captured image video signal sent from the video signal generating circuit 37 and the measurement marker information sent from the equal comparator 32. That is, the measurement marker information is sent from the equal comparator 32 to the video signal synthesizing circuit 33 so that the color information of the measurement marker is superimposed at the image position where the measurement marker is marked with respect to the video signal for the captured image. Is output. The composite video signal obtained by the video signal composition circuit 33 is sent to the display unit 38, and an image in which the measurement markers are colored in different colors on the captured image is displayed on the display screen of the display unit 38. Is displayed.

In this embodiment, since the graphic plane corresponding to the color is not provided as described above, it is possible to further save the memory as compared with the case of the above embodiment shown in FIG.

In the above embodiment, the measurement marker used for time measurement as the observation mark has been described as an example, but the observation mark is not limited to this, and for example,
Even in the case of ECG synchronization time phase markers, traces, calipers, etc., it is possible to perform color-coded display in the same manner as in the above embodiment.

In the present embodiment, the measurement marker, E
If the CG synchronization time phase markers and the traces are displayed in different colors, respectively, and if they are displayed in different colors, each marker or trace can be easily distinguished when they are displayed on the same screen. Further, in the present embodiment, if different types of markers or traces, or markers of different channels are displayed not only in color but also in form, for example, by being distinguished by a straight line, a chain line, a dashed line, etc., each marker or trace, or The markers on each channel can be more easily identified. Although the embodiment of the present invention has been described above, the present invention is not limited to this, and various modifications can be made.

[0030]

EFFECT OF THE INVENTION The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus of the present invention has the above-mentioned configuration and operation. Since the observation mark is displayed in a different color depending on its content, it can be easily and quickly displayed. The observation landmark can be identified. In particular, by displaying the measurement markers for time measurement in the M mode in different colors for each channel, even when the measurement markers of a plurality of channels are displayed on the same display screen, it is possible to easily and quickly display each measurement marker on the display screen. The channel can be identified. In this way, the discrimination ability of each observation mark is improved,
Since the time spent for measuring the time is shortened, the burden on the operator is reduced, and the diagnostic efficiency can be improved.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram schematically showing the configuration of an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a display screen in the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a main configuration of an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a main configuration of an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to still another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram schematically showing a marker memory portion in the embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a display screen in a conventional ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Ultrasonic Diagnostic Device 2 Ultrasonic Probe 5 Data Storage 6 Image Memory 7 Video Signal Generation Circuit 8 Display 9 Control Unit 11 Pointing Device (Mark Addition Means) 12 Coordinate Conversion Circuit (Mark Addition Means) 13A, 13B, 13C color memory (mark coloring means) A1, A2, B1, B2, C1, C2 measurement marker (observation mark)

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A mark adding means for adding an observation mark on an M-mode display image in which an ultrasonic imaged image obtained by transmitting and receiving ultrasonic waves to and from a subject is displayed in the M mode. The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus is provided with a mark coloring means for coloring the same type of the mark with different colors according to the contents thereof. 2. When measuring time in a predetermined section on an M-mode display image, a measurement marker indicating the section is displayed as an observation mark, and one time measurement is taken as one channel, and the measurement marker of a plurality of channels is set. In the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus in which is displayed on the same display screen, the measurement marker is colored with a different color for each channel by the marking coloring means.