JPH0591612U - Ultrasonic diagnostic equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [Objective] To provide an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus capable of analyzing even a high flow velocity for the same reception time. In an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus including a beam former for delaying received signals from a plurality of elements and performing phasing addition, a beam former 30 switches and outputs received signals from a plurality of elements. The switch array 32, a delay element that gives different delay times to the received signals switched by the switch array 32, and first and second memories 34 and 35 for storing control data for switching the switch array 32. When,
A memory controller that selects a memory that outputs control data to the switch array 32 and controls transfer of control data to a memory other than the memory that is reading the control data to be provided to the switch array 32 for processing the received signal. 37. An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus comprising:

Description

[Detailed description of the device]

[0001]

[Industrial applications]

 The present invention relates to an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, and more particularly to improvement of a receiving beamformer of the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus.

[0002]

[Prior Art]

 The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus irradiates the inside of the subject with an ultrasonic signal from the ultrasonic probe, and the ultrasonic probe receives the signal reflected from the tissue or lesion in the subject. It is a device for displaying a tomographic image formed by a reflected signal on a CRT.

In this ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, there is an electronic scanning ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus. This device performs scanning by opening a plurality of specific elements of an ultrasonic probe having a large number of elements and sequentially changing each element so as to form a transmitted beam. The same element aperture control is performed for reflected waves.

FIG. 4 is a circuit diagram showing a conventional circuit of an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus provided with a beamformer that performs data processing of received signals by electronic scanning. In this figure, a received signal (Echo) from an ultrasonic probe having a plurality of elements is supplied to a beam former 30. The beam former 30 phase-adds the received signals (Echo) in accordance with the data given from the real-time controller 20 to obtain a received wave-phased signal (Echo) '. Then, the received phasing signal is logarithmically compressed and detected in the detection circuit 40, the CFM (color flow mapping) circuit 50 colors the data according to the flow velocity, and the DSC (digital scan converter) 60 converts the data into a video signal. Then, it is displayed on the CRT 70.

[0005]

[Problems to be solved by the device]

 Further, FIG. 5 is a configuration diagram showing an internal configuration of the beam former 30. In this figure, 31 stores control data given from the outside, the switching state of the switch array changes based on this control data, and the delay adder circuit 33 changes the beam based on the desired delay map. Forming is executed.

FIG. 6 is a time chart showing the operation modes of the beam former 30. As shown in the operation mode (3) in this figure, it takes time to transfer the control data to the memory 31 during beamforming, and the time that can be used for actual transmission and reception is limited. For example, when the transmission / reception was 100 μs, it took 20 to 30 μs to transfer the control data. This is because of the increase in circuit scale. As a result, the reception preparation period is increased, and the velocity scale is kept low in the CFM mode and the like.

The present invention is intended to solve the above problems, and to provide an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus that suppresses the time spent for transferring control data of a beamformer and can analyze up to a high flow velocity with the same reception time. is there.

[0008]

[Means for Solving the Problems]

 Means for solving the above problem is an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus including a beamformer for delaying and phase-adding received signals from a plurality of elements, wherein the beamformer receives the received signals from the plurality of elements. A switch array for switching and outputting, a delay element for giving a different delay time to each of the received signals switched by the switch array, and first and second memories for storing control data for switching the switch array. And a memory that outputs control data to the switch array, and controls transfer of control data to a memory other than the memory that is reading the control data to be given to the switch array for processing the received signal. It is characterized by having a controller.

[0009]

[Action]

 In the present invention, a plurality of memories for storing control data for beamforming are provided, and while the control data stored in one memory is in use, the control data is transferred to the other memory. Since it is not necessary to provide the control data transfer time provided between each transmission / reception timing, it is possible to analyze even a high flow velocity for the same reception time.

[0010]

【Example】

 Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram mainly showing the configuration of a beam former according to an embodiment of the present invention. In this figure, the same parts as those already described are designated by the same reference numerals. In this embodiment, a first memory 34 and a second memory 35 are provided as memories for storing control data, and a switch 36 for switching and outputting the data read from this memory and a memory controller 37 for controlling each memory. I have it.

The operation of the apparatus of this embodiment thus configured will be described with reference to the time chart shown in FIG. Note that FIG. 2 is a time chart corresponding to FIG. 6 of the conventional example, and the first memory 34 and the second memory 35 are described as A and B, respectively.

First, wave transmission is performed at the timing shown in FIG. At this time, the memory controller 37 gives a read signal and a read address to the second memory 35. Therefore, the control data already stored in the second memory 35 is read out. Further, during this period, the switch 36 is switched to the second memory 35 side by the instruction from the memory controller 37. Therefore, based on the control data read from the second memory 35 in this way, the beam former 30 executes the beam forming.

At the same time as the wave transmission, the memory controller 37 gives a write signal and a write address to the first memory 34. At this timing, a control data sending circuit (not shown) sends control data, and the first memory 34 stores control data for the next beamforming. Also, by transmitting the control data during transmission as described above, the received data will not be noisy and the image will not be adversely affected.

When this series of transmission / reception periods ends, transmission is performed at the start timing of the next transmission / reception period (FIG. 2 (b)). At this time, the memory controller 37 gives a read signal and a read address to the first memory 34. Therefore, the control data stored in the first memory 34 at the previous timing is read. At this time, the switch 36 is switched to the first memory 34 side by the instruction from the memory controller 37. Therefore, the beam forming is executed in the beam former 30 based on the control data read from the first memory 34 in this way.

At the same time as the wave transmission, the memory controller 37 gives a write signal and a write address to the second memory 35. At this timing, the control data transmission circuit (not shown) transmits control data, and the second memory 35 stores control data for the next beamforming.

In this way, by transferring the control data used in the next period to the other memory while the beamforming is being executed based on the control data of the one memory, It is possible to eliminate the time required only for control data transfer. As a result, a fast PRF can be realized for the same reception time.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram for explaining the operation of another embodiment of the present invention. At the timing shown in this figure, the control data transfer of the first memory 34 is performed at the first timing, and the second memory 35 is used at the same timing to start the beamforming in the B mode and the CFM mode. To do. Then, at the timing of, the control data is transferred to the second memory 35, and the beamforming in the B mode and the CFM mode is started using the first memory 34 with the same timing. Also in this case, as in the above embodiment, the time required only for the control data transfer can be omitted, and a fast PRF can be realized for the same reception time.

As described in detail above, two memories for storing the control data for beamforming are provided, and while one memory is being used, the control data is transferred to the other memory. It is not necessary to provide the control data transfer time (for example, 20 to 30 μs for 130 μs transmission / reception time) provided between each transmission / reception timing, and it is possible to analyze even a high flow velocity for the same reception time.

It should be noted that the beam former according to the embodiment of the present invention can obtain the effect when the CFM is used, but also the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus other than that can also obtain the excellent effect. .

[0020]

[Effect of the device]

 As described in detail above, two memories for storing the control data for beamforming are provided, and while the control data stored in one memory is in use, the control data is transferred to the other memory. By doing so, it is not necessary to provide the control data transfer time provided between each transmission / reception timing, and it is possible to realize an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus that can analyze even a high flow velocity for the same reception time.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram showing a configuration of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a time chart showing an operating state of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a time chart showing an operating state of another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a configuration diagram showing a configuration of a conventional ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus.

FIG. 5 is a configuration diagram showing a configuration of a main part of a conventional ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus.

FIG. 6 is a time chart showing an operating state of a conventional ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus.

[Explanation of symbols]

 30 beam former 32 switch array 33 delay adder circuit 34 first memory 35 second memory 36 switch 37 memory controller

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] 1. An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus including a beam former for delaying received signals from a plurality of elements and performing phasing addition, wherein the beam former switches and outputs received signals from a plurality of elements. A switch array, a delay element that gives different delay times to the received signals switched by the switch array, first and second memories that store control data for switching the switch array, and a switch array And a memory controller that controls the transfer of control data to a memory other than the memory that is reading the control data to be provided to the switch array for processing the received signal. An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus characterized by being present.