JPH10262965A - Ultrasound diagnostic equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [PROBLEMS] To facilitate reading of character information without deteriorating image quality. According to a first aspect, at the time of recording, a signal adding unit 1 is provided.
2, the image quality reference signal is added to the output video signal, and during reproduction, the signal detection unit 13 detects the image quality reference signal from the video signal, and the state determination unit 14 determines the state of the image quality reference signal. In step 16, the reproduced video signal is subjected to correction such as contour emphasis according to the determination result of the state determination unit 14. In the second invention, the display area of the character is detected by the area detection section 17 for inputting the reproduction video signal, and the correction of the reproduction video signal by the video signal correction section 16 is performed between the display area of the character and the other area. I changed it.

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 capable of recording and reproducing an image obtained by transmitting and receiving an ultrasonic wave on a video tape.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, an image obtained by transmitting and receiving an ultrasonic wave is displayed on a monitor together with characters indicating a patient name, a diagnostic part, date and time, and the like. A video signal of the display image can be input / output to / from an external VTR so that the display image including the video signal can be recorded on a video tape or reproduced from the video tape.

[0003]

However, since the recorded image is recorded as an analog signal, it is easily affected by the characteristics of a VTR or a video tape. In this case, the signal quality is considerably degraded, the image quality is reduced, and the character information included in the display image becomes difficult to read.

Conventionally, it has been considered that a contour correction circuit is incorporated in an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus to enhance the contour of a reproduced video signal. By performing such processing, the character shape of the character is corrected, and the character information can be accurately read.

However, there is a problem in performing such processing uniformly on a reproduced video signal. In a reproduced video signal in which signal degradation hardly occurs, characters included in the reproduced video signal change to a framed shape as if bordering. In some cases, the effect may be adverse.

[0006] In addition, since the processing of the contour enhancement is performed not only in the character area but also in other areas dedicated to the image, the image quality of the image may be deteriorated.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention addresses the above-mentioned conventional problems, and reduces image quality by performing correction such as contour emphasis in accordance with the degree of deterioration of a video signal and character / image areas. It is another object of the present invention to make it easier to read character information without any problem.

[0008]

According to the present invention, an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus capable of inputting / outputting a video signal corresponding to a display image to / from an external device has the following configuration to achieve the above object. .

That is, in the first invention, a signal adding unit for adding an image quality reference signal to a video signal to be output to the outside,
A signal detection unit for detecting an image quality reference signal from a reproduced video signal; a state determination unit for determining a state of the detected image quality reference signal; and a video signal correction unit for correcting the reproduction video signal according to the determination result of the state determination unit And part.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided an area detecting section for detecting a display area of a character by inputting a reproduced video signal from the outside, a display area of the character detected by the area detecting section, and other display areas. A video signal correction unit for correcting a reproduced video signal while switching the degree of correction between the area and the area.

[0011]

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

FIGS. 1 and 2 relate to an embodiment of the first invention of the present invention. FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to the embodiment, and FIG. 2 is a waveform of an image quality reference signal. FIG.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes a probe. The probe 1 transmits and receives ultrasonic waves under the control of the transmission / reception control circuit 2, and outputs an echo signal. The echo signal is subjected to waveform shaping by the signal processing circuit 3 and the A / D converter 4
And input to a DSC (Digital Scan Converter) 5 as echo data. In DSC5,
Image data is generated from the echo data, and the image data is stored in the image memory 6.

Reference numeral 7 denotes a central control unit for controlling the operation of the transmission / reception control circuit 2 and other parts of the apparatus.
Reference numeral 9 denotes a character graphic memory for storing character patterns, and reference numeral 9 denotes a video signal generation unit.

The video signal generator 9 captures image data from the DSC 5 and pattern data of a character from the character graphic memory 8 to generate a video signal of a display image including characters, and outputs the video signal to the monitor 10 or an external VTR 11.
In this embodiment, a signal addition unit 12 is connected to the video signal generation unit 9, and the signal addition unit 12 adds an image quality reference signal to an output video signal. .

The image quality reference signal is an index for examining the degree of deterioration of the video signal, and is specifically composed of a simple pattern signal in which black and white rectangles are arranged. For example, as shown in FIG. 2, the waveform of the image quality reference signal is formed of a rectangular wave extending from a black level to a white level. The image quality reference signal is added to a specific portion of the video signal, for example, using a vertical blanking period or a horizontal blanking period, which is an empty portion of the video signal.
This additional location may be at the beginning of the recorded image, but may be set for each frame. In addition, when an image quality reference signal is added to the beginning of a recorded image, it is possible to use a part of the displayed portion of the video signal and set an additional portion there.

Further, in this embodiment, the external VT
A signal detection unit 1 is provided on the side that receives a reproduced video signal from R11.
3, a state determination unit 14, a correction control unit 15, and a video signal correction unit 16.

The signal detecting section 13 takes in a reproduced video signal from the external VTR 11, detects an image quality reference signal added to the signal, and outputs it to the next state determining section 14. The state determination unit 14 determines the degree of deterioration of the video signal from the detected waveform and level of the image quality reference signal.

The determination by the state determination unit 14 is performed, for example, as follows. That is, when the image quality reference signal is a rectangular wave extending from the black level to the white level as described above, as shown in FIG. 2, the time t of the portion exceeding the level based on the luminance signal included in the reproduced video signal is determined. The length is measured as the degree of deterioration of the video signal. Then, the determination result of the state determination unit 14 is input to the correction control unit 15.

The correction control section 15 controls the correction operation of the video signal correction section 16 according to the judgment result of the state judgment section 14.

The video signal correction section 16 is a section for performing correction processing such as contour enhancement on the reproduced video signal, and its operation is controlled by the correction control section 15.
Control is performed according to the determination result of the state determination unit 14. The control of this correction operation is simply ON / OFF control,
If fine adjustment is required, control is performed to change the degree of correction. The correction of the video signal may be a correction for increasing the contrast, in addition to the edge enhancement.

The reproduced video signal having passed through the video signal correction section 16 is supplied to a monitor 10 via a video signal generation section 9.

In the above configuration, when performing a diagnosis, image data is generated from the echo signal from the probe 1, and a character such as a character is superimposed in the video signal generation section 9 from the image data and the pattern data of the character. A video signal of the combined image is generated, and the superimposed image is displayed on the screen of the monitor 10.

When recording this image, an external VTR 1
The video signal is output to the output video signal 1, and the image quality reference signal is added to the output video signal by the signal adding unit 12.
Therefore, a video signal including the image quality reference signal is recorded on the video tape.

Next, when performing reproduction, a reproduced video signal from the VTR 11 is input to the signal detection unit 13 and the video signal correction unit 16.

The signal detecting section 13 detects an image quality reference signal included in the reproduced video signal, and sends the detected image quality reference signal to the next state determining section 14 where the state is checked. .

The image quality reference signal indicates a predetermined pattern, and is the same as the image portion of the video signal.
1 and the quality of the video tape, the deterioration of the image portion of the video signal can be determined by looking at the state of the image quality reference signal. Therefore, the result of determination by the state determination unit 14 corresponds to the state of deterioration of the video signal.

On the other hand, the video signal correction section 16 takes in the reproduced video signal and performs a correction process such as contour enhancement on the reproduced video signal.
4 is controlled by the correction control unit 15, which takes in the output of the image quality control unit 4, and is controlled according to the determination result of the state determination unit 14, that is, the state of the image quality reference signal.

According to the above control, if the degree of signal deterioration of the reproduced video signal is large, the reproduced video signal is subjected to correction such as contour emphasis or a large amount of correction. Is sharper. On the other hand, if the degree of signal degradation of the reproduced video signal is small, the reproduced video signal will not be corrected, such as contour enhancement, or will be slightly corrected. Absent.

Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram of an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to one embodiment of the second invention.

In this embodiment, a video signal correction unit 1 is provided on the side where a reproduced video signal is input from an external VTR 11.
6, an area detection unit 17 and a correction control unit 18 are provided.

In this embodiment, it is not necessary to provide a signal adding unit for adding an image quality reference signal to a video signal to be output to the outside, as in the above-described first embodiment of the present invention. The second embodiment may be the same as that of the first embodiment, and the common parts are denoted by the same reference numerals and detailed description thereof will be omitted.

The area detecting section 17 fetches a reproduced video signal from the external VTR 11 and detects an area where a character such as a character is displayed. Since the area in which the character is displayed is generally predetermined, the data may be given to the area detection unit 17 in advance, and the area detection unit 17 specifically determines the number of horizontal scanning lines and the corresponding horizontal scanning line. The character display area is detected by counting the position of the character display area on the line.

The detection result of the area detector 17 is transmitted to the correction controller 1
8 is input. The correction control unit 18 controls the operation of the video signal correction unit 16 according to the detection result of the area determination unit 17. Specifically, control is performed so that the video signal is corrected in the character display area, and the video signal in the other image-only area is not corrected.

The video signal correction unit 16 performs a correction process such as contour emphasis on a reproduced video signal in the same manner as in the embodiment described above, and is ON / OFF controlled by a signal from the correction control unit 18. You. The reproduced video signal that has passed through the video signal correction unit 16 is provided to the monitor 10 via the video signal generation unit 9.

As described above, in the present embodiment, the video signal in the character display area is corrected, and the video signal in the other area is not corrected. Therefore, while the shape of the characters included in the image becomes clear,
The image quality does not deteriorate due to the correction outside the character display area.

In this embodiment, correction such as contour emphasis is performed in accordance with the deterioration state of the video signal indicated by the image quality reference signal, or the video signal is corrected in accordance with whether or not the image is in the character display area. However, by combining the configuration of the first invention and the configuration of the second invention, the signal degradation state
The video signal may be corrected according to the difference between the character and the image area.

As described above, in the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus including the first and second aspects of the present invention, the degree of correction of the video signal is switched between the character display area and the other area. The correction of the video signal in each area differs depending on the state of the image quality reference signal, but normally the correction of the character display area is strong, and in other areas, the correction is weaker.

[0039]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, an image quality reference signal is added to an output video signal, and correction such as contour emphasis is performed during reproduction according to the state of the image quality reference signal.
Since the state of the image quality reference signal corresponds to the state of the video signal, appropriate correction is performed in accordance with the state of deterioration of the video signal, and characters and images are not excessively corrected. There is no adverse effect that makes it difficult to see.

In the second invention, the correction of the video signal is switched between the character display area and the other area. Since the correction is applied only to the video signal in the necessary area, the reading of the character information is not performed. This is easy, and the image quality is not deteriorated by the correction.

[Brief description of the drawings]

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

FIG. 2 is a waveform diagram of an image quality reference signal in the device.

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

[Explanation of symbols]

9 Video signal generator 10 Monitor 11 VT
R 12 signal addition unit 13 signal detection unit 14 state determination unit 16 video signal correction unit

Claims (2)

[Claims] An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus capable of inputting / outputting a video signal corresponding to a display image to / from an external device, comprising: a signal adding unit for adding an image quality reference signal to a video signal to be output to the outside; A signal detection unit that detects an image quality reference signal; a state determination unit that determines a state of the detected image quality reference signal; and a video signal correction unit that corrects a reproduced video signal according to the determination result of the state determination unit. An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus characterized in that: 2. An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus capable of inputting / outputting a video signal corresponding to a display image to / from an external device, comprising: an area detecting unit that inputs a reproduced video signal from the outside to detect a display area of a character; An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus comprising: a video signal correction unit that corrects a reproduced video signal while switching a degree of correction between a display region of a character detected by the region detection unit and a display region other than the display region.