JP2872030B2 - Ultrasound diagnostic equipment - Google Patents

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 irradiating an ultrasonic wave to a tissue in a body and obtaining a tomographic image of a tissue in the body by utilizing the characteristic of the ultrasonic wave reflected at the boundary of the acoustic impedance of the tissue. About.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, in ultrasonic diagnostics for obtaining a tissue tomographic image of a body by irradiating an ultrasonic wave to a tissue in the body and utilizing a characteristic of the ultrasonic wave reflected at a boundary of acoustic impedance of the tissue, the ultrasonic wave is known. Techniques such as inserting a small-diameter ultrasonic probe from a known forceps channel of an endoscope and performing ultrasonic diagnosis are becoming widespread.

Conventionally, when viewing an endoscopic image of an observation site at the time of ultrasonic diagnosis, two display means, a monitor for an ultrasonic image and a monitor for an endoscope, are provided, or two images are displayed. In order to observe on a single monitor, a consumer monitor uses a monitor (hereinafter referred to as a PIP monitor) that can display another image in a small screen on a known monitor screen, or uses an expensive broadcast device. I was

[0004]

However, a PIP monitor for consumer use, as shown in FIG.
In the inspection of the above, when a parent-child screen such as an ultrasonic image is displayed on the parent screen 32 and an endoscopic image is displayed on the child screen 33, the position where the child screen 33 is displayed cannot be changed. There is a problem that the ROI 34 cannot be seen by the child screen 33.

[0005] In addition, if expensive broadcasting equipment is used, the display position of the small screen 33 can be changed, but the operator still operates the broadcasting equipment while operating the endoscope and the ultrasonic probe. This increases the burden on the operator, and as a result, a problem such as an increase in diagnosis time occurs.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and displays an ultrasonic image and another image as a parent-child image, and prevents the vignetting of the parent image due to the child image by a simple configuration. It is an object of the present invention to provide an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus capable of performing the above.

[0007]

According to the present invention , there are provided:
Ultrasound diagnostic equipment transmits and receives ultrasonic waves.
A first diagnostic image composed of image information of a layer image;
A second diagnostic image composed of image information different from the first diagnostic image
A function to display diagnostic images on the same screen of the display means
Generating the first diagnostic image.
The first diagnostic image is generated based on the first video signal to be generated.
Each brightness information in each area when divided into multiple
Brightness information calculating means for calculating, and the brightness information calculating means
The first diagnosis is performed based on the calculated luminance information of each area.
Determining means for determining a region of interest in an image;
Non-interest of the first diagnostic image based on the determination result of the means
Inserting the second diagnostic image into the region,
A first video signal for generating a diagnostic image of the second diagnostic image
A video signal combination for synthesizing with a second video signal for generating an image
And a video signal synthesized by the video signal synthesizing means.
Output means for outputting to the display means.
It is characterized by .

[0008]

1 to 6 relate to the first embodiment. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a signal processing device, and FIG. 2 is a conceptual diagram showing a conceptual configuration of an image generated by the signal processing device of FIG. , FIG.
FIG. 4 is an external view showing the appearance of an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus provided with the signal processing device of FIG. 1, FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram for explaining video signals taken into the RAM of FIG. 1, and FIG. 5 is generated by the signal processing device of FIG. FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram for explaining the insertion position of a child image in a parent-child image to be performed, and FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram for explaining a specific image display example shown in FIG.

In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 2, the parent screen is divided into four areas, that is, a first area 1a, a second area 1b,
The image is divided into a third region 1c and a fourth region 1d, and the endoscope image 2 is used as a child screen, and the endoscope image 2 is divided into the first region 1a and the second region 1
b, an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus that can be displayed in any of the third area 1c and the fourth area 1d (in FIG. 2, the endoscope image 2 is displayed in the fourth area).

As shown in FIG. 3, a specific configuration of the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to the present embodiment is such that an endoscope and an ultrasonic probe (not shown) are connected, and an image signal of an endoscope image and an image of an ultrasonic image. The signal processing device 11 is configured to include a signal processing device 11 that processes signals, and a monitor device 12 that displays an ultrasonic image and an endoscope image processed by the signal processing device 11. An operation panel 11 a of the signal processing device 11 includes: A rotary switch 13, a key switch 14, and a joystick 15 for instructing processing to be described later are provided, and a foot switch 16 is connected.

In the signal processing device 11, as shown in FIG. 1, for example, a small-screen video signal (for example, a Y, RY, BY signal) having an endoscope image as a small image is converted into an A / D converter 21. Is input to the synchronization separation circuit 22. And A /
The output data of the D converter 21 is output to the RAM 23 (for example, a dual port DRAM). A control signal of the memory controller 25 is output to a control terminal of the RAM 23.
Based on the control signal of No. 5, the RAM 23 stores digital image data output from the A / D converter 21 as a compressed image. Then, based on the control signal of the memory controller 25, the compressed small-screen image data stored in the RAM 23 is converted into an analog signal by the D / A converter 24, and is converted to a parent / small-screen switch 26 (for example, a known video SW). It is output.

[0012] Synchronous The separation circuit 22 separates a vertical sync signal K V and the horizontal synchronization signal K H from the input sub-screen video signal outputted to the memory controller 25.

Meanwhile, for example, a parent picture ultrasound image and the parent image
Plane video signal (e.g. Y, R-Y, B- Y signal) is output to the synchronous separation circuit 27 and a parent / child screen changeover switch 26, the synchronous separation circuit 27, vertical from the main screen video signal input sync separating the signal O V and the horizontal synchronization signal O H is output to the memory controller 25.

[0014] The vertical same from the sync separation circuit 22, 27
Period signal K V, O V, the horizontal sync signal K H, O H is input to the memory controller 25.

The sub-screen display position switching signal for switching the sub-screen display position is transmitted from the rotary switch 13, key switch 14, joystick 15 or foot switch 16 (see FIG. 3) to the memory controller 25.
It is input to, so that the parent-child screen switching signals are input to the parent / child screen changeover switch 26 from the memory controller 25.

The operation of the thus constructed ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus will be described.

In the small picture signal, the horizontal synchronizing signal KH and the vertical synchronizing signal KV are separated from the luminance signal (Y signal) of the small picture signal by the sync separation circuit 22. At the same time, the luminance and color difference signals of the child screen are converted from analog to digital by the A / D converter 21 and input to the RAM 23. At this time, the range of the video signal taken into the RAM 23 is as shown in FIG.
The capture range is controlled by counting clocks for operating the A / D converter 21 based on the KH and KV signals input to the memory controller 25. .

In the example shown in FIG.
For example, from the falling edge of 88CLK, the region from which 88 CLK has been counted is taken as the starting point in the horizontal direction, and 512CLKs are stored in RAM2.
3 and the area counted 3H from the fall of KV is taken as a starting point, and 240H is stored in the RAM 23 at intervals of 3H, so that data is written to the memory at an interval of one line at 3H (for example, for example, , 1CLK = 64
0fH 1fH = 15.74 kHz 1H = 63.5 μSEC).

At such timing, the written data is written, for example, every 3H in the vertical direction.
When read continuously, the data output from the RAM 23 becomes a screen vertically compressed to 1/3 of the image displayed on the monitor as the small-screen video signal.

Note that the horizontal direction is about 1
The compression in the horizontal direction is performed by performing reading using an interval of ３ (240 fH) as a clock.

The compressed and stored child image data is represented by D
The A / A converter 24 returns the luminance and color difference signals to analog signals, which are output to the parent / child screen switch 26.

On the other hand, in the synchronization separation circuit 27, the horizontal synchronization signal OH and the vertical synchronization signal OV of the main screen video signal are separated.
The horizontal and vertical synchronizing signals of the H, KV, OH, and OV parent and child video signals are input.

The memory controller 25 uses the well-known PLL circuit and loop filter (not shown) provided therein to lock the phases, controls the data reading and writing of the RAM 23, and switches the parent / child screen switch. 26 are switched.

The display position of the child screen can be moved to an arbitrary position on the main screen only by controlling the reading of the RAM 23 by the above operation. For example, as shown in FIG. Is displayed. The selection of this area is performed by a small screen display position switching signal input to the memory controller 25. The screen output in each area is displayed at the clock and scanning line number positions shown in FIG.

FIG. 6 shows a specific parent-child image. FIG.
For example, this is an example in which a child screen of a parent-child screen display image is moved to a fourth area (see FIG. 4), where an ultrasonic image of the stomach 31 is a parent screen 32 and an endoscope image at that time is a child screen 33.

As shown in FIG. 6, moving the child screen to the fourth area prevents the child screen 33 from obstructing the display of the region of interest (ROI) 34 of the ultrasonic screen, which is the parent screen 32. .

Therefore, according to the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus of the present embodiment, a small screen display position switching signal from the rotary switch 13, the key switch 14, the joystick 15, the foot switch 16 or the like is input, and the signal processing circuit 11 By easily moving the display position of the image, the display position of the child screen can be prevented from vignetting of the parent image due to the child image, and the area of interest of the parent image is not disturbed by the child image, so reliable diagnosis is possible Becomes

In the first embodiment, the parent image is an ultrasonic image and the child image is an endoscopic image. However, the present invention is not limited to this. The parent image may be an endoscopic image and the child image may be an ultrasonic image. Instead of using an endoscopic image, for example, a video image of an ultrasonic image of the same patient taken in the past may be used, and it is expected that the temporal change of the region of interest can be grasped and the diagnosis can be easily performed. it can.

Next, a second embodiment will be described. 7 to 12 relate to the second embodiment, FIG. 7 is a configuration diagram showing a configuration of an area determination circuit, FIG. 8 is a circuit diagram showing a configuration of an area luminance determination circuit of FIG. 7, and FIG. FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an endoscope image as a parent image processed by the determination circuit, FIG.
FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an ultrasonic image as a parent image processed by the region determination circuit in FIG. 7; FIG. 11 is a timing diagram illustrating timings of signals of the region luminance determination circuit in FIG.
9 is a flowchart showing the flow of the processing of the determination circuit of FIG.

The second embodiment is different from the first embodiment in that the operator instructs the display position of the child screen by using the rotary switch 13, key switch 14, joystick 15 or foot switch 16, while the display position of the child image is changed. The only difference from the first embodiment lies in the provision of an area determination means for automatically determining. Therefore, only different configurations will be described.

The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to the second embodiment has an area determination circuit as shown in FIG. 7. In this area determination circuit, an ECHO signal from an ultrasonic probe (not shown) is input to a detection circuit 41. Is done. The ECHO signal demodulated by the detection circuit 41 is logarithmically compressed by the LOGAMP 42, input to the A / D converter 43 and converted into digital data (8-bit data in this embodiment), and the converted digital data is input to the VRAM 44. You. VRAM
The write / read address 44 is generated by an address generation circuit 45.

The address generating circuit 45 includes a rotation reference signal (usually Z-phase in the case of radial scanning) from a encoder provided in a known ultrasonic endoscope (not shown) and a rotation angle signal (usually A in the case of radial scanning). Phase), the horizontal synchronization signal HD from the television signal generation circuit 46, and the vertical synchronization signal VD
Is entered.

A D / A converter 47 is connected to the output (8-bit data in this embodiment) of the VRAM 44,
The output of the A / A converter 47 (after the analog decoded video in this embodiment) is connected to the monitor 12.

The output of the VRAM 44 (8-bit data in this embodiment) is output to an area luminance judgment circuit 48 which counts the number of pixels higher than an arbitrary luminance in each area of the screen and determines the insertion area of the child screen. . This area luminance judgment circuit 48
A parent / child screen switching instruction signal (O / K signal) is input from a keyboard or an instruction switch provided in the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, and a RANGE signal and a count value for determining a display area of the child screen are sent from the control circuit 50. C to clear
An LR signal and a Latch signal for latching a count value are input, and the insertion area of the child screen is determined. The determined area is output to the memory controller 25 of the first embodiment, though not shown, as a DET signal.

The memory controller 25 inputs a DET signal instead of the small screen display position switching signal of the first embodiment, and outputs the DET signal. Then, the memory controller 25 inserts the child image into the area determined by the DET signal, and thereafter displays the parent / child image on the monitor 12 via the parent / child image switch 26 as in the first embodiment ( (See FIG. 1).

As shown in FIG. 8, the area luminance judging circuit 48 selects a pixel having a luminance equal to or higher than a certain arbitrary luminance to be counted. The configuration in which the upper 4 bits are extracted and ORed in the data is described. However, any circuit that can determine the threshold, such as a well-known converter circuit, may be used. The counters 62, 63, 64, and 65 allocated for the area,
65 is the data obtained by counting in each region
Registers 66, 67, 68, 6 that store based on the h signal
9 and the data stored in each of the registers 66 to 69 are determined, and the type of image as the parent screen (ultrasonic image OR endoscopic image) is determined in response to the parent-child switching signal, and the processing is performed in accordance with the processing described later. Judgment circuit 70 for judging an area to insert a small screen
(A known combination of a magnitude converter and a PLD or a microcomputer may be used.)

The operation of the second embodiment configured as described above will be described.

The present embodiment is an example in which the ultrasonic observation apparatus body automatically sets the position of the child screen to be inserted into the main screen, and does not require the operation of the operator.

When the operator sets an endoscope image on the main screen,
As shown in FIG. 9, the endoscope image has an endoscope image 80 displayed on the right portion of the screen, and the remaining portion is a data display section 81 on which information such as the patient ID, name, and time is displayed. Is common. The patient ID and the like are information of little interest to the operator as information at the time of diagnosis, and the interest of the operator during endoscopic diagnosis generally concentrates on the endoscope image 80 in the right part of the screen.

Even if the region of interest ROI of the endoscope image 80 is displayed on the left part of the screen, the region of interest ROI is moved to the right part and displayed by simply operating an unillustrated angle of the endoscope. I do.

On the other hand, when the operator sets an ultrasonic image on the parent screen, the operation of the ultrasonic endoscope is difficult compared to the normal endoscope, and the once displayed region of interest ROI is displayed on the screen. Moving to a position is not easy. Also, in general,
In ultrasonic diagnosis, the region of interest ROI of an ultrasonic image is often limited to a limited area on the screen, such as observing a layer structure of a limited part of a mucosal surface.

That is, when an endoscopic image is displayed as a sub-screen on the ultrasonic screen, it is determined which part of the currently displayed ultrasonic screen is the region of interest ROI, and when the sub-screen insertion position is determined, the main screen is displayed. It is considered that the problem that the region of interest ROI becomes invisible on the display of the child screen is solved.

Therefore, when the high-luminance portions of the ultrasonic image are aggregated, there is a high probability that the region of interest ROI exists in that region. Utilizing that the distribution is the lowest area, the child screen is automatically inserted into the parent screen without the operation of the operator.

In other words, the tomographic image of the ultrasonic wave is not displayed on the full monitor, but is displayed in a format as shown in FIG.

Therefore, as shown in FIG. 10, the ultrasonic tomographic image is divided into four regions (RANGE1 to RANGE1).
4) Count the number of pixels exceeding an arbitrary threshold level in each area.

In FIG. 7 and FIG. 8, upper 4 bits of pixel luminance level data (8 bits in this embodiment) are inputted from the VRAM 44 to the area luminance judging circuit 48. The upper 4-bit data is set to HI when data exceeding the threshold is input by the threshold circuit 61 (constituted by a 4-input OR in this embodiment) of the area luminance judgment circuit 48.
GH data is input.

At the same time, the control circuit 50 controls the horizontal synchronizing signal OH
Based on the vertical synchronizing signal OV, it is determined which area the 4-bit data belongs to.
The ET signals of the counters 62 to 65 at the subsequent stage are operated, and the signals RANGE1 to RANGE4 for switching the respective counters are
2 to 65 are input. FIG. 11 shows the timing of each signal.

In each area, the pixels are counted by the counters 62 to 65, and the LA synchronized with the rising edge of the vertical synchronizing signal OV finally input from the control circuit 50.
With the TCH signal, the final count values of the counters 62 to 65 are stored in the registers 66 to 69. The stored data (DATA1 to 4) is then used to confirm that the parent screen being used is an ultrasonic image by a parent / child switching signal, and the determination circuit 70 stores the smallest data stored in the register. Determine the area. The determined area is D
As the ET signal, the memory controller 25 of the first embodiment is used.
And the insertion area of the child screen is automatically switched.

As shown in FIG. 12, the flow of the specific processing by the determination circuit 70 is to determine whether the parent image is an ultrasonic image or an endoscope image in step S1 by a parent-child screen switching instruction signal. If it is an ultrasonic image, step S2
If the image is an endoscope image, the process proceeds to step S3.

In step S3, when the endoscope is set as the parent screen, a DET signal for inserting a child screen (for example, an ultrasonic image) in the first or fourth area is output to the memory controller 25, and the processing is terminated.

In step S2, the luminance of each region of the ultrasonic image as the parent image is integrated, the region with the lowest luminance is determined in step S4, and the sub-screen (for example, endoscope) is placed in the region with the lowest luminance in step S5. A DET signal for inserting a mirror image is output to the memory controller 25, and the process is terminated.

As described above, according to the second embodiment, in addition to the effects of the first embodiment, it is possible to automatically display a child screen at an optimum position without setting the display position of the child screen. Therefore, the display position of the child screen can always be prevented from vignetting of the parent image due to the child image without requiring any special operation.

[0053]

According to the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus of the present invention as described in the foregoing, to display the composite image on the display means by setting the insertion position of the reduced image of the composite image setting means, or
Or, it is optimal without the operator setting the display position of the child screen
Since the child screen is automatically displayed at an appropriate position, it is possible to prevent the vignetting of the parent image by the child image with a simple configuration.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram illustrating a configuration of a signal processing device according to a first embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a conceptual diagram showing a conceptual configuration of an image generated by the signal processing device of FIG.

FIG. 3 is an external view showing an external appearance of an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus including the signal processing device of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a video signal taken into a RAM of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram for explaining an insertion position of a child image in a parent-child image generated by the signal processing device of FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a specific example of display of an image according to FIG. 1;

FIG. 7 is a configuration diagram showing a configuration of an area determination circuit according to a second embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a circuit diagram showing a configuration of an area luminance determination circuit in FIG. 7;

FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an endoscope image as a parent image processed by the area determination circuit in FIG. 7;

FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an ultrasonic image as a parent image processed by the area determination circuit in FIG. 7;

FIG. 11 is a timing chart showing the timing of each signal of the area luminance determination circuit of FIG. 8;

FIG. 12 is a flowchart showing the flow of processing of the determination circuit of FIG. 8;

FIG. 13 is an explanatory diagram illustrating parent-child images by a conventional ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 11 ... Signal processing apparatus 11a ... Operation panel 12 ... Monitor apparatus 13 ... Rotation switch 14 ... Key switch 15 ... Joy stick 21 ... A / D converter 22 ... Synchronization separation circuit 23 ... RAM 24 ... D / A converter 25 ... Memory controller 26 ... Parent / child screen switch

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] An ultrasonic tomographic image obtained by transmitting and receiving an ultrasonic wave
A first diagnostic image composed of image information of
Second diagnosis composed of image information different from the diagnostic image
It has the function of displaying images on the same screen of the display means
In the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, based on a first video signal for generating the first diagnostic image,
Each area when the first diagnostic image is divided into a plurality
Brightness information calculating means for calculating each brightness information in
And the brightness information of each area calculated by the brightness information calculating means.
A region of interest in the first diagnostic image is determined based on the
And that the determination unit, based on the determination result of said determining means, said first diagnostic image
To insert the second diagnostic image into the non-interest area of
A first video signal for generating the first diagnostic image and the first video signal;
A second image signal for generating a second diagnostic image;
Image signal synthesizing means, and displaying the video signal synthesized by the video signal synthesizing means.
An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus comprising: a composite video signal output unit that outputs the composite video signal to a unit.