JP5269638B2 - Ultrasonic diagnostic equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To easily perform parallel transmission in an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus. <P>SOLUTION: An array vibrator 12 has four vibration element rows 12A, 12B, 12C, and 12D. A wiring switching circuit 20 sets a grouping pattern for transmission with respect to the array vibrator 12 when transmission is performed, and sets a grouping pattern for reception when reception is performed. The grouping pattern for transmission includes a plurality of inclination vibration element groups aligned in an X-direction, which are respectively set over the four vibration element rows and constituted of four vibration elements coupled to each other. When the grouping pattern for transmission is set, a common signal set is simultaneously supplied to a plurality of different positions in a Y-direction in the array vibrator 12. Thus, a plurality of transmission beams having the same transmission beam profile are simultaneously formed at the respective positions. During reception, the grouping pattern for reception constituted of a plurality of linear vibration element groups is set. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&amp;INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, and more particularly to a technique for simultaneously forming a plurality of transmission beams.

  In order to improve the frame rate, a parallel reception method (parallel reception method) and a parallel transmission method (parallel transmission method) are conventionally known. In the former parallel reception system, a plurality of reception beams are simultaneously formed for one transmission beam. FIG. 7A shows one transmission beam Tx having a spread and two reception beams Rx1 and Rx2 formed so as to overlap therewith. FIG. 7B shows one transmission beam Tx and four reception beams Rx1, Rx2, Rx3, and Rx4. In each figure, the horizontal axis indicates position or orientation, and the vertical axis indicates power or sensitivity. In this parallel reception system, problems such as a decrease in sensitivity, a difference in sensitivity, and distortion of a transmission / reception integrated beam are pointed out.

  On the other hand, FIG. 8 shows an example of a parallel transmission method. That is, two transmission beams Tx1, Tx2 are simultaneously formed in different directions by the array transducer 100. In FIG. 8, θ represents the electronic scanning direction of the two transmission beams. In this parallel transmission method, in general, it is necessary to separate a plurality of transmission beams to be formed at the same time (different orientations), so when a tomographic image is formed by simultaneously scanning these transmission beams, A problem has been pointed out that a discontinuous portion due to a time difference occurs on a tomographic image. It is possible to supply a plurality of transmission signal sets to the array transducer with a slight time difference in forming a plurality of transmission beams, but in that case, the frame rate is reduced by an amount corresponding to the time difference. There is a problem of end. On the other hand, there is also a composite system that combines a parallel transmission system and a parallel reception system. That is, in this method, a plurality of transmission beams are formed simultaneously and a plurality of reception beams are formed simultaneously.

  The following Patent Document 1 discloses a parallel reception method. Patent Document 2 discloses a parallel transmission method. Patent Document 3 discloses a plurality of vibrating element arrays, but does not disclose that grouping patterns differ between transmission and reception.

JP-A-2-206451 JP 2000-157548 A JP 2008-22887 A

  As described above, in the conventional parallel reception system, several problems have been pointed out due to the relationship between a single transmission beam and a plurality of reception beams. In the conventional parallel transmission system, a plurality of vibration elements are used. On the other hand, several problems have been pointed out because a plurality of transmission signal sets for forming a plurality of transmission beams must be supplied. It is desired to easily improve the frame rate or image quality while avoiding such problems.

  An object of the present invention is to enable a plurality of transmission beams to be easily and simultaneously formed.

  Another object of the present invention is to enable simultaneous transmission / reception in a plurality of directions by using a conventional receiving unit and transmitting unit as they are.

  Another object of the present invention is to realize a transmission / reception method that does not cause a difference in sensitivity among a plurality of reception beams and that does not cause distortion in a transmission / reception integrated beam.

  An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to the present invention includes an array transducer having a plurality of transducer elements, a transmission unit that generates a transmission signal set including a plurality of transmission signals, and a reception including a plurality of reception signals from the array transducer. A receiving unit that processes a signal set; and a grouping unit that sets a grouping pattern for transmission at the time of transmission and sets a grouping pattern for reception at the time of reception with respect to the plurality of vibration elements. In the grouping pattern, a plurality of transmission beams having substantially the same beam profile are simultaneously formed at a plurality of different positions by simultaneously supplying the transmission signal set to a plurality of different positions in the array transducer. This is a grouping pattern.

  According to the above configuration, the transmission signal set is used as a common signal group for a plurality of transmission beams. In other words, it is possible to form a plurality of transmission beams having a positional shift relationship with each other based on a common transmission signal set. For this purpose, the transmission signal set is simultaneously supplied to a plurality of positions on the array transducer. For example, the same transmission signal set is distributed and supplied to different positions in the electronic scanning direction. In that case, it is better that these positions are further shifted in a direction orthogonal to the electronic scanning direction. That is, it is desirable to configure the transmission grouping pattern so that each of the plurality of vibration element arrays functions individually and one transmission beam is formed for each vibration element array. Usually, at the time of reception, parallel reception is performed by electronic signal processing, and at that time, a reception grouping pattern for performing parallel reception is set. In the present invention, it is possible to easily form a plurality of transmission beams at the same time only by physically changing the supply position of the transmission signal set. In that case, it is also possible to use a one-dimensional array type array transducer, but in order to avoid signal interference between a plurality of transmission beams, a two-dimensional array type array transducer is used for each transducer element array. It is desirable to configure so that one transmitting beam is formed. The plurality of transmission beams are electronically scanned, and in this case, it is desirable that the electronic scanning is performed while maintaining the positional relationship with each other. However, this is not necessarily required as long as the scan conversion can be appropriately performed. A plurality of two-dimensional transmission openings may be formed simultaneously on the 2D array transducer.

  Preferably, the plurality of vibration elements are aligned in a first direction that is an electronic scanning direction and a second direction orthogonal thereto, thereby forming a plurality of vibration element arrays aligned in the second direction in the array transducer. The vibrating element rows are composed of a plurality of vibrating elements arranged in the first direction, and the transmission grouping pattern is composed of a plurality of vibrating element groups arranged in the first direction. Is composed of a plurality of interconnected vibration elements arranged across the plurality of vibration element rows. Preferably, the plurality of vibration element groups include a plurality of inclined vibration element groups arranged in the first direction, and each of the inclined vibration element groups is inclined with respect to the second direction.

  Preferably, the reception grouping pattern is a pattern different from the transmission grouping pattern. Preferably, the reception grouping pattern is a grouping pattern in which a plurality of reception beams corresponding to the plurality of transmission beams are simultaneously formed by parallel reception processing in the reception unit. Desirably, the transmission beam center line arrangement in the plurality of transmission beams substantially matches the reception beam center line arrangement in the plurality of reception beams. According to the above configuration, the profiles of the plurality of transmission beams can be made substantially the same, and the plurality of transmission beams can be matched with the plurality of reception beams. Image quality can be significantly improved.

  Preferably, the reception grouping pattern includes a plurality of linear vibration element groups arranged in the first direction, and the linear vibration element groups are arranged in the second direction so as to cross the plurality of vibration element rows. It is composed of a plurality of vibration elements that are interconnected. In this configuration, a configuration equivalent to a normal 1D array transducer is realized, and a plurality of reception beams are electronically configured simultaneously by applying a plurality of different phasing addition conditions to the reception signal set. In that case, the phasing addition processing unit may be operated in a time division manner, or a plurality of phasing addition processing units may be executed in parallel.

  Preferably, the grouping means includes a wiring switching circuit provided in a probe together with the array transducer, and a control signal for controlling the operation of the wiring switching circuit is given to the wiring switching circuit. According to this configuration, when an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus is configured by the apparatus main body and the probe, if a transmission signal set similar to the conventional one is supplied from the apparatus main body to the probe side, the transmission grouping pattern is changed by switching in the probe. It can be set so that multiple transmit beams can be formed simultaneously. In that case, it is desirable to supply a transmission / reception switching signal from the apparatus main body side to the probe as a pattern switching signal. Conventional ultrasonic diagnostic apparatuses usually have a receiving unit corresponding to the parallel receiving method, and in this case, the configuration of the receiving unit can be used as it is. That is, a parallel transmission method and a parallel reception method can be simply realized by simply connecting a 2D type probe having a switching circuit to the apparatus main body and giving a control signal thereto. In the above configuration, the shift amount between the plurality of transmission beams can be arbitrarily determined by changing the transmission grouping pattern.

  According to the present invention, a plurality of transmission beams can be easily and simultaneously formed. Alternatively, simultaneous transmission and reception can be performed in a plurality of directions by using the conventional receiving unit and transmitting unit as they are. Alternatively, it is possible to realize a transmission / reception method that does not cause a difference in sensitivity among a plurality of reception beams and does not cause distortion in the transmission / reception integrated beam.

It is a conceptual diagram which shows suitable embodiment of the ultrasonic diagnosing device which concerns on this invention. It is a figure which shows the grouping pattern for transmission. It is a figure which shows the grouping pattern for reception. It is a figure which shows the operation state of the wiring switching circuit at the time of transmission. It is a figure which shows the operation state of the wiring switching circuit at the time of reception. It is a figure which shows the relationship between a some transmission beam and a some receiving beam. It is a figure for demonstrating parallel reception. It is a figure for demonstrating parallel transmission.

  DESCRIPTION OF EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 shows a preferred embodiment of an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to the present invention, and FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram showing the overall configuration thereof. The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to this embodiment includes an apparatus main body and a probe 10. The probe 10 is detachably attached to the apparatus main body. The probe 10 has a probe head, a probe cable, and a probe connector. FIG. 1 conceptually shows the probe head portion.

  In the probe 10, the array transducer 12 is a transducer that transmits and receives ultrasonic waves. The array transducer 12 is composed of a plurality of vibrating elements aligned in the X direction, which is the electronic scanning direction, and the Y direction orthogonal thereto. Specifically, the array vibrator 12 has four vibration element rows 12A, 12B, 12C, and 12D, which are arranged in the Y direction. Each of the vibration element arrays 12A, 12B, 12C, and 12D includes a plurality of vibration elements that are aligned in the X direction. The number of divisions in the Y direction in the array transducer 12 corresponds to the number of simultaneous transmission beam formations described later.

  A matching layer 14 is provided on the living body side of the array transducer 12. The matching layer 14 has an element arrangement similar to the element arrangement in the array transducer 12. That is, the matching layer 14 includes a plurality of matching element rows 14A, 14B, 14C, and 14D, and each matching element row 14A, 14B, 14C, and 14D is configured by a plurality of matching elements that are aligned in the X direction. ing. A plurality of matching layers 14 may be provided in multiple layers. An acoustic lens 16 is provided on the living body side of the matching layer 14. The acoustic lens 16 is a member for improving the beam focusing property in the Y direction, that is, the elevation direction.

  A backing layer 18 is provided on the back side of the array transducer 12. This backing layer 18 absorbs and scatters unnecessary ultrasonic waves emitted backward. In the present embodiment, signal lines are led out from the respective vibration elements constituting the array transducer 12 to the back side, and these signal lines penetrate the backing layer 18 and are connected to the wiring switching circuit 20. .

  The wiring switching circuit 20 is a circuit that performs switching for connecting a plurality of vibration elements to a plurality of signal lines drawn from the apparatus body side. When performing parallel transmission and parallel reception, an array is used at the time of transmission. A transmission grouping pattern is set for the vibrator 12, and a reception grouping pattern is set at the time of reception. When parallel reception is not performed, the same reception grouping pattern is set for both transmission and reception. According to this setting, the same operation as that of the conventional 1D array transducer can be performed. The grouping pattern will be described in detail later.

  Next, the configuration of the apparatus main body will be described. The transmission unit 22 functions as a transmission beamformer. The transmission unit 22 outputs a transmission signal set including a plurality of transmission signals to the probe at the time of transmission. As will be described later, the transmission signal set is supplied simultaneously to a plurality of positions on the array transducer 12 by the operation of the wiring switching circuit 20, and a plurality of transmission beams are formed at the plurality of positions. On the other hand, the reflected wave from the living body is received by the array transducer 12, and a plurality of reception signals output therefrom, that is, a reception signal set is output to the reception unit 26. The reception unit 26 functions as a reception beam former, and particularly has a parallel reception function, and processes a reception signal set under a plurality of stratified addition conditions in order to electronically form a plurality of reception beams. In this case, a plurality of reception beams may be formed by performing a next division operation of a single stratified adder circuit, or a plurality of received beams by executing a plurality of stratified adder circuits in parallel. May be formed.

  The signal processing unit 28 applies some signal processing to the reception signal after the layered addition processing, that is, beam data, output from the receiving unit 26. The signal processing includes detection processing, logarithmic compression processing, and the like. Doppler information extraction processing or the like may be performed. The image forming unit 30 is configured by a digital scan converter in the present embodiment, and forms an ultrasonic image based on a plurality of input beam data. In the present embodiment, in particular, a B-mode tomographic image is formed. The image data is sent from the image forming unit 30 to the display unit 34 via the display processing unit 32. An ultrasonic image is displayed on the screen of the display unit 34.

  The control unit 24 performs operation control of each component shown in FIG. In particular, the control unit 24 outputs a control signal 24 </ b> A to the wiring switching circuit 20. The control signal 24A corresponds to a transmission / reception timing signal. Based on the control signal 24A, the wiring switching circuit 20 sets a transmission grouping pattern at the time of transmission and sets a reception grouping pattern at the time of reception. An operation panel 36 is connected to the control unit 24. The operation panel 36 has a keyboard, a trackball, and the like, and the user can set the operation of the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus using the operation panel 36.

  Next, parallel transmission and parallel reception will be described. 2 and 3 show the connection relationship of the array transducer 12. FIG. 2 shows a transmission grouping pattern, and FIG. 3 shows a reception grouping pattern. In FIG. 2, a plurality of vibration element groups are set at the time of transmission. Each vibration element group has an inclined linear shape and is provided across a plurality of vibration element arrays 12A, 12B, 12C, and 12D. Each vibration element group includes one vibration element belonging to each vibration element row 12A, 12B, 12C, and 12D, and four vibration elements are connected to each other in an oblique direction to form one vibration element group. ing. The plurality of vibration element groups are closely arranged in the X direction, and a transmission grouping pattern is formed as a whole. Incidentally, reference numerals 200A, 200B, 200C, and 200D represent effective ranges that actually function in the plurality of vibration element arrays 12A, 12B, 12C, and 12D. That is, corner portions other than the ranges indicated by reference numerals 200A, 200B, 200C, and 200D do not function during transmission. However, these portions can also function at the time of transmission. Incidentally, in this embodiment, electronic linear scanning is applied, but of course, electronic sector scanning, convex scanning, or the like may be applied.

  When the transmission grouping pattern shown in FIG. 2 is set and a transmission signal set is supplied to a part of the vibration element groups corresponding to the transmission openings in the plurality of vibration element groups, one vibration element group is formed. Since the same transmission signal is supplied to one vibration element, a transmission beam is formed independently from each other for each vibration element array. Specifically, in this embodiment, four transmission beams are formed. The beam profiles of these transmit beams are substantially identical to each other. This is because the original transmission signal sets are the same. The plurality of transmission beams are shifted in position in the X direction and also shifted in position in the Y direction. However, the influence of the positional deviation in the Y direction on image formation due to the action of the acoustic lens or the like is considerably small.

  FIG. 3 shows the grouping pattern for reception as described above. This grouping pattern is composed of a plurality of vibrating element groups arranged in the X direction as shown. Each vibration element group has a form extending in parallel to the Y direction across the four vibration element rows 12A, 12B, 12C, and 12D, that is, a plurality of strip-like vibrations similar to those of a conventional 1D array vibrator. An element is configured. Incidentally, it is also possible to perform transmission using the grouping pattern shown in FIG. 3, and according to this, it is possible to form a single transmission beam similar to the conventional one.

  FIG. 4 shows the operating state of the wiring switching circuit 20 during transmission. A large number of switching elements are arranged in order to connect the vibration elements to each other. In FIG. 4, a plurality of inclined vibration element groups arranged in the X direction are formed. FIG. 5 shows a grouping pattern for reception, and the wiring switching circuit 20 sets a plurality of linear vibration element groups as shown. In FIG. 4, illustration of some switch terminals (left end) is omitted. Each vibration element group includes four vibration elements arranged in the Y direction. Incidentally, the shift amount, that is, the pitch between a plurality of transmission beams can be arbitrarily determined, and it is desirable to configure the wiring switching circuit 20 so that an arbitrary grouping pattern can be realized. Reference numeral 38 denotes a plurality of signal lines from the apparatus main body side.

  FIG. 6 shows the relationship between a plurality of transmission beams and a plurality of reception beams. (A) shows a plurality of transmission beams Tx1, Tx2, Tx3, and Tx4 formed on the array transducer. Their beam profiles are substantially identical to each other. These transmit beams are shifted by one element in the X direction and also shifted by one element in the Y direction. At the time of reception, as shown in (B), the beam center line arrangement of a plurality of reception beams is set so that the beam center line arrangements of the four transmission beams are completely matched. In (B), a plurality of received beams are represented by Rx1, Rx2, Rx3, and Rx4. Since the centers of the transmission beam and the reception beam are completely coincident at each position, there is an advantage that the transmission / reception integrated beam can be made symmetrical, that is, the distortion of the beam can be prevented as much as possible. In addition, since the difference in sensitivity between the four transmission / reception integrated beams can be eliminated, there is an advantage that the image quality of the ultrasonic image can be remarkably improved. In (B), the horizontal axis represents position or orientation, and the vertical axis represents acoustic power or sensitivity.

  According to the above-described embodiment, simply connecting a probe including the above-described wiring switching circuit and the array transducer to the main body of the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus capable of parallel reception and simply giving a control signal to the probe makes it easy. There is an advantage that parallel transmission can be realized. In the above-described embodiment, a two-dimensional scanning plane is formed. However, a three-dimensional echo data capturing space may be formed using a 2D array transducer. In any case, if the transmission signal set is distributed and used and the same transmission signal set is supplied to a plurality of positions, a plurality of transmission beams can be easily formed.

  10 probes, 12 array transducers, 14 matching layers, 16 acoustic lenses, 18 backing layers, 20 wiring switching circuits, 22 transmitters, 24 controllers, 26 receivers (parallel receivers), 28 signal processors, 30 image formation Part, 32 display processing part, 34 display part.

Claims (8)

An array vibrator having a plurality of vibration elements;
A transmission unit that generates a transmission signal set including a plurality of transmission signals;
A reception unit for processing a reception signal set including a plurality of reception signals from the array transducer;
Grouping means for setting a grouping pattern for transmission at the time of transmission and a grouping pattern for reception at the time of reception for the plurality of vibration elements;
Including
In the transmission grouping pattern, a plurality of transmission beams having substantially the same beam profile at a plurality of different positions are simultaneously provided by simultaneously supplying the transmission signal set to a plurality of different positions in the array transducer. An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus characterized by being a grouping pattern to be formed. The apparatus of claim 1.
The plurality of vibration elements are aligned in a first direction which is an electronic scanning direction and a second direction orthogonal thereto, thereby forming a plurality of vibration element arrays aligned in the second direction in the array transducer, A vibration element array is composed of a plurality of vibration elements aligned in the first direction,
The transmission grouping pattern includes a plurality of vibration element groups arranged in the first direction, and each vibration element group includes a plurality of interconnected vibration elements arranged so as to cross the plurality of vibration element rows. An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus characterized by comprising. The apparatus of claim 2.
The plurality of vibration element groups includes a plurality of inclined vibration element groups arranged in the first direction, and each of the inclined vibration element groups has a form inclined with respect to the second direction. Ultrasonic diagnostic equipment. The device according to any one of claims 1 to 3,
The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, wherein the reception grouping pattern is a pattern different from the transmission grouping pattern. The apparatus of claim 4.
The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, wherein the reception grouping pattern is a grouping pattern that simultaneously forms a plurality of reception beams corresponding to the plurality of transmission beams by parallel reception processing in the reception unit. The apparatus of claim 5.
The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, wherein a transmission beam center line arrangement in the plurality of transmission beams substantially matches a reception beam center line arrangement in the plurality of reception beams. The apparatus of claim 5.
The receiving grouping pattern includes a plurality of linear vibration element groups arranged in the first direction, and the linear vibration element groups are interconnected in the second direction so as to cross the plurality of vibration element rows. An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus comprising a plurality of vibrating elements. The device according to any one of claims 1 to 7,
The grouping means is constituted by a wiring switching circuit provided in the probe together with the array transducer,
An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus characterized in that a control signal for controlling the operation is given to the wiring switching circuit.

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