JPS6134335B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, and particularly to an improvement in a small and simple ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus.

An ultrasonic beam is emitted into the subject and the reflected echo obtained from the difference in acoustic impedance is detected.
Ultrasonic diagnostic equipment that displays living tissue in a subject as an A-mode, B-mode, or M-mode image based on these reflected echoes is well-known, and can perform non-invasive diagnosis. It does not cause such radiation damage and has been widely used for internal organ diagnosis in recent years.

Typical ultrasound diagnostic equipment uses mechanical scanning probes or electronic scanning probes that emit ultrasound beams, and these probes are brought into close contact with the subject to detect detection signals obtained from the probes. After signal processing is performed by a fixed-mount processing device, the desired image is drawn on a display unit such as a CRT. For this reason, conventional general ultrasonic diagnostic equipment has a large structure and has the disadvantage that diagnosis must be performed in a specially provided diagnostic room.

As a conventional improved ultrasonic diagnostic device, the first
A small portable device as shown in the figure has been proposed.

In FIG. 1, the device is housed in a portable outer casing 10.
The measurement device is housed inside the housing and can be operated with one hand of the measurer through a recess 10a provided in the center of the outer casing 10. Inside the outer casing 10 are an electronic scanning ultrasonic transducer 12 in which a plurality of electroacoustic transducers are arranged in an array, an electronic control section 14 that controls the wave transmitting and receiving action of the transducer 12, and a display 16 consisting of a CRT. A power supply section 18 that supplies operating voltage to each section is housed.

The conventional device shown in FIG. 1 has the above configuration, and its electrical processing system is shown in FIG. That is, the transducer 12 that emits an ultrasonic beam to the subject 20 has a plurality of electroacoustic transducer elements, and an arbitrary number of elements selected from these elements are activated by the ultrasonic excitation signal from the wave transmitter 22. The reflected echo that is excited and received by the transducer 12 is subjected to signal processing by the wave receiving section 24, and is supplied to the display circuit 26 as echo information. A scanning control signal is supplied from a control circuit 28 to the transducer 12, the transmitting section 22, and the receiving section 24, and each electroacoustic transducer element of the transducer 12 is electronically switched and controlled to linearize the ultrasonic beam. It can be scanned or sector scanned. The control signal of the control circuit 28 is also supplied to the display circuit 26, which performs a sweeping action according to the scanning characteristics of the transducer 12, supplies the image signal of the selected mode to the display 16, and displays the display on the display section 16. A desired image can be displayed on the screen.

As described above, according to the conventional device shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, it is possible to obtain an extremely simple ultrasonic diagnostic device that can be easily handled with one hand, and the diagnostic device itself can be moved to any location. It has the advantage that diagnosis can be easily performed. However, this conventional device actually had the following drawbacks.

In Figure 3, the conventional apparatus shown in Figure 1 is used to examine the subject 2.
This shows a state in which a chest tomogram of 0 is detected. In such a case, the operator must radiate ultrasound beams into the subject 20 from various directions in order to obtain the optimal tomographic position for diagnosis, and as a result, the diagnostic apparatus is shown as A and B. The image display function is performed by moving the camera to such a position. During such diagnosis, the position of the measurer's eyes is approximately fixed at the position indicated by E. Therefore, when the device is in the diagnostic position A, the display surface of the display 16 can be observed very easily, but when the device is moved to the B position, the display surface of the display 16 can be seen from the eye position E. The disadvantage of this method is that it is extremely difficult to diagnose because the display surface of the device cannot be observed and the person taking the measurement has to change the measurement position each time. Furthermore, in order to make the entire device small and lightweight, the display screen 16 incorporated in the device is limited in its display surface size.
A CRT with an extremely small display surface had to be used, resulting in small images and the inability to observe detailed parts of living tissues. Furthermore, even when the aforementioned small display is incorporated, the weight of the entire device becomes significantly large, for example, approximately 10 cm in diameter and 20 cm in height.
and in a device with a display surface of 33 x 43 mm.
It weighs more than 1.5 kg, which has the disadvantage of placing a heavy burden on the person taking the measurements.

The present invention has been made to eliminate the above-mentioned drawbacks, and its purpose is to provide a small and simple ultrasonic diagnostic device that is extremely easy to handle.

To achieve the above object, the present invention includes an ultrasonic transducer that emits an ultrasonic beam to a subject and receives reflected echoes from the subject, and controls the transmitting and receiving action of the ultrasonic transducer. A diagnostic device that integrates an electronic circuit section, a transmitting section that wirelessly transmits image signals obtained from the electronic circuit section, a transmitting antenna connected to the transmitting section, and a power supply section that supplies operating voltage to each of the sections. The present invention is characterized in that it includes a probe and a display section that is provided separately from the diagnostic probe and that receives a signal transmitted from the probe and displays an image.

As described above, the present invention removes the display part from the diagnostic probe operated by the measurer, making the probe smaller and lighter, and making it significantly easier to handle.
In addition, since the detection signal of the probe is wirelessly transmitted to a display unit fixedly installed at a desired position and displayed as an image, the desired biological tissue can be easily observed on the fixed display unit regardless of the diagnostic position of the probe. becomes possible.

In the present invention, a part of the outer casing of the diagnostic probe can also be used as a transmitting antenna. In this case, it is possible to insulate a part of the outer casing and use this insulating part as a transmitting antenna element.

In the present invention, the display section can be a dedicated display section provided corresponding to each diagnostic probe, or it can also be used for a general broadcast television receiver installed in a general home or other places. It is.

Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below based on the drawings.

FIG. 4 shows a preferred embodiment of the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to the present invention, and the same members as those in the conventional apparatus shown in FIG.

A characteristic feature of the present invention is that the device is separated into a diagnostic probe 30 and a display section 32, which is relatively heavy, and the display section is preferably fixed to facilitate observation. 32
By separating the probe 30 from the probe 30, it becomes possible to obtain a device that is extremely easy to handle. Similar to the conventional device shown in FIG. 2, the reflected echo of the electronically scanned ultrasonic beam is received by the ultrasonic transducer 12 and then converted into a signal by the wave receiving section 24, and the image signal is sent to the transmitting section 34. be guided. The transmitter 34 modulates a predetermined carrier wave with the image signal, and radiates this modulated signal into the air from the transmitting antenna 36.

The radio waves 100 radiated as described above are received by the receiving antenna 38 of the display section 32, demodulated by the receiving section 40 having a demodulation circuit, and then supplied to the display circuit 26. The display circuit 26 supplies the echo information signal to the display 16 in a conventional manner to display a desired image on the screen.

As described above, the image signal transmitted as a wireless signal from the diagnostic probe 30 is received by the display unit 32, and the measurer can observe the screen of the fixed display 16 regardless of the position of the probe 30. I can do it.

In FIG. 4, a dedicated display section 32 corresponding to the diagnostic probe 30 is provided, but the display section 32 can also be a general television receiver, and in this case, the transmitting section 34 By configuring the modulation circuit to correspond to the modulation method of a general television system, it becomes possible to use a general television receiver without making any changes. In addition, in FIG. 4, the receiving antenna 38
is provided on the display section 32, but the antenna 38
It is also possible to install them separately.

FIG. 5 shows a schematic structure of an ultrasonic probe suitable for the present invention. A transducer 12, an electronic circuit section 14, and a power supply section 18 are housed inside the outer casing 10, and the transducer 1 protrudes below the outer casing 10.
Ultrasonic beams are emitted and reflected echoes are received from the transmitting/receiving surface of No. 2. At the top of the outer casing 10 there are 2
A book rod-shaped transmitting antenna 36 is insulated and fixed,
An image signal is wirelessly transmitted from antenna 36. By comparing the probe 30 of FIG. 5 with the conventional device of FIG. 1, it can be seen that the probe 30 of the present invention is significantly smaller and lighter.

FIG. 6 shows a diagnostic probe 3 suitable for the present invention.
Another preferred embodiment of 0 is shown, in which a part of the outer casing 10 is insulated and isolated by an insulator 42,
A feature is that these insulated parts 44 and 46 are used as transmitting antennas. FIG. 7 also shows an embodiment in which a part of the outer casing 10 is similarly insulated by an insulator 42 and insulating parts 44 and 46 are used as transmitting antennas. Figures 6 and 7
According to the illustrated embodiment, since a part of the outer casing 10 is used as a transmitting antenna, the structure is made smaller and
It also has the advantage of being easy to handle.

As explained above, according to the present invention, an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus is separated into a diagnostic probe and a display section,
Since the two are connected by a wireless transmission/reception system, the device can be made extremely small and simple, and easy to handle, making it possible to significantly expand the range of use of the ultrasonic diagnostic device. According to the present invention, by simply carrying a small diagnostic probe, detailed images of biological tissue can be observed extremely easily and in a short time even for patients who require house calls, and a large amount of Precise diagnostic information can be easily obtained. According to the present invention, since the probe operated by the measurer during diagnosis does not have a built-in display,
It is extremely small and lightweight, making it easy to handle, and by using a general household television receiver as the display section, the range of its use can be significantly expanded.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing the schematic structure of a conventional small portable ultrasound diagnostic device, FIG. 2 is a block circuit diagram of the conventional ultrasound diagnostic device shown in FIG. 1, and FIG. FIG. 4 is a block circuit diagram showing a preferred embodiment of the ultrasonic diagnostic device according to the present invention, and FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing the usage state of the conventional device shown in the figure. 6 is a schematic explanatory diagram showing another embodiment of the diagnostic probe suitable for the present invention. FIG. 7 is a schematic explanatory diagram showing another embodiment of the diagnostic probe suitable for the present invention. FIG. 10...Outer casing, 12...Ultrasonic transducer, 14
...electronic circuit section, 16...display unit, 18...power supply section, 20...subject, 30...diagnostic probe,
32...Display section, 34...Transmission section, 36...Transmission antenna, 38...Reception antenna, 40...Reception section, 42...Insulator, 44, 46...Insulation section, 1
00... Radio waves.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An ultrasonic transducer that emits an ultrasonic beam to a subject and receives reflected echoes from the subject, an electronic circuit section that controls the wave transmitting and receiving action of the ultrasonic transducer, and A diagnostic probe, which is separate from the diagnostic probe, is integrated with a transmitter for wirelessly transmitting the image signal, a transmitting antenna connected to the transmitter, and a power supply for supplying operating voltage to each of the components. The diagnostic probe includes a display section that is installed on the body and receives signals transmitted from the probe and displays images, and is characterized in that a part of the outer casing of the diagnostic probe is insulated and this insulating section is used as a transmitting antenna element. Ultrasonic diagnostic equipment.