JPH0431271B2 - - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention (Industrial Field of Application) The present invention provides a superimposed image display system that simultaneously displays an entire image (original image) of a predetermined region of a subject and an enlarged image of an arbitrary region within the entire image on a display unit. The present invention relates to a sound wave diagnostic device.

(Prior Art) Conventionally, there has been an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus that simultaneously displays an entire image of a predetermined area and an enlarged image of an arbitrary area within the entire image on the same display unit.
An example is disclosed in No. 38144.

The above-mentioned conventional ultrasound diagnostic equipment has a transmitter/receiver unit connected to an ultrasound probe, and an echo signal from the transmitter/receiver unit which is A/D converted (digitized) and processed, and then processed into a frame memory. a received signal processing unit stored in the display unit, a display unit having two screens, and a
As shown in and b, the scanning range (θ1 and θ2) and repetition frequency (f1 and f2) of the ultrasonic probe can be freely set, and two different scanning ranges can be scanned alternately, and two different scanning ranges can be scanned alternately. The echo signal for each frame in the range is displayed on the display section 2 as shown in Figure 6.
A control section that writes data to the frame memory alternately in association with the two screens 1 and 2 (3 in FIG. It consists of an input section that can arbitrarily set the display area.

In the above configuration, 2 is set from the input section.
When two different wave transmission/reception conditions (setting of the area for the entire image, the area for the enlarged image, etc.) are given, the ultrasonic wave is transmitted and received alternately in each of the above areas under the control of the control unit. The echo signals at this time are digitized by a predetermined sampling clock signal and subjected to signal processing, and then written to a predetermined address in the frame memory and sent to the respective screens 1 and 2 of the display section. . Addresses in the frame memory are designated by signals from the control section, and the entire image data and enlarged image data are stored in different areas.

As described above, two ultrasound images with different magnifications can be displayed simultaneously on two screens.

(Problem to be Solved by the Invention) However, in conventional ultrasonic diagnostic equipment, the digitization of echo signals when transmitting and receiving enlarged images requires a sampling clock of the same frequency as when transmitting and receiving the entire image. Since this is done using signals, the quality of the enlarged image will be poor. That is, there is a problem that the image quality of the enlarged image deteriorates.

The present invention has been made in view of these points, and its purpose is to realize an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus that does not cause deterioration in image quality in enlarged images.

(Means for Solving the Problems) The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus of the present invention that achieves the above object simultaneously digitizes echo signals from a subject using different sampling clock signals and stores them in a frame memory for an entire image. and enlarged image frame memory respectively, and 1
The frame memory to be read out for each pixel is selected and the data is sent to the display section, so that the entire image and the enlarged image are displayed simultaneously.

(Operation) Digitization for creating an enlarged image and digitization for creating an entire image are performed using independent sampling clock signals, so that image quality with optimal resolution can be obtained for each image.

(Example) Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. In Figure 1,
The wave transmitting/receiving unit 11 sends and receives echo signals obtained by transmitting and receiving waves with the ultrasonic probe 12 to the overall image A/D converter 13.
and the enlarged image converter 14, respectively.
The A/D converters 13 and 14 receive sampling clock signals from the entire image write clock generation section 15 and the enlarged image write clock generation section 16.
The echo signals are digitized simultaneously by Fs1 and Fs2. Sampling clock signals Fs1 and Fs2
The settings of the frequencies fs1 and fs2 are performed individually from the master controller 28. A/
The echo signals digitized by the D converters 13 and 14 are stored in a whole image frame memory 17 and an enlarged image frame memory 18, respectively. At this time, the write addresses of the frame memories 17 and 18 are specified by the entire image write address generation section 19 and the enlarged image address generation section 20.
The read address is specified as follows.
This is performed by the read address generation unit 21. The read data is sent to the display section 23 via the frame memory selection switch 22. The display section 23 includes a television synchronization signal generator 24 and a video signal generation section 25.
and a monitor 26. The graphics controller 27 writes a marker signal indicating the enlarged area determined by the master controller 28 into the graphics memory 29 and sends it to the video signal generation section 25. That is, the graphics controller 27,
Graphics memory 29, master controller 28, etc. constitute means for setting an enlarged image area. The master controller 28 includes a graphics controller 27, a wave transmitting/receiving section 11, each clock generating section 15, 16, each address generating section 19,
20, 21, etc. are centrally controlled.

In the above configuration, when displaying two images simultaneously, the master controller 28 sets the frequency of the sampling clock signals of the clock generators 15 and 16 and sets the enlarged image area on the entire image. Now, the frequency of the sampling clock signal Fs2 is set to fs2 = 1.9fs1 (fs1 is the frequency of the sampling clock signal Fs1), that is, the enlargement ratio of the enlarged image is set to 1.9 times, and the enlarged image area is as shown in Fig. 2. The following will explain what is set in the area (mark) 32 shown. Incidentally, a rectangle 31 in FIG. 2 corresponds to the display surface of the monitor 26, and the entire image and the enlarged image are displayed on the display surface 31 in areas of rectangles 33 and 34, respectively. Further, since the settings for the clock generation sections are individually performed by the master controller 28, the above-mentioned magnification ratio can be changed as necessary, and the degree of freedom in selecting the magnification ratio is high.

After each of the above settings, under the control of the master controller 28, scanning of the ultrasonic tomographic image is performed as shown in FIG. given at the same time. The A/D converter 13 converts the echo signal into a frequency fs1
It is digitized using the sampling clock signal Fs1. As a result, image data regarding the entire image shown in FIG. 3b is written into the frame memory 17. Further, the A/D converter 14 digitizes the echo signal using a sampling clock signal Fs2 having a frequency of 1.9fs1. As a result, image data related to the enlarged image as shown in FIG. 3c is stored in the frame memory 1.
8 is written. On the other hand, reading from the frame memories 17 and 18 is performed according to address designation from the read address generation section 21. The frame memory to be read at this time is selected pixel by pixel by the frame memory selection switch 22. The image data read out from the frame memories 17 and 18 are combined by the video signal generation section 25 and displayed on the monitor 2.
6 is displayed as an image shown in FIG.

(Effects of the Invention) As explained above, according to the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus of the present invention, echo signals from a subject can be simultaneously received, and
The data is digitized using different sampling clock signals and written into the entire image frame memory and enlarged image frame memory, respectively.
Since the frame memory that is read out for each pixel is selected and the data is sent to the display unit, and the entire image and the enlarged image are displayed simultaneously, the true simultaneity of the enlarged image and the entire image is maintained. Can be displayed. Also, the enlarged image and the entire image can achieve optimal resolution. That is, the image quality of the enlarged image can be improved. Furthermore, by having a frame memory for each image, it is possible to easily layout images on a display unit (monitor).

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram showing an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of a layout of two images in an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a layout of two images in an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of an image area. FIG. 4 is a configuration diagram of an image on a display unit (monitor) in an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of an image area in a conventional ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus. FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram of an image on a display unit in a conventional ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus. 11... Wave transmitting/receiving section, 13, 14... A/D converter, 15, 16... Clock generation section, 17, 18
... Frame memory, 19, 20 ... Write address generation section, 21 ... Read address generation section,
22... Frame memory selection switch, 23...
Display section.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. In an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus that simultaneously displays an entire image of a predetermined region of a subject and an enlarged image of an arbitrary region within the entire image on a display unit, a transmitter/receiver connected to an ultrasound probe is provided. A means for digitizing the echo signals from the wave section simultaneously and with different sampling clock signals, and a frame memory for the entire image and a frame for the enlarged image for writing each digitized signal to individually designated write addresses. Ultrasonic diagnosis characterized by comprising a memory, means for selecting a frame memory to be read out for each pixel when reading both frame memories, and means for setting an enlarged image area on the entire image of a display section. Device.