Patent Application
20080249410
This application claims benefit of Japanese Application No. 2007-098852 filed in Japan on Apr. 4, 2007, the contents of which are incorporated by this reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an ultrasound observation system and an ultrasound observation method therefor. More specifically, it relates to an ultrasound observation system for observing an affected area by ultrasonotomography and an ultrasound observation method therefor.
2. Description of the Related Art
As described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 11-33029, for example, in recent years, an ultrasound diagnostic apparatus that emits an ultrasound into a living body and obtains an ultrasound image from the received reflected ultrasound has become widely used for observation or diagnosis of an affected part or the like or, if necessary, for tissue sampling with a puncture needle, because the ultrasound diagnosis apparatus does not need dissection to acquire information about the inside of the living body.
For example, a conventional ultrasound observation apparatus detects and acquires sound ray data in one frame period at timings shown in
An ultrasound observation system according to the present invention comprises:
an ultrasound probe having an ultrasound transducer that transmits and receives an ultrasound; and
an ultrasound observation apparatus that has an ultrasound driving section that drives the ultrasound transducer to make the ultrasound transducer transmit the ultrasound and receives an ultrasound echo signal and an ultrasound observation image data generating section that generates ultrasound observation image data including at least an ultrasound image based on the ultrasound echo signal from the ultrasound driving section, and
the ultrasound observation apparatus further has:
a display range specifying section that specifies a desired specified range within a display range of a display section for displaying the ultrasound image;
an ultrasound scanning range setting section that sets a scanning range of the ultrasound driving section based on the specified range; and
an ultrasound transmission timing controlling section that controls the timing of transmission of the ultrasound of the ultrasound driving section based on the specified range.
Other features and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the detailed description of the preferred embodiment(s) below.
As shown in
The ultrasound observation apparatus 3 comprises a transmitting and receiving section 30, an ultrasound signal processing section 31 that serves as an ultrasound observation image data generating section, a CPU 32, a main memory 33, two compact flash™ memories (CF memories) 34 and 35, a video signal outputting section 36, an output image generating section 7, a device I/F section 38, a keyboard I/F section 37, and a timing controller 8 that serves as an ultrasound scan range setting section and an ultrasound transmission timing controlling section.
The transmitting and receiving section 30 transmits a drive signal to the ultrasound element of the ultrasound endoscope 2 in response to a timing signal from the timing controller 8 and receives an ultrasound echo signal from the ultrasound element.
The ultrasound signal processing section 31 generates the drive signal in response to a timing signal from the timing controller 8 and generates various ultrasound images (a B mode tomographic image, for example) from the ultrasound echo signal.
For example, the ultrasound endoscope 2 is a mechanical scanning ultrasound endoscope having a mechanical scanning type ultrasound transducer disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2000-279415, and the ultrasound signal processing section 31 generates various ultrasound images from the ultrasound echo signal by a signal processing disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2000-279415. Thus, the ultrasound endoscope 2 and the ultrasound signal processing section 31 are well known in the art, and therefore, descriptions thereof will be omitted.
However, the ultrasound endoscope 2 is not limited to the mechanical scanning type ultrasound endoscope. For example, the ultrasound endoscope 2 can be an electronic scanning type ultrasound endoscope disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 7-163561 (paragraph [0011]). Details thereof are well known in the art, and therefore, descriptions thereof will be omitted.
The CPU 32 is a controlling section that controls the whole of the ultrasound observation apparatus 3 and operates according to a system program stored in the main memory 33.
Under the control of the CPU 32, the timing controller 8 controls the transmission and reception timing of the transmitting and receiving section 30, the processing timing of the ultrasound signal processing section 31, and the image generation timing of the output image generating section 7.
The CF memory 34 is a storage section that stores an application program activated by the CPU 32, and the CF memory 35 is a storage section that stores the ultrasound image generated by the ultrasound signal processing section 31.
The output image generating section 7 converts the size of the ultrasound image generated by the ultrasound signal processing section 31 to a display size corresponding to the display range specified via the keyboard 5 in response to a timing signal from the timing controller 8 and outputs the converted ultrasound image to the video signal outputting section 36.
The video signal outputting section 36 outputs the ultrasound image of the display size corresponding to the display range specified via the keyboard 5 received from the output image generating section 7 to an observing monitor 4.
The device I/F section 38 is an interface for transmitting data to and receiving data with various peripheral devices 6 connected to the ultrasound observation apparatus 3, such as a printer (video printer) and an information recording device (image file device).
The keyboard IEF section 37 is an interface with the keyboard 5, which comprises a key matrix 50 and a keyboard controller 51.
The key matrix 50 comprises a group of switches including a plurality of switches for inputting data, including display range button (not shown) used for specifying the display range.
The keyboard controller 51 is a controlling section that manages the operational state of the switches of the key matrix 50 and controls the whole of the keyboard 5.
An operation of the ultrasound endoscope system 1 according to the present embodiment configured as described above will be described. Once the ultrasound endoscope 2 and the keyboard 5 are connected to the ultrasound observation apparatus 3, and inspection is started in step S1 as shown in
If it is determined that the display range is set at the narrow range (mode), in step S3, the CPU 32 sets a timing of the timing controller 8 at a high speed (mode), Then, in step $4, the CPU 32 sets a sampling timing at a high speed (mode) and sets a transmission and reception range of the transmitting and receiving section 30 at a narrow range (a circular range having a radius of 6 cm, for example), as shown in
Then, in step S5, the CPU 32 sets a default frame rate of the ultrasound signal processing section 31 shown in
The CPU 32 carries out the narrowing down of the transmission and reception range and the raise of the frame rate described above according to a timing signal from the timing controller 8.
Then, in step S6, the CPU 32 controls the output image generating section 7 to read display range data in response to a timing signal from the timing controller 8 and output the display range data to the video signal outputting section 36, thereby outputting and displaying an ultrasound image on the observing monitor 4.
Then, in step S7, the CPU 32 repeats the steps S2 to S7 until the end of the inspection is detected.
On the other hand, if it is determined in step $2 that the display range is set at a wide range (mode), in step S10, the CPU 32 sets the timing of the timing controller 8 at a low speed (mode).
Then, in step S11, the CPU 32 sets the sampling timing at a low speed (mode) and sets the transmission and reception range of the transmitting and receiving section 30 at a wide range (a circular range having a radius of 9 cm, for example), as shown in
Then, in step S12, the CPU 32 sets the frame rate of the ultrasound signal processing section 31 at a low frame rate (for wide range display) as shown in
The CPU 32 carries out the widening of the transmission and reception range and the lowering of the frame rate described above according to a timing signal from the timing controller 8.
As described above, according to the present embodiment, the scanning range and the frame rate are automatically set according to the setting of the display range button of the keyboard 5, and the resulting ultrasound image is output to and displayed on the observing monitor 4. Therefore, the operator can advantageously observe the ultrasound image of a desired region at a frame rate free from discomfort.
That is, according to the present embodiment, the ultrasound observation image can be generated and the frequency of updating the displayed image (frame rate) can be changed according to the display range of the ultrasound observation image, thereby improving frame rate.
It is apparent that a wide variety of different embodiments are possible without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. The present invention is not limited to any particular embodiment but is limited only by the accompanying claims.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2007-098852 | Apr 2007 | JP | national |
