JP2001340338A - Ultrasonic diagnosing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To improve the picture quality of an ultrasonic image by constituting an ultrasonic diagnosing device in such a manner that a distal point noise is reduced regardless of a scanning method, and an optimal space filter process in response to a distance can be performed so that the resolution for a proximal point may not deteriorate as well. SOLUTION: This ultrasonic diagnosing device 1 displays an ultrasonic image based on two-dimensional information obtained by scanning an ultrasonic oscillator 2 which transmits/receives an ultrasonic wave on a subject. In this case, a space filter processing circuit 10 is equipped with a space filter which is arranged in a front stage of a coordinate converting circuit 12, and reduces noises for a signal being output from the ultrasonic oscillator 2. A control circuit 14 controls a factor at the time of the space filter processing by the space filter in a manner to change from the vicinity of the oscillator surface of sound ray data in the direction to the distal point. That is, the space filter process is performed for the sound ray data before being converted into coordinates, and also the factor of the filter process is changed in response to the distance of the sound ray data. Thus, an image of which the picture quality is improved can be obtained. Also, the degree of penetration a deep section is increased by improving S/N of the distal point, into the diagnosing efficiency can be increased as well.

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 having a spatial filter processing means, and more particularly, to an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus capable of performing optimal spatial filter processing and displaying an ultrasonic image regardless of a method of scanning an ultrasonic transducer. The present invention relates to an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus capable of improving image quality.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus uses an ultrasonic endoscope or an ultrasonic probe, transmits and receives ultrasonic waves to and from a living body, and performs various signal processing and image processing on the obtained echo signals. This is a device that generates and displays a tomographic image of a living body.

A scanning method using an ultrasonic endoscope or an ultrasonic probe includes mechanical scanning in which a single or a plurality of transducers are provided at the tip and scanning is performed while rotating or moving mechanically. There is an electric scan in which a plurality of transducers are provided at the tip, and ultrasonic waves are transmitted and received while being electrically switched. Further, each of them includes a linear scan, a convex scan, and a radial scan.

In general ultrasonic diagnosis, the ultrasonic endoscope or the ultrasonic probe is inserted into a lumen or the like and filled with deaerated water as an acoustic medium, or an acoustic jelly is attached to an acoustic radiation surface. By making contact with the living body, acoustic matching is obtained, a tomographic image in the living body is obtained, and diagnosis of the texture and depth of the lesion is performed.

[0005] By the way, ultrasonic waves used for ultrasonic diagnosis have a characteristic that, because of attenuation in a living body, the intensity of a reflected echo at a far point (deep part in the living body) becomes smaller. Therefore, the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus generally performs STC processing for increasing the gain of the reflected echo in accordance with the depth, and increases the luminance in the deep part to display an image.

However, when such processing is performed, since the reflection echo from a distant point has low sensitivity, the S / N is low, and when the image is displayed, the distant point becomes an image with noticeable noise. Therefore, a well-known spatial filter process is often used as one method of noise reduction.

FIGS. 7 and 8 are explanatory diagrams for explaining conventional spatial filter processing. FIG. 7 shows an example of a spatial filter used for the spatial filter processing. FIG. 8 shows a spatial filter in the spatial filter of FIG. Each example of the filter processing coefficient is shown. In the conventional spatial filter processing, for example, as shown in FIG. 7A, a spatial filter that assigns a numerical value to each of the vertical and horizontal 3 × 3 elements is used, and the vertical and horizontal 3 × 3 elements of FIG. Colored area data P0 to P8
Then, the product value of the spatial filter processing coefficients A0 to A8 is added as shown in the following equation (1) to obtain a filtered value PN. This processing is performed by convolving all the data. , A method of performing filter processing on the entire image.

PN = P0 × A0 + P1 × A1 + P2 × A2 + P3 × A3 + P4 × A4 + P5 × A5 + P6 × A6 + P7 × A7 + P8 × A8 Equation (1) For example, the spatial filter processing coefficients A0 to A8 are shown in FIG.
In the case of assignment as shown in (a), a simple average value of nine data P0 to P8 can be obtained.
In the case of the assignment as shown in FIG. 9B, a weighted average that largely depends on the center value P4 in the area constituted by the 3 × 3 elements can be obtained.

As described above, the spatial filter processing coefficients are calculated as shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 8A and FIG. 8B, noise can be reduced by performing a spatial filter process by using a coefficient for averaging the inside of the region. As a result, the far point of the ultrasonic image can be reduced. The S / N can be improved, and an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus with improved image quality can be configured.

Further, in order to increase the effect of reducing the noise component, it is only necessary to increase the area of the spatial filter and employ a coefficient that enhances the effect of averaging.

Meanwhile, in the spatial filter processing in the conventional ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, the spatial filter processing coefficient is calculated as shown in FIG.
In the case of the assignment as shown in (c), an image in which the contour is emphasized can be obtained, and various image processings, that is, an ultrasonic image, can be obtained by changing or combining the coefficients of the spatial filter. There is also an effect that a feature of a lesion or a region of interest is emphasized or dulled to improve the image quality and facilitate diagnosis. In the prior art, as this kind of ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, there is, for example, an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus described in JP-A-8-308831. In this proposal, the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus is read from an image memory by an image data output circuit provided. The two-dimensional image data obtained is taken into the spatial filter 61, and the spatial filter 61
By performing filtering for removing speckle noise as it is in the two-dimensional image, image data in which the influence of speckle noise is significantly reduced is generated.

[0012]

However, in a conventional ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus having a spatial processing filter, such as the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H08-308831, a two-dimensional image is formed as described above. If the spatial filter processing is performed on the data that has been processed, and the spatial filter processing with the enhanced averaging effect is performed to increase the noise reduction effect at the far point, the spatial filter processing will be applied uniformly to the entire image As a result, the resolution of the near point is reduced, and the near point image quality is deteriorated. Further, if the averaging effect of the spatial filter processing is reduced in order to avoid the deterioration of the image quality at the near point, there is a problem that the noise reduction effect at the far point is reduced.

In the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus of linear scanning or convex scanning, since the probe surface is always displayed above or below, the upper or lower portion is determined to be the near point of the probe surface, and the spatial filter processing is performed. It is also conceivable to use a coefficient having a low coefficient averaging effect, determine that the opposite direction is a far point, and use a coefficient having a strong coefficient averaging effect. However, when a scroll operation is performed, an optimal filter may not be applied to an appropriate image area, and as a result, an optimal image quality cannot be obtained.

In the case of radial scanning, the probe is often displayed so as to be located at the center of the image, and an image at an arbitrary position can be drawn by a scroll function. Is not always located above or below, so that there is a problem that it is not possible to perform an optimum spatial filtering process according to the distance.

Accordingly, the present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and an optimal spatial filter processing according to a distance is provided so as to reduce far-point noise and to not degrade near-point resolution regardless of the scanning method. It is an object of the present invention to provide an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus capable of improving the image quality of an ultrasonic image by adopting a configuration capable of performing the operation.

Further, according to the present invention, whether or not spatial filtering is to be performed and more suitable spatial filtering can be performed in accordance with the preference of the operator and the site of the lesion. Another object of the present invention is to provide an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus that can obtain an optimum image quality and can further include an image quality adjustment function in a spatial filter processing circuit.

[0017]

According to an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus of the present invention, an ultrasonic image is formed based on two-dimensional information obtained by scanning an ultrasonic transducer for transmitting and receiving ultrasonic waves to and from a subject. In the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus to be displayed, a spatial filter for processing a signal output from the ultrasonic transducer, first coefficient information for giving a first filter characteristic to the spatial filter, A second coefficient information providing a second filter characteristic; and coefficient output means for selectively outputting the first coefficient information and the second coefficient information to the spatial filter. Is what you do.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to the first aspect, coordinates for converting a signal output from the ultrasonic transducer to an image signal after the spatial filter are provided. It is characterized by having conversion means.

According to the first and second aspects of the present invention, spatial filtering is performed on sound ray data before coordinate transformation.
Since the optimum spatial filter processing coefficient can be set for each of the display mode, the ultrasonic frequency selected by the operator, and the distance of the sound ray data, the optimum spatial filter processing can be performed from the near point to the far point. . This makes it possible to improve the image quality of the ultrasonic image.

[0020]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. First Embodiment FIGS. 1 to 6 show a first embodiment of an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to the present invention, and FIG. 1 shows a schematic configuration of the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to the present embodiment. FIG. 2 is a block circuit diagram showing a specific configuration example of the spatial filter processing circuit of FIG. 1, FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a specific configuration example of the control circuit of FIG. 1, and FIG. FIGS. 5 and 6 are illustrations showing sound ray data stored in the FIFO memory of the circuit, and FIGS. 5 and 6 are explanatory diagrams for explaining the operation of the apparatus. Is shown. (Configuration) As shown in FIG. 1, the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus 1 of the present embodiment includes a driving unit 3 for connecting and driving an ultrasonic probe 2 for transmitting and receiving ultrasonic waves via a connector 3a. A console 4 for switching the function of the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus 1 in accordance with an operator's input, a switch for starting (freezing release operation) or stopping (freezing operation) transmission and reception of ultrasonic waves, and for instructing printer output. A foot switch 5 having a switch is connected. The driving section 3 is connected to the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus 1 via another connector 1a.

The RG output from the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus 1
The B signal, the Y / C signal, and the composite video signal are respectively input to video equipment such as a monitor, a printer, and a VTR (not shown).

The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus 1 includes a transmission circuit 6 for generating an ultrasonic transmission pulse as shown in the figure, an ultrasonic wave transmitted to a living body, a reflected ultrasonic wave received, and a signal transmitted therefrom. An analog signal processing circuit 7 including an amplifier for amplifying the signal, a BPF (band pass filter) that switches according to the frequency of the transmitted and received ultrasonic waves, an LPF (low pass filter) that switches according to logarithmic compression, and switching of the display range, and the like. A / D converter 8 for converting an analog signal into a digital signal
, An ultrasonic sound ray data storage memory 9 for storing digitized ultrasonic signals, a spatial filter processing circuit 10 for performing spatial filter processing which is a feature of the present invention, STC processing, gain, contrast, and gamma curve. An image quality adjustment circuit 11 for adjusting image quality such as correction, and a coordinate conversion circuit 12 for performing coordinate conversion from ultrasonic scanning to rectangular coordinates as TV scanning.
A TV signal conversion circuit 13 for sending data subjected to coordinate conversion in accordance with TV scanning; a control circuit 14 including a CPU for controlling the entire apparatus; characters and marks displayed on a screen; A graphic circuit 15 for controlling and generating graphic relations such as an image, an image superimposing circuit 16 for superimposing each of an ultrasonic image coordinate-converted to TV scanning and a graphic signal generated by the graphic circuit 15, The D / A converter 17 converts a digitally processed image signal into an analog signal, and a modulation circuit 18 that synthesizes a TV synchronization signal and an analog image signal and modulates the TV signal. .

FIG. 2 shows the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus 1 shown in FIG.
2 shows a specific configuration example of the spatial filter processing circuit 10 in FIG. As shown in FIG. 2, a spatial filter processing circuit 10 that performs spatial filter processing that is a feature of the present invention includes a plurality of FIFO memories 19a, 19b, and 19c that temporarily store sound ray data in order to apply a spatial filter. A plurality of flip-flops (described as FF in the figure) 20a to 20
i, 22a to 22c and a plurality of integrators 21a to 21i
And one adder 23.

FIG. 3 shows the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus 1 shown in FIG.
2 shows a specific configuration example of the control circuit 14 therein. As shown in FIG. 3, the control circuit 14 is configured to include a spatial filter coefficient generating means, for example, a memory 24 in which a plurality of types of filter coefficient groups are stored in advance, and a readout of ultrasonic sound ray data. An ultrasonic sound ray data read start signal generating circuit 26 for generating a start signal, and the ultrasonic sound ray data is read from the memory 9 in accordance with the read start signal, and the ultrasonic data input to the spatial filter processing circuit 10 A memory write & read control signal generation circuit 27 for reading coefficient data from the spatial filter coefficient memory 28 and outputting it to the spatial filter processing circuit 10 so as to match the input timing, and a plurality of filter coefficient memories 28
a to 28i and a CPU 25 for controlling the entire apparatus and a group of internal circuits. The data stored in the memory 24 is
The configuration is such that it does not disappear even after the power of the apparatus is turned off.

(Operation) Next, the operation of the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus having the above configuration will be described. Now, assuming that ultrasonic diagnosis, particularly in-body-cavity ultrasonic diagnosis, is performed using the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus shown in FIG. 1, in this case, first, the ultrasonic probe 2 is inserted into the body cavity, and the acoustic medium (water Or jelly) to contact the living body.

The transmission circuit 6 in the ultrasonic observation apparatus 1 generates an ultrasonic drive pulse based on the control circuit 14 and
Communicate to The driving unit 3 rotates the flexible shaft in the ultrasonic probe 2 based on the control circuit 14 and transmits the ultrasonic pulse to the ultrasonic transducer at the tip of the ultrasonic probe 2. The ultrasonic transducer transmits an ultrasonic wave into a living body in response to the ultrasonic driving pulse, and receives an ultrasonic echo signal reflected in the living body.

The received ultrasonic echo signal is supplied to the drive unit 3
Is transmitted to the analog signal processing circuit 7 of the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus 1 via The transmitted ultrasonic echo signal is amplified by an amplifier in the analog signal processing circuit 7, passes through a BPF switched according to the transmitted / received ultrasonic frequency, is logarithmically compressed and detected, and is an LPF corresponding to a display range.
After a series of analog signal processing such as passing through,
The digital signal is converted by the A / D converter 8.

The ultrasonic signal converted into a digital signal is
It is stored in the ultrasonic sound ray data storage memory 9. When the freeze is applied, the ultrasonic sound ray data storage memory 9
Is stopped at a predetermined timing, post-processing such as image adjustment after freeze becomes possible.
The reading and writing of the ultrasonic sound ray data in the ultrasonic sound ray data storage memory 9 are controlled by a read control signal supplied from the control circuit 14.

The read ultrasonic sound ray data is input to a spatial filter processing circuit 10 and subjected to spatial filter processing. Thereafter, the spatially filtered data is input to the image quality adjustment circuit 11. The image quality adjustment circuit 11 performs image quality adjustment based on STC data, gain, and contrast adjustment data that are output from the control circuit 14 and that match the depth direction of the sound ray, and outputs an adjustment output to the coordinate conversion circuit 12. .

In the case of radial scanning or convex scanning, since the direction of transmission from the ultrasonic transducer does not match the direction of TV scanning in the case of radial scanning or convex scanning, the coordinate conversion circuit 12 converts the ultrasonic signal into rectangular coordinates. The signal conversion circuit 13 outputs ultrasonic image data to the image superimposition circuit 16 in accordance with TV scanning.

On the other hand, the control circuit 14 including the CPU controls the entire apparatus, and controls the writing and reading of the ultrasonic data to and from the ultrasonic sound ray data storage memory 9 and the image quality to the image quality adjusting circuit 11 as described above. The adjustment control, the display control to the graphic circuit 15 and the image quality superimposition circuit 16 to be described later, the spatial filter processing control to the spatial processing filter processing 10 which is a feature of the present embodiment, and the like are performed. Note that the control circuit 14 can control each circuit group (see FIG. 3) mounted therein to execute each control described above.

For example, when the spatial processing filter control is executed, the control circuit 14 responds to inputs and selections of the console 4 as shown in FIG.
A set of spatial filter coefficients, for example, FIGS. 5 (a) to 5 (e) is read out from a plurality of types of filter coefficient groups stored in the memory and stored in the memories 28a to 28i corresponding to the spatial filter coefficients A0 to A8. One memory 28 stores data corresponding to the depth of one coefficient (for example, A0). Figure 5 shows the data for each depth.
One-to-one correspondence with the data of (a) to (e) is possible,
Interpolation between each data may be performed so that the spatial filter processing is performed more smoothly. The ultrasonic sound ray data read start signal generation circuit 26 generates a read start signal of ultrasonic sound ray data. The memory write & read control signal generation circuit 27 reads the ultrasonic sound ray data from the memory 9 according to the signal. The read sound ray data is input to the spatial filter processing circuit 10 and subjected to spatial filter processing. The memory write & read control signal generation circuit 27 reads the coefficient data from the spatial filter coefficient memories 28a to 28i so as to match the input timing of the ultrasonic data input to the spatial filter processing circuit 10, Output to 10

The graphic circuit 15 generates and displays graphic signals of characters such as a patient ID, a patient name, a date, and a hospital name, and graphics such as lines, circles, and arbitrary curves at the time of measurement based on the control circuit 14. Circuit.

The image superimposing circuit 16 is a TV signal converting circuit 1
3 is superimposed on the graphic data from the graphic circuit 13 and output as digital RGB data. Since the digital RGB data is digital, the D / A converter 17
a, G data is supplied to a D / A converter 17b, and B data is supplied to a D / A converter 17c, and is converted into an analog signal by each of the D / A converters 17a to 17c. Notwithstanding the TV synchronization signal,
Modulation circuit 18 composed of a C / PAL encoder or the like
Supplied to The RGB signals respectively supplied by the modulation circuit 18 are composite video signals, Y / C signals,
The signal is modulated into a TV signal such as an RGB signal and output to a video device (not shown) such as a monitor, a printer, or a VTR.

Next, the spatial filter processing which is a feature of the present embodiment will be described in detail with reference to FIG. In the present embodiment, the spatial processing filter processing circuit 10 uses a spatial filter that assigns a numerical value to each of the vertical and horizontal 3 × 3 elements. As a specific configuration example of the spatial filter, for example, FIG. The configuration is as shown.

In the spatial filter processing circuit shown in FIG. 2, the ultrasonic sound ray data is read out from the memory 9 storing the entire sound ray data based on the control signal of the control circuit 14, and written into the FIFO memory.

At this time, FIG. 4 is an image diagram showing a data storage state of the FIFO memory.
Is the data of the first sound ray in the FIFO memory 19c,
O memory 19b, data of the second sound line, FIFO memory 1
Control is performed so that data of the third sound ray is stored in 9a.

Specifically, the data read from the memory 9 is first written to the FIFO memory 19a. F
The IFO memory 19a sequentially reads data based on a control signal from the control circuit 14 and supplies the data to the flip-flop 20a. Thereafter, the output of the flip-flop 20a is supplied to an integrator 21a, which will be described later, and a flip-flop 20d at a subsequent stage, and is stored in another FIFO memory 19b.

The FIFO memory 19b is a FIFO memory 1
The stored data is read at exactly the same timing as the read timing of 9a, and the read data passes through the flip-flop 20b and is stored in the FIFO memory 19c.

As a result, the FIFO memory 19c has
The first sound ray data is stored in the FIFO memory 19.
b stores the next sound ray data in the FIFO memory 19c, and the FIFO memory 19a stores the next sound ray data in the FIFO memory 19b. Thus 3
The sound ray data is controlled to be shifted and stored in each of the FIFO memories 19a to 19c.

The sound ray data read from each of the FIFO memories 19a to 19c is adjusted in timing by passing through the corresponding flip-flop 20a to 20i, and is input to one input terminal of each of the integrators 21a to 21i. Is done. In this case, the ultrasonic data input to one input terminal of each of the integrators 21a to 21i is obtained by the equation (1).
Are P0 to P8. On the other hand, each integrator 21a-2
The other input terminal 1i receives the spatial filter processing coefficients A0 to A8 from the control circuit 14 described above. In this case, the control circuit 14 determines the spatial filter processing coefficients A0 to A8.
Are output at the same timing as the ultrasonic data P0 to P8 input to the integrators 21a to 21i.

Each of the integrators 21a to 21i integrates the ultrasonic data P0 to P8 and the spatial filter processing coefficients A0 to A8, and outputs each integration result to the corresponding flip-flop 22a to 22c. , To the adder 23. The adder 23 performs an addition operation on the supplied integration results. That is, the output from the adder 23 is the value PN after the spatial filter processing of the equation (1).

Thereafter, the output of the adder 23 is input to a post-processing unit (see FIG. 1) such as the image quality adjustment circuit 11 as described above, and the image quality adjustment, coordinate conversion, etc. of the filtered sound ray data are performed. And the ultrasound is imaged.

The present embodiment is characterized in that the coefficients at the time of the spatial filter processing are changed from near the transducer plane of the sound ray data to the far point direction. The spatial filter processing having such a feature will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 5 and 6. FIGS. 5 and 6 show spatial filter processing coefficients (a) to (e) that change with distance of sound ray data.
FIG. 5 is a coefficient that keeps the total value of the filter processing coefficients constant from near point to far point and keeps the intensity constant. FIG. 6 increases the total value of the filter as the far point increases and increases the gain. It is a coefficient that can be obtained.

In the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to the present embodiment,
The control circuit 14 detects the start signal of the sound ray data, and
And a filter processing coefficient (a) as shown in FIG. The near point is a coefficient which is not affected by peripheral data, such as the filter processing coefficient (a), because the transmitted ultrasonic beam is thin and has good sensitivity.

Further, as the spatial processing by the spatial filter processing circuit 10 is performed on the far-point direction data of the sound ray data, the control circuit 14
The filter coefficient given to 0 is changed from the filter coefficient (b) to the filter coefficient (e) (from the filter coefficient (a) to the filter coefficient (e)) as shown in the figure. In other words, the farther the point of the ultrasonic beam becomes, the wider the beam becomes, and the lower the sensitivity becomes. Is increased, and as a result, S / N can be improved.

The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus performs STC processing for attenuation in a living body to increase the gain in a deep part.
Therefore, the control circuit 14 can perform the spatial filter processing including the STC processing by supplying the spatial filter processing circuit 10 with a filter coefficient that can obtain a gain as the depth increases, as shown in FIG. Also, as shown in FIG. 6, by adding a uniform offset value to all of the filter coefficients (a) to (e), the gain can be adjusted.

In the present embodiment, since the resolution of the ultrasonic waves differs depending on the selected probe and frequency, when a high ultrasonic frequency at which a high resolution is obtained is selected, the averaging effect is low and the resolution is low. A filter coefficient that is emphasized is adopted, and when a low frequency is selected, a filter coefficient having a high averaging effect is adopted. In addition, since the depth reaches depending on the selected frequency, the distance for changing the filter coefficient is also changed.

Also, in the present embodiment, the filter coefficients for enhancing the contour of FIG. 8C described above, the filter coefficients as shown in FIGS. A plurality of types of spatial filter coefficients such as changed versions are stored in a memory 24 in the control circuit 14 in advance, and the control circuit 14 stores necessary spatial filter coefficients in the memory 24 based on an operation of the console 4 by an operator. , It is possible to select and switch an optimal spatial filter coefficient by performing read control from.

In the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus of the present embodiment, the setting selected by the user is stored even when the power is turned off, and when the power is turned on again, the selected probe 2 is connected again. When the control is performed by the control circuit 14 so as to be automatically set at the time, an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus which is easy to use for the user can be configured.

(Effects) Therefore, according to the present embodiment, spatial filter processing is performed on sound ray data before coordinate conversion, and the filter processing coefficient is changed according to the distance of the sound ray data. An image with improved image quality can be obtained.

Further, by improving the S / N at the far point,
The depth of the deep part is also improved, and the diagnostic efficiency can be improved.

Further, the optimum setting can be selected according to the operator's preference, the lesion, the region of interest, and the selected probe, so that an ultrasonic image with further improved image quality can be obtained. As a result, it greatly contributes to improvement of diagnostic efficiency.

In the present embodiment, one type of spatial filter processing has been described as an example. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, a configuration in which a plurality of spatial filter processes are combined may be employed. Further, in the present embodiment, the spatial filter processing using the spatial filter that assigns a numerical value to each of the vertical and horizontal 3 × 3 elements has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the vertical and horizontal 5 × 5 or 7 × 5 The spatial filter processing may be performed using a filter having a different filter size for assigning a numerical value to each element.

Further, in the present embodiment, the same effect can be obtained if the spatial filter processing is performed on the sound ray data. Therefore, the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus shown in FIG. 1 and the spatial filter shown in FIG. It is not limited to the configuration of the processing circuit. For example, an integrator or an adder is configured by a memory,
Ultrasound data and filter processing coefficients may be input as address data of the memory, and the accumulation and addition result data corresponding to the address may be stored in the memory in advance to obtain the operation result,
Further, it may be configured as a large-scale FPGA. Also,
In this embodiment, the spatial filter processing by the spatial filter processing circuit 10 is performed before the image quality adjustment circuit 11, but the spatial filter processing is performed after the image quality adjustment circuit 11 by performing the spatial filter processing. You may be comprised so that it may perform.

[Supplementary Notes] (Supplementary Note 1) Ultrasound is transmitted / received to / from a living body from an ultrasonic endoscope or an ultrasound probe, and an obtained reception signal is processed to display an ultrasound image. In the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, A / D conversion means for converting analog sound ray data obtained by transmission / reception into digital data, coordinate conversion means for performing coordinate conversion on the obtained digital sound ray data to TV scanning, An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, comprising: spatial filter processing means for performing spatial filter processing on sound ray data before coordinate conversion.

(Additional Item 2) An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus that transmits and receives ultrasonic waves to and from a living body from an ultrasonic endoscope or an ultrasonic probe, processes the obtained reception signals, and displays an ultrasonic image. , A / D conversion means for converting analog sound ray data obtained by transmission / reception into digital data, coordinate conversion means for performing coordinate conversion on the obtained digital sound ray data to TV scanning, Spatial filter processing means for performing spatial filter processing on digital sound ray data, according to the use state such as display mode and ultrasonic frequency and the distance of sound ray data,
An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, comprising: a spatial filter coefficient generating unit capable of changing a spatial filter coefficient in the spatial filter processing unit.

(Additional Item 3) Ultrasound diagnosis according to Additional Item 2, wherein the operator is provided with a spatial filter processing effective instruction selection means capable of instructing / selecting whether or not to perform spatial filter processing. apparatus.

(Additional Item 4) A spatial filter processing instruction selecting means capable of instructing and selecting a plurality of spatial filter processes by an operator, and spatial filter processing coefficients used for the plurality of spatial filter processes are stored in a memory. Additional item 2 characterized by comprising spatial filter processing coefficient storage means.
An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to item 1.

(Additional Item 5) A spatial filter coefficient gain adjusting means capable of changing the spatial filter processing coefficient in accordance with the distance of the sound ray data and including the gain in the sound ray direction is provided. 3. The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to claim 2, wherein

[0061]

As described above, according to the present invention,
In the prior art, since spatial filtering is performed uniformly from the near point to the far point of the ultrasonic sound ray data, the resolution of the near point is reduced or the far point Although the noise reduction effect is low or the spatial filter processing has not been utilized to the utmost effect, in the present invention, the display mode and the ultrasonic frequency selected by the operator,
Since the spatial filter coefficient can be set for each sound ray distance, the spatial filter processing can be used as effectively as possible,
Since optimal image processing can be performed from the near point to the far point, the image quality can be improved as a result. Also,
Since the spatial filter processing can be switched and selected according to the lesion or the region of interest according to the preference of the operator, the usability is good and the efficiency of diagnosis can be improved. Further, by setting the spatial filter coefficient for each distance, it is possible to include a part of the image quality adjustment function, so that the manufacturing cost is reduced and the cost of the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus is greatly reduced.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to the present invention, and showing a schematic configuration of the apparatus.

FIG. 2 is a block circuit diagram showing a specific configuration example of a spatial filter processing circuit mounted on the apparatus of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a specific configuration example of a control circuit mounted on the device of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is an image diagram showing sound ray data stored in a FIFO memory in the spatial filter processing circuit of FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram for explaining the operation of the apparatus of FIG. 1 and showing a spatial filter processing coefficient that changes for each distance of sound ray data.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram for explaining the operation of the apparatus of FIG. 1 and showing a spatial filter processing coefficient that changes for each distance of sound ray data.

FIG. 7 is a view for explaining a conventional spatial filter processing and shows an example of a spatial filter used for the spatial filter processing.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of a spatial filter processing coefficient in the spatial filter of FIG. 7;

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, 2 ... Ultrasonic probe, 3 ... Drive part, 3a, 1a ... Connector, 4 ... Operator console, 5 ... Foot switch, 6 ... Transmission circuit, 7 ... Analog signal processing circuit, 8 ... A / D converter, 9 ... Ultrasonic sound ray data storage memory, 10 ... Spatial filter processing circuit, 11 ... Image quality adjustment circuit, 12 ... Coordinate conversion circuit, 13 ... TV signal conversion circuit, 14 ... Control circuit, 15 ... Graphic circuit, 16: image superimposition circuit, 17: D / A converter, 18: modulation circuit, 19a to 19c: FIFO memory, 20a to 20i, 22a to 22c: flip-flop (FF), 21a to 21i: integrator, 23 ... Adder, 24 ... Memory, 25 ... CPU, 26 ... Ultrasonic sound ray data read start signal generation circuit, 27 ... Filter coefficient memory write / read control signal generation circuit, 8a~28i ... spatial memory for the filter processing coefficient.

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. Based on two-dimensional information obtained by scanning an ultrasonic transducer that transmits and receives ultrasonic waves to and from a subject,
In an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus that displays an ultrasonic image, a spatial filter that processes a signal output from the ultrasonic transducer, first coefficient information that gives a first filter characteristic to the spatial filter, Second coefficient information for giving a second filter characteristic to the spatial filter; and coefficient output means for selectively outputting the first coefficient information and the second coefficient information to the spatial filter. An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus characterized by the above-mentioned. 2. The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a coordinate conversion unit that converts a signal output from the ultrasonic transducer into an image signal after the spatial filter.