JPS638871A - Transferring system for image data in medical image filing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To facilitate the checking of an error may occur at the time of transferring by adding control data to image data and executing the transferring of a row unit. CONSTITUTION:Respective picture elements of a radiation image accumulated and recorded to an accumulating type phosphor sheet A are read and displayed by a image reading part 20, converted to gradation data a11-a1m, a21-a2m,... parity data P11-P1m, P21-P2m,... are respectively added and image data are constituted to detect the error. At the head and end of the image data of respective rows, control data SOL and EOL to show the starting and end of respective rows are provided. At the head and end of the image data of one image, control data SOP and EOP to shown the starting and end of the image data of one image are provided. Thus, the error to occur at the time of transferring the image data can be checked at a row unit and processing can be simplified.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a medical image filing device, and more specifically, for example, when recording and storing image data carrying medical image information and its search data in a randomly accessible recording medium, or The present invention relates to a medical image filing device that transfers the image data in units of scanning lines when reading the stored image data from a recording medium.

Recently, the applicant has developed a radiographic image recording and reproducing system that uses a stimulable phosphor to obtain a radiographic image of a subject, and a number of patent applications have been filed in connection with this system (
For example, JP-A-55-12429, JP-A No. 55-10
No. 3472, No. 55-116340, No. 55-8
No. 7970, etc.) are becoming widespread, especially in the medical field. Here, a storage phosphor is a material that, when irradiated with radiation (X-rays, α-rays, β-rays, T-rays, electron beams, ultraviolet rays, etc.), stores a portion of this radiation energy and later emits visible light, etc. A phosphor that emits light in response to the energy accumulated by irradiation with excitation light.

That is, the radiation image recording and reproducing system described above utilizes this stimulable phosphor, in which radiation image information of the human body, etc. is recorded on a sheet having a layer made of the stimulable phosphor, and then this sheet is exposed to laser light. The stimulated luminescent light is scanned with an excitation light such as a photosensitive material, etc., to generate a stimulated luminescent light, the resulting stimulated luminescent light is read photoelectrically to obtain an image signal, and this image signal is subjected to predetermined image processing. The image is output as a visible image on a recording material such as a CRT or the like.

By the way, in the medical field, it has been common practice to record radiation image information on X-ray film. Furthermore, it is mandatory to store the X-ray film on which the image information is recorded for at least five years, and the amount of X-ray film that will be stored during that period will be enormous. Therefore, in facilities such as hospitals, it is necessary to secure sufficient space for storing X-ray films. In addition, in order to preserve such X-ray film in good condition for a long period of time, it is necessary to store the X-ray film in a state where it is isolated from moisture and external light, and measures for this are also required. .

On the other hand, it is necessary that the desired X-ray film can be quickly taken out in response to a request during a medical examination or the like. However, it takes a considerable amount of time to manually extract a desired item from a large amount of X-ray film. If it is necessary, a large amount of time is spent searching for it, which may cause serious problems.

For this reason, by recording and storing image data related to medical image information and its search data as described above in a randomly accessible recording medium, it is possible to facilitate the storage and management of the medical image information, and to make it possible to easily store and manage the medical image information. A medical image filing device that can speed up searches is desired.

In this case, image data as medical image information consists of an extremely large amount of data, and there is a concern that an error may occur when transferring this data to a recording medium or reading it from the recording medium. When image data is used for medical diagnosis, there is a risk of misdiagnosis depending on where the error occurs.

The present invention has been made to overcome the above-mentioned disadvantages, and when transferring image data related to medical image information,
A medical image filing device that transfers line by line with control data added to the image data, making it easy to check for errors that occur during transfer, and making it possible to perform optimal processing for the errors. The purpose is to provide a method for transferring image data.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention obtains image data as a digital signal carrying medical image information, is connected to an image input/output device that outputs the image data as a visible image, and is connected to an image input/output device that outputs the image data as a visible image. The image filing device records the image data sent from the storage medium along with the search data on a randomly accessible recording medium, reads the image data from the recording medium based on the search data as necessary, and sends the image data to the image input/output device. The image data includes first image transfer control data representing the start and end of one image, and second image transfer control data representing the start and end of each scanning line in one image and the scanning line number. The interface module is added to control the transfer of image data between the image filing device and the image input/output device, and the recording module records the image data on the recording medium and reads the image from the recording medium. It is characterized by transferring image data in units of scanning lines.

Next, preferred embodiments of the image data transfer method in the medical image filing apparatus according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a radiation image information processing system equipped with a medical image filing device according to this embodiment,
This system uses a subject 1 obtained by an imaging device 10.
An image input/output device 1 that photoelectrically reads the stimulable phosphor sheet A on which the radiographic image of No. 2 has been recorded under predetermined conditions, converts it into a digital signal, and outputs it to a photosensitive material, CRT, etc.
4, and an image filing device 16 that stores and records the image data converted into digital signals by the image input/output device 14 and its search data on an optical disk or the like, and reads them out as necessary. Here, the search data means unique data added to the image data, and is configured as shown in FIG. 3, for example. That is, the search data includes patient information such as patient name NAME, gender SEX, date of birth BIR, and image number FI LN.
It is composed of imaging information such as O1 imaging date DATE and the affected area pos. Note that here, reference number 1 indicates an X-ray source, which is used to accumulate and record a radiographic image of the subject 12 on the stimulable phosphor sheet A.

The image input/output device 14 includes an image reading unit 20 that photoelectrically reads radiation image information accumulated and recorded on the stimulable phosphor sheet A by the imaging device IO and obtains an image signal, an image input/output device 14, and an image filing device 16. an image processing control section 22 that controls the image signal and performs processing such as gradation correction and frequency processing on the image signal; and an image output section 2 that outputs the image signal as a visible image onto a film that is a photographic material.
4, and an image output section 26 that outputs the image signal onto a screen such as a CRT. Here, the patient information and imaging information are input by the image processing control unit 22 reading an ID card on which patient information is recorded and by performing a keyboard operation. The image reading unit 20, for example, irradiates the stimulable phosphor sheet A with excitation light such as a laser beam and converts the stimulated luminescent light generated from the sheet A into an image signal using a photomultiplier, and It includes a mechanism for erasing image information by irradiating erasing light onto the stimulable phosphor sheet A from which the signal has been read, thereby making the stimulable phosphor sheet A reusable.

Further, the image output section 24 irradiates a laser beam onto the film based on the image signal obtained from the image reading section 20,
The film is developed and a visible image is output.
The image output section 26 displays the image signal on a CRT or the like.

Next, the image filing device 16 is connected to the image input/output device 14.
receives image data and search data before image processing such as gradation correction is performed by the image processing control unit 22 that constitutes the It is used for reading data.

Therefore, based on FIG. 2, the image filing device 16
The configuration will be explained in detail.

The image filing device 16 includes a system control module 28, an interface module 30 serving as an input/output board for the image input/output device 14, a memory module 32 constituting a main memory in the image filing device 16, a hard disk driver 34, and a floppy disk driver. 36, and an optical disk control module 42 that controls an optical disk driver 40. And these modules 28.30.
32, 38 and 42 are connected by a system bus 44.

The image filing device 16 is controlled by the MPU 50 based on control data stored in the RAM 46 that constitutes the system control module 28 and a system program stored in the ROM 4B. In this case, the RAM 46 includes a keyboard control interface 52.
Predetermined control data is supplied from a keyboard 54 via a communication interface 58, and the status of the image filing device 16 is communicated via a communication interface 58 to a display device 60 such as a CRT.
will be displayed. Control signals from MPU 50 are then transferred to each module 30, 32, 38 and 42 via bus interface 62 and system bus 44.

The interface module 30 is an input/output port for the image input/output device 14 and the image filing device 16, and
10 processor 64, an image data interface 68, and a line buffer 74. In this case, search data for radiation image information, image processing information, etc. are input to the communication interface 66 from the image input/output device 14 . Further, image data constituting an image of the subject 12 is input to the image data interface 6B.

Further, image data from the image data interface 68 is input to the line buffer 74 line by line. These search data, image data, and image processing information are transferred to the bus interface 71 and the system bus 44.
The data are transferred to the memory module 32, disk control module 38, and optical disk control module 42 via the memory module 32, disk control module 38, and optical disk control module 42, respectively. Note that the image data input to the line buffer 74 is processed by the line buffer controller 7.
2 is transferred to the bus interface 71 under the control of the bus interface 71.

The memory module 32 has a DRAM 7R controlled by a RAM controller 76.
Application programs for the image filing device 16 and search data from the image input/output device 14 are stored in B via the bus interface 80.

Disk control module 38 has a hard disk controller 86 and a floppy disk controller 88 controlled by I10 processor 82, which drive hard disk driver 34 and floppy disk driver 36. Note that the search data is transferred from the DRAM'7B of the memory module 32 via the bus interface 90 to the hard disk loaded in the hard disk driver 34 and stored therein. Also, from the floppy disk loaded in the floppy disk driver 36,
For example, an application program is supplied and stored in the DRAM 78 of the memory module 32.

The optical disk control module 42 is an interface converter 94 controlled by a processor 92.
and an image data compression/decompression device 96. in this case,
The interface converter 94 is used to perform bus conversion between the internal bus of the optical disk control module 42 and the system bus 44, and to extend each module outside the casing when a plurality of sets of optical disk control modules 42 are present. . The compression/decompression unit 96 is composed of an encoder and a decoder, and records the image data in a compressed state when recording the image data on the optical disc, and decompresses the image data to its original state when reproducing the image data. It has the effect of causing Note that image data is input to this optical disk control module 42 from the interface module 30 via a bus interface 98, and this image data is compressed by a compressor/expander 96 and sent to the optical disk controller 10 via a buffer 102.
4 is recorded on an optical disk. At the same time, search data is also transferred from the DRAM 78 of the memory module 32 and recorded on the optical disc.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the structure of image data handled in the radiation image information processing system described above.

Each pixel of the radiation image accumulated and recorded on the stimulable phosphor sheet A is read and scanned by the image reading section 20, and according to its shading, that is, the gradation, for example, 10-bit gradation data allal□...al... a XI a t□・・
・ag,...a 1a n□...converted to allml. Here, m is the number of pixels in one scan of the image, that is, one row, and n is the number of scanning lines, that is, the number of rows. The gradation data corresponding to each pixel includes parity data P I I P + 2...Pis, P for error detection.
zr P zt= P 2m, 1. , p nl p
, . . . p +ta are added respectively.

Second control data SQL and EOL are provided at the beginning and end of each row of image data, respectively, to indicate the start and end of the row, and at the beginning and end of the image data for one image, the image data of the one image is provided. First control data SO indicating the start and end of
P and E.

P is provided.

Note that the control data 5QLS provided in the image data
EOL, SOP, and EOP are added or removed at the bus interface 71, for example. That is, when image data is transferred from the interface module 30 to the optical disk control module 42, the control data SQL, EOL, SOP, and EOP are added, and when the image data is transferred from the optical disk control module 42 to the interface module 30, the control data SQL, EOL, SOP, and EOP are added. When transferred, the control data SQL, EOL
, SOP and EOP are removed.

The radiographic image information processing system of this embodiment a is basically configured as described above, and its operation and effects will be explained next.

First, in the imaging device 10, an X-ray source 18 is applied to the subject 12.
From X, v! When the object 1 is irradiated, this X-ray
2, and forms a subject image as a radiographic image on the surface of the stimulable phosphor sheet A loaded in the imaging device 10. Next, the stimulable phosphor sheet A on which the subject image has been stored and recorded is loaded into the image reading section 20 of the image input/output device 14, and converted into image data as an electrical signal under the control of the image processing control section 22. .

That is, the image reading unit 20 irradiates excitation light such as a laser beam in the main scanning direction to the stimulable phosphor sheet A that is being conveyed in the sub-scanning direction, and the stimulated luminescence light emitted from the sheet A is applied to a photomultiplier or the like. Image data is obtained by photoelectrically reading the image and converting it into a digital signal. The entire surface of the stimulable phosphor sheet A from which the image information has been read is irradiated with erasing light, thereby erasing the remaining radiation image information, and the sheet is provided for re-imaging by the imaging device 10.

Next, the image data converted into electrical signals by the image reading section 20 is subjected to processing such as gradation correction and frequency processing as necessary by the image processing control section 22, and then processed by the image output section 24 or 26. Output as a visible image. In this case, in the image output unit 24, an image is recorded by irradiating a film as a photographic recording material that is conveyed in the sub-scanning direction with laser light modulated according to the image data in the main scanning direction, and then This film is then subjected to a developing process to obtain a visible image. Further, in the image output section 26, a subject image according to the image data is displayed on one screen of a CRT or the like.

On the other hand, the image filing device 16 includes the image input/output device 1.
The radiation image information obtained by the image reading unit 20 in 4 is transferred via the interface module 30. That is, search data and image processing information are input to the communication interface 66 under the control of the I10 processor 64, and image data is input to the image data interface 68 under the control of the I10 processor 64, respectively.

Search data and image processing information input to the communication interface 66 are transferred to the memory module 32 via the bus interface 71 and the system bus 44.

The data is then stored in the DRAM M2O via the bus interface 80 under the control of the RAM controller 76.

The search data and image processing information stored in the DRAM 78 are then transferred to the system control module 28.
The data is transferred to the disk control module 38 via the system bus 44 under the control of the MPU 50 configuring the system. The search data input from the bus interface 90 to the disk control module 38 is sent to the hard disk controller 86 under the control of the I10 processor 82.
The data is recorded on the hard disk via the hard disk driver 34 driven by the HDD.

On the other hand, the DRAM 7B in the memory module 32
The search data stored in is transferred to the disk control module 38 and also to the optical disk control module 42.

In this case, the search data inputted from the bus interface 98 is recorded on the optical disk by the optical disk driver 40 driven by the optical disk controller 104 via the buffer 102 under the control of the I10 processor 92 via the interface converter 94. . Also, at this time,
At the same time, the image processing information stored in the DRAM 78 of the memory module 32 is transferred only to the optical disk control module 42, and is recorded on the optical disk in the same way as the search data.

The image data input to the image data interface 68 in the interface module 30 is read by the image reading section 20 and data for each scanning line is transferred to the line buffer 74 line by line. Image data corresponding to each scanning line (hereinafter referred to as line data) is transferred to the optical disk control module 42 via the bus interface 71 and the system bus 44 under the control of the line buffer controller 72. Here, as shown in FIG. 4, each line data has control data SO at the beginning of the bus interface 71.
P or SQL is added, and control data E is added at the end.
The data is transferred to the optical disk control module 42 with OL or EOP added.

Therefore, the operation of transferring image data from the interface module 30 to the optical disk control module 42 will be explained based on the flowchart shown in FIG.

First, the control data SOP added to the beginning of the image data
is transferred to the optical disk control module 42. The optical disk control module 42 receives the control data SOP and, for example, checks the control data SOP at the bus interface 98 and sends the 5TPI.
), error signal NAK if it is not the start of image data.
is transferred to the interface module 30 side, and the transfer of image data is stopped. On the other hand, if it is the start of image data, for example, check whether the compressor/expander 96 is in a state where it can receive data (5TP2), and if possible, send the data transfer command signal A to the interface module 30.
Outputs CK. As a result, the interface module 30 receives the parity data P from the bus interface 71.
II P 1g... Gradation data a with P III added.

Starts transferring a1□...ao to the optical disk control module 42 (SrF2).

A predetermined number of gradation data alla12 is sent from the interface module 30 to the optical disk control module 42.
...al is transferred, then control data EOL added to the end of the line of image data is transferred to the optical disk control module 42. In this case, for example,
The bus interface 98 in the optical disk control module 42 checks the control data EOL5.
TP4) If it is not the end of the line data, an error signal NAK is transferred to the interface module 30 side to stop the transfer of image data.

On the other hand, if it is the end of the line data, a data transfer command signal ACK is output to the interface module 30 side. In this case, for example, interface module 3
The bus interface 71 at 0 is the line buffer 17
5TP to check whether 4 is in a transferable state.
5) If possible, the control data SQL is subsequently transferred to the optical disk control module 42. Thereafter, the line data is sequentially transferred by the same operation as in the case of the control data SOP.

A predetermined number of line data is sent to the interface module 3.
0 to the optical disk control module 42, control data EOP is finally transferred. In this case, the bus interface 98 checks the city 1 inventory data EOP (5TP5), and sends an error signal NAK to the interface module 30 if the image data is not finished.
transfer the image data to the other side and stop the image data transfer. On the other hand, if the image data is finished, a transfer completion signal ACKP is transferred to the interface module 30 side and the process ends normally.

In this way, the optical disc control module 4
The line data transferred to the compressor/expander 96 is inputted to the compressor/expander 96 via the bus interface 98 and the interface converter 94. In this case, the compression/expansion device 96 is composed of an encoder and a decoder, and performs redundancy suppression encoding processing on the line data to compress the data.

Here, data compression means, for example, calculating the difference between adjacent pixel data among the plurality of pixel signals that constitute the line data, and replacing this with a binary code called a Huffman code to compress the data. This is intended to compress the data (in addition,
This data compression and data expansion, which will be described later, are described in Tokukenma No. 61-23475 published by the present applicant.)

The line data compressed by the compressor/expander 96 is once stored in the buffer 102 and then recorded on an optical disc by the optical disc driver 40 driven by the optical disc controller 104. Similarly, line data corresponding to other scanning lines are also recorded on the optical disc in a compressed state.

As a result, the above-mentioned search data and the image data subjected to data compression processing are extremely effectively recorded on the optical disk.

Next, a case will be described in which desired radiation image information is read and reproduced from an optical disc on which radiation image information is recorded.

First, instruction data for retrieving desired image data is input from the keyboard 54 of the image filing device 16. This instruction data is stored in the RAM 46 via the keyboard control 11 interface 52 of the system control module 28. The system control module 28 executes a predetermined search program and stores data in the RAM.
Based on the instruction data stored in the hard disk 46, a control signal is output to the disk control module 38 to extract desired search data from the search data stored in the hard disk.

Therefore, the MPU 50 constituting the system control module 28 is connected to the optical disk control module 42.
A control signal is output to the hard disk to instruct reading of image data corresponding to the desired search data retrieved from the hard disk based on the instruction data. The optical disc control module 42 controls the optical disc controller 104 through the I10 processor 92 and retrieves image data corresponding to the search data from the optical disc. The image data is then input to the buffer 102 for each data.

The image data stored in this buffer 102 is converted into uncompressed image data by the compression/decompression device 96 by the reverse operation as described above, and then converted to uncompressed image data by the interface converter 94.
, to interface module 30 from system bus 44 via bus interface 98 . In this case, the operation of transferring image data from the optical disk control module 42 to the interface module 30 is the same as the case of transferring from the interface module 30 to the optical disk control module 42, so a description thereof will be omitted.

The image data input to the interface module 30 is converted into control data SOP at the bus interface 71.
,, After SQL, EOL and EOP are removed, I
The data is input to the image data interface 68 via the line buffer 74 under the control of the 10 processor 64 and the line buffer controller 72, and is transferred to the image processing control unit 22 in the image input/output device 14. At this time, image processing information recorded together with the image data is also read out and input from the system bus 44 to the interface module 30 via the buffer 102, interface converter 94, and bus interface 98. Then, in the interface module 30, the image processing information is transferred to the image processing control section 22 in the image input/output device 14 via the communication interface 66 under the control of the I10 processor 64. Note that search data is also input to the interface module 30 from the system bus 44, input to the communication interface 66 via the bus interface 71, and transferred to the image processing control section 22 in the image input/output device 14.

Therefore, the image processing control section 22 performs processing such as gradation correction and frequency processing on the image data based on the image processing information recorded together with the image data, and outputs it as a visible image by the image output section 24 or 26. .

Here, data transfer among the system control module 28, interface module 30, memory module 32, disk module 38, and optical disk control module 42 is performed via a synchronous bus that is a common system bus 44. That is,
The addresses of control data, search data, image data, and image processing information between each module are mapped in advance in the memory space of the MPU 50 in the system control module 28, and the MPU 50 specifies addresses according to this map. Therefore, the configuration of the path line connecting each module becomes extremely simple.

Further, since the configuration is such that addresses of predetermined modules are specified using the common system bus 44, expansion of the system can be easily realized. That is, as shown in FIG. 6, a plurality of interface modules 30a to 30n are connected to the system bus 44, a plurality of optical disk control modules 42a to 42n are connected, and a plurality of images are connected to the interface modules 30a to 30n. Input/output devices 14a to 14n can be connected. In this case, the image input/output device 14a
14n to 14n and the optical disk control module 42a
The combinations with 42n to 42n are set by the MPU 50 designating the address of the data transfer destination. Note that this address is predetermined for each module 30a to 30n and 42a to 42n, and by changing the base address, the destination of the data can be changed.

Therefore, if a failure occurs in any of the image input/output devices 14a to 14n or the optical disk control modules 42a to 42n, it is possible to switch the corresponding module by changing the base address and continue data processing promptly. . Therefore, an optimal system can be provided in cases where rapid processing is required, such as in medical diagnosis.

As described above, according to the present invention, control data is added line by line to the image data transferred between the interface module and the image filing device, and the data is transferred line by line. Therefore, errors that occur during image data transfer can be checked on a line-by-line basis, making the process much simpler than, for example, handshaking for each pixel. Furthermore, it is possible to take appropriate measures against fatal errors such as misalignment or punching out of image data.

Furthermore, in the above-mentioned medical image filing device, since a large amount of medical image information is recorded on a compact recording medium, storage and management of the information is extremely easy, and a significant space saving can be achieved. Furthermore, since image data and search data related to the image data are simultaneously recorded on the recording medium, desired image data can be retrieved and reproduced quickly, and appropriate diagnosis can be performed extremely efficiently. Benefits that can be obtained.

Although the present invention has been described above with reference to preferred embodiments, the present invention is not limited to these embodiments.
In addition to being connected to an image input/output device that reads radiation images recorded on a stimulable phosphor sheet and outputs images, CT
Of course, various improvements and changes in design are possible without departing from the gist of the present invention, such as being able to be connected to an MR device.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram showing a radiation image information processing system equipped with a medical image filing device according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a configuration block diagram of the medical image filing device according to the present invention, and FIG. FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing the configuration of image data. FIG. 5 is a flowchart explaining the image data transfer operation. FIG. 6 is a radiation image equipped with the medical image filing device according to the present invention. FIG. 3 is a configuration block diagram showing another implementation B of the information processing system. 10... Imaging device 12... Subject 1
4... Image input/output device 16... Image filing device 20... Image reading section 22... Image processing control section 24.26... Image output section 28... System control module 30...
Interface module 32...Memory module 38...Disk control module 42...
Optical disk control module A...Storage phosphor sheet

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) Connected to an image input/output device that obtains image data as a digital signal carrying medical image information and outputs the image data as a visible image, and searches the image data sent from the image input/output device. An image filing device records image data together with data in a randomly accessible recording medium, reads out image data from the recording medium as needed based on the search data, and sends the image data to the image input/output device, wherein the image data includes one image. First image transfer control data representing the start and end of each scanning line in one image and second image transfer control data representing the scanning line number are added, and within the image filing device. The image data is transferred in scanning line units between an interface module that controls the transfer of image data to and from the image input/output device and a recording module that records image data on the recording medium and reads images from the recording medium. An image data transfer method in a medical image filing device, characterized in that: