KR100971427B1 - Illumination control device and brightness control method to adjust the brightness of the user interface in consideration of changes in ambient brightness - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to an illuminance control apparatus and method for an ultrasound system, and to an illuminance control apparatus and method for adjusting the brightness of a user interface.

An illumination control apparatus of an ultrasound system including a user interface according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention may include a brightness measuring unit operable to measure brightness of a surrounding at a predetermined period; A signal generator operable to generate a brightness control signal indicative of the output brightness based on the measured ambient brightness; And a user interface lighting unit operable to output light of the output brightness. Such a system enables a user to recognize the operation keys on the user interface more conveniently, and can shorten the working time because the user does not have to manually adjust the brightness every time when the place of use of the ultrasound system changes frequently.

Description

ILLUMINATION CONTROL DEVICE AND METHOD FOR CONTROLLING BRIGHTNESS OF USER INTERFACE IN CONSIDERATION OF SURROUNDING ENVIRONMENT}

The present invention relates to an illuminance control device of an ultrasound system, and more particularly, to an illuminance control device and a method of an ultrasound system for adjusting the brightness of the user interface.

The ultrasound system uses ultrasonic waves to show the internal structure of the stage body in a non-destructive and non-invasive manner. The ultrasonic system includes a probe and a beamformer for transmitting and receiving an ultrasonic signal. The probe includes a plurality of transducers for converting ultrasonic signals and electrical signals. Each transducer of the probe generates an ultrasonic signal separately, and several transducers simultaneously generate an ultrasonic signal. The ultrasonic signal transmitted to each transducer is reflected at the discontinuous surface (reflector surface) of the acoustic impedance inside the object. Each transducer converts the individually reflected ultrasonic signals into electrical received signals.

Since the diagnostic room in which the ultrasound system is operated is darker than a normal computer system environment such as a home or an office, illumination of a user interface is required for a user to smoothly operate the ultrasound system.

In the conventional ultrasound system, the intensity of illumination of the user interface is a system setting value and the user cannot adjust the intensity. If the user interface is bright, in the dark environment where the ultrasonic system is actually used a lot, the bright light of the user interface often distracts the user's eyes and reduces the concentration. There is a disadvantage that can not be.

The present invention provides an illuminance control device and a brightness control method of an ultrasound system in which the brightness of a user interface can be automatically or manually adjusted as needed.

Illumination control device of the ultrasonic system comprising a user interface of the present invention for solving the above problems, the brightness measuring unit is operable to measure the brightness of the surrounding at a predetermined period; A signal generator operable to generate a brightness control signal indicative of the output brightness based on the measured ambient brightness; And a user interface lighting unit operable to output light of the output brightness.

Since the present invention adjusts the lighting of the user interface in consideration of the brightness of the surroundings, the user can easily recognize the interface in a dark diagnostic environment, reduce the user's gaze dispersion, and provide an optimal lighting environment. . In addition, when the place of use changes frequently, the trouble of manually adjusting the brightness every time can be avoided.

Hereinafter, with reference to the accompanying drawings will be described an embodiment of the present invention.

The automatic illuminance control apparatus of the ultrasonic system according to the embodiments of the present invention is an illumination control apparatus of a user interface for receiving various information from a user. The user interface includes at least one of a control panel, a track ball, a keyboard, and a mouse.

As shown in FIG. 1, the lighting unit of the user interface UI may have various forms. For example, the lighting unit of the control panel 10 includes an illumination unit 11 positioned at an edge, an illumination unit 12 positioned around various buttons, an illumination unit 13 positioned on each button, and an entire control panel 10. It has a form of at least one of the illuminating unit 14 to be illuminated. In the case of the keyboard 20, the lighting unit 21 positioned at the edge, the lighting unit 22 positioned around the various buttons, the lighting unit 23 positioned on each button, and the lighting unit that illuminates the entire keyboard 20 ( At least one of 24).

2 is a block diagram showing the automatic illumination control device 100 of the ultrasonic system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The brightness measuring unit 110 measures the brightness of the surroundings of the ultrasonic system, and outputs a measurement signal. The measurement signal indicates the measured ambient brightness (hereinafter referred to as measurement brightness). The brightness measuring unit 110 may be implemented as various types of light sensing sensors. The brightness measuring unit 110 measures the brightness of the surroundings at a predetermined cycle. The preset period is determined according to the user's input or is a value set in the system. In an embodiment of the present invention, the period is set to 60 seconds to 300 seconds.

The signal generator 120 generates a brightness control signal in consideration of the measurement signal output from the brightness measurer 110. In one embodiment of the present invention, the signal generator 120 generates a brightness control signal to obtain the "output brightness" defined as in Equation 1 below.

Output Brightness = Measurement Brightness + Reference Brightness

In Equation 1, "reference brightness" is a value for obtaining an output brightness that is stronger than "measurement brightness". That is, the reference brightness is a value for adjusting the output brightness such that the brightness of the user interface is more than a certain intensity brighter than the brightness around the ultrasound diagnostic system. Therefore, it is preferable that the reference brightness is set so that the difference between the output brightness and the measured brightness does not stimulate the user's vision and falls within an optimal range that does not distract the user's eyes.

The user interface lighting unit 130 outputs light of the output brightness based on the brightness control signal. According to an embodiment of the present invention, the user interface lighting unit 130 may be implemented as a light emitting diode (LED). However, the user interface lighting unit 130 is not limited thereto. In the case where light is brighter than the output brightness defined in Equation 1 before the brightness control signal is input, the brightness of the user interface lighting unit 130 becomes relatively dark according to the output brightness determined in consideration of the brightness around the ultrasound system. . Similarly, when light that is darker than the output brightness is output before the brightness control signal is input, the brightness of the user interface lighting unit 130 becomes relatively bright.

3 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a configuration of an illuminance control device 200 for manually adjusting brightness of a user according to another exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure. The illuminance control device 200 according to the present embodiment is applied to an ultrasound diagnosis system including a user interface (UI). The illuminance control device 200 includes a brightness measuring unit 110, a user interface lighting unit 120, an illuminance providing unit 210, a user signal generator 220, and a signal generator 230. Since the brightness measuring unit 110 and the user interface lighting unit 120 perform the same functions as the respective components of the illuminance control device 100 shown in FIG. 2, detailed descriptions thereof will be omitted.

The illuminance display unit 210 displays the current illuminance of the user interface lighting unit 130. In this embodiment, the range of illuminance is from 0 cd / m 2 to 500 cd / m 2. The display of the ultrasound system can function as the illuminance display. Alternatively, the illuminance display unit 210 may be implemented as an illumination unit of a user interface (UI) that emits light of different colors according to light intensity.

The user signal generator 220 generates and outputs a user signal from user data input through a user interface (UI). User data means the "brightness of hope" of the user. In this embodiment, the input range of user data is 0 cd / m 2 to 500 cd / m 2. More specifically, the user signal generator 220 performs a user data input mode in response to an illuminance change request input from the user interface UI. The data input mode may be performed in various forms. For example, the user signal generator 220 forms a data input request message. The data input request message may be output to the display DP as shown in FIG. 4A or 4B. User data may be input numerically through a keyboard-type interface (UI) (see example in FIG. 4A) or by relative scaling through a mouse or trackball-type interface (UI) (see example in FIG. 4B). . The user signal generator 220 generates a user signal corresponding to the input user data. In the present embodiment, the user signal generator 220 may be implemented as a field-programmable gate array (FPGA) or a complex programmable logic device (CPLD). Data transmission between the user interface (UI) and the user signal generator 220 is based on a peripheral component interconnect (PCI), PCI-Express, RS-232, Universal Serial Bus (USB) communication, and the like.

The signal generator 230 basically performs the function of the signal generator 120 shown in FIG. 2. In addition, the signal generator 230 monitors whether the user signal output from the user signal generator 220 is input. When the user signal is not input, the brightness control signal generator 230 generates a brightness control signal for obtaining an "output brightness" defined as in Equation 1 described above. When a user signal is input, the signal generator 230 generates a brightness control signal by itself. In this case, the light output from the user interface lighting unit 130 has a desired brightness.

In the above-described embodiments, the signal generator may be implemented as various types of processors included in a conventional ultrasound system. For example, a processor for controlling the overall operation of the ultrasound system may serve as the signal generator.

Those skilled in the art to which the present invention pertains will understand that the present invention can be implemented in other specific forms without setting the technical spirit or essential features. Therefore, it should be understood that the embodiments described above are exemplary in all respects and not restrictive. The scope of the present invention is shown by the following claims rather than the detailed description, and all settings or modifications derived from the meaning and scope of the claims and their equivalent concepts should be construed as being included in the scope of the present invention. do.

1 is a view showing the configuration of a user interface capable of adjusting the brightness according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an automatic illuminance control apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 3 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the illumination control device including a manual adjustment function according to an embodiment of the present invention.

4A illustrates a data input request message according to an embodiment of the present invention.

4B illustrates a data input request message according to another embodiment of the present invention.

* Description of the symbols for the main parts of the drawings *

10: control panel 20: keyboard

100, 200: Illumination control device

110: brightness measuring unit 120: signal generator

130: user interface lighting

210: illuminance display unit 220: user signal generation unit

230: signal generator

Claims (7)

delete As illuminance control device of ultrasonic system, A brightness measurer operable to measure the brightness of the surroundings at a preset period; A signal generator operable to generate a brightness adjustment signal indicative of output brightness based on the ambient brightness measured by the brightness measurer; And A user interface lighting unit for outputting the light of the output brightness to adjust at least any of the control panel, trackball, keyboard, mouse of the ultrasonic system, And a user signal generation unit operable to generate a user signal in place of the brightness control signal based on data having desired brightness input from the user. An illumination control device that automatically measures the ambient brightness and outputs the light based on the ambient brightness, and outputs the light based on the desired brightness when the desired brightness is manually input. The method of claim 2, The illuminance control device further comprises an illuminance display unit operable to display illuminance of the user interface lighting unit. The method according to claim 2 or 3, And the user signal generator is implemented as a field-programmable gate array (FPGA) or a complex programmable logic device (CPLD). delete As a method of adjusting the brightness of an ultrasonic system, a) measuring ambient brightness according to a preset period; b) generating a brightness control signal indicative of output brightness based on the measured ambient brightness; And c) outputting light of the output brightness according to the brightness control signal to adjust lighting of at least one of a control panel, a trackball, a keyboard and a mouse of an ultrasound system, d) generating a user signal in place of the brightness control signal based on data having desired brightness input from the user, And automatically outputting the light based on the surrounding brightness by automatically measuring the ambient brightness, and outputting the light based on the desired brightness when the desired brightness is manually input. The method of claim 6, Before step d) above, And displaying the illuminance of the illumination.

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