CN201160858Y - Ultrasonic Doppler Diagnostic Device - Google Patents

Abstract

The utility model provides an ultrasonic Doppler diagnostic device, which can eliminate the inconvenience of data interpolation caused by the frequency return phenomenon by using a simple numerical array conversion process. The 1st to 3rd interpolation processing circuits (20a, 20b, 20c) are shown in Figure 3, by the data determination part (51), the data conversion part (52), the data interpolation part (53), the data conversion part again ( 54) and four switches (SW1-SW4). The value of the speed data is judged by the data judging part (51), and the vector operation based on the complex space of the scalar array and the color-grading based Interpolation processing is performed by switching between vector operations in the complex space of the slab array.

Description

Ultrasonic Doppler Diagnostic Device

technical field

The utility model relates to an ultrasonic Doppler diagnostic device for measuring the velocity of moving reflectors in organisms such as blood flow.

Background technique

Conventionally, ultrasonic Doppler diagnostic apparatuses are known for measuring blood flow velocity and the like inside a living body. For the Doppler tomographic image, the Doppler frequency shift signal is passed to the autocorrelator, and the average frequency is obtained by calculation according to the complex output data from the autocorrelator, and the calculated average frequency is spatially interpolated. Plug in for display.

However, for the frequency foldback phenomenon that occurs around the Nyquist frequency determined by the sampling frequency of the Doppler-shifted signal, due to positive velocity maxima (bright red) and negative velocity maxima (bright blue color), there is a problem that the average frequency is interpolated into wrong data (dark color with almost zero speed) when bright blue or bright red should be interpolated.

In order to solve this problem, for example, in Japanese Patent No. 2678124, etc., an ultrasonic Doppler diagnostic device is proposed, which obtains complex interpolation data for each pixel between scanning lines, and based on the complex interpolation The speed data is calculated by using the argument angle of the data, thereby eliminating the inconvenience of data interpolation caused by the frequency foldback phenomenon.

[Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent No. 2678124

However, in the ultrasonic Doppler diagnostic apparatus of Japanese Patent No. 2678124 mentioned above, in order to eliminate the inconvenience of data interpolation caused by the frequency foldback phenomenon, it is necessary to perform complex calculations to obtain complex interpolation data. Therefore, a special spatial complex interpolator is required, and a two-dimensional array memory for storing complex interpolation data for performing the velocity calculation by the velocity calculator is required, which poses a problem that the structure of the device is complicated and the amount of calculation increases.

Utility model content

The utility model is made in view of the above situation. The purpose of the utility model is to provide an ultrasonic doppler that can eliminate the inconvenience of data interpolation caused by the frequency foldback phenomenon with a simple circuit structure by using a simple numerical array conversion process. Le diagnostic device.

The ultrasonic Doppler diagnostic device of the present utility model has: an ultrasonic transceiver unit, which emits ultrasonic waves to scan, so as to transmit and receive the moving reflector; The Doppler frequency shift signal is extracted from the ultrasonic signal, and the velocity data of the intersection point of the sound ray and the scanning line of the above-mentioned moving reflector is calculated; the velocity data interpolation unit performs the velocity data between the above-mentioned sound ray and the above-mentioned scanning line interpolation to generate interpolation velocity data; and a color image generating unit that generates a color blood flow map image of the above-mentioned moving reflector based on the above-mentioned velocity data and the above-mentioned interpolation velocity data; the ultrasonic Doppler diagnostic device is configured to have the following Features, that is: the above-mentioned speed data interpolation unit has a numerical value judging unit that judges a plurality of the above-mentioned speed data and the value of the above-mentioned interpolated speed data; When the judgment result is a predetermined judgment result, the speed data and the interpolation speed data are converted into a first numerical array to generate interpolation speed data.

According to the present invention, there is an effect that the inconvenience of data interpolation caused by the frequency foldback phenomenon can be eliminated with a simple circuit structure by using a simple numerical array conversion process.

Description of drawings

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram showing the configuration of an ultrasonic Doppler diagnostic apparatus according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an interpolation processing unit in FIG. 1 .

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the configuration of first to third interpolation processing circuits in FIG. 2 .

FIG. 4 is a first explanatory diagram for explaining the operation of the interpolation processing unit in FIG. 2 .

FIG. 5 is a second explanatory diagram for explaining the operation of the interpolation processing unit in FIG. 2 .

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of a scalar array representation of velocity data of the ultrasonic Doppler diagnostic apparatus in FIG. 1 .

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating representation conversion between scalar array representation and palette array representation of velocity data in FIG. 6 .

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating an example of a palette array representation of velocity data converted based on the representation in FIG. 7 .

FIG. 9 is a first explanatory diagram for explaining the operation of the first interpolation processing circuit in FIG. 3 .

FIG. 10 is a second explanatory diagram for explaining the operation of the first interpolation processing circuit in FIG. 3 .

FIG. 11 is a third explanatory diagram for explaining the operation of the first interpolation processing circuit in FIG. 3 .

FIG. 12 is a fourth explanatory diagram for explaining the operation of the first interpolation processing circuit in FIG. 3 .

FIG. 13 is a fifth explanatory diagram for explaining the operation of the first interpolation processing circuit in FIG. 3 .

Detailed ways

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present utility model are described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

【Example 1】

1 to 13 relate to Embodiment 1 of the present utility model. FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram showing the configuration of an ultrasound Doppler diagnostic apparatus. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an interpolation processing unit in FIG. 1 . FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the configuration of first to third interpolation processing circuits in FIG. 2 . FIG. 4 is a first explanatory diagram for explaining the operation of the interpolation processing unit in FIG. 2 . FIG. 5 is a second explanatory diagram for explaining the operation of the interpolation processing unit in FIG. 2 . FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of a scalar array representation of velocity data of the ultrasonic Doppler diagnostic apparatus in FIG. 1 . FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating representation conversion between scalar array representation and palette array representation of velocity data in FIG. 6 . FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating an example of a palette array representation of velocity data converted based on the representation in FIG. 7 . FIG. 9 is a first explanatory diagram for explaining the operation of the first interpolation processing circuit in FIG. 3 . FIG. 10 is a second explanatory diagram for explaining the operation of the first interpolation processing circuit in FIG. 3 . FIG. 11 is a third explanatory diagram for explaining the operation of the first interpolation processing circuit in FIG. 3 . FIG. 12 is a fourth explanatory diagram for explaining the operation of the first interpolation processing circuit in FIG. 3 . FIG. 13 is a fifth explanatory diagram for explaining the operation of the first interpolation processing circuit in FIG. 3 .

As shown in FIG. 1 , an ultrasonic Doppler diagnostic apparatus 1 of this embodiment includes a probe 2 for transmitting and receiving ultrasonic waves to a living body (not shown). In addition, a transceiver circuit 5 is connected to the probe 2, and the transceiver circuit 5 sends an electrical signal to a living body (not shown) at a predetermined repetition period, and receives signals reflected by moving reflectors such as blood flow inside the living body. The received signal of the reflected wave of the probe 2 is received.

Here, the transmitting and receiving circuit 5 is configured to scan the ultrasonic pulse beam emitted from the probe 2 by mechanically or electrically angular deflection, etc., and use the ultrasonic pulse beam to scan the living body periodically or stop scanning at a desired deflection angle.

Furthermore, the ultrasonic Doppler diagnostic apparatus 1 includes: a B-mode image generation circuit 7 that detects a received signal received by the transceiver circuit 5 to generate a B-mode image; (CFM) generates a Doppler tomographic image; and a synthesizing circuit 8 that displays a synthesized image obtained by synthesizing the B-mode image and the Doppler tomographic image on a monitor.

The Doppler tomographic image generation unit 6 has a quadrature detection circuit 11 that assigns the reception signal received by the transmission and reception circuit 5 to orthogonal coordinates. Furthermore, A/D converters 12 and 13 for converting the output of the quadrature detection circuit 11 into digital data are connected to the quadrature detection circuit 11 .

Here, quadrature detection circuit 11 performs known quadrature detection processing on an input analog signal, and outputs two signals including only offset frequencies with a phase difference of 90° to A/D converters 12 and 13 .

In addition, the ultrasonic Doppler diagnostic apparatus 1 has, at the subsequent stages of the A/D converters 12, 13: memories 14, 15 storing converted digital data; an MTI (Moving Target Indicator: moving target indicator) filter 16 , 17, while using known processing, remove components moving at low speeds such as organisms from the digital data stored in memory 14, 15, and output I data (in-phase data) and Q data ( quadrature data); and an autocorrelation circuit 18 that performs complex autocorrelation processing on the I data and Q data from the MTI filters 16, 17.

Furthermore, the Doppler tomographic image generation unit 6 has: a velocity calculation circuit 19 for calculating the velocity of blood flow or the like from the processed signal subjected to complex autocorrelation processing by the autocorrelation circuit 18; The speed data calculated by the operation circuit 19 is interpolated; and the DSC (Digital Scan Converter) 21 converts the speed data value from the interpolation processing part 20 into a brightness value corresponding to the speed, thereby converting Doppler color The image is output to the compositing circuit 8 .

The interpolation processing unit 20 is composed of three interpolation processing circuits, ie, first to third interpolation processing circuits 20a, 20b, and 20c, as shown in FIG. 2 . Details of the interpolation processing unit 20 will be described later.

And, as shown in FIG. 3, the first to third interpolation processing circuits 20a, 20b, and 20c are composed of a data determination section 51, a data conversion section 52, a data interpolation section 53, a data reconversion section 54, and four switches SW1- SW4 constitutes. Details of the first to third interpolation processing circuits 20a, 20b, and 20c will also be described later.

Next, the operation of this embodiment configured in this way will be described. The ultrasonic Doppler diagnostic apparatus 1 of this embodiment transmits ultrasonic pulses at a predetermined repetition period from the transceiver circuit 5 via the probe 2, and receives reflected waves emitted by the transceiver circuit 5 and reflected by moving reflectors such as blood flow.

Furthermore, the reflected wave received by the transceiver circuit 5 is detected by the quadrature detection circuit 11, and the Doppler shift signal detected by the quadrature detection circuit 11 is digitized by the A/D converters 12 and 13 and stored in the memories 14 and 15. Inside.

Then, the I data (in-phase data) and Q data (quadrature data) of the moving reflector are extracted by the MTI filters 16 and 17 from the Doppler frequency shift signals stored in the memories 14 and 15, and sent to the autocorrelation circuit 18. , the autocorrelation circuit 18 calculates the argument from the I data and the Q data, and outputs the calculated argument data to the speed calculation circuit 19. The velocity calculation circuit 19 calculates velocity data of moving reflectors such as blood flow from the argument data, and outputs the calculated velocity data to the interpolation processing unit 20 .

The interpolation processing section 20 performs the interpolation processing described later on the speed data, and the output from the interpolation processing section 20 is converted into two-dimensional coordinates by the DSC 21 coordinates, and together with the B-mode image from the B-mode image generation circuit 7, is combined by the synthesis circuit. 8 composite, displayed on monitor 3.

Here, the interpolation processing unit 20 will be described. As shown in FIG. 4, when setting the velocity data at adjacent intersection points of sound rays and scanning lines as x00, x01, x10, and x11, the interpolation processing unit 20 utilizes the first to third interpolation processing circuits 20a . , and the speed data of the intersection point (sound ray position, scanning line position)=(Line, Point+1): x01, the interpolation operation using the following formula (1) is implemented by interpolation processing, and the position between the intersection points is calculated (coordinates) of velocity data u0.

u0＝(1-α)×x00+α×x01＝x00+α×(x01-x00) (1)

Similarly, in the second interpolation processing circuit 20b, the velocity data based on intersection point (sound ray position, scan line position)=(Line+1, Point): x10, and intersection point (sound ray position, scan line position)=( The speed data of Line+1, Point+1): x11, the interpolation operation using the following formula (2) is performed by interpolation processing, and the speed data u1 of the position (coordinate) between the intersection points is calculated.

u1＝(1-α)×x10+α×x11＝x10+α×(x11-x10) (2)

Then, in the second interpolation processing circuit 20b, interpolation processing is performed on the speed data u0 and the speed data u1, and an interpolation operation using the following formula (3) is performed to calculate the distance between the speed data u0 and the speed data u1. Velocity data v0.

v0=(1-β)×u0+β×u1=x00+β×(u1-u0) (3)

In addition, α is a correction coefficient for a sound ray position, and β is a correction coefficient for a scanning line position.

As described above, the speed calculation circuit 19 calculates the speed data of moving reflectors such as blood flow from the argument data. In the case shown in FIG. 6, the velocity data k1, k2 are calculated from the arguments φ1, φ2 of the respective complex vectors P1, P2.

Specifically, in the case of standard ultrasonic Doppler display, as shown in FIG. 7 , the blood flow appears red in the approaching direction at the intersection point (sound ray position, scan line position), and in the In the case of a farther direction, blue is displayed, and the magnitude of the speed is expressed by brightness. In addition, the argument data has sign information representing positive and negative at the top of the data, and the argument data in the red area is expressed corresponding to 0 to +π when the brightness is dark to bright, and the argument data in the blue area is expressed when the brightness is dark. ~ Bright time corresponds to 0~-π to express.

Hereinafter, such a signed numerical data array (left array in FIG. 7 ) will be referred to as a palette array.

On the other hand, the velocity calculation circuit 19 calculates the velocity data by using the highest bit not as a sign but as a numerical value for the argument data having a sign. Specifically, for example, in the case where the argument data is -π/2 (blue area), since the highest bit representing the sign is "1", the speed data which is numerical data having a sign is "-63", On the other hand, it is "191" in the speed data in which the sign is regarded as a part of the numerical value. In the case where the argument data is +π/2 (red area), since the most significant bit representing the sign is "0", it is "+63" in the speed data which is numerical data having a sign, and the sign is "+63". "63" is included in the speed data regarded as a part of the numerical value. When expressing argument data based on unsigned numerical data, which is speed data whose sign is regarded as a part of the numerical value, it is described as an unsigned numerical data array (hereinafter referred to as a scalar array) shown on the right side of FIG. 7 . . In the speed calculation circuit 19, unsigned numerical data of the scalar array is used as speed data.

Furthermore, FIG. 8 shows complex vectors P1 and P2 based on this scalar array. In FIG. 8, the arguments (φ1, φ2) of the complex vectors P1, P2 shown in FIG. 6 are expressed as arguments (-(π-φ1), π-φ2)).

Hereinafter, numerical values representing velocity data (unsigned numerical data) representing a - part where a sign is regarded as a numerical value are underlined. In addition, a sign (+ or -) is attached to a numerical value indicating signed numerical data (signed numerical data).

As shown in FIG. 9 , in the scalar array, one of the two speed data is, for example, a value 233 of "192 to 255 (+π/2 to +π): the dark side of blue", and the other is, for example, In the case of the value 43 of "0 to 63 (-π to +π/2): the dark side of red", when the first interpolation processing circuit 20a of the interpolation processing unit 20 interpolates two velocity data In interpolation processing, 131 is calculated as an interpolation result. This result, as shown in FIGS. 10 and 11 , is different from the result of interpolation based on the original vector calculation.

In addition, not limited to the first interpolation processing circuit 20a, the same applies to the second interpolation processing circuits 20b and 20c, so the first interpolation processing circuit 20a will be described below as an example.

Therefore, in this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 9, in the first interpolation processing circuit 20a, the data judging unit 51 (see FIG. 3) judges whether one of the speed data of the two scalar arrays to be input is Whether the value of "192 to 255 (+π/2 to +π): the dark side of blue" and the other is the value of "0 to 63 (-π to +π/2): the dark side of red".

When it is judged that one is a value of "192 to 255 (+π/2 to +π): the dark side of blue" and the other is "0 to 63 (-π to +π/2): the dark side of red ", the data determination unit 51 (see FIG. 3 ) controls the switches SW1 to SW4 (see FIG. 3 ), and the data conversion unit 52 (see FIG. 3 ) converts the speed data of the two scalar arrays into palette arrays. The velocity data is output to the data interpolation unit 53 (see FIG. 3 ). At this time, the data interpolation unit 53 interpolates the velocity data based on the vector calculation in the complex space of the palette array, as shown in FIGS. 12 and 13 . Then, based on the speed data interpolated by the data interpolation unit 53, the data reconversion unit 54 (refer to FIG. 3 ) inversely converts the speed data from the palette array into a scalar array, and uses it as the interpolation data of the first interpolation processing circuit 20a. Process the results to output.

Also, when it is judged that one of the values is not "192 to 255 (+π/2 to +π): the dark side of blue" and the other is not "0 to 63 (-π to +π/2): red When the value of “dark side” is reached, the data determination unit 51 (see FIG. 3 ) does not perform conversion in the data conversion unit 52 (see FIG. 3 ), but outputs the speed data of two scalar arrays to the data interpolation unit 53 (see FIG. 3 ). At this time, the data interpolation unit 53 interpolates the velocity data based on the vector calculation in the complex space of the scalar array, for example, as shown in FIGS. 12 and 13, and outputs it as the interpolation processing result of the first interpolation processing circuit 20a .

In this way, in this embodiment, after the data determination unit 51 determines the value of the speed data, in the data conversion unit 52, the data interpolation unit 53, and the data re-conversion unit 54, while performing vector calculations in a complex space based on a scalar array and Interpolation processing is performed while switching between vector operations in the complex space based on the palette array. Therefore, by using a conventionally known interpolation circuit with a simple circuit configuration through simple numerical discrimination processing, the inconvenience of the wrapping phenomenon in the interpolation processing of velocity data can be reliably eliminated.

This invention is not limited to the said Example, Various changes, changes, etc. can be made in the range which does not change the summary of this invention.

Claims (3)

1. ultrasonic doppler diagnosis device, this device has:

The ultrasonic transmission/reception unit, its emission ultrasound wave scans, so that the motor reflex body is received and dispatched;

The speed data computing unit, it extracts doppler shifted signal out according to the ultrasonic signal of being received and dispatched by above-mentioned ultrasonic transmission/reception unit from above-mentioned motor reflex body, calculates the speed data of the intersection point of the sound ray of above-mentioned motor reflex body and scanning line;

The speed data interpolation unit, it carries out interpolation to the speed data between above-mentioned sound ray and the above-mentioned scanning line, generates the interpolation speed data; And

The coloured image generation unit, it generates the color blood-stream image based on the above-mentioned motor reflex body of above-mentioned speed data and above-mentioned interpolation speed data;

It is characterized in that,

Above-mentioned speed data interpolation unit has the numerical value judgement unit, and this numerical value judgement unit is differentiated the value of a plurality of above-mentioned speed datas and above-mentioned interpolation speed data;

Above-mentioned speed data interpolation unit is according to the differentiation result of above-mentioned numerical value judgement unit, differentiating under differentiation result's the situation that the result is a regulation, above-mentioned speed data and above-mentioned interpolation speed data converted to the 1st numerical value array, generation interpolation speed data.

2. ultrasonic doppler diagnosis device according to claim 1, it is characterized in that, above-mentioned speed data interpolation unit is made of in fractionated mode a plurality of data staging interpolation units, and these a plurality of data staging interpolation units generate above-mentioned interpolation speed data from 2 above-mentioned speed datas.

3. ultrasonic doppler diagnosis device according to claim 1 and 2, it is characterized in that, the numerical value of an above-mentioned speed data in 2 above-mentioned speed datas is in the 1st threshold range and under the situation of the numerical value of another above-mentioned speed data in the 1st threshold range, and above-mentioned numerical value judgement unit is judged as the differentiation result of afore mentioned rules.

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