JP3330091B2 - Apparatus and method for detecting probe moving speed of ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a probe moving speed detecting apparatus and method for a medical ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art When reconstructing a three-dimensional structure of a living body by superposing a plurality of tomographic images, positional information of a probe at the time of capturing the tomographic image is indispensable. Conventionally, as a method of obtaining position information of a probe, a mechanism for mechanically scanning the probe as described in JP-A-6-75575 is installed to restrict the movement of the probe and , A method of attaching a sensor to a probe as described in JP-A-8-206116, and directly detecting the position and inclination of the probe, or a method described in JP-A-9-299368. For example, there is known a method of outputting an audible sound signal at a certain timing as described above, and assisting in moving a probe in accordance with the output.

Hereinafter, an example of a mechanism for mechanically scanning a probe will be described with reference to FIG. 12, and a method of detecting a position using a sensor attached to the probe will be described with reference to FIG. An example will be described. FIG. 12 is an explanatory diagram of a conventional three-dimensional data acquisition probe, and FIG. 13 is an explanatory diagram of a conventional three-dimensional data acquisition probe position detection method. FIG.
In 2, a motor and an angle detector are attached to the probe. Using this motor, the probe performs a sector scan in a direction perpendicular to the tomographic image. The angle detector detects the angle of the motor,
The position of the tomographic image is specified from the angle, and the three-dimensional structure is reconstructed. In FIG. 13, a magnetic sensor is attached to the probe. The magnetic sensor captures a change in an external magnetic field, specifies the position of the probe based on the change, and reconstructs a three-dimensional structure.

[0004]

However, in the method of mechanically scanning a probe as described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. HEI 6-75575, the movement of the probe is limited by a mechanism, or There was a problem that the quantity and cost of the mechanism increased. Also, JP-A-8-20
The method of attaching the sensor to the probe as described in No. 6116 has a problem that the physical quantity and cost related to the sensor increase. Also, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 9-29
The method of outputting an audible sound signal at a constant timing as described in No. 9368 has a problem that the position of the probe cannot be accurately obtained.

The present invention has been made in order to solve the above-mentioned conventional problems, and does not require a special device such as a sensor or a scanning mechanism, and determines the moving speed and position of a probe that has been freely scanned manually. An object of the present invention is to provide a probe moving speed detecting device and method of an excellent ultrasonic diagnostic device which can be accurately obtained.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to solve the above-mentioned conventional problems, the present invention provides a transmitting / receiving means for transmitting / receiving a wave, a means for detecting a Doppler shift amount of a subject depth from a received signal, and a Doppler shift means. Means for calculating the amount of spread of the amount, and the moving speed in the direction orthogonal to the traveling direction of the wave is obtained from the amount of spread of the Doppler shift amount of the received signal. Accordingly, the present invention does not require a special device such as a sensor or a scanning mechanism, and an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus capable of accurately determining a moving speed and a position of a probe or an ultrasonic wave that is freely manually scanned. An apparatus and method for detecting a probe moving speed are obtained.

According to the present invention, in order to solve the above-mentioned conventional problems, one or all of three types of moving speeds and three types of rotational speeds of a probe are determined by using the detected Doppler shift amount of a received signal. Is used to determine the position of the probe, and a three-dimensional image is reconstructed from the ultrasonic tomographic image based on the position information of the probe. As a result, the present invention has an effect that a three-dimensional structure in a living body can be accurately reconstructed using three types of rotation speeds and three types of movement speeds obtained from the Doppler shift.

[0008]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The velocity detecting method according to the first aspect of the present invention detects a Doppler shift amount at a depth to be inspected from a received signal and calculates a spread amount from the detected Doppler shift amount. From the spread of the amount of Doppler shift of the received signal, the transmission and reception of the wave in the direction orthogonal to the traveling direction of the wave.
The method comprises the steps of obtaining the moving speed of the step, and has the effect that the moving speed in the direction orthogonal to the wave can be obtained from the spread amount of the Doppler shift amount.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a speed detecting apparatus for an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, comprising: a transmitting / receiving section for transmitting / receiving a wave; and a Doppler shift amount for detecting a Doppler shift amount at a depth to be inspected from a received signal. A detection unit, and a spread amount calculation unit that calculates a spread amount from the detected Doppler shift amount, and transmits / receives a wave in a direction orthogonal to the traveling direction of the wave based on the spread amount of the Doppler shift amount of the received signal. The relative movement speed between the means and the reflector is obtained, and has an effect that the movement speed in the direction orthogonal to the wave can be obtained from the spread amount of the Doppler shift amount.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus comprising: a probe in which a plurality of transducers are arranged in a one-dimensional array, and an acoustic lens provided on a surface of the transducer; A transmitting unit that supplies a driving pulse to the probe,
Amplify the electric signal converted by the probe and electronic focus
A receiving unit that forms a beam by, a Doppler shift amount detecting unit that detects the Doppler shift amount at the electron convergence point depth from the received signal, and a spread amount calculating unit that calculates the spread amount of the detected Doppler shift amount The moving speed of the probe in the direction orthogonal to the ultrasonic tomographic image is obtained from the spread amount of the Doppler shift amount of the received signal, and the ultrasonic wave is calculated from the spread amount of the Doppler shift amount. This has the effect that the moving speed of the probe in the direction orthogonal to the tomographic image can be obtained.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus comprising: a probe in which a plurality of transducers are arranged in a one-dimensional array, and an acoustic lens provided on a surface of the transducer; A transmitting unit that supplies a driving pulse to the probe,
Amplify the electric signal converted by the probe and electronic focus
Spread amount calculating unit for calculating the Doppler shift amount detector for detecting a Doppler shift amount, the amount of spread of the detected Doppler shift amount in the focal depth of the receiving portion and the acoustic lens from the received signal to form the beam by The moving speed of the probe in the arrangement direction of the transducers is detected from the spread amount of the Doppler shift amount of the received signal, and the oscillator of the transducer is detected from the spread amount of the Doppler shift amount. This has the effect that the moving speed of the probes in the arrangement direction can be obtained.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, the Doppler shift amount detection section includes a quadrature detection section, a gate section, an A / D conversion section, a memory section, and an FFT.
The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus comprises a reference signal generation unit that supplies a reference signal to the transmission unit and the quadrature detection unit, and emits ultrasonic waves as pulse waves. Quadrature detection of ultrasonic pulse wave, FFT
Has the effect that the Doppler shift can be detected by frequency analysis.

An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to a sixth aspect of the present invention includes an average calculating section for calculating an average value of the Doppler shift detected by the Doppler shift detecting section. This is to detect the moving speed of the probe in the traveling direction of the ultrasonic wave from the average value of the Doppler shift amount,
It has an effect that the moving speed of the probe in the traveling direction of the ultrasonic wave can be detected from the average value of the Doppler shift amount.

An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to a seventh aspect of the present invention obtains a moving speed of a probe in a direction orthogonal to an ultrasonic tomographic image at a plurality of depths from a Doppler shift signal to obtain a transducer. The rotational speed of the probe is detected based on the array direction of the transducers. Can be obtained.

An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to an eighth aspect of the present invention determines the moving speed of the probe in a direction orthogonal to the ultrasonic tomographic image at a plurality of different positions on the transducer array, and The rotational speed of the probe is detected with the traveling direction of the probe as an axis, and the probe with the traveling direction of the ultrasonic wave as the axis is determined from the spread of the Doppler shift amount at a plurality of different positions of the transducer array. This has the effect that the rotational speed of the contact can be determined.

An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to a ninth aspect of the present invention obtains a moving speed of a probe in a traveling direction of an ultrasonic wave at a plurality of different positions on a transducer array, and converts the moving speed into an ultrasonic tomographic image. The detector detects the rotational speed of the probe with the vertical direction as the axis, and calculates the rotational direction of the ultrasonic array from the average value of the Doppler shift amounts at a plurality of different positions of the transducer array. Has the effect that the rotational speed of the probe can be obtained.

In the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to the tenth aspect of the present invention, a probe in a direction orthogonal to the obtained ultrasonic tomographic image is obtained by using the Doppler shift amount of the detected received signal. The moving speed, the moving speed of the transducer in the array direction of the transducer, and the moving speed of the probe in the traveling direction of the ultrasonic wave,
Rotation speed of the probe around the arrangement direction of the transducer,
Rotational speed of the probe around the traveling direction of the ultrasonic wave,
Detecting the rotational speed of the probe with the axis perpendicular to the ultrasonic tomographic image as an axis, and using any or all of the three types of moving speeds and the three types of rotational speeds to determine the position of the probe From the ultrasonic tomographic image based on the position information of the probe.
The three-dimensional image is reconstructed, and the three-dimensional structure in the living body can be accurately reconstructed using three types of rotation speeds and three types of movement speeds obtained from the Doppler shift. Have.

An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to an eleventh aspect of the present invention uses the Doppler shift amount of the received signal to detect a probe in a direction orthogonal to the obtained ultrasonic tomographic image. The moving speed, the moving speed of the transducer in the array direction of the transducer, and the moving speed of the probe in the traveling direction of the ultrasonic wave,
Rotation speed of the probe around the arrangement direction of the transducer,
Rotational speed of the probe around the traveling direction of the ultrasonic wave,
Detecting the rotational speed of the probe with the axis perpendicular to the ultrasonic tomographic image as an axis, and using any or all of the three types of moving speeds and the three types of rotational speeds to determine the position of the probe In this method, the synthetic aperture processing is performed between the ultrasonic tomographic images based on the position information of the probe, and the three kinds of rotation speeds and the three kinds of movement speeds obtained from the Doppler shift are calculated. Has the effect of being able to perform aperture synthesis.

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings and FIGS. (Embodiment 1) First, the principle of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. 1 according to a method of detecting a relative speed of a probe in Embodiment 1 of the present invention. FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram of a method for detecting a relative speed of a probe according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention, and FIG.
Is a diagram for explaining a general Doppler effect, (B) to (E).
FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a method of detecting a moving speed in a direction orthogonal to a traveling direction of a wave using a Doppler according to the gist of the present invention. In FIG. 1, 1 is a transmitting unit, 2 is a receiving unit, 3 is a point reflector, 4 is a transmitting / receiving unit, 5 is a reflector, and 6 is a gate range.

First, in FIG. 1A, the wave transmitted from the transmitting unit 1 is reflected by the point reflector 3 and received by the receiving unit 2. At this time, the point reflector 3 includes the transmitting unit 1 and the receiving unit 2
Is moving at a speed V in parallel with the plane on which is placed. The incident angle of the transmitted wave to the point reflector 3 is θtx, the incident angle of the received wave is θrx, the propagation speed of the wave is c, and the frequency of the transmitted wave is f.
Assuming tx, the Doppler shift Δf of the received wave is Δf = ftx (c + Vsin θtx) / (c−Vsin θrx) −ftx = ftx (Vsin θtx + Vsin θrx) / (c−Vsin θrx)） ftx (sin θtx + sin θrx) V / c (Equation 1)

In FIG. 1B, the beam characteristic of the wave generated by the transmission / reception means 4 has a width as shown by a dotted line in the figure. The reflector 5 is a uniform scatterer and moves at a speed V in a direction substantially orthogonal to the traveling direction of the wave generated by the transmitting / receiving means 4. Here, the transmission / reception unit 4 can be considered as one in which minute transmission units 1 and reception units 2 are connected innumerably, and the reflector 5 is a collection of innumerable point reflectors 3. The received wave received by the transmitting / receiving means 4
A wave transmitted from a certain transmitting unit 1 is reflected by a certain point reflector 3 on a reflector 5 and a certain receiving unit 2 on a transmitting / receiving unit 4 is transmitted.
Can be considered as the sum of the waves received by the combination of all the transmitting units 1 and the receiving units 1 on the transmitting / receiving unit 4 and all the point reflectors 3 on the reflector 5. Therefore, the Doppler shift of the received signal is obtained by applying (Equation 1) to all waves and adding all the obtained Doppler shifts.

Here, as shown in FIG. 1C, when a time gate signal is applied to the received signal to extract only the received signal of a desired depth, the received signal is limited by the gate range 6. Only the echo from the region to be processed. As a result, the sum of (sin θtx + sin θrx) in (Equation 1) in all combinations results in a distribution having a constant shape (a mountain shape centered on 0) as shown in FIG. Since the Doppler shift is proportional to the velocity V in the direction orthogonal to the traveling direction of the wave from (Equation 1), the Doppler shift of the received signal has a spread proportional to the velocity V as shown in FIG. Distribution. Therefore, if the beam width at the depth to which the gate signal is applied is known, the velocity component of the reflector parallel to the transmitting / receiving means can be accurately obtained from the spread of the Doppler shift. The spread amount of the Doppler shift amount is a variance, a standard deviation, or the like, but is not limited thereto.
Standard deviation is proportional to speed, and variance is proportional to the square of speed.

The speed of the reflector in the traveling direction of the wave can be obtained from the average of the Doppler shifts, and the accurate relative movement speed between the wave transmitting / receiving means and the reflector can be obtained from these.

As described above, according to the embodiment of the present invention, the moving speed of the reflector in the direction perpendicular to the traveling direction of the ultrasonic wave is detected using the spread amount of the Doppler shift amount of the received wave. Therefore, the moving speed of the reflector in the direction perpendicular to the traveling direction of the ultrasonic wave can be detected without requiring a special device such as a sensor or a scanning mechanism.

(Embodiment 2) Next, an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to Embodiment 2 of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 2 shows the moving speed Vx ′ in the direction orthogonal to the ultrasonic tomographic image at the depth D, the moving speed Vy ′ in the transducer array direction, and the moving speed Vy ′ based on the moving speed detecting method described in the first embodiment. Moving speed V in the traveling direction of the sound wave
FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus configured to measure z ′. In addition, each moving speed Vx ', Vy',
Vz 'is shown in FIG.

In FIG. 2, 10 is a control unit, 11 is a probe, 12 is a reception unit, 13 is a transmission unit, 14 is a reference signal generation unit, 15 is a quadrature detection unit, 16 is a gate unit, and 17 is an A / A D
A conversion unit, 18 is a memory unit, 19 is an FFT unit, 20 is a spread amount calculation unit, 21 is an average calculation unit, and 100 is a Doppler displacement detection unit.

Next, the operation of the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to the second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. 2, FIG. 3, FIG. 4, and FIG. FIG. 3 is an explanatory view of a probe according to the second embodiment of the present invention, and FIG.
FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of a gate position and an electronic focus point when x is obtained, and FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of a gate position and an electronic focus point when Vy is obtained according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

First, the reference signal generating section 14 generates a signal serving as a reference for transmission. The transmitting unit 13 amplifies the reference signal, supplies a drive pulse to the probe 11, converts the signal into an ultrasonic signal by the probe 11, and transmits the ultrasonic signal into the living body. The probe 11 is shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 3, the transducers 50 are arranged in an array, and electronic focusing is performed in the arrangement direction of the transducers (the y direction in FIG. 3), and the ultrasonic waves are irradiated to an arbitrary depth (FIG. 4 and FIG. 4). The focal point 53) shown in FIG. 5 can be converged. In addition, this ultrasonic wave can be comprised by a pulse wave.

On the other hand, a direction orthogonal to the ultrasonic tomographic image (FIG. 3)
In the middle x direction), the beam is converged on the fixed focal point 52 by the acoustic lens 51. The ultrasonic wave reflected from the living body is received by the probe 11 and converted into an electric signal.
Then, a beam is formed by amplification and electronic focusing, and is input to the Doppler shift detection unit 100. The Doppler shift detection unit 100 includes a quadrature detection unit 15, a gate unit 16, an A /
It comprises a D conversion unit 17, a memory unit 18, and an FFT unit 19. The quadrature detector 15 performs quadrature detection on the received signal using the reference signal generated by the reference signal generator 14 and separates the received signal into an I component and a Q component.

The gate section 16 multiplies the separated received signal by a gate signal and extracts only a received signal having a depth D desired to be obtained. The A / D converter 17 digitizes the extracted received signal and stores it in the memory 18. Transmission and reception are performed a predetermined number of times, and a frequency analysis is performed by the FFT unit 19 at a stage where a predetermined number of data are stored, and Doppler shift is detected. The spread amount calculation unit 20 calculates the spread amount of the Doppler shift detected by the Doppler shift detection unit 100, and detects the velocity in the direction orthogonal to the ultrasonic traveling direction. The spread amount of the Doppler shift amount is a variance, a standard deviation, or the like, but is not limited thereto.

The standard deviation is proportional to the velocity in the direction perpendicular to the ultrasonic wave traveling direction, and the variance is proportional to the square of the velocity in the direction perpendicular to the ultrasonic traveling direction. The average calculator 21 calculates the average of the Doppler shifts detected by the Doppler shift detector 100, and detects the velocity Vz 'of the ultrasonic wave in the traveling direction. Control unit 1
0 indicates the electronic focus point to the receiving unit 12 and the receiving depth to the gate unit 16.

Next, the operation of the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus configured as described above will be described in more detail with reference to FIGS. First, the case where the moving speed Vx ′ in the direction orthogonal to the ultrasonic tomographic image is measured will be described. At this time, the gate position of the received signal and the focus point of the electronic focus are matched as shown in FIG.
Other than the focal point 52. In this way, the beam spreads only in the x direction, and the output of the spread amount calculation unit 20 becomes the moving speed Vx ′ in the direction orthogonal to the ultrasonic tomographic image.

Next, the case where the moving speed Vy 'of the vibrator in the arrangement direction is measured will be described. At this time, the gate position of the received signal is made coincident with the focal point 52 of the acoustic lens 51, and the focus point (focal point 53) of the electronic focus is set at a position other than the gate position as shown in FIG. In this case, the beam spreads only in the y direction, and the output of the spread amount calculation unit 20 becomes the moving speed Vy ′ in the array direction.

As described above, according to the second embodiment of the present invention, there is no need for a special device such as a sensor or a scanning mechanism, but using the spread amount and average of the Doppler shift amount of the received signal. The effect is obtained that the moving speed in the direction perpendicular to the ultrasonic tomographic image at the depth, the moving speed in the arrangement direction, and the moving speed in the traveling direction of the ultrasonic wave can be detected.

(Embodiment 3) Next, FIGS. 6, 7 and 8
An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to Embodiment 3 of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 6 shows the movement of the probe of the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to Embodiment 3 of the present invention.
FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram of one parameter, and FIG.
FIG. 8 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus for obtaining six parameters representing the movement of the probe in FIG. 8. FIG. 8 is a diagram showing the operation of the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus in Embodiment 3 of the present invention. FIG. 9 is a perspective view, and FIG.
FIG. 9 is another perspective view of the probe for explaining the operation of the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus in FIG.

First, the movement of the probe will be described with reference to FIG. In FIG. 6, the movement of the probe 11 includes a moving speed Vz in the traveling direction of the ultrasonic wave, a rotational speed ωz around its axis,
All are represented by six types of velocity parameters: the moving speed Vy of the transducer in the arrangement direction and the rotational speed ωy around its axis, the moving speed Vx in the direction orthogonal to the ultrasonic tomographic image, and the rotational speed ωx around its axis.

The moving speed Vz 'in the traveling direction of the ultrasonic wave at a certain depth D, the moving speed Vx' in the direction orthogonal to the ultrasonic tomographic image, and the moving speed Vy 'in the arrangement direction are shown in the second embodiment. It can be obtained by a method. In the third embodiment, a method for measuring all six types of speed parameters based on the above speeds will be described with reference to FIGS.

First, with reference to FIG. 7, the configuration of an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus that can determine the velocity parameters of six types of probes 11 will be described. The components having the same functions and operations as those in the second embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals, and the description thereof will not be repeated. In FIG. 7, reference numeral 101 denotes a speed parameter detector, 22, 23 and 24 are memory units, 25 is an ωy calculator, 26 is an ωz calculator, 27 is a Vx calculator, 2
8 is a Vy calculator, 29 is a ωx calculator, and 30 is a Vz calculator.

The configuration of the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus will be described in more detail with reference to FIG.
Calculates the velocity parameters of the six types of probes based on the Doppler shift detected by the Doppler shift detection unit 100. The memory units 22 and 23 respectively store a plurality of moving speeds Vx ′ in a direction orthogonal to the ultrasonic tomographic image and a moving speed Vy ′ in the transducer array direction at a certain depth D calculated by the spread amount detecting unit 20.

The memory unit 24 stores the moving speed Vz 'in the ultrasonic traveling direction at a certain depth D calculated by the average calculating unit 21.
Are stored. ωy calculator 25, ωz calculator 26, V
x calculator 27, Vy calculator 28, ωx calculator 29, Vz
The calculation unit 30 uses the rotational speed ωy of the probe as an axis in the arrangement direction of the transducers and the traveling direction of the ultrasonic wave as an axis from the plurality of Vx ′, Vy ′, and Vz ′ stored in the memory units 22 to 24. The rotational speed ωz of the probe, the moving speed Vx of the probe in a direction orthogonal to the ultrasonic tomographic image, and the moving speed V of the probe in the array direction
y, the rotational speed ωx of the probe with the axis perpendicular to the ultrasonic tomographic image as the axis, and the moving speed Vz of the probe in the traveling direction of the ultrasonic wave are calculated.

Next, the operation of the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus configured as described above will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. First, a method of obtaining the rotational speed ωy of the probe 11 with the arrangement direction of the transducers 50 as an axis and the moving speed Vx of the probe in a direction orthogonal to the ultrasonic tomographic image will be described. First, as shown in FIG. 8, moving speeds Vx1 and Vx in directions orthogonal to the ultrasonic tomographic image at points of different depths D1 and D2.
2 are measured and stored in the memory unit 22.

The Vx calculation unit 27 and the ωy calculation unit 25 calculate the moving speed Vx in the direction orthogonal to the ultrasonic tomographic image of the transducer of the probe 11 from Vx1 and Vx2 stored in the memory unit 22.
The rotation speed ωy about the arrangement direction of the transducers is calculated using (Equation 2) and (Equation 3). Vx = (D1 · Vx2 + D2 · Vx1) / (D1−D2) [m / sec] (Expression 2) ωy = (Vx1−Vx) / D1 = (Vx2−Vx) / D2 [rad / sec]・ ・ (Equation 3)

Next, referring to FIG. 9, the moving speed Vz of the probe 11 in the traveling direction of the ultrasonic wave and the rotational speed ω around the axis thereof will be described.
z, how to determine the moving speed Vx in the direction orthogonal to the ultrasonic tomographic image and the rotational speed ωx around the axis will be described. FIG.
As shown in the figure, the distance W from the center of the probe 11 in the array direction is
Moving speeds Vx3 and Vx4 in the direction orthogonal to the ultrasonic tomographic image at a distance only, and moving speed Vz in the moving direction of the ultrasonic wave
3 and Vz4 are measured respectively, and the memory units 22 and 23 are measured.
To memorize. The ωz calculation unit 26, the Vz calculation unit 30, and the ωx calculation unit 29 store the Vx stored in the memory units 22 and 23.
3, Vx4, Vz3, and Vz4, the rotational speed ωz of the probe 11 in the direction of the ultrasonic wave traveling, the moving speed Vz of the ultrasonic wave in the traveling direction, and the rotational speed of the probe 11 in the direction perpendicular to the ultrasonic tomographic image. ωx is calculated using the following (Equation 4) to (Equation 6).

Ωz = (Vx3−Vx) / D3 = (Vx−Vx4) / D4 [rad / sec] (Expression 4) Vz = (Vz3 + Vz4) / 2 [m / sec] (Expression 5) Ωx = (Vz4−Vz) / D4 = (Vz−Vz3) / D3 [rad / sec] (Equation 6) The moving speed Vx of the probe in the direction orthogonal to the ultrasonic tomographic image is Vx3. , Vx4, as shown in (Equation 7). Vx = (Vx3 + Vx4) / 2 [m / sec] (Equation 7)

Finally, the moving speed V of the probe 11 in the arrangement direction
A method for obtaining y will be described. The Vy calculation unit 28 performs a search based on the moving speed Vy5 in the arrangement direction at the depth D5 stored in the memory unit 23 and the rotational speed ωx of the probe about an axis perpendicular to the ultrasound tomographic image already obtained. The moving speed Vy of the array element 11 in the arrangement direction is calculated using (Equation 8). Vy = Vy5−ωx · D5 [m / sec] (Equation 8)

As described above, no special device such as a sensor or a scanning mechanism is required, and only the Doppler shift amount of the received signal is used, and the three moving speeds indicating the movement of the probe that has been manually and freely scanned. And all three rotation speeds can be obtained.

The relationship between the depths D1, D2 and D5 is shown in FIG.
In this case, D1 <D2 <D5, but this is not a limitation. In FIG. 9, the distance is W from the center, but this is not a limitation.

As described above, according to the third embodiment of the present invention, without using a special device such as a sensor or a scanning mechanism, the spread amount and average of the Doppler shift amount of the received signal can be used. Detects the moving speed of the probe in the direction perpendicular to the cross section and its rotation speed around its axis, the moving speed of the array direction and its rotation speed around its axis, the moving speed of the ultrasonic wave in the traveling direction and its rotation speed around its axis, etc. The effect is obtained.

Embodiment 4 Next, an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to Embodiment 4 of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 10 shows three movement speeds and three rotation speeds representing the movement of the probe based on the method described in the third embodiment, and reconstructs the three-dimensional structure of the living body from the ultrasonic tomographic image using these. It is a block diagram of the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus constituted. Note that components having the same functions and operations as those in the second or third embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals and description thereof is omitted.

In FIG. 10, reference numeral 31 denotes an A / D converter, 3
2 is a line memory unit, 36 is a speed position conversion unit, 37 is 3
Reference numeral 38 denotes a three-dimensional processing unit, and reference numeral 39 denotes a monitor. Next, a more detailed description will be given. Doppler detector 10
0 and the velocity parameter detection unit 101 are configured as described in the third embodiment, and include six velocity parameters (Vx, Vy, Vz, ωx, ωy, ω) representing the movement of the probe 11.
z) is detected. The speed position converter 36 integrates the six speed parameters and calculates the relative position of the probe 11.

The A / D converter 31 digitizes the received signal received by the probe 11, and the line memory 32 stores the digitized received signal. The received signal stored in the line memory unit 32 may be one before the detection processing or one after the detection processing. The three-dimensional reconstruction unit 37 reconstructs a three-dimensional structure in the living body based on the received signal stored in the line memory unit 32, using the relative position information calculated by the velocity position conversion unit 36. . 3
The three-dimensional reconstruction unit 37 reconstructs the three-dimensional
The dimensional data is converted into a format that can be displayed on the monitor 39.

As described above, according to the embodiment of the present invention, the probe is obtained by using the spread amount and the average of the Doppler shift amount of the received signal without requiring a special device such as a sensor or a scanning mechanism. , And the effect of easily reconstructing a three-dimensional image can be obtained.

Embodiment 5 Next, an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to Embodiment 5 of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 11 shows three moving speeds and three rotating speeds representing the movement of the probe based on the method described in the third embodiment, and using these, performs synthetic aperture processing between ultrasonic tomographic images and slices. FIG. 3 is a block diagram of an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus configured to improve directional resolution. Note that components having the same functions and operations as those in Embodiments 2 to 4 are given the same reference numerals, and descriptions thereof are omitted. Line memory unit 32
Stores the RF reception signal digitized by the A / D converter 31. The aperture synthesizing unit 33 includes the speed position converting unit 3
Using the relative position information calculated in 6, the aperture synthesis processing is performed between the RF reception signals stored in the line memory unit 32. The detector 34 detects the RF signal. The scan converter 35 converts the detected reception signal into an image that can be displayed on the monitor 39, and the monitor 39 displays the image.

As described above, the aperture synthesizing process for accurately finding the position of the probe freely and manually scanned without requiring any special device such as a sensor or a scanning mechanism and improving the resolution in the slice direction is performed. be able to.

As described above, according to the embodiment of the present invention, the probe is obtained by using the spread amount and the average of the Doppler shift amount of the received signal without requiring a special device such as a sensor or a scanning mechanism. , And performing aperture synthesis, a high resolution in the slice direction can be obtained.

[0056]

According to the present invention, the transmission / reception means for transmitting / receiving a wave, the means for detecting the Doppler shift amount of the depth to be inspected from the received signal, and the spread amount of the Doppler shift amount are provided. Calculation means, and from the amount of spread of the Doppler shift amount of the received signal, the moving speed in the direction orthogonal to the traveling direction of the wave is obtained, so that no special device such as a sensor or a scanning mechanism is required Then, using the spread amount and average value of the Doppler shift amount of the received signal, the moving speed in the direction perpendicular to the cross section of the probe and the rotational speed around its axis, the moving speed in the array direction and the rotational speed around its axis Thus, a probe moving speed detecting device and method for an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus which can accurately determine the moving speed in the traveling direction of the ultrasonic wave and the rotational speed around the axis thereof can be obtained.

According to the present invention, the moving speed of the reflector in the direction perpendicular to the traveling direction of the ultrasonic wave is detected by using the spread of the Doppler shift amount of the received wave. A probe moving speed detecting device of an ultrasonic diagnostic device capable of detecting the moving speed of the reflector in a direction perpendicular to the traveling direction of the ultrasonic wave without requiring a special device is obtained.

The present invention uses the spread amount and the average value of the Doppler shift amount of a received signal to eliminate the necessity of a special device such as a sensor or a scanning mechanism, thereby allowing the ultrasonic tomographic image at a certain depth to be perpendicular to the ultrasonic tomographic image. The probe moving speed detecting device of the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus capable of detecting the moving speed of the ultrasonic diagnostic device, the moving speed in the arrangement direction, and the moving speed in the traveling direction of the ultrasonic wave is obtained.

According to the present invention, the moving speed in the direction perpendicular to the cross section of the probe can be obtained without using a special device such as a sensor or a scanning mechanism by using the spread amount and the average value of the Doppler shift amount of the received signal. Of ultrasonic diagnostic equipment that can detect the rotational speed around the axis, the moving speed in the arrangement direction and the rotational speed around the axis, the moving speed in the traveling direction of the ultrasonic wave and the rotational speed around the axis, etc. A child moving speed detecting device is obtained.

According to the present invention, by using the spread amount and average value of the Doppler shift amount of a received signal, the position of the probe can be easily detected without requiring a special device such as a sensor or a scanning mechanism. A probe moving speed detecting device of an ultrasonic diagnostic device capable of reconstructing a three-dimensional image is obtained.

According to the present invention, by using the spread amount and average value of the Doppler shift amount of the received signal, the position of the probe can be detected and the aperture synthesis can be performed without requiring a special device such as a sensor or a scanning mechanism. By doing so, it is possible to obtain a probe moving speed detecting device of the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus capable of obtaining a high resolution in the slice direction.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram of a method for detecting a relative speed of a probe according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention;

FIG. 2 shows Vx, Vy, and V in Embodiment 2 of the present invention.
block diagram showing a configuration of an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus for determining z;

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of a probe according to Embodiment 2 of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of a gate position and an electronic focus point when Vx is obtained according to the second embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of a gate position and an electronic focus point when Vy is obtained according to the second embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram of six parameters representing the movement of a probe of the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to Embodiment 3 of the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus for obtaining six parameters representing the movement of a probe according to Embodiment 3 of the present invention;

FIG. 8 is an operation explanatory diagram of an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to Embodiment 3 of the present invention;

FIG. 9 is an operation explanatory diagram of an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to Embodiment 3 of the present invention;

FIG. 10 is a block diagram of an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to Embodiment 4 of the present invention;

FIG. 11 is a block diagram of an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to Embodiment 5 of the present invention;

FIG. 12 is an explanatory diagram of a conventional three-dimensional data acquisition probe.

FIG. 13 is an explanatory diagram of a conventional method for detecting the position of a probe for acquiring three-dimensional data.

[Explanation of symbols]

 REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 transmitter 2 receiver 3 point reflector 4 transmitter / receiver 5 reflector 6 gate range 11 probe 12 receiver 13 transmitter 14 reference signal generator 15 quadrature detector 16 gate 17 A / D converter 18 memory Reference Signs List 19 FFT section 20 Spread amount calculation section 21 Average calculation section 22 Memory section 23 Memory section 24 Memory section 25 ωy calculation section 26 ωz calculation section 27 Vx calculation section 28 Vy calculation section 29 ωx calculation section 30 Vz calculation section 31 A / D conversion Unit 32 line memory unit 33 aperture synthesis processing unit 34 detection unit 35 scan conversion unit 36 speed position conversion unit 37 three-dimensional reconstruction unit 38 three-dimensional processing unit 39 monitor 50 vibrator 51 acoustic lens 52 acoustic lens focal point 53 electron convergence Focus 54 Gate position 100 Doppler shift detector 101 Speed parameter detector

────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A-2000-5178 (JP, A) JP-A-6-114057 (JP, A) JP-A-7-222744 (JP, A) JP-A-6-78925 (JP, A) JP-A-5-23332 (JP, A) (58) Fields investigated (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) A61B 8/00-8/15

Claims (11)

(57) [Claims] From 1. A received signal to detect the Doppler shift amount of the test depth, the amount of spread from the Doppler shift amount that is the detected calculation, the wave from the amount of spread of the Doppler shift amount of the received signal A speed detecting method comprising the steps of obtaining a moving speed of a wave transmitting and receiving means in a direction orthogonal to a traveling direction. 2. A transmitting and receiving unit for transmitting and receiving a wave, a Doppler shift detecting unit for detecting a Doppler shift at a depth to be detected from a received signal, and a spread for calculating the spread from the detected Doppler shift. And a transmission unit for transmitting a wave in a direction orthogonal to the traveling direction of the wave based on the spread amount of the Doppler shift amount of the received signal.
A speed detecting apparatus for an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, wherein a relative moving speed between a receiving means and a reflector is obtained . 3. A probe in which a plurality of transducers are arranged in a one-dimensional array and an acoustic lens is provided on the surface of the transducer.
A transmitting unit that supplies a drive pulse to the probe;
The electric signal converted by the
A receiving unit to form a beam Ri, and Doppler shift amount detector for detecting a Doppler shift amount from the received signal in an electronic focal point depth, the spread amount calculating unit for calculating the amount of spread of the detected Doppler shift amount An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus comprising: obtaining a moving speed of a probe in a direction orthogonal to an ultrasonic tomographic image from a spread amount of a Doppler shift amount of a received signal. 4. A probe in which a plurality of transducers are arranged in a one-dimensional array, and an acoustic lens is provided on a surface of the transducer.
A transmitting unit that supplies a drive pulse to the probe;
The electric signal converted by the
Ri receiving unit to form a beam and a Doppler shift amount detector for detecting a Doppler shift amount in the focal depth of the acoustic lens from the received signal, the spread amount calculating unit for calculating the amount of spread of the Doppler shift amount that the detected An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus comprising: detecting a moving speed of a probe in a transducer array direction from a spread amount of a Doppler shift amount of a received signal. 5. A Doppler shift amount detection unit comprising: a quadrature detection unit;
The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus includes a gate unit, an A / D conversion unit, a memory unit, and an FFT unit, and includes a reference signal generation unit that supplies a reference signal to the transmission unit and the quadrature detection unit.
5. The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the ultrasonic waves are emitted as pulse waves. 6. An apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising an average calculator for calculating an average value of the Doppler shift detected by said Doppler shift detector, wherein a search for a traveling direction of the ultrasonic wave is performed based on the calculated average Doppler shift. 4. The method according to claim 3, wherein a moving speed of the tentacle is detected.
The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to 4 or 5. 7. A moving speed of a probe in a direction orthogonal to an ultrasonic tomographic image at a plurality of depths is obtained from a Doppler shift signal, and a rotational speed of the probe around an array direction of transducers is detected. 7. The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus is operated. 8. A probe moving speed in a direction orthogonal to an ultrasonic tomographic image at a plurality of different positions of a transducer array is determined, and a rotational speed of the probe about an advancing direction of the ultrasonic wave is detected. 9. The method according to claim 7, wherein
An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus as described in the above. 9. A method for determining a moving speed of a probe in a traveling direction of an ultrasonic wave at a plurality of different positions of a transducer array and detecting a rotational speed of the probe about an axis perpendicular to an ultrasonic tomographic image. The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to claim 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, or 8, wherein: 10. A moving speed of the probe in a direction orthogonal to the obtained ultrasonic tomographic image and a moving of the probe in a direction in which the transducers are arranged, using the detected Doppler shift amount of the received signal. The speed, the moving speed of the probe in the traveling direction of the ultrasonic wave, the rotational speed of the probe around the array direction of the transducers, and the probe with the traveling direction of the ultrasonic wave as the axis A rotation speed and a rotation speed of a probe whose axis is a direction perpendicular to the ultrasonic tomographic image are detected, and a probe is performed using any or all of the three types of movement speeds and the three types of rotation speeds. Find the position of the child,
3. A three-dimensional image is reconstructed from an ultrasonic tomographic image based on the position information of the probe.
10. The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to 7, 8, or 9. 11. A moving speed of the probe in a direction orthogonal to the obtained ultrasonic tomographic image and a moving of the probe in a direction in which the transducers are arranged, using the detected Doppler shift amount of the received signal. The speed, the moving speed of the probe in the traveling direction of the ultrasonic wave, the rotational speed of the probe around the array direction of the transducers, and the probe with the traveling direction of the ultrasonic wave as the axis A rotation speed and a rotation speed of a probe whose axis is a direction perpendicular to the ultrasonic tomographic image are detected, and a probe is performed using any or all of the three types of movement speeds and the three types of rotation speeds. Find the position of the child,
The synthetic aperture processing is performed between ultrasonic tomographic images based on the position information of the probe.
10. The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to 7, 8, or 9.