JPH0975339A - Ultrasonic diagnostic device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide the continuous images of a concerned time phase as many as number of heart beats without increasing the capacitance of an ultrasonic scan line memory by setting the concerned time phase of any arbitrary period during one heart beat of a signal of a living body and recording the image of that concerned time phase. SOLUTION: A living body signal and concerned time phase mark generating part 13 is provided for inputting the signal of the living body from an electrocardiograph 11 as a signal detecting means, fetching signal into a signal memory, reading out that signal, sending it to a display device 9 and generating a mark showing the concerned time phase of arbitrary width on this signal of the living body. Then, a concerned time phase setting control panel 14 for setting the concerned time phase of the arbitrary period during one heart beat of the signal is connected to an operation control panel 12, and only the image of the concerned time phase set by this concerned time phase setting control panel 14 is repeatedly recorded in an ultrasonic scan line memory group 5. Thus, the continuous images of the concerned time phase can be provided for many heart beats without increasing the capacitance of the ultrasonic scan line memory.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus equipped with an ultrasonic scanning line memory (cine memory) and capable of displaying a waveform of a biological signal together with an ultrasonic tomographic image during cine reproduction. It is possible to set the time phase of interest for any period during the heartbeat and record the image of that time phase of interest, and it is possible to obtain a continuous image of the time phase of interest for many heartbeats without increasing the capacity of the ultrasonic scan line memory. The present invention relates to an ultrasonic diagnostic device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A first example of a conventional ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus of this type transmits and receives ultrasonic waves to and from an object as described in the specification and drawings of Japanese Patent Application No. 1-192381. With a probe,
An ultrasonic transmitter / receiver circuit that drives this probe to emit ultrasonic waves and also receives and amplifies the reflected waves, and for writing data after converting the received signal from this ultrasonic transmitter / receiver circuit to a digital signal A buffer memory, an ultrasonic scanning line memory group for writing the data read from the working buffer memory in units of ultrasonic scanning lines, and data from the working buffer memory or data from the ultrasonic scanning line memory group are selected. Display for displaying an ultrasonic image by inputting switching means, a frame memory that writes data from the switching means to form a display image, and an image signal after converting the image data from the frame memory into an analog signal The device, a memory address control unit that controls the address of each memory, and the memory address that detects a biological signal of the subject. A biological signal detecting means for sending to the control unit,
It has an operation control console for sending an operation command to the memory address control section and the switching means.

A second conventional example is a probe for transmitting and receiving ultrasonic waves to and from the subject, as described in the specification and drawings of Japanese Patent Application No. 2-4591. A reflection echo detection section that drives the ultrasonic wave to emit an ultrasonic wave and receives and amplifies the reflected wave, and a Doppler detection section that detects the Doppler signal from the signal of the reflected wave received by the probe using the Doppler effect. And a color calculation unit for calculating the color Doppler amount of blood flow specifications by inputting the Doppler signal after converting the Doppler signal from this Doppler detection unit into a digital signal, and the echo signal from the reflection echo detection unit. A color that mixes the black and white ultrasonic image data after digitization and the color Doppler amount data from the color calculation unit to convert into a color digital signal and records the ultrasonic data for each successive ultrasonic scanning line. And I digital scan converter,
A display device for displaying an ultrasonic image by inputting an image signal after converting the output data from the color digital scan converter into an analog signal, and a memory address control for controlling the address of each memory in the color digital scan converter. Section, a biological signal detecting means for detecting a biological signal of the subject and sending it to the memory address control section, and an operation control console for sending an operation command to the memory address control section and the color digital scan converter. Was there.

[0004]

However, in the above-mentioned first conventional example, the interest time phase of an arbitrary period is set during one heartbeat of the biological signal of the subject detected by the biological signal detecting means. Since it was not designed to record images of only the time phase, all data for all time phases on the biomedical signal were recorded as they were in the ultrasonic scan line memory that records the data of the ultrasonic image. . However, in the ultrasonic scanning line memory, the reception time axis of the reflected echo signal in one ultrasonic scanning line is assigned to the Y coordinate, the ultrasonic scanning line axis for transmitting and receiving the ultrasonic waves is assigned to the X coordinate, and the reflection echo is assigned to the Z coordinate. Since the signal amplitude value (luminance) axis is assigned, for example, the Y-axis rate is set to 300 μs, and the X-axis of the ultrasonic scanning line memory is set.
Assuming that the axis is 8192 lines, the maximum recordable time t is t = 300 μs × 8192 = 2.4 s. At this recording time t, an ordinary person can record only images for 2 to 3 heartbeats. In this case, in the case of a rhythm image such as the heart, the morphological observation of the rhythm part may not be sufficiently performed with a small number of heartbeats. If the capacity of the ultrasonic scanning line memory is increased in response to this, the size of the entire apparatus becomes large and the cost becomes high.

In the second conventional example described above, a mark indicating the time phase of the ultrasonic tomographic image being displayed is generated and displayed on the biological signal of the subject detected by the biological signal detecting means. However, the time phase of interest for an arbitrary period was set during one heartbeat of the biological signal, and an image of only the time phase of interest was not recorded. Therefore, in color ultrasonic Doppler blood flow measurement, as in the first conventional example, only a few heartbeat images can be recorded by a normal person, and in the case of blood flow measurement of the heart, such a small number of heartbeats is recorded. In some cases, the blood flow condition could not be measured sufficiently in minutes. If the capacity of the ultrasonic scanning line memory in the color digital scan converter is increased in response to this, the size of the entire apparatus becomes large and the cost becomes high.

In view of the above, the present invention addresses such a problem and makes it possible to record an image of the time phase of interest by setting a time phase of interest during one heartbeat of the detected biological signal. An object of the present invention is to provide an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus that can obtain a large number of heartbeats of continuous images of a time phase of interest without increasing the capacity of the ultrasonic wave scanning line memory.

[0007]

In order to achieve the above object, an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to the first aspect of the present invention comprises a probe for transmitting and receiving ultrasonic waves to and from an inside of a subject, and driving the probe. An ultrasonic transmission / reception circuit that emits ultrasonic waves and receives and amplifies the reflected waves, a work buffer memory for writing data after converting a reception signal from the ultrasonic transmission / reception circuit into a digital signal, and this work buffer An ultrasonic scanning line memory group for writing the data read out from the memory in units of ultrasonic scanning lines, a switching means for selecting the data from the working buffer memory or the data from the ultrasonic scanning line memory group, and the switching means. The frame memory that writes the data of the above to compose the display image, and the image signal after converting the image data from this frame memory into an analog signal A display device for displaying an image, a memory address controller for controlling an address of said respective memory,
In an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus comprising a biological signal detecting means for detecting a biological signal of a subject and sending it to the memory address control section, and an operation control console for sending an operation command to the memory address control section and the switching means. A means for inputting a biological signal from the biological signal detecting means, loading the biological signal into a biological signal memory, reading the biological signal, sending the biological signal to the display device, and generating a mark on the biological signal indicating a time phase of interest, Connected to the operation control console is a time-of-interest setting control console that sets a time-of-interest for an arbitrary period during one heartbeat of the biological signal, and only the images of the time-of-interest set on the time-of-interest setting control console are repeated. The data is recorded in the ultrasonic scanning line memory group.

Further, in the memory address control section,
An independent control means may be provided for repeatedly recording the time phase of interest set in the time phase of interest setting control console in the ultrasonic scanning line memory group, reproducing the time phase, and enabling slow reproduction.

Further, in the memory address control unit, a multi-display control unit may be provided for controlling so as to simultaneously display a real-time ultrasonic image and a time phase of interest set on a biological signal. .

The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to the second aspect of the invention includes a probe for transmitting and receiving ultrasonic waves to and from a subject, driving the probe to emit ultrasonic waves, and receiving reflected waves thereof. A reflected echo detection unit that amplifies, a Doppler detection unit that detects the Doppler signal from the signal of the reflected wave received by the probe using the Doppler effect, and the Doppler signal from this Doppler detection unit is converted to a digital signal. A color calculation unit for inputting the subsequent Doppler signal to calculate the color Doppler amount of blood flow specifications, and black and white ultrasonic image data after digitizing the echo signal from the reflection echo detection unit and the color calculation unit. A color digital scan converter that mixes the data of the color Doppler amount from the device and converts it into a color digital signal and records the ultrasonic data of each successive ultrasonic scanning line, and A display device for displaying an ultrasonic image by inputting an image signal after converting the output data from the color digital scan converter into an analog signal, and a memory address control unit for controlling the address of each memory in the color digital scan converter. And a biological signal detecting means for detecting a biological signal of the subject and sending it to the memory address control unit, and an operation control console for sending an operation command to the memory address control unit and the color digital scan converter. In the sonic diagnostic apparatus, means for inputting the biological signal from the biological signal detecting means, loading it into the biological signal memory, reading it and sending it to the display device, and generating a mark indicating an arbitrary time phase on the biological signal. The operation control console is provided with a time phase of interest for an arbitrary period during one heartbeat of the biological signal. The time-of-interest setting control console to be set is connected, and only the image of the time-of-interest set by the time-of-interest setting control console is repeatedly recorded in the ultrasonic scanning line memory group in the color digital scan converter. .

[0011]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to the first invention. This ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus is provided with an ultrasonic scanning line memory (cine memory) and can display the waveform of a biological signal together with an ultrasonic tomographic image during cine reproduction. As shown in FIG. An ultrasonic transmitting / receiving circuit 2, an A / D converter 3,
Working buffer memory 4 and ultrasonic scanning line memory group 5
, Switch 6, frame memory 7, and D / A converter 8
A display device 9, a memory address control unit 10, an electrocardiograph 11, and an operation control console 12, and further includes a biological signal / interest time phase mark generation unit 13 and an interest time phase setting control console 1.
4 and.

The probe 1 mechanically or electronically scans and transmits / receives ultrasonic waves to / from the subject. Although not shown, the probe 1 is a source of ultrasonic waves and a reflected wave. It has a built-in oscillator for receiving the. The ultrasonic wave transmitting / receiving circuit 2 drives the probe 1 to emit an ultrasonic wave, and receives and amplifies the reflected wave. Although not shown, the ultrasonic wave transmitting / receiving circuit 2 includes a pulse generator, a receiving amplifier and It has a control circuit. And the A / D converter 3
Is for inputting the received signal output from the ultrasonic transmission / reception circuit 2 and converting it into a digital signal.

The work buffer memory 4 temporarily writes the digital data output from the A / D converter 3. The ultrasonic scanning line memory group 5 writes the data read from the work buffer memory 4 in units of ultrasonic scanning lines, and assigns the reception time axis of the reflected echo signal in one ultrasonic scanning line to the Y coordinate, With the ultrasonic scanning line axis transmitting and receiving ultrasonic waves assigned to the X coordinate and the amplitude value (luminance) axis of the reflected echo signal assigned to the Z coordinate, the rate of the Y axis is set to 300 μs, and the X of the ultrasonic scanning line memory is set. Assuming that the axis is 8192 lines, the maximum recordable time t is t = 300 μs × 8192 = 2.4 s, which is formed by combining a plurality of ultrasonic scanning line memories. The switch 6 serves as a switching means for inputting the data read from the work buffer memory 4 and the data read from the ultrasonic scanning line memory group 5, selecting one of them, and outputting the selected data.

The frame memory 7 inputs the data selected by the switch 6 and writes the data to form a display image. The D / A converter 8 converts the image data read from the frame memory 7 into an analog signal. The display device 9 receives the image signal output from the D / A converter 8 and displays an ultrasonic image, and is composed of, for example, a television monitor.

The memory address control unit 10 controls the ultrasonic transmission / reception circuit 2 and the addresses of the work buffer memory 4, the ultrasonic scanning line memory group 5 and the frame memory 7. The internal structure of the memory address control unit 10 is as shown in FIG. The block diagram shown in FIG. That is, as shown in FIG. 2, the read / write timing output port 15 and the working buffer memory read / write address port 1
6 and line memory read / write address port 1
7, a frame memory read / write address port 18, an electrocardiographic waveform R wave input port 19 for inputting a biological signal from an electrocardiograph 11 described later, and an arithmetic processing unit (hereinafter referred to as “MPU”) including, for example, a microcomputer. 20), a key switch input port 21 for inputting operation commands from an operation control console 12 described later, a clock generator 22, and an operating system (OS) ROM 23.
And a work RAM 24.

The MPU 20 is designed to perform the following control. That is, 1 of the display device 9
Control of the number of ultrasonic scanning lines per screen, operation timing of the ultrasonic transmission / reception circuit 2, work buffer memory 4, ultrasonic scanning line memory group 5, frame memory 7, etc., and setting of addresses of each of the above memories The above-mentioned memories are controlled at the time of rotational reproduction of the interval between the R wave of the electrocardiographic waveform detected by the electrometer 11 and the R wave.

The electrocardiograph 11 serves as a biosignal detecting means for detecting an electrocardiographic waveform as a biosignal of the subject and sending it to the electrocardiographic waveform R wave input port 19 in the memory address control section 10. Electrodes are attached to the hands and feet of a sample to detect heartbeats, convert the signals into electrical signals, and amplify the signals to create electrocardiographic waveforms. In addition, the operation control console 12 includes the memory address control unit 10 and the switch 6 described above.
An operation command is sent to the device, for example, an observation key for making settings when observing the obtained ultrasonic image, and settings for making rotational reproduction at intervals between R waves of the electrocardiographic waveform. An RR loop key and a search key for searching for a desired image are installed.

Here, in the present invention, as shown in FIG. 1, a biological signal / interest time phase mark generator 13 and a time phase interest control console 14 are provided. The biomedical signal / interesting time phase mark generator 13 inputs a signal of an electrocardiographic waveform output from the electrocardiograph 11 and takes it into an internal biomedical signal memory and reads it out to send it to the display device 9 and at the same time. This is a means for generating a mark indicating an arbitrary time phase on the radio wave shape, and its internal configuration is configured as shown in FIG. That is, as shown in FIG. 3, the biological signal memories 25a and 25b for a plurality of channels (ch ₁ , ch ₂ ), the biological signal memory control circuit 26, and the biological signal memories 25 for a plurality of channels described above.
First mixing switch 27 for switching the outputs of a and 25b
And a mark generating circuit 28, and in the present invention, the time phase mark generating circuit 29 of interest and the second mixing switch 3
0 is provided.

The mixing switch 27 sequentially switches the biological signal memories 25a and 25b of the respective channels and outputs the biological signals to the display device 9 in several times at the optimum pitch. Memories 25a, 25
mixers 31a and 31b for mixing output data from b and output data from a mark generation circuit 28, which will be described later, changeover switches 32a and 32b for switching connection between the two bio-signal memories 25a and 25b, and these respective switches 32.
a, 32b and another mixer 33 that mixes the outputs. The mark generation circuit 28 generates a mark indicating the time phase of the tomographic image displayed on the electrocardiographic waveform I ₃ when the tomographic image I ₁ (see FIG. 4) is reproduced by the display device 9. The frame mark address AD ₃ output from the biological signal memory control circuit 26 is input and the data of the frame marks Ma and Mb are sent to the outputs of the biological signal memories 25a and 25b of the respective channels. . Further, the time-of-interest mark generation circuit 29 generates a time-of-interest mark of arbitrary width according to the frame mark address AD ₃ from the bio-signal memory control circuit 26. This marker signal is used as the second mixing switch. It is designed to be sent to 30. Then, the second mixing switching device 30 outputs the biological signal output from the first mixing switching device 27 and the time phase mark generating circuit 29 of interest.
This is to be mixed with the signal of the time phase mark of interest output from the.

The interest time phase setting control console 14 sets an interest time phase of an arbitrary period during one heartbeat of a biological signal (electrocardiographic waveform), and is displayed on the screen of the display device 9, for example. By moving the marker with a trackball or a joystick, a start point and an end point of the time phase of interest are set between the R wave and the R wave of the electrocardiographic waveform and are connected to the operation control console 12. There is.

Further, as shown in FIG. 2, a line memory / read / write independent control unit 34 and a multi-display control unit 35 are provided in the memory address control unit 10. The line memory / read / write independent control unit 34 repeatedly records the time phase of interest set in the time phase of interest setting control console 14 in the ultrasonic scanning line memory group 5 and reproduces it, and also enables slow reproduction. It is controlled so that. Further, the multi-display control unit 35 controls so as to simultaneously display a real-time ultrasonic image and a time phase of interest set on the biomedical signal, and the control signal thereof is shown in FIG. 6 and the frame memory 7.

Next, the operation of the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to the first aspect of the invention thus constructed will be described. First, in FIG. 1, a transmission signal from the ultrasonic transmission / reception circuit 2 is sent to the probe 1, an ultrasonic wave is emitted from the probe 1 toward the subject based on this transmission signal, and the reflected wave is It returns to the probe 1, is converted into a reception signal, is input to the ultrasonic transmission / reception circuit 2, and is amplified. This amplified received signal is input to the A / D converter 3 and converted into a digital signal, and this digital data is written in the working buffer memory 4 for writing it in the frame memory 7 on a pixel-by-pixel basis. The data read from the work buffer memory 4 is input to the ultrasonic scanning line memory group 5 and the switch 6. Data is sequentially stored in the ultrasonic scanning line memory group 5 for each ultrasonic scanning line, and the data read from the ultrasonic scanning line memory group 5 is input to the switcher 6. Then, the switching device 6 outputs the output data from the working buffer memory 4 and the output data from the ultrasonic scanning line memory group 5 to the operation command from the operation control console 12 and the multi-display control unit 35 shown in FIG. Switch with the control command from.

When the output data from the work buffer memory 4 is directly transferred to the frame memory 7 by the selection of the switching device 6, the ultrasonic data received by the probe 1 is the multi-frame data of the frame memory 7. Display control unit 35
It is written in the area specified by in real time. In addition, the ultrasonic scanning line memory group 5 is selected by selecting the switching device 6.
When the output data from the frame memory 7 is transferred to the frame memory 7, the ultrasonic data stored in the ultrasonic scanning line memory group 5 is stored in the multi-display controller 3 of the frame memory 7.
It is written in the area specified in 5. After that, the ultrasonic data read from the frame memory 7 is D / A
After being converted into an analog signal by the converter 8, it is input to the display device 9 and displayed as an ultrasonic tomographic image. At this time, as shown in FIG. 4, the reproduced image I ₁ and the real-time image I ₂ can be observed simultaneously. Further, an electrocardiographic waveform I ₃ as a biological signal of the subject is also displayed.

Next, the interest time phase setting control console 14 shown in FIG.
When an instruction for setting the start point of the time phase of interest for the biomedical signal is input by the operation of, the input is made to the memory address control unit 10 via the operation control console 12 and via the key switch input port 21 shown in FIG. To the MPU20,
The MPU 20 inputs the biological signal shown in FIG. 3 and the setting data of the start point of the interest time phase to the interest time phase mark generation circuit 29 in the interest time phase mark generation unit 13. At this time, in the mode of manually setting the range of the interest time phase, the interest time phase setting control console 14 transmits the value of the range setting to the MPU 20, and the MPU 20 notifies the interest time phase mark generation circuit 29. Enter the setting data of the end point of the time phase of interest. Then, the interest time phase mark generation circuit 29 generates a marker signal of the interest time phase mark by the frame mark address AD ₃ from the biological signal memory control circuit 26 shown in FIG. It is mixed with the biological signal output from the mixing switch 27. After that, the data output from the second mixing switching device 30 is input to the D / A converter 8 shown in FIG. 1 and converted into an analog signal, which is sent to the display device 9 as an image signal, and shown in FIG. As shown, the time phase mark I ₄ of interest for an arbitrary period is displayed during one heartbeat between the R waves of the electrocardiographic waveform I ₃ . On the other hand, the MPU 20 shown in FIG. 2 increments the write address of the line memory read / write address port 17 only during the operation of the time phase of interest.

In the mode in which recording and reproduction are repeated for each heartbeat of the subject, the R wave of the electrocardiographic waveform I ₃ is transmitted to the MPU 20.
Detected and read / write timing output port 15
The read / write timing output port 15 controls reading and writing of the ultrasonic scanning line memory group 5 by outputting an instruction to switch between reading and writing for each R wave. At this time, the reproduction speed is instructed to the MPU 20 by the operation control console 12, and a read address corresponding to the instruction is sent to the line memory read / write address port 17. Furthermore, read / write timing output port 15
Controls the memory in a cycle such that the ultrasonic scanning line memory group 5 reads and writes at the same time.
0 outputs the read address and the write address separately to the line memory / read / write independent control unit 34, and the line memory / read / write independent control unit 34 outputs the ultrasonic scanning line memory group in accordance with the read and write timings. The read address and the write address are sent to 5. In this way, the output data from the work buffer memory 4 is reproduced at an arbitrary reproduction speed while being written in the ultrasonic scanning line memory group 5.

Next, when the automatic calculation key of the time phase range of interest for the biological signal is set by the operation of the operation control console 12 shown in FIG. 1, the work RAM 24 in the memory address control unit 10 shown in FIG. 2 is set. The data of one heartbeat between the stored R wave and R wave of the electrocardiographic waveform is read out by the control of the MPU 20, and the reproduction speed is read out by the operation command from the operation control console 12, and from these two data R
Find the number of frames that can be played between the waves and R waves. And MP
The U20 outputs a read address and a write address to the line memory / read / write independent control unit 34 so as to write the images of the calculated number of frames to the ultrasonic scanning line memory group 5. In this way, images in the range from the start point of the time phase of interest to the biological signal to the end point automatically calculated can be repeatedly recorded in the ultrasonic scanning line memory group 5.

Whether the data of the ultrasonic scanning line memory group 5 is read and written in the frame memory 7 or the real-time ultrasonic scanning line data output from the work buffer memory 4 is written in the frame memory 7. , Selected by the multi-display control unit 35 shown in FIG.
Repeated observation of the arbitrarily set time phase of interest and observation of a real-time image can be simultaneously performed, and data of multiple screens can be written in the time phase of interest in image diagnosis.
Further, since the image in the memory can be searched after the still image, a desired still image can be obtained. Further, in the case of the present invention, more screens with the same phase can be obtained, so that the measurement data from each still image is averaged to obtain data with high clinical credibility.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to the second invention. This ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus enables color ultrasonic Doppler blood flow measurement, and as shown in FIG. 5, a probe 1, a reflection echo detector 2e, an A / D converter 3e, Doppler detector 2d and A
/ D converter 3d, color computing unit 36, color digital scan converter (hereinafter abbreviated as "color DSC") 37, D / A converters 8r, 8g, 8b, display device 9, and memory address control. Part 10 and electrocardiograph 11
And an operation control console 12, and further includes a biological signal / interest time phase mark generation unit 13 and an interest time phase setting control console 14. In FIG. 5, the probe 1, the display device 9, the memory address control unit 10, the electrocardiograph 11,
The operation control console 12, the biological signal / interest time phase mark generation unit 13, and the interest time phase setting control console 14 are the same as the corresponding constituent elements shown in FIG. 1, and thus detailed description thereof will be omitted. .

In FIG. 5, the reflection echo detector 2e is
The probe 1 is driven to emit ultrasonic waves and to receive and amplify the reflected waves thereof. The probe 1 has a pulse generator, a reception amplifier, and control circuits thereof. The A / D converter 3e receives the echo signal output from the reflection echo detector 2e and converts it into a digital signal. Also, the Doppler detector 2d
Is for detecting the Doppler signal from the signal of the reflected wave received by the probe 1 by utilizing the Doppler effect. The A / D converter 3d receives the Doppler signal output from the Doppler detector 2d and converts it into a digital signal.

The color calculation section 36 includes the A / D converter 3
The color Doppler amount of blood flow velocity, velocity dispersion, reflection intensity, etc. is calculated by inputting the digital Doppler signal output from d. It has a unit 36a, a dispersion calculation unit 36b that calculates velocity dispersion, and a reflection calculation unit 36c that calculates reflection intensity.

The color DSC 37 is the A / D converter 3 described above.
The digitized black and white ultrasonic image data output from e and the color Doppler amount data output from the color computing unit 36 are mixed and converted into color digital signals, and each successive ultrasonic scanning line The color encoder circuit 38, which records the ultrasonic data, and which mixes the blood flow data and the monochrome ultrasonic image data into a color digital signal, and the color encoder circuit 38. Red (R) output from 38,
Work buffer memories 4r (for red), 4g (for green), 4b (for blue) that store color digital signals for the three primary colors of green (G) and blue (B) for each ultrasonic scanning line, These work buffer memories 4r, 4g, 4
ultrasonic scanning line memory groups 5r (for red), 5g (for green), 5b (for blue) for reading data from b and storing ultrasonic scanning line data for a long time, and the above-mentioned work buffer memory Switching devices 6r (for red), 6g (for green), 6b (for blue) that select each output of 4r, 4g, 4b and each output of the ultrasonic scanning line memory groups 5r, 5g, 5b.
And frame memories 7r (for red), 7g (for green) and 7b (for blue) for calling the outputs of the switching devices 6r, 6g and 6b in synchronization with TV. The outputs of the frame memories 7r, 7g, 7b are the D / A converters 8r.
(For red), 8g (for green), and 8b (for blue) are input respectively to become analog signals, which are displayed on the display device 9 for observation.

Here, in the second invention, as shown in FIG. 5, a biological signal and time-of-interest mark generation unit 13 is provided, and a time-of-interest setting control console 14 is provided. The biological signal / interesting time phase mark generator 13 is
An electrocardiographic waveform signal output from the electrocardiograph 11 is input, captured in an internal biosignal memory, read out and sent to the display device 9, and a mark indicating an arbitrary time phase of arbitrary width on the electrocardiographic waveform. And the internal configuration is exactly the same as that shown in FIG. In addition, the interest time phase setting control console 14 is a biological signal (electrocardiographic waveform).
Set the time phase of interest for any period during one heartbeat of
For example, a marker displayed on the screen of the display device 9 is moved by a trackball or a joystick to set a start point and an end point of the time phase of interest between the R waves of the electrocardiographic waveform. And is connected to the operation control console 12.

The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to the second aspect of the present invention thus constructed is basically the same as the ultrasonic diagnostic Doppler blood flow measurement which enables color ultrasonic blood flow measurement and displays the blood flow of the subject on the display device 9. Operates similarly to the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to the first invention shown in FIG. As a result, even in a color ultrasonic image, a time phase of interest having an arbitrary width can be set on a biological signal, and only the image of the set time phase of interest can be repeatedly recorded or observed, or a still image can be searched. It is effective for grasping the blood flow condition in the atrium and ventricle of the heart. Also,
Since more color images with the same phase can be obtained, it is possible to easily increase the time resolution in the application function such as color capture.

[0034]

Since the present invention is constructed as described above,
The operation control console is provided with means for inputting the biosignal from the biosignal detection means, loading it into the biosignal memory, reading it, and sending it to the display device, and generating a mark indicating an arbitrary time phase of arbitrary width on this biosignal. Is connected to a time-of-interest setting control console for setting a time-of-interest for an arbitrary period during one heartbeat of the biological signal, and only the image of the time-of-interest set by the time-of-interest setting control console is repeatedly scanned by the ultrasonic scanning line. By recording in the memory group, the time phase of interest for an arbitrary period is set during one heartbeat of the biological signal, and the image of the time phase of interest can be recorded, and the capacity of the ultrasonic scanning line memory is increased. It is possible to obtain a large number of heartbeats of continuous images in the time phase of interest. From this, in the case of rhythm image of the heart or blood flow measurement,
It is possible to sufficiently observe the morphology of the rhythmic region or measure the blood flow state from the images of multiple heartbeats. Further, since the capacity of the ultrasonic scanning line memory may be the same as the conventional one, it is possible to suppress the cost increase without increasing the size of the entire apparatus.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to the first invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an internal configuration of a memory address control unit.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing an internal configuration of a biological signal and a time phase mark of interest generator.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of an ultrasonic image displayed on a screen of a display device.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to the second invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Probe 2 ... Ultrasonic wave transmission / reception circuit 2d ... Doppler detection part 2e ... Reflection echo detection part 3, 3d, 3e ... A / D converter 4, 4r, 4g, 4b ... Work buffer memory 5, 5r, 5g , 5b ... Ultrasonic scanning line memory group 6, 6r, 6g, 6b ... Switching device 7, 7r, 7g, 7b ... Frame memory 8, 8r, 8g, 8b ... D / A converter 9 ... Display device 10 ... Memory address Control unit 11 ... Electrocardiograph 12 ... Operation control console 13 ... Biological signal and interest time phase mark generation unit 14 ... Interest time phase setting control console 29 ... Interest time phase mark generation circuit 30 ... Second mixing switch 34 ... Line Memory / Read / Write independent control unit 35 ... Multi-display control unit 36 ... Color calculation unit 37 ... Color DSC I ₁ ... Reproduced image I ₂ ... Real-time image I ₃ ... Electrocardiographic waveform I ₄ ... Interest time phase mark

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A probe for transmitting and receiving ultrasonic waves to and from a subject, an ultrasonic transmitting and receiving circuit for driving the probe to emit ultrasonic waves and receiving and amplifying reflected waves thereof, and the ultrasonic waves. A work buffer memory for writing data after converting a reception signal from the transmission / reception circuit into a digital signal, an ultrasonic scanning line memory group for writing the data read from the work buffer memory in units of ultrasonic scanning lines, and the above work Switching means for selecting data from the buffer memory for scanning or data from the ultrasonic scanning line memory group, a frame memory for writing the data from the switching means to form a display image, and image data from this frame memory is analog. A display device for displaying an ultrasonic image by inputting an image signal after being converted into a signal, and a memory address system for controlling the addresses of the above memories. A control unit, a biological signal detection unit that detects a biological signal of a subject and sends it to the memory address control unit, and an operation control console that sends an operation command to the memory address control unit and the switching unit. In the sonic diagnostic apparatus, means for inputting the biological signal from the biological signal detecting means, loading it into the biological signal memory, reading it and sending it to the display device, and generating a mark indicating an arbitrary time phase on the biological signal. An interest time phase setting control console for setting an interest time phase of an arbitrary period during one heartbeat of the biological signal is connected to the operation control console, and the interest time phase set by the interest time phase setting control console is connected. The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus is characterized in that only the images of the above are repeatedly recorded in the ultrasonic scanning line memory group. 2. The memory address control section is an independent device that repeatedly records the time phase of interest set in the time phase of interest setting control table in the ultrasonic scanning line memory group and reproduces it, and enables slow reproduction. The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising control means. 3. A multi-display control unit is provided in the memory address control unit, which controls to simultaneously display a real-time ultrasonic image and a time phase of interest set on a biological signal. The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, which is characterized. 4. A probe for transmitting and receiving ultrasonic waves to and from a subject, a reflection echo detection unit for driving the probe to emit ultrasonic waves and for receiving and amplifying reflected waves thereof, and the probe. The Doppler detection unit that detects the Doppler signal from the reflected wave signal received by the child using the Doppler effect, and the Doppler signal after converting the Doppler signal from this Doppler detection unit into a digital signal are input to the blood flow system. The color calculation unit that calculates the original color Doppler amount, the black and white ultrasonic image data after digitizing the echo signal from the reflection echo detection unit, and the color Doppler amount data from the color calculation unit are mixed. From the color digital scan converter that converts the color digital signal and records the ultrasonic data of each successive ultrasonic scanning line, A display device for displaying an ultrasonic image by inputting an image signal after converting the output data of the analog signal into an analog signal, a memory address control unit for controlling the address of each memory in the color digital scan converter, and In an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus comprising a biological signal detecting means for detecting a biological signal and sending it to the memory address control unit, and an operation control console for sending an operation command to the memory address control unit and the color digital scan converter, The biological signal from the biological signal detecting means is input to be taken into and read out from the biological signal memory, sent to the display device, and means for generating a mark indicating an arbitrary time phase of arbitrary width on the biological signal is provided. Connected to the control console is a time-of-interest setting control console for setting a time-of-interest for an arbitrary period during one heartbeat of the above biological signal. Ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus is characterized in that so as to record the ultrasound scan line memories cardiac phase setting control in console set interest during phase image of the repeating color digital scan converter in.