Surgery – Truss – Pad
Patent
1990-02-27
1992-02-25
Jaworski, Francis
Surgery
Truss
Pad
12866006, 73626, A61B 800
Patent
active
050904124
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
DESCRIPTION
1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to an ultrasonic diagnosis apparatus for displaying a high-quality image having a smaller amount of speckle noise.
2. Background Art
An ultrasonic diagnosis apparatus is an apparatus in which ultrasonic pulses are applied to the interior of a subject's body, and a sectional image formed on the basis of reflected waves returning from the interior of the subject's body is displayed on an image display unit such as a cathode ray tube (CRT) display. In the image of such an ultrasonic diagnosis apparatus, noise called speckle noise appears in the pattern of a fabric or pear skin and thus deteriorates the picture quality. This noise occurs unavoidably due to the phasewise interference with reflected waves from scattering objects that are smaller than the wavelength of ultrasonic waves applied to the interior of the subject's body.
DISCLOSURE OF INVENTION
An object of the present invention is to realize an ultrasonic diagnosis apparatus for displaying a high-quality image having a smaller amount of speckle noise.
In accordance with the present invention, receiving signals of a plurality of sound rays each having a different directionality within a range of bearing resolution of an ultrasonic beam are subjected to correlation processing to determine a receiving signal for the portion of one sound ray, and an image is formed on the basis of receiving signals thus determined, thereby eliminating speckle noise. Correlation processing in its simplest form may be addition averaging processing.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a configuration of an embodiment in accordance with the present invention;
FIGS. 2, 3, 4A to 4E are explanatory diagrams of received signal processing in accordance with the embodiment of the invention;
FIG. 5 is a block diagram of a configuration of another embodiment in accordance with the present invention;
FIGS. 6A, 6B and 7 are explanatory diagrams of received signal processing in accordance with the another embodiment of the present invention; and
FIGS. 8 and 9 are diagrams illustrating sequences of received-signal processing in accordance with the another embodiment of the present invention.
BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
First, referring now to FIG. 1, a description will be given of a first embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, a high-frequency signal generated in a oscillator 1 is subjected to pulse modulation by a transmitting signal generator 2 and is input to a transmitting beam former 3. The transmitting beam former 3 generates a group of electric signals for forming a transmitting ultrasonic beam on the basis of the input high-frequency pulses. These electric signals are subjected to power amplification by a transmit/receive circuit 4 and is then sent to the interior of a subject s body. Ultrasonic waves reflected from a reflecting object located in the subject's body are received by a transducer array 5, are converted to a group of electric signals, and are simultaneously input to receiving beam formers 6A, 6B, 6C via the transmit/receive circuit 4. The receiving beam formers 6A, 6B, 6C are receiving beam formers which respectively synthesize three receiving beams on the basis of a group of receiving signals imparted from the transducer array 5. These three receiving beams are formed in such a manner that the difference between their directionality varies within a range of bearing resolution of the ultrasonic beam. Reference numerals 7A, 7B, 7C denote logarithmic amplifiers for amplifying output signals of the receiving beam formers 6A, 6B, 6C by subjecting them to logarithmic compression. Output signals of these logarithmic amplifiers 7A, 7B, 7C are multiplied by weighting coefficients by weighting circuits 21A, 21B, 21C, respectively, are then subjected to addition by an adder 22, and are converted to an output having an appropriate amplitude by an attenuator 23. The output signal of the attenuator 23 is subjected to envelope detection by a detector 8, is then conve
REFERENCES:
patent: 4012951 (1977-03-01), Kessler
patent: 4611494 (1986-09-01), Uchiyama
patent: 4771470 (1988-09-01), Geiser et al.
patent: 4790321 (1988-12-01), Miwa et al.
patent: 4951676 (1990-08-01), Collet-Billon
patent: 4982339 (1991-01-01), Insana et al.
patent: 5000183 (1991-03-01), Bonnefous
Jaworski Francis
Kojima Moonray
Manuel George
Yokogawa Medical Systems Limited
LandOfFree
Ultrasonic diagnosis apparatus does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Ultrasonic diagnosis apparatus, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Ultrasonic diagnosis apparatus will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-1886498