Surgery – Diagnostic testing – Detecting nuclear – electromagnetic – or ultrasonic radiation
Reexamination Certificate
2001-05-24
2002-12-31
Lateef, Marvin M. (Department: 3737)
Surgery
Diagnostic testing
Detecting nuclear, electromagnetic, or ultrasonic radiation
C600S458000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06500124
ABSTRACT:
This application claims benefit of Japanese Application No. 2000-155193 filed in Japan on May 25, 2000, the contents of which are incorporated by this reference.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus and an ultrasonic diagnostic method, and more particularly, to an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus and an ultrasonic diagnostic method characteristic of the adjust of gain or dynamic range.
2. Related Art Statement
An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus is put into practical use for obtaining a biogenic tomogram by irradiating an ultrasonic pulse in vivo and receiving a reflection wave from a biogenic tissue. In particular, an ultrasonic endscope is used for diagnosing a phenomenally-undecided case by inserting the ultrasonic endoscope into the celom.
FIG. 8
is a block diagram showing the configuration of a conventional ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus of a mechanical scanning system. A motor drive circuit
102
controlled by a controller
101
drives a motor
103
, thereby rotating a transducer
104
. The rotation of the transducer
104
causes the controller
101
to capture a timing signal indicating a rotational position of the motor
103
which is outputted from a position detecting circuit
105
comprising an encoder, etc. Based on the timing signal, the controller
101
controls a transmission signal generator
106
and a transmitting amplifier
107
, and the transducer
104
connected to the transmitting amplifier
107
emits an ultrasonic pulse.
The transducer
104
receives an echo of an invivo ultrasonic pulse, a receiving amplifier
108
and a band-pass filter (BPF)
109
remove an unnecessary signal component from the signals received by the transducer
104
, and a detecting circuit
110
detects a wave. An amplifier
111
for GAIN/STC amplifies the detected received signal to a set size, the amplified signal passes through a contrast circuit
112
and a low-pass filter (LBP)
113
, the signal is converted into a digital signal by an A/D converter
114
and, thereafter, it is stored in an FIFO
115
.
Herein, in the amplifier
111
for GAIN/STC, the controller
101
can set the amount of amplification via a buffer
116
for GAIN/STC and a D/A converter
117
.
The data stored in the FIFO
115
is coordinate transformed by an address controller
118
and a look-up table (LUT)
119
for coordinate transformation and is stored in a predetermined position of a memory
120
. Here, a CPU
121
controls the controller
101
and the address controller
118
.
The controller
101
performs the above-mentioned operation at intervals with a predetermined period till one rotation of the transducer
104
. Received data corresponding to the one rotation is stored in the memory
120
, is thereafter subjected to interpolation by an LUT
123
for interpolation in an interpolating circuit
122
, passes through a video processing circuit
124
, and is displayed on a monitor
125
.
The controller
101
executes various control operation based on a set value of data which is transmitted from an operation setting unit
126
comprising a key board, etc.
FIG. 9
shows the configuration in the case in which gain and contrast of the received signal in
FIG. 8
are adjusted after the digital conversion. The motor drive circuit
102
controlled by the controller
101
drives the motor
103
, thereby rotating the transducer
104
. The controller
101
captures the timing signal indicating the rotational position of the motor
103
outputted from the position detecting circuit
105
. The controller
101
controls the transmission signal generator
106
and the transmitting amplifier
107
based on the timing signal, and the transducer
104
connected to the transmitting amplifier
107
emits the ultrasonic pulse.
The transducer
104
receives the echo of the invivo ultrasonic pulse, the receiving amplifier
108
and the band-pass filter (BPF)
109
remove an unnecessary signal component from the signals received by the transducer
104
, and the detecting circuit
110
detects a wave. The above-described operation is similar to that of FIG.
8
.
An A/D converting circuit
131
converts the detected received signal into a digital signal and the converted signal is stored in a memory
132
for pre-process. The controller
101
allows a ROM
133
for STC to output the received data converted into the digital signal by the memory
132
for pre-process. The ROM
133
for STC sets the received data from the memory
132
for pre-process and the set value from the controller
101
to an address, and outputs data in the ROM
133
for STC at a designated address to a ROM
134
for GAIN/contrast.
Data in the ROM
133
for STC is read by changing the set value from the controller
101
synchronously with the reading of the data. Thereby, gain in a distance direction changes.
Further, the ROM
134
for GAIN/contrast sets data outputted from the ROM
133
for STC and the set value from the controller
101
to an address value, and outputs the data in the ROM
134
for GAIN/contrast at the designated address to a coordinate transforming circuit
135
. The data outputted from the ROM
134
for GAIN/contrast is coordinate transformed by using the LUT
119
for coordinate transformation in the coordinate transforming circuit
135
and is interpolated by using the LUT
123
for interpolation in the interpolating circuit
122
. The above-described operation is executed by the controller
101
at intervals with a predetermined period till the one rotation of the transducer
104
.
FIG. 10
shows the operation setting unit
126
used for the above equipment. In the operation setting unit
126
, values of the GAIN, STC, and contrast set at the using time are indicated by the number of lit-on LEDs constituting an indicator
141
. The plurality of LEDs are arranged corresponding to a varied range of the set values.
For example, in the configuration in
FIG. 8
, the adjustment for GAIN, STC, and contrast must be implemented in a state in which image data is being received and transmitted (hereinafter, this state is referred to as a live state). Thus, in a state in which no image data is being received and transmitted (hereinafter, this state is referred to as a freeze state), data subjected to the adjustment for GAIN, STC, and contrast stored in the memory
120
is displayed on a screen and, therefore, there is a problem that the GAIN, STC, and contrast cannot be adjusted. The configuration in
FIG. 9
necessitates the memory
132
for pre-process, ROM
133
for STC, and ROM
134
for GAIN/contrast to adjust the GAIN, STC, and contrast after freezing. There are problems that when handling an ultrasonic image composed of a plurality of frames, the memory
132
for pre-process needs a large capacity, and operation for reading ultrasonic data composed of any desired frames causes the adjustment of the memory
132
for pre-process by the controller
101
to become complicated.
If setting the GAIN, STC, and contrast at desired levels, the ROM
133
for STC and the ROM
134
for GAIN/contrast are exchanged and there is a problem that easy exchange is impossible.
As shown in
FIG. 10
, since the set values of the GAIN, STC, and contrast are indicated by the number of the lit-on LEDs constituting the indicator
141
in the operation setting unit
126
, consumed current flowing to the operation setting unit
126
is increased. Therefore, design on a power source is necessary in view of the consumed power of the operation setting unit
126
on the equipment side and a problem to increase costs is caused.
The above and other objects, features and advantages of the invention will become more apparent from the following description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is one object of the present invention to provide an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus and an ultrasonic diagnostic method capable of adjusting gain and contrast with low costs both in the live state and in the freeze state.
It is another object of the
Echizenya Takahiro
Okuno Yoshiyuki
Imam Ali M
Olympus Optical Co,. Ltd.
Scully Scott Murphy & Presser
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