EP0127157A2
Expired / Lapsed
EP
⏱️ 0.0 years remaining
Ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus
Assignee: Hitachi Ltd
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Filing: 1984-05-25
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Granted: —
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Expires: 2004-05-25
Abstract
Abstract An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus capable of providing a B-mode tomographic image of and Doppler information on a moving member in a living subject. The apparatus comprises a cursor setting device which supplies a signal for displaying a cursor at a prescribed position on a B-mode display, echo tracking circuits which cause markers to track the image signals of a prescribed moving member at optionally selected positions on the cursor, marker setting devices for setting the initial positions of the markers, a synthesizer for synthesizing and sending to the B-mode display a B-mode display a B-mode image signal and marker image signals from the echo tracking circuits, and a position measuring circuit for measuring the position of the prescribed moving member on the cursor on the basis of the marker image signals from the echo tracking circuits. The apparatus can display a moving member, for example a blood vessel, within the subject as a B-mode picture which tracks the position of the moving member as it moves and can further electrically output the position of the moving member. As a result, it is possible to electrically store or process the position of the blood vessel. In particular, the apparatus makes it possible to easily and accurately measure blood vessels in the circulatory system, the amount of blood flowing through such vessels, and the volume of internal organs.
Inventors
- 👤 Rokuroh Uchida
- 👤 Katsuhiko Nagasaki
- 👤 Yasunori Mikyake
- 👤 Michio Ohno
- 👤 Hitoshi Takeichi
- 👤 Hiroji Matsumoto
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
EP
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-11-01 02:01
CPC Classifications
G; G01; G01S; G01S15/00; G01S15/88; G01S15/89; G01S15/8906; G01S15/8979; A; A61; A61B; A61B8/00; A61B8/06; A61B8/13; A61B8/48; A61B8/488; G01S7/00; G01S7/52; G01S7/52017; G01S7/52053; G01S7/52057; G01S7/52073
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 18
Claim 1
Independent Claim
213 words
An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus comprising an ultrasonic pulse probe which transmits and receives an ultrasonic wave signal to and from a portion under examination including a moving member, a transmission/reception circuit for controlling the pulse transmission and reception operation of the ultrasonic pulse probe, a B-mode display for displaying a B-mode tomographic image on the basis of an ultrasonic B-mode image signal obtained from the transmission/reception control circuit, a cursor setting device for supplying to the transmission/reception control circuit a cursor position signal in order to display a cursor at a desired scan position of the B-mode display, at least one echo tracking circuit for causing at least one marker to track the video signal of the moving member at a desired position on the cursor, at least one marker setting device for supplying to the echo tracking device an initial marker signal for setting the initial position of the marker on the cursor, a synthesizer for synthesizing and sending to the B-mode display the B-mode image signal from the transmission/ reception control circuit and the marker image signal from the echo tracking circuit, and a position measuring circuit for measuring the position of the moving member on the cursor on the basis of the marker image signal from the echo tracking circuit.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
213 words
An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus comprising an ultrasonic pulse probe which transmits and receives an ultrasonic wave signal to and from a portion under examination including a moving member, a transmission/reception circuit for controlling the pulse transmission and reception operation of the ultrasonic pulse probe, a B-mode display for displaying a B-mode tomographic image on the basis of an ultrasonic B-mode image signal obtained from the transmission/reception control circuit, a cursor setting device for supplying to the transmission/reception control circuit a cursor position signal in order to display a cursor at a desired scan position of the B-mode display, at least one echo tracking circuit for causing at least one marker to track the video signal of the moving member at a desired position on the cursor, at least one marker setting device for supplying to the echo tracking device an initial marker signal for setting the initial position of the marker on the cursor, a synthesizer for synthesizing and sending to the B-mode display the B-mode image signal from the transmission/ reception control circuit and the marker image signal from the echo tracking circuit, and a position measuring circuit for measuring the position of the moving member on the cursor on the basis of the marker image signal from the echo tracking circuit.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
20 words
An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus as claimed in Claim 1 wherein the ultrasonic pulse probe is an electronic linear scanning probe.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
58 words
An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus as claimed in Claim 1 wherein the transmission/reception control circuit comprises a B-mode oscillator which produces an exitation frequency appropriate for the vibrators of the ultrasonic pulse probe and this excitation frequency is frequency divided to obtain a prescribed repeat frequency on the basis of which the ultrasonic pulse probe is electronically scan controlled.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
52 words
An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus as claimed in Claim 1 wherein the transmission/reception control circuit comprises an image memory into which the picked up signals are sequentially written until one frame of the image has been stored therein, whereafter, the stored data is read out at high speed as a B-mode image signal.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
75 words
An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus as claimed in Claim 1 wherein the echo tracking circuit comprises a phase comparator and a voltage controlled delay circuit and the phase comparator compares the image signal initially set by the marker on the cursor with the output of the voltage controlled delay circuit and controls the output phase of the voltage controlled delay circuit so as to maintain the two signals in coincidence with each other at all times.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
339 words
An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus comprising an ultrasonic pulse probe which transmits and receives an ultrasonic wave signal to and from a portion under examination including a moving member, a transmission/ reception circuit for controlling the pulse transmission and reception operation of the ultrasonic pulse probe,a B-mode display for displaying a B-mode tomographic image on the basis of an ultrasonic B-mode image signal obtained from the transmission/ reception control circuit, a cursor setting device for supplying to the transmission/reception.control circuits a cursor position signal in order to display a cursor at a predetermined scan position of the B-mode display, at least one echo tracking circuit for causing at least one marker to track the video signal of the moving member at a desired position on the cursor, at least one marker setting device for supplying to the echo tracking device an initial marker signal for setting the initial position of the marker on the cursor, a synthesizer for synthesizing and sending to the B-mode display the B-mode image signal from the transmission/ reception control circuit and the marker image signal from the echo tracking circuit, a position measuring circuit for measuring the position of the moving member on the cursor on the basis of the marker image signal from the echo tracking circuit, a Doppler probe for transmitting/receiving a continuous ultrasonic wave to/from the portion under examination, a flow velocity detection circuit for detecting the flow velocity of a fluid in the moving member on the basis of the pick-up signal from the Doppler probe, an arithmetic processing circuit for computing the flow amount of the fluid in the moving member from the position signal from the position measuring circuit and the flow velocity signal from the flow velocity detection circuit; and a display for displaying the result of the computation by the arithmetic processing circuit, whereby the flow velocity and flow amount of the fluid in the moving member can be displayed in real time simultaneously with a B-mode image of the portion under examination including the moving member.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
339 words
An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus comprising an ultrasonic pulse probe which transmits and receives an ultrasonic wave signal to and from a portion under examination including a moving member, a transmission/ reception circuit for controlling the pulse transmission and reception operation of the ultrasonic pulse probe,a B-mode display for displaying a B-mode tomographic image on the basis of an ultrasonic B-mode image signal obtained from the transmission/ reception control circuit, a cursor setting device for supplying to the transmission/reception.control circuits a cursor position signal in order to display a cursor at a predetermined scan position of the B-mode display, at least one echo tracking circuit for causing at least one marker to track the video signal of the moving member at a desired position on the cursor, at least one marker setting device for supplying to the echo tracking device an initial marker signal for setting the initial position of the marker on the cursor, a synthesizer for synthesizing and sending to the B-mode display the B-mode image signal from the transmission/ reception control circuit and the marker image signal from the echo tracking circuit, a position measuring circuit for measuring the position of the moving member on the cursor on the basis of the marker image signal from the echo tracking circuit, a Doppler probe for transmitting/receiving a continuous ultrasonic wave to/from the portion under examination, a flow velocity detection circuit for detecting the flow velocity of a fluid in the moving member on the basis of the pick-up signal from the Doppler probe, an arithmetic processing circuit for computing the flow amount of the fluid in the moving member from the position signal from the position measuring circuit and the flow velocity signal from the flow velocity detection circuit; and a display for displaying the result of the computation by the arithmetic processing circuit, whereby the flow velocity and flow amount of the fluid in the moving member can be displayed in real time simultaneously with a B-mode image of the portion under examination including the moving member.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
20 words
An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus as claimed in Claim 6 wherein the ultrasonic pulse probe is an electronic linear scanning probe.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
58 words
An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus as claimed in Claim 6 wherein the transmission/reception control circuit comprises a B-mode oscillator which produces an exitation frequency appropriate for the vibrators of the ultrasonic pulse probe and this exitation frequency is frequency divided to obtain a prescribed repeat frequency on the basis of which the ultrasonic pulse probe is electronically scan controlled.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
54 words
An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus as claimed in Claim 6 wherein the transmission/rece p tion control circuit comprises an image memory into which the picked up signals are sequentially written until one frame of the image has been stored therein, whereafter the stored data is read out at high speed as a B-mode image signal.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
71 words
Anultrasonic diagnostic apparatus as claimed in Claim 6 wherein the echo tracking circuit comprises a phase comparator and a voltage controlled delay circuit and the phase compares the image signal initially set by the marker on the cursor with the output of the voltage controlled delay circuit and controls the output phase of the voltage controlled delay circuit so as to maintain the two signals in coincidence with the each other.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
31 words
11 . An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus as claimed in Claim 6 wherein the computation timing of the arithmetic processing circuit is controlled in synchronism with a biological signal from the subject.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
173 words
An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus comprising an ultrasonic pulse probe for, producing a B-mode tomographic image and a Doppler probe integrated in a single unit, transmitting/receiving vibrators provided on the ultrasonic pulse probe, a transmitting vibrator and at least one receiving vibrator provided on the Doppler probe, the vibrators on the Doppler probe being in predetermined positional relation to the vibrators on the ultrasonic pulse probe, the B-mode scanning plane of the ultrasonic pulse probe and the Doppler beam issued from the Doppler probe being positioned to approach and intersect at a desired depth in the portion under examination the ultrasonic pulse probe being driven by ultrasonic excitation pulses and the Doppler probe being driven by a continuous wave, and the frequency of the ultrasonic excitation pulses and the frequency of the continuous wave being different from each other, whereby the angle between the Doppler beam and the direction of fluid flow in the portion under examination can be set to a desired magnitude on the basis of the clarity of the B-mode image.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
173 words
An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus comprising an ultrasonic pulse probe for, producing a B-mode tomographic image and a Doppler probe integrated in a single unit, transmitting/receiving vibrators provided on the ultrasonic pulse probe, a transmitting vibrator and at least one receiving vibrator provided on the Doppler probe, the vibrators on the Doppler probe being in predetermined positional relation to the vibrators on the ultrasonic pulse probe, the B-mode scanning plane of the ultrasonic pulse probe and the Doppler beam issued from the Doppler probe being positioned to approach and intersect at a desired depth in the portion under examination the ultrasonic pulse probe being driven by ultrasonic excitation pulses and the Doppler probe being driven by a continuous wave, and the frequency of the ultrasonic excitation pulses and the frequency of the continuous wave being different from each other, whereby the angle between the Doppler beam and the direction of fluid flow in the portion under examination can be set to a desired magnitude on the basis of the clarity of the B-mode image.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
20 words
An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus as claimed in Claim 12 wherein the ultrasonic pulse probe is an electronic linear scanning probe.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim
59 words
An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus as claimed in Claim 12 wherein the Doppler probe comprises a transmitting vibrator and a receiving vibrator provided in close juxtaposition, the transmitting vibrator being disposed to form an angle of 70° and the receiving vibrator being disposed to form an angle of 60°, with respect to the axis perpendicular to the B-mode scanning plane.
Claim 18
Dependent Claim
57 words
An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus as claimed in Claim 12 wherein the Doppler probe comprises one transmitting vibrator and two receiving vibrators, the transmitting vibrator being disposed to form an angle of 66° and the receiving vibrators being respectively disposed to form angles of 76° and 56°, with respect to the axis perpendicular to the B-mode scanning plane.
References Cited (Backward Citations)
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