Ultrasonic imaging apparatus and ultrasonic imaging method
An ultrasonic imaging apparatus capable of displaying an ultrasonic image clearly representing different tissues by discriminating ultrasonic echoes generated in regions having different reflection characteristics among the received ultrasonic echoes. The ultrasonic imaging apparatus includes: an ultrasonic probe including plural ultrasonic transducers for transmitting ultrasonic waves toward an object to be inspected and receiving ultrasonic echoes propagating from the object to output reception signals; a reflection signal evaluating unit for evaluating mutual property of a group of reception signals relating to a region within the object from among the reception signals respectively outputted from the plural ultrasonic transducers; and a variable amplifying unit for amplifying the group of reception signals with signal amplification factors determined with respect to respective reception signals based on an evaluation result of the reflection signal evaluating unit.
1 . An ultrasonic imaging apparatus comprising:
an ultrasonic probe including plural ultrasonic transducers for transmitting ultrasonic waves toward an object to be inspected and receiving ultrasonic echoes propagating from the object to output reception signals;
evaluating means for evaluating mutual property of a group of reception signals relating to a region within the object from among the reception signals respectively outputted from said plural ultrasonic transducers; and
variable amplifying means for amplifying said group of reception signals with signal amplification factors determined with respect to respective reception signals based on an evaluation result of said evaluating means.
2 . An ultrasonic imaging apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein said evaluating means obtains tissue property in a region, where the ultrasonic echoes propagating from the object are generated, based on said mutual property, and determines signal amplification factors of said group of reception signals with respect to respective reception signals according to the tissue property of said region.
3 . An ultrasonic imaging apparatus according to claim 2 , further comprising:
storage means for storing plural kinds of tissue information representing tissue property within the object and respectively associated with the mutual property of said group of reception signals representing the ultrasonic echoes,
wherein said evaluating means discriminates tissue property in the region, where the ultrasonic echoes propagating from the object are generated, based on said plural kinds of tissue information.
4 . An ultrasonic imaging apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising:
second storage means for storing a plurality of signal amplification factor control patterns to be used when said group of reception signals are amplified with different signal amplification factors with respect to respective reception signals and associated with one of said mutual property and said plural kinds of tissue information,
wherein said evaluating means selects at least one signal amplification factor control pattern from among said plurality of signal amplification factor control patterns based on one of said mutual property and said plural kinds of tissue information; and
said variable amplifying means amplifies said group of reception signals according to said at least one signal amplification factor control pattern selected by said evaluating means.
5 . An ultrasonic imaging apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein:
said variable amplifying means amplifies said group of reception signals with at least one signal amplification factor control pattern to generate at least one group of amplified reception signals; and
said apparatus further comprises image data generating means for performing processing of matching phases of the reception signals and adding the reception signals to each other included in said at least one group of amplified reception signals generated by said variable amplifying means so as to generate at least one kind of B-mode image data.
6 . An ultrasonic imaging apparatus according to claim 5 , further comprising:
synthesized image data generating means for generating, when plural kinds of B-mode image data generated by said image data generating means are supplied, synthesized image data representing plural kinds of ultrasonic image information based thereon.
7 . An ultrasonic imaging apparatus according to claim 5 , further comprising:
second image data generating means for performing phasing addition processing on said group of reception signals to generate B-mode image data.
8 . An ultrasonic imaging apparatus according to claim 6 , further comprising:
second image data generating means for performing phasing addition processing on said group of reception signals to generate B-mode image data; and
display control means for selectively displaying on a display unit at least one of an ultrasonic image represented by the synthesized image data generated by said synthesized image data generating means and an ultrasonic image represented by the B-mode image data generated by said second image data generating means.
9 . An ultrasonic imaging apparatus according to claim 5 , further comprising:
means for generating color signals based on said at least one kind of B-mode image data generated by said image data generating means.
10 . An ultrasonic imaging apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein said evaluating means evaluates a spatial intensity distribution of said group of reception signals and/or statistics values calculated based on the spatial intensity distribution as said mutual property.
11 . An ultrasonic imaging apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein said evaluating means evaluates a degree of specular reflection components contained in said group of reception signals.
12 . An ultrasonic imaging apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein said evaluating means discriminates whether the predetermined region within the object is a hard tissue or a soft tissue based on said mutual property.
13 . An ultrasonic imaging method of obtaining information for generating an ultrasonic image based on reception signals obtained by using an ultrasonic probe including plural ultrasonic transducers for transmitting ultrasonic waves toward an object to be inspected and receiving ultrasonic echoes propagating from the object to output reception signals, said method comprising the steps of:
(a) evaluating mutual property of a group of reception signals relating to a region within the object from among the reception signals respectively outputted from said plural ultrasonic transducers; and
(b) amplifying said group of reception signals with signal amplification factors determined with respect to respective reception signals based on an evaluation result at step (a).
14 . An ultrasonic imaging method according to claim 13 , wherein step (a) includes obtaining tissue property in a region, where the ultrasonic echoes propagating from the object are generated, based on said mutual property, and determining signal amplification factors of said group of reception signals with respect to respective reception signals according to the tissue property of said region.