Apparatus for indicating locus of an ultrasonic probe, ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus

1. An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus comprising:

an ultrasonic probe configured to transmit and receive ultrasonic waves toward a part of a subject during scanning movement of the ultrasonic probe across a body surface of the subject;

a detecting unit configured to repeatedly detect successive positions of the ultrasonic probe on the body surface during each of plural scanning movements of the ultrasonic probe and to generate for each scanning movement a respective locus mark indicating portions of the body surface scanned;

a memory to store each locus mark for each scan;

a signal processor configured to generate an ultrasonic image related to the part of the subject on the basis of an echo signal acquired by the ultrasonic probe; and

a locus indicating unit, including a request device, configured to display each locus mark singularly, and upon activation of the request device, to display a composite image of a plurality of the locus marks stored in the memory, thereby to display a composite locus mark scanning image of scanning regions of the ultrasonic probe on the body surface of the subject.

2. The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising:

a mark generator configured to generate a body mark indicating the part of the subject; and

a display processor configured to display the ultrasonic image and the body mark; wherein

the locus indicating unit controls the display processor to display the locus mark, superimposed on the body mark.

3. The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein:

the mark generator is configured to generate a probe mark indicating a position of the ultrasonic probe according to the position or movement detected by the detecting unit; and

the display processor is configured to display the probe mark superimposed on the body mark.

4. The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein:

the detecting unit comprises an image sensor configured to detect a direction and displacement of the ultrasonic probe.

5. The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising:

a controller configured to control the locus indicating unit to start generation of the locus mark.

6. The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to claim 5 , further comprising:

a touch detection unit configured to detect a contact of the ultrasonic probe with the body surface of the subject; wherein

the controller is configured to control the locus indicating unit to start generation of the locus mark according to the detected result of the touch detection unit.

7. The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to claim 5 , further comprising:

a manual switch provided on the ultrasonic probe; wherein the controller is configured to control the locus indicating unit to start generation of the locus mark according to operating of the manual switch.

8. The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to claim 5 , further comprising:

a foot switch configured to be operated by a foot of the operator; wherein

the controller is configured to control the locus indicating unit to start generation of the locus mark according to operating of the foot switch.

9. The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein:

the locus indicating unit makes the display processor display the locus mark indicating a time passage from start time of generation of the locus mark by a change of color tone or shading.

10. The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein:

the locus indicating unit makes the display processor display the locus mark indicating moving speed of the probe by a change of color tone or shading.

11. The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein:

the mark generator is configured to generate a scan plane mark indicating imaged region at a present time; wherein

the display processor is configured to display the scan plane mark with the probe mark.

12. The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to claim 11 , wherein:

the mark generator is configured to generate the scan plane mark according to a depth of the ultrasonic image set in the signal processor.

13. The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to claim 11 , wherein:

the mark generator is configured to generate the scan plane mark according to an aperture of a scanned range set in the signal processor.

14. The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to claim 11 , wherein:

the mark generator is configured to generate the scan plane mark according to what kind of the ultrasonic probe is being used.

15. The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein:

the mark generator is configured to generate a lattice pattern, a scaled axis or a dots pattern to be superimposed on the body mark.

16. The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein:

the mark generator is configured to generate a three dimensional body mark for indicating three dimensional form of the subject; and

the locus indicating unit is configured to indicate a three dimensional locus by changing at least one of brightness, color and transparency of a region of the subject already imaged.

17. The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising:

an assign unit configured so that the operator can assign a point to the ultrasonic image;

a controller configured to control a memory to memorize positional coordinates of the point assigned by the assign unit on the basis of the position detected by the detection unit; and

a display unit is configured to indicate the position coordinates.