Ultrasound diagnosis apparatus
View Patent ↗An ultrasound diagnosis apparatus that can generate and display 3D ultrasound image data of superior image quality in real time is provided. To achieve a high volume rate for acquiring 3D ultrasound image data, the ultrasound diagnosis apparatus performs 3D scans on a 3D region of an object while sequentially shifting a transmission/reception group that is comprised of each of the transmitting acoustic fields and more than five parallel simultaneous reception beam directions corresponded to each of the transmitting acoustic fields at a prescribed angular distance Δξ 0 along the θ (azimuth) direction and the φ (elevation) direction.
1. An ultrasound diagnosis apparatus configured to generate three-dimensional (3D) ultrasound image data based on ultrasound receiving signals acquired through 3D scans using a parallel simultaneous reception method, the ultrasound diagnosis apparatus comprising:
a processor configured to cause a scan controller to set an ultrasound transmitting acoustic field and a plurality of parallel simultaneous reception beam directions corresponding to a center axis of the transmitting acoustic field and to perform the 3D scans by sequentially shifting the transmitting acoustic field and the plurality of parallel simultaneous reception beam directions corresponding to the transmitting acoustic field along a prescribed direction;
an ultrasound probe including a plurality of two-dimensional (2D) array transducers;
a transmission circuit configured to emit ultrasound transmission beams by driving the plurality of transducers;
a reception circuit configured to perform parallel simultaneous reception of the ultrasound receiving signals of a plurality of channels acquired through each of the plurality of parallel simultaneous reception beam directions by delaying and summing, respectively; and
an image data generating processor configured to generate the 3D ultrasound image data based on the delayed and summed ultrasound receiving signals acquired from each of the parallel simultaneous reception beam directions that are sequentially shifted in the prescribed direction,
wherein the processor is further configured to cause the scan controller to set, as the plurality of parallel simultaneous reception beam directions, exactly eight parallel simultaneous reception beam directions,
all of the set plurality of parallel simultaneous reception beam directions corresponding to the transmitting acoustic field are equally spaced with a same pitch in each of two orthogonal directions by shifting the parallel simultaneous reception beam directions, and
the processor is configured to cause the scan controller to shift the transmitting acoustic field by an amount equal to twice the pitch between the reception beam directions.
2. The ultrasound diagnosis apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the processor is configured to cause the scan controller to set the parallel simultaneous reception beam directions so that the reception beam directions acquired through the 3D scan are equally spaced in four rows by shifting the parallel simultaneous reception acoustic fields.
3. The ultrasound diagnosis apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the image data generating processor generates volume data based on the delayed and summed ultrasound receiving signals and generates at least one of 3D image data of maximum intensity projection (MIP) image data and 3D image data of multiplanar reconstruction (MPR) image data by processing the volume data.
4. The ultrasound diagnosis apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising:
a display configured to display the image data generated by the image data generating processor in real time.
5. An ultrasound diagnosis apparatus configured to generate image data based on ultrasound receiving signals acquired through 3D scans using a parallel simultaneous reception method, the ultrasound diagnosis apparatus comprising:
a processor configured to cause a scan controller to set an ultrasound transmitting acoustic field and exactly eight parallel simultaneous reception beam directions, wherein all of the eight parallel simultaneous reception beam directions are spaced apart at non-uniform angles on a circle around the center axis of the ultrasound transmitting acoustic field, and to perform the 3D scans by sequentially shifting the transmitting acoustic field and the parallel simultaneous reception beam directions in a prescribed direction;
an ultrasound probe including a plurality of 2D array transducers;
a transmission circuit configured to emit transmission ultrasounds for forming the transmitting acoustic field by driving the plurality of transducers;
a reception circuit configured to achieve parallel simultaneous reception by delaying and summing the ultrasound receiving signals of a plurality of channels acquired from each of the parallel simultaneous reception beam directions; and
an image data generating processor configured to generate the image data based on the delayed and summed ultrasound receiving signals acquired from each of the parallel simultaneous reception beam directions sequentially shifted to the prescribed direction,
wherein the scan processor is further configured to cause the scan controller to set the parallel simultaneous reception beam directions that are acquired through the 3D scan around a transmission beam direction so that the reception beam directions are equally spaced with a same pitch in each of two orthogonal directions, by shifting the parallel simultaneous reception beam directions; and
the processor is configured to cause the scan controller to shift the transmitting acoustic field by an amount equal to twice the pitch between the reception beam directions.
6. The ultrasound diagnosis apparatus according to claim 5 , wherein the image data generating processor generates volume data based on the delayed and summed ultrasound receiving signals and generates at least one of 3D image data of MIP image data and 3D image data of multi-planar reconstruction (MPR) image data by processing the volume data.
7. The ultrasound diagnosis apparatus according to claim 5 , further comprising:
a display configured to display the image data generated by the image data generating processor in real time.