Ultrasonic wave diagnosing apparatus having an ultrasonic wave transmitting and receiving part transmitting and receiving ultrasonic waves

• US 5,255,681 A
• Filed: 11/27/1991
• Issued: 10/26/1993
• Est. Priority Date: 03/20/1991
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Olympus Optical Company Ltd. (Olympus Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Olympus Optical Company Ltd. (Olympus Corporation)
• Inventors: Matsui, Koichi, Mizunuma, Akiko, Taniguchi, Yoshihisa, Ishimura, Toshiro, Echizenya, Takahiro
• Primary Examiner(s): Howell, Kyle L.
• Assistant Examiner(s): MANUEL, GEORGE C
• Application Number:
  US07/799,509
• Time in Patent Office: 699 Days
• Field of Search: 128/660.09, 128/660.08, 128/660.07, 128/662.06, 128/661.01, 128/660.10
• US Class Current: 600/437
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/12 in body cavities or body tracts, e.g. by using catheters catheters per se A61M25/00
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/445 Details of catheter construction
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/4461 Features of the scanning mechanism, e.g. for moving the transducer within the housing of the probe
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 15/8936 using transducers mounted for mechanical movement in three dimensions
• CPC Class Codes: G10K 11/352 by moving the transducer

Abstract

The ultrasonic wave diagnosing apparatus of this invention comprises a controlling circuit controlling the rotation, advance and retreat of an ultrasonic wave oscillator, a DC power source feeding an electric power to a DC motor rotating the ultrasonic wave oscillator, a DC motor controlling circuit inputting a controlling signal from the above mentioned controlling circuit and controlling the voltage of the above mentioned DC power source, a photointerrupter detecting the position of the ultrasonic wave oscillator by the advance and retreat, a stepping motor advancing and retreating the above mentioned ultrasonic wave oscillator and a record controlling apparatus controlling an auxiliary memorizing apparatus which can record an ultrasonic wave image obtained by the above mentioned ultrasonic wave oscillator so that, in order to reverse the rotation by inverting the phases of controlling signals A and B of the stepping motor advancing and retreating the above mentioned ultrasonic wave oscillator, a position detecting signal of the above mentioned photointerrupter is input into the above mentioned controlling circuit.

Claims

1. An ultrasonic wave diagnosing apparatus, comprising:

an ultrasonic wave probe having an ultrasonic wave transmitting and receiving part which can be rotated, advanced and retreated and which transmits and receives ultrasonic waves;

a first driving means rotating said ultrasonic wave transmitting and receiving part;

a second driving means advancing and retreating said ultrasonic wave transmitting and receiving part;

an auxiliary recording means recording signals from said ultrasonic wave transmitting and receiving part; and

a record controlling means outputting to said auxiliary recording means a record controlling signal synchronized with input signals from said first driving means and said second driving means.

2. An ultrasonic wave diagnosing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:

an advance and retreat detecting means detecting the position of said ultrasonic wave transmitting and receiving part in an end part of the advancing and retreating range of said ultrasonic wave transmitting and receiving part, said record controlling means being synchronized with input signals from said first driving means and said second driving means by said advance and retreat detecting means, outputting a record controlling signal controlling and auxiliary recording means and controlling said auxiliary recording means.

3. An ultrasonic wave diagnosing apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising:

a rotation detecting means detecting the rotation of said first driving means; and

a drive controlling means controlling said first driving means and said second driving means with said advance and retreat detecting means and rotation detecting means.

4. An ultrasonic wave diagnosing apparatus according to claim 2, where said second driving means is a stepping motor.

5. An ultrasonic wave diagnosing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein said drive controlling means is a microcomputer.

6. An ultrasonic wave diagnosing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein said ultrasonic wave probe has an ultrasonic wave oscillator for transmitting, receiving and scanning ultrasonic wave beams, and a sheath movably containing said ultrasonic wave oscillator, wherein said apparatus is provided with an ultrasonic wave observing means converting the received signal of said ultrasonic wave oscillator to an image signal and a displaying means displaying an ultrasonic wave cross-sectioned image on the basis of said image signal which is formed so that the kind of an echo coming from said sheath in the advancing and retreating range of said ultrasonic wave transmitting and receiving part of said sheath is formed differently from a kind of the echo from another part of said sheath, wherein said ultrasonic wave transmitting and receiving part is disposed in an end part in the advancing and retreating range of the ultrasonic wave transmitting and receiving part is detected by a change of the kind of the echo coming from said sheath.

7. An ultrasonic wave diagnosing apparatus according to claim 6 wherein said sheath is different in the thickness between the advancing and retreating range of said ultrasonic wave transmitting and receiving part and a region other than said range.

8. An ultrasonic wave diagnosing apparatus according to claim 6 wherein said sheath has an acoustic impedance different between the advancing and retreating range of said ultrasonic wave transmitting and receiving part and a region other than said range.

9. An ultrasonic wave diagnosing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein said ultrasonic wave probe is provided in a sheath tip part with a housing holding an ultrasonic wave oscillator unit and made slidably adjacent to said sheath inside diameter surface and with flow paths for flowing an ultrasonic wave transmitting medium around said housing.

10. An ultrasonic wave diagnosing apparatus according to claim 9 wherein said advance and retreat detecting means comprises a light shielding means provided in said ultrasonic wave probe advanced and retreated by said second driving means and a plurality of photodetecting means shielded by said light shield means.

11. An ultrasonic wave diagnosing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein said advance and retreat detecting means comprises a light shielding means provided in said ultrasonic wave probe advanced and retreated by said second driving means and a plurality of photodetecting means shielded by said light shielding means and detecting when said ultrasonic wave transmitting and receiving part is positioned in an end part of the advancing and retreating range of said ultrasonic wave transmitting and receiving part.

12. An ultrasonic wave diagnosing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:

a pseudo-signal generating means generating a pseudo-signal; and

a switching means switching a pseudo-signal from said pseudo-signal generating means and a signal from said first driving means over to each other and outputting them to said record controlling means.

13. An ultrasonic wave diagnosing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a displaying means displaying a driving state of said second driving means.

14. An ultrasonic wave diagnosing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:

an origin position changing means changing the displaying origin position of said ultrasonic wave cross-sectioned image in response to a movement of said ultrasonic wave transmitting and receiving part or a living body signal having a periodicity, said auxiliary recording means consisting of a frame memory for either renewing recording or superimposing recording in the respective corresponding addresses the data relating to said ultrasonic wave cross-sectioned image on the basis of said origin position changing means.

15. An ultrasonic wave diagnosing apparatus according to claim 14, wherein said advance and retreat detecting means comprises a light shielding means provided in said ultrasonic wave probe advanced and retreated by said second driving means and a plurality of photodetecting means shielded by said light shielding means and detecting when said ultrasonic wave transmitting and receiving part is positioned in an end part of the advancing and retreating range of said ultrasonic wave transmitting and receiving part.

16. An ultrasonic wave diagnosing apparatus according to claim 15 wherein, when said photodetecting means detects when said ultrasonic wave transmitting and receiving part is positioned in an end part of the advancing and retreating range of said ultrasonic wave transmitting and receiving part, said drive controlling means will reverse and control the rotation of said first driving means.

17. An ultrasonic wave diagnosing apparatus according to claim 14 wherein, when said advance and retreat detecting means detects when said ultrasonic wave transmitting and receiving part is positioned in an end part of the advancing and retreating range of said ultrasonic wave transmitting and receiving part, said drive controlling means will reverse and control the rotation of said first driving means.

18. An ultrasonic wave diagnosing apparatus according to claim 14, further comprising a signal stopping means letting said record controlling means stop outputting said record controlling signal to said auxiliary recording means in case said drive controlling means stops and controls said second driving means.

19. An ultrasonic wave diagnosing apparatus according to claim 14, wherein said first driving means is a DC motor and said rotation detecting means is an encoder detecting the rotation of said DC motor.

20. An ultrasonic wave diagnosing apparatus according to claim 14, further comprising:

an ultrasonic wave oscillator for transmitting, receiving and scanning ultrasonic wave beams;

an ultrasonic wave observing means having a sheath movably containing said ultrasonic wave oscillator and converting the received waves of said ultrasonic wave oscillator to image signals; and

a displaying means displaying ultrasonic cross-sectioned images on the basis of said image signals, wherein the kind of an echo coming from said sheath in the advancing and retreating range of said ultrasonic wave transmitting and receiving part of said sheath is formed differently from a kind of the echo from another part of said sheath, wherein said ultrasonic wave transmitting and receiving part is disposed in an end part in the advancing and retreating range of the ultrasonic wave transmitting and receiving part is detected by a change of the kind of the echo coming from said sheath.

21. An ultrasonic wave diagnosing apparatus, according to claim 1, wherein a housing holds an ultrasonic wave oscillator unit in a sheath tip part and is slidably adjacent to an inside diameter surface of said sheath having flow paths for flowing an ultrasonic wave transmitting medium around said housing.