Diagnostic ultrasonic imaging system having run extracting means for extracting point closest to start point of scanning lines

• US 5,817,019 A
• Filed: 04/11/1997
• Issued: 10/06/1998
• Est. Priority Date: 04/15/1996
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Olympus Optical Corporation Limited (Olympus Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Olympus Optical Corporation Limited (Olympus Corporation)
• Inventors: Kawashima, Tomonao
• Primary Examiner(s): Lateef, Marvin M.
• Assistant Examiner(s): PATEL, MAULIN M
• Application Number:
  US08/840,229
• Time in Patent Office: 543 Days
• Field of Search: 128/916, 600/437, 600/449
• US Class Current: 600/437
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/0866 involving foetal diagnosis; pre-natal or peri-natal diagnosis of the baby
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/14 Echo-tomography
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 15/894 by rotation about a single axis
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 15/8993 Three dimensional imaging systems
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 7/52074 Composite displays, e.g. split-screen displays; Combination of multiple images or of images and alphanumeric tabular information
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 7/52084 related to particular user interfaces special user input means for ultrasonic medical diagnostic devices A61B8/467
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 128/916 Ultrasound 3-D imaging

Abstract

Data provided by sound rays acquired by performing spiral scanning using ultrasonic waves is converted into image data through polar coordinate transformation. Data of slices is displayed and scanned along each scanning line from a start point of scanning lines to a far point. A point closest to the start point of scanning lines is extracted from each run of consecutive points at which luminance values exceed a threshold while a run of points having an unacceptable length is eliminated as a noise. Thus, the surface of an object is extracted.

Claims

1. A diagnostic ultrasonic imaging system, comprising:

a three-dimensional echo data memory means for transmitting ultrasonic waves to a living body, receiving echoes from the living body, and storing data provided by the echoes emanating from a three-dimensional area;

a slice position setting means for setting the positions of desired slices using the three-dimensional echo data stored in said three-dimensional echo data memory means;

a surface point extracting means for extracting points defining the surface of a desired object from the three-dimensional echo data stored in said three-dimensional echo data memory means;

a shading means for shading data of a surface defined with the points extracted by said surface point extracting means;

a synthesizing means for synthesizing data of the slices whose positions are set by said slice position setting means and data of the surface shaded by said shading means so as to construct a three-dimensional image; and

a display means for displaying the three-dimensional image constructed by said synthesizing means,

wherein said surface point extracting means scans the three-dimensional echo data along each scanning line from a start point of scanning lines to a far point, and extracts a point closest to the start point of scanning lines from each run of consecutive points, at which luminance values exceed a certain threshold, having a length larger than a set length.

2. A diagnostic ultrasonic imaging system according to claim 1, wherein said run extracting means can vary the value of the set length.

14. A diagnostic ultrasonic imaging system according to claim 1, further comprising a scanning-line start point designating means for use in designating the position of a start line of scanning lines.

3. A diagnostic ultrasonic imaging system, comprising:

an ultrasonic probe for transmitting ultrasonic waves to a living body, receiving echoes from the living body, and producing a plurality of ultrasonic tomographic images depicting a three-dimensional area;

a three-dimensional echo data memory means for storing data that is provided by echoes emanating from the three-dimensional area and represents the plurality of consecutive ultrasonic tomographic images produced by said ultrasonic probe;

a slice position setting means for setting the positions of desired slices using the three-dimensional echo data stored in said three-dimensional echo data memory means;

a surface point extracting means for extracting points defining the surface of a desired object from the three-dimensional echo data stored in said three-dimensional echo data memory means;

a shading means for shading data of a surface defined with the points extracted by said surface points extracting means;

a synthesizing means for synthesizing data of the slices whose positions are set by said slice position setting means and data of the surface shaded by said shading means so as to construct a three-dimensional image; and

a display means for displaying the three-dimensional image constructed by said synthesizing means,

wherein said surface point extracting means includes a boundary superposing means for superposing the extracted points defining the surface of an object on all of a plurality of consecutive ultrasonic tomographic images, or on a specified ultrasonic tomographic image.

5. A diagnostic ultrasonic imaging system according to claim 3 or 4, wherein said surface point extracting means includes a boundary correcting means for correcting a boundary superposed by said boundary superposing means, and corrects points defining the surface of an object to be extracted according to the boundary corrected by said boundary correcting means.

6. A diagnostic ultrasonic imaging system according to claim 5, wherein said surface point extracting means includes a run extracting means that scans the three-dimensional echo data along each scanning line from a start point of scanning lines to a far point, and extracts a point closest to the start point of scanning lines from each run of consecutive points, at which luminance values exceed a certain threshold, having a length larger than a given length;

said boundary correcting means includes a corrected scanning line designating means for use in designating a scanning line containing a point to be corrected; and

a point on the scanning line designated with said corrected scanning line designating means, which is closest to the start point of scanning lines secondly to a point extracted by said run extracting means, is extracted.

4. A diagnostic ultrasonic imaging system, comprising:

a three-dimensional echo data memory means for transmitting ultrasonic waves to a living body, receiving echoes from the living body, and storing data provided by the echoes emanating from a three-dimensional area;

a slice position setting means for setting the positions of desired slices using the three-dimensional echo data stored in said three-dimensional echo data memory means;

a surface point extracting means for extracting points defining the surface of a desired object from the three-dimensional echo data stored in said three-dimensional echo data memory means;

a shading means for shading data of a surface defined with the points extracted by said surface point extracting means;

a synthesizing means for synthesizing data of the slices whose positions are set by said slice position setting means and data of the surface shaded by said shading means so as to construct a three-dimensional image; and

a display means for displaying the three-dimensional constructed by said synthesizing means,

wherein said surface point extracting means includes;

a tomographic image constructing means for constructing a plurality of tomographic images depicting differently-oriented slices using image data of the three-dimensional echo data; and

a boundary superposing means for superposing the extracted points defining the surface of an object on the tomographic images constructed by said tomographic image constructing means.

7. A diagnostic ultrasonic imaging system, comprising:

a three-dimensional echo data memory means for transmitting ultrasonic waves to a living body, receiving echoes from the living body, and storing data provided by the echoes emanating from a three-dimensional area;

a slice position setting means for setting the positions of desired slices using the three-dimensional echo data stored in said three-dimensional echo data memory means;

a synthesizing means for constructing a three-dimensional image using data of the slices whose positions are set by said slice position setting means; and

a display means for displaying the three-dimensional image constructed by said synthesizing means,

wherein said slice position setting means includes;

a tomographic image constructing means for constructing a plurality of tomographic images depicting differently-oriented slices using image data of the three-dimensional echo data;

a slicing line moving means for moving slicing lines indicating the positions of slices in a plurality of tomographic images constructed by said tomographic image constructing means; and

a tomographic image turning means for turning a specified tomographic image among the plurality of tomographic images constructed by said tomographic image constructing means, and

the plurality of tomographic images constructed by said tomographic image constructing means except the specified tomographic image are modified responsively to the turn of the specified tomographic image made by said tomographic image turning means.

8. A diagnostic ultrasonic imaging system, comprising:

a three-dimensional echo data memory means for transmitting ultrasonic waves to a living body, receiving echoes from the living body, and storing data provided by the echoes emanating from a three-dimensional area;

a slice position setting means for setting the positions of desired slices using the three-dimensional echo data stored in said three-dimensional echo data memory means;

a synthesizing means for constructing a three-dimensional image using data of the slices whose positions are set by said slice position setting means; and

a display means for displaying the three-dimensional image constructed by said synthesizing means,

wherein said slice position setting means includes;

a tomographic image constructing means for constructing a plurality of tomographic images depicting differently-oriented slices using image data of the three-dimensional echo data; and

a slicing line moving means for moving slicing lines indicating the positions of slices in the plurality of tomographic images constructed by said tomographic image constructing means, and

said tomographic image constructing means includes a masking means for displaying data used by said synthesizing means for constructing the three-dimensional image and the other data in different forms.

9. A diagnostic ultrasonic imaging system according to claim 8, wherein said masking means includes a display form designating means for use in designating whether or not data used by said synthesizing means for constructing the three-dimensional image and the other data are displayed in different forms.

10. A diagnostic ultrasonic imaging system, comprising:

a three-dimensional echo data memory means for transmitting ultrasonic waves to a living body, receiving echoes from the living body, and storing data provided by the echoes emanating from a three-dimensional area;

a slice position setting means for setting the positions of desired slices using the three-dimensional echo data stored in said three-dimensional echo data memory means;

a surface point extracting means for extracting points defining the surface of a desired object from the three-dimensional echo data stored in said three-dimensional echo data memory means;

a shading means for shading data of a surface defined with the points extracted by said surface point extracting means;

a synthesizing means for synthesizing data of the slices whose positions are set by said slice position setting means and data of the surface shaded by said shading means so as to construct a three-dimensional image; and

a display means for displaying the three-dimensional image constructed by said synthesizing means,

wherein said shading means includes a light angle setting means for setting angles defining light used for shading as angles in a coordinate system having the axis of a lumen in a living body or the axis of an inserted ultrasonic probe as one of its coordinate axes, and

said display means displays the angles defining light in the coordinate system having the axis of a lumen in a living body or the axis of an inserted ultrasonic probe as one of its coordinate axes.

11. A diagnostic ultrasonic imaging system according to claim 10, wherein said display means displays the angles defining light stereoscopically.

12. A diagnostic ultrasonic imaging system, comprising:

a three-dimensional echo data memory means for transmitting ultrasonic waves to a living body, receiving echoes from the living body, and storing data provided by the echoes emanating from a three-dimensional area;

a slice position setting means for setting the positions of desired slices using the three-dimensional echo data stored in said three-dimensional echo data memory means;

a surface point extracting means for extracting points defining the surface of a desired object from the three-dimensional echo data stored in said three-dimensional echo data memory means;

a shading means for shading data of a surface defined with the points extracted by said surface point extracting means;

a synthesizing means for synthesizing data of the slices whose positions are set by said slice position setting means and data of the surface shaded by said shading means so as to construct a three-dimensional image; and

a display means for displaying the three-dimensional image constructed by said synthesizing means,

said diagnostic ultrasonic imaging system further comprising;

a coordinate transforming means for transforming the coordinates of data of the slices whose positions are set by said slice position setting means and of data of the surface defined with the points extracted by said surface point extracting means,

wherein said coordinate transforming means includes a line-of-sight angle setting means for setting angles defining a line of sight or the direction of a line of sight, in which the three-dimensional image is displayed, as angles in a coordinate system having the axis of a lumen in a living body or the axis of an inserted ultrasonic probe as one of its coordinate axes,

said display means displays the angles defining a line of sight in the coordinate system having the axis of a lumen in a living body or the axis of an inserted ultrasonic probe as one of its coordinate axes.

13. A diagnostic ultrasonic imaging system, comprising:

a three-dimensional echo data memory means for transmitting ultrasonic waves to a living body, receiving echoes from the living body, and storing data provided by the echoes emanating from a three-dimensional area;

a slice position setting means for setting the positions of desired slices using the three-dimensional echo data stored in said three-dimensional echo data memory means;

a surface point extracting means for extracting points defining the surface of a desired object from the three-dimensional echo data stored in said three-dimensional echo data memory means;

a shading means for shading data of a surface defined with the points extracted by said surface point extracting means;

a synthesizing means for synthesizing data of the slices whose positions are set by said slice position setting means and data of the surface shaded by said shading means so as to construct a three-dimensional image; and

a display means for displaying the three-dimensional image constructed by said synthesizing means,

wherein said synthesizing means includes a slice-surface boundary superposing means for superposing a boundary line between data of the slices and data of the surface as a slice-surface boundary line on the three-dimensional image, and

said display means displays the three-dimensional image on which the slice-surface boundary line is superposed by said slice-surface boundary superposing means.

15. A diagnostic ultrasonic imaging system, comprising:

a three-dimensional echo data memory means for transmitting ultrasonic waves to a living body, receiving echoes from the living body, and storing data provided by the echoes emanating from a three-dimensional area;

a slice position setting means for setting the positions of desired slices using the three-dimensional echo data stored in said three-dimensional echo data memory means;

a surface point extracting means for extracting points defining the surface of a desired object from the three-dimensional echo data stored in said three-dimensional echo data memory means;

a shading means for shading data of a surface defined with the points extracted by said surface point extracting means;

a synthesizing means for synthesizing data of the slices whose positions are set by said slice position setting means and data of the surface shaded by said shading means so as to construct a three-dimensional image; and

a display means for displaying the three-dimensional image constructed by said synthesizing means,

wherein said shading means shades data of the surface using the color of an organ as a display color.

16. A diagnostic ultrasonic imaging system, comprising:

a three-dimensional echo data memory means for transmitting ultrasonic waves to a living body, receiving echoes from the living body, and storing data provided by the echoes emanating from a three-dimensional area;

a slice position setting means for setting the positions of desired slices using the three-dimensional echo data stored in said three-dimensional echo data memory means;

a surface point extracting means for extracting points defining the surface of a desired object from the three-dimensional echo data stored in said three-dimensional echo data memory means;

a shading means for shading data of a surface defined with the points extracted by said surface point extracting means;

a synthesizing means for synthesizing data of the slices whose positions are set by said slice position setting means and data of the surface shaded by said shading means so as to construct a three-dimensional image; and

a display means for displaying the three-dimensional image constructed by said synthesizing means,

wherein said shading means includes a display color designating means for use in designating a display color for the surface, and shades data of the surface in the display color designated with said display color designating means.

17. A diagnostic ultrasonic imaging system, comprising:

a three-dimensional echo data memory means for transmitting ultrasonic waves to a living body, receiving echoes from the living body, and storing data that is provided by the echoes emanating from a three-dimensional area and represents a plurality of consecutive ultrasonic tomographic images;

a slice position setting means for setting the positions of desired slices using the three-dimensional echo data stored in said three-dimensional echo data memory means;

a surface point extracting means for extracting points defining the surface of a desired object from the three-dimensional echo data stored in said three-dimensional echo data memory means;

a shading means for shading data of a surface defined with the points extracted by said surface point extracting means;

a synthesizing means for synthesizing data of the slices whose positions are set by said slice position setting means and data of the surface shaded by said shading means so as to construct a three-dimensional image; and

a display means for displaying the three-dimensional image constructed by said synthesizing means,

wherein said surface point extracting means includes;

a surface point designating means for use in designating points defining the surface of a desired object in a specified tomographic image among a plurality of ultrasonic tomographic images;

a first gradient calculating means for calculating a gradient in luminance value at points defining a surface which are designated with said surface point designating means;

a second gradient calculating means for calculating a gradient in luminance value at points within a specified range relative to each point, at which the first gradient is calculated, in tomographic images other than the specified tomographic image; and

a surface point specifying means for specifying points defining the surface of an object in a tomographic image different from a tomographic image, in which the points defining the surface of an object are designated with said surface point designating means, by comparing the gradients calculated by said second gradient calculating means with the gradients calculated by said first gradient calculating means.

18. A diagnostic ultrasonic imaging system, comprising:

a three-dimensional echo data memory means for transmitting ultrasonic waves to a living body, receiving echoes from the living body, and storing data that is provided by the echoes emanating from a three-dimensional area and represents a plurality of consecutive ultrasonic tomographic images;

a slice position setting means for setting the positions of desired slices using the three-dimensional echo data stored in said three-dimensional echo data memory means;

a surface point extracting means for extracting points defining the surface of a desired object from the three-dimensional echo data stored in said three-dimensional echo data memory means;

a shading means for shading data of a surface defined with the points extracted by said surface point extracting means;

a synthesizing means for synthesizing data of the slices whose positions are set by said slice position setting means and data of the surface shaded by said shading means so as to construct a three-dimensional image; and

a display means for displaying the three-dimensional image constructed by said synthesizing means,

wherein said surface point extracting means includes a surface tracing means for automatically tracing points, which define the surface of a desired object, successively in the plurality of consecutive ultrasonic tomographic images.

19. A diagnostic ultrasonic imaging system according to claim 18, wherein said surface tracing means includes a luminance change point retrieving means for retrieving a luminance value from points on an arc used to search for points defining the surface of a desired object, and thus searching for a point defining the surface as a change point at which the luminance value undergoes a change, and successively traces the points defining the surface of a desired object by setting the change point as a center of the arc.

20. A diagnostic ultrasonic imaging system according to claim 18 or 19, wherein said surface point extracting means includes a tracing start point designating means for use in designating a tracing start point for the purpose of tracing in the ultrasonic tomographic images.

21. A diagnostic ultrasonic imaging system according to any of claims 18, 19, and 20, wherein said surface point extracting means includes a tomographic image constructing means for constructing a plurality of tomographic images depicting differently-oriented slices using image data of the three-dimensional echo data, and said tracing start point designating means is used to designate a tracing start point in a tomographic image depicting a slice whose orientation is different from those depicted by the plurality of consecutive ultrasonic tomographic images constructed by said tomographic image constructing means.