WO2018195873A1

WO2018195873A1 - Doppler imaging method and apparatus for ultrasonic continuous waves, and storage medium

Info

Publication number: WO2018195873A1
Application number: PCT/CN2017/082244
Authority: WO
Inventors: 周游
Original assignee: 深圳迈瑞生物医疗电子股份有限公司
Priority date: 2017-04-27
Filing date: 2017-04-27
Publication date: 2018-11-01
Also published as: CN110087554A

Abstract

A Doppler imaging method and apparatus for ultrasonic continuous waves, and a storage medium. The method comprises: determining an emission aperture centre position of a probe (40) according to position information about a CW sampling line; determining an emission aperture according to the determined emission aperture centre position of the probe (40), and controlling an array element included in the emission aperture on the probe (40), so that same emits ultrasonic beams; and determining a receiving aperture according to the determined emission aperture, and controlling an array element included in the receiving aperture on the probe (40), so that same receives ultrasonic beam echoes to obtain an ultrasonic echo signal. The influence brought about by an excessive emission deflection angle can be reduced, such that the ultrasonic imaging effect is more ideal.

Description

Title: Ultrasonic continuous wave Doppler imaging method and device, storage medium

[0001] The present invention relates to the field of ultrasonic imaging, and in particular to an ultrasonic continuous wave Doppler imaging method and apparatus.

Background technique

[0002] A medical ultrasonic imaging apparatus utilizes ultrasonic waves to propagate in a human body to obtain supersonic characteristic information of human tissue and organ structures. Current ultrasound imaging devices typically employ multi-element probes. In such devices, high-voltage pulse waves are applied to each array element of the probe, and the excitation elements generate high-frequency ultrasonic waves to form a transmit beam into the human body; the array elements of the probe receive human tissue. The structure scatters or reflects echoes to form a receive beam; the ultrasound imaging device extracts information from the ultrasound echoes to form various imaging mode displays.

[0003] The Continuous Wave Doppler (CW) blood flow imaging mode evaluates the blood flow velocity of a human body by detecting its Doppler shift information and obtaining its spectrum or power spectrum, such as the human brain. As well as the blood flow of the heart is assessed. In the continuous wave Doppler mode (CW mode), each element of the probe is usually divided into two parts. Some of the elements are used for transmission, and some of the elements are used for reception. For the detection of blood flow signals, phased array probes or conventional continuous wave Doppler probes are now commonly used. The phased array probe is characterized by the fact that the starting point (or top) of the CW sampling line is always defined at the center of the lateral direction of the probe. It can select a specific angle for emission scanning reception within a certain angle range. The characteristics of the conventional continuous wave Doppler probe It is only possible to transmit the received signal in a fixed direction; the common feature of both probes is that they transmit and receive with fixed transmit and receive apertures, which can lead to many undesired problems, especially when the array of probes A larger number of elements or a wider lateral dimension may cause the angle of convergence deflection to be too large, etc., which ultimately renders the effect of ultrasound imaging unsatisfactory.

technical problem

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention provides an ultrasonic continuous wave Doppler imaging method and apparatus.

Problem solution

Technical solution

According to a first aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides an ultrasonic continuous wave Doppler imaging method, including: [0006] acquiring position information of a CW sampling line; [0007] determining a center position of a transmitting aperture of the probe according to position information of the CW sampling line;

Determining a transmit aperture according to the determined center position of a transmit aperture of the probe, and controlling an array element included in the transmit aperture on the probe to perform an emission of the ultrasonic beam;

[0009] determining a receiving aperture according to the determined transmit aperture, and controlling the array element included in the receiving aperture on the probe to perform reception of the ultrasonic beam echo to obtain an ultrasonic echo signal;

[0010] obtaining an ultrasound image based on the ultrasound echo signal.

[0011] According to a second aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides a continuous wave Doppler imaging apparatus, including:

[0012] a location information acquiring unit, configured to acquire location information of the CW sampling line;

[0013] a scan control unit, configured to determine a center position of a probe aperture according to position information of the CW sample line; determine a transmit aperture according to the determined center position of the probe aperture, and control the probe The array element included in the transmit aperture performs emission of the ultrasonic beam; determining the receive aperture according to the determined transmit aperture, and controlling the array element included in the receive aperture on the probe to perform reception of the ultrasonic beam echo to obtain an ultrasonic echo signal;

[0014] an image processing unit, configured to perform ultrasonic imaging according to the ultrasonic echo signal.

[0015]

[0016] According to a third aspect, an embodiment provides a storage medium storing a program for performing the continuous wave Doppler imaging method described in the embodiments.

Advantageous effects of the invention

Beneficial effect

[0017] The ultrasonic continuous wave Doppler imaging method and apparatus according to the above embodiment, the storage medium, determining the center position of the emission aperture of the probe according to the position information of the CW sampling line, and determining the center position of the emission aperture of the probe according to the determination Transmitting an aperture, and controlling the array element included in the transmitting aperture on the probe to perform the emission of the ultrasonic beam, determining the receiving aperture according to the determined transmitting aperture, and controlling the array element included in the receiving aperture on the probe to perform the receiving of the ultrasonic beam echo The ultrasonic echo signal is obtained, so that the invention can further reduce the ultrasonic imaging effect according to the influence of reducing the deflection angle of the emission.

Brief description of the drawing

DRAWINGS 1 is a flow chart of an ultrasonic continuous wave Doppler imaging method according to an embodiment;

2 is a flow chart of acquiring position information of a CW sampling line in an ultrasonic continuous wave Doppler imaging method according to an embodiment;

3(a) is a schematic structural view of an ultrasonic continuous Doppler imaging apparatus according to an embodiment;

3(b) is a schematic structural view of an ultrasonic continuous Doppler imaging apparatus according to another embodiment;

4 is a schematic diagram of a line array B image display according to an embodiment of the present invention;

5 is a flowchart of determining a center position of a transmitting aperture of a probe according to position information of a CW sampling line in an ultrasonic continuous Doppler imaging method according to an embodiment; [0023] FIG.

6 is a schematic diagram of setting a receiving aperture and a transmitting aperture on a probe in an embodiment; [0024] FIG.

7(a) is a schematic diagram showing setting of a receiving aperture and a transmitting aperture on a probe in another embodiment; [0025] FIG.

7(b) is a schematic diagram showing setting of a receiving aperture and an emitting aperture on a probe in still another embodiment.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

[0027] The paragraphs describing the best mode of the invention are entered here.

Embodiments of the invention

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0029] It may be exemplified that an ultrasonic imaging device configured with a continuous wave Doppler probe is disposed at a fixed aperture and a receiving aperture, which cannot be changed by the user during use. The probe is always carried out with a fixed transmit aperture and receive aperture, which can lead to many undesired problems, especially when the probe has a large number of array elements or a wide lateral dimension, for example, the aggregate deflection angle is too large, etc. Ultimately, the effect of ultrasound imaging is not ideal.

[0030] In view of the above problems, the present invention provides an ultrasonic continuous wave Doppler imaging method and apparatus, which can configure a transmitting aperture and a receiving aperture according to circumstances, thereby effectively reducing the influence caused by an excessively large deflection angle of the transmission, further making Ultrasound imaging is ideal; the effect of the invention is more obvious for probes with more array elements or wider lateral dimensions, such as probes of the type of line array and convex array, etc.

[0031] It should be noted that the emission aperture mentioned herein refers to all the probes used to perform the ultrasonic beam. The set of array elements emitted, when the aperture is determined, the number and position of the array elements used for the transmission on the probe are determined, that is, which array elements are specifically used for the transmission on the probe, similarly, the The receiving aperture refers to a set of all the array elements on the probe for performing the reception of the ultrasonic beam. When the receiving aperture is determined, the number and position of the array elements for receiving on the probe are also determined, that is, the probe is determined. Which array elements are used for reception.

[0032]

Embodiment 1

Referring to FIG. 1, an embodiment of the present invention discloses an ultrasonic continuous wave Doppler imaging method, which includes steps S10 to S50, which are specifically described below.

[0035] Step S10: Acquire location information of the CW sampling line. In one embodiment, the position information of the CW sample line includes position information of the top end of the CW sample line. The top of the CW sampling line here may refer to the end of the CW sampling line that is closer to the probe or the intersection of the CW sampling line and the line or plane where the probe element is located. In an embodiment, the ultrasonic continuous wave Doppler imaging method of the present invention has various methods for obtaining the position information of the CW sampling line. For example, referring to FIG. 2, in an embodiment, step S10 may include step S11. And S12.

[0036] Step S11: determining or automatically determining the current CW sampling line by the imaging device according to an external input. That is, in some embodiments, after operation of an imaging device (e.g., an ultrasonic continuous wave Doppler imaging device), the user can input or adjust the position of the CW sampling line and/or the angle relative to the probe element through the input device. The current CW sample line can be easily determined based on external inputs. Alternatively, in some other embodiments, the imaging device may have the function of automatically determining or adjusting the CW sampling line, for example, automatically determining and/or adjusting the position of the CW sampling line by analyzing the currently obtained ultrasound image data. Or relative to the angle of the probe element, and so on.

[0037] Step S12: Acquire location information of the CW sampling line according to the current CW sampling line. When the current CW sample line is externally input or automatically determined by the imaging device, the position information of the current CW sample line has been determined and can be conveniently obtained.

[0038]

[0039] Step S20: Determine the center position of the emission aperture of the probe according to the position information of the acquired CW sampling line.

[0040] Step S30: determining the emission aperture according to the determined center position of the emission aperture of the probe, and controlling the probe The array elements included in the transmit aperture perform the emission of the ultrasonic beam. In an embodiment, step S30 determines the transmit aperture according to the determined center position of the transmit aperture of the probe, including: selecting, according to the set transmit aperture size value, a plurality of array elements centered on the center position of the transmit aperture as the transmit aperture. The center here is not a mathematically strict definition of size. It is relative to the array element. For example, let's take a line array probe as an example. It includes 1~100 array elements from left to right, when the center of the emission aperture The position is exactly the position of a certain array element. If the emission aperture size is an odd number, the center position of the emission aperture is just the positive center. If the emission aperture size is an even number, the center of the emission aperture is increased by two in the middle. For example, the position of one of the array elements is taken as the 10th array element with the center position of the emission aperture. When the aperture size is 7吋, the 7th to 13th array elements are used for transmission, when the aperture is emitted. The size is 6吋, then the 7th to 12th array elements or the 8th to 13th array elements are used for launching; likewise, when the center position of the emission aperture is not the position of a certain array element, but between the two array elements a position, if the emission aperture size is an even number, the number of array elements on both sides of the emission aperture center position is the same. If the emission aperture size is an odd value, the number of array elements on the side of the emission aperture center position is higher than the other The number of array elements on one side is one more.

[0041] Step S40: determining a receiving aperture according to the determined transmit aperture, and controlling the array element included in the receiving aperture on the probe to perform reception of the ultrasonic beam echo to obtain an ultrasonic echo signal. In an embodiment, step S40 determines the receiving aperture according to the determined transmit aperture, including: selecting at least a portion of the array elements other than the transmit aperture as the receive aperture. That is, in some embodiments, when the transmit aperture is determined by the center position of the transmit aperture determined based on the position of the sample line, a portion or all of the remaining array elements on the probe may be selected as the receive aperture.

[0042] Step S50: Obtain an ultrasound image according to the ultrasound echo signal.

[0043] It can be seen that the ultrasonic continuous wave Doppler imaging method of the present invention finally determines the emission aperture and the reception aperture based on the position information of the CW line sample. Therefore, when the CW takes a line sample changes, correspondingly, The transmit aperture and receive aperture should also be updated accordingly. Therefore, in an embodiment, the step S10 of the ultrasonic continuous wave Doppler imaging method of the present invention acquires the position information of the CW sampling line, and further includes: when the CW sampling line changes, updating according to the changed CW sampling line. The position information of the CW sampling line, correspondingly, the ultrasonic continuous wave Doppler imaging method in an embodiment of the present invention further includes: updating the center position of the transmitting aperture of the probe according to the position information of the updated CW sampling line; according to the updated probe The emission aperture center position updates the emission aperture, and controls the updated emission aperture of the probe to include the array element execution super Acoustic beam transmission; updating the receiving aperture according to the updated transmission aperture, and controlling the array element included in the updated receiving aperture on the probe to perform ultrasonic beam echo reception to obtain an updated ultrasonic echo signal; according to the updated ultrasound echo The wave signal obtains an updated ultrasound image.

Referring to FIG. 3(a), a continuous wave Doppler imaging apparatus including a position information acquisition unit 20, a scan control unit 30, a probe 40, and an image processing unit 50 is also disclosed in an embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIG. 3(b), in an embodiment, the continuous wave Doppler imaging apparatus of the present invention may further include a display unit 60, which will be specifically described below.

[0045] The location information acquiring unit 20 is configured to acquire location information of the CW sampling line. In an embodiment, the location information acquisition unit 20 acquires location information of the CW sample line, and the location information of the CW sample line includes location information of the top of the CW sample line. The location information acquiring unit 20 obtains the location information of the CW sampling line in various manners. For example, in an embodiment, the location information acquiring unit 20 determines or automatically determines the current CW sampling line according to the external input, and according to the current The CW sampling line acquires the position information of the CW sampling line. The probe 40 includes a plurality of array elements for performing the emission of the ultrasonic beam and the reception of the ultrasonic beam echo. For example, the probe can be a line array probe.

[0046] The scan control unit 30 is configured to control the array element on the probe 40 to perform the emission of the ultrasonic beam and the reception of the ultrasonic beam echo; wherein the scan control unit 30 is configured to determine the center of the emission aperture of the probe according to the position information of the CW sampling line. Position, determining a transmit aperture according to the determined center position of the transmit aperture of the probe, and controlling the array element included in the transmit aperture on the probe to perform the emission of the ultrasonic beam; determining the receive aperture according to the determined transmit aperture, and controlling the probe The array elements included in the receiving aperture perform the reception of the ultrasonic beam echo to obtain an ultrasonic echo signal. In a specific embodiment, the scan control unit 30 determines the transmit aperture according to the determined transmit aperture center position of the probe, and may be a plurality of array elements centered on the transmit aperture center position according to the set transmit aperture size value. Set to the transmit aperture. In a specific embodiment, the scan control unit 30 determines the receive aperture based on the determined transmit aperture, and may set at least a portion of the array elements other than the transmit aperture as the receive aperture.

[0047] In an embodiment, the scan control unit 30 controls which array elements are used to transmit which array elements are used for receiving, and also controls the type, shape, and delay of the transmitted pulses to enable the transmitted ultrasonic beams. Focusing on a predetermined focus position on a predetermined sampling line. In one embodiment, scan control unit 30 adjusts the delay of each array element echo and focuses to improve the signal to noise of the currently received signal at the user selected focus position. [0048] The image processing unit 50 is configured to obtain an ultrasound image according to the ultrasound imaging for performing the ultrasound echo signal.

[0049] The display unit 60 is for displaying an ultrasound image.

[0050] It can be seen that the ultrasonic continuous wave Doppler imaging device of the present invention finally determines the transmitting aperture and the receiving aperture based on the position information of the CW taking the line sample. Therefore, when the CW takes a line sample to change, correspondingly, The transmit aperture and receive aperture should also be updated accordingly. Therefore, in an embodiment, the position information acquiring unit 20 of the ultrasonic continuous wave Doppler imaging apparatus of the present invention acquires the position information of the CW sampling line, and when the CW sampling line changes, according to the changed CW sampling line. Updating the position information of the CW sampling line, and correspondingly, the scanning control unit 30 in the ultrasonic continuous wave Doppler device according to an embodiment of the present invention updates the center position of the transmitting aperture of the probe according to the position information of the updated CW sampling line; The updated probe's transmit aperture center position updates the transmit aperture, and controls the array element included in the updated transmit aperture on the probe to perform the ultrasound beam transmission; updates the receive aperture based on the updated transmit aperture, and controls the updated receive on the probe The array element included in the aperture performs reception of the ultrasonic beam echo to obtain an updated ultrasonic echo signal; the image processing unit 50 obtains the updated ultrasound image based on the updated ultrasonic echo signal

[0051] The following may be explained by an example.

[0052] As shown in FIG. 4, it is a typical line array B image display area, and the thick solid line in the figure is a CW sampling line.

The circle on the CW sampling line indicates the CW gathering position, that is, the focus on the CW sampling line. The black solid dot in the figure indicates the top of the CW sampling line; the CW sampling line and the focus on it can be selected according to the user's instruction. For example, the CW sampling line in the figure can be moved horizontally or rotated around the focus. Accordingly, when the position of the CW sampling line changes, the position of the top end also changes. The invention can determine and adjust the transmit aperture information and the receive aperture information of the probe according to the position information of the CW sampling line. When the position information of the CW sampling line changes, the transmit aperture information and the receive aperture information of the probe are updated accordingly, The invention determines the transmitting aperture information and the receiving aperture information of the probe according to the position information of the CW sampling line, thereby effectively reducing the influence caused by the excessive deflection angle of the transmission, and the ultrasonic imaging effect is ideal.

[0053]

Example 2 [0055] This embodiment 2 is based on the improvement of the embodiment 1. The improvement concept of the second embodiment is: according to whether the top end of the CW sampling line is located on the left side or the right side of the probe center line to determine the emission aperture and The receiving aperture determines which array elements on the probe are used to perform the emission of the ultrasonic beam and which array elements are used to perform the reception of the ultrasonic beam echo, as described below.

[0056] Based on the embodiment 1, the ultrasonic continuous wave Doppler imaging method disclosed in an embodiment of the present invention, refer to FIG. 5, and the step S20 determines the center position of the transmitting aperture of the probe according to the position information of the CW sampling line. Step S20-01 to step S20-05 are included.

[0057] Step S20-01: determining, according to the position information of the CW sampling line, whether the top end of the CW sampling line is located on the left side or the right side of the probe center line, and when determining that the top end of the CW sampling line is located on the left side of the probe center line, Step S20-03 is performed, otherwise, step S20-05 is performed.

[0058] Step S20-03: Set the center position of the emission aperture to the left of the center line of the probe.

[0059] Step S20-05: Set the center position of the emission aperture to the right of the center line of the probe.

[0060] For example, the linear array probe shown in FIG. 6 may be taken as an example. The circle filled with diagonal lines in FIG. 6 represents an array element, which includes 192 array elements. For convenience of description, the array elements in FIG. 6 are given. From left to right, the numbers are 1~192. When judging that the top of the CW sampling line is located on the left side of the probe center line, set the center position of the emission aperture to the left of the probe center line. For example, you can set the 47th position of the center of the emission aperture to the left of the probe center line. Position of the array element, when the emission aperture size value is 93吋, select a plurality of array elements centered on the center position of the emission aperture as the emission aperture, then the array elements included in the emission aperture are the array elements of sequence numbers 1~93, These elements are controlled to perform the emission of the ultrasonic beam.

[0061] The receive aperture is then determined based on the determined transmit aperture, for example, at least a portion of the array elements outside of the control aperture are controlled to be receive apertures. For example, in Figure 6, the array elements other than the emission aperture, that is, the array elements of the array elements of the serial numbers 94 to 192 are set to the receiving aperture. It can be seen that the array elements 94~99 in Fig. 6 are closed array elements, that is, the transmission is not performed and the reception is not performed. The advantage of this is that for some probes with weak crosstalk capability, the emission is weak. The aperture and the receiving aperture are separated by a closed array element to prevent crosstalk. Of course, in order to maximize the use of the array elements on the probe, after setting the array elements of sequence numbers 1 to 93 as the emission aperture, The remaining array elements 94~192 are set to receive aperture

[0062] [0063]

[0064] Based on the embodiment 1, the continuous wave Doppler imaging device according to an embodiment of the present invention, the scan control unit 30 determines the center position of the emission aperture of the probe according to the position of the CW sampling line, which may be The position information of the CW sampling line determines whether the top of the CW sampling line is located on the left side or the right side of the probe center line. When it is determined that the top end of the CW sampling line is located on the left side of the probe center line, the center position of the emission aperture is set at the probe. The left side of the center line; otherwise, set the center position of the emission aperture at the center line of the probe

[0065] The continuous wave Doppler imaging method and apparatus disclosed in the present example, according to whether the top end of the CW sampling line is located on the left side or the right side of the probe center line, the array elements for transmission and the array elements for receiving are provided. Reducing the adverse effects of excessive deflection of the emission, such as increasing the signal-to-noise ratio, reducing the effect of excessive deflection of the grating, causing energy to concentrate on the main lobe, reducing the effects of mirroring.

[0066]

Example 3

[0068] The third embodiment has been improved on the basis of the embodiment 1. The improvement concept of the third embodiment is: according to the position information of the acquired CW sampling line, the position information of the top end of the CW sampling line is represented. The position is set to the center position of the emission aperture to finally determine the emission aperture and the reception aperture, and which array elements on the probe are used to perform the emission of the ultrasonic beam and which array elements are used to perform the reception of the ultrasonic beam echo, as described below.

[0069] On the basis of Embodiment 1, in the embodiment of the present invention, the ultrasonic continuous wave Doppler imaging, such as the ultrasonic linear array continuous wave Doppler imaging method, the step S20 is determined according to the position information of the CW sampling line. The center position of the emission aperture of the probe may include: a position indicated by position information of a tip end of the CW sampling line is a center position of the emission aperture. The transmit aperture is then determined based on the determined center position of the transmit aperture of the probe, and the receive aperture is determined based on the determined transmit aperture.

[0070]

[0071] The following may be further illustrated by taking a line array type probe as an example. For example, the probe includes 192 array elements, refer to FIG. 7 (a) and (b), and the circle filled with diagonal lines in FIG. The array element includes 192 array elements. For the convenience of description, the array elements in Fig. 7 are numbered 1~192 from left to right. First, according to the position information of the acquired CW sampling line, the position indicated by the position information of the top end of the CW sampling line is The center position of the emission aperture. For example, it may be assumed that the array element of No. 75 in Fig. 7 is the position indicated by the position information of the top end of the CW sampling line, and the position of the array element of No. 75 is the center position of the emission aperture. Then, the emission aperture is determined according to the determined center position of the emission aperture of the probe. For example, according to the set aperture aperture size value, a plurality of array elements centered on the center position of the emission aperture are selected as the emission aperture. Assuming the transmit aperture size is 70, the array elements 41-110, or the array elements 40-109 are set to the transmit aperture. It is possible to set the array elements 41-110 as the emission in Figure 7. Taking the aperture as an example, the receiving aperture is determined according to the determined transmission aperture. For example, at least a part of the array elements other than the array elements 41 to 110 of the transmitting aperture are selected as the receiving aperture, and FIG. 7(a) is All array elements except the emission aperture are set to the receiving aperture, and Figure 7 (b) sets a part of the array elements outside the emission aperture as the receiving aperture.

On the basis of Embodiment 1, in the continuous wave Doppler imaging apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, the scan control unit determines the center position of the emission aperture of the probe according to the position of the CW sampling line, and may sample the CW. The position indicated by the position information of the top of the line is set to the center position of the emission aperture.

[0073]

[0074] The continuous wave Doppler imaging method and apparatus disclosed in the present example determines the array element corresponding to the top end of the CW sampling line on the probe, and further determines according to the array element corresponding to the top end of the CW sampling line on the probe. The transmit aperture information and the receive aperture information determine which array elements on the probe are used to perform the emission of the ultrasonic beam and which array elements are used to perform the reception of the ultrasonic beam echo. Therefore, it is possible to select a suitable size and position of the transmitting and receiving apertures according to the position of the top of the sampling line, so that, at the time of reception, the receiving elements with weaker received signals can be used (in the same case, the noise of each element is substantially The above is consistent, and as its position relative to the focus (which is related to the top position of the sampling line and the angle of deflection), the intensity of the received signal is different) is excluded from the receiving aperture, thereby improving the signal-to-noise ratio. In addition, the adverse effects of excessive deflection of the emission deflection can be further reduced, such as reducing the effect of excessive deflection of the grating deflection, and simultaneously reducing the deflection angle of the transmitting and receiving apertures to further increase signal strength. Especially for probes that use a wider lateral width and more array elements in the lateral width direction of the probe (for example, array elements are arranged in a one-dimensional linear or curved array of probes (for example, so-called area array probes or a convex array probe), a array of array elements arranged in a two-dimensional planar or curved array, etc., collectively referred to herein as "wide array probes", which can be made by the method and apparatus of embodiments of the present invention The transmit aperture and receive aperture on the probe can be positioned more accurately, and the sample line can be oversized without deflection (also means that it will be launched) The emission deflection angle of the ultrasonic beam does not need to be deflected too much) to meet the user's adjustment requirements for the sampling gate (for example, in the case of fixed transmission aperture and receiving aperture, when the required sampling gate position is located at the side edge position of the current scanning area 吋The angle of deflection of the sampling line relative to the array element may be too large), thereby effectively improving the signal-to-noise ratio and reducing the adverse effects of excessive deflection of the emission.

[0075]

It can be understood by those skilled in the art that all or part of the functions of the various methods in the above embodiments may be implemented by hardware or by a computer program. When all or part of the functions in the above embodiments are implemented by a computer program, the program may be stored in a computer readable storage medium, and the storage medium may include: a read only memory, a random access memory, a magnetic disk, an optical disk, a hard disk, etc. The computer executes the program to implement the above functions. For example, the program is stored in the memory of the device, and when the program in the memory is executed by the processor, all or part of the above functions can be realized. In addition, when all or part of the functions in the above embodiments are implemented by a computer program, the program may also be stored in a storage medium such as a server, another computer, a magnetic disk, an optical disk, a flash disk or a mobile hard disk, by downloading or The copy is saved to the memory of the local device, or the system of the local device is updated. When the program in the memory is executed by the processor, all or part of the functions in the above embodiments may be implemented.

The invention has been described above with reference to specific examples, which are merely intended to aid the understanding of the invention and are not intended to limit the invention. Variations to the above specific embodiments may be made by those skilled in the art in light of the teachings of the present invention.

Claims

Claim

An ultrasonic continuous wave Doppler imaging method, comprising:

Obtain location information of the CW sampling line;

Determining a center position of the transmitting aperture of the probe according to the position information of the CW sampling line; determining a transmitting aperture according to the determined center position of the transmitting aperture of the probe, and controlling the array element included in the transmitting aperture on the probe to perform the transmitting of the ultrasonic beam; The determined transmit aperture determines a receive aperture, and controls the array elements included in the receive aperture on the probe to perform reception of the ultrasonic beam echo to obtain an ultrasonic echo signal; and obtain an ultrasound image based on the ultrasonic echo signal.

The ultrasonic continuous wave Doppler imaging method according to claim 1, wherein the position information of the CW sampling line includes position information of a top end of the CW sampling line.

The ultrasonic continuous wave Doppler imaging method according to claim 2, wherein the determining the center position of the emission aperture of the probe according to the position information of the CW sampling line comprises: determining the CW according to the position information of the CW sampling line The top of the sampling line is located to the left or to the right of the probe centerline;

When it is judged that the top of the CW sampling line is located on the left side of the probe center line, the center position of the emission aperture is set to the left of the probe center line; otherwise, the center position of the emission aperture is set to the right of the probe center line.

The ultrasonic continuous wave Doppler imaging method according to claim 2, wherein determining the center position of the emission aperture of the probe according to the position information of the CW sampling line comprises: indicating the position information of the top end of the CW sampling line Position is the center position of the emission aperture

[Claim 5] The ultrasonic continuous wave Doppler imaging method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein determining the emission aperture according to the determined center position of the emission aperture of the probe comprises: according to the set emission aperture The size value is selected to be a plurality of array elements centered on the center position of the emission aperture as a transmission aperture.

[Claim 6] The ultrasonic linear array continuous wave Doppler imaging method according to claim 5, wherein determining the receiving aperture according to the determined transmission aperture comprises: selecting the emission aperture other than At least a portion of the array elements in the array elements are receiving apertures.

[Claim 7] The continuous wave Doppler imaging method according to claim 1, wherein the acquiring location information of the CW sampling line comprises:

The current CW sampling line is determined according to an external input or automatically determined by the imaging device; and the position information of the CW sampling line is acquired according to the current CW sampling line.

[Claim 8] The continuous wave Doppler imaging method according to claim 1, wherein the acquiring location information of the CW sampling line further comprises:

When the CW sampling line changes, the position information of the CW sampling line is updated according to the changed CW sampling line;

The method further includes:

Updating the center position of the transmitting aperture of the probe according to the updated position information of the CW sampling line; updating the transmitting aperture according to the updated center position of the transmitting aperture of the probe, and controlling the array element included in the updated transmitting aperture on the probe to perform the emission of the ultrasonic beam ;

Updating the receiving aperture according to the updated transmitting aperture, and controlling the array element included in the updated receiving aperture on the probe to perform the receiving of the ultrasonic beam echo to obtain the updated ultrasonic echo signal to obtain the updated ultrasonic wave according to the updated ultrasonic echo signal image.

[Claim 9] A continuous wave Doppler imaging apparatus, comprising:

a location information obtaining unit, configured to acquire location information of the CW sampling line;

a probe comprising a plurality of array elements, the probe being configured to perform emission of an ultrasonic beam and reception of an ultrasonic beam echo;

a scan control unit, the scan control unit is for

Determining a center position of the transmitting aperture of the probe according to the position information of the CW sampling line; determining a transmitting aperture according to the determined center position of the transmitting aperture of the probe, and controlling the array element included in the transmitting aperture on the probe to perform the transmitting of the ultrasonic beam; Determining a transmission aperture to determine a receiving aperture, and controlling an array element included in the receiving aperture on the probe to perform reception of an ultrasonic beam echo to obtain an ultrasonic echo signal; and an image processing unit configured to perform, according to the ultrasonic echo signal Ultrasound imaging. [Claim 10] The continuous wave Doppler imaging apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the position information of the CW sampling line acquired by the position information acquiring unit includes position information of the top end of the CW sampling line.

[Claim 11] The continuous wave Doppler imaging apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the scan control unit is configured to:

Determining, according to the position information of the CW sampling line, whether the top end of the CW sampling line is located to the left or the right of the center line of the probe;

[Claim 12] The continuous wave Doppler imaging apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the scan control unit sets a position indicated by position information of a tip end of the CW sampling line as the center of the emission aperture position.

[Claim 13] The continuous wave Doppler imaging apparatus according to any one of claims 9 to 12, wherein: the scan control unit sets the center position of the emission aperture according to a set aperture aperture size value The plurality of array elements centered on are set to the emission aperture.

[Claim 14] The continuous wave Doppler imaging apparatus according to claim 13, wherein: the scan control unit sets at least a part of the array elements other than the emission apertures as the reception aperture.

[Claim 15] The continuous wave Doppler imaging apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the position information acquisition unit determines or automatically determines a current CW sampling line according to an external input, and acquires according to the current CW sampling line. Location information of the CW sampling line.

[Claim 16] The continuous wave Doppler imaging apparatus according to claim 9, wherein when said C

W sample line changes 吋:

The location information acquiring unit updates the location information of the CW sampling line according to the changed current CW sampling line;

The scan control unit:

Updating the center position of the transmitting aperture of the probe according to the updated position information of the CW sampling line; Updating the emission aperture according to the updated probe center position of the probe, and controlling the array element included in the updated transmission aperture on the probe to perform the emission of the ultrasonic beam;

Updating the receiving aperture according to the updated transmit aperture, and controlling the array element included in the updated receive aperture on the probe to perform reception of the ultrasonic beam echo to obtain an updated ultrasonic echo signal, the image processing unit according to the updated ultrasonic echo The signal acquires an updated ultrasound image.

[Claim 17] A storage medium storing a program, wherein the program is for performing the continuous wave Doppler imaging method according to any one of claims 1 to 8.