Acoustic wave processing device, signal processing method for acoustic wave processing device, and program

An acoustic wave processing device comprising:

• a probe which has an array of elements arranged to transmit acoustic beams, to receive acoustic echoes reflected from an inspection object, and to output analog element signals according to the received acoustic echoes;
• and
• a processor,
• wherein the processor is configured to:
• perform A/D conversion on the analog element signals to generate first data as a digital signal,
• perform phasing addition on the first data to generate first reception data,
• select at least two pieces of data from the first reception data, each of the at least two pieces of data respectively generated by a transmission and reception of at least two acoustic beams, the at least two acoustic beams being sequential in time,
• wherein each of the at least two acoustic beams is generated by a plurality of elements of the array, the plurality of elements defining a region and having a central element,
• wherein the at least two acoustic beams have different central elements and regions that overlap each other,
• wherein each of the at least two pieces of data has a transmission time between the transmission and reception of a respective one of the at least two acoustic beams, and one of the at least two pieces of data has a minimum transmission time,
• perform superimposition processing on the selected at least two pieces of data to generate second reception data, the superimposition processing including calculation processing of a delay time according to a difference in the transmission time and the minimum transmission time due to a positional difference of the central elements and a correction processing on the each of the at least two pieces of data using the delay time,
• generate a B mode image based on the second reception data,
• generate a bloodstream image based on bloodstream information included in the first reception data,
• set a bloodstream image region where the processor generates the bloodstream image,
• set a processing region where the superimposition processing is performed based on information relating to the bloodstream image region,
• generate a synthesized image of the B mode image and the bloodstream image based on the information relating to the bloodstream image region, and
• perform the superimposition processing only on the at least two pieces of data selected from the first reception data corresponding to a line in the processing region,
• wherein the processor is further configured to set the bloodstream image region based on an input from an operating unit, and
• wherein the superimposition processing is not performed while the setting of the bloodstream image region by the operating unit is performed.