Ultrasound scanner and ultrasound signal correction method for the ultrasound scanner

An ultrasound scanner comprising:

• an ultrasound transducer that transmits ultrasound signals to an object and receives ultrasound echo signals reflected from the object;
• a motor connected to a central axis of the ultrasound transducer;
• an ultrasound probe equipped with the ultrasound transducer and the motor;
• a sensor mounted on a central axis of the ultrasound probe and configured to detect a tilt angle of the ultrasound probe;
• and
• a control unit configured to receive the ultrasound echo signals from the ultrasound transducer, correct coordinates of the ultrasound echo signals, and generate a sector-shaped 2D ultrasound image based on the ultrasound echo signals having the corrected coordinates,
• wherein the control unit includes:
• a coordinate correction module configured to obtain initial coordinates (x, y) for the ultrasound echo signals based on an origin preset as a reference position of the ultrasound transducer, calculate error values (Δx, Δy) indicating a degree to which the ultrasound transducer deviates from the origin based on a tilt angle (θ) of the ultrasound probe provided from the sensor, and correct the initial coordinates of the ultrasound echo signals based on the error values;
• and
• a 2D ultrasound image generation module configured to rotate the ultrasound transducer by driving the motor, acquire ultrasound echo signals based on the rotation of the ultrasound transducer, correct coordinates of the ultrasound echo signals by the coordinate correction module, and generate the sector-shaped 2D ultrasound image based on the ultrasound echo signals having corrected coordinates (x′, y′),
• wherein the corrected coordinates (x′, y′) of the coordinate correction module are obtained by the equations below,
• x
• ′
• =
• x
• -
• Δ
• ⁢
• x
• ,
• y
• ′
• =
• y
• -
• Δ
• ⁢
• y
• ,
• Δ
• ⁢
• y
• =
• Δ
• ⁢
• d
• cosθ
• -
• Δ
• ⁢
• x
• ⁢
• tan
• ⁢
• θ
• ,
• Δ
• ⁢
• x
• =
• R
• ⁡
• (
• θ
• -
• sinθ
• )
• ,
• and
• Δ
• ⁢
• d
• =
• R
• (
• θ
• sinθ
• +
• cos
• ⁢
• θ
• -
• 1
• +
• θ
• ⁢
• cos
• 2
• ⁢
• θ
• sin
• ⁢
• θ
• )
• ,
• here, Δd is an amount of movement in an axial direction of the ultrasound probe, and R is a radius of a lower covering of the ultrasound probe.