Ultrasound diagnosis apparatus and ultrasound image display method and apparatus

An ultrasound diagnosis apparatus comprising:

• an ultrasound probe which includes ultrasound transducers which transmit and receive ultrasound waves to and from an object to be examined;
• an ultrasound transmission/reception unit which transmits and receives an ultrasound beam by driving the ultrasound transducers;
• a physiological characteristic image data generating unit which generates physiological characteristic image data corresponding to a plurality of time phases, which are used to image a physiological characteristic associated with a body of the object, on the basis of a reception signal received by the ultrasound transmission/reception unit;
• a memory which stores the physiological characteristic image data;
• an LOI setting unit which sets an LOI at an arbitrary position on a physiological characteristic image displayed on the basis of the physiological characteristic image data;
• an M-mode image generating unit which reads out the physiological characteristic image data corresponding to the LOI from the memory and generates an arbitrary M-mode image which is an M-mode image indicating a temporal change associated with the LOI;
• a setting unit which sets a specific region whose motion is to be tracked in a time-series manner and a start time phase of tracking;
• a specific region tracking unit which tracks a time-series position of the specific region from the start time phase by using the physiological characteristic image data corresponding to said plurality of time phases and acquires a tracking line associated with the specific region;
• a profile generating unit which generates a temporal profile of the arbitrary M-mode image associated with the tracking line;
• and
• a display unit which simultaneously displays the arbitrary M-mode image and the temporal profile.

An ultrasound image display apparatus comprising:

• a memory which stores physiological characteristic image data corresponding to at least one time phase, which is obtained by imaging at least one physiological characteristic of an object to be examined, on the basis of an ultrasound signal received from the object;
• an LOI (Line Of Interest) setting unit which sets an LOI at an arbitrary position on a physiological characteristic image displayed on the basis of the physiological characteristic image data;
• an M-mode image generating unit which reads out the physiological characteristic image data corresponding to the LOI from the memory, and generates an arbitrary M-mode image which is an M-mode image representing a temporal change associated with the LOI;
• a setting unit which sets a profile position by a cursor displayed on the arbitrary M-mode image;
• a profile generating unit which generates a temporal profile of the arbitrary M-mode image at the profile position and a spatial profile of the arbitrary M-mode image associated with a line segment containing at least the LOI;
• and
• a display unit which simultaneously displays the arbitrary M-mode image, the temporal profile, and the spatial profile.

An ultrasound image display apparatus comprising:

• a memory which stores physiological characteristic image data corresponding to at least one time phase, which is obtained by imaging at least one physiological characteristic of an object to be examined on the basis of an ultrasound signal received from the object;
• an LOI (Line of Interest) setting unit which sets an LOI at an arbitrary position on a physiological characteristic image displayed on the basis of the physiological characteristic image data;
• an M-mode image generating unit which reads out the physiological characteristic image data corresponding to the LOI from the memory, and generates an arbitrary M-mode image which is an M-mode image representing a temporal change associated with the LOI;
• a setting unit which sets a specific region whose motion is to be tracked in a time-series manner and a start time phase of tracking by a cursor displayed on the arbitrary M-mode image;
• a specific region tracking unit which tracks a time-series position of the specific region from the start time phase by using the physiological characteristic image data corresponding to said plurality of time phases and acquires a tracking line associated with the specific region;
• a profile generating unit which generates a temporal profile of the arbitrary M-mode image associated with the tracking line;
• and
• a display unit which simultaneously displays the arbitrary M-mode image and the temporal profile.

An ultrasound image display method comprising:

• storing physiological characteristic image data corresponding to at least one time phase, which is obtained by imaging at least one physiological characteristic of an object to be examined on the basis of an ultrasound signal received from the object;
• setting an LOI (Line Of Interest) at an arbitrary position on a physiological characteristic image displayed on the basis of the physiological characteristic image data;
• reading out the physiological characteristic image data corresponding to the LOI from the memory, and generating an arbitrary M-mode image which is an M-mode image representing a temporal change associated with the LOI;
• setting a profile position by a cursor displayed on the arbitrary M-mode image;
• generating a temporal profile of the arbitrary M-mode image at the profile position and a spatial profile of the arbitrary M-mode image associated with a line segment containing at least the LOI;
• and
• simultaneously displaying the arbitrary M-mode image, the temporal profile, and the spatial profile.

An ultrasound image display method comprising:

• storing physiological characteristic image data corresponding to at least one time phase, which is obtained by imaging at least one physiological characteristic of an object to be examined on the basis of an ultrasound signal received from the object;
• setting an LOI (Line Of Interest) at an arbitrary position on a physiological characteristic image displayed on the basis of the physiological characteristic image data;
• reading out the physiological characteristic image data corresponding to the LOI from the memory, and generating an arbitrary M-mode image which is an M-mode image representing a temporal change associated with the LOI;
• setting a specific region whose motion is to be tracked in a time-series manner and a start time phase of tracking by a cursor displayed on the arbitrary M-mode image;
• tracking a time-series position of the specific region from the start time phase by using the physiological characteristic image data corresponding to said plurality of time phases and acquiring a tracking line associated with the specific region;
• generating a temporal profile of the arbitrary M-mode image associated with the tracking line;
• and
• simultaneously displaying the arbitrary M-mode image and the temporal profile.

An ultrasound image display apparatus comprising:

• a memory which stores physiological characteristic image data corresponding to at least one time phase, which is obtained by imaging at least one physiological characteristic of an object to be examined on the basis of an ultrasound signal received from the object;
• an LOI (Line Of Interest) setting unit which sets a plurality of LOIs at arbitrary different positions on a physiological characteristic image displayed on the basis of the physiological characteristic image data;
• an M-mode image generating unit which reads out the physiological characteristic image data corresponding to the respective LOIs from the memory, and generates a plurality of arbitrary M-mode images which are M-mode images representing temporal changes associated with the respective LOIs;
• a setting unit which sets a profile position for said each arbitrary mode image by cursors displayed on the respective arbitrary M-mode images;
• a profile generating unit which generates, for said each arbitrary mode image, a temporal profile of the arbitrary M-mode image at the profile position and a spatial profile of the arbitrary M-mode image associated with a line segment containing at least the LOI;
• and
• a display unit which simultaneously displays the respective arbitrary M-mode images, the respective temporal profiles, and the respective spatial profiles.

An ultrasound image display apparatus comprising:

• a memory which stores physiological characteristic image data corresponding to at least one time phase, which is obtained by imaging at least one physiological characteristic of an object to be examined on the basis of an ultrasound signal received from the object;
• an LOI (Line Of Interest) setting unit which sets a plurality of LOIs at arbitrary different positions on a physiological characteristic image displayed on the basis of the physiological characteristic image data;
• an M-mode image generating unit which reads out the physiological characteristic image data corresponding to the respective LOIs from the memory, and generates a plurality of arbitrary M-mode images which are M-mode images representing temporal changes associated with the respective LOIS;
• a setting unit which sets, for said each arbitrary mode image, a specific region whose motion is to be tracked in a time-series manner and a start time phase of tracking by a cursor displayed on said each arbitrary M-mode image;
• a specific region tracking unit which tracks a time-series position of the specific region from the start time phase by using the physiological characteristic image data corresponding to said plurality of time phases and acquires a tracking line associated with the specific region for said each arbitrary M-mode image;
• a profile generating unit which generates a temporal profile of the arbitrary M-mode image associated with the tracking line for said each arbitrary M-mode image;
• and
• a display unit which simultaneously displays the respective arbitrary M-mode images and the respective temporal profiles.