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US 8,941,646 B2Granted
Ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus and ultrasonic image display method
AssigneeHitachi Medical Corporation
InventorShinsuke Inoue
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Provided is an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus which constructs a three-dimensional elastic image by separating elastic volume data and then performing volume rendering, and also provided is an ultrasonic image display method. The three-dimensional elastic image constructing unit separates the elastic volume data into a plurality of data sets on the basis of the elastic values and performs volume rendering on the separated elastic volume data sets, thereby constructing a three-dimensional elastic image.
Claims14
An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus comprising:
- an ultrasonic probe provided with transducers configured to transmit/receive ultrasonic waves;
- a transmitter configured to transmit ultrasonic waves to an object to be examined via the ultrasonic probe;
- a receptor configured to receive reflected echo signals from the object;
- an elastic volume data generator for generating elastic volume data by using the reflected echo signals;
- and
- a 3-dimensional elastic image constructor configured to construct a 3-dimensional elastic image by performing volume rendering on the elastic volume data;
- and
- a display configured to display the 3-dimesnional elastic image,
- wherein the 3-dimensional elastic image constructor comprises:
- an elastic volume data grouper for grouping the elastic volume data into a first set of elastic volume data of a hard region and a second set of elastic volume data of a soft region by using an elastic value,
- a first elastic renderer for volume rendering a first set of elastic volume data to produce a first 3-dimensional elastic image of the hard region,
- a second elastic renderer for volume rendering a second set of elastic volume data to produce a second 3-dimensional elastic image of the soft region,
- a 3-dimensional elastic image synthesizer for synthesizing the first 3-dimensional elastic image and the second 3-dimensional elastic image,
- wherein the 3-dimensional elastic image synthesizer synthesizes the first 3-dimensional elastic image and the second 3-dimensional elastic image to thereby superimpose the first 3-dimensional elastic image and the second 3-dimensional elastic image onto the display screen.
11 more elements
An ultrasonic image display method including steps of:
- constructing a 3-dimensional image by receiving reflected echo signals and performing volume rendering on elastic volume data;
- and
- displaying the 3-dimensional elastic image on a display screen,
- wherein the step of constructing a 3-dimensional elastic image comprises:
- grouping the elastic volume data into a first set of elastic volume data of a hard region and a second set of elastic volume data of a soft region by using an elastic value;
- volume rendering a first set of elastic volume data to produce a first 3-dimensional elastic image of the hard region;
- volume rendering a second set of elastic volume data to produce a second 3-dimensional elastic image of the soft region;
- and
- synthesizing the first 3-dimensional elastic image and the second 3-dimensional elastic image, wherein the synthesizing includes synthesizing the first 3-dimensional elastic image and the second 3-dimensional elastic image to thereby superimpose the first 3-dimensional elastic image and the second 3-dimensional elastic image onto the display screen.
6 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.