Ultrasound probe diagnosing apparatus, ultrasound diagnostic apparatus, and ultrasound probe diagnosing method
AssigneesKabushiki Kaisha Toshiba, Toshiba Medical Systems Corporation
InventorTakashi Kumazawa
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An ultrasound probe diagnosing apparatus which diagnoses an ultrasound probe having an array of a plurality of ultrasound transducing elements on the basis of how the ultrasound probe receives reflected ultrasound waves from a test object placed to face the ultrasound probe, includes a part which detects a posture of the ultrasound probe with respect to the test object by comparing reflected ultrasound signals received by at least some of the plurality of ultrasound transducing elements, and a presenting part which presents information based on the detected posture.
Claims6
An ultrasound probe diagnosing apparatus which diagnoses an ultrasound probe of a first type, which has a signal line for transmitting a signal to be transmitted/received by an ultrasound transducing element, or an ultrasound probe of a second type, which includes an electronic circuit which has the signal line for transmitting the signal to be transmitted/received by the ultrasound transducing element, and is configured to apply a bias voltage to the signal line, the apparatus comprising:
- a probe identifying part which selectively identifies a diagnosis target as the ultrasound probe of the first type or the ultrasound probe of the second type;
- a changing part which changes an application state of a test voltage to the signal line in accordance with the selective identification of the diagnosis target as the ultrasound probe of the first type;
- a first determining part which, in accordance with the selective identification of the diagnosis target as the ultrasound probe of the first type, determines a state of the signal line on a basis of a transient response characteristic of a signal line voltage of the signal line when the application state of the test voltage is changed, wherein the first determining part determines the state of the signal line on the basis of the signal line voltage at a point of time after a lapse of a predetermined period of time since the application state of the test voltage is changed or a time required for the first signal line voltage to reach a predetermined voltage after the application state of the test voltage is changed;
- a bias voltage detecting part which detects the bias voltage applied to the signal line, in accordance with the selective identification of the diagnosis target as the ultrasound probe of the second type by the probe identifying part;
- and
- a second determining part which, in accordance with the selective identification of the diagnosis target as the ultrasound probe of the second type, determines a state of the signal line on the basis of whether the bias voltage is detected by the bias voltage detecting part.
An ultrasound diagnostic apparatus which includes an ultrasound probe of a first type which has a signal line for transmitting a signal to be transmitted/received by an ultrasound transducing element or an electronic circuit which has the signal line for transmitting the signal to be transmitted/received by the ultrasound transducing element and is configured to apply a bias voltage to the signal line, and obtains information for diagnosis on a subject to be examined on the basis of a reflected ultrasound wave received from the subject by the ultrasound probe, the apparatus comprising:
- a probe identifying part which selectively identifies the ultrasound probe as an ultrasound probe of a first type or an ultrasound probe of a second type;
- a changing part which changes an application state of a test voltage to the signal line in accordance with the selective identification of the ultrasound probe as the first type;
- a first determining part which, in accordance with the selective identification of the diagnosis target as an ultrasound probe of the first type, determines a state of the signal line on the basis of a transient response characteristic of a signal line voltage of the signal line when an application state of the test voltage is changed, wherein the first determining part determines the state of the signal line on the basis of the signal line voltage at a point of time after a lapse of a predetermined period of time since the application state of the test voltage is changed or a time required for the signal line voltage to reach a predetermined voltage after the application state of the test voltage is changed;
- a bias voltage detecting part which detects the bias voltage applied to the signal line, in accordance with the selective identification of the ultrasound probe as the second type;
- and
- a second determining part which, in accordance with the selective identification of the diagnosis target as the ultrasound probe of the second type, determines a state of a signal line on the basis of whether the bias voltage is detected by the bias voltage detecting part.
An ultrasound probe diagnosing method of diagnosing an ultrasound probe of a first type, which has a signal line for transmitting a signal to be transmitted/received by an ultrasound transducing element or an ultrasound probe of a second type, which includes an electronic circuit which has the signal line for transmitting the signal to be transmitted/received by the ultrasound transducing element, and is configured to apply a bias voltage to the signal line, comprising:
- selectively identifying a diagnosis target as an ultrasound probe of the first type or an ultrasound probe of the second type;
- changing an application state of a test voltage to the signal line in accordance with the selective identification of the diagnosis target as an ultrasound probe of the first type;
- determining, in accordance with the selective identification of the diagnosis target as an ultrasound probe of the first type, a state of the signal line on a basis of a transient response characteristic of a signal line voltage of the signal line when the application state of the test voltage is changed, wherein the determining determines the state of the signal line on the basis of the signal line voltage at a point of time after a lapse of a predetermined period of time since an application state of the test voltage is changed or a time required for the signal line voltage to reach a predetermined voltage after the application state of the test voltage is changed;
- detecting the bias voltage applied to the signal line in accordance with the selective identification of the diagnosis target as the ultrasound probe of the second type;
- and
- determining, in accordance with the selective identification of the diagnosis target as the ultrasound probe of the second type, the state of the signal line on a basis of whether the bias voltage is detected.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.