Imaging method and system

Abstract

The present invention provides an imaging method, an apparatus and a device, which can respectively use a first imaging parameter to scan and image the area of ​​interest of an imaging object and a second imaging parameter to scan and image the entire area of ​​the imaging object, so as to obtain a first imaging image of the area of ​​interest and a second imaging image of the entire area. In this way, in the process of fusing the first imaging image and the second imaging image, more image information of the second imaging image can be fused at the edge position of the first imaging image, so as to achieve a smooth transition between the area of ​​interest and outside the area of ​​interest, improve the transition effect, and further ensure that the overall effect of the fused imaging image maintains visual consistency.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to the field of medical imaging technology, and more particularly to an imaging method and system. Background Art

[0002] Medical ultrasound images have been increasingly widely used in clinical practice due to their non-invasive, low-cost, and real-time image display characteristics. Specifically, medical ultrasound imaging uses ultrasonic echo signals to detect the structural information of tissues and displays the structural information of tissues in real time through two-dimensional images. In this way, doctors can identify the structural information in the two-dimensional images to provide a basis for clinical diagnosis.

[0003] Currently, the mainstream medical ultrasound imaging technology is full-area imaging technology. This technology uses the same imaging parameters to image the entire area within the current imaging range, and compromises the imaging parameters to make the full-area image uniform and consistent, and to achieve the best display effect for the full-area image. However, this technology may not have the best display effect for the image within the area of ​​interest, and cannot highlight the features within the area of ​​interest. Summary of the invention

[0004] In view of this, the present invention provides an imaging method and system, which respectively sample different imaging parameters for the global area and the local area of ​​interest for imaging, so as to obtain global area imaging with the area of ​​interest highlighted, which can better meet the clinical needs of the operator.

[0005] In some embodiments of the present invention, an imaging method is provided. The method may include: acquiring an initial image of an object to be imaged; acquiring a region of interest of the object to be imaged based on the initial image; scanning and imaging the region of interest based on a first imaging parameter to obtain a first imaging image; scanning and imaging the entire region of the object to be imaged based on a second imaging parameter to obtain a second imaging image, wherein the first imaging parameter and the second imaging parameter are at least partially different; fusing the first imaging image and the second imaging image to obtain an imaging image of the object to be imaged.

[0006] In some embodiments of the present invention, obtaining a region of interest of an object to be imaged based on an initial image may include: obtaining a region of interest specified by an operator through the initial image using a human-computer interaction interface; or, obtaining an image type of the initial image specified by the operator, and matching the initial image with a corresponding first sample image based on the image type to obtain the region of interest; or, obtaining the region of interest based on the initial image using an image recognition method.

[0007] In some embodiments of the present invention, obtaining a region of interest based on an initial image through an image recognition method may include: obtaining an image type of the initial image, and matching the initial image with a corresponding first sample image based on the image type to obtain the region of interest; or, obtaining motion features in the initial image, segmenting the initial image based on the motion features to obtain a motion region of the initial image, and determining the region of interest based on the motion region.

[0008] In some embodiments of the present invention, obtaining the image type of the initial image may include: obtaining the image type of the initial image specified by the operator; or, performing feature extraction on the initial image to obtain features of the initial image, and matching the features of the initial image with features of the second sample image to obtain the image type of the initial image.

[0009] In some embodiments of the present invention, the first imaging parameter and the second imaging parameter may be at least one of: emission frequency, emission voltage, line density, number of focal spots, focal position, speckle noise suppression parameter and image enhancement parameter.

[0010] In some embodiments of the present invention, fusing the first imaging image and the second imaging image to obtain an imaging image of the object to be imaged may include: acquiring a first fusion parameter of the first imaging image and a second fusion parameter of the second imaging image; fusing the first imaging image and the second imaging image based on the first fusion parameter and the second fusion parameter to obtain an imaging image of the object to be imaged.

[0011] In some embodiments of the present invention, an imaging system is also provided. The imaging system may include: a scanning device, which scans an object to be imaged to obtain image data of the object to be imaged; a processor, which is used to: obtain an initial image of the object to be imaged; obtain a region of interest of the object to be imaged based on the initial image; control the scanning device to scan and image the region of interest based on a first imaging parameter to obtain a first imaging image; control the scanning device to scan and image the entire region of the object to be imaged based on a second imaging parameter to obtain a second imaging image, wherein the first imaging parameter and the second imaging parameter are different; fuse the first imaging image and the second imaging image to obtain an imaging image of the object to be imaged.

[0012] In some embodiments of the present invention, the processor acquiring the region of interest of the object to be imaged based on the initial image may include: the processor acquiring the region of interest specified by the operator through the initial image using the human-computer interaction interface; or, the processor acquiring the image type of the initial image specified by the operator, and matching the initial image with the corresponding first sample image based on the image type to obtain the region of interest; or, the processor acquiring the region of interest based on the initial image through an image recognition method.

[0013] In some embodiments of the present invention, the processor obtains the region of interest based on the initial image through an image recognition method, which may include: the processor obtains the image type of the initial image, and matches the initial image with the corresponding first sample image based on the image type to obtain the region of interest; or, the processor obtains motion features in the initial image, segments the initial image based on the motion features to obtain an initial motion region, and determines the region of interest based on the motion region.

[0014] In some embodiments of the present invention, the processor obtaining the image type of the initial image may include: the processor obtaining the image type of the initial image specified by the operator; or, the processor extracting features of the initial image to obtain features of the initial image, matching the features of the initial image with features of the second sample image to obtain the image type of the initial image.

[0015] In some embodiments of the present invention, the first imaging parameter and the second imaging parameter may be at least one of: emission frequency, emission voltage, line density, number of focal spots, focal position, speckle noise suppression parameter and image enhancement parameter.

[0016] In some embodiments of the present invention, the processor may fuse the first imaging image and the second imaging image to obtain an imaging image of the object to be imaged, which may include: the processor obtains a first fusion parameter of the first imaging image and a second fusion parameter of the second imaging image, and fuses the first imaging image and the second imaging image based on the first fusion parameter and the second fusion parameter to obtain an imaging image of the object to be imaged.

[0017] In some embodiments of the present invention, an ultrasound imaging method is provided, comprising acquiring an initial ultrasound image of an object to be imaged; acquiring a region of interest of the object to be imaged based on the initial ultrasound image; a transmitting circuit stimulating a probe to transmit a first ultrasound wave to the region of interest based on a first imaging parameter, and a receiving circuit controlling the probe to receive an echo signal of the first ultrasound wave; generating a first imaging image based on the echo signal of the first ultrasound wave; the transmitting circuit stimulating the probe to transmit a second ultrasound wave to the entire region of the object to be imaged based on a second imaging parameter, and the receiving circuit controlling the probe to receive the echo signal of the second ultrasound wave, wherein the second imaging parameter is at least partially different from the first imaging parameter; generating a second imaging image based on the echo signal of the second ultrasound wave; and fusing the first imaging image and the second imaging image to obtain an imaging image of the object to be imaged.

[0018] In some embodiments of the present invention, the first fusion parameter is a weight of the first imaging image in a fusion process of the first imaging image and the second imaging image, and the second fusion parameter is a weight of the second imaging image in a fusion process of the first imaging image and the second imaging image; fusing the first imaging image and the second imaging image based on the first fusion parameter and the second fusion parameter to obtain an imaging image of the object to be imaged includes:

[0019] The first imaging image and the second imaging image are weightedly summed with the first fusion parameter and the second fusion parameter corresponding to each other to obtain an imaging image of the object to be imaged.

[0020] In some embodiments of the present invention, an ultrasonic imaging system is provided, comprising a scanning device, the scanning device scanning an object to be imaged to obtain image data of the object to be imaged, the scanning device being a probe; a processor, the processor being used to: obtain an initial ultrasonic image of the object to be imaged; obtain a region of interest of the object to be imaged based on the initial ultrasonic image; a transmitting circuit stimulating the probe to transmit a first ultrasonic wave to the region of interest based on a first imaging parameter, and a receiving circuit controlling the probe to receive an echo signal of the first ultrasonic wave; generating a first imaging image based on the echo signal of the first ultrasonic wave; the transmitting circuit stimulating the probe to transmit a second ultrasonic wave to the entire region of the object to be imaged based on a second imaging parameter, and the receiving circuit controlling the probe to receive the echo signal of the second ultrasonic wave, wherein the second imaging parameter is different from the first imaging parameter; generating a second imaging image based on the echo signal of the second ultrasonic wave; and fusing the first imaging image and the second imaging image to obtain an imaging image of the object to be imaged.

[0021] In some embodiments of the present invention, the first fusion parameter is the weight of the first imaging image in the fusion process of the first imaging image and the second imaging image, and the second fusion parameter is the weight of the second imaging image in the fusion process of the first imaging image and the second imaging image;

[0022] The fusing the first imaging image and the second imaging image based on the first fusion parameter and the second fusion parameter to obtain the imaging image of the object to be imaged includes:

[0023] The first imaging image and the second imaging image are weightedly summed with the first fusion parameter and the second fusion parameter corresponding to each other to obtain an imaging image of the object to be imaged.

[0024] It can be seen from the above technical solution that the first imaging parameter can be used to scan and image the area of ​​interest of the imaging object and the second imaging parameter can be used to scan and image the entire area of ​​the imaging object, respectively, to obtain a first imaging image of the area of ​​interest and a second imaging image of the entire area. In this way, in the process of fusing the first imaging image and the second imaging image, the area of ​​interest in the fused image can be highlighted by the first imaging image; further, more image information of the second imaging image can be fused at the edge position of the first imaging image, so that a smooth transition is achieved between the area of ​​interest and outside the area of ​​interest, the transition effect is improved, and the overall effect of the fused imaging image maintains visual consistency.

[0025] Furthermore, the first imaging parameter and the second imaging parameter are different, so that during the fusion process, the first imaging image can use the image information of the area corresponding to the area of ​​interest in the second imaging image to enhance the image quality of the area of ​​interest. Furthermore, the second imaging image is an image corresponding to the entire area of ​​the object to be imaged, and its image shape is a regular shape. Compared with an unconventional shape, the parameter control of the second imaging parameter is relatively simple. Furthermore, because the second imaging image is an image corresponding to the entire area, in addition to the area of ​​interest, the image outside the area of ​​interest is also displayed in real time, realizing real-time display of the entire area. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0026] In order to more clearly illustrate the embodiments of the present invention or the technical solutions in the prior art, the drawings required for use in the embodiments or the description of the prior art will be briefly introduced below. Obviously, the drawings described below are only some embodiments of the present invention. For ordinary technicians in this field, other drawings can be obtained based on these drawings without paying creative work.

[0027] Figure 1 A flowchart of an imaging method provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

[0028] Figure 2 A schematic diagram of first imaging parameter optimization provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

[0029] Figure 3 Another schematic diagram of optimizing the first imaging parameter provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

[0030] Figure 4 Another schematic diagram of optimizing the first imaging parameter provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

[0031] Figure 5 A schematic diagram of the structure of an ultrasonic imaging system provided in an embodiment of the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0032] The idea of ​​the imaging method, device and equipment provided by the embodiments of the present invention is to obtain a first imaging image corresponding to the area of ​​interest and a second imaging image corresponding to the entire area of ​​the same object to be imaged, and then fuse the first imaging image and the second imaging image to improve the transition effect between the part within the area of ​​interest and the part outside the area of ​​interest in the final image.

[0033] In order to enable those skilled in the art to better understand the embodiments of the present invention, the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention will be clearly and completely described below in conjunction with the drawings in the embodiments of the present invention. Obviously, the described embodiments are only part of the embodiments of the present invention, not all of the embodiments. Based on the embodiments of the present invention, all other embodiments obtained by ordinary technicians in this field without creative work are within the scope of protection of the present invention.

[0034] Hereinafter, an ultrasonic imaging system is used as a specific example to illustrate the embodiments of the present invention. However, the present invention is not limited to the ultrasonic imaging system, but can also be used in other medical imaging systems, such as an X-ray imaging system, a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) system, a positron emission tomography (PET) system, or a single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) system, etc.

[0035] Generally, an embodiment of the present invention provides an imaging system and a corresponding imaging method. The imaging system may include a scanning device and a processor. The scanning device may scan an object to be imaged to obtain image data of the object to be imaged. For example, for an ultrasonic imaging system, the scanning device is a probe. For other imaging systems, the scanning device is a device for scanning the object to be imaged. The processor may control the scanning device or the imaging system to implement the imaging method of the embodiment of the present invention described in detail below. Here, although the term "image data" is used to describe the data obtained by the scanning device, in this article, the "image data" here may also include data received or obtained by the scanning device after scanning, which is unprocessed or has been processed to a certain extent, but has not yet formed an image. For example, for an ultrasonic imaging system, the image data here also includes ultrasonic echo data obtained after the probe receives the ultrasonic echo, radio frequency data after a certain processing, or image data after the ultrasonic image is formed.

[0036] For example, see Figure 5 Taking an ultrasound imaging system as an example, in some embodiments of the present invention, an ultrasound imaging system may include: a probe 1, a transmitting circuit 2, a transmitting / receiving selection switch 3, a receiving circuit 4, a beamforming module 5, a processor 6 and a display 7.

[0037] The transmitting circuit 2 sends the delayed focused ultrasonic pulse with a certain amplitude and polarity to the probe 1 through the transmitting / receiving selection switch 3. The probe 1 is stimulated by the ultrasonic pulse and transmits ultrasonic waves to the target area of ​​the tissue of the tested body (not shown in the figure), receives the ultrasonic echo with tissue information reflected from the target area after a certain delay, and reconverts the ultrasonic echo into an electrical signal. The receiving circuit receives the electrical signal converted and generated by the probe 1, obtains the ultrasonic echo signal, and sends these ultrasonic echo signals to the beamforming module 5. The beamforming module 5 performs focusing delay, weighting and channel summing on the ultrasonic echo signal to obtain the radio frequency signal, which can be sent to the processor 6 for related processing. The ultrasonic image obtained by the processor 6 is sent to the display 7 for display.

[0038] In the embodiment of the present invention, the processor 6 can also implement the imaging method provided in the embodiment of the present invention, which is described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings still taking the ultrasound imaging system as an example.

[0039] See also Figure 1 , which shows a flow chart of an imaging method provided by an embodiment of the present invention, which may include the following steps:

[0040] 101: The processor obtains a region of interest of the current object to be imaged. The region of interest may be any region of the object to be imaged that a user (e.g., a doctor or an operator of other ultrasonic imaging devices, etc.) is interested in, such as a region suspected of having a microstructural lesion, etc. The structural information in this region may be used as a basis for clinical diagnosis.

[0041] In an embodiment of the present invention, the region of interest of the object to be imaged can be acquired based on the image of the current object to be imaged that has been acquired (herein, referred to as the "initial image". However, it should be understood that the "initial" here refers only to the action or step of currently acquiring the region of interest, and does not refer to the initial or other specific meanings of the overall imaging process). For example, an imaging system (e.g., an ultrasound imaging system) can be used to image the object to be imaged (e.g., using the full-area image imaging method described above) to obtain a full-area ultrasound image of the object to be imaged (i.e., the so-called initial image), and then, the region of interest of the object to be imaged is obtained based on the full initial image. The "full-area ultrasound image" mentioned here below may refer to the ultrasound image containing the entire area of ​​the object to be imaged. The "object to be imaged" mentioned here may be one or more organs or regions of a human body or animal that is currently or will be subjected to ultrasound scanning.

[0042] In the embodiment of the present invention, the methods for obtaining the region of interest include but are not limited to three methods: a manual designation method by an operator, a semi-automatic method and an automatic method. These three methods are introduced one by one below.

[0043] Manual designation by the operator: In this method, the processor can obtain the region of interest designated by the operator in the human-computer interaction interface, that is, the region of interest of the object to be imaged is manually designated by the operator. For example, the initial image of the object to be imaged as described above is displayed in the human-computer interaction interface of the ultrasonic imaging device, and an input device, such as a trackball, is installed on the ultrasonic imaging device. The sampling frame displayed on the initial image of the object to be imaged is operated by operating the trackball to change the position of the center point of the sampling frame and / or the size of the sampling frame. For example, when the trackball is rolled horizontally, the size of the sampling frame changes horizontally, and when the trackball is rolled vertically, the size of the sampling frame changes vertically, and so on. When the size of the sampling frame changes, the position of the center point can remain unchanged, and the position and size of the center point can be switched by operating the buttons on the trackball. The area within the sampling frame is the region of interest.

[0044] Semi-automatic method: This method is a combination of manual operation by the operator and image recognition technology. The process may be: the processor obtains the image type of the initial image of the object to be imaged specified by the operator, and matches the initial image of the object to be imaged with the corresponding first sample image based on the image type to obtain the region of interest.

[0045] The image type indicates which type of image the initial image of the current object to be imaged belongs to, such as liver image, kidney image, heart image, obstetric cerebellum image, etc. After obtaining the image type, the operator can determine what target of interest in the initial image of the object to be imaged is based on the image type, and the target of interest is the above-mentioned region of interest.

[0046] During the scanning and imaging process of the object to be imaged, the operator will select the inspection mode, that is, which organ to scan. For example, when the object to be imaged is the liver, the inspection mode will be selected as the liver mode. Therefore, in some embodiments, the inspection mode can be used to indicate the image type of the initial image of the object to be imaged.

[0047] After acquiring the image type, the initial image of the object to be imaged can be matched with the corresponding first sample image based on the image type to obtain the region of interest. The corresponding first sample image can be a sample image of the same image type as the initial image of the object to be imaged, and the sample image can be a template image of multiple samples obtained offline or established after scanning and collecting multiple samples of the same image type by an imaging system, which is used as a matching reference to match with the initial image of the object to be imaged to obtain the region of interest.

[0048] In some embodiments of the present invention, the process of matching the initial image of the object to be imaged with the corresponding first sample image to obtain the region of interest may be: traversing the initial image of the object to be imaged, selecting a region block with the current traversed position as the center and the same size as the sample image during the traversal process, and calculating the similarity between the selected region block and the first sample image, and after the traversal is completed, selecting the center point of the region block with the best similarity as the best matching position, and then delineating the region of interest with the best matching position as the center, wherein the similarity calculation method may adopt the SAD method (Sum of Absolute Differences) or the correlation coefficient method or other suitable methods.

[0049] Automatic method: This method can obtain the region of interest through image recognition technology. In some embodiments of the present invention, the method of obtaining the region of interest through image recognition method can include but is not limited to the following two methods:

[0050] One method is: extracting features from the initial image of the object to be imaged to obtain features of the initial image of the object to be imaged, matching the features of the initial image of the object to be imaged with features of the second sample image to obtain the image type of the initial image of the object to be imaged, and matching the initial image of the object to be imaged with the corresponding first sample image based on the obtained image type to obtain the region of interest. In this method, the process of matching the initial image of the object to be imaged with the corresponding first sample image based on the image type to obtain the region of interest can refer to the specific implementation in the above-mentioned semi-automatic method, which will not be elaborated in this embodiment of the present invention.

[0051] Furthermore, the above-mentioned process of obtaining the image type based on feature matching can be regarded as a process of automatically acquiring the image type. Compared with the operator-specified method, the process of automatically acquiring the image type can further refine the image type to which the initial image of the object to be imaged belongs, so as to determine which type of image of which department the initial image of the object to be imaged belongs to, such as which type of image in obstetrics or cardiology. In order to refine the image type to which the initial image of the object to be imaged belongs, at least one second sample image can be obtained offline or collected by scanning through an imaging system for each refined image type, and the image type of each second sample image is known, so the refined image type of the initial image of the object to be imaged can be determined by matching the features of the second sample image, and the matching process can be as follows:

[0052] Step 11: Feature extraction; wherein the above-mentioned feature may refer to a general term for various attributes that can characterize the initial image of the object to be imaged and distinguish it from other images. In some embodiments of the present invention, feature extraction will be performed on any second sample image collected, so that the features of the second sample image are used as reference features to facilitate the subsequent matching of the initial image of the object to be imaged. Similarly, after acquiring the initial image of the object to be imaged, the same feature extraction method as the second sample image can be used to extract features from the initial image of the object to be imaged to obtain the features of the initial image of the object to be imaged.

[0053] The feature extraction method can adopt image processing feature extraction methods, such as Sobel operator, Canny operator, Roberts operator and SIFT operator, etc.; it can also adopt machine learning methods to automatically extract image features, such as PCA (Principal Component Analysis), LDA (Linear Discriminant Analysis) and deep learning methods to automatically extract image features.

[0054] Step 12: Feature matching; after obtaining the features of the initial image of the object to be imaged, similarity calculations can be performed one by one with the features of the second sample images in the training sample library, and the image type of the second sample image with the most similar features is selected as the image type of the initial image of the object to be imaged, wherein the feature similarity measurement method can be the SAD algorithm, and the smaller the SAD value, the more similar it is; or the correlation coefficient of the two sets of features can be calculated to measure the similarity of the two sets of features, and the larger the correlation coefficient, the more similar it is; or other suitable methods can be used.

[0055] The method of obtaining the region of interest using the image recognition technology described above is applicable to various image types.

[0056] In addition, for some image types that present periodic motion in the time dimension, such as fetal heart, adult heart, carotid artery and other image types, the motion area in the initial image of the object to be imaged of this type can be the region of interest. Therefore, when the image type of the initial image of the object to be imaged indicates that the object to be imaged is an object that presents periodic motion in the time dimension, the process of obtaining the region of interest through image recognition technology can be as follows:

[0057] Step 21: Obtain motion features of the initial image of the object to be imaged; the motion features can be obtained by various methods, such as using the frame difference method. Specifically, the image information of the current frame can be directly subtracted from the image information of the previous frame or several previous frames to extract the motion features of the current frame. Of course, other methods such as OF (Optical Flow) and GMM (Gaussian Mixture Model) can also be used to extract motion features.

[0058] Step 22: Segment the initial image of the object to be imaged based on the motion features to obtain the motion region in the initial image of the object to be imaged; after obtaining the motion features, threshold segmentation combined with morphological processing can be used to segment the motion region.

[0059] Step 23: Determine the region of interest based on the motion region; after the motion region is segmented, the motion region can be used to locate the region of interest. Generally, the region of interest in the embodiment of the present invention can be rectangular (for example, in the case of an ultrasound imaging system using a linear array probe for imaging coefficients) or fan-shaped (for example, in the case of an ultrasound imaging system using a convex array or phased array probe for imaging coefficients), so a method for locating the region of interest can be to fit a regular region of interest so that it can include the entire motion region. The fitting method can be to calculate the circumscribed rectangle or fan of the motion region, or to use least squares estimation rectangle fitting, or to use other suitable fitting methods for fitting.

[0060] The above method for locating the region of interest is also suitable for a semi-automatic method. For example, one semi-automatic method is: based on the operator's input, the positioning range is narrowed down, and then the automatic positioning method is used to locate the final region of interest within the narrowed range. The purpose of narrowing the positioning range is to improve positioning efficiency and accuracy, and the method for narrowing the positioning range can be: the operator draws at least one point on the moving area to prompt the range of the region of interest, or the positioning range is automatically narrowed according to the operator's input information. Another semi-automatic method is that the operator draws at least one point on the moving area to locate an initial region of interest, and in the real-time scanning process, the above-mentioned automatic positioning or semi-automatic positioning method is used to change the position and size of the region of interest box in real time according to the image content.

[0061] One point that needs to be explained is that the above-mentioned method for locating the region of interest can perform real-time positioning of the initial image of each object to be imaged so as to change the region of interest in real time, or can perform positioning at intervals, or even after the operator triggers the positioning by pressing a button, etc. Even for a system that needs to monitor the region of interest in real time, the positioning of the region of interest can be real-time, and the image type acquisition method can be determined at intervals or after the image type acquisition is triggered, and the above-mentioned image type acquisition process can be obtained by the operator specifying or based on feature matching.

[0062] 102: The processor controls the scanning device to scan and image the region of interest based on the first imaging parameter to obtain a first imaging image.

[0063] 103: The processor controls the scanning device to scan and image the entire area of ​​the object to be imaged based on the second imaging parameters to obtain a second imaging image. Here, the "entire area" of the scanning target for scanning and imaging using the second imaging parameters is the entire area of ​​the current object to be imaged including the aforementioned area of ​​interest, that is, when scanning and imaging using the second imaging parameters, the scanned area (or the imaging area at this time) includes the area of ​​interest itself in addition to the area outside the aforementioned area of ​​interest. Therefore, accordingly, the second imaging image obtained is an image of the entire area of ​​the current object to be imaged including the area of ​​interest, rather than an image of only the area outside the area of ​​interest.

[0064] Moreover, in steps 102 and 103, the first imaging parameter and the second imaging parameter are different, and the so-called different may be: the first imaging parameter and the second imaging parameter are parameters of the same type, and the values ​​of the first imaging parameter and the second imaging parameter are different; or the first imaging parameter and the second imaging parameter are parameters of different types, such as the first imaging parameter includes parameter A and parameter B, and the second imaging parameter may include parameter C and parameter D; or the first imaging parameter includes the second imaging parameter, such as the first imaging parameter includes parameter A and parameter B, and the second imaging parameter includes parameter A, then it is determined that the first imaging parameter includes the second imaging parameter; and so on.

[0065] In the embodiment where the imaging coefficient is an ultrasonic imaging system, the first imaging parameter and the second imaging parameter may be at least one of: a transmitting frequency, a transmitting voltage, a line density, a number of focal points, a focal point position, a speckle noise suppression parameter, and an image enhancement parameter. In the embodiment of the present invention, a secondary imaging method of the entire region and the region of interest is adopted, so in the scanning imaging process of the region of interest, the first imaging parameter may be optimized according to the size and position of the region of interest to optimize the region of interest.

[0066] For example, by optimizing the emission frequency within the region of interest, the region of interest may be free from restrictions on the emission frequency during the imaging process of the entire region. When the region of interest is located in the near field of the emission source, the emission frequency of the region of interest during the scanning imaging process may be increased, thereby improving the resolution of the first imaging image. When the region of interest is located in the far field of the emission source, the emission frequency of the region of interest during the scanning imaging process may be reduced, thereby improving the penetration of the first imaging image.

[0067] Alternatively, when other parameters of the ultrasound system are fixed, the higher the transmit voltage, the greater the transmit power of the ultrasound system, and the better the quality of the image. Therefore, in the embodiment of the present invention, the transmit voltage can be optimized, such as using a lower transmit voltage when scanning the entire area, and using a higher transmit voltage when scanning the area of ​​interest. Figure 2 As shown, the image quality in the region of interest is improved when the transmission power meets the acoustic field limitation of the ultrasound system. For example, one of the acoustic field limitation indicators of the ultrasound system, Ispta (spatial peak time average sound intensity), is less than or equal to 480 mW / cm 2 .

[0068] The line density, number of focal spots and scanning frame rate of the ultrasound system are mutually restricted. The greater the line density or the greater the number of focal spots, the lower the scanning frame rate. Therefore, the line density or the number of focal spots can be optimized. When scanning and imaging the entire area, a lower line density or a smaller number of focal spots is used, while when scanning and imaging the area of ​​interest, a higher line density or a larger number of focal spots is used. In this way, the quality of the first imaging image is improved when the scanning frame rate meets the requirements. Figure 3 or Figure 4 As shown, Figures 2 to 4 The horizontal axis in is the probe position in the ultrasound system.

[0069] The optimization process of the above-mentioned focal position, speckle noise suppression parameters and image enhancement parameters will not be elaborated one by one in the embodiments of the present invention, and in addition to the above-mentioned parameters, the first imaging parameters and the second imaging parameters may also adopt transmit aperture, transmit waveform, spatial compounding, frequency compounding, line compounding and frame correlation, etc., and by optimizing the first imaging parameters corresponding to the region of interest, a first imaging image with better quality is obtained.

[0070] In embodiments where the imaging system is another type of imaging system, the aforementioned first imaging parameter and second imaging parameter may be set accordingly.

[0071] 104: The processor fuses the first imaging image and the second imaging image to obtain an imaging image of the object to be imaged. In the embodiment of the present invention, the fusion process may be: obtaining a first fusion parameter of the first imaging image and a second fusion parameter of the second imaging image, and then fusing the first imaging image and the second imaging image based on the first fusion parameter and the second fusion parameter to obtain an imaging image of the object to be imaged.

[0072] For example, the following formula can be used: o =α*I local +β*I global Fusion, where I local is the first image, I global is the second image, α is the first fusion parameter, β is the second fusion parameter, I o It is an imaged image of the object to be imaged, that is, a fusion result. In the embodiment of the present invention, the image corresponding to the fusion result depends on the values ​​of the first fusion parameter and the second fusion parameter.

[0073] The first fusion parameter and the second fusion parameter can be set according to actual conditions. In some embodiments, α+β=1 can be taken. In other embodiments, α+β>1 can also be taken, in which case the overall brightness level of the image output after fusion can be improved. In other embodiments, it can also be set in other ways.

[0074] One point that needs to be explained here is that the values ​​of the first fusion parameter α and the second fusion parameter β are not fixed, and may be different according to the different pixels in the image, the different positions in the image, and the generation time of the image.

[0075] For example, during the fusion process, when the grayscale value of each pixel in the first imaging image and the second imaging image is between [0, 255], the value of the first fusion parameter and the second fusion parameter may not be less than 0; if the grayscale value of each pixel in the first imaging image or the second imaging image is less than 0, the value of the corresponding fusion parameter may be less than 0, and the values ​​of the first fusion parameter and the second fusion parameter may not be 0 at the same time; or during the fusion process, the first fusion parameter α corresponding to each position in the first imaging image is different, and the second fusion parameter β corresponding to each position in the second imaging image may also be different. For example, if the edge position of the region of interest needs to fuse more image information of the second imaging image, the value of the second fusion parameter β at the edge position of the region of interest may be greater than the value of the second fusion parameter β at other positions. If more image information of the first imaging image is fused at other positions except the edge position, the value of the first fusion parameter α at other positions is greater than the value of the first fusion parameter α at the edge position; if the obtained first imaging image and the second imaging image are real-time images, which may change over time, the values ​​of the first fusion parameter α and the second fusion parameter β may also be different over time; and so on.

[0076] It can be seen from the above technical solution that the imaging method provided by the embodiment of the present invention can respectively use the first imaging parameter to scan and image the area of ​​interest of the imaging object and the second imaging parameter to scan and image the entire area of ​​the imaging object, so as to obtain a first imaging image of the area of ​​interest and a second imaging image of the entire area. In this way, the imaging parameters can be set specifically for the area of ​​interest to enhance and optimize the desired aspects of the image of the area of ​​interest in a targeted manner; in the process of fusing the first imaging image and the second imaging image, more image information of the second imaging image can be fused at the edge position of the first imaging image, so as to achieve a smooth transition between the area of ​​interest and outside the area of ​​interest, improve the transition effect, and thereby maintain visual consistency in the overall effect of the fused imaging image.

[0077] Furthermore, the first imaging parameter and the second imaging parameter are different, so that during the fusion process, the first imaging image can use the image information of the area corresponding to the area of ​​interest in the second imaging image to enhance the image quality of the area of ​​interest. Furthermore, the second imaging image is an image corresponding to the entire area of ​​the object to be imaged, and its image shape is a regular shape. Compared with an unconventional shape, the parameter control of the second imaging parameter is relatively simple. Furthermore, because the second imaging image is an image corresponding to the entire area, in addition to the area of ​​interest, the image outside the area of ​​interest is also displayed in real time, realizing real-time display of the entire area.

[0078] Through the description of the above implementation methods, those skilled in the art can clearly understand that the processor in the above embodiments can be implemented by software plus a necessary hardware platform (for example, a microprocessor, a microcontroller, a programmable logic device, an application-specific integrated circuit, etc.), or can also be implemented by hardware or firmware alone. Based on this understanding, the technical solution of the present invention, in essence, or the part that contributes to the prior art, can also be embodied in the form of a software product, which is carried in a non-volatile computer-readable storage medium (such as a ROM, a disk, an optical disk, a server cloud space), and includes a number of instructions for a terminal device (which can be a mobile phone, a computer, a server, or a network device, etc.) to execute the methods described in each embodiment of the present invention.

[0079] In this article, relational terms such as first and second, etc. are used only to distinguish one entity or operation from another entity or operation, and do not necessarily require or imply any such actual relationship or order between these entities or operations. Moreover, the terms "comprise", "include" or any other variants thereof are intended to cover non-exclusive inclusion, so that a process, method, article or device including a series of elements includes not only those elements, but also other elements not explicitly listed, or also includes elements inherent to such process, method, article or device. In the absence of further restrictions, the elements defined by the statement "comprise a ..." do not exclude the presence of other identical elements in the process, method, article or device including the elements.

[0080] The above description of the embodiments provided enables those skilled in the art to implement or use the present invention. Various modifications to these embodiments will be apparent to those skilled in the art, and the general principles defined herein may be implemented in other embodiments without departing from the spirit or scope of the present invention. Therefore, the present invention will not be limited to the embodiments shown herein, but will conform to the widest range consistent with the principles and novel features provided herein.

Claims

1. An ultrasonic imaging method, characterized in that: The method comprises: Acquiring an initial ultrasound image of the object to be imaged; Acquire a region of interest of the object to be imaged based on the initial ultrasound image; The transmitting circuit excites the probe to transmit a first ultrasonic wave to the region of interest based on a first imaging parameter, and the receiving circuit controls the probe to receive an echo signal of the first ultrasonic wave, wherein the first imaging parameter is set specifically for the region of interest so as to enhance and optimize the desired aspects of the image of the region of interest in a targeted manner; generating a first imaging image based on the echo signal of the first ultrasonic wave; The transmitting circuit stimulates the probe to transmit a second ultrasonic wave to the entire area of ​​the object to be imaged based on a second imaging parameter, and the receiving circuit controls the probe to receive an echo signal of the second ultrasonic wave, wherein the second imaging parameter is at least partially different from the first imaging parameter; generating a second imaging image based on the echo signal of the second ultrasonic wave; The first imaging image and the second imaging image are fused to obtain an imaging image of the object to be imaged with enhanced image quality of the region of interest.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that The acquiring the region of interest of the object to be imaged based on the initial ultrasound image comprises: Acquire the region of interest specified by the operator through the initial ultrasound image using a human-computer interaction interface; or, Acquiring an image type of the initial ultrasound image specified by the operator, and matching the initial ultrasound image with a corresponding first sample image based on the image type to obtain the region of interest; or, The region of interest is acquired based on the initial ultrasound image by an image recognition method.

3. The method according to claim 2, characterized in that The acquiring the region of interest based on the initial ultrasound image by an image recognition method comprises: Acquiring an image type of the initial ultrasound image, and matching the initial ultrasound image with a corresponding first sample image based on the image type to obtain the region of interest; or, The motion features in the initial ultrasound image are acquired, the initial ultrasound image is segmented based on the motion features to obtain a motion region of the initial ultrasound image, and the region of interest is determined based on the motion region.

4. The method according to claim 3, characterized in that The image type of obtaining the initial ultrasound image includes: Acquiring an image type of the initial ultrasound image specified by the operator; or, Feature extraction is performed on the initial ultrasonic image to obtain features of the initial ultrasonic image, and the features of the initial ultrasonic image are matched with features of the second sample image to obtain an image type of the initial ultrasonic image.

5. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that The first imaging parameter and the second imaging parameter are at least one of: an emission frequency, an emission voltage, a line density, a number of focal points, a focal point position, a speckle noise suppression parameter and an image enhancement parameter.

6. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that The fusing the first imaging image and the second imaging image to obtain the imaging image of the object to be imaged includes: Acquire a first fusion parameter of the first imaging image and a second fusion parameter of the second imaging image; The first imaging image and the second imaging image are fused based on the first fusion parameter and the second fusion parameter to obtain an imaging image of the object to be imaged.

7. The method according to claim 6, characterized in that The first fusion parameter is the weight of the first imaging image in the fusion process of the first imaging image and the second imaging image, and the second fusion parameter is the weight of the second imaging image in the fusion process of the first imaging image and the second imaging image; The fusing the first imaging image and the second imaging image based on the first fusion parameter and the second fusion parameter to obtain the imaging image of the object to be imaged includes: The first imaging image and the second imaging image are weightedly summed with the first fusion parameter and the second fusion parameter corresponding to each other to obtain an imaging image of the object to be imaged.

8. An ultrasonic imaging system, characterized in that: The system comprises: A scanning device, wherein the scanning device scans the object to be imaged to obtain image data of the object to be imaged, and the scanning device is a probe; A processor, the processor being configured to: Acquiring an initial ultrasound image of the object to be imaged; Acquire a region of interest of the object to be imaged based on the initial ultrasound image; The transmitting circuit excites the probe to transmit a first ultrasonic wave to the region of interest based on a first imaging parameter, and the receiving circuit controls the probe to receive an echo signal of the first ultrasonic wave, wherein the first imaging parameter is set specifically for the region of interest so as to enhance and optimize the desired aspects of the image of the region of interest in a targeted manner; generating a first imaging image based on the echo signal of the first ultrasonic wave; The transmitting circuit stimulates the probe to transmit a second ultrasonic wave to the entire area of ​​the object to be imaged based on a second imaging parameter, and the receiving circuit controls the probe to receive an echo signal of the second ultrasonic wave, wherein the second imaging parameter is different from the first imaging parameter; generating a second imaging image based on the echo signal of the second ultrasonic wave; The first imaging image and the second imaging image are fused to obtain an imaging image of the object to be imaged with enhanced image quality of the region of interest.

9. The system according to claim 8, characterized in that The processor acquiring the region of interest of the object to be imaged based on the initial ultrasound image comprises: The processor acquires the region of interest specified by the operator through the initial ultrasound image using a human-computer interaction interface; or, The processor acquires the image type of the initial ultrasound image specified by the operator, and matches the initial ultrasound image with the corresponding first sample image based on the image type to obtain the region of interest; or, The processor acquires the region of interest based on the initial ultrasound image by an image recognition method.

10. The system according to claim 9, characterized in that The processor acquiring the region of interest based on the initial ultrasound image by an image recognition method comprises: The processor acquires an image type of the initial ultrasound image, and matches the initial ultrasound image with a corresponding first sample image based on the image type to obtain the region of interest; or, The processor acquires motion features in the initial ultrasound image, segments the initial ultrasound image based on the motion features to obtain the initial motion region, and determines the region of interest based on the motion region.

11. The system according to claim 10, characterized in that The image type of the initial ultrasound image acquired by the processor includes: The processor acquires an image type of the initial ultrasound image specified by the operator; or, The processor extracts features from the initial ultrasonic image to obtain features of the initial ultrasonic image, and matches the features of the initial ultrasonic image with features of a second sample image to obtain an image type of the initial ultrasonic image.

12. The system according to claim 10, characterized in that The first imaging parameter and the second imaging parameter are at least one of: an emission frequency, an emission voltage, a line density, a number of focal points, a focal point position, a speckle noise suppression parameter and an image enhancement parameter.

13. The system according to claim 10, characterized in that The processor fuses the first imaging image and the second imaging image to obtain an imaging image of the object to be imaged, comprising: The processor obtains a first fusion parameter of the first imaging image and a second fusion parameter of the second imaging image, and fuses the first imaging image and the second imaging image based on the first fusion parameter and the second fusion parameter to obtain an imaging image of the object to be imaged.

14. The system according to claim 13, characterized in that The first fusion parameter is the weight of the first imaging image in the fusion process of the first imaging image and the second imaging image, and the second fusion parameter is the weight of the second imaging image in the fusion process of the first imaging image and the second imaging image; The fusing the first imaging image and the second imaging image based on the first fusion parameter and the second fusion parameter to obtain the imaging image of the object to be imaged includes: The first imaging image and the second imaging image are weightedly summed with the first fusion parameter and the second fusion parameter corresponding to each other to obtain an imaging image of the object to be imaged.

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