Ultrasound system and imaging ultrasound method

Abstract

The invention relates to an ultrasound system, comprising an ultrasound probe (2) and a data processing unit (3) which is physically separated from the ultrasound probe and runs under an operating system (BS), the data processing unit having two ring memories (20, 21), namely a receiving memory (21) and a transmitting memory (20). In order to couple the ultrasound probe (2) with the ring memories (20, 21) in terms of data technology, a real-time bus system (Bus-S) is provided. In the ultrasound probe (2), the probe system (Son-S) transmits data, the clock inaccuracy (jitter) of which is at least three orders of magnitude smaller than the clock inaccuracy (jitter) of the real-time bus system (Bus-S). At the same time, the response time of the operating system (BS) is at least two orders of magnitude longer than the clock inaccuracy (jitter) of the real-time bus system (Bus-S). The real-time bus system (Bus-S) is designed to transmit transmit data and receive data simultaneously by streaming in a clock-controlled manner without interruption at an average constant rate during stateless operation of the ultrasound probe (2) without distinguishing between transmit and receive operation.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The invention relates to an ultrasound system which can be used, in particular, as a medical system and to an imaging ultrasound method. Background Art

[0002] For example, a system and method for imaging with the aid of ultrasound are known from US 2013 / 0079639 A1. The known ultrasound system comprises a plurality of electroacoustic converters, which transmit ultrasound signals and receive echoes of the transmitted ultrasound signals. The electroacoustic converters are arranged in an acoustic head. The detected analog signals are digitized, wherein the digital raw data are further processed. A bus system is proposed for forwarding the data. The digitized data can be stored and in particular stored by a receive beamformer in order to generate an ultrasound image that can ultimately be displayed.

[0003] EP 2 614 775 A1 describes a further ultrasound system having an ultrasound probe, ie, a sound head, and a data processing unit which is spatially separated from the ultrasound probe. Data are transmitted between the ultrasound probe and the data processing unit via a wireless interface.

[0004] US 2008 / 0 110 266 A1 discloses an ultrasound system having an ultrasound probe which is coupled to a computer via a wireless or wired interface. The ultrasound probe has a preamplifier, an A / D converter and a buffer memory. In order to focus the emitted acoustic signals, an acoustic and synthesis method is proposed. In addition, synthetic focusing of the received ultrasound signals is provided.

[0005] In the case of the ultrasound system described in US 2008 / 0 294046 A1, the sound head is connected via a cable to a battery-operated evaluation unit.

[0006] US 2008 / 0 110 266 A describes an ultrasound system with an array of acoustic transducers which are designed as piezoelectric transducers and are connected to an analog-to-digital converter via a preamplifier. The digital signal provided by the analog-to-digital converter is already partially further processed in the acoustic head. Further digital signal processing takes place in a main unit which is connected to the acoustic head via a cable or wirelessly.

[0007] US 2014 / 0 058 266 A1 describes in detail a memory architecture of an imaging ultrasound system. In this case, the data to be processed are transmitted via a data network.

[0008] EP 2 627 257 B1 describes an ultrasonic imaging system with a concavely curved ultrasonic transducer device. In the ultrasonic transducer device there are a plurality of transmission openings which detect scatterers with unfocused ultrasonic pulses. Associated with the ultrasonic transducer is a control system which in particular enables switching between the various transmission openings.

[0009] EP 3 117 774 B1 discloses a software-based ultrasound imaging system in which a scheme with direct memory access (DMA) is used. Here, a front-end unit of the ultrasound imaging system is provided for transmitting channel data with the DMA scheme.

[0010] A ring buffer for avoiding jitter when transmitting audio data is known from US 2008 / 0 151 765 A1. The ring buffer is configured to carry out read and write operations independently of one another. Summary of the invention

[0011] The object of the present invention is to further develop imaging using ultrasound compared to the prior art, in particular with regard to efficient and safe data processing.

[0012] According to the invention, the object is achieved by an ultrasonic system having the features according to the invention. The object is also achieved by an imaging ultrasonic method according to the invention. The embodiments and advantages of the invention explained below in conjunction with the ultrasonic method also apply to the device, i.e. the ultrasonic system, and vice versa.

[0013] The ultrasonic system works with a movable ultrasonic probe, in particular, a handheld device, and a data processing unit, the ultrasonic probe comprising a plurality of transmitting and receiving elements, and the data processing unit is coupled to the ultrasonic probe in a wired or non-wired manner. In any case, the data processing unit is physically separated from the ultrasonic probe, that is, it is separated from the ultrasonic probe without a fixed geometric relationship. In a typical design, a data connection is established between the ultrasonic probe and the data processing unit via a cable. In each case, the ultrasonic probe comprises a plurality of transmitting stages, a transmitting and receiving separator, an analog preamplifier and an analog-to-digital converter, and at least one digital connection component, through which the ultrasonic probe is coupled to the data processing unit in a data-technical manner. However, data processing, in particular beamforming (beamforming), is not provided in the ultrasonic probe.

[0014] The data processing unit of the ultrasound system has two memories configured as ring memories, namely a receiving memory and a transmitting memory (they are also collectively referred to as ring buffers), and a computing unit configured to generate ultrasound images. In this case, the ring memory refers to a component of a real-time bus system (RTS) including an ultrasound probe and the mentioned data connection device, in particular a cable. At the same time, the ring memory is connected to an operating system (BS), in particular a standard operating system, which is provided for the operation of the computing unit and is present outside the real-time bus system (RTS).

[0015] The system that transmits data within the ultrasound probe and performs clock control with the help of a clock setter (clock) built into the ultrasound probe is called a probe system (Son-S).

[0016] The clock inaccuracy (jitter), i.e. the execution time inaccuracy, of the probe system (Son-S) is at least three orders of magnitude smaller than the clock inaccuracy (jitter) of the real-time bus system (RTS). In other words, the probe system (Son-S) operates with much higher time accuracy than the real-time bus system (RTS). At the same time, the response time of the operating system (BS) of the computing unit is at least two orders of magnitude longer than the clock inaccuracy (jitter) of the real-time bus system. Therefore, the response time of the operating system (BS) differs from the clock inaccuracy of the ultrasound probe by at least 10 5 times. Despite these five orders of magnitude, which are respectively related to time inaccuracies or time differences, the images generated by the ultrasound system are perceived as real-time images. The transmit and receive data between the ultrasound probe and a data processing unit spaced apart from the ultrasound probe are transmitted simultaneously via a real-time bus system (RTS) in a stateless operation of the ultrasound probe that does not differentiate between transmit and receive operation, in a pulsed manner, without interruption, at an average constant rate via a stream.

[0017] In general, the ultrasound method according to the invention, in which the object to be examined is exposed to ultrasound pulses and the echo signals are recorded, has the following features:

[0018] - providing an ultrasound probe comprising a plurality of transmitting and receiving elements and a data processing unit coupled to the ultrasound probe in terms of data technology, the data processing unit comprising a main processor and a further processor, in particular in the form of a graphics processor having a plurality of computing units,

[0019] - generating control data provided for operating the transmitting and receiving elements by means of a data processing unit, wherein the control data are generated under a standard operating system which does not meet hard real-time requirements and are written asynchronously with respect to their generation to a transmitting memory designed as a ring memory which belongs to the real-time bus system,

[0020] - asynchronously transmitting the control data from the transmission memory to the ultrasound probe in connection with the generation and storage of the control data, wherein the ultrasound probe is operated as a component of a real-time bus system and the control data are transmitted without pauses via a stream at an average constant first data transmission rate, and a clock inaccuracy (jitter) of the probe system including the components in the ultrasound probe is at least three orders of magnitude lower than a clock inaccuracy (jitter) of the real-time bus system, and a response time of a standard operating system is at least two orders of magnitude longer than a response time of the real-time bus system,

[0021] - the ultrasonic pulses are generated as a function of the control data by means of a transmitter stage arranged in the ultrasonic probe, wherein the transmitting and receiving elements actuated by the transmitter stage are in particular designed as piezoelectric elements,

[0022] - the associated echo signal is analogically amplified within the ultrasonic probe and is digitized synchronously, without interruption and at a constant clock frequency and is written asynchronously with respect to the digitization in real time, without gaps and without further processing, via a streaming device, in particular a cable, into a receiving memory belonging to a real-time bus system and constructed as a ring memory and spatially separated from the ultrasonic probe, wherein the data transmission to the receiving memory is carried out without interruption at a second, essentially constant data transmission rate, which deviates from the mentioned first data transmission rate by no more than a factor of five, in particular by no more than a factor of two, which is related to the data transmission from the data processing unit to the ultrasonic probe,

[0023] - the selection of the data entered in the receiving memory is controlled by the main processor and distributed as measurement data blocks to a plurality of computing units, wherein each measurement data block is respectively assigned to a group of receiving elements,

[0024] - a plurality of measurement data sets are processed in parallel and asynchronously with the writing process of the ring memory of the real-time bus system by computing units which are each controlled by a main processor running under a standard operating system, wherein the processing each includes receive beamforming and image reconstruction and a partial image is reconstructed with the aid of each computing unit,

[0025] - From the partial images an overall image is generated by an evaluation unit as an ultrasound image to be displayed on a screen.

[0026] A single clock is provided within the ultrasound probe for the transmitter stage and the analog-to-digital converter.

[0027] The invention is based on the consideration that, in the operation of ultrasound systems, in particular for use in medical technology, increasingly high demands on the quality of ultrasound images, typically cross-sectional images, must be met. The quality relates both to the resolution of the image and to the size of the region that can be detected with a single ultrasound recording, wherein these dimensions include the depth of the examination region located below the ultrasound probe and detected at the same time, for example in cm.

[0028] A higher quality of ultrasound recordings is usually associated with a higher rate of data to be transmitted and processed. Various physical principles of signal transmission are conceivable, in particular optical signal transmission, such as described in EP 0 762 142 B1. In order to limit the rate of data to be transmitted between the ultrasound probe and a separate data processing device, preprocessing and selecting the data within the ultrasound probe is a conceivable approach. However, any processing of the data in the ultrasound probe is necessarily associated with energy consumption and therefore heat generation. In addition, the space requirement of the data processing components plays an important role. A way out of this dilemma can be sought in partially analog data processing within the ultrasound probe, which may also be advantageous from the perspective of high real-time requirements.

[0029] However, the present invention proposes another approach, in which the ultrasonic probe is operated in a stateless manner both in terms of receiving and sending data. In this case, the transmitting and receiving elements are continuously set to the corresponding current state with a short clock of, for example, 8 ns. As long as no new settings are made, there is no provision to maintain this state. Instead, the state is reset with each clock, in the example every 8 ns, wherein the state can be the same as the previous state or can represent a different state. On the one hand, the data processing costs are minimized in terms of the processing complexity in the ultrasonic probe, and on the other hand, the risk of maintaining incorrect settings during continuous operation is eliminated. When the ultrasonic system is switched on and when the data connection device between the ultrasonic probe and the data processing unit is disconnected, the transmitting and receiving elements occupy a reliable state as long as it does not already exist. The very high data rates associated with the stateless operation of the transmitting and receiving elements are accepted.

[0030] In the analog processing of the received data (ie, the ultrasound echo), the costs in ultrasound systems compared to conventional solutions can already be minimized by operating the preamplifier with a constant gain. This means that the preamplification has no dependency on the distance of the structure that triggers the echo from the transmitting and receiving elements. Thus, the same gain is applied to the image point with the smallest distance from the transmitting and receiving elements as is applied to the image point with the largest distance from the transmitting and receiving elements.

[0031] Despite the very high continuous data rates, which concern both the data transmission to the ultrasound probe and the data transmission from the ultrasound probe to the evaluation unit, the large omission of data processing within the ultrasound probe enables the design of the ultrasound probe as a handheld device with low, controllable heat generation that does not require special cooling measures.

[0032] In a preferred embodiment, the transmitting and receiving element of the ultrasound probe is a combined transmitting and receiving element, ie, an element that performs both the transmitting and receiving functions. Piezoelectric elements are particularly suitable for this purpose.

[0033] With regard to the number and geometric arrangement of the transmitting and receiving elements, in particular piezoelectric elements, in the ultrasound probe, a wide variety of designs are possible. For example, in a design known in principle, 128 piezoelectric elements are arranged in a line.

[0034] In a preferred design, a transmit-receive separator is connected upstream of each transmitting and receiving element, and the transmit-receive separator is constructed to load one of n codes for each exactly one clock for the transmitting and receiving element under clock control, wherein n is at least four, and (n-1) transmitting codes and additionally exactly one receiving code are set. In the case of three transmitting codes, for example, one of the transmitting codes corresponds to a positive voltage value, the other transmitting codes correspond to a negative voltage value equal to the numerical value, and the third transmitting code corresponds to voltage zero. In this case, the coding can be performed by a 2-bit signal. Despite the very short clock of, for example, 8 ns, the data transmission rate is therefore kept within a controllable range using reasonable costs. Using a larger number of bits, it is theoretically also possible to set an intermediate value of the voltage to be applied to the transmitting and receiving elements. In any case, each transmitting and receiving state remains active and only maintains the length of one clock. In the event of a fault, an automatic default safety shutdown is performed, that is, a safe default state is adopted.

[0035] In an advantageous embodiment, a root complex is located in the data processing unit, via which the real-time bus system establishes a connection to the ultrasound probe. In particular, the root complex is used to transmit message data packets (MSI) associated with transmit data and receive data, wherein a counter signal is implemented by the message data packets (MSI) for blocking and releasing the streaming data transmission to the transmit memory and from the receive memory in time. The data transmission capacity provided for the transmission of the message data packets (MSI) is preferably not more than 1% of the respective data transmission capacity provided for transmitting the control data on the one hand and the measurement data on the other hand via the data connection.

[0036] The operating system (BS), the real-time bus system (RTS) and the probe system (Son-S) of the computing unit give rise to three time domains which (in the order of the systems mentioned) meet the increasing real-time requirements. Preferably, the following relationship exists between the time jitter (TSon) of the probe system (Son-S), the jitter (TBus) of the real-time bus system (Bus-S) and the response time (TBS) of the operating system (BS):

[0037]

[0038] The dimensionless fraction TBus 2 / (TSon×TBS) has in particular a value of at least 100 and at most 10,000.

[0039] The receive data memory is preferably designed to store receive data blocks assigned to the transmit data set for at least 20 ms, into which the data are written via a real-time bus system (Bus-S) and from which the data are read for processing under an operating system (BS), in particular a standard operating system. In this case, the transmit data stream is provided for continuous and uninterrupted control of the transmit and receive elements, wherein the associated receive data stored in the transmit and receive memory are stored without gaps in time, sequentially and in each individual case without an associated time signal. In this way, the time information is implicitly forwarded within the ultrasound system via the size of the stored data blocks and the storage sequence, i.e. the storage address.

[0040] The data connection that couples the ultrasound probe to the data processing unit is, for example, part of a PCIe connection. The data connection is implemented in particular via a cable. The PCIe connection implements direct memory access (DMA) to the receive memory and the transmit memory. Control data in one direction and simultaneously measurement data in the other direction as well as additional data packets, in particular the already mentioned message data packets (MSI), can be transmitted via the same PCIe connection, wherein the data volume of the message data packets (MSI) is at least two orders of magnitude smaller than the volume of data conveyed via the ring memory in a preferred embodiment.

[0041] When the ultrasound system is running, two parallel processes are started by the main program with a preferred process guide. One of these processes fills the transmit memory; the other distributes the reconstruction commands to an additional processor, especially a graphics processor. Two different message data packets (MSI) are attached to the file system, so that a counting semaphore is implemented. These semaphores are read cyclically by the two processes, so that on the one hand, writing to the transmit memory is blocked as long as the ultrasound probe does not extract enough data from the transmit memory, and on the other hand, data extraction from the receive memory is blocked as long as the ultrasound probe does not write enough data to the receive memory. With these on-demand blocking, synchronization of the order of 1 ms is achieved, which is fast enough for a screen display that is perceived as smooth. From the 1 ms level that can be achieved with the help of a standard operating system, only preliminary data processing in the ultrasound probe at the order of 10 ps level that meets hard real-time requirements can be distinguished. The real-time bus system (RTS) between these two extremes enables bidirectional transmission of sufficiently large data streams between the ultrasound probe and the data processing unit, wherein the measurement data provided by the ultrasound probe is transmitted unprocessed except for digitization.

[0042] In contrast to the prior art, the ultrasonic probe as an active probe is firstly able to automatically request the data required for operating the transmitting and receiving elements from a transmitting memory belonging to the data processing component and use these data within the framework of a real-time bus system (RTS), and secondly to automatically write the measurement data to a receiving memory also belonging to the data processing component. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0043] Embodiments of the present invention are described in more detail below with the aid of the accompanying drawings. Here, it is shown:

[0044] Figure 1 The ultrasonic system is shown in a schematic diagram.

[0045] Figure 2 The schematic diagram shows the use of Figure 1 The method can be implemented by an ultrasonic system. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0046] The ultrasound system, denoted as a whole by 1, comprises an ultrasound probe 2 and a data processing unit 3 connected to the ultrasound probe in a data-technical manner. The ultrasound probe 2 is manually guided by the user, that is, usually by a physician, in a manner known per se during operation of the ultrasound system 1. The data transmission between the ultrasound probe 2 and the data processing unit 3, which is located, for example, in a movable rack, is carried out in this embodiment via a data line 14, i.e., a cable, using the PCIe standard. In general, the cable 14 is a data connection device, which, in contrast to the embodiment, can also be implemented as an optical signal transmission or a radio connection.

[0047] A plurality of analog front-end units 4 are present in an ultrasonic probe 2, which is designed as an active, stateless ultrasonic probe, wherein the number of front-end units 4 is predetermined by the number of transmit / receive channels of the ultrasonic probe 2. The transmit and receive elements 5, i.e., the sound converter elements, in the front-end unit 4 are designed as piezoelectric elements in a manner known per se. The sound converter elements 5 are connected to a transmit / receive separator 6. The transmit / receive separator 6 is in turn provided with a power transmitter 7, also referred to as a transmit stage, on the one hand, and is associated with a preamplifier 8 on the other hand. The transmit stage 7 is implemented together with the receive separator 6 by a single component in this embodiment. The analog signal provided by the preamplifier 8 is converted into a digital signal, i.e., a received signal, by an analog / digital converter 9. In contrast to the combined components 7, 8, in this embodiment, the functions of the preamplifier 8 and the analog / digital converter 9 are also combined in a single component 8, 9. In general, the division of the functional elements of the ultrasonic probe 2 on the one hand and the functional elements of the data processing unit 3 on the other hand is used for visualization, as shown in FIG. Figure 1 In practice, a combination of functional elements can be realized in the ultrasound probe 2 and in the data processing unit 3 .

[0048] For clock control of data processing, a clock setter (clock) 10, also referred to as clock for short, is provided in the ultrasound probe 2. The clock 10 is located outside the analog front end 4, wherein the clock is data-technically linked not only to the power transmitter 7 but also to the analog-to-digital converter 9. In addition, there is a data-technical link between the power transmitter 7 and the transmit serializer 12 and between the analog-to-digital converter 9 and the receive data-packetizer 13. The transmit serializer 12 converts the transmit data into a channel-like bit stream of a stream controlled by a constant rate clock for controlling the transmit-receive separator 6 and the sound converter element 5. In contrast, the receive data-packetizer 13 realizes the streaming of the ADC data obtained from the analog-to-digital converter 9 into the receive data packet.

[0049] The transmit serializer 12 is connected to a counter device 11, like the receive data packetizer 13, which includes two ring buffer address counters 26, 27, namely a transmit branch 26 and a receive branch 27. The transmit branch 26 sends a data packet request (TLP=Transaction Layer Packet) to the root complex 15 for reading from a transmit data memory 20, i.e., a transmit memory, which will be discussed in detail. The receive branch 27 initiates the transmission of a data packet to a receive data memory 21, which is referred to as a receive memory for short, in a similar manner in principle. The counter device 11, the transmit serializer 12 and the receive data packetizer 13 are collectively referred to as the digital connection part of the ultrasound probe 2. The transmit data memory 20, like the receive data memory 21, is designed as a ring buffer and belongs to the main memory 19 of the data processing unit 3. The root complex 15 is also located in the data processing unit 3.

[0050] The connection between the ultrasound probe 2 and the data processing unit 3 is established via a bus system Bus-S, which is implemented as a PCIe system and includes a cable 14. A bidirectional digital data connection is established via the cable 14, i.e., a PCIe cable. During operation of the ultrasound system 1, data is transmitted simultaneously in both directions at a high rate via this data connection, as will be explained in more detail below.

[0051] The root complex 15 connected to the cable 14 is connected within the data processing unit 3 to a main processor (CPU) 17, a memory management unit (MNU) 16 and a graphics processor 22. From the root complex 15, signal data 18 are transmitted directly to the main processor 17, bypassing the memory management unit 16. The signal data 18 are message signal interrupts (MSIs) in the present case as message data packets extracted by the root complex 15. The MSI 18 is used to notify the address counter stations of the send branch 26 and the receive branch 27. When a specified limit is exceeded (this concerns data transmitted via the send serializer 12 and the receive data packetizer 13, extracted from the send memory 20 or written into the receive memory 21), the value of the counter is changed. With these counters, which can assume values ​​greater than 1 in a preferred embodiment and serve as counting semaphores, not only the filling and emptying of the ring buffers 20, 21 is controlled, but also the interaction between the main processor 17 and the graphics processor 22 is significantly influenced.

[0052] The graphics processor 22, which is also often referred to as a processor, comprises a plurality of, for example, 4096, computing units 23 and a storage unit 24. The display device 25, i.e. a screen synchronized with the image output rate, is operated by means of the graphics processor 22. The components 15, 16, 17, 19, 22 of the data processing unit 3 together form a computing unit.

[0053] Use basis Figure 1 The ultrasound system 1 may perform the method in Figure 2 . Here, a total of twelve method steps are denoted by S1 to S12. As step S1, i.e. the beginning of the method, it is to be understood that an ultrasonic probe 2 and a data processing unit 3 connected to the ultrasonic probe via a real-time bus system BUS-S are provided. The data processing unit 3 is operated using a standard operating system BS known per se, which is referred to as an operating system for short. The operating system BS has a typical response time in the order of magnitude of 1 ms to 10 ms and therefore does not meet hard real-time requirements. The operating system BS is also referred to as the 1 ms domain. In the operating system BS, control data are generated in step S2, which are ultimately necessary for controlling the sound converter element 5. In step S3, the control data are written to the transmit memory 20. In contrast to the main processor 17, the transmit memory 20 and the receive memory 21 belong to the real-time bus system BUS-S.

[0054] In step S4, the control data triggered by the ultrasound probe 2 are read from the transmission memory 20 and transmitted to the ultrasound probe 2 via the cable 14, i.e. via the data connection 14. The real-time bus system BUS-S constructed with the aid of the cable 14 and the root complex 15 operates with a jitter of the order of magnitude of 10 ms and is therefore referred to as the 10 ms domain.

[0055] The data read from the transmit memory 20 are transmitted via streaming virtually without interruption and at a constant data rate to the stateless ultrasound probe 2. An 8 ns clock is preset in the ultrasound probe 2 by a clock setter 10, wherein the clock inaccuracy is in the order of 10 ps. The corresponding time domain in the probe system (Son-S) corresponds to a 10 ps domain.

[0056] In step S5, ultrasonic pulses are generated by the transmitting and receiving element 5 using the streaming control data, and echoes are received by the same element 5. In step S6, the received echoes are amplified with a constant gain by means of a preamplifier 8. In step S7, they are digitized by an analog-to-digital converter 9.

[0057] In step S8, the digitized data is transmitted by streaming through the cable 14 and written into the receiving memory 21. The transmission of data to the data processing unit 3 through the cable 14 is performed simultaneously with the reception of data from the data processing unit 3 through the ultrasound probe 2.

[0058] Asynchronously with the transmission process, data are read from the receive memory 21 in step S9 and distributed to the individual computing units 23 in step S10. In step S11, partial images representing beamforming (beamforming) are generated by the computing unit 23. The final image generation (image formation), that is, the synthesis of the ultrasound image, takes place in step S12.

[0059] The time period from receiving the ultrasound echo by the sound converter element 5 to outputting the ultrasound image on the display device 25 is less than 100 ms, so that the user has the impression of observing a real-time image. In fact, in the manner described, the data processing passes through three time domains in total, wherein in the time domain with the smallest clock inaccuracy, i.e. in the probe system Son-S, the data processing is reduced to a minimum, but a very high data rate of several Gbits per second is obtained.

[0060] In this case, data with such a high rate are both received and sent by the ultrasound probe 2. The amount of data received per time unit does not differ from the amount of data sent per time unit by more than a factor of five. The very high rate of data received by the ultrasound probe 2 is directly related to the stateless operation of the ultrasound probe 2. Although the cable 14 for bidirectional data transmission has clock inaccuracies that cause the accuracy of the probe system Son-S to lose several orders of magnitude, relatively high real-time requirements are met compared to the standard operating system BS.

[0061] The entire process of beamforming is incorporated into the data processing unit 3 running under the operating system BS. This means, in particular, that when a single so-called transmission by the ultrasound probe 2 is triggered, that is, when an ultrasonic signal is generated, the echo of which is to be evaluated, not only a narrow partial area, that is, one or a few image sequences, is observed as is customary in the prior art, but all echo data physically belonging to the transmission pulse are recorded and transmitted without digital processing, that is, streamed. Only in the data processing unit 3 are subsets extracted from the recorded data, which are used to generate partial images and finally the overall image.

[0062] Reference numerals list

[0063] 1. Ultrasonic system

[0064] 2Ultrasonic probe

[0065] 3Data processing unit

[0066] 4Analog front end

[0067] 5 Transmitting and receiving elements, sound converter elements

[0068] 6 Transmitter and receiver separator

[0069] 7 Power transmitter, transmitter stage

[0070] 8 Preamplifier

[0071] 9Analog-to-digital converter

[0072] 10Clock setter, clock

[0073] 11. Counter device

[0074] 12 Send Serializer

[0075] 13 Receive data packetizer

[0076] 14Data connection devices and cables

[0077] 15 root complex

[0078] 16 Memory Management Unit

[0079] 17Main processor, CPU

[0080] 18MSI data packet, signal data

[0081] 19 Main Memory

[0082] 20 Send memory, ring memory

[0083] 21 receiving memory, ring memory

[0084] 22 processors, graphics processor

[0085] 23 Operator

[0086] 24 Memory

[0087] 25 Display devices

[0088] 26 Sending branch of counter device

[0089] 27 Receiving branch of counter device

[0090] BS operating system, standard operating system

[0091] Bus-S real-time bus system

[0092] Son-S Probe System

[0093] S1...12 Method steps.

Claims

1. An ultrasound system, comprising an ultrasound probe (2) and a data processing unit (3), wherein the ultrasound probe comprises a plurality of transmitting and receiving elements (5), the data processing unit is physically separated from the ultrasound probe (2) and connected to the ultrasound probe via a data connection device (14), wherein: The ultrasonic probe (2) has a plurality of analog preamplifiers (8), a plurality of analog-to-digital converters (9) and at least one digital connection component (11, 12, 13), and the data processing unit (3) has two ring memories, namely a receiving memory (21) and a transmitting memory (20), and a computing unit (15, 16, 17, 19, 22) configured to generate ultrasonic images, and a real-time bus system (Bus-S) including the data connection device (14) is provided for coupling the ultrasonic probe (2) with the computing unit (15, 16, 17, 19, 22) in terms of data technology, the ring memory is also connected to the real-time bus system, and the real-time bus system is connected to a probe system (Son) for transmitting data within the ultrasonic probe (2). -S) and on the other hand is connected to an operating system (BS) provided for operating a computing unit (15, 16, 17, 19, 22), and the clock inaccuracy of the probe system (Son-S) is at least three orders of magnitude smaller than the clock inaccuracy of the real-time bus system (Bus-S), and the response time of the operating system (BS) is at least two orders of magnitude longer than the clock inaccuracy of the real-time bus system, and the real-time bus system (Bus-S) cooperating with the probe system (Son-S) and the operating system (BS) is designed to simultaneously transmit transmit data and receive data in a stateless operation of the ultrasound probe (2) without distinguishing between transmit operation and receive operation, in a clock-controlled manner at an average constant rate via a stream without interruption.

2. The ultrasonic system according to claim 1, characterized in that A connection is established between the ultrasound probe (2) and a root complex (15) integrated into the data processing unit (3) via the data connection device (14), the root complex being primarily configured to transmit message data packets (MSI) relating to send data and receive data, wherein a counting semaphore is implemented via the message data packet (MSI) for temporarily blocking and releasing the transmission of streaming data to a send memory (20) and from a receive memory (21).

3. The ultrasonic system according to claim 2, characterized in that A transmit-receive splitter (6) is connected upstream of each transmit and receive element (5) and is designed to apply one of n codes to the transmit and receive element (5) in a clocked manner for each exactly one clock cycle, wherein n is at least four and (n-1) transmit codes and exactly one receive code are provided.

4. The ultrasonic system according to claim 2 or 3, characterized in that: The data transmission capacity available for transmitting a message data packet (MSI) is not more than 1% of the data transmission capacity available for transmitting control data on the one hand and measurement data on the other hand via the data connection (14).

5. The ultrasonic system according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that: The following relationship exists between the time jitter (TSon) of the probe system (Son-S), the jitter (TBus) of the real-time bus system (Bus-S) and the response time (TBS) of the operating system (BS): 。 6. The ultrasonic system according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that: The receive memory (21) is designed to store receive data blocks assigned to transmit data sets for at least 20 ms.

7. The ultrasonic system according to claim 6, characterized in that The transmit data stream is provided for the continuous, uninterrupted control of the transmit and receive elements (5), and the associated receive data stored in the transmit memory (20) and the receive memory (21) are stored in a time-free, continuous and without an associated time signal in each individual case.

8. The ultrasonic system according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that: The data connection (14) between the ultrasound probe (2) and the ring memory is designed as a PCIe connection.

9. The ultrasonic system according to claim 8, characterized in that The data connection device comprises a cable connecting the ultrasonic probe (2) and the data processing unit (3).

10. An imaging ultrasound method, wherein: The object to be examined is subjected to ultrasonic pulses and echo signals are recorded, the method having the following characteristics: - providing an ultrasound probe (2) and a data processing unit (3) coupled to the ultrasound probe in terms of data technology, the ultrasound probe comprising a plurality of transmitting and receiving elements (5), the data processing unit comprising a main processor (17) and a processor (22) having a plurality of computing units (23), - generating control data provided for operating the transmitting and receiving element (5) by means of the data processing unit (3), wherein the control data are generated under a standard operating system (BS) which does not meet hard real-time requirements and are written asynchronously with respect to the generation into a transmitting memory (20) designed as a ring memory, which belongs to a real-time bus system (BUS-S), - asynchronously transmitting control data from the transmission memory (20) to the ultrasound probe (2) in connection with the generation and storage of the control data, wherein the ultrasound probe (2) is operated as a component of a real-time bus system (BUS-S) and the control data is transmitted without pauses via streaming at an average constant first data transmission rate, and the clock inaccuracy of the probe system (Son-S) of the components included in the ultrasound probe is at least three orders of magnitude lower than the clock inaccuracy of the real-time bus system (Bus-S), and the response time of the standard operating system (BS) is at least two orders of magnitude longer than the clock inaccuracy of the real-time bus system, - ultrasonic pulses are generated as a function of the control data by means of a transmitter stage (7) arranged in the ultrasonic probe (2), - analogously amplifying the associated echo signal in the ultrasound probe (2) and digitizing it synchronously, without interruption and at a constant clock frequency and asynchronously writing it in real time, without gaps and without further processing, via a streaming device (14) to a receiving memory (21) belonging to the real-time bus system (BUS-S), which is spatially separated from the ultrasound probe (2) and is designed as a ring memory, wherein the data transmission to the receiving memory (21) takes place without interruption at a substantially constant second data transmission rate, which does not differ by more than five times from the first data transmission rate for transmitting data from the data processing unit (3) to the ultrasound probe (2), - the selection of the input data in the receiving memory (21) is controlled by the main processor (17) and distributed as measurement data blocks to a plurality of computing units (23), wherein each measurement data block is respectively assigned to a group of receiving elements (5), - a plurality of measurement data sets are processed in parallel and asynchronously with the writing process, i.e. writing to a receive memory (21) of a real-time bus system (BUS-S) by computing units (23), each of which is controlled by a main processor (17) running under a standard operating system (BS), wherein the processing each includes receive beamforming and image reconstruction and a partial image is reconstructed with the aid of each computing unit (23), - A data processing unit (3) generates an overall image as an ultrasound image from the partial images.

11. The ultrasonic method according to claim 10, characterized in that The processor (22) is a graphics processor.

12. The ultrasonic method according to claim 10, characterized in that The transmitting and receiving element (5) which is actuated by a transmitting stage (7) is designed as a piezoelectric element.

13. The ultrasonic method according to claim 10, characterized in that In addition to control data and measurement data provided by the ultrasonic probe (2), a message data packet (MSI) is transmitted in the data processing unit (3), which implements a counting signal quantity for blocking and releasing streaming, serial data transmission to the transmission memory (20) and from the reception memory (21), wherein the data volume of the message data packet (MSI) is at least two orders of magnitude smaller than the data volume transmitted via the ring memory.

14. The ultrasonic method according to any one of claims 10 to 13, characterized in that The echo signal of each receiving channel in the ultrasonic probe (2) is analog-amplified by a preamplifier (8) at a constant amplification factor.

15. The ultrasonic method according to any one of claims 10 to 13, characterized in that Data are written into the transmission memory (20) and the reception memory (21) without explicit time information, wherein when the data is read, the time information is implicitly extracted based on the size of the stored data block and the storage order, i.e., the storage address.

16. The ultrasonic method according to any one of claims 10 to 13, characterized in that The ultrasonic probe (2) firstly automatically requests the data required for operating the transmitting and receiving element (5) from a transmitting memory (20) and uses the data within the scope of a real-time bus system (BUS-S), and secondly automatically writes the measurement data into a receiving memory (21).

17. The ultrasonic method according to any one of claims 10 to 13, characterized in that The ultrasound probe (2) automatically assumes a reliable default state when it is switched on and when it is disconnected from the data processing unit (3).

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