Ultrasonic imaging method and ultrasonic imaging system

Abstract

An ultrasonic imaging method and an ultrasonic imaging system. The ultrasonic imaging method includes: emitting ultrasonic waves to a target tissue of an object to be measured at at least two different emission angles; obtaining ultrasonic echo signals corresponding to each emission angle; for the ultrasonic echo signals corresponding to each emission angle, performing beam synthesis at at least two different reception angles to obtain beam synthesis data corresponding to different reception angles; according to the emission angles and reception angles corresponding to the beam synthesis data, performing at least one coherent compounding and at least one incoherent compounding on the beam synthesis data to obtain compound data, wherein each coherent compounding includes performing coherent compounding on the beam synthesis data with the same reception angle and different emission angles to obtain a set of coherent compounding data corresponding to the same reception angle; the incoherent compounding includes performing incoherent compounding on at least two sets of coherent compounding data; generating an ultrasonic image according to the compound data. The present invention can improve the quality of the ultrasonic image.

Description

Technical Field

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

[0002] Ultrasonic imaging is to emit ultrasonic waves from an ultrasonic probe to an object to be examined or diagnosed, and then generate an ultrasonic image according to the echo signals of the ultrasonic waves. Ultrasonic imaging has the advantages of real-time imaging, no radiation, wide audience, low price, etc. At present, it has been widely used in medical clinical diagnosis and routine physical examinations. The quality of ultrasonic images is crucial for clinical diagnosis.

[0003] According to information such as the depth and size of the region of interest, different transmission delays can be controlled to form different transmission beam patterns. There are focused waves, plane waves, scattered waves, etc. according to the focus depth, and strong focusing, weak focusing, etc. according to the focal region. There can also be vertical transmission, deflected transmission, etc. Ultrasonic waves at different transmission angles are received after being reflected by the medium, and images corresponding to different angles are formed after processing, and then spatial compounding is performed to form an ultrasonic spatial compound image. The compound image is to image with different acoustic wave patterns acting on the same medium and compound the obtained images. In spatial compound ultrasonic imaging, tissues are imaged at various viewing angles, and different perspective images are generated at each viewing angle, and then compounded to generate a compound image. The advantage of this is that it can reduce the speckle noise formed by ultrasonic imaging, make the variance of the formed speckle smaller, and increase the visibility of the scatterer edge or tissue boundary, improving the image quality. However, the conventional spatial compound imaging technology processes the received data at each angle separately to form different angle views, without jointly processing the data between multiple angles, thus affecting the spatial compounding effect. Summary of the Invention

[0004] A series of simplified concepts are introduced in the Summary of the Invention section, which will be further described in detail in the Detailed Description section. The Summary of the Invention section of the present invention does not mean to attempt to define the key features and essential technical features of the claimed technical solution, nor does it mean to attempt to determine the protection scope of the claimed technical solution.

[0005] An embodiment of the present invention provides an ultrasonic imaging method on the one hand, and the method includes:

[0006] Emit ultrasonic waves to the target tissue of the object to be measured at at least two different transmission angles;

[0007] Receive the echoes of the ultrasonic waves at each transmission angle to obtain the ultrasonic echo signals corresponding to each transmission angle;

[0008] For the ultrasonic echo signals corresponding to each emission angle, beamforming is performed at at least two different reception angles to obtain beamforming data corresponding to different reception angles;

[0009] According to the emission angle and reception angle corresponding to the beamforming data, at least one coherent compounding and at least one incoherent compounding are performed on the beamforming data to obtain compound data, wherein each time the coherent compounding includes performing coherent compounding on the beamforming data with the same reception angle and different emission angles to obtain a set of coherent compounded data corresponding to the same reception angle; the incoherent compounding includes performing incoherent compounding on at least two sets of the coherent compounded data;

[0010] An ultrasonic image is generated according to the compound data.

[0011] In some embodiments, the performing coherent compounding on the beamforming data with the same reception angle and different emission angles to obtain a set of coherent compounded data corresponding to the same reception angle includes:

[0012] Performing coherent compounding on the beamforming data of all emission angles at each reception angle respectively to obtain coherent compounded data corresponding to each reception angle;

[0013] The performing incoherent compounding on at least two sets of the coherent compounded data includes: performing incoherent compounding on the coherent compounded data corresponding to all reception angles to obtain the compound data.

[0014] In some embodiments, the emission angle includes a vertical emission angle perpendicular to the plane where the array element for emitting the ultrasonic wave is located, and at least two deflection emission angles symmetric to each other based on the vertical emission angle; the reception angle includes a vertical reception angle parallel to the vertical emission angle, and at least two deflection reception angles parallel to the at least two deflection emission angles respectively.

[0015] In some embodiments, the emission angle includes a first emission angle, a second emission angle, and a third emission angle, the second emission angle is the vertical emission angle, and the first emission angle and the third emission angle are the deflection emission angles symmetric to each other based on the first emission angle;

[0016] The reception angles corresponding to the first transmission angle include a first reception angle and a second reception angle. The reception angles corresponding to the second transmission angle include the first reception angle, the second reception angle, and a third reception angle. The reception angles corresponding to the third transmission angle include the second reception angle and the third reception angle. The second reception angle is the vertical reception angle. The first reception angle and the third reception angle are parallel to the first transmission angle and the third transmission angle respectively;

[0017] Performing coherent combination on the beam synthesis data of all transmission angles under each reception angle respectively to obtain coherent combination data corresponding to each reception angle, including:

[0018] Performing coherent combination on the beam synthesis data corresponding to the first transmission angle and the first reception angle and the beam synthesis data corresponding to the second transmission angle and the first reception angle to obtain first coherent combination data;

[0019] Performing coherent combination on the beam synthesis data corresponding to the first transmission angle and the second reception angle, the beam synthesis data corresponding to the second transmission angle and the second reception angle, and the beam synthesis data corresponding to the third transmission angle and the second reception angle to obtain second coherent combination data;

[0020] Performing coherent combination on the beam synthesis data corresponding to the second transmission angle and the third reception angle and the beam synthesis data corresponding to the third transmission angle and the third reception angle to obtain third coherent combination data;

[0021] Performing incoherent combination on the coherent combination data corresponding to all reception angles to obtain the combined data, including: performing incoherent combination on the first coherent combination data, the second coherent combination data, and the third coherent combination data to obtain the combined data.

[0022] In some embodiments, the included angle between the straight line where each transmission angle is located and the straight line where the corresponding reception angle is located does not exceed the maximum included angle between the normal direction of the array element that emits the ultrasonic wave and the transmission angle.

[0023] In some embodiments, the number of different reception angles among all reception angles is the same as the number of different transmission angles among all transmission angles.

[0024] A second aspect of the embodiments of the present invention provides an ultrasonic imaging method, and the method includes:

[0025] Emitting ultrasonic waves to a target tissue of an object to be measured at at least two different transmission angles;

[0026] Receive the echoes of the ultrasonic waves at each emission angle to obtain the ultrasonic echo signals corresponding to each emission angle;

[0027] For the ultrasonic echo signals corresponding to each emission angle, perform beamforming at at least two different reception angles to obtain the beamforming data corresponding to different reception angles;

[0028] According to the emission angle and reception angle corresponding to the beamforming data, perform at least one coherent combination and at least one incoherent combination on the beamforming data to obtain combined data, wherein each time the coherent combination includes performing coherent combination on the beamforming data with the same reception angle and different emission angles to obtain a set of coherent combined data corresponding to the same reception angle; the incoherent combination includes performing incoherent combination on at least one set of the coherent combined data and the beamforming data that has not undergone the coherent combination;

[0029] Generate an ultrasonic image according to the combined data.

[0030] In some embodiments, the emission angle includes a vertical emission angle perpendicular to the plane where the array element emitting the ultrasonic wave is located, and at least two deflection emission angles symmetric to each other based on the vertical emission angle; the reception angle includes a vertical reception angle parallel to the vertical emission angle, and at least two deflection reception angles respectively parallel to the at least two deflection emission angles.

[0031] In some embodiments, the performing coherent combination on the beamforming data with the same reception angle and different emission angles to obtain a set of coherent combined data corresponding to the same reception angle includes:

[0032] In the beamforming data corresponding to the vertical reception angle, extract the beamforming data corresponding to at least two deflection emission angles symmetric to each other based on the vertical emission angle for coherent combination to obtain the coherent combined data;

[0033] The data used for the incoherent combination includes at least one set of the coherent combined data corresponding to the vertical reception angle, and the beamforming data that has not undergone coherent combination corresponding to the vertical reception angle and the vertical emission angle.

[0034] In some embodiments, the performing coherent combination on the beamforming data with the same reception angle and different emission angles to obtain coherent combined data further includes:

[0035] Perform coherent combination on the beamforming data of at least two different emission angles corresponding to at least one of the deflection reception angles to obtain coherent combined data corresponding to at least one of the deflection reception angles;

[0036] The data for performing the incoherent combination further includes the coherent combination data corresponding to the at least one deflection reception angle.

[0037] In some embodiments, the emission angles include a first emission angle, a second emission angle, a third emission angle, a fourth emission angle, and a fifth emission angle. The third emission angle is the vertical emission angle. The first emission angle and the fifth emission angle are the deflection emission angles symmetric to each other based on the third emission angle. The second emission angle and the fourth emission angle are the deflection emission angles symmetric to each other based on the third emission angle.

[0038] The reception angles corresponding to the first emission angle and the second emission angle include a first reception angle, a second reception angle, and a third reception angle. The reception angles corresponding to the third emission angle include the first reception angle, the second reception angle, the third reception angle, the fourth reception angle, and the fifth reception angle. The reception angles corresponding to the fourth emission angle and the fifth emission angle include the third reception angle, the fourth reception angle, and the fifth reception angle. The third reception angle is the vertical reception angle. The first reception angle and the fifth reception angle are the deflection reception angles symmetric to each other based on the third reception angle. The second reception angle and the fourth reception angle are the deflection reception angles symmetric to each other based on the third reception angle.

[0039] Extracting, from the beam synthesis data corresponding to the vertical reception angle, the beam synthesis data corresponding to at least two deflection emission angles symmetric to each other based on the vertical emission angle for coherent combination to obtain the coherent combination data includes:

[0040] Performing coherent combination on the beam synthesis data corresponding to the third reception angle and the first emission angle and the beam synthesis data corresponding to the third reception angle and the fifth emission angle to obtain a fourth coherent combination data.

[0041] Performing coherent combination on the beam synthesis data corresponding to the third reception angle and the second emission angle and the beam synthesis data corresponding to the third reception angle and the fourth emission angle to obtain a fifth coherent combination data.

[0042] The data for performing the incoherent combination includes the fourth coherent combination data, the fifth coherent combination data, and the beam synthesis data corresponding to the third reception angle and the third emission angle.

[0043] A third aspect of the embodiments of the present invention provides an ultrasonic imaging method, and the method includes:

[0044] Ultrasound is emitted towards the target tissue of the object under test at at least two different emission angles;

[0045] The echoes of the ultrasound at each emission angle are received to obtain the ultrasonic echo signals corresponding to each emission angle;

[0046] For the ultrasonic echo signals corresponding to each emission angle, beamforming is performed at at least two different reception angles to obtain the beamforming data corresponding to different reception angles;

[0047] According to the emission angles and reception angles corresponding to the beamforming data, at least one coherent compounding and at least one incoherent compounding are performed on the beamforming data to obtain compound data, wherein each time the coherent compounding includes performing coherent compounding on the beamforming data with the same emission angle and different reception angles to obtain a set of coherent compounding data corresponding to the same emission angle; the incoherent compounding includes performing incoherent compounding on at least two sets of the coherent compounding data;

[0048] An ultrasonic image is generated according to the compound data.

[0049] In some embodiments, the performing coherent compounding on the beamforming data with the same emission angle and different reception angles to obtain a set of coherent compounding data corresponding to the same emission angle includes:

[0050] Performing coherent compounding on the beamforming data at all reception angles for each emission angle respectively to obtain the coherent compounding data corresponding to each emission angle;

[0051] The performing incoherent compounding on at least two sets of the coherent compounding data includes: performing incoherent compounding on the coherent compounding data corresponding to all emission angles to obtain the compound data.

[0052] In some embodiments, the emission angles include a vertical emission angle perpendicular to the plane where the array element emitting the ultrasound is located, and at least two deflection emission angles symmetric with respect to the vertical emission angle; the reception angles include a vertical reception angle parallel to the vertical emission angle, and at least two deflection reception angles respectively parallel to the at least two deflection emission angles.

[0053] In some embodiments, the emission angles include a first emission angle, a second emission angle, and a third emission angle, the second emission angle is the vertical emission angle, and the first emission angle and the third emission angle are the deflection emission angles symmetric with respect to the second emission angle;

[0054] The receiving angles corresponding to the first emission angle include a first receiving angle and a second receiving angle. The receiving angles corresponding to the second emission angle include the first receiving angle, the second receiving angle, and a third receiving angle. The receiving angles corresponding to the third emission angle include the second receiving angle and the third receiving angle. The second receiving angle is the vertical receiving angle, and the first receiving angle and the third receiving angle are parallel to the first emission angle and the third emission angle, respectively;

[0055] Performing coherent compounding on the beam synthesis data of all receiving angles at each emission angle to obtain coherent compounding data corresponding to each emission angle, including:

[0056] Performing coherent compounding on the beam synthesis data corresponding to the first emission angle and the first receiving angle and the beam synthesis data corresponding to the first emission angle and the second receiving angle to obtain sixth coherent compounding data;

[0057] Performing coherent compounding on the beam synthesis data corresponding to the second emission angle and the first receiving angle, the beam synthesis data corresponding to the second emission angle and the second receiving angle, and the beam synthesis data corresponding to the second emission angle and the third emission angle to obtain seventh coherent compounding data;

[0058] Performing coherent compounding on the beam synthesis data corresponding to the third emission angle and the second receiving angle and the beam synthesis data corresponding to the third emission angle and the third receiving angle to obtain eighth coherent compounding data;

[0059] Performing incoherent compounding on the coherent compounding data corresponding to all emission angles to obtain the compounding data, including:

[0060] Performing incoherent compounding on the sixth coherent compounding data, the seventh coherent compounding data, and the eighth coherent compounding data to obtain the compounding data.

[0061] In some embodiments, the angle between the straight line where each emission angle is located and the straight line where the corresponding receiving angle is located does not exceed the maximum angle between the normal direction of the array element that emits the ultrasonic wave and the emission angle.

[0062] In some embodiments, the number of different receiving angles among all receiving angles is the same as the number of different emission angles among all emission angles.

[0063] A fourth aspect of the embodiments of the present invention provides an ultrasonic imaging method, and the method includes:

[0064] Emitting ultrasonic waves to a target tissue of an object to be measured at at least two different emission angles;

[0065] Receive the echoes of the ultrasonic waves at each transmission angle to obtain the ultrasonic echo signals corresponding to each transmission angle;

[0066] For the ultrasonic echo signals corresponding to each transmission angle, perform beamforming at at least two different reception angles to obtain the beamforming data corresponding to different reception angles;

[0067] According to the transmission angle and reception angle corresponding to the beamforming data, perform at least one coherent compounding and at least one incoherent compounding on the beamforming data to obtain compound data, wherein each time the coherent compounding includes performing coherent compounding on the beamforming data with the same transmission angle and different reception angles to obtain a set of coherent compound data; the incoherent compounding includes performing incoherent compounding on at least one set of the coherent compound data and the beamforming data that has not undergone the coherent compounding;

[0068] Generate an ultrasonic image according to the compound data.

[0069] In some embodiments, the transmission angles include a vertical transmission angle perpendicular to the plane where the array element that emits the ultrasonic wave is located, and at least two deflection transmission angles that are symmetric with respect to the vertical transmission angle; the reception angles include a vertical reception angle parallel to the vertical transmission angle, and at least two deflection reception angles parallel to the at least two deflection transmission angles.

[0070] In some embodiments, the performing coherent compounding on the beamforming data with the same transmission angle and different reception angles to obtain coherent compound data includes:

[0071] In the beamforming data corresponding to the vertical transmission angle, extract the beamforming data corresponding to at least two deflection reception angles that are symmetric with respect to the vertical reception angle and perform coherent compounding to obtain the coherent compound data;

[0072] The data used for the incoherent compounding includes at least one set of the coherent compound data corresponding to the vertical transmission angle, and the beamforming data that has not undergone the coherent compounding corresponding to the vertical transmission angle and the vertical reception angle.

[0073] In some embodiments, the performing coherent compounding on the beamforming data with the same transmission angle and different reception angles to obtain coherent compound data further includes:

[0074] Perform coherent compounding on the beamforming data corresponding to at least two different reception angles of at least one of the deflection transmission angles to obtain the coherent compound data corresponding to at least one of the deflection transmission angles;

[0075] Data for performing the incoherent combination further includes the coherent combination data corresponding to at least one of the deflection emission angles.

[0076] In some embodiments, the emission angles include a first emission angle, a second emission angle, a third emission angle, a fourth emission angle, and a fifth emission angle. The third emission angle is the vertical emission angle. The first emission angle and the fifth emission angle are deflection emission angles symmetric to each other based on the third emission angle. The second emission angle and the fourth emission angle are deflection emission angles symmetric to each other based on the third emission angle.

[0077] The reception angles corresponding to the first emission angle and the second emission angle include a first reception angle, a second reception angle, and a third reception angle. The reception angles corresponding to the third emission angle include the first reception angle, the second reception angle, the third reception angle, the fourth reception angle, and the fifth reception angle. The reception angles corresponding to the fourth emission angle and the fifth emission angle include the third reception angle, the fourth reception angle, and the fifth reception angle. The third reception angle is the vertical reception angle. The first reception angle and the fifth reception angle are deflection reception angles symmetric to each other based on the third reception angle. The second reception angle and the fourth reception angle are deflection reception angles symmetric to each other based on the third reception angle.

[0078] Extracting, from the beam synthesis data corresponding to the vertical emission angle, at least two beam synthesis data corresponding to deflection reception angles symmetric to each other based on the vertical reception angle for coherent combination to obtain the coherent combination data includes:

[0079] Performing coherent combination on the beam synthesis data corresponding to the third emission angle and the first reception angle and the beam synthesis data corresponding to the third emission angle and the fifth reception angle to obtain the ninth coherent combination data.

[0080] Performing coherent combination on the beam synthesis data corresponding to the third emission angle and the second reception angle and the beam synthesis data corresponding to the third emission angle and the fourth reception angle to obtain the tenth coherent combination data.

[0081] Data for performing the incoherent combination includes the ninth coherent combination data, the tenth coherent combination data, and the beam synthesis data corresponding to the third emission angle and the third reception angle.

[0082] A fifth aspect of the embodiments of the present invention provides an ultrasonic imaging system, including:

[0083] An ultrasonic probe;

[0084] A transmitting circuit for exciting the ultrasonic probe to transmit ultrasonic waves to a target tissue;

[0085] A receiving circuit for controlling the ultrasonic probe to receive ultrasonic echo signals of the ultrasonic waves;

[0086] A processor for executing the ultrasonic imaging method as described above to generate an ultrasonic image;

[0087] A display for displaying the ultrasonic image.

[0088] In the ultrasonic imaging method and ultrasonic imaging system according to the embodiments of the present invention, both coherent compounding and non - coherent compounding are performed on beam synthesis data corresponding to different transmission angles or different reception angles, which can synthesize the amplitude information and phase information of data between different angles and improve the image quality of the ultrasonic image. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0089] By describing the embodiments of the present invention in more detail in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, the above - mentioned and other objects, features, and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent. The drawings are used to provide a further understanding of the embodiments of the present invention and constitute a part of the specification. Together with the embodiments of the present invention, they are used to explain the present invention and do not constitute a limitation to the present invention. In the drawings, the same reference numerals generally represent the same components or steps.

[0090] Figure 1 Showing a structural block diagram of an ultrasonic imaging system according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0091] Figure 2 Showing a schematic flowchart of an ultrasonic imaging method according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0092] Figure 3 Showing a schematic diagram of one transmission angle corresponding to multiple reception angles according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0093] Figure 4 Showing a schematic diagram of one transmission angle corresponding to multiple reception angles according to another embodiment of the present invention;

[0094] Figure 5 Showing a schematic diagram of coherent compounding and non - coherent compounding according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0095] Figure 6 Showing a schematic diagram of an ultrasonic imaging method according to another embodiment of the present invention;

[0096] Figure 7 Showing a schematic diagram of coherent compounding and non - coherent compounding according to another embodiment of the present invention;

[0097] Figure 8Schematic diagram showing an ultrasonic imaging method according to another embodiment of the present invention;

[0098] Figure 9 Schematic diagram showing coherent compounding and incoherent compounding according to another embodiment of the present invention;

[0099] Figure 10 Schematic diagram showing an ultrasonic imaging method according to another embodiment of the present invention;

[0100] Figure 11 Schematic diagram showing coherent compounding and incoherent compounding according to another embodiment of the present invention. Detailed implementation manners

[0101] In order to make the objectives, technical solutions and advantages of the present invention more apparent, exemplary embodiments according to the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. Obviously, the described embodiments are only a part of the embodiments of the present invention, rather than all the embodiments of the present invention. It should be understood that the present invention is not limited by the exemplary embodiments described herein. Based on the embodiments of the present invention described herein, all other embodiments obtained by those skilled in the art without creative efforts shall fall within the protection scope of the present invention.

[0102] In the following description, numerous specific details are given to provide a more thorough understanding of the present invention. However, it is obvious to those skilled in the art that the present invention may be implemented without one or more of these details. In other instances, in order to avoid confusion with the present invention, some well-known technical features are not described.

[0103] It should be understood that the present invention can be implemented in different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments presented herein. On the contrary, providing these embodiments will make the disclosure thorough and complete, and will fully convey the scope of the present invention to those skilled in the art.

[0104] The purpose of the terms used herein is only to describe specific embodiments and is not a limitation of the present invention. When used herein, the singular forms "a", "an" and "the" are also intended to include the plural forms unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. It should also be understood that the terms "comprising" and / or "including", when used in this specification, identify the presence of the stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements and / or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components and / or groups. When used herein, the term "and / or" includes any and all combinations of the related listed items.

[0105] To thoroughly understand the present invention, detailed structures will be presented in the following description to illustrate the technical solutions proposed by the present invention. The optional embodiments of the present invention are described in detail below. However, in addition to these detailed descriptions, the present invention may also have other implementation manners.

[0106] Next, first refer to Figure 1 Describe an ultrasonic imaging system according to an embodiment of the present invention. Figure 1 FIG. 1 shows a schematic structural block diagram of an ultrasonic imaging system 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0107] As Figure 1 shown, the ultrasonic imaging system 100 includes an ultrasonic probe 110, a transmitting circuit 112, a receiving circuit 114, a processor 116, and a display 118. Further, the ultrasonic imaging system may also include a transmit / receive selection switch 120 and a beam synthesis module 122. The transmitting circuit 112 and the receiving circuit 114 can be connected to the ultrasonic probe 110 through the transmit / receive selection switch 120.

[0108] The ultrasonic probe 110 includes a plurality of transducer array elements. The plurality of transducer array elements can be arranged in a row to form a linear array, or arranged in a two-dimensional matrix to form a planar array. The plurality of transducer array elements can also form a convex array. The transducer array elements are used to emit ultrasonic waves according to the excitation electrical signal, or convert the received ultrasonic waves into electrical signals. Therefore, each transducer array element can be used to realize the mutual conversion between the electrical pulse signal and the ultrasonic wave, so as to emit ultrasonic waves to the tissue in the target area of the object to be measured, and can also be used to receive the ultrasonic echo reflected by the tissue.

[0109] During ultrasonic imaging, it is possible to control which transducer array elements are used to emit ultrasonic waves and which transducer array elements are used to receive ultrasonic waves through the transmit sequence and the receive sequence, or control the transducer array elements to be used for emitting ultrasonic waves or receiving the echo of ultrasonic waves in different time slots. The transducer array elements participating in the ultrasonic wave emission can be simultaneously excited by an electrical signal to emit ultrasonic waves simultaneously; or, the transducer array elements participating in the ultrasonic beam emission can also be excited by a plurality of electrical signals with a certain time interval to continuously emit ultrasonic waves with a certain time interval.

[0110] During the ultrasonic imaging process, the transmitting circuit 112 generates a transmission sequence according to the control of the processor 116. The transmission sequence is used to control some or all of the multiple transducer elements to transmit ultrasonic waves to the target tissue. The transmission sequence parameters include the number of transducer element positions for transmission and the ultrasonic beam transmission parameters, such as amplitude, frequency, number of transmissions, transmission interval, transmission angle, waveform, focusing position, etc. In some cases, the transmitting circuit 112 is also used to perform phase delay on the transmitted beam, so that different transducer elements transmit ultrasonic waves at different times, so that each transmitted ultrasonic beam can be focused in a predetermined region of interest. The transmission sequence parameters corresponding to different imaging modes may be different. After the ultrasonic echo signal is received by the receiving circuit 114 and processed by subsequent modules and corresponding algorithms, ultrasonic images of different imaging modes can be generated.

[0111] The receiving circuit 114 may include one or more amplifiers, analog-to-digital converters, etc. The amplifier is used to amplify the received ultrasonic echo signal after appropriate gain compensation, and the analog-to-digital converter is used to sample the analog echo signal at a predetermined time interval, so as to convert it into a digital signal. The digitized echo signal still retains amplitude information, frequency information and phase information. The receiving circuit 114 sends the ultrasonic echo signal to the beam synthesis module 122 for processing.

[0112] The beam synthesis module 122 performs processing such as focusing delay, weighting and channel summation on the ultrasonic echo signal, and then sends it to the processor 116. The processor 116 performs processing such as signal detection, signal enhancement, data conversion, logarithmic compression, etc. on the ultrasonic echo signal to form an ultrasonic image. The ultrasonic image obtained by the processor 116 can be displayed on the display 118 or stored in the memory 124.

[0113] Optionally, the processor 116 can be implemented as software, hardware, firmware, or any combination thereof, and can use one or more application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), one or more general integrated circuits, one or more microprocessors, one or more programmable logic devices, or any combination of the foregoing circuits and / or devices, or other suitable circuits or devices. Moreover, the processor 116 can control other components in the ultrasonic imaging system 100 to perform the corresponding steps of the methods in the various embodiments of this specification.

[0114] The display 118 is connected to the processor 116. The display 118 can be a touch display screen, a liquid crystal display screen, etc.; or, the display 118 can be an independent display such as a liquid crystal display or a television outside the ultrasonic imaging system 100; or, the display 118 can be the display screen of an electronic device such as a smart phone or a tablet computer, etc. Among them, the number of the displays 118 can be one or more.

[0115] The display 118 can display the ultrasonic image obtained by the processor 116. In addition, while displaying the ultrasonic image, the display 118 can also provide a graphical interface for the user to perform human-computer interaction. One or more controlled objects are set on the graphical interface, and the user is provided to input operation instructions by using the human-computer interaction device to control these controlled objects, so as to perform corresponding control operations. For example, an icon is displayed on the graphical interface, and the icon can be operated by using the human-computer interaction device to perform a specific function, such as drawing a region of interest box on the ultrasonic image, etc.

[0116] Optionally, the ultrasonic imaging system 100 can further include other human-computer interaction devices outside the display 118, which are connected to the processor 116. For example, the processor 116 can be connected to the human-computer interaction device through an external input / output port. The external input / output port can be a wireless communication module, a wired communication module, or a combination of both. The external input / output port can also be implemented based on a bus protocol such as USB, CAN, etc., and / or a wired network protocol, etc.

[0117] Among them, the human-computer interaction device can include an input device for detecting the input information of the user. The input information can be, for example, a control instruction for the ultrasonic emission / reception timing, an operation input instruction for drawing points, lines or boxes on the ultrasonic image, or can also include other instruction types. The input device can include one or a combination of multiple of a keyboard, a mouse, a roller, a trackball, a mobile input device (such as a mobile device with a touch display screen, a mobile phone, etc.), a multi-functional knob, etc. The human-computer interaction device can also include an output device such as a printer.

[0118] The ultrasonic imaging system 100 can further include a memory 124 for storing the instructions executed by the processor, storing the received ultrasonic echoes, storing the ultrasonic images, etc. The memory can be a flash card, a solid-state memory, a hard disk, etc. It can be a volatile memory and / or a non-volatile memory, a removable memory and / or a non-removable memory, etc.

[0119] It should be understood that Figure 1 The components included in the illustrated ultrasonic imaging system 100 are only illustrative, and it can include more or fewer components. The present invention is not limited thereto.

[0120] Next, reference will be made to Figure 2 describe an ultrasonic imaging method according to an embodiment of the present invention. Figure 2 FIG. 4 is a schematic flowchart of an ultrasonic imaging method 200 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0121] As Figure 2 shown, an ultrasonic imaging method 200 according to an embodiment of the present invention includes the following steps:

[0122] In step S210, ultrasonic waves are emitted toward a target tissue of an object to be measured at at least two different emission angles;

[0123] In step S220, echoes of the ultrasonic waves at each emission angle are received to obtain ultrasonic echo signals corresponding to each emission angle;

[0124] In step S230, for the ultrasonic echo signals corresponding to each emission angle, beamforming is performed at at least two different reception angles to obtain beamformed data corresponding to different reception angles;

[0125] In step S240, according to the emission angles and reception angles corresponding to the beamformed data, the beamformed data is subjected to at least one coherent compounding and at least one incoherent compounding to obtain compound data, wherein each time the coherent compounding includes performing coherent compounding on the beamformed data with the same reception angle and different emission angles to obtain a set of coherent compounded data corresponding to the same reception angle; the incoherent compounding includes performing incoherent compounding on at least two sets of the coherent compounded data;

[0126] In step S250, an ultrasonic image is generated according to the compound data.

[0127] The embodiment of the present invention relates to an ultrasonic spatial compounding technique. Spatial compounding can reduce the speckle noise formed in ultrasonic imaging, make the variance of speckle formation smaller, and increase the visibility of the edges of scatterers or tissue boundaries, improving the image quality. Among them, speckle noise is the speckles generated by the coherent superposition of the scattered echoes of a uniform tissue. Its essence is not noise, but since the uniform tissue should ideally be a smooth image, these speckles become the noise affecting the image effect. If the relative position of the ultrasonic probe and the tissue is fixed, the position of the speckles is fixed and unchanged, but if the relative position of the ultrasonic probe and the tissue is changed, the position of the speckle image will also change. Based on the above principle, in the spatial compounding technique, the relative position of the ultrasonic probe and the tissue remains unchanged, but the direction of the emission angle or reception angle of the sound beam changes, which is equivalent to the change of the position of the ultrasonic probe and the tissue, thereby obtaining completely different speckle images; after spatial alignment, the speckle noises at different angles do not correspond to the same pixel points, so a smooth effect can be obtained after image superposition.

[0128] Moreover, spatial compounding can also produce a better display effect on strong reflection interfaces with different tilt angles. When ultrasound is incident on a strong reflection interface in tissue, a strong reflection effect will occur, such that only when the incident direction is perpendicular to the reflection interface can the ultrasound echo signal return to the ultrasound probe. Scanning at different deflection angles can detect interfaces in different directions; when the tissue interface is a curved surface, since different parts of the curved surface are imaged at different deflection angles, after spatial compounding, the continuity of the curved surface can be improved.

[0129] The ultrasound imaging method according to the embodiments of the present invention can be used for grayscale imaging, and can also be applied to Doppler imaging mode and other imaging modes; spatially, it can be applied to conventional two-dimensional ultrasound imaging, and can also be applied to three-dimensional ultrasound imaging or four-dimensional ultrasound imaging.

[0130] Specifically, in step S210, the ultrasound probe is controlled to emit ultrasonic waves at different emission angles in sequence. Among them, the ultrasound probe can be any type of ultrasound probe such as a linear array probe, a convex array probe, a planar array probe, a phased array probe, etc. The ultrasonic waves emitted by the ultrasound probe can be focused ultrasonic waves or non-focused ultrasonic waves. Different emission angles are achieved by different emission delays, while the relative position of the ultrasound probe and the tissue remains unchanged. In one embodiment, the ultrasound probe makes one vertical emission and at least one deflected emission.

[0131] Exemplarily, if the emitted ultrasonic waves are focused ultrasonic waves, the transducer array of the ultrasound probe is controlled to focus the ultrasonic beam at the target position, so that better image resolution and contrast can be obtained at the target position; the process of guiding the sound fields of different transducer elements to superimpose at the target position is the emission focusing process. Specifically, the emission pulses generated by the emission circuit are applied to each transducer element with a certain delay time, so that the transducer elements farther from the focusing position emit in advance, and the set delay time is smaller; the transducer elements closer to the focusing position emit later, and the set delay time is longer, whereby the ultrasonic waves emitted by all transducer elements can reach the target position simultaneously, forming a focus at the target position. For focused ultrasonic waves, the focusing positions corresponding to different emission angles are different.

[0132] Non-focused ultrasonic waves mainly include plane waves and scattered waves, etc. For plane waves, the transducer elements in the ultrasonic probe can be controlled to be excited synchronously to generate ultrasonic waves parallel to the plane of the transducer array; or the transducer elements can be excited in sequence based on the delay time calculated according to the deflection angle to emit ultrasonic waves with a certain deflection angle. The divergent wave has one or more virtual focal points behind the ultrasonic probe. The emission waveform is centered on the virtual focal point, and an arc-shaped emission wavefront is obtained by setting the emission delay. As the depth increases, the divergent wave gradually diverges, so that a larger field of view can be obtained with a smaller aperture.

[0133] In step S220, the echoes of the ultrasonic waves at each emission angle are received to obtain the ultrasonic echo signals corresponding to each emission angle. Exemplarily, every time an emission is completed, the receiving circuit controls the transducer elements in the ultrasonic probe to receive the echoes of the ultrasonic waves emitted in the previous step at each receiving point in the target area and convert them into electrical signals to obtain the ultrasonic echo signals. Since the distances from different receiving points in the tissue to the same transducer element are different, and the distances from the same receiving point to different transducer elements are also different, the transducer element will receive ultrasonic echo signals with changing signal intensities within a period of time. After being converted into electrical signals, they become an analog signal with continuously changing amplitude. This analog signal is called a channel signal corresponding to this emission.

[0134] Exemplarily, after the transducer element converts the received ultrasonic wave into an electrical signal, it can also perform processing such as gain amplification, filtering, and analog-to-digital conversion on the electrical signal, and then send it to the beam synthesis module for beam synthesis. Since the intensity of the ultrasonic wave weakens as it propagates in the tissue, it is necessary to perform gain amplification on the ultrasonic echo signal, that is, by controlling the gain change of the amplifier, so that the ultrasonic echo signal with a longer propagation distance has a larger amplification factor, and the ultrasonic echo signal with a shorter propagation distance has a smaller amplification factor to compensate for the attenuation of the ultrasonic waves at different depths. At the same time, the noise signal in the ultrasonic echo signal is also amplified accordingly. And because the noise does not have the attenuation characteristics of the ultrasonic signal, after gain amplification, the noise increases with the increase of different distances. Therefore, it is also necessary to perform filtering processing on the ultrasonic echo signal after gain amplification. Analog-to-digital conversion refers to converting the analog signal into a digital signal for subsequent digital signal processing.

[0135] In step S230, for the ultrasonic echo signals corresponding to each emission angle, beam synthesis is performed at at least two different reception angles to obtain beam synthesis data corresponding to different reception angles. Beam synthesis refers to respectively performing corresponding delay and weighted summation processing on the signals of different channels in the ultrasonic echo signals corresponding to each emission angle, which is a transformation process from channel domain data to reception imaging grid points. Since the distances from the same reception point in the tissue to different transducer elements are different, the channel data of the same reception point output by different transducer elements have a delay difference. The role of the delay processing is to align the phases of the signals of different channels. Then, the data of different channels at the same reception point are weighted and summed to obtain the ultrasonic echo signal after beam synthesis.

[0136] When performing beam synthesis, the angle formed by the connection line between the reception grid point and the center point of the reception aperture used for reception beam synthesis and the normal line is called the reception angle. Performing beam synthesis with different reception angles means that in each beam synthesis process, the delay is calculated respectively based on different reception angles to obtain beam synthesis data corresponding to different reception angles. Performing beam synthesis with different reception angles can achieve an effect similar to multiple deflection transmissions through an algorithm.

[0137] In some embodiments, the emission angles include a vertical emission angle perpendicular to the plane where the elements emitting ultrasonic waves are located, and at least two deflection emission angles symmetric to each other based on the vertical emission angle. The reception angles include a vertical reception angle parallel to the vertical emission angle, and at least two deflection reception angles parallel to at least two deflection emission angles respectively. When the reception angle or the emission angle is symmetric based on the vertical emission angle, the coherence of the obtained ultrasonic echo signal is higher and the effect of coherent compounding is better. Moreover, when the number of emission angles is the same as the number of reception angles, subsequent data processing is easier.

[0138] In the conventional ultrasonic imaging process, one emission angle only corresponds to one reception angle, while in the embodiments of the present invention, one emission angle not only corresponds to one reception angle, but can correspond to two or more reception angles. For example, in Figure 3 when emitting with the first emission angle, the reception angles include the first reception angle and the second reception angle; when emitting with the second emission angle, the reception angles include the first reception angle, the second reception angle, and the third reception angle; when emitting with the third emission angle, the reception angles include the second reception angle and the third reception angle. That is, although emitting three times with different emission angles, a total of seven beam synthesis processes are performed to obtain seven frames of different beam synthesis data. If emitting with the first reception angle and the third reception angle, and also performing beam synthesis processing with three different reception angles respectively, nine frames of different beam synthesis data can be obtained through three emissions, so as to obtain richer data without changing the emission angle.

[0139] In Figure 3 the example, the second emission angle is a vertical emission angle, and the first emission angle and the third emission angle are deflection emission angles that are symmetric to each other based on the first emission angle. The second reception angle is a vertical reception angle, and the first reception angle and the third reception angle are parallel to the first emission angle and the third emission angle, respectively. Thus, it can be ensured that each emission angle has a reception angle parallel thereto and at least one deflection reception angle, ensuring the imaging effect.

[0140] The number of emission angles and reception angles in the embodiments of the present invention can be set according to actual needs. For example, when the frame rate requirement for the ultrasonic image is low, more emission angles or reception angles can be adopted to improve the quality of the ultrasonic image; when the frame rate requirement for the ultrasonic image is high, the number of emission angles or reception angles can be appropriately reduced to increase the frame rate.

[0141] Generally speaking, the emission angle and the reception angle are the same. To avoid excessive deflection between the emission angle and the reception angle and reduce the signal intensity and signal-to-noise ratio, in the embodiments of the present invention, when performing multi-angle reception, the included angle between the straight line where each emission angle is located and the straight line where the corresponding reception angle is located does not exceed the maximum included angle between the normal direction of the array element that emits ultrasonic waves and the emission angle. As Figure 4 shown, when ultrasonic waves are emitted at five different emission angles, the ultrasonic echo data corresponding to each emission angle is subjected to beamforming processing three to five times, and a total of seventeen frames of beamforming data are obtained. The maximum included angle between the normal direction of the array element and the emission angle is the included angle between the first emission angle and the fifth emission angle and the normal of the array element. The included angle between the straight line where each emission angle is located and the straight line where its corresponding reception angle is located does not exceed this included angle. Based on this principle, the reception angles corresponding to the first emission angle are the first reception angle, the second reception angle, and the third reception angle. Since the included angle between the straight line where the first emission angle is located and the straight lines where the fourth reception angle and the fifth reception angle are located exceeds the included angle between the first emission angle and the normal of the array element, when emitting at the first emission angle, the fourth reception angle and the fifth reception angle are no longer used for reception. However, in other embodiments, each emission angle can be received with five reception angles to obtain more tissue information.

[0142] After performing step S230, beam synthesis data at multiple angles is obtained. The beam synthesis data at each angle corresponds to a transmit angle and a receive angle, and the beam synthesis data at each angle can form a view. The transmit angles and / or receive angles corresponding to different beam synthesis data are different. Then, spatial compounding is performed on different beam synthesis data to obtain compound data for forming a frame of ultrasound image. Since after beam synthesis is completed, a signal whose amplitude and phase are both modulated is obtained, in order to further obtain the amplitude information of the echo for imaging, envelope detection and logarithmic compression are also required. Among them, the purpose of envelope detection is to extract amplitude information from the RF signal. Exemplarily, the Hilbert transform method can be used for envelope detection. The original signal undergoes Hilbert transform to obtain the quadrature signal of the original signal. A complex analytic signal is constructed with the original signal as the real part and the quadrature signal obtained by Hilbert transform as the imaginary part. The modulus of this signal is the envelope of the original signal. After envelope detection of the ultrasound echo signal, the amplitude envelope line of the ultrasound echo signal is obtained. The values on this envelope line cannot be directly used for imaging, and it is necessary to map the original value range of the envelope line to the display range of the ultrasound imaging system, that is, logarithmic compression. After envelope detection and logarithmic compression, the real signal is transformed into a complex signal.

[0143] In step S240, spatial compounding is performed on the beam synthesis data with different transmit angles or different receive angles described above. If compounding is performed on the beam synthesis data before envelope detection, the beam synthesis data carries phase information, and the phase information of the data is utilized during compounding. This kind of compounding is called coherent compounding. If compounding is performed after envelope detection of the beam synthesis data, the data used for compounding does not carry phase information, and the amplitude information of the data is utilized during compounding. This kind of compounding is called non - coherent compounding. In the embodiments of the present invention, both coherent compounding and non - coherent compounding are performed, and the amplitude information and phase information of data at different angles are utilized simultaneously to improve the image quality.

[0144] Among them, coherent compounding is to perform coherent compounding on the beam synthesis data with the same receive angle and different transmit angles for phase alignment; during non - coherent compounding, since the data does not carry phase information, non - coherent compounding can be performed on the coherent compounded data with different receive angles. By performing coherent compounding on the beam synthesis data with the same receive angle and different transmit angles, the sound field information at different transmit angles is coherently compounded at the same receive angle, improving the image signal - to - noise ratio and spatial resolution. Coherent compounding can also weaken the influence of multiple reflections at strong echo boundaries, which is beneficial for noise reduction in the lumen of blood vessels and the like; by performing non - coherent compounding on the coherent compounded data with different receive angles, speckle noise is suppressed, the noise sense of the ultrasound image is reduced, and the image quality is further improved. Moreover, coherent compounding of data with the same receive angle can be performed according to the receive aperture, reducing the complexity of data processing.

[0145] In some embodiments, coherent compounding includes performing coherent compounding on the beam synthesis data for all transmission angles at each reception angle respectively to obtain coherent compounded data corresponding to each reception angle. Incoherent compounding includes performing incoherent compounding on the coherent compounded data corresponding to all reception angles to obtain compounded data.

[0146] For example, in Figure 3 's example, beam synthesis data for seven different transmission angles or different reception angles are obtained in total. When performing coherent compounding and incoherent compounding on the Figure 3 obtained beam synthesis data, first perform coherent compounding on the beam synthesis data corresponding to all transmission angles at each reception angle respectively, and then perform incoherent compounding on the coherent compounded data at three reception angles. Figure 5 shows a schematic diagram of spatial compounding of beam synthesis data obtained based on the Figure 3 transmission-reception strategy. Among them, perform coherent compounding on the beam synthesis data corresponding to the first transmission angle and the first reception angle and the beam synthesis data corresponding to the second transmission angle and the first reception angle to obtain the first coherent compounded data corresponding to the first reception angle; perform coherent compounding on the beam synthesis data corresponding to the first transmission angle and the second reception angle, the beam synthesis data corresponding to the second transmission angle and the second reception angle, and the beam synthesis data corresponding to the third transmission angle and the second reception angle to obtain the second coherent compounded data corresponding to the second reception angle; perform coherent compounding on the beam synthesis data corresponding to the second transmission angle and the third reception angle and the beam synthesis data corresponding to the third transmission angle and the third reception angle to obtain the third coherent compounded data corresponding to the third reception angle. Then, perform incoherent compounding on the first coherent compounded data, the second coherent compounded data, and the third coherent compounded data to obtain compounded data, and the compounded data is used to form a frame of ultrasonic image.

[0147] When performing coherent compounding or incoherent compounding, it is necessary to assign different weights to the beam synthesis data at different angles. Different weights can result in different imaging effects. In one embodiment, coherent compounding or incoherent compounding can be performed according to a preset weight coefficient. The preset weight coefficient can be calculated based on the geometric position relationship between the ultrasonic probe's transmitted signal and received signal. Alternatively, when performing spatial compounding, the weight coefficient can be calculated according to a set algorithm rule or adaptively calculated for coherent compounding or incoherent compounding. The adaptive weight coefficient is a weight coefficient calculated based on the characteristics of the ultrasonic echo signal itself. Dynamic weighting according to the adaptive weight coefficient can effectively improve the image quality. Exemplarily, for coherent compounding, it may be necessary to calculate the coherence between different beam synthesis data. The calculation methods include coherence factor, eigenvalue analysis, etc. It is possible to identify data with strong coherence and data or noise with weak coherence, and assign a greater weight to the data with strong coherence. For incoherent compounding, the compounding methods adopted include average compounding, taking the minimum value, taking the maximum value, adaptive calculation, etc.

[0148] After that, in step S250, an ultrasonic image is generated based on the compounded data. Specifically, image processing is performed on the compounded data to obtain displayable ultrasonic image data, which is output to a display for display. Through coherent compounding and incoherent compounding, both high echo and low echo regions in the tissue can be well displayed, and the gray scale levels of the ultrasonic image are clearly shown.

[0149] In summary, the ultrasonic imaging method 200 according to the embodiment of the present invention performs coherent compounding on the beam synthesis data with the same reception angle and different transmission angles, and performs incoherent compounding on the coherent compounded data corresponding to different reception angles, integrating the amplitude information and phase information of the data between different angles, and improving the image quality of the ultrasonic image.

[0150] Another aspect of the embodiment of the present invention provides an ultrasonic imaging method. Refer to Figure 6 , the ultrasonic imaging method 600 includes the following steps:

[0151] In step S610, ultrasonic waves are transmitted to the target tissue of the object to be measured at at least two different transmission angles;

[0152] In step S620, the echoes of the ultrasonic waves at each transmission angle are received to obtain the ultrasonic echo signals corresponding to each transmission angle;

[0153] In step S630, for the ultrasonic echo signal corresponding to each transmission angle, beam synthesis is performed at at least two different reception angles to obtain the beam synthesis data corresponding to different reception angles;

[0154] In step S640, according to the transmission angle and reception angle corresponding to the beam synthesis data, perform at least one coherent combination and at least one incoherent combination on the beam synthesis data to obtain combined data, where each coherent combination includes performing coherent combination on beam synthesis data with the same reception angle and different transmission angles to obtain a set of coherent combined data corresponding to the same reception angle; the incoherent combination includes performing incoherent combination on at least one set of the coherent combined data and the beam synthesis data that has not undergone the coherent combination;

[0155] In step S650, generate an ultrasonic image according to the combined data.

[0156] Similar to the ultrasonic imaging method 200 of the embodiment of the present invention, the ultrasonic imaging method 600 also emits ultrasonic waves at at least two transmission angles, performs beam synthesis at at least two reception angles for the ultrasonic echo signals corresponding to each transmission angle; performs coherent combination on beam synthesis data with the same reception angle and different transmission angles, and then performs incoherent combination based on the coherent combined data, so as to obtain combined data, and generates an ultrasonic image according to the combined data. The difference from the ultrasonic imaging method 200 is that in the ultrasonic imaging method 600 of the embodiment of the present invention, the incoherent combination includes performing coherent combination on the coherent combined data and the beam synthesis data that has not undergone the coherent combination. By performing coherent combination on beam synthesis data with the same reception angle and different transmission angles, the sound field information of different transmission angles can be combined, the image signal-to-noise ratio and spatial resolution are improved, the influence of multiple reflections at strong echo boundaries is weakened, which is beneficial to noise reduction in lumens such as blood vessels; by performing incoherent combination on the coherent combined data and the beam synthesis data that has not undergone the coherent combination, speckle noise can be suppressed, the noise feeling of the ultrasonic image is reduced, and the image quality is further improved. Moreover, the coherent combination of data with the same reception angle can be performed according to the reception aperture, reducing the complexity of data processing.

[0157] Exemplarily, the emission angles include a vertical emission angle perpendicular to the plane where the array element that emits ultrasonic waves is located, and at least two deflection emission angles that are symmetric with each other based on the vertical emission angle. The reception angles include a vertical reception angle parallel to the vertical emission angle, and at least two deflection reception angles that are parallel to at least two deflection emission angles respectively. Thus, each emission angle can have a reception angle parallel to it and a deflection reception angle relative to it, providing richer tissue information while ensuring signal strength. When performing coherent compounding, at least two beam synthesis data corresponding to deflection emission angles that are symmetric with each other based on the vertical emission angle can be extracted from the beam synthesis data corresponding to the vertical reception angle for coherent compounding to obtain coherent compounded data. When performing non-coherent compounding, at least one set of coherent compounded data corresponding to the vertical reception angle, and the beam synthesis data that has not been coherently compounded corresponding to the vertical reception angle and the vertical emission angle can be non-coherently compounded. That is, since the coherence between the beam synthesis data of the vertical reception angle and the vertical emission angle and the beam synthesis data of other angles is relatively low, the beam synthesis data of the vertical reception angle and the vertical emission angle is not coherently compounded.

[0158] Since, in addition to the vertical reception angle, there are also deflection reception angles, coherent compounding also includes coherently compounding the beam synthesis data of at least two different emission angles corresponding to at least one deflection reception angle to obtain the coherent compounded data corresponding to at least one deflection reception angle. The data used for non-coherent compounding also includes the coherent compounded data corresponding to at least one deflection reception angle.

[0159] For example, referring to Figure 7 , the emission angles include a first emission angle, a second emission angle, a third emission angle, a fourth emission angle, and a fifth emission angle. Among them, the third emission angle is the vertical emission angle, the first emission angle and the fifth emission angle are deflection emission angles that are symmetric with each other based on the third emission angle, and the second emission angle and the fourth emission angle are deflection emission angles that are symmetric with each other based on the third emission angle; the reception angles corresponding to the first emission angle and the second emission angle include a first reception angle, a second reception angle, and a third reception angle, the reception angles corresponding to the third emission angle include a first reception angle, a second reception angle, a third reception angle, a fourth reception angle, and a fifth reception angle, the reception angles corresponding to the fourth emission angle and the fifth emission angle include a third reception angle, a fourth reception angle, and a fifth reception angle, the third reception angle is the vertical reception angle, the first reception angle and the fifth reception angle are deflection reception angles that are symmetric with each other based on the third reception angle, and the second reception angle and the fourth reception angle are deflection reception angles that are symmetric with each other based on the third reception angle.

[0160] When performing coherent compounding, beam synthesis data corresponding to the third reception angle and the first transmission angle and beam synthesis data corresponding to the third reception angle and the fifth transmission angle can be coherently compounded to obtain fourth coherent compound data; beam synthesis data corresponding to the third reception angle and the second transmission angle and beam synthesis data corresponding to the third reception angle and the fourth transmission angle can be coherently compounded to obtain fifth coherent compound data. The data used for performing incoherent compounding includes the fourth coherent compound data, the fifth coherent compound data, and the beam synthesis data corresponding to the third reception angle and the third transmission angle. Of course, the data used for performing incoherent compounding also includes coherent compound data corresponding to other reception angles.

[0161] In summary, the ultrasonic imaging method 600 according to the embodiment of the present invention coherently compounds beam synthesis data with the same reception angle and different transmission angles, and incoherently compounds the coherent compound data and the beam synthesis data that has not been coherently compounded, integrating the amplitude information and phase information of data between different angles, and improving the image quality of the ultrasonic image.

[0162] Another aspect of the embodiment of the present invention provides an ultrasonic imaging method. Refer to Figure 8 , the ultrasonic imaging method 800 includes the following steps:

[0163] In step S810, ultrasonic waves are transmitted to a target tissue of a subject at at least two different transmission angles;

[0164] In step S820, echoes of the ultrasonic waves at each transmission angle are received to obtain ultrasonic echo signals corresponding to each transmission angle;

[0165] In step S830, for the ultrasonic echo signal corresponding to each transmission angle, beam synthesis is performed at at least two different reception angles to obtain beam synthesis data corresponding to different reception angles;

[0166] In step S840, according to the transmission angle and reception angle corresponding to the beam synthesis data, the beam synthesis data is subjected to at least one coherent compounding and at least one incoherent compounding to obtain compound data, wherein each time the coherent compounding includes coherently compounding beam synthesis data with the same transmission angle and different reception angles to obtain a set of coherent compound data corresponding to the same transmission angle; the incoherent compounding includes incoherently compounding at least two sets of the coherent compound data;

[0167] In step S850, an ultrasonic image is generated according to the compound data.

[0168] Similar to the ultrasonic imaging method 200 of the embodiments of the present invention, the ultrasonic imaging method 800 also emits ultrasonic waves at at least two transmission angles, and beamforming is performed at at least two reception angles for the ultrasonic echo signals corresponding to each transmission angle. The difference from the ultrasonic imaging method 200 is that in the ultrasonic imaging method 800 of the embodiments of the present invention, the beamforming data corresponding to the same transmission angle and different reception angles are coherently combined, and then incoherently combined based on the coherently combined data to obtain combined data, and an ultrasonic image is generated according to the combined data. By coherently combining the beamforming data corresponding to the same transmission angle and different reception angles, the acoustic field information of different reception angles can be combined, the image signal-to-noise ratio and spatial resolution are improved, the influence of multiple reflections of strong echo boundaries is weakened, which is beneficial to noise reduction in the lumen such as blood vessels; by incoherently combining the coherently combined data of different transmission angles, speckle noise can be suppressed, the noise feeling of the ultrasonic image is reduced, and the image quality is further improved.

[0169] In some embodiments, the coherent combination is performed on the beamforming data of all reception angles under each transmission angle, that is, the beamforming data of all reception angles under each transmission angle are respectively coherently combined to obtain the coherently combined data corresponding to each transmission angle. Then, the coherently combined data corresponding to all transmission angles are incoherently combined to obtain combined data. That is, the number of times of coherent combination is the same as the number of transmission angles, and then all the coherently combined data are uniformly incoherently combined, and the incoherently combined can be performed once or multiple times.

[0170] In some embodiments, the transmission angles include a vertical transmission angle perpendicular to the plane where the array element for transmitting ultrasonic waves is located, and at least two deflection transmission angles symmetric to each other based on the vertical transmission angle; the reception angles include a vertical reception angle parallel to the vertical transmission angle, and at least two deflection reception angles respectively parallel to the at least two deflection transmission angles. Exemplarily, the included angle between the straight line where each transmission angle is located and the straight line where the corresponding reception angle is located does not exceed the maximum included angle between the normal direction of the array element for transmitting ultrasonic waves and the transmission angle to ensure the signal intensity. The number of different reception angles among all reception angles is the same as the number of different transmission angles among all transmission angles to reduce the difficulty of data processing.

[0171] In an example, as Figure 9As shown, the emission angles include a first emission angle, a second emission angle, and a third emission angle. The second emission angle is the vertical emission angle, and the first emission angle and the third emission angle are deflection emission angles symmetric to each other based on the second emission angle. The reception angles corresponding to the first emission angle include a first reception angle and a second reception angle. The reception angles corresponding to the second emission angle include a first reception angle, a second reception angle, and a third reception angle. The reception angles corresponding to the third emission angle include a second reception angle and a third reception angle. The second reception angle is the vertical reception angle, and the first reception angle and the third reception angle are parallel to the first emission angle and the third emission angle, respectively.

[0172] In this example, the beam synthesis data corresponding to the first emission angle and the first reception angle is coherently combined with the beam synthesis data corresponding to the first emission angle and the second reception angle to obtain the sixth coherently combined data; the beam synthesis data corresponding to the second emission angle and the first reception angle, the beam synthesis data corresponding to the second emission angle and the second reception angle, and the beam synthesis data corresponding to the second emission angle and the third reception angle are coherently combined to obtain the seventh coherently combined data; the beam synthesis data corresponding to the third emission angle and the second reception angle is coherently combined with the beam synthesis data corresponding to the third emission angle and the third reception angle to obtain the eighth coherently combined data. After obtaining the sixth coherently combined data, the seventh coherently combined data, and the eighth coherently combined data, the sixth coherently combined data, the seventh coherently combined data, and the eighth coherently combined data are incoherently combined to obtain the combined data for generating a frame of ultrasound image.

[0173] The ultrasound imaging method 800 according to the embodiment of the present invention coherently combines the beam synthesis data with the same emission angle but different reception angles, and incoherently combines the coherently combined data corresponding to different emission angles, integrating the amplitude information and phase information of the data between different angles, and improving the image quality of the ultrasound image. More specific details of the ultrasound imaging method 800 can refer to the relevant descriptions in the ultrasound imaging method 200, which will not be elaborated here.

[0174] On the other hand, an embodiment of the present invention provides an ultrasound imaging method. Refer to Figure 10 , the ultrasound imaging method 1000 includes the following steps:

[0175] In step S1010, ultrasonic waves are emitted to the target tissue of the object to be measured at at least two different emission angles;

[0176] In step S1020, the echoes of the ultrasonic waves at each emission angle are received to obtain the ultrasonic echo signals corresponding to each emission angle;

[0177] In step S1030, for the ultrasonic echo signals corresponding to each transmission angle, beamforming is performed at at least two different reception angles to obtain beamforming data corresponding to different reception angles;

[0178] In step S1040, based on the transmission angle and reception angle corresponding to the beamforming data, the beamforming data is subjected to at least one coherent compounding and at least one incoherent compounding to obtain compound data, wherein each time the coherent compounding includes performing coherent compounding on the beamforming data with the same transmission angle and different reception angles to obtain a set of coherent compounded data; the incoherent compounding includes performing incoherent compounding on at least one set of the coherent compounded data and the beamforming data that has not undergone the coherent compounding;

[0179] In step S1050, an ultrasonic image is generated based on the compound data.

[0180] Similar to the ultrasonic imaging method 800 of the embodiment of the present invention, the ultrasonic imaging method 1000 also emits ultrasonic waves at at least two transmission angles, and beamforming is performed at at least two reception angles for the ultrasonic echo signals corresponding to each transmission angle. The difference from the ultrasonic imaging method 800 is that in the ultrasonic imaging method 1000 of the embodiment of the present invention, coherent compounding is performed on the beamforming data with the same transmission angle and different reception angles, and then incoherent compounding is performed based on the coherent compounded data and the beamforming data that has not undergone the coherent compounding, so as to obtain compound data, and an ultrasonic image is generated based on the compound data. By performing coherent compounding on the beamforming data with the same transmission angle and different reception angles, the sound field information of different reception angles can be compounded, the image signal-to-noise ratio and spatial resolution are improved, the influence of multiple reflections at strong echo boundaries is weakened, which is beneficial to noise reduction in lumens such as blood vessels; by performing incoherent compounding on the coherent compounded data and the beamforming data that has not undergone the coherent compounding, speckle noise can be suppressed, the noise feeling of the ultrasonic image can be reduced, and the image quality can be further improved.

[0181] In some embodiments, the transmission angle includes a vertical transmission angle perpendicular to the plane where the element for transmitting ultrasonic waves is located, and at least two deflection transmission angles that are symmetric with respect to the vertical transmission angle; the reception angle includes a vertical reception angle parallel to the vertical transmission angle, and at least two deflection reception angles parallel to the at least two deflection transmission angles.

[0182] In some embodiments, in the beam synthesis data corresponding to the vertical emission angle, at least two sets of beam synthesis data corresponding to deflection reception angles that are symmetric with respect to the vertical reception angle can be extracted for coherent combination to obtain coherent combination data, so as to improve the coherence between the data. The data used for non-coherent combination includes at least one set of coherent combination data corresponding to the vertical emission angle, and the beam synthesis data that has not been coherently combined corresponding to the vertical emission angle and the vertical reception angle. That is, since the coherence between the beam synthesis data of the vertical reception angle and the vertical emission angle and the beam synthesis data of other angles is relatively low, the beam synthesis data of the vertical reception angle and the vertical emission angle is not subjected to coherent combination.

[0183] Since the emission angle further includes a deflection emission angle, performing coherent combination on the beam synthesis data of the same emission angle but different reception angles to obtain coherent combination data further includes: performing coherent combination on the beam synthesis data of at least two different reception angles corresponding to at least one deflection emission angle to obtain coherent combination data corresponding to at least one deflection emission angle. The data used for non-coherent combination further includes the coherent combination data corresponding to at least one deflection emission angle.

[0184] In one example, as Figure 11 shown, the emission angles include a first emission angle, a second emission angle, a third emission angle, a fourth emission angle, and a fifth emission angle. The third emission angle is the vertical emission angle. The first emission angle and the fifth emission angle are deflection emission angles that are symmetric with respect to the third emission angle. The second emission angle and the fourth emission angle are deflection emission angles that are symmetric with respect to the third emission angle. The reception angles corresponding to the first emission angle and the second emission angle include a first reception angle, a second reception angle, and a third reception angle. The reception angles corresponding to the third emission angle include a first reception angle, a second reception angle, a third reception angle, a fourth reception angle, and a fifth reception angle. The reception angles corresponding to the fourth emission angle and the fifth emission angle include a third reception angle, a fourth reception angle, and a fifth reception angle. The third reception angle is the vertical reception angle. The first reception angle and the fifth reception angle are deflection reception angles that are symmetric with respect to the third reception angle. The second reception angle and the fourth reception angle are deflection reception angles that are symmetric with respect to the third reception angle.

[0185] When transmitting and receiving based on the above transmission and reception strategies, the beam synthesis data corresponding to the third transmission angle and the first reception angle and the beam synthesis data corresponding to the third transmission angle and the fifth reception angle can be coherently combined to obtain the ninth coherently combined data; the beam synthesis data corresponding to the third transmission angle and the second reception angle and the beam synthesis data corresponding to the third transmission angle and the fourth reception angle can be coherently combined to obtain the tenth coherently combined data. The data used for non-coherent combination includes the ninth coherently combined data, the tenth coherently combined data, and the beam synthesis data corresponding to the third transmission angle and the third reception angle. In addition, the data used for non-coherent combination may further include the coherently combined data at other transmission angles.

[0186] In summary, the ultrasonic imaging method 1000 according to the embodiment of the present invention coherently combines the beam synthesis data of the same transmission angle and different reception angles, and non-coherently combines the coherently combined data and the beam synthesis data that has not been coherently combined, integrating the amplitude information and phase information of the data between different angles, and improving the image quality of the ultrasonic image.

[0187] The embodiment of the present invention further provides an ultrasonic imaging system for implementing the above ultrasonic imaging method 200, ultrasonic imaging method 600, ultrasonic imaging method 800, or ultrasonic imaging method 1000. Now referring back to Figure 1 , the ultrasonic imaging system can be implemented as the ultrasonic imaging system 100 shown in Figure 1 . The ultrasonic imaging system 100 may include an ultrasonic probe 110, a transmission circuit 112, a reception circuit 114, a processor 116, and a display 118. Optionally, the ultrasonic imaging system 100 may further include a transmit / receive selection switch 120 and a beam synthesis module 122. The transmission circuit 112 and the reception circuit 114 may be connected to the ultrasonic probe 110 through the transmit / receive selection switch 120. The relevant descriptions of each component may refer to the relevant descriptions above and will not be elaborated here.

[0188] Among them, the transmission circuit 112 is used to excite the ultrasonic probe 110 to transmit ultrasonic waves to the target tissue; the reception circuit 114 is used to control the ultrasonic probe 110 to receive the echo of the ultrasonic wave to obtain an ultrasonic echo signal; the processor 116 is used to execute the steps of the above ultrasonic imaging method 200, ultrasonic imaging method 600, ultrasonic imaging method 800, or ultrasonic imaging method 1000. The processor 116 is further used to control the display 118 to display the ultrasonic image.

[0189] Only the main functions of the components of the ultrasonic imaging system are described above. For more details, refer to the relevant descriptions of the ultrasonic imaging method. The ultrasonic imaging system according to the embodiments of the present invention performs both coherent compounding and incoherent compounding on the beam synthesis data corresponding to different transmission angles or different reception angles, integrating the amplitude information and phase information of the data between different angles and improving the image quality of the ultrasonic image.

[0190] Although example embodiments have been described herein with reference to the accompanying drawings, it should be understood that the above example embodiments are merely exemplary and are not intended to limit the scope of the present invention thereto. Those of ordinary skill in the art can make various changes and modifications therein without departing from the scope and spirit of the present invention. All such changes and modifications are intended to be included within the scope of the present invention as claimed in the appended claims.

[0191] Those of ordinary skill in the art can realize that the units and algorithm steps of the examples described in conjunction with the embodiments disclosed herein can be implemented by electronic hardware, or a combination of computer software and electronic hardware. Whether these functions are executed in a hardware or software manner depends on the specific application and design constraints of the technical solution. Those skilled in the art can use different methods for each specific application to implement the described functions, but such implementation should not be considered to exceed the scope of the present invention.

[0192] In several embodiments provided by the present invention, it should be understood that the disclosed devices and methods can be implemented in other ways. For example, the device embodiments described above are merely illustrative. For example, the division of the units is only a logical function division, and there may be other division methods in actual implementation. For example, multiple units or components can be combined or integrated into another device, or some features can be ignored or not executed.

[0193] In the specification provided herein, a large number of specific details are set forth. However, it can be understood that the embodiments of the present invention can be practiced without these specific details. In some instances, well-known methods, structures, and technologies have not been shown in detail so as not to obscure the understanding of this specification.

[0194] Similarly, it should be understood that, in order to streamline the present invention and assist in understanding one or more of the various inventive aspects, in the description of the exemplary embodiments of the present invention, the various features of the present invention are sometimes grouped together into a single embodiment, figure, or description thereof. However, the method of the present invention should not be construed as reflecting an intention that the claimed invention requires more features than are expressly recited in each claim. Rather, as reflected in the corresponding claims, the inventive point lies in that the corresponding technical problem can be solved with features less than all the features of a single disclosed embodiment. Therefore, the claims following the specific implementation are hereby expressly incorporated into the specific implementation, where each claim itself serves as a separate embodiment of the present invention.

[0195] Those skilled in the art can understand that, except for features being mutually exclusive, any combination can be used to combine all the features disclosed in this specification (including the accompanying claims, abstract, and drawings) and all the processes or units of any method or device thus disclosed. Unless otherwise expressly stated, each feature disclosed in this specification (including the accompanying claims, abstract, and drawings) can be replaced by an alternative feature that provides the same, equivalent, or similar purpose.

[0196] In addition, those skilled in the art can understand that although some of the embodiments described herein include certain features included in other embodiments rather than other features, the combination of features of different embodiments means being within the scope of the present invention and forms different embodiments. For example, in the claims, any one of the claimed embodiments can be used in any combination.

[0197] The various component embodiments of the present invention can be implemented in hardware, or in software modules running on one or more processors, or in a combination thereof. Those skilled in the art should understand that a microprocessor or a digital signal processor (DSP) can be used in practice to implement some or all of the functions of some of the modules according to the embodiments of the present invention. The present invention can also be implemented as a device program (e.g., a computer program and a computer program product) for executing part or all of the methods described herein. Such a program for implementing the present invention can be stored on a computer-readable medium, or can be in the form of one or more signals. Such signals can be downloaded from an Internet website, or provided on a carrier signal, or provided in any other form.

[0198] It should be noted that the above embodiments are illustrative of the present invention rather than restrictive thereof, and those skilled in the art can design alternative embodiments without departing from the scope of the appended claims. In the claims, any reference signs placed between parentheses shall not be construed as limiting the claim. The present invention can be implemented by means of hardware including several different elements and by means of a suitably programmed computer. In a unit claim enumerating several devices, several of these devices can be embodied by the same item of hardware. The use of the words first, second, and third, etc. does not denote any order. These words can be interpreted as names.

[0199] As described above, the specific embodiments or descriptions of the specific embodiments of the present invention are only provided, and the protection scope of the present invention is not limited thereto. Any person skilled in the art can easily think of changes or substitutions within the technical scope disclosed by the present invention, and all such changes or substitutions should be covered within the protection scope of the present invention. The protection scope of the present invention shall be subject to the protection scope of the claims.

Claims

1. An ultrasonic imaging method, characterized in that, The method includes: Emitting ultrasonic waves to a target tissue of an object to be measured at at least two different emission angles; Receiving echoes of the ultrasonic waves at each emission angle to obtain ultrasonic echo signals corresponding to each emission angle; For the ultrasonic echo signals corresponding to each emission angle, performing beamforming at at least two different reception angles to obtain beamforming data corresponding to different reception angles; According to the emission angles and reception angles corresponding to the beamforming data, performing at least one coherent compounding and at least one incoherent compounding on the beamforming data to obtain compound data, wherein each time the coherent compounding includes performing coherent compounding on the beamforming data with the same reception angle and different emission angles to obtain a set of coherent compounding data corresponding to the same reception angle; the incoherent compounding includes performing incoherent compounding on at least two sets of the coherent compounding data; Wherein, the emission angles include a first emission angle, a second emission angle, and a third emission angle, the second emission angle is a vertical emission angle perpendicular to the plane where the array element emitting the ultrasonic wave is located, and the first emission angle and the third emission angle are deflection emission angles symmetric to each other based on the second emission angle; The reception angles corresponding to the first emission angle include a first reception angle and a second reception angle, the reception angles corresponding to the second emission angle include the first reception angle, the second reception angle, and a third reception angle, the reception angles corresponding to the third emission angle include the second reception angle and the third reception angle, the second reception angle is a vertical reception angle parallel to the vertical emission angle, and the first reception angle and the third reception angle are deflection reception angles parallel to the first emission angle and the third emission angle respectively; The performing at least one coherent compounding and at least one incoherent compounding on the beamforming data according to the emission angles and reception angles corresponding to the beamforming data to obtain compound data includes: Performing coherent compounding on the beamforming data corresponding to the first emission angle and the first reception angle and the beamforming data corresponding to the second emission angle and the first reception angle to obtain first coherent compounding data; Performing coherent compounding on the beamforming data corresponding to the first emission angle and the second reception angle, the beamforming data corresponding to the second emission angle and the second reception angle, and the beamforming data corresponding to the third emission angle and the second reception angle to obtain second coherent compounding data; Performing coherent compounding on the beamforming data corresponding to the second emission angle and the third reception angle and the beamforming data corresponding to the third emission angle and the third reception angle to obtain third coherent compounding data; Performing incoherent compounding on the first coherent compounding data, the second coherent compounding data, and the third coherent compounding data to obtain the compound data; Generating an ultrasonic image according to the compound data.

2. The ultrasonic imaging method according to claim 1, characterized in that The performing coherent compounding on the beamforming data with the same reception angle and different emission angles to obtain a set of coherent compounding data corresponding to the same reception angle includes: Coherently combine the beam synthesis data for all transmission angles at each reception angle to obtain the coherently combined data corresponding to each reception angle; The incoherent combination of at least two sets of the coherently combined data includes: incoherently combining the coherently combined data corresponding to all reception angles to obtain the combined data.

3. The ultrasonic imaging method according to claim 1, wherein The included angle between the straight line where each transmission angle is located and the straight line where the corresponding reception angle is located does not exceed the maximum included angle between the normal direction of the array element that emits the ultrasonic wave and the transmission angle.

4. The ultrasonic imaging method according to claim 1, wherein The number of different reception angles among all reception angles is the same as the number of different transmission angles among all transmission angles.

5. An ultrasonic imaging method, characterized in that, The method includes: Transmit ultrasonic waves to the target tissue of the object to be measured at at least two different transmission angles; Receive the echoes of the ultrasonic waves at each transmission angle to obtain the ultrasonic echo signals corresponding to each transmission angle; For the ultrasonic echo signal corresponding to each transmission angle, perform beam synthesis at at least two different reception angles to obtain the beam synthesis data corresponding to different reception angles; According to the transmission angles and reception angles corresponding to the beam synthesis data, perform at least one coherent combination and at least one incoherent combination on the beam synthesis data to obtain the combined data, where each coherent combination includes coherently combining the beam synthesis data with the same reception angle and different transmission angles to obtain a set of coherently combined data corresponding to the same reception angle; the incoherent combination includes incoherently combining at least one set of the coherently combined data and the beam synthesis data that has not undergone the coherent combination; Wherein, the transmission angles include a first transmission angle, a second transmission angle, a third transmission angle, a fourth transmission angle, and a fifth transmission angle, the third transmission angle is a vertical transmission angle perpendicular to the plane where the array element that emits the ultrasonic wave is located, the first transmission angle and the fifth transmission angle are deflected transmission angles symmetric to each other based on the third transmission angle, and the second transmission angle and the fourth transmission angle are deflected transmission angles symmetric to each other based on the third transmission angle; The reception angles corresponding to the first transmission angle and the second transmission angle include a first reception angle, a second reception angle, and a third reception angle, the reception angles corresponding to the third transmission angle include the first reception angle, the second reception angle, the third reception angle, a fourth reception angle, and a fifth reception angle, the reception angles corresponding to the fourth transmission angle and the fifth transmission angle include the third reception angle, the fourth reception angle, and the fifth reception angle, the third reception angle is a vertical reception angle parallel to the vertical transmission angle, the first reception angle and the fifth reception angle are deflected reception angles symmetric to each other based on the third reception angle, and the second reception angle and the fourth reception angle are deflected reception angles symmetric to each other based on the third reception angle; Performing at least one coherent compounding and at least one incoherent compounding on the beamforming data according to the corresponding transmission angle and reception angle of the beamforming data to obtain compound data, including: Coherently compounding the beamforming data corresponding to the third reception angle and the first transmission angle and the beamforming data corresponding to the third reception angle and the fifth transmission angle to obtain fourth coherently compounded data; Coherently compounding the beamforming data corresponding to the third reception angle and the second transmission angle and the beamforming data corresponding to the third reception angle and the fourth transmission angle to obtain fifth coherently compounded data; Incoherently compounding the fourth coherently compounded data, the fifth coherently compounded data, and the beamforming data corresponding to the third reception angle and the third transmission angle; Generating an ultrasonic image according to the compound data.

6. The ultrasonic imaging method according to claim 5, characterized in that, The coherently compounding the beamforming data of the same reception angle and different transmission angles to obtain a set of coherently compounded data corresponding to the same reception angle further includes: Coherently compounding the beamforming data of at least two different transmission angles corresponding to at least one of the deflected reception angles to obtain coherently compounded data corresponding to at least one of the deflected reception angles; The data for performing the incoherent compounding further includes the coherently compounded data corresponding to at least one of the deflected reception angles.

7. An ultrasonic imaging method, characterized in that, The method includes: Transmitting ultrasonic waves to a target tissue of an object to be measured at at least two different transmission angles; Receiving echoes of the ultrasonic waves at each transmission angle to obtain an ultrasonic echo signal corresponding to each transmission angle; For the ultrasonic echo signal corresponding to each transmission angle, performing beamforming at at least two different reception angles to obtain beamforming data corresponding to different reception angles; Performing at least one coherent compounding and at least one incoherent compounding on the beamforming data according to the corresponding transmission angle and reception angle of the beamforming data to obtain compound data, wherein each time the coherent compounding includes coherently compounding the beamforming data of the same transmission angle and different reception angles to obtain a set of coherently compounded data corresponding to the same transmission angle; the incoherent compounding includes incoherently compounding at least two sets of the coherently compounded data; The transmission angles include a first transmission angle, a second transmission angle, and a third transmission angle, the second transmission angle is a vertical transmission angle perpendicular to the plane where the array element for transmitting the ultrasonic waves is located, and the first transmission angle and the third transmission angle are deflected transmission angles symmetric to each other based on the second transmission angle; The reception angles corresponding to the first transmission angle include a first reception angle and a second reception angle. The reception angles corresponding to the second transmission angle include the first reception angle, the second reception angle, and a third reception angle. The reception angles corresponding to the third transmission angle include the second reception angle and the third reception angle. The second reception angle is a vertical reception angle parallel to the vertical transmission angle, and the first reception angle and the third reception angle are deflection reception angles parallel to the first transmission angle and the third transmission angle, respectively. Performing at least one coherent combination and at least one incoherent combination on the beam synthesis data according to the transmission angle and reception angle corresponding to the beam synthesis data to obtain combined data, including: Coherently combining the beam synthesis data corresponding to the first transmission angle and the first reception angle and the beam synthesis data corresponding to the first transmission angle and the second reception angle to obtain sixth coherently combined data; Coherently combining the beam synthesis data corresponding to the second transmission angle and the first reception angle, the beam synthesis data corresponding to the second transmission angle and the second reception angle, and the beam synthesis data corresponding to the second transmission angle and the third reception angle to obtain seventh coherently combined data; Coherently combining the beam synthesis data corresponding to the third transmission angle and the second reception angle and the beam synthesis data corresponding to the third transmission angle and the third reception angle to obtain eighth coherently combined data; Incoherently combining the sixth coherently combined data, the seventh coherently combined data, and the eighth coherently combined data to obtain the combined data; Generating an ultrasonic image according to the combined data.

8. The ultrasonic imaging method according to claim 7, characterized in that Coherently combining the beam synthesis data with the same transmission angle and different reception angles to obtain a set of coherently combined data corresponding to the same transmission angle, including: Respectively coherently combining the beam synthesis data of all reception angles under each transmission angle to obtain the coherently combined data corresponding to each transmission angle; The incoherently combining at least two sets of the coherently combined data includes: incoherently combining the coherently combined data corresponding to all transmission angles to obtain the combined data.

9. The ultrasonic imaging method according to claim 7, wherein The included angle between the straight line where each transmission angle is located and the straight line where the corresponding reception angle is located does not exceed the maximum included angle between the normal direction of the array element that emits the ultrasonic wave and the transmission angle.

10. The ultrasonic imaging method according to claim 7, characterized in that The number of different reception angles among all reception angles is the same as the number of different transmission angles among all transmission angles.

11. An ultrasonic imaging method, characterized in that, The method includes: Emitting ultrasonic waves to the target tissue of the object to be measured at at least two different transmission angles; Receiving the echoes of the ultrasonic waves at each transmission angle to obtain the ultrasonic echo signals corresponding to each transmission angle; For the ultrasonic echo signals corresponding to each transmission angle, performing beam synthesis at at least two different reception angles to obtain the beam synthesis data corresponding to different reception angles; According to the transmission angle and reception angle corresponding to the beam synthesis data, perform at least one coherent combination and at least one incoherent combination on the beam synthesis data to obtain combined data, wherein each time the coherent combination includes performing coherent combination on the beam synthesis data with the same transmission angle and different reception angles to obtain a set of coherent combined data; the incoherent combination includes performing incoherent combination on at least one set of the coherent combined data and the beam synthesis data that has not undergone the coherent combination; Wherein, the transmission angles include a first transmission angle, a second transmission angle, a third transmission angle, a fourth transmission angle, and a fifth transmission angle, the third transmission angle is a vertical transmission angle perpendicular to the plane where the element transmitting the ultrasonic wave is located, the first transmission angle and the fifth transmission angle are deflection transmission angles symmetric to each other based on the third transmission angle, and the second transmission angle and the fourth transmission angle are deflection transmission angles symmetric to each other based on the third transmission angle; The reception angles corresponding to the first transmission angle and the second transmission angle include a first reception angle, a second reception angle, and a third reception angle, the reception angles corresponding to the third transmission angle include the first reception angle, the second reception angle, the third reception angle, a fourth reception angle, and a fifth reception angle, the reception angles corresponding to the fourth transmission angle and the fifth transmission angle include the third reception angle, the fourth reception angle, and the fifth reception angle, the third reception angle is a vertical reception angle parallel to the vertical transmission angle, the first reception angle and the fifth reception angle are deflection reception angles symmetric to each other based on the third reception angle, and the second reception angle and the fourth reception angle are deflection reception angles symmetric to each other based on the third reception angle; The performing at least one coherent combination and at least one incoherent combination on the beam synthesis data according to the transmission angle and reception angle corresponding to the beam synthesis data to obtain combined data includes: Performing coherent combination on the beam synthesis data corresponding to the third transmission angle and the first reception angle and the beam synthesis data corresponding to the third transmission angle and the fifth reception angle to obtain the ninth coherent combined data; Performing coherent combination on the beam synthesis data corresponding to the third transmission angle and the second reception angle and the beam synthesis data corresponding to the third transmission angle and the fourth reception angle to obtain the tenth coherent combined data; Performing incoherent combination on the ninth coherent combined data, the tenth coherent combined data, and the beam synthesis data corresponding to the third transmission angle and the third reception angle to obtain the combined data; Generating an ultrasonic image according to the combined data.

12. The ultrasonic imaging method according to claim 11, characterized in that, The performing coherent combination on the beam synthesis data with the same transmission angle and different reception angles to obtain coherent combined data further includes: Performing coherent combination on the beam synthesis data of at least two different reception angles corresponding to at least one of the deflection transmission angles to obtain coherent combined data corresponding to at least one of the deflection transmission angles; Data for performing the non-coherent combination further includes the coherent combination data corresponding to at least one of the deflected emission angles.

13. An ultrasonic imaging system, characterized in that, Comprising: An ultrasonic probe; A transmitting circuit for exciting the ultrasonic probe to transmit ultrasonic waves to a target tissue; A receiving circuit for controlling the ultrasonic probe to receive ultrasonic echo signals of the ultrasonic waves; A processor for executing the ultrasonic imaging method according to any one of claims 1-12 to generate an ultrasonic image; A display for displaying the ultrasonic image.

Images