Ultrasound diagnostic system and method for controlling the ultrasound diagnostic system

Abstract

To provide an ultrasonic diagnostic system that allows a user to grasp information on a trouble caused in an ultrasonic probe in detail, and to provide a control method of the ultrasonic diagnostic system.SOLUTION: An ultrasonic diagnostic system equipped with an ultrasonic probe (1) having a vibrator array (11) and a device body (3) connected to the ultrasonic probe (1) includes: an impact sensor (17) disposed in the ultrasonic probe (1) for detecting an impact applied to the ultrasonic probe (1) and acquiring impact detection information; an ultrasonic information acquisition unit (21) for executing transmission / reception of an ultrasonic beam from the vibrator array (11) when the impact detection information is acquired and acquiring ultrasonic information including at least one of a reception signal output from the vibrator array (11) and an ultrasonic image generated on the basis of the reception signal; and an impact recording memory (19) for recording the impact detection information and the ultrasonic information.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present invention relates to an ultrasonic diagnostic system that detects an impact on an ultrasonic probe and a method for controlling the ultrasonic diagnostic system. [Background technology]

[0002] Conventionally, ultrasound examinations of the inside of a subject have been performed using so-called ultrasound diagnostic systems. In ultrasound examinations, a user of the ultrasound diagnostic system scans the body surface of the subject with a so-called ultrasound probe in contact with the body surface, thereby capturing ultrasound images of the inside of the subject. The ultrasound probe used in this manner has sometimes been damaged or broken due to accidental dropping or other reasons. Therefore, technologies disclosed in Patent Documents 1 and 2, for example, have been developed to enable users to easily check for defects in the ultrasound probe.

[0003] Patent Document 1 discloses generating log data indicating the occurrence of a malfunction in an ultrasound probe by detecting the drop of the ultrasound probe. Patent Document 2 discloses monitoring whether the uniformity of the transducer array provided in the ultrasound probe has deteriorated while an ultrasound image is being taken, and recording the results. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0004] [Patent Document 1] Patent Publication No. 2021-090651 [Patent Document 2] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2013-154169 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0005] However, since the log data generated in Patent Document 1 indicates the occurrence of a malfunction in the ultrasound probe, it is difficult for a user of the ultrasound diagnostic system to grasp the detailed location of the malfunction in the ultrasound probe simply by checking the log data. Furthermore, in Patent Document 2, the uniformity of the transducer array is monitored only when ultrasound images are being continuously captured, so that, for example, if an impact is applied to the ultrasound probe when no ultrasound images are being captured, it can be difficult for the user to grasp the cause of the malfunction in the ultrasound probe. As such, in Patent Documents 1 and 2, it can be difficult for the user to grasp detailed information about the malfunction that occurred in the ultrasound probe.

[0006] The present invention has been made to solve these conventional problems, and aims to provide an ultrasound diagnostic system or a control method for an ultrasound diagnostic system that allows a user to grasp detailed information about a malfunction occurring in an ultrasound probe. [Means for solving the problem]

[0007] In order to achieve the above object, the ultrasound diagnostic system according to the present invention comprises an ultrasound probe having an array of transducers and a device main body connected to the ultrasound probe, and is characterized by having an impact sensor that is disposed on the ultrasound probe and detects an impact applied to the ultrasound probe to acquire impact detection information, an ultrasound information acquisition unit that transmits and receives ultrasound beams from the transducer array when impact detection information is acquired by the impact sensor and acquires ultrasound information including at least one of a received signal output from the transducer array and an ultrasound image generated based on the received signal, and an impact recording memory that records the impact detection information acquired by the impact sensor and the ultrasound information acquired by the ultrasound information acquisition unit.

[0008] The ultrasonic probe may have an ultrasonic information acquisition unit and an impact recording memory. The ultrasonic information acquisition unit can automatically acquire ultrasonic information when the impact detection information is acquired by the impact sensor. Furthermore, the ultrasound information acquisition unit can also acquire ultrasound information when the device main body is started up.

[0009] The ultrasound diagnostic system can include an abnormality information acquisition unit that acquires abnormality information including the presence or absence of an abnormality in the transducer array and the details of the abnormality based on the ultrasound information acquired by the ultrasound information acquisition unit. The ultrasound diagnostic system may further include a notification unit that notifies the user of the abnormality information acquired by the abnormality information acquisition unit.

[0010] The ultrasonic probe has an abnormality information acquisition unit, and the abnormality information acquired by the abnormality information acquisition unit can be transmitted from the ultrasonic probe to the device main body. The ultrasonic probe has a trigger transmitting unit that transmits a start-up trigger signal to the device main body that is in a sleep state to start up the device main body, and when the device main body is in a sleep state and impact detection information is acquired by the impact sensor, the start-up trigger signal can be transmitted from the trigger transmitting unit to the device main body.

[0011] The ultrasound diagnostic system includes a server connected to the device main body, and the impact detection information acquired by the impact sensor and the abnormality information acquired by the abnormality information acquisition unit can be transmitted to the server via the device main body.

[0012] The control method for an ultrasonic diagnostic system according to the present invention is a control method for an ultrasonic diagnostic system comprising an ultrasonic probe having an array of transducers and a device main body connected to the ultrasonic probe, characterized in that an impact applied to the ultrasonic probe is detected by an impact sensor arranged on the ultrasonic probe to acquire impact detection information, and when the impact detection information is acquired, ultrasonic beams are transmitted and received from the transducer array to acquire ultrasound information including at least one of a received signal output from the transducer array and an ultrasound image generated based on the received signal, and the impact detection information and the ultrasound information are recorded. [Effects of the Invention]

[0013] According to the present invention, an ultrasound diagnostic system comprises an ultrasound probe having an array of transducers and a device main body connected to the ultrasound probe, an impact sensor that is placed on the ultrasound probe and detects an impact applied to the ultrasound probe to acquire impact detection information, an ultrasound information acquisition unit that, when the impact detection information is acquired by the impact sensor, transmits and receives ultrasound beams from the transducer array and acquires ultrasound information including at least one of a received signal output from the transducer array and an ultrasound image generated based on the received signal, and an impact recording memory that records the impact detection information acquired by the impact sensor and the ultrasound information acquired by the ultrasound information acquisition unit, thereby allowing a user to grasp detailed information regarding any malfunction occurring in the ultrasound probe. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0014] [Figure 1] 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an ultrasound diagnostic system according to a first embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 2] 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a transmission / reception circuit according to a first embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 3] FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an image generating unit according to the first embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 4] FIG. 10 is a diagram schematically illustrating the intensity of a received signal acquired by a transducer array in which some ultrasonic transducers are damaged. [Figure 5] FIG. 10 is a diagram schematically illustrating an example of an ultrasound image in a state of air radiation caused by a transducer array in which some of the ultrasound transducers are damaged. [Figure 6] 4 is a flowchart showing the operation of the ultrasound diagnostic system according to the first embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 7] FIG. 10 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an ultrasound diagnostic system according to a second embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 8] FIG. 10 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an ultrasound diagnostic system according to a third embodiment of the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0015] Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. The following description of the components will be given based on a representative embodiment of the present invention, but the present invention is not limited to such an embodiment. In this specification, a numerical range expressed using "to" means a range that includes the numerical values ​​before and after "to" as the lower and upper limits. In this specification, the terms "same" and "identical" include a margin of error generally accepted in the technical field.

[0016] Embodiment 1 1 shows the configuration of an ultrasound diagnostic system according to embodiment 1 of the present invention. The ultrasound diagnostic system includes an ultrasound probe 1 and a device main body 3 connected to the ultrasound probe 1 by wireless communication.

[0017] The ultrasonic probe 1 includes a transducer array 11. A transmission / reception circuit 12, an image generation unit 13, and a probe-side wireless communication circuit 14 are connected to the transducer array 11 in this order. The transmission / reception circuit 12 and the image generation unit 13 form an ultrasonic information acquisition unit 21. An image memory 15 and an abnormality information acquisition unit 16 are connected to the image generation unit 13. The ultrasonic probe 1 also includes an impact sensor 17. An information acquisition control unit 18 is connected to the impact sensor 17. The information acquisition control unit 18 is connected to the ultrasonic information acquisition unit 21. An impact recording memory 19 is connected to the image generation unit 13, the abnormality information acquisition unit 16, and the information acquisition control unit 18. The impact recording memory 19 is connected to the probe-side wireless communication circuit 14.

[0018] Furthermore, a probe control unit 20 is connected to the ultrasound information acquisition unit 21, the probe-side wireless communication circuit 14, the image memory 15, the abnormality information acquisition unit 16, the information acquisition control unit 18, and the impact recording memory 19. Furthermore, the ultrasound information acquisition unit 21, the abnormality information acquisition unit 16, the information acquisition control unit 18, and the probe control unit 20 form a processor 22 for the ultrasound probe 1.

[0019] The device main body 3 can be configured as a so-called handheld general-purpose device that is easy to carry, such as a so-called smartphone or a so-called tablet computer, or it can be configured as a portable dedicated device that can be carried around, or it can be configured as a so-called stationary device.

[0020] The device main body 3 includes a body-side wireless communication circuit 31 that is connected via wireless communication to the probe-side wireless communication circuit 14 of the ultrasound probe 1. A display control unit 32 and a monitor 33 are sequentially connected to the body-side wireless communication circuit 31. An abnormality information memory 34 and an alarm unit 35 are also connected to the body-side wireless communication circuit 31. The alarm unit 35 is connected to the display control unit 32. A body control unit 36 ​​is also connected to the body-side wireless communication circuit 31, the display control unit 32, the abnormality information memory 34, and the alarm unit 35. An input device 37 is connected to the body control unit 36. A processor 38 for the device main body 3 is composed of the display control unit 32, the alarm unit 35, and the body control unit 36.

[0021] The transducer array 11 of the ultrasonic probe 1 has a plurality of ultrasonic transducers arranged one-dimensionally or two-dimensionally. These ultrasonic transducers transmit ultrasonic waves in accordance with drive signals supplied from the transmission / reception circuit 12, receive ultrasonic echoes from the subject, and output signals based on the ultrasonic echoes. Each ultrasonic transducer is configured by forming electrodes on both ends of a piezoelectric element made of, for example, a piezoelectric ceramic typified by PZT (Lead Zirconate Titanate), a polymer piezoelectric element typified by PVDF (Poly Vinylidene Di Fluoride), or a piezoelectric single crystal typified by PMN-PT (Lead Magnesium Niobate-Lead Titanate).

[0022] The transmission / reception circuit 12, under the control of the probe control unit 20, transmits ultrasonic waves from the transducer array 11 and generates sound ray signals based on reception signals acquired by the transducer array 11. As shown in Fig. 2, the transmission / reception circuit 12 has a pulser 51 connected to the transducer array 11, an amplifier unit 52 connected in series to the transducer array 11, an AD (Analog to Digital) converter unit 53, and a beamformer 54.

[0023] The pulser 51 includes, for example, a plurality of pulse generators, and adjusts the delay amount of each drive signal and supplies it to the plurality of ultrasonic transducers of the transducer array 11 so that the ultrasonic waves transmitted from the plurality of ultrasonic transducers form an ultrasonic beam based on a transmission delay pattern selected in response to a control signal from the probe control unit 20. In this way, when a pulsed or continuous wave voltage is applied to the electrodes of the ultrasonic transducers of the transducer array 11, the piezoelectric material expands and contracts, and pulsed or continuous wave ultrasonic waves are generated from each ultrasonic transducer, and an ultrasonic beam is formed from a composite wave of these ultrasonic waves.

[0024] The transmitted ultrasonic beam is reflected by an object such as a part of the subject, and propagates toward the transducer array 11 of the ultrasonic probe 1. The ultrasonic echo propagating toward the transducer array 11 in this manner is received by each ultrasonic transducer constituting the transducer array 11. At this time, each ultrasonic transducer constituting the transducer array 11 expands and contracts upon receiving the propagating ultrasonic echo, generating a received signal which is an electrical signal, and outputs this received signal to the amplifier unit 52.

[0025] The amplifier 52 amplifies the signals input from each ultrasonic transducer constituting the transducer array 11 and transmits the amplified signals to the AD converter 53. The AD converter 53 converts the signals transmitted from the amplifier 52 into digital reception data. The beamformer 54 performs so-called reception focusing processing by delaying and adding each piece of reception data received from the AD converter 53. This reception focusing processing causes the reception data converted by the AD converter 53 to be phased and added, and a sound ray signal in which the focus of the ultrasonic echo is narrowed is acquired.

[0026] As shown in FIG. 3, the image generating unit 13 has a configuration in which a signal processing unit 55, a DSC (Digital Scan Converter) 56, and an image processing unit 57 are connected in series.

[0027] The signal processing unit 55 corrects the sound ray signals received from the transmission / reception circuit 12 for attenuation due to distance in accordance with the depth of the ultrasonic reflection position using the sound velocity value set by the probe control unit 20, and then performs envelope detection processing to generate a B-mode image signal, which is tomographic image information regarding the tissue within the subject.

[0028] The DSC 56 converts (raster converts) the B-mode image signal generated by the signal processing unit 55 into an image signal that conforms to the scanning method of a normal television signal. The image processing unit 57 performs various necessary image processing such as gradation processing on the B-mode image signal input from the DSC 56, and then sends the B-mode image signal to the probe-side wireless communication circuit 14 and the image memory 15. Hereinafter, the B-mode image signal that has been subjected to image processing by the image processing unit 57 will be referred to as an ultrasound image.

[0029] Furthermore, the ultrasound information acquisition unit 21, which is composed of the transmission / reception circuit 12 and the image generation unit 13, sends ultrasound information including at least one of a received signal and an ultrasound image output from the transducer array 11 to the abnormality information acquisition unit 16 and the impact recording memory 19 under the control of the information acquisition control unit 18 and the probe control unit 20. For example, when the ultrasound probe 1 is dropped and an impact is applied to the ultrasound probe 1, the ultrasound information includes at least one of a received signal and an ultrasound image in a so-called air emission state in which ultrasound is emitted from the transducer array 11 into the air.

[0030] The image memory 15 stores the ultrasound images generated by the image generation unit 13 under the control of the probe control unit 20. As the image memory 15, for example, a recording medium such as a flash memory, an HDD (Hard Disk Drive), an SSD (Solid State Drive), an FD (Flexible Disk), an MO disk (Magneto-Optical disk), an MT (Magnetic Tape), a RAM (Random Access Memory), a CD (Compact Disc), a DVD (Digital Versatile Disc), an SD card (Secure Digital card), or a USB memory (Universal Serial Bus memory) can be used.

[0031] The shock sensor 17 is disposed in the ultrasonic probe 1, and detects a shock applied to the ultrasonic probe 1 to acquire shock detection information. The shock detection information is information indicating that a shock has been applied to the ultrasonic probe 1, and may include a value indicating the magnitude of the shock and information regarding the date and time the shock was applied. The shock sensor 17 also sends the acquired shock detection information to the information acquisition control unit 18. The shock sensor 17 may be configured to include a sensor device capable of detecting a shock, such as a so-called acceleration sensor.

[0032] The information acquisition control unit 18 stores a predetermined threshold value related to the magnitude of the impact in advance, and determines whether the magnitude of the impact detected by the impact sensor 17 exceeds the threshold value. When the impact sensor 17 acquires impact detection information including information about an impact exceeding the threshold value, the information acquisition control unit 18 controls the ultrasonic information acquisition unit 21 to transmit and receive ultrasonic beams from the transducer array 11. The information acquisition control unit 18 also sends the impact detection information received from the impact sensor 17 to the impact recording memory 19.

[0033] The abnormality information acquiring unit 16 analyzes the ultrasound information acquired by the ultrasound information acquiring unit 21 to acquire abnormality information including the presence or absence of an abnormality in the transducer array 11 and the details of the abnormality.

[0034] For example, when receiving a reception signal as ultrasound information from the ultrasound information acquisition unit 21, the anomaly information acquisition unit 16 determines whether or not there is an abnormality in the transducer array 11 by referring to the relationship between the array numbers (transducer numbers) of the multiple ultrasonic transducers constituting the transducer array 11 and the intensity of the reception signal output from each ultrasonic transducer, as shown in Fig. 4. The example in Fig. 4 shows that the intensity of the reception signal from two ultrasonic transducers with transducer numbers M1 and M2 is 0, and the intensity of the reception signal from the other ultrasonic transducers is a finite value C. In this example, the anomaly information acquisition unit 16 determines that there is an abnormality in the transducer array 11, and can acquire, as the content of the abnormality, the content that the two ultrasonic transducers with transducer numbers M1 and M2 are broken.

[0035] Furthermore, when the abnormality information acquisition unit 16 receives an ultrasonic image U in an airborne radiation state as shown in FIG. 5 from the ultrasonic information acquisition unit 21, the abnormality information acquisition unit 16 analyzes the ultrasonic image U. In the example of FIG. 5, a multiple reflection image R is obtained by ultrasonic waves being reflected multiple times by an acoustic lens (not shown) or the like of the ultrasonic probe 1, and the multiple reflection image R includes two missing portions N1 and N2. The two missing portions N1 and N2 correspond to different ultrasonic transducers. Therefore, the abnormality information acquisition unit 16 performs a process to detect the missing portions N1 and N2 from the ultrasonic image U. If the missing portions N1 and N2 are detected, the abnormality information acquisition unit 16 determines that an abnormality exists in the transducer array 11, and can acquire information that the two ultrasonic transducers corresponding to the two missing portions N1 and N2 are faulty as the content of the abnormality.

[0036] Here, the anomaly information acquisition unit 16 can detect the missing parts N1 and N2 in the multiple reflection image R using, for example, a segmentation algorithm such as the so-called binarization method and the so-called watershed method, a template matching method, a machine learning method described in Csurka et al.: Visual Categorization with Bags of Keypoints, Proc. of ECCV Workshop on Statistical Learning in Computer Vision, pp. 59-74 (2004), or a general image recognition method using deep learning described in Krizhevsk et al.: ImageNet Classification with Deep Convolutional Neural Networks, Advances in Neural Information Processing Systems 25, pp. 1106-1114 (2012).

[0037] Furthermore, not only when a malfunction such as a breakdown occurs in the transducer array 11, but also when a malfunction such as a crack occurs in the circuit board (not shown) of the transmission / reception circuit 12 due to an impact being applied to the ultrasound probe 1, an abnormality such as a partial loss of the received signal and ultrasound image U may occur. Even in such cases, the abnormality information acquisition unit 16 can analyze the ultrasound information to determine the presence or absence of an abnormality and determine the nature of the abnormality.

[0038] The abnormality information acquisition unit 16 sends the abnormality information acquired in this manner to the impact recording memory 19.

[0039] The impact recording memory 19 records the impact detection information acquired by the impact sensor 17 and the ultrasonic information acquired by the ultrasonic information acquisition unit 21, linking them together. The impact recording memory 19 can also link and record the impact detection information and ultrasonic information with the abnormality information acquired by the abnormality information acquisition unit 16. Under the control of the probe control unit 20, the abnormality information is read from the impact recording memory 19 and sent to the probe-side wireless communication circuit 14.

[0040] The impact recording memory 19 may be, for example, a recording medium such as a flash memory, HDD, SSD, FD, MO disk, MT, RAM, CD, DVD, SD card, or USB memory.

[0041] The probe-side wireless communication circuit 14 is configured with circuits including an antenna for transmitting and receiving radio waves, and transmits and receives information to and from the main body-side wireless communication circuit 31 of the device main body 3 via wireless communication under the control of the probe control unit 20. The probe-side wireless communication circuit 14 can generate a transmission signal by, for example, modulating a carrier based on data to be transmitted to the main body-side wireless communication circuit 31, and transmit the generated transmission signal to the main body-side wireless communication circuit 31 by wireless communication.

[0042] In this case, carrier modulation methods such as ASK (Amplitude Shift Keying), PSK (Phase Shift Keying), QPSK (Quadrature Phase Shift Keying), and 16QAM (16 Quadrature Amplitude Modulation) are used.

[0043] The probe control unit 20 controls each part of the ultrasonic probe 1 based on a program stored in advance. Although not shown, the ultrasonic probe 1 also includes a built-in battery that supplies power to each part of the ultrasonic probe 1.

[0044] The processor 22, which is composed of the ultrasound information acquisition unit 21, the abnormality information acquisition unit 16, the information acquisition control unit 18, and the probe control unit 20 of the ultrasound probe 1, is composed of a CPU (Central Processing Unit) and a control program for causing the CPU to perform various processes, but may also be composed of an FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array), a DSP (Digital Signal Processor), an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit), a GPU (Graphics Processing Unit), or other ICs (Integrated Circuits), or a combination thereof.

[0045] Furthermore, the ultrasound information acquisition unit 21, abnormality information acquisition unit 16, information acquisition control unit 18, and probe control unit 20 of the processor 22 may be partially or entirely integrated into a single CPU or the like.

[0046] The main body side wireless communication circuit 31 of the device main body 3 is composed of circuits including an antenna for transmitting and receiving radio waves, and transmits and receives information to and from the probe side wireless communication circuit 14 of the ultrasound probe 1 via wireless communication under the control of the main body control unit 36. The main body side wireless communication circuit 31 can generate a transmission signal by, for example, modulating a carrier based on data to be transmitted to the probe side wireless communication circuit 14, and wirelessly transmit the generated transmission signal to the probe side wireless communication circuit 14.

[0047] Under the control of the main body control unit 36, the display control unit 32 performs predetermined processing on the ultrasound image etc. transmitted from the probe side wireless communication circuit 14 to the main body side wireless communication circuit 31, and displays it on the monitor 33. The monitor 33 performs various displays under the control of the display control unit 32. The monitor 33 may include a display device such as an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) or an organic EL display (Organic Electroluminescence Display).

[0048] The abnormality information memory 34 records the abnormality information transmitted from the probe-side wireless communication circuit 14 to the main body-side wireless communication circuit 31. The shock recording memory 19 can be, for example, a recording medium such as a flash memory, HDD, SSD, FD, MO disk, MT, RAM, CD, DVD, SD card, or USB memory. The abnormality information recorded in the abnormality information memory 34 can be easily checked by, for example, a user of the ultrasound diagnostic system. By checking the abnormality information in this way, the user can determine in detail whether or not an abnormality has occurred in the ultrasound probe 1 and the location of the abnormality in the ultrasound probe 1.

[0049] The notification unit 35 notifies the user of the abnormality information transmitted from the probe-side wireless communication circuit 14 to the main body-side wireless communication circuit 31. The notification unit 35 can notify the user of the abnormality information, for example, by displaying a message on the monitor 33. This allows the user to easily grasp in detail whether or not there is an abnormality in the ultrasonic probe 1, and the location of the abnormality in the ultrasonic probe 1.

[0050] The main body control unit 36 ​​controls each part of the device main body 3 based on a program stored in advance. The input device 37 accepts input operations by the user and sends the input information to the main body control unit 36. The input device 37 is configured by devices such as a keyboard, a mouse, a trackball, a touchpad, and a touch panel that allow the user to perform input operations.

[0051] The processor 38, which is made up of the display control unit 32, the notification unit 35, and the main unit control unit 36 ​​of the device main unit 3, is made up of a CPU and a control program for causing the CPU to perform various processes, but may also be made up of an FPGA, a DSP, an ASIC, a GPU, or other ICs, or a combination of these.

[0052] Furthermore, the display control unit 32, the notification unit 35, and the main body control unit 36 ​​of the processor 38 may be configured as being partially or entirely integrated into a single CPU or the like.

[0053] Next, an example of the operation of the ultrasound diagnostic system according to the first embodiment will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

[0054] First, in step S1, the information acquisition control unit 18 receives impact detection information from the impact sensor 17 and determines whether the magnitude of the impact detected by the impact sensor 17 exceeds a predetermined threshold. If the magnitude of the impact detected by the impact sensor 17 is equal to or less than the threshold, the process of step S1 is performed again. If the magnitude of the impact detected by the impact sensor 17 exceeds the threshold, the process proceeds to step S2.

[0055] In step S2, the information acquisition control unit 18 controls the ultrasound information acquisition unit 21 so that ultrasound is automatically transmitted and received in the transducer array 11. As a result, the ultrasound information acquisition unit 21 acquires ultrasound information in an air radiation state, for example, as shown in Figures 4 and 5. This allows ultrasound information to be acquired immediately after a large impact is applied to the ultrasound probe 1.

[0056] If an impact is applied to the ultrasonic probe 1 and one of the multiple ultrasonic transducers constituting the transducer array 11 fails, the signal corresponding to the failed ultrasonic transducer may be missing in the ultrasonic information, for example, as shown in the signals corresponding to transducer numbers M1 and M2 in FIG. 4 or the missing portions N1 and N2 in the multiple reflection image R in FIG. 5. A missing signal may also occur if there is a defect such as a crack in the circuit board (not shown) of the transmission / reception circuit 12. The user can recognize that a defect has occurred in the ultrasonic probe 1 by checking, for example, abnormal ultrasonic information that includes a missing portion.

[0057] In step S3, under the control of the probe control unit 20, the impact recording memory 19 links the impact detection information acquired by the impact sensor 17 in step S1 and the ultrasonic information acquired by the ultrasonic information acquisition unit 21 in step S2 and records them. By checking the impact detection information and ultrasonic information recorded in the impact recording memory 19, the user can understand in detail that a malfunction such as a breakdown has occurred in the transducer array 11 due to the impact applied to the ultrasonic probe 1, and the location of the malfunction in the ultrasonic probe 1.

[0058] When the processing of step S3 is completed in this manner, the process returns to step S1, and thereafter the processing of steps S1 to S3 is repeated, and every time the impact sensor 17 detects an impact of a magnitude exceeding the predetermined threshold, ultrasonic information is acquired and the impact detection information and ultrasonic information are recorded.

[0059] Here, the ultrasonic probe 1 has a built-in battery (not shown) that supplies power to each component of the ultrasonic probe 1, and the operations of steps S1 to S3 are performed in the ultrasonic probe 1 independently of the device main body 3. That is, when the processes of steps S1 to S3 are performed, the device main body 3 may or may not be activated. A state in which the device main body 3 is activated refers to a state in which each component of the device main body 3 is operating. Furthermore, a state in which the device main body 3 is not activated includes a state in which the power supply of the device main body 3 is turned off and the entire operation of the device main body 3 is stopped, and a so-called sleep state in which some operation of the device main body 3 is stopped except for wireless communication with the ultrasonic probe 1.

[0060] The ultrasonic probe 1 has three operating states: an active state in which each component of the ultrasonic probe 1 is operating; a sleep state in which at least the shock sensor 17 and the probe control unit 20 are operating; and a power-off state in which the entire operation of the ultrasonic probe 1 is stopped. When the operations of steps S1 to S3 are performed, the ultrasonic probe 1 can be in the active state or the sleep state. If the shock sensor 17 detects an external shock while the ultrasonic probe 1 is in the sleep state, for example, each component of the ultrasonic probe 1 operates in order under the control of the probe control unit 20 so that the operations of steps S1 to S3 are performed.

[0061] As described above, according to the ultrasound diagnostic system of the first embodiment of the present invention, when an impact is applied to the ultrasound probe 1, the impact sensor 17 acquires impact detection information, the ultrasound information acquisition unit 21 acquires ultrasound information based on the impact detection information, and the impact detection information and the ultrasound information are linked to each other and recorded in the impact recording memory 19. Therefore, the user can easily and in detail know that a malfunction has occurred in the ultrasound probe 1 and information about the malfunction, including the location of the malfunction in the ultrasound probe 1.

[0062] Although it has been described that the ultrasonic information acquisition unit 21 automatically acquires ultrasonic information when the magnitude of the impact detected by the impact sensor 17 exceeds a predetermined threshold, regardless of whether the device main body 3 is activated, ultrasonic information can also be acquired, for example, when the device main body 3 is activated. In this case, for example, when the information acquisition control unit 18 receives impact detection information from the impact sensor 17 indicating that an impact exceeding a predetermined threshold has been applied to the ultrasonic probe 1 and when the device main body 3 is activated, the information acquisition control unit 18 can control the ultrasonic information acquisition unit 21 to automatically transmit and receive ultrasonic waves in the transducer array 11. Even in this case, the user can check the impact detection information recorded in the impact recording memory 19, and can therefore grasp detailed information about any malfunctions that have occurred in the ultrasonic probe 1, along with the ultrasonic information.

[0063] 6 , the ultrasound diagnostic system can perform the following processes immediately after performing step S3: wirelessly transmitting the abnormality information acquired by the abnormality information acquisition unit 16 and recorded in the shock recording memory 19 from the probe-side wireless communication circuit 14 to the main-body-side wireless communication circuit 31; recording the abnormality information in the abnormality information memory 34; and notifying the user of the abnormality information by the notification unit 35. By recording the abnormality information in the abnormality information memory 34, the user can easily check the abnormality information from the abnormality information memory 34. By notifying the user of the abnormality information by the notification unit 35, the user can easily check the abnormality information on the spot by, for example, checking the notification message displayed on the monitor 33.

[0064] Furthermore, if the device main body 3 is not started when the impact sensor 17 detects an impact of a magnitude exceeding a predetermined threshold, the probe control unit 20 can, for example, read out abnormality information from the impact recording memory 19 when the device main body 3 is started thereafter, and wirelessly transmit the read out abnormality information from the probe-side wireless communication circuit 14 to the main body-side wireless communication circuit 31. As a result, every time the device main body 3 is started up, all abnormality information is recorded in the abnormality information memory 34, allowing the user to check all abnormality information in detail.

[0065] Embodiment 2 Even if the device main body 3 is in a sleep state, if the impact sensor 17 detects an impact exceeding a predetermined threshold, the device main body 3 can be automatically started up and abnormality information can be wirelessly transmitted from the probe side wireless communication circuit 14 to the main body side wireless communication circuit 31.

[0066] The ultrasound diagnostic system according to the second embodiment is the ultrasound diagnostic system according to the first embodiment shown in Fig. 1, but includes an ultrasound probe 1A shown in Fig. 7 instead of the ultrasound probe 1. The ultrasound probe 1A is the ultrasound probe 1 according to the first embodiment, except that a trigger transmission unit 61 is added and the probe control unit 20 is replaced by a probe control unit 20A.

[0067] In the ultrasonic probe 1A, a trigger transmission unit 61 is connected to the information acquisition control unit 18. The trigger transmission unit 61 is also connected to the probe side wireless communication circuit 14 and the probe control unit 20A. The ultrasound information acquisition unit 21, the abnormality information acquisition unit 16, the information acquisition control unit 18, the probe control unit 20A, and the trigger transmission unit 61 form a processor 22A for the ultrasonic probe 1A.

[0068] When an impact detection signal indicating that an impact exceeding a predetermined threshold has been detected is acquired by the impact sensor 17, the information acquisition control unit 18 sends the impact detection signal to the trigger transmission unit 61.

[0069] When the trigger transmission unit 61 receives the impact detection signal from the information acquisition control unit 18, it transmits a wake-up trigger signal to the device main body 3 in a sleep state via the probe side wireless communication circuit 14 to wake up the device main body 3.

[0070] When the device main body 3 is started in this way, abnormality information is read from the impact recording memory 19 under the control of the probe control unit 20, and the abnormality information is wirelessly transmitted from the probe-side wireless communication circuit 14 to the main body-side wireless communication circuit 31. The abnormality information received by the main body-side wireless communication circuit 31 is recorded in the abnormality information memory 34. The abnormality information received by the main body-side wireless communication circuit 31 can also be notified to the user by the notification unit 35.

[0071] As described above, according to the ultrasound diagnostic system of the second embodiment, even when the device main body 3 is in a sleep state, the device main body 3 is activated every time the shock sensor 17 detects a large shock, and abnormality information is recorded as needed in the abnormality information memory 34. This ensures that all abnormality information is recorded in the abnormality information memory 34, allowing the user to check all abnormality information in detail. Furthermore, because abnormality information is notified every time the shock sensor 17 detects a large shock, the user can immediately know that an abnormality has occurred in the ultrasound probe 1A, for example, when the ultrasound diagnostic system is located near the user.

[0072] Embodiment 3 Although it has been explained that the abnormality information memory 34 is provided in the device main body 3, the abnormality information memory 34 can also be provided in a server located in a remote location relative to the ultrasonic probe 1 and the device main body 3, for example, so that maintenance and inspection workers who are located in a remote location relative to the ultrasonic probe 1 and the device main body 3 can check the abnormality information of the ultrasonic probe 1.

[0073] Fig. 8 shows the configuration of an ultrasound diagnostic system according to embodiment 3. The ultrasound diagnostic system according to embodiment 3 is the ultrasound diagnostic system according to embodiment 1 shown in Fig. 1, to which a server 62 connected to the device main body 3 via a network NW has been added.

[0074] The main body side wireless communication circuit 31 of the device main body 3 is connected to the network NW by wireless communication.

[0075] The server 62 is configured, for example, by a computer connectable to the network NW and is located in a remote location relative to the ultrasound probe 1 and the device main body 3. The server 62 is also connected to the main body side wireless communication circuit 31 of the device main body 3 via the network NW. The server 62 also includes an abnormality information memory 63.

[0076] The abnormality information memory 63 records the abnormality information acquired by the abnormality information acquisition unit 16 of the ultrasonic probe 1 and transmitted from the ultrasonic probe 1 to the server 62 via the device main body 3 and the network NW. As the abnormality information memory 63, for example, a recording medium such as a flash memory, HDD, SSD, FD, MO disk, MT, RAM, CD, DVD, SD card, or USB memory can be used.

[0077] As described above, according to the ultrasonic diagnostic system of the third embodiment, the abnormality information acquired by the abnormality information acquisition unit 16 of the ultrasonic probe 1 is recorded in the abnormality information memory 63 of the server 62 via the device main body 3 and the network NW, so that, for example, an operator or the like who is in a remote location from the ultrasonic probe 1 and the device main body 3 can easily check the abnormality information of the ultrasonic probe 1 and take appropriate measures such as inspecting or repairing the ultrasonic probe 1.

[0078] It has been explained that the abnormality information acquired by the abnormality information acquisition unit 16 is recorded in the abnormality information memory 63 of the server 62, but the impact detection information indicating that an impact exceeding a predetermined threshold has been applied to the ultrasonic probe 1 and the ultrasonic information acquired by the ultrasonic information acquisition unit 21 in response to the application of an impact exceeding a predetermined threshold to the ultrasonic probe 1 can also be transmitted from the ultrasonic probe 1 to the server 62 via the device main body 3 and the network NW and recorded in the abnormality information memory 63. This allows an operator or the like who is in a remote location from the ultrasonic probe 1 and the device main body 3 to check the impact detection information and the ultrasonic information to understand in more detail the abnormality that has occurred in the ultrasonic probe 1.

[0079] Furthermore, although it has been described that the abnormality information acquired by the abnormality information acquisition unit 16 of the ultrasonic probe 1 is transmitted to the server 62 via the device main body 3 and the network NW, the ultrasonic diagnostic system can also transmit the abnormality information from the ultrasonic probe 1 to the server 62 via the network NW without passing through the device main body 3. In this case, the probe-side wireless communication circuit 14 of the ultrasonic probe 1 is connected to the network NW. In this case, the impact detection information and ultrasonic information can also be transmitted from the ultrasonic probe 1 to the server 62 via the network NW. [Explanation of symbols]

[0080] 1,1A ultrasonic probe, 3 device main body, 11 transducer array, 12 transmission / reception circuit, 13 image generation unit, 14 probe side wireless communication circuit, 15 image memory, 16 abnormality information acquisition unit, 17 impact sensor, 18 information acquisition control unit, 19 impact recording memory, 20,20A probe control unit, 21 ultrasound information acquisition unit, 22,22A processor, 31 main body side wireless communication circuit, 32 display control unit, 33 monitor, 34,63 abnormality information memory, 35 alarm unit, 36 main body control unit, 37 input device, 51 pulser, 52 amplifier unit, 53 AD conversion unit, 54 beam former, 55 signal processing unit, 56 DSC, 57 image processing unit, 61 trigger transmission unit, 62 server, C value, M1,M2 transducer number, N1,N2 missing part, R multiple reflection image, U ultrasound image.

Claims

1. an ultrasonic probe having an array of transducers; an apparatus main body connected to the ultrasonic probe; Equipped with an impact sensor disposed on the ultrasonic probe, the impact sensor detecting an impact applied to the ultrasonic probe and acquiring impact detection information; an ultrasound information acquisition unit that, when the impact detection information is acquired by the impact sensor, transmits and receives an ultrasound beam from the transducer array and acquires ultrasound information including at least one of a received signal output from the transducer array and an ultrasound image generated based on the received signal; an impact recording memory for recording the impact detection information acquired by the impact sensor and the ultrasonic information acquired by the ultrasonic information acquisition unit; An ultrasound diagnostic system having:

2. The ultrasound diagnostic system according to claim 1 , wherein the ultrasound probe comprises the ultrasound information acquisition unit and the impact recording memory.

3. The ultrasound diagnostic system according to claim 1 , wherein the ultrasound information acquisition unit automatically acquires the ultrasound information when the impact detection information is acquired by the impact sensor.

4. The ultrasound diagnostic system according to claim 1 , wherein the ultrasound information acquisition unit acquires the ultrasound information when the device main body is started up.

5. The ultrasound diagnostic system according to any one of claims 1 to 4, further comprising an abnormality information acquisition unit that acquires abnormality information including the presence or absence of an abnormality in the transducer array and the details of the abnormality based on the ultrasound information acquired by the ultrasound information acquisition unit.

6. The ultrasound diagnostic system according to claim 5 , further comprising a notification unit that notifies a user of the abnormality information acquired by the abnormality information acquisition unit.

7. the ultrasonic probe has the abnormality information acquisition unit, The ultrasound diagnostic system according to claim 5 or 6, wherein the abnormality information acquired by the abnormality information acquisition unit is transmitted from the ultrasound probe to the device body.

8. the ultrasonic probe has a trigger transmission unit that transmits a start-up trigger signal to the device main body in a sleep state to start the device main body, 8. The ultrasound diagnostic system according to claim 7, wherein when the device main body is in a sleep state and the shock detection information is acquired by the shock sensor, the activation trigger signal is transmitted from the trigger transmission unit to the device main body.

9. a server connected to the device main body, The ultrasound diagnostic system according to any one of claims 5 to 8, wherein the impact detection information acquired by the impact sensor and the abnormality information acquired by the abnormality information acquisition unit are transmitted to the server via the device main body.

10. 1. A control method for an ultrasound diagnostic system including an ultrasound probe having an array of transducers and a device main body connected to the ultrasound probe, comprising: an impact sensor disposed on the ultrasonic probe detects an impact applied to the ultrasonic probe and acquires impact detection information; When the impact detection information is acquired, transmitting and receiving an ultrasonic beam from the transducer array, and acquiring ultrasonic information including at least one of a received signal output from the transducer array and an ultrasonic image generated based on the received signal; A method for controlling an ultrasound diagnostic system that records the impact detection information and the ultrasound information.

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