Ultrasound image scanning method, ultrasonic imaging device, and device interconnection system

Abstract

An ultrasound image scanning method, an ultrasonic imaging device, and a device interconnection system. In a follow-up scanning process, an ultrasound image obtained by real-time scanning of a patient is displayed, a historical ultrasound image meeting requirements is selected from historical scanning images of the patient on the basis of a rule, and the selected historical ultrasound image is used to assist in scanning the current real-time ultrasound image. For example, a matching degree between the historical ultrasound image and the current real-time ultrasound image is calculated to give prompt information on whether the real-time ultrasound image obtained by the current scanning is an expected ultrasound image. In this way, the accuracy of scanning in the ultrasonic examination can be improved, and scanning in the ultrasonic examination is more targeted, so that a frozen or stored scanning image is obtained on the basis of a historical ultrasound image corresponding to the scanning image, thereby making it more convenient for an operator to determine the progress and change of the disease condition.

Description

A method for scanning ultrasound images, an ultrasound imaging device, and a device interconnection system. Technical Field

[0001] This invention relates to the field of ultrasound imaging, and more specifically to an ultrasound imaging method, an ultrasound imaging device, and a device interconnection system. Background Technology

[0002] Ultrasound imaging technology can image many organs in the human body to aid doctors in diagnosis. It utilizes ultrasound waves to scan human tissues and organs, obtaining images of the corresponding areas through the reception and processing of reflected signals. Specifically, ultrasound imaging emits ultrasound waves towards the target tissue, receives the echo data returned from the target tissue, and generates an ultrasound image of the target tissue based on the received echo data. Due to its advantages such as being non-invasive, low-cost, and highly real-time, ultrasound imaging has gradually become the most widely used and frequently employed examination method in medical imaging today.

[0003] During ultrasound examinations, doctors need to scan for the desired slice type of ultrasound image and perform operations such as annotation, measurement, and image storage. Furthermore, with the publication of various ultrasound examination guidelines and standards, in most ultrasound examinations, doctors are required to complete a series of slice types corresponding to the examination procedure during the scanning process, and make subsequent diagnoses based on the scanning results. How to scan for the desired ultrasound image and facilitate subsequent diagnosis is a question worthy of further research. Summary of the Invention

[0004] In view of the above problems, the present invention provides an ultrasound imaging method, an ultrasound imaging device and an interconnection system for the device, which are described in detail below.

[0005] According to a first aspect, one embodiment provides a method for scanning ultrasound images, comprising:

[0006] Upon receiving a start command, initiate a real-time ultrasound scan of tissue containing blood vessels: emit ultrasound waves to the tissue and receive ultrasound echoes to generate real-time ultrasound images;

[0007] Perform one of several scanning procedures, including a routine scanning procedure or a follow-up scan procedure; wherein:

[0008] The routine scanning process includes: displaying the real-time ultrasound image in the image display area of ​​the first interface; freezing the ultrasound image in the image display area if a freeze command is received; annotating and / or measuring the frozen ultrasound image to obtain annotation information and / or measurement values ​​if an annotation command and / or measurement command are received; saving the frozen ultrasound image if a save command is received; and unfreezing the frozen ultrasound image and continuing the real-time ultrasound scan if an unfreeze command is received.

[0009] The follow-up ultrasound scan process includes: displaying a historical target ultrasound image in the first image display area of ​​the second interface, with a first vascular diagram superimposed on the target ultrasound image, the first vascular diagram being used to schematically represent the blood vessels in the target ultrasound image; displaying the real-time ultrasound image in the second image display area of ​​the second interface, with a second vascular diagram superimposed on the real-time ultrasound image, the second vascular diagram being used to schematically represent the blood vessels in the real-time ultrasound image; calculating the matching degree between the target ultrasound image and the real-time ultrasound image, and displaying the matching degree on the second interface; updating the displayed first vascular diagram and the matching degree in real time when the ultrasound image displayed in the second image display area changes; wherein, the historical target ultrasound image is one of multiple historical ultrasound images included in a historical ultrasound imaging examination item, and is a historical ultrasound image matched from the multiple historical ultrasound images included in the historical ultrasound imaging examination item based on matching rules; the historical ultrasound imaging examination item and the current ultrasound imaging examination item are ultrasound imaging examination items of the same category and belong to the same examinee;

[0010] If a freeze command is received, the ultrasound image in the second image display area is frozen; if an annotation command and / or a measurement command is received, the frozen ultrasound image is annotated and / or measured to obtain annotation information and / or measurement values; if a save command is received, the frozen ultrasound image is saved; if a thaw command is received, the frozen ultrasound image is thawed, and the real-time ultrasound scan continues.

[0011] In one embodiment, the matching rule includes any one of the following:

[0012] The historical ultrasound image examination items and the current ultrasound image examination items are associated with the same scanning protocol, and both include multiple ultrasound section types to be scanned being scanned sequentially in a fixed scanning order; according to the fixed scanning order, a historical ultrasound image with the same order as the ultrasound section type to be scanned in the historical ultrasound image examination items is selected as the target ultrasound image of the current ultrasound image.

[0013] According to the saving order of multiple historical ultrasound images in the historical ultrasound image examination item, select one historical ultrasound image from the historical ultrasound image examination item that is in the same saving order as the current ultrasound image as the target ultrasound image.

[0014] Based on the annotation information and / or measurement items of the current ultrasound image, a historical ultrasound image with the same annotation information and / or measurement items is selected from the historical ultrasound image examination items as the target ultrasound image of the current ultrasound image.

[0015] Obtain the ultrasound section type of the current ultrasound image, and select a historical ultrasound image with the same ultrasound section type from the historical ultrasound image examination items as the target ultrasound image of the current ultrasound image.

[0016] Obtain the anatomical structure items included in the current ultrasound image, and select a historical ultrasound image with the same anatomical structure items from the historical ultrasound image examination items as the target ultrasound image of the current ultrasound image;

[0017] Extract the image features of the current ultrasound image, and based on the image features, match a historical ultrasound image from the historical ultrasound image examination items as the target ultrasound image of the current ultrasound image.

[0018] In one embodiment, the process of performing the follow-up examination further includes: acquiring the measurement items and values ​​of the target ultrasound image displayed in the first image display area, and the measurement items and values ​​of the ultrasound image displayed in the second image display area; and comparing and displaying the values ​​of the measurement items of the target ultrasound image and the values ​​of the measurement items of the ultrasound image.

[0019] In one embodiment, the process of performing the follow-up examination further includes: calculating the difference between the values ​​of the same measurement item and displaying the difference.

[0020] In one embodiment, the execution of the follow-up examination process further includes: if the matching degree is less than a first threshold, generating information prompting the user to move the ultrasound probe.

[0021] According to a second aspect, one embodiment provides a method for scanning ultrasound images, comprising:

[0022] Upon receiving the start command, initiate a real-time ultrasound scan of the tissue: emit ultrasound waves to the tissue and receive ultrasound echoes to generate real-time ultrasound images;

[0023] The system executes one of several scanning procedures, including a routine scanning procedure or a follow-up scanning procedure; wherein: executing the routine scanning procedure includes: displaying the real-time ultrasound image on a first interface; freezing the ultrasound image on the first interface if a freeze command is received; annotating and / or measuring the frozen ultrasound image to obtain annotation information and / or measurement values ​​if an annotation command and / or measurement command are received; saving the frozen ultrasound image if a save command is received; and thawing the frozen ultrasound image and continuing the real-time ultrasound scanning if a thaw command is received.

[0024] The process of performing the follow-up ultrasound examination includes: matching a historical ultrasound image from multiple historical ultrasound images included in a historical ultrasound examination item bound to the current ultrasound examination based on matching rules, and using it as the target ultrasound image for the current ultrasound examination; wherein the historical ultrasound examination item and the current ultrasound examination item are ultrasound examination items of the same category and belong to the same examinee.

[0025] The second interface displays the real-time ultrasound image and its target ultrasound image for comparison.

[0026] If a freeze command is received, the ultrasound image on the second interface is frozen; if an annotation command and / or a measurement command are received, the frozen ultrasound image is annotated and / or measured to obtain annotation information and / or measurement item values; if a save command is received, the frozen ultrasound image is saved; if a thaw command is received, the frozen ultrasound image is thawed, and the real-time ultrasound scan continues.

[0027] In one embodiment, the step of matching a historical ultrasound image from multiple historical ultrasound images included in a historical ultrasound examination item bound to the current ultrasound imaging examination based on matching rules, and using it as the target ultrasound image for the current ultrasound image, includes any one of the following:

[0028] The historical ultrasound image examination items and the current ultrasound image examination items are associated with the same scanning protocol, and both include multiple ultrasound section types to be scanned being scanned sequentially in a fixed scanning order; according to the fixed scanning order, a historical ultrasound image with the same order as the ultrasound section type to be scanned in the historical ultrasound image examination items is selected as the target ultrasound image of the current ultrasound image.

[0029] According to the saving order of multiple historical ultrasound images in the historical ultrasound image examination item, select one historical ultrasound image from the historical ultrasound image examination item that is in the same saving order as the current ultrasound image as the target ultrasound image.

[0030] Based on the annotation information and / or measurement items of the current ultrasound image, a historical ultrasound image with the same annotation information and / or measurement items is selected from the historical ultrasound image examination items as the target ultrasound image of the current ultrasound image.

[0031] Obtain the ultrasound section type of the current ultrasound image, and select a historical ultrasound image with the same ultrasound section type from the historical ultrasound image examination items as the target ultrasound image of the current ultrasound image.

[0032] Obtain the anatomical structure items included in the current ultrasound image, and select a historical ultrasound image with the same anatomical structure items from the historical ultrasound image examination items as the target ultrasound image of the current ultrasound image;

[0033] Extract the image features of the current ultrasound image, and based on the image features, match a historical ultrasound image from the historical ultrasound image examination items as the target ultrasound image of the current ultrasound image.

[0034] In one embodiment, the process of performing the follow-up examination further includes:

[0035] Calculate the matching degree between the ultrasound image displayed on the second interface and its target ultrasound image;

[0036] The matching degree is displayed on the second interface; and / or, if the matching degree is less than a first threshold, a message prompting the user to move the ultrasound probe is generated; and / or, if the matching degree is greater than a second threshold, a message prompting the user that the matching is successful is generated.

[0037] In one embodiment, the tissue is vascular tissue, and the execution of the follow-up examination process further includes: overlaying a first vascular schematic diagram onto the target ultrasound image displayed on the second interface, the first vascular schematic diagram being used to schematically represent the blood vessels in the target ultrasound image; overlaying a second vascular schematic diagram onto the current ultrasound image displayed on the second interface, the second vascular schematic diagram being used to schematically represent the blood vessels in the ultrasound image; or,

[0038] The tissue is heart tissue, lung tissue, liver tissue, thyroid tissue, breast tissue, or musculoskeletal tissue. The execution of the follow-up examination process further includes: marking the anatomical structures included in the target ultrasound image displayed on the second interface; and marking the anatomical structures included in the current ultrasound image displayed on the second interface.

[0039] In one embodiment, the process of performing the follow-up ultrasound scan further includes: acquiring the measurement items and values ​​of the target ultrasound image displayed on the second interface, and the measurement items and values ​​of the ultrasound image displayed on the second interface; and comparing and displaying the values ​​of the measurement items of the target ultrasound image and the values ​​of the measurement items of the ultrasound image on the second interface or the third interface.

[0040] In one embodiment, the process of performing the follow-up examination further includes: calculating the difference between the values ​​of the same measurement item, displaying the difference, and displaying the difference on the second interface or the third interface.

[0041] According to a third aspect, one embodiment provides a method for scanning ultrasound images, comprising:

[0042] Upon receiving the start command, initiate a real-time ultrasound scan of the tissue: emit ultrasound waves to the tissue and receive ultrasound echoes to generate real-time ultrasound images;

[0043] Based on matching rules, a historical ultrasound image is matched from multiple historical ultrasound images included in a historical ultrasound image examination item bound to the current ultrasound image examination, and used as the target ultrasound image for the current ultrasound image; wherein, the historical ultrasound image examination item and the current ultrasound image examination item are ultrasound image examination items of the same item category and belong to the same examinee.

[0044] The second interface displays the real-time ultrasound image and its target ultrasound image for comparison.

[0045] If a freeze command is received, the ultrasound image on the second interface is frozen; if an annotation command and / or a measurement command are received, the frozen ultrasound image is annotated and / or measured to obtain annotation information and / or measurement item values; if a save command is received, the frozen ultrasound image is saved; if a thaw command is received, the frozen ultrasound image is thawed, and the real-time ultrasound scan continues.

[0046] In one embodiment, the step of matching a historical ultrasound image from multiple historical ultrasound images included in a historical ultrasound examination item bound to the current ultrasound imaging examination based on matching rules, and using it as the target ultrasound image for the current ultrasound image, includes any one of the following:

[0047] The historical ultrasound image examination items and the current ultrasound image examination items are associated with the same scanning protocol, and both include multiple ultrasound section types to be scanned being scanned sequentially in a fixed scanning order; according to the fixed scanning order, a historical ultrasound image with the same order as the ultrasound section type to be scanned in the historical ultrasound image examination items is selected as the target ultrasound image of the current ultrasound image.

[0048] According to the saving order of multiple historical ultrasound images in the historical ultrasound image examination item, select one historical ultrasound image from the historical ultrasound image examination item that is in the same saving order as the current ultrasound image as the target ultrasound image.

[0049] Based on the annotation information and / or measurement items of the current ultrasound image, a historical ultrasound image with the same annotation information and / or measurement items is selected from the historical ultrasound image examination items as the target ultrasound image of the current ultrasound image.

[0050] Obtain the ultrasound section type of the current ultrasound image, and select a historical ultrasound image with the same ultrasound section type from the historical ultrasound image examination items as the target ultrasound image of the current ultrasound image.

[0051] Obtain the anatomical structure items included in the current ultrasound image, and select a historical ultrasound image with the same anatomical structure items from the historical ultrasound image examination items as the target ultrasound image of the current ultrasound image;

[0052] Extract the image features of the current ultrasound image, and based on the image features, match a historical ultrasound image from the historical ultrasound image examination items as the target ultrasound image of the current ultrasound image.

[0053] In one embodiment, the ultrasound image scanning method further includes: calculating the matching degree between the ultrasound image displayed on the second interface and its target ultrasound image;

[0054] The matching degree is displayed on the second interface; and / or, if the matching degree is less than a first threshold, a message prompting the user to move the ultrasound probe is generated; and / or, if the matching degree is greater than a second threshold, a message prompting the user that the matching is successful is generated.

[0055] In one embodiment, displaying the matching degree on the second interface includes: displaying the matching degree on the second interface via a circular percentage progress bar, or displaying the matching degree on the second interface via a bar percentage progress bar.

[0056] In one embodiment, the tissue is vascular tissue, and the scanning method further includes: superimposing a first vascular schematic diagram onto the target ultrasound image displayed on the second interface, the first vascular schematic diagram being used to schematically represent the blood vessels in the target ultrasound image; and superimposing a second vascular schematic diagram onto the current ultrasound image displayed on the second interface, the second vascular schematic diagram being used to schematically represent the blood vessels in the ultrasound image.

[0057] Alternatively, the tissue may be heart tissue, lung tissue, liver tissue, thyroid tissue, breast tissue, or musculoskeletal tissue, and the scanning method may further include: marking the anatomical structures included in the target ultrasound image displayed on the second interface; and marking the anatomical structures included in the current ultrasound image displayed on the second interface.

[0058] In one embodiment, the step of comparing and displaying the real-time ultrasound image and its target ultrasound image on the second interface includes: the second interface includes a first image display area and a second image display area arranged horizontally; the target ultrasound image and the real-time ultrasound image are displayed in the first image display area and the second image display area, respectively;

[0059] The scanning method further includes: connecting one end of the first blood vessel diagram to the corresponding end of the second blood vessel diagram with a line, and connecting the other end of the first blood vessel diagram to the corresponding end of the second blood vessel diagram with a line.

[0060] In one embodiment, the ultrasound image scanning method further includes: acquiring the measurement items and values ​​of the target ultrasound image displayed on the second interface, and the measurement items and values ​​of the ultrasound image displayed on the second interface; comparing and displaying the values ​​of the measurement items of the target ultrasound image and the values ​​of the measurement items of the ultrasound image on the second interface or the third interface.

[0061] In one embodiment, the ultrasound image scanning method further includes: calculating the difference between the values ​​of the same measurement item, displaying the difference, and displaying the difference on the second interface or the third interface.

[0062] In one embodiment, the ultrasound image scanning method further includes: judging the lesion by comparing the ultrasound image and the target ultrasound image displayed on the second interface; if the target ultrasound image includes a lesion and the ultrasound image does not contain a corresponding lesion, then generating a prompt message.

[0063] In one embodiment, the ultrasound image scanning method further includes: when the second interface is displayed, if a first instruction is received, switching from the second interface to the first interface, displaying the real-time ultrasound image on the first interface without displaying the target ultrasound image; wherein, when the first interface is displayed, if a freeze instruction is received, freezing the ultrasound image in the image display area; if an annotation instruction and / or measurement instruction are received, annotating and / or measuring the frozen ultrasound image to obtain annotation information and / or measurement item values; if a save instruction is received, saving the frozen ultrasound image; if a thaw instruction is received, thawing the frozen ultrasound image and continuing the real-time ultrasound scan;

[0064] If the first interface is displayed and a second instruction is received, the user is redirected from the first interface to the second interface, and the real-time ultrasound image and its target ultrasound image are compared and displayed on the second interface.

[0065] In one embodiment, the ultrasound image scanning method further includes: determining one or more historical ultrasound image examination items, determining a target measurement item; and generating and displaying a statistical analysis chart of the target measurement item based on the determined historical ultrasound image examination items.

[0066] In one embodiment, the ultrasound image scanning method further includes: for each of one or more ultrasound images, evaluating the ultrasound image using one or more historical ultrasound image examination items and the ultrasound image to obtain evaluation information; the evaluation information includes measurement items and / or lesion-related information.

[0067] In one embodiment, the ultrasound image being evaluated is an ultrasound image containing the lesion.

[0068] In one embodiment, the ultrasound image scanning method further includes: selecting one historical ultrasound image examination item from one or more historical ultrasound image examination items and binding it to the current ultrasound image examination item; or, binding the current ultrasound image examination item to the previous historical ultrasound image examination item and the current ultrasound image examination item.

[0069] In one embodiment, the ultrasound image scanning method further includes: determining a historical ultrasound image examination from one or more historical ultrasound image examinations and binding it to the current ultrasound image examination, or binding the current ultrasound image examination to the previous historical ultrasound image examination and the current ultrasound image examination.

[0070] The historical ultrasound imaging examination includes one or more historical ultrasound imaging examination items of different categories; the current ultrasound imaging examination includes one or more ultrasound imaging examination items of different categories.

[0071] Each ultrasound imaging item in the current ultrasound imaging examination is bound to a historical ultrasound imaging item of the same category in the bound historical ultrasound imaging examination.

[0072] In one embodiment, the ultrasound image scanning method further includes: taking ultrasound image items of the same category as those in the historical ultrasound image examination as the ultrasound image items included in the current ultrasound image examination; and when the historical ultrasound image examination includes multiple historical ultrasound image items of different categories, determining the examination order of the ultrasound image items included in the current ultrasound image examination to make them the same according to the examination order of the multiple historical ultrasound image items of different categories.

[0073] Alternatively, ultrasound imaging items included in the bound historical ultrasound imaging examination that have the same item category as the historical ultrasound imaging examination items may be recommended as ultrasound imaging examination items included in the current ultrasound imaging examination; and if the bound historical ultrasound imaging examination includes multiple historical ultrasound imaging examination items with different item categories, the examination order of the ultrasound imaging examination items included in the current ultrasound imaging examination may be recommended to be the same as the examination order of the historical ultrasound imaging examination items with multiple different item categories; receive editing instructions for the current ultrasound imaging examination, edit the recommended ultrasound imaging examination items, or edit the recommended ultrasound imaging examination items and their examination order.

[0074] According to a fourth aspect, one embodiment provides a method for scanning ultrasound images, comprising:

[0075] Upon receiving the start command, initiate a real-time ultrasound scan of the tissue: emit ultrasound waves to the tissue and receive ultrasound echoes to generate real-time ultrasound images;

[0076] The first image display area and the second image display area of ​​the second interface respectively display the historical target ultrasound image and the real-time ultrasound image; wherein, the historical target ultrasound image is one of multiple historical ultrasound images included in a historical ultrasound imaging examination item, and is a historical ultrasound image matched from the multiple historical ultrasound images included in the historical ultrasound imaging examination item based on matching rules; the historical ultrasound imaging examination item and the current ultrasound imaging examination item are ultrasound imaging examination items of the same category and belong to the same examinee.

[0077] If a freeze command is received, the ultrasound image in the second image display area is frozen; if an annotation command and / or a measurement command is received, the frozen ultrasound image is annotated and / or measured to obtain annotation information and / or measurement values; if a save command is received, the frozen ultrasound image is saved; if a thaw command is received, the frozen ultrasound image is thawed, and the real-time ultrasound scan continues.

[0078] In one embodiment, the matching rule includes any one of the following:

[0079] The historical ultrasound image examination items and the current ultrasound image examination items are associated with the same scanning protocol, and both include multiple ultrasound section types to be scanned being scanned sequentially in a fixed scanning order; according to the fixed scanning order, a historical ultrasound image with the same order as the ultrasound section type to be scanned in the historical ultrasound image examination items is selected as the target ultrasound image of the current ultrasound image.

[0080] According to the saving order of multiple historical ultrasound images in the historical ultrasound image examination item, select one historical ultrasound image from the historical ultrasound image examination item that is in the same saving order as the current ultrasound image as the target ultrasound image.

[0081] Based on the annotation information and / or measurement items of the current ultrasound image, a historical ultrasound image with the same annotation information and / or measurement items is selected from the historical ultrasound image examination items as the target ultrasound image of the current ultrasound image.

[0082] Obtain the ultrasound section type of the current ultrasound image, and select a historical ultrasound image with the same ultrasound section type from the historical ultrasound image examination items as the target ultrasound image of the current ultrasound image.

[0083] Obtain the anatomical structure items included in the current ultrasound image, and select a historical ultrasound image with the same anatomical structure items from the historical ultrasound image examination items as the target ultrasound image of the current ultrasound image;

[0084] Extract the image features of the current ultrasound image, and based on the image features, match a historical ultrasound image from the historical ultrasound image examination items as the target ultrasound image of the current ultrasound image.

[0085] In one embodiment, the ultrasound image scanning method further includes: calculating the matching degree between the ultrasound image displayed on the second interface and its target ultrasound image;

[0086] The matching degree is displayed on the second interface; and / or, if the matching degree is less than a first threshold, a message prompting the user to move the ultrasound probe is generated; and / or, if the matching degree is greater than a second threshold, a message prompting the user that the matching is successful is generated.

[0087] In one embodiment, the matching degree is updated in real time when the ultrasound image displayed in the second image display area changes.

[0088] In one embodiment, the tissue is vascular tissue, and the scanning method further includes: superimposing a first vascular schematic diagram onto the target ultrasound image displayed on the second interface, the first vascular schematic diagram being used to schematically represent the blood vessels in the target ultrasound image; and superimposing a second vascular schematic diagram onto the current ultrasound image displayed on the second interface, the second vascular schematic diagram being used to schematically represent the blood vessels in the ultrasound image.

[0089] Alternatively, the tissue may be heart tissue, lung tissue, liver tissue, thyroid tissue, breast tissue, or musculoskeletal tissue, and the scanning method may further include: marking the anatomical structures included in the target ultrasound image displayed on the second interface; and marking the anatomical structures included in the current ultrasound image displayed on the second interface.

[0090] In one embodiment, when the ultrasound image displayed in the second image display area changes, the displayed second vascular diagram is updated in real time; or, when the ultrasound image displayed in the second image display area changes, the markings of the anatomical structures included in the ultrasound image are updated in real time.

[0091] In one embodiment, the ultrasound image scanning method further includes: acquiring the measurement items and values ​​of the target ultrasound image displayed on the second interface, and the measurement items and values ​​of the ultrasound image displayed on the second interface; comparing and displaying the values ​​of the measurement items of the target ultrasound image and the values ​​of the measurement items of the ultrasound image on the second interface or the third interface.

[0092] In one embodiment, the ultrasound image scanning method further includes: calculating the difference between the values ​​of the same measurement item, displaying the difference, and displaying the difference on the second interface or the third interface.

[0093] In one embodiment, the ultrasound image scanning method further includes: when the second interface is displayed, if a first instruction is received, switching from the second interface to the first interface, displaying the real-time ultrasound image on the first interface without displaying the target ultrasound image; wherein, when the first interface is displayed, if a freeze instruction is received, the displayed ultrasound image is frozen; if an annotation instruction and / or a measurement instruction is received, the frozen ultrasound image is annotated and / or measured to obtain annotation information and / or measurement item values; if a save instruction is received, the frozen ultrasound image is saved; if a thaw instruction is received, the frozen ultrasound image is thawed, and the real-time ultrasound scan continues.

[0094] If a second instruction is received while the first interface is displayed, the user will switch from the first interface to the second interface.

[0095] According to the fifth aspect, an interconnection system for an ultrasound imaging department is characterized in that it includes: a server, and one or more ultrasound imaging devices, wherein the ultrasound imaging devices are communicatively connected to the server;

[0096] The ultrasound imaging device is used to perform ultrasound imaging on the examinee to obtain image data; the ultrasound imaging device is used to upload the image data to the server so that the server stores the image data based on a dedicated database, wherein the dedicated database can classify and store the image data based on the examinee's personal information, the category of ultrasound imaging examination items, and the examination time.

[0097] The ultrasound imaging device sends a retrieval request containing the personal information of the subject to the server, so that the server returns retrieval results; the ultrasound imaging device determines the image data to be downloaded based on the retrieval results, and downloads the corresponding image data from the server;

[0098] When the ultrasound imaging device performs an ultrasound image scan on the subject, the ultrasound imaging device assists in performing an ultrasound image scan on the same subject based on the downloaded image data to execute a follow-up scan process; the follow-up scan process includes: comparing and displaying historical ultrasound images in the image data with real-time ultrasound images in the ultrasound image scan and performing comparative analysis.

[0099] In one embodiment, the step of comparing and analyzing historical ultrasound images in image data with real-time ultrasound images in ultrasound image scanning includes: matching a historical ultrasound image from the downloaded image data based on matching rules, using it as the target ultrasound image for the real-time ultrasound image in ultrasound image scanning; calculating the matching degree between the target ultrasound image and the real-time ultrasound image; comparing and displaying the real-time ultrasound image and its target ultrasound image, and displaying the matching degree.

[0100] In one embodiment, the ultrasound imaging device includes a memory and a processor, the memory storing a program, and the processor executing the program stored in the memory to implement the method as described in any of the embodiments herein.

[0101] According to a sixth aspect, one embodiment provides an ultrasound imaging device, including an ultrasound probe, a transceiver control circuit, a processor, and a display; the ultrasound probe is used to emit ultrasound waves to tissue and receive echo signals of the ultrasound waves; the transceiver control circuit is used to control the ultrasound probe to perform the emission of ultrasound waves and the reception of the echo signals of the ultrasound waves; the processor is used to process the echo signals to generate an ultrasound image; and the display is used to display the ultrasound image.

[0102] The processor is also used to perform the methods described in any of the embodiments herein.

[0103] According to the ultrasound imaging method, ultrasound imaging device, and device interconnection system of the above embodiments, in the follow-up examination process, the ultrasound image of the patient scanned in real time is displayed, and historical ultrasound images that meet the requirements are selected from the patient's historical scan images based on rules. The selected historical ultrasound images are used to assist in scanning the current real-time ultrasound image, for example, calculating the matching degree between the two to determine whether the current real-time ultrasound image obtained is the expected ultrasound image. This not only improves the accuracy of ultrasound examination, but also makes the ultrasound examination more targeted, so that the frozen or saved scan images are based on their corresponding historical ultrasound images, which makes it easier for the operator to judge the progress and changes of the condition. Attached Figure Description

[0104] Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of the structure of an ultrasound imaging device according to an embodiment;

[0105] Figure 2 is a schematic diagram of the structure of an ultrasound imaging device according to an embodiment;

[0106] Figure 3 is a schematic diagram of the structure of a device interconnection system according to an embodiment;

[0107] Figure 4 is a flowchart of an ultrasound image scanning method according to an embodiment;

[0108] Figure 5 is a flowchart of an ultrasound image scanning method according to an embodiment;

[0109] Figure 6 is a schematic diagram of the display interface during the follow-up examination scanning process in one embodiment;

[0110] Figure 7 is a schematic diagram of the display interface during the follow-up examination scanning process in one embodiment;

[0111] Figure 8 is a schematic diagram of the display interface during the follow-up examination scanning process in one embodiment;

[0112] Figure 9 is a schematic diagram of the display interface during the follow-up examination scanning process in one embodiment;

[0113] Figure 10 is a schematic diagram of the display interface during the follow-up examination scanning process in one embodiment;

[0114] Figure 11 is a schematic diagram of the display interface in one embodiment of the follow-up examination scanning process;

[0115] Figure 12 is a schematic diagram of the display interface in one embodiment of the follow-up examination scanning process;

[0116] Figure 13 is a schematic diagram of the display interface in one embodiment of the follow-up examination scanning process;

[0117] Figure 14 is a schematic diagram of the display interface in one embodiment of the follow-up examination scanning process;

[0118] Figure 15 is a schematic diagram of the display interface in one embodiment of the follow-up examination scanning process;

[0119] Figure 16 is a schematic diagram of a display interface for users to select historical ultrasound imaging examination items and target measurement items in one embodiment;

[0120] Figure 17 is a schematic diagram of the interface display for evaluating ultrasound images in one embodiment;

[0121] Figure 18 is a flowchart of an ultrasound image scanning method according to an embodiment;

[0122] Figure 19 is a flowchart of an ultrasound image scanning method according to one embodiment. Detailed Implementation

[0123] The present invention will now be described in further detail with reference to specific embodiments and accompanying drawings. Similar elements in different embodiments are referred to by associated similar element reference numerals. In the following embodiments, many details are described to facilitate a better understanding of this application. However, those skilled in the art will readily recognize that some features may be omitted in different situations, or may be replaced by other elements, materials, or methods. In some cases, certain operations related to this application are not shown or described in the specification. This is to avoid obscuring the core parts of this application with excessive description. For those skilled in the art, detailed description of these related operations is not necessary; they can fully understand the related operations based on the description in the specification and general technical knowledge in the art.

[0124] Furthermore, the features, operations, or characteristics described in the specification can be combined in any suitable manner to form various embodiments. At the same time, the steps or actions in the method description can be rearranged or adjusted in a manner obvious to those skilled in the art. Therefore, the various orders in the specification and drawings are only for the clear description of a particular embodiment and do not imply a necessary order, unless otherwise stated that a particular order must be followed.

[0125] The serial numbers assigned to components in this document, such as "first" and "second," are used only to distinguish the described objects and have no sequential or technical meaning. The terms "connection" and "linkage" used in this application, unless otherwise specified, include both direct and indirect connections (linkages).

[0126] When performing ultrasound examinations on patients, operators (such as doctors) need considerable experience to determine whether the real-time ultrasound image being scanned is the desired image and whether it represents the desired cross-sectional type. In addition, current ultrasound imaging equipment can also assist operators in this judgment. Most existing solutions compare the real-time ultrasound image with a corresponding standard ultrasound image. The standard ultrasound image is generally a typical image that represents the desired cross-sectional type. By comparing the two, the similarity is judged. If the similarity is high, prompts or markings are given.

[0127] The aforementioned solutions essentially remain focused on improving the accuracy of scan images during a single examination. The inventors, through research into the scanning process, discovered that patients in ultrasound or clinical departments often require follow-up examinations. Specifically, doctors perform ultrasound scans on relevant areas or tissues and compare the data from the current scan with previous scans to analyze the differences and assess the progression and changes in the patient's condition. Therefore, a significant portion of scanning scenarios involves patients undergoing secondary or multiple scans after a period of time. Considering this, this application introduces a follow-up scan process that displays real-time ultrasound images of the patient during the follow-up scan. Furthermore, based on rules, historical ultrasound images that meet the requirements are selected from the patient's historical scan images (referring to ultrasound images obtained from the patient's past ultrasound examinations). The selected historical ultrasound images are then used to assist in scanning the current real-time ultrasound image. For example, the matching degree between the two is calculated to determine whether the current real-time ultrasound image obtained is the expected ultrasound image. This not only improves the accuracy of ultrasound examinations but also makes ultrasound examinations more targeted. The frozen or saved scan images are based on their corresponding historical ultrasound images, which makes it easier for the operator to judge the progress and changes of the condition.

[0128] The details are explained below.

[0129] Referring to Figure 1, some embodiments provide an ultrasound imaging device 01; the ultrasound imaging device 01 includes an ultrasound probe 10, a transceiver control circuit 20, a processor 30, and a display 50; referring to Figure 2, in some embodiments, the ultrasound imaging device 01 may also include a memory 40, which will be described in detail below.

[0130] An ultrasound probe 10 is used to emit ultrasound waves toward a target object (e.g., biological tissue in a human or animal body) and to receive echo signals from the ultrasound waves. In some embodiments, the ultrasound probe 10 includes multiple array elements for converting electrical pulse signals and ultrasound waves into each other, thereby emitting ultrasound waves toward the target object and receiving the echo signals reflected back from the tissue to obtain the echo signals of the ultrasound waves. In some embodiments, the multiple array elements included in the ultrasound probe 10 can be arranged in a row to form a linear array. In some embodiments, the multiple array elements included in the ultrasound probe 10 are arranged in a two-dimensional matrix to form a planar array. The array elements, for example, use piezoelectric crystals to convert electrical signals into ultrasound signals according to the transmission sequence transmitted by the transmit / receive control circuit 20. Depending on the application, the emitted ultrasound waves (ultrasound signals) may include one or more scanning pulses, one or more reference pulses, one or more driving pulses, and / or one or more Doppler pulses. Depending on the wave morphology, ultrasound signals include focused waves, plane waves, and diverging waves. The array elements are used to emit ultrasound waves according to the excitation electrical signal or to convert received ultrasound waves into electrical signals. Therefore, each array element can be used to convert between electrical pulse signals and ultrasound waves, thereby enabling the transmission of ultrasound waves to the target object and the reception of echo signals of ultrasound waves reflected back from tissue. During ultrasound examination, the transceiver control circuit 20 can control which array elements are used to transmit ultrasound beams (transmitting array elements), which array elements are used to receive ultrasound beams (receiving array elements), or control the array elements to be used in time slots for transmitting ultrasound waves or receiving ultrasound echoes. Array elements participating in ultrasound transmission can be simultaneously excited by electrical signals, thereby transmitting ultrasound waves simultaneously; or array elements participating in ultrasound transmission can be excited by several electrical signals with a certain time interval, thereby continuously transmitting ultrasound waves with a certain time interval.

[0131] In some examples, the target object can be selected by the user. For instance, when an ultrasound image is displayed on the monitor 50, the user can select a region of interest on the ultrasound image to determine the target tissue to be scanned. In some examples, the processor 30 can also automatically determine the location of the region of interest on the ultrasound image based on relevant machine recognition algorithms to determine the target tissue to be scanned. In some examples, the target object can also be obtained through semi-automatic detection to determine the target tissue to be scanned. For example, the processor 30 first automatically detects the location of the target object on the baseline ultrasound image based on machine recognition algorithms, and then the user further modifies or corrects it to obtain a more accurate location of the target object.

[0132] The user selects a suitable position and angle by moving the ultrasonic probe 10 to emit ultrasonic waves toward the target object and receives the echo of the ultrasonic waves returned by the target object, outputting an ultrasonic echo signal. The ultrasonic echo signal is a channel analog electrical signal formed by the receiving array element, which can carry information such as amplitude, frequency and / or time information.

[0133] The transceiver control circuit 20 controls the ultrasound probe 10 to transmit ultrasound waves and receive ultrasound echo signals. For example, the transceiver control circuit 20 controls the ultrasound probe 10 to transmit ultrasound waves towards the target object and to receive ultrasound echoes reflected from tissue. In some specific embodiments, the transceiver control circuit 20 generates a transmission sequence and a reception sequence and outputs them to the ultrasound probe 10. The transmission sequence controls some or all of the multiple array elements in the ultrasound probe 10 to transmit ultrasound waves towards the target object. The parameters of the transmission sequence include the number of array elements for transmission and ultrasound transmission parameters (e.g., amplitude, frequency, number of transmissions, transmission interval, transmission angle, waveform, and / or focusing position). The reception sequence controls some or all of the multiple array elements to receive the echoes of ultrasound waves after they have passed through tissue. The parameters of the reception sequence include the number of array elements for reception and the reception parameters of the echoes (e.g., reception angle, depth, etc.). The ultrasound parameters in the transmission sequence and the echo parameters in the reception sequence may differ depending on the purpose of the ultrasound echo or the image generated by the ultrasound echo. For example, different working modes, such as B mode, C mode, M mode and D mode (Doppler mode), may have different transmission sequence parameters. The echo signal is received by the ultrasound probe 10 under the control of the transceiver control circuit 20 and processed by subsequent modules and corresponding algorithms to generate B image reflecting tissue anatomical structure, C image reflecting blood flow information and D image reflecting Doppler spectrum image, etc.

[0134] The processor 30 is used to process the ultrasonic echo signal (i.e., the echo signal of ultrasound) received by the ultrasonic probe 10. It can perform one or more stages of data processing, such as receiving and forming channel data, analog-to-digital conversion, signal demodulation, amplification, filtering, downsampling, beamforming, modulus extraction, logarithmic compression, and grayscale conversion. The following is an explanation of each data processing stage.

[0135] The array elements of the ultrasonic probe 10 receive the echo signal of the ultrasonic wave and convert it into data represented by an electrical signal. This data is an analog signal, which is then converted into a digital signal after an analog-to-digital conversion process. This digital signal can be called channel acquisition data. The signal demodulation stage refers to demodulating the input ultrasonic data, which can be a digital signal obtained after an analog-to-digital conversion process. Demodulation methods can include: simple demodulation, quadrature demodulation, Hilbert transform demodulation, double sampling demodulation, multiple sampling demodulation, or baseband sampling demodulation, etc. The commonly used demodulation method is quadrature demodulation. That is, the received echo signal is split into two paths and multiplied by cos(ωnT) respectively. s ) and sin(ωnT sThe amplification process includes: amplifying the ultrasound data using different amplification factors depending on the time of reception to compensate for signal attenuation; or, applying different amplification factors depending on the location of the ultrasound data to compensate for signal attenuation; the amplification process can be performed after the signal demodulation process.

[0136] Filtering is typically performed after signal demodulation, using, for example, a low-pass filter to improve signal quality. Downsampling reduces the signal sampling rate, decreasing computational complexity. Data normalization, including scaling normalization or standard normalization, confines data within a certain range, thus eliminating the adverse effects of outlier (sample) data.

[0137] Principal component analysis includes: centering the features of the ultrasound data to obtain features, solving the covariance matrix of the features, solving the eigenvalues ​​of the covariance matrix, selecting the largest eigenvalue to form the eigenvector, and projecting the ultrasound data onto the eigenvector. Principal component analysis mainly serves to reduce the dimensionality of the data features.

[0138] Data augmentation involves translating and / or adding noise to ultrasound data, which improves the accuracy of neural networks in processing data. For example, when training a neural network, operations such as translating and adding noise to the limited training data can expand the dataset size, thereby enhancing the accuracy of the neural network.

[0139] Data rearrangement involves rearranging the ultrasound data in at least one of the following ways: Demodulating the ultrasound data received by each element of the ultrasound probe 10 and arranging it into two columns (one column for I data and one column for Q data; assuming an element receives (Npoint*1) data, it is arranged into two columns, or arranged into one column before demodulation; arranging the ultrasound echo data (Npoint*2n) received by all effective elements of the ultrasound probe 10 after a single ultrasound emission into a matrix (where n is the number of effective elements); dividing the ultrasound echo data (Npoint*1) received by each element of the ultrasound probe 10 into multiple (e.g., m) and arranging them into a matrix. It should be noted that if the data is before demodulation, it is not set to two columns. Furthermore, in other examples, it can be combined into three-dimensional or even higher-dimensional data inputs. The rearranged data is then used as input data to the neural network, which can improve the accuracy of the neural network.

[0140] Beamforming refers to the process of reconstructing channel echo data (which can be either the RF signal before demodulation or the baseband signal after demodulation) from the channel domain (e.g., data dimension: time direction * number of channels * number of transmissions) into beam domain data (i.e., beamformed data, e.g., data dimension: number of vertical points * number of horizontal points, which are points in the actual physical space). Beamforming can employ various beamforming methods, including but not limited to the Delay Apodization Summation (DAS) method, adaptive beamforming method, coherence factor beamforming method, and so on.

[0141] Modulus extraction, logarithmic compression, and grayscale transformation are processing steps performed on ultrasound data in the image domain. These three steps can also be collectively referred to as scan transformation.

[0142] The processor 30 processes the echo signal of the ultrasound wave to obtain an ultrasound image, which is then displayed on the monitor 50.

[0143] In some embodiments, the processor 30 includes, but is not limited to, devices for interpreting computer instructions and processing data in computer software, such as a central processing unit (CPU), a micro controller unit (MCU), a field-programmable gate array (FPGA), and a digital signal processing unit (DSP).

[0144] In some embodiments, the processor 30 is used to execute various computer applications stored in the non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, thereby performing corresponding steps and methods. For example, the processor 30 can be implemented by software, hardware, firmware, or a combination thereof, and can be at least one of the following: circuitry, single or multiple application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), digital signal processors (DSPs), digital signal processing devices (DSPDs), programmable logic devices (PLDs), field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), central processing units (CPUs), controllers, microcontrollers, or microprocessors. This allows the processor 30 to execute some or all of the steps, or any combination of the steps, of the ultrasound image scanning methods in the various embodiments of this application. For example, the memory 40 stores a program, and the processor 30 executes the program stored in the memory 40 to perform some or all of the steps, or any combination of the steps, of the ultrasound image scanning methods in the various embodiments of this application.

[0145] In some embodiments, memory 40 is used to store data, such as ultrasound data, or programs. In some embodiments, memory 40 may be a tangible and non-transitory computer-readable medium, such as a flash memory card, solid-state memory, hard disk, etc., used to store data or programs. For example, memory 40 may be used to store acquired ultrasound data or image frames generated by processor 30 that are not immediately displayed, or memory 40 may store a graphical user interface, one or more default image display settings, or programming instructions for execution by processor 40.

[0146] The display 50 can be used to display information, such as parameters and / or images calculated by the processor 30, as will be further explained below.

[0147] Referring to Figure 3, some embodiments provide an equipment interconnection system 03 for an ultrasound imaging department, which is described in detail below. In some examples, the equipment interconnection system 03 includes one or more ultrasound imaging devices 01. The ultrasound imaging device 01 may be the ultrasound imaging device 01 disclosed in Figure 1 or Figure 2 above. In some examples, the equipment interconnection system 03 includes a server 02.

[0148] The ultrasound imaging device 01 is capable of performing ultrasound imaging on a subject to obtain image data; in some embodiments, the image data includes at least ultrasound images; in some embodiments, the image data may also include values ​​of measurements obtained based on the ultrasound images.

[0149] In some embodiments, the ultrasound imaging device 01 may store image data in the memory 40; in some examples, the memory 40 stores image data based on a dedicated database, which can classify and store image data based on the subject's personal information, the type of ultrasound imaging examination item, and the examination time. In some embodiments, the processor 30 in the ultrasound imaging device 01 sends a retrieval request containing the subject's personal information to retrieve the image data stored in the memory 40, thereby enabling the processor 30 to assist in performing ultrasound imaging scans on the same subject based on the acquired image data when the ultrasound imaging device 01 performs an ultrasound imaging scan to execute a follow-up examination process.

[0150] In some embodiments, the ultrasound imaging device 01 can upload image data to a server 02. The server 02 stores the image data based on a dedicated database, which can classify and store the image data according to the examinee's personal information (e.g., the examinee's name, medical record number, ID number, etc.), the category of ultrasound imaging examination items, and the examination time. In some embodiments, the ultrasound imaging device 01 sends a retrieval request containing the examinee's personal information to the server 02, so that the server 02 returns retrieval results. Based on the retrieval results, the ultrasound imaging device 01 determines the image data to be downloaded and downloads the corresponding image data from the server 02. When the ultrasound imaging device 01 performs an ultrasound image scan on the examinee, the ultrasound imaging device 01 uses the downloaded image data to assist in performing an ultrasound image scan on the same examinee to execute a follow-up examination process.

[0151] Ultrasonic imaging device 01 can establish a communication connection with server 02 through wired connection (such as network cable, data cable), wireless network (such as Wi-Fi, 5G mobile network), Bluetooth connection, NFC (near field communication), etc. Server 02 can be: cloud cluster server, local desktop computer, mobile phone, tablet, or other electronic devices with storage and communication functions. Ultrasonic imaging device 01 and server 02 can use a dedicated data transmission protocol to realize real-time data uploading and downloading on ultrasonic imaging device 01.

[0152] In some embodiments, the follow-up examination process includes: comparing and analyzing historical ultrasound images in the image data with real-time ultrasound images in the ultrasound image scan. In some embodiments, comparing and analyzing historical ultrasound images in the image data with real-time ultrasound images in the ultrasound image scan includes: selecting a historical ultrasound image from the image data based on matching rules as the target ultrasound image for the real-time ultrasound image in the ultrasound image scan; calculating the matching degree between the target ultrasound image and the real-time ultrasound image; comparing and displaying the real-time ultrasound image and its target ultrasound image, and displaying the matching degree.

[0153] A single ultrasound examination includes one or more ultrasound imaging procedures, depending on the patient's ultrasound scanning needs. Typically, different ultrasound examinations can be distinguished by the location of the ultrasound examination, the time of the examination, and the patient to whom the examination is performed. The examination location can be vascular tissue, heart tissue, lung tissue, liver tissue, thyroid tissue, breast tissue, and musculoskeletal tissue, etc. If ultrasound examination 1 and ultrasound examination 2 have different locations, then they are obviously different ultrasound examinations. Similarly, if ultrasound examination 1 and ultrasound examination 2 have different times (typically different dates), then they are obviously different ultrasound examinations. Finally, if ultrasound examination 1 and ultrasound examination 2 are performed on different patients, then they are obviously different ultrasound examinations. As mentioned above, a single ultrasound imaging examination may include one or more ultrasound imaging examination items. Each ultrasound imaging examination item inherits the examination site, examination time, and patient to which it belongs. In other words, different ultrasound imaging examination items can usually be distinguished by the examination site, examination time, and patient to which they belong. In addition, different ultrasound imaging examination items can also be distinguished by imaging type or imaging mode. Imaging modes include B-mode, color Doppler mode, PW mode, vector flow imaging mode, ultra-micro flow imaging mode, pulse wave mode, shear wave elastography mode, vascular strain mode, and angiography mode, etc.

[0154] In some examples, the item categories for ultrasound imaging examinations include the examination site; in other examples, the item categories for ultrasound imaging examinations include both the examination site and the imaging mode.

[0155] Therefore, the follow-up examination process compares and contrasts historical ultrasound images in the imaging data with real-time ultrasound images in the ultrasound imaging examination. Real-time ultrasound images refer to ultrasound images obtained in the current ultrasound imaging examination or historical ultrasound imaging examination items, while historical ultrasound images refer to ultrasound images obtained in historical ultrasound imaging examinations or historical ultrasound imaging examination items relative to the current ultrasound imaging examination.

[0156] The following is a detailed explanation of the specific scanning process.

[0157] Referring to Figure 4, some embodiments disclose an ultrasound image scanning method 101, which includes the following steps:

[0158] Step 110: Receive a start command to initiate a real-time ultrasound scan of the tissue; for example, step 110 transmits ultrasound waves to the tissue and receives ultrasound echoes to generate real-time ultrasound images.

[0159] In some embodiments, after receiving the start command in step 110, the scanning protocol associated with the current ultrasound imaging examination item is also started. The scanning protocol includes multiple ultrasound section types to be scanned.

[0160] Step 112: Perform the routine scanning procedure.

[0161] In some embodiments, step 112, which executes a conventional scanning process, includes: displaying a real-time ultrasound image in the image display area of ​​the first interface, and being able to perform corresponding operations on the real-time displayed ultrasound image in response to a scanning command. For example, if a freeze command is received, the ultrasound image in the image display area is frozen; if an annotation command is received, the frozen ultrasound image is annotated to obtain annotation information; if a measurement command is received, the frozen ultrasound image is measured to obtain the value of the measurement item; if a save command is received, the frozen ultrasound image is saved; if a thaw command is received, the frozen ultrasound image is thawed, and real-time ultrasound scanning continues. Continuing real-time ultrasound scanning can involve scanning the next desired ultrasound image, such as other ultrasound section types to be scanned in the scanning protocol.

[0162] In some embodiments, step 112, performing a conventional scanning process, may further include: obtaining the section type identification result of the real-time ultrasound image (or the real-time displayed ultrasound image) displayed in the image display area of ​​the first interface; then the section type identification result may be displayed on the first interface for the user to view, or the ultrasound image may be processed based on the section type identification result. For example, if the section type identification result indicates that it is the ultrasound section type to be scanned in the scanning protocol, then the ultrasound image is associated with and saved to the corresponding ultrasound section type in the scanning protocol.

[0163] Step 112, in obtaining the ultrasound image section type identification result, can be based on an identification algorithm to identify the ultrasound section type of the ultrasound image to obtain the section type identification result. The identification algorithm mentioned in this paper can be a traditional section type identification algorithm, such as extracting image features from the ultrasound image to be identified. The image features can be anatomical structural features in the ultrasound image, and then determining the ultrasound section type of the ultrasound image based on the image features. The identification algorithm mentioned in this paper can also be an artificial intelligence algorithm, such as an artificial intelligence algorithm constructed using an artificial neural network. The artificial intelligence algorithm can be trained by constructing a training set, where the samples in the training set are ultrasound images, and the labels of the samples can be manually labeled ultrasound section types.

[0164] For example, the recognition algorithm could be a deep learning-based image classification method. In this method, a database of ultrasound images is first constructed as a training set, where each ultrasound image is labeled with its ultrasound section type. Deep learning methods can employ various network models, such as AlexNet, Inception, EfficientNet, MobileNet, VGG, ResNet, SENet, DenseNet, and Transformer. The constructed ultrasound image database is used to train the network model, enabling it to predict the probability of a given ultrasound image belonging to a specific ultrasound section type. After training, when an ultrasound image to be recognized is input into the network, it outputs the corresponding ultrasound section type and its probability.

[0165] For example, the recognition algorithm can also be based on other machine learning image classification methods: first, feature extraction is performed on the ultrasound image or the region in the ultrasound image. Image features can be extracted using traditional methods such as PCA, LDA, HOG, Har, LBP, SIFT, etc., or features extracted by neural networks; then, the extracted input image features are matched with the features of ultrasound images of various categories in the database using classification algorithms, and discriminators such as KNN, SVM, decision trees, random forests, neural networks are used for classification.

[0166] In some examples, users can also manually correct the section type recognition results. Users can view the ultrasound image and the corresponding identified section type (ultrasound section type). If a user believes the section type recognition result needs correction, they can input an ultrasound section type to correct it, updating the displayed result to the user-input type and using it as the latest recognition result. One process might be as follows: the section type of the ultrasound image is identified using a recognition algorithm, and the result is displayed; simultaneously, a section type correction area is displayed, containing one or more candidate ultrasound section types for the ultrasound image; in response to the user's action on the correction area, a candidate section type is selected to update the section type recognition result, which is then used as the ultrasound section type for the ultrasound image. In some examples, the standard ultrasound images corresponding to the candidate ultrasound section types in the section type correction region are anatomically similar to the currently scanned ultrasound image, thus the ultrasound section types of these standard ultrasound images are used as candidate ultrasound section types for the currently scanned ultrasound image.

[0167] Referring to Figure 5, some embodiments disclose an ultrasound image scanning method 101, which includes the following steps:

[0168] Step 120: Receive a start command to initiate a real-time ultrasound scan of the tissue; for example, step 120 transmits ultrasound waves to the tissue and receives ultrasound echoes to generate real-time ultrasound images.

[0169] In some embodiments, after receiving the start command in step 120, the scanning protocol associated with the current ultrasound imaging examination item is also started. The scanning protocol includes multiple ultrasound section types to be scanned.

[0170] Step 122: Perform the follow-up examination and scanning procedure.

[0171] In some embodiments, step 122, which executes the follow-up ultrasound scan process, includes: displaying historical target ultrasound images and real-time ultrasound images in the first and second image display areas of the second interface, respectively, and being able to perform corresponding operations on the real-time displayed ultrasound images in response to scan commands. For example, if a freeze command is received, the ultrasound image in the second image display area is frozen; if an annotation command is received, the frozen ultrasound image is annotated to obtain annotation information; if a measurement command is received, the frozen ultrasound image is measured to obtain the value of the measurement item; if a save command is received, the frozen ultrasound image is saved; and if a thaw command is received, the frozen ultrasound image is thawed, and real-time ultrasound scans continue.

[0172] In some embodiments, the historical target ultrasound image displayed in the first image display area is one of multiple historical ultrasound images included in a historical ultrasound imaging examination item, and is a historical ultrasound image matched from the multiple historical ultrasound images included in the historical ultrasound imaging examination item based on matching rules; wherein the historical ultrasound imaging examination item and the current ultrasound imaging examination item are ultrasound imaging examination items of the same category and belong to the same examinee; that is, a historical ultrasound image matched from multiple historical ultrasound images included in a historical ultrasound imaging examination item that is of the same category as the current ultrasound imaging examination item and belongs to the same examinee (e.g., a historical ultrasound imaging examination item preceding the current ultrasound imaging examination item in terms of examination time, which is of the same category as the current ultrasound imaging examination item and belongs to the same examinee) is used as the historical target ultrasound image. In some embodiments, the historical ultrasound imaging examination item is selected by the user based on a selection interface, wherein the selection interface displays one or more historical ultrasound imaging examination items of the examinee for the user to select or confirm. In some embodiments, the historical ultrasound image to which the target ultrasound image belongs is a previous historical ultrasound image examination item that belongs to the same category as the current ultrasound image examination item and is for the same subject.

[0173] In some embodiments, step 122 of performing the follow-up scan process includes: matching a historical ultrasound image from multiple historical ultrasound images included in a historical ultrasound examination item bound to the current ultrasound imaging examination based on matching rules, and using it as the target ultrasound image for the current ultrasound image (i.e., the real-time ultrasound image); wherein the historical ultrasound imaging examination item and the current ultrasound imaging examination item are ultrasound imaging examination items of the same category and belong to the same examinee; comparing and displaying the real-time ultrasound image and its target ultrasound image on a second interface—for example, the second interface includes a first image display area and a second image display area arranged left and right, and displaying the target ultrasound image and the real-time ultrasound image in the first image display area and the second image display area respectively; and performing corresponding operations on the real-time displayed ultrasound image in response to the scan command. For example, if a freeze command is received, the real-time ultrasound image displayed on the second interface is frozen; if an annotation command is received, the frozen ultrasound image is annotated to obtain annotation information; if a measurement command is received, the frozen ultrasound image is measured to obtain the measurement value; if a save command is received, the frozen ultrasound image is saved; if a thaw command is received, the frozen ultrasound image is thawed and real-time ultrasound scanning continues.

[0174] The matching rules are explained in detail below.

[0175] In some embodiments, the matching rule may include: the historical ultrasound image examination item and the current ultrasound image examination item are associated with the same scanning protocol, and both include multiple ultrasound section types to be scanned being scanned sequentially in a fixed scanning order; according to the fixed scanning order, a historical ultrasound image with the same order as the ultrasound section type to be scanned in the historical ultrasound image examination item is selected as the target ultrasound image of the current ultrasound image. This matching rule may be referred to as Matching Rule 1.

[0176] For example, the scanning protocols associated with historical ultrasound imaging examination items and current ultrasound imaging examination items are the same, both being fixed scanning protocols. This means that scanning proceeds in a fixed order, starting from the first ultrasound section type to the last. Each historical ultrasound imaging examination item contains its own associated historical ultrasound images for each of the first to last ultrasound section types. During a follow-up examination, the historical ultrasound image associated with the first ultrasound section type in the historical ultrasound imaging examination item is used as the target ultrasound image and displayed in the first image display area. The second image display area displays real-time ultrasound images. Users can freeze, annotate, measure, save, and thaw these images. Saving an ultrasound image can be associated with the first ultrasound section type to be scanned in a fixed scanning protocol. Then, a second ultrasound section type scan is performed. The historical ultrasound image associated with the second ultrasound section type in the historical ultrasound image examination items is used as the target ultrasound image and displayed in the first image display area. The second image display area displays the real-time ultrasound image. Users can perform operations such as freezing, annotating, measuring, saving, and thawing on the real-time ultrasound images displayed in the second image display area. The system performs operations such as freezing, annotating, measuring, saving, and thawing on real-time ultrasound images. When saving, the ultrasound image can be associated with and saved to the second ultrasound section type to be scanned in a fixed scanning protocol. Then, a third ultrasound section type scan is performed. The historical ultrasound image associated with the third ultrasound section type in the historical ultrasound image examination items is used as the target ultrasound image and displayed in the first image display area. The second image display area displays the real-time ultrasound image. Users can perform operations such as freezing, annotating, measuring, saving, and thawing on the real-time ultrasound image displayed in the second image display area. When saving, the system can... The ultrasound image is associated with and saved to the third ultrasound section type to be scanned in the fixed scanning protocol; and so on, until the last ultrasound section type to be scanned. The historical ultrasound image associated with the last ultrasound section type in the historical ultrasound image examination items is used as the target ultrasound image and displayed in the first image display area. The real-time ultrasound image is displayed in the second image display area. Users can perform operations such as freezing, annotating, measuring, saving and unfreezing on the real-time ultrasound image displayed in the second image display area. When saving, the ultrasound image can be associated with and saved to the last ultrasound section type to be scanned in the fixed scanning protocol.

[0177] If switching to a follow-up scan procedure while performing a regular scan, first determine which ultrasound section type has been scanned in the regular scan. Then, begin the follow-up scan from that section. For example, if the third ultrasound section type in the scan protocol has been scanned in the regular scan, and you switch to the follow-up scan, the scan will begin from the fourth ultrasound section type. The historical ultrasound image associated with the fourth ultrasound section type in the historical ultrasound imaging examination items will be used as the target ultrasound image and displayed in the first image display area. The second image display area will display the real-time ultrasound image. Users can perform operations such as freezing, annotating, measuring, saving, and thawing on the real-time ultrasound image displayed in the second image display area. When saving, the ultrasound image can be associated with and saved to the fourth ultrasound section type in the fixed scan protocol. Then, the scan for the fifth ultrasound section type will be performed. The system uses the historical ultrasound image associated with the 5th ultrasound section type in the historical ultrasound imaging examination items as the target ultrasound image and displays it in the first image display area. The second image display area displays the real-time ultrasound image. Users can perform operations such as freezing, annotating, measuring, saving, and unfreezing on the real-time ultrasound image displayed in the second image display area. When saving, the ultrasound image can be associated with and saved to the 5th ultrasound section type to be scanned in the fixed scanning protocol, and so on, until the last ultrasound section type to be scanned. The system uses the historical ultrasound image associated with the last ultrasound section type in the historical ultrasound imaging examination items as the target ultrasound image and displays it in the first image display area. The second image display area displays the real-time ultrasound image. Users can perform operations such as freezing, annotating, measuring, saving, and unfreezing on the real-time ultrasound image displayed in the second image display area. When saving, the ultrasound image can be associated with and saved to the last ultrasound section type to be scanned in the fixed scanning protocol.

[0178] If you switch to a follow-up scan procedure while performing a regular scan procedure, you can start the scan again from the first ultrasound section type to be scanned in the follow-up scan procedure; while the ultrasound images saved in the regular scan procedure can be deleted or retained.

[0179] In some embodiments, the matching rule may include: selecting, according to the saving order of multiple historical ultrasound images in the historical ultrasound imaging examination item, one historical ultrasound image that is in the same saving order as the current ultrasound image as the target ultrasound image. This matching rule may be referred to as Matching Rule 2.

[0180] For example, during a follow-up ultrasound scan, the first saved historical ultrasound image from the historical ultrasound imaging examination items is used as the target ultrasound image and displayed in the first image display area. The real-time ultrasound image is displayed in the second image display area. Users can perform operations such as freezing, annotating, measuring, saving, and thawing on the real-time ultrasound image displayed in the second image display area. Similarly, after saving an ultrasound image for the current ultrasound imaging examination item (i.e., saving the first ultrasound image), when continuing a real-time ultrasound scan, the second saved historical ultrasound image from the historical ultrasound imaging examination items is used as the target ultrasound image and displayed in the first image display area. The real-time ultrasound image is displayed in the second image display area, and users can perform operations such as freezing, annotating, measuring, saving, and thawing on the real-time ultrasound image displayed in the second image display area. When a second ultrasound image is saved in the current ultrasound imaging examination, and a real-time ultrasound scan is subsequently performed, the third saved historical ultrasound image from the historical ultrasound imaging examination is used as the target ultrasound image and displayed in the first image display area. The real-time ultrasound image is displayed in the second image display area. Users can perform operations such as freezing, annotating, measuring, saving, and unfreezing on the real-time ultrasound image displayed in the second image display area. This process continues until the last saved historical ultrasound image from the historical ultrasound imaging examination is used as the target ultrasound image and displayed in the first image display area. The real-time ultrasound image is displayed in the second image display area, and users can perform operations such as freezing, annotating, measuring, saving, and unfreezing on the real-time ultrasound image displayed in the second image display area.

[0181] In some embodiments, the matching rule may include: selecting a historical ultrasound image with the same information items from the historical ultrasound image examination items as the target ultrasound image for the current ultrasound image; in some examples, the information items include annotation information and / or measurement items. This matching rule may be referred to as Matching Rule 3.

[0182] For example, based on the string matching algorithm, the information items of the ultrasound image currently displayed in the second image display area and the information items of the historical ultrasound images in the historical ultrasound image examination items are calculated, and the image with the highest string matching degree is selected from the historical ultrasound images as the target ultrasound image currently displayed in the second image display area and displayed in the first image display area.

[0183] String matching algorithms can be as follows: A measurement item or annotation information can be used as input as a substring to locate historical ultrasound images with the same measurement item or annotation information in the main string. String matching algorithms can include: the BF algorithm (brute force matching), which matches the substring step-by-step starting from the first character of the main string; the KMP algorithm, which is more efficient and reduces time complexity compared to the BF algorithm, finding the longest common suffix for each character in the substring and comparing it with the main string; and the BM algorithm, whose core idea is to find the maximum distance the substring can move forward each time using a bad character algorithm and a good suffix algorithm.

[0184] For example, if the current real-time ultrasound image has the measurement item "vascular diameter", a string matching algorithm is used to match a historical ultrasound image with the same measurement item from historical ultrasound images, and this image is used as the target ultrasound image for the current real-time ultrasound image, so that the two are displayed on the same screen.

[0185] In some embodiments, the matching rule may include: obtaining the ultrasound section type of the current ultrasound image, and selecting a historical ultrasound image with the same ultrasound section type from historical ultrasound image examination items as the target ultrasound image for the current ultrasound image. This matching rule may be referred to as matching rule 4.

[0186] In some embodiments, when the ultrasound image displayed in the second image display area changes, the target ultrasound image may also change because the ultrasound section type of the ultrasound image may also change. Therefore, the target ultrasound image will be updated accordingly, which will also update the image displayed in the second image display area.

[0187] The ultrasound section type of the current ultrasound image can be determined by an algorithm to identify the ultrasound section type. The algorithm mentioned in this paper can be a traditional section type identification algorithm, such as extracting image features from the ultrasound image to be identified. These features can be anatomical structural features, and the ultrasound section type can be determined based on these features. Alternatively, the algorithm can be an artificial intelligence algorithm, such as one built using an artificial neural network. This algorithm can be trained using a training set containing ultrasound images labeled with manually assigned ultrasound section types. For example, the algorithm could be based on deep learning-based image classification methods or other machine learning-based image classification methods, as explained above. In some examples, users can also manually correct the section type identification results. Users can view ultrasound images and the corresponding identified section type recognition results (ultrasound section type). If a user believes the section type recognition result needs correction, they can input an ultrasound section type to correct the result, updating the displayed result to the user-input type and using it as the latest recognition result. The process can be as follows: the ultrasound image section type is identified using an algorithm, and the result is displayed; simultaneously, a section type correction area is displayed, containing one or more candidate ultrasound section types; in response to user actions on the correction area, a candidate section type is selected to update the recognition result, which is then used as the ultrasound section type for the image. In some examples, the standard ultrasound images corresponding to the candidate ultrasound section types in the section type correction region are anatomically similar to the currently scanned ultrasound image, thus the ultrasound section types of these standard ultrasound images are used as candidate ultrasound section types for the currently scanned ultrasound image.

[0188] In addition, ultrasound images are usually identified by their corresponding ultrasound section type or associated with the ultrasound image type when they are saved. Therefore, since the ultrasound section type of each historical ultrasound image in the historical ultrasound imaging examination items is known, after determining the ultrasound section type of the current ultrasound image, a historical ultrasound image with the same ultrasound section type can be directly selected from the historical ultrasound imaging examination items as the target ultrasound image for the current ultrasound image.

[0189] In some embodiments, the matching rule may include: obtaining the anatomical structures included in the current ultrasound image, and selecting a historical ultrasound image with the same anatomical structures from historical ultrasound image examination items as the target ultrasound image for the current ultrasound image. This matching rule may be referred to as Matching Rule 5.

[0190] In some embodiments, when the ultrasound image displayed in the second image display area changes, the target ultrasound image may also change because the anatomical structures included in the ultrasound image may also change. Therefore, the target ultrasound image is updated accordingly, which in turn updates the image displayed in the second image display area.

[0191] Obtaining anatomical structures from ultrasound images can be achieved using detection algorithms. These algorithms can be traditional image detection algorithms, such as extracting and detecting anatomical features from an image and then determining the anatomical structures based on those features. Alternatively, detection algorithms can be artificial intelligence algorithms, such as those built using artificial neural networks. These algorithms can be trained by constructing a training set, where the samples in the training set are ultrasound images, and the labels on the samples can be manually labeled anatomical structures from the ultrasound images.

[0192] For example, the detection algorithm can be a deep learning-based object detection method. In a deep learning-based object detection method, a database of ultrasound images and target region annotations (called a training set) needs to be constructed first. The ultrasound images are annotated with regions of interest, usually represented by a bounding box that tightly surrounds the region. The information of the bounding box includes the category of the object in the box and the coordinate information of the box (used to indicate the location of the region of interest). Deep learning object detection methods can use various network models, such as Faster-RCNN, YOLO, SSD, RetinaNet, EfficientDet, FCOS, CenterNet, etc. The network model is trained using the constructed ultrasound image training set. After training, an ultrasound image to be detected is input into the network, and it will output the anatomical structures present in the ultrasound image. It can even input the specific location and range of the anatomical structures.

[0193] For example, the detection algorithm can be based on other machine learning object detection methods: first, a set of candidate bounding boxes of interest are obtained in the ultrasound image through methods such as sliding window or selective search; then, features are extracted from each candidate bounding box region, which can be traditional features such as PCA, LDA, HOG, Haar, LBP, SIFT, or features extracted by neural networks; then, the extracted features are matched with the features extracted from the marked regions of interest in the image database, and the anatomical structures contained in the current candidate bounding box region can be determined by classifying them using classifiers such as linear classifiers, SVM, or simple neural networks.

[0194] In some examples, the anatomical section included in the ultrasound image is used to represent the anatomical structure of the tissue site presented in the ultrasound image.

[0195] In some examples, the anatomical structures included in the ultrasound images include lesion structures. For example, Figure 13 below shows a real-time ultrasound image showing calcification in a longitudinal section of the brachial artery. Using methods such as target detection or image segmentation, a transverse section of the brachial artery with similar calcification features was located from historical ultrasound images and used as a target ultrasound image for comparison.

[0196] In some embodiments, the matching rule may include: extracting image features of the current ultrasound image, and matching a historical ultrasound image from historical ultrasound imaging examination items based on the image features as the target ultrasound image for the current ultrasound image. This matching rule may be referred to as Matching Rule 6.

[0197] After extracting image features from the current ultrasound image, a historical ultrasound image can be matched as the target ultrasound image by using a detection algorithm or image segmentation method to locate whether the corresponding image features exist in the historical ultrasound image.

[0198] The detection algorithm can be a deep learning-based object detection method or a other machine learning-based object detection method, as described above, and will not be repeated here.

[0199] Image segmentation methods can be traditional image segmentation algorithms. One of their main ideas is to divide different regions based on the grayscale and color features of the image, so that the properties within the same region are similar, while the properties between different regions are different. These methods include: (1) Threshold-based segmentation methods, the basic idea of ​​which is to calculate the optimal grayscale threshold based on the grayscale features of the image according to a specific criterion function, and divide different regions by comparing the size relationship between the grayscale of all pixels in the image and the threshold, such as the maximum inter-class variance method, the KSW entropy method, the minimum error threshold method, etc.; (2) Region-based image segmentation methods, the basic idea of ​​which is to divide different regions according to the similarity criteria of the image, mainly including the region growing method, the region splitting and merging method, the watershed algorithm, etc.; (3) Graph theory-based image segmentation methods, which associate the image segmentation problem with the minimum segmentation problem of the graph, commonly used methods include GraphCut, GrabCut and Random Walk, etc.; (4) Energy functional-based image segmentation methods, the basic idea of ​​which is to use continuous curves to represent the target contour, define the energy functional with the target contour, and obtain the segmentation contour of the target region by solving the energy functional minimization problem. Common methods include Snake model, level set method, etc.; (5) Image segmentation method based on machine learning. The basic idea is to take the image block of the surrounding neighborhood of each pixel in the image, and perform feature extraction on each image block. The extraction method can be traditional PCA, LDA, Har, SIFT features, texture features, etc., or neural network can be used for feature extraction; then the extracted features are matched with the database, and discriminators such as KNN, SVM, random forest, and neural network are used for classification to determine whether the pixel corresponding to the current image block is the target or the background, thereby achieving the purpose of segmenting the target area.

[0200] Image segmentation methods can also be based on deep learning: First, a database containing a large number of ultrasound images and target region annotations needs to be constructed. Each ultrasound image is labeled with the type and boundary range of the target region, including whether the target structure exists, and if so, its type and specific boundary contour. Then, a deep network model for image segmentation is constructed. Models such as FCN, Unet, SegNet, DeepLab, and Mask RCNN can be used. The model is trained using the constructed ultrasound image database (training set), enabling it to automatically learn and extract features from the image and map these features back to the original image size, resulting in an output image with the same size as the input image. Pixels in this output image are labeled with whether they represent a target region, i.e., the segmentation result. After this training process is complete, inputting an image to be segmented will output an image of the same size as the input image, indicating whether it contains a target structure. If it does, the network will output the type of the target structure and its specific boundary (contour range).

[0201] In some embodiments, when the ultrasound image displayed in the second image display area changes, the extracted image features may also change, and therefore the target ultrasound image may also change. As a result, the target ultrasound image will be updated accordingly, which in turn updates the image displayed in the second image display area.

[0202] The above is an explanation of the matching rules.

[0203] Figure 6 shows an example where the ultrasound imaging examination or the examination item is for vascular tissue. That is, in step 120, a real-time ultrasound scan of the vascular tissue is initiated. The ultrasound image displayed under "Current Examination" on the right side of the figure is the real-time ultrasound image, and the ultrasound image displayed under "Historical Examination" on the left side of the figure is the historical ultrasound image. This historical ultrasound image is the matched target ultrasound image. The matching rule based on the target ultrasound image in Figure 6 can be the matching rule 1 mentioned in this paper. Furthermore, the scanning protocol involved in the matching rule requires scanning seven ultrasound section types in a fixed order. To cooperate with the matching rule, a prompt can be further displayed indicating that the scanning protocol requires scanning seven ultrasound section types in a fixed order. For example, numbers 1 to 7 in the figure indicate the seven ultrasound section types and scanning angles that need to be scanned sequentially.

[0204] Figure 7 shows an example where the ultrasound imaging examination or the examination item is for the heart tissue. That is, in step 120, a real-time ultrasound scan of the heart tissue is initiated. The ultrasound image displayed under "Current Examination" on the right side of the figure is the real-time ultrasound image, and the ultrasound image displayed under "Historical Examination" on the left side of the figure is the historical ultrasound image, which is the matched target ultrasound image. The matching rule based on the target ultrasound image in Figure 7 can be matching rule 4 mentioned in this paper. Below both the historical ultrasound image shown on the left and the real-time ultrasound image shown on the right in Figure 7, the corresponding ultrasound section type "apical four-chamber heart" is displayed.

[0205] Figure 8 shows an example where the ultrasound examination or the examination item for this ultrasound imaging is of the heart tissue. That is, in step 120, a real-time ultrasound scan of the heart tissue is initiated. The ultrasound image displayed under "Current Examination" on the right side of the figure is the real-time ultrasound image, and the ultrasound image displayed under "Historical Examination" on the left side of the figure is the historical ultrasound image, which is the matched target ultrasound image. The matching rule based on the target ultrasound image in Figure 8 can be matching rule 5 mentioned in this paper. In Figure 8, both the historical ultrasound image shown on the left and the real-time ultrasound image shown on the right have their anatomical structure items listed near their respective right sides for user comparison.

[0206] In some embodiments, step 122, performing the follow-up scan process, further includes: calculating the matching degree between the ultrasound image displayed on the second interface and its target ultrasound image; in some embodiments, the matching degree is updated in real time when the ultrasound image displayed in the second image display area changes.

[0207] There are several ways to display the matching degree, such as displaying the matching degree through a circular percentage progress bar on the second interface, or displaying the matching degree through a bar percentage progress bar on the second interface.

[0208] The following explains how to calculate the matching degree.

[0209] The matching degree can be calculated based on the area-based image matching method. This method is mainly divided into two types: (1) Directly aligning pixels based on the grayscale information of the image or image block. The main idea of ​​this method is to directly minimize the difference in image information. It generally includes cross-correlation method (or cross-correlation method), correlation coefficient measurement method, mutual information method, etc.; (2) Image matching based on image domain transformation. It first transforms the image information into a domain and then performs similarity matching on the image in the transformation domain. It includes Fourier transform method, phase correlation method, Walsh transform method, etc.

[0210] Feature-based image matching methods can be used to calculate the matching degree. First, physically significant structural features are extracted from the image, including feature points, feature lines or edges, and salient morphological regions. Then, the extracted feature structures are matched, and the transformation function is estimated to align other image content. Point features typically represent key points or interest points with significant characteristics in the image. Matching of other features can be transformed into point feature-based matching, such as line endpoints, midpoints, discrete sampling forms, and morphological region centers. Therefore, feature matching usually refers to a matching problem based on feature points. Feature points are generally points with certain physical structures in the image content, such as corners, intersections, and center points of closed regions. Common extraction methods include feature point detection based on local pixel grayscale differences (Harris corner detector, FAST-ER) and blob feature detection (SIFT operator, SURF operator). After extracting the image point features, the point features of two ultrasound images can be matched according to the matching strategy, and then the matching degree (matching degree) between the two can be calculated. The matching strategy can be roughly divided into two types of schemes: (1) Direct matching strategy, which extracts the feature matching problem into the correspondence problem of two point sets. The algorithms that can be used are feature matching algorithms based on correspondence matrix estimation and feature matching algorithms based on graph models; (2) Indirect matching strategy, which constructs a descriptor with specific attributes based on the feature points to be matched, thereby assigning each feature point its own feature vector, and then establishing a rough correspondence based on the similarity of the descriptors. The algorithms that can be used are resampling-based methods (MLESAC, PROSAC, USAC, etc.) and nonparametric interpolation or fitting-based methods (ICF algorithm, RKHS algorithm, GMM algorithm, etc.).

[0211] Matching scores can be calculated using deep learning methods. Deep learning methods have superior learning and representation capabilities for deep features, and can directly learn pixel-level matching relationships from image pairs containing the same or similar structural content. Deep learning methods can replace one or more steps in traditional methods, such as SIFT, to establish the initial match, or directly design an end-to-end matching network to detect more accurate and reliable feature point sets from images, learn the main orientation or main scale of each feature point and its more discriminative and matchable feature descriptors, such as LIFT, NCN, LF-Net, and SuperPoint; they can also directly learn more reliable similarity metrics between descriptors.

[0212] The above is an explanation of how to calculate the matching degree between the ultrasound image displayed on the second interface and its target ultrasound image.

[0213] In some embodiments, step 122 of performing the follow-up scan process further includes: displaying the matching degree on the second interface; in some examples, when the matching degree changes, the displayed matching degree on the second interface is also updated in real time.

[0214] In some embodiments, step 122 of the follow-up scan procedure further includes: if the matching degree is less than a first threshold, generating a message prompting the user to move the ultrasound probe. In some embodiments, step 122 of the follow-up scan procedure further includes: if the matching degree is greater than a second threshold, generating a message prompting the user that the matching is successful. In some examples, the first threshold is less than the second threshold. For example, the first threshold is 60%, 70%, or 80%, etc. For example, the second threshold is 85%, 90%, or 95%, etc.

[0215] In some embodiments, step 122, performing the follow-up scan process, further includes: displaying the main identifier structure of the ultrasound image on the target ultrasound image (i.e., the historical ultrasound image) displayed in the first image display area of ​​the second interface, and displaying the main identifier structure of the ultrasound image on the real-time ultrasound image displayed in the second image display area of ​​the second interface. In some examples, the displayed main identifier structure can also be updated in real time when the ultrasound image displayed in the second image display area changes.

[0216] In some examples, the examination site for this ultrasound imaging examination or the ultrasound imaging examination item is vascular tissue, that is, in step 120, a real-time ultrasound scan of vascular tissue is initiated. A first vascular schematic diagram is superimposed on the target ultrasound image displayed in the first image display area of ​​the second interface. The first vascular schematic diagram is used to schematically represent the blood vessels in the target ultrasound image. A second vascular schematic diagram is superimposed on the current ultrasound image displayed on the second interface. The second vascular schematic diagram is used to schematically represent the blood vessels in the ultrasound image. In some examples, one end of the first vascular schematic diagram is connected to the corresponding end of the second vascular schematic diagram by a line, and the other end of the first vascular schematic diagram is connected to the corresponding end of the second vascular schematic diagram by a line, to further facilitate the user's observation of whether the blood vessels in the two ultrasound images are the same. In ultrasound imaging examinations of vascular tissue, such as during follow-up examinations of patients undergoing renal dialysis with a fistula, doctors need to acquire and compare images of blood vessels at the same location as in the previous examination to determine the condition of the vessels. In this case, schematic diagrams of the blood vessels are overlaid on the historical ultrasound image in the first image display area and the current ultrasound image in the second image display area, respectively, to help the user determine whether the current location is the same as in a historical examination (e.g., the previous examination). In some examples, the displayed schematic diagram of the second blood vessel is updated in real time when the ultrasound image displayed in the second image display area changes.

[0217] Figures 9, 10, 11, and 12 show four examples. In these examples, the matching degree is displayed using a circular percentage progress bar (see the circular percentage progress bar in the upper right corner of the figure). For example, features such as the shape, boundaries, and key points of blood vessels are detected and matched, and the matching degree between the two frames of images is comprehensively evaluated. In these four examples, a first schematic diagram of blood vessels from a historical ultrasound image and a second schematic diagram of blood vessels from a real-time ultrasound image are displayed. Specifically, in Figures 9 and 10, the shape of blood vessels is identified by lines, and the lines used to identify the shape of blood vessels in the historical ultrasound image and the lines used to identify the shape of blood vessels in the real-time ultrasound image are connected at both ends by dashed lines to further assist users in observing the differences in the position and direction of blood vessels in the two ultrasound images. If the matching degree between the historical ultrasound image and the real-time ultrasound image is less than a first threshold, If the matching degree between the historical ultrasound image and the real-time ultrasound image is greater than the second threshold, the two lines will have different colors, and a prompt can be displayed on the interface (e.g., prompting the user to move the ultrasound probe). If the matching degree between the historical ultrasound image and the real-time ultrasound image is greater than the second threshold, the two lines will have the same color, and a prompt can be displayed on the interface (e.g., prompting the user to move the ultrasound probe). In Figures 11 and 12, the blood vessels are segmented to obtain the blood vessel region, and then the blood vessel region is filled with color to obtain the blood vessel schematic diagram. If the matching degree between the historical ultrasound image and the real-time ultrasound image is less than the first threshold, the fill color of each blood vessel schematic diagram will be different, and a prompt can be displayed on the interface (e.g., prompting the user to move the ultrasound probe). If the matching degree between the historical ultrasound image and the real-time ultrasound image is greater than the second threshold, the fill color of each blood vessel schematic diagram will be the same, and a prompt can be displayed on the interface (e.g., prompting the user to move the ultrasound probe).

[0218] In some examples, the site of the ultrasound examination or the ultrasound image examination item is heart tissue, lung tissue, liver tissue, thyroid tissue, breast tissue, or musculoskeletal tissue. That is, in step 120, a real-time ultrasound scan of heart tissue, lung tissue, liver tissue, thyroid tissue, breast tissue, or musculoskeletal tissue is initiated. The anatomical structures included in the target ultrasound image displayed in the first image display area of ​​the second interface are marked, and the anatomical structures included in the current ultrasound image displayed on the second interface are also marked. In some examples, the marking of the anatomical structures included in the ultrasound image is updated in real time when the ultrasound image displayed in the second image display area changes.

[0219] Figure 8 above is an example. In Figure 8, the matching degree is displayed by a circular percentage progress bar (see the circular percentage progress bar in the upper right corner of the figure). The anatomical structures included in the historical ultrasound images and the real-time ultrasound images are marked in the figure. This can be one or both of the following: the historical ultrasound images shown on the left and the real-time ultrasound images shown on the right both list the anatomical structures near their respective right sides. The historical ultrasound images shown on the left and the real-time ultrasound images shown on the right both highlight the included anatomical structures within their respective images.

[0220] In some embodiments, step 122 of performing the follow-up examination process further includes: comparing the ultrasound image displayed on the second interface (e.g., the ultrasound image displayed in the second image display area) and its target ultrasound image (e.g., the ultrasound image displayed in the first image display area) to determine the lesion. If the target ultrasound image contains a lesion and the real-time ultrasound image does not contain a corresponding lesion, then a prompt message is generated, such as marking the lesion in the target ultrasound image, or generating a text prompt about the presence of a lesion in the target ultrasound image and the absence of a corresponding lesion in the real-time ultrasound image. And / or, if the real-time ultrasound image includes a lesion, but the target ultrasound image does not contain a corresponding lesion, a prompt message is generated. This could be, for example, marking the lesion in the real-time ultrasound image, or generating a text prompt indicating that a lesion exists in the real-time ultrasound image and the target ultrasound image does not contain a corresponding lesion. And / or, if the target ultrasound image includes a lesion, and the real-time ultrasound image contains a corresponding lesion, a prompt is generated. This could be, for example, marking the lesion in each ultrasound image, or comparing the sizes of the lesions in both images to provide a text prompt indicating whether the lesion has increased in size, decreased in size, or remained unchanged. Figure 13 shows an example where a real-time ultrasound image shows calcification in a longitudinal section of the brachial artery, and a historical ultrasound image also shows calcification in a longitudinal section of the brachial artery. The location and size of the calcified lesions in both images are marked in the images. Specific display methods could include image area highlighting, target boxes, text labels, etc.

[0221] In some embodiments, step 122, performing the follow-up scan procedure, further includes identifying diagnostic structures (e.g., lesion structures) included in the ultrasound images displayed on the second interface (e.g., ultrasound images displayed in the second image display area) and their target ultrasound images (e.g., ultrasound images displayed in the first image display area). Figure 14 is an example where the ventricular septal defect detected in the historical ultrasound image displayed on the left and the real-time ultrasound image displayed on the right are selected and a prompt appears below: Possible ventricular septal defect.

[0222] In some embodiments, step 122, performing the follow-up scan procedure, further includes: acquiring the measurement items and values ​​of the target ultrasound image displayed on the second interface, and the measurement items and values ​​of the ultrasound image displayed on the second interface; comparing and displaying the measurement item values ​​of the ultrasound image and its target ultrasound image on the second interface. Alternatively, in some embodiments, step 122, performing the follow-up scan procedure, further includes: acquiring the measurement items and values ​​of the target ultrasound image displayed on the second interface, and the measurement items and values ​​of the ultrasound image displayed on the second interface; comparing and displaying the measurement item values ​​of the ultrasound image and its target ultrasound image on a third interface.

[0223] In some embodiments, step 122, performing the follow-up scan procedure, further includes: calculating the difference between the values ​​of the same measurement item and displaying the difference. For example, the difference may be displayed on a second or third interface.

[0224] Figure 15 is an example showing the values ​​of ultrasound images and target ultrasound images for measurements of vessel diameter, blood flow, and percutaneous distance; as well as the differences between these measurements.

[0225] In some embodiments, the scanning method 101 further includes the step of: identifying one or more historical ultrasound imaging examination items, identifying a target measurement item; and generating and displaying a statistical analysis chart of the target measurement item based on the identified historical ultrasound imaging examination item values. Understandably, once the current ultrasound imaging examination item is completed, it also becomes a historical ultrasound imaging examination item.

[0226] Figure 16 is an example. The upper interface in Figure 16 is used for users to select one or more historical ultrasound imaging examination items and select a target measurement item. The lower interface in Figure 16 displays a statistical analysis chart of the target measurement item. In the figure, the last 7 historical ultrasound imaging examination items have been selected, and the target measurement item is blood flow. The statistical analysis chart is a bar chart. However, it is understandable that the statistical analysis chart can also be a line chart or a pie chart, etc.

[0227] In some embodiments, the scanning method 101 further includes a step: for each of one or more ultrasound images (referring to the ultrasound image obtained in the current ultrasound imaging examination), the ultrasound image is evaluated using one or more historical ultrasound imaging examinations and the current ultrasound image to obtain evaluation information; the evaluation information includes measurement items and / or lesion-related information. In some examples, the ultrasound image being evaluated is an ultrasound image containing a lesion. Figure 17 shows an example where, after selecting an ultrasound image obtained in the current ultrasound imaging examination, the lesion area is detected and identified in the ultrasound image (see the yellow dashed box in the figure), and the relevant information of the lesion is automatically measured and displayed through charts, text, etc. At the same time, the previous statistical analysis results can be applied here, combined with the current measurement situation for comprehensive analysis, to evaluate the status of the current ultrasound image and provide prompts to the doctor.

[0228] Referring to Figure 18, some embodiments disclose an ultrasound image scanning method 101, which includes the following steps:

[0229] Step 130: Receive a start command to initiate a real-time ultrasound scan of the tissue; for example, step 130 transmits ultrasound waves to the tissue and receives ultrasound echoes to generate real-time ultrasound images.

[0230] In some embodiments, after receiving the start command in step 130, the scanning protocol associated with the current ultrasound imaging examination item is also started, and the scanning protocol includes multiple ultrasound section types to be scanned.

[0231] Step 132: Perform one of several scanning procedures. The multiple scanning procedures may include the routine scanning procedure described in Step 112 and the follow-up scanning procedure described in Step 122.

[0232] Therefore, in some embodiments, step 132 can perform a routine scanning procedure, as detailed in the description of step 112, which will not be repeated here. In some embodiments, step 132 can perform a follow-up scanning procedure, as detailed in the description of step 122, which will not be repeated here.

[0233] By default, step 132 can perform either the regular scan procedure or the follow-up scan procedure. In some examples, it is possible to switch to the follow-up scan procedure while performing the regular scan procedure.

[0234] For example, after initiating an ultrasound imaging examination, you can first perform the routine scan procedure, and then switch to the follow-up scan procedure while performing the routine scan procedure. As another example, after initiating an ultrasound imaging examination, you can first perform the follow-up scan procedure, and then switch to the routine scan procedure while performing the follow-up scan procedure.

[0235] In one example, during a routine scan, a real-time ultrasound image is displayed in the image display area of ​​the first interface, and the system can respond to scan commands to perform corresponding operations on the real-time ultrasound image. During a follow-up scan, a historical target ultrasound image and a real-time ultrasound image are displayed in the first and second image display areas of the second interface, respectively, and the system can respond to scan commands to perform corresponding operations on the real-time ultrasound image. In some examples, when a second interface is displayed, if a first instruction is received, the user jumps from the second interface to the first interface, where the real-time ultrasound image is displayed but the target ultrasound image is not—that is, the user jumps from performing a regular scanning procedure or switches to performing a follow-up scan procedure. Specifically, when the first interface is displayed: the real-time ultrasound image is displayed in the image display area of ​​the first interface; if a freeze instruction is received, the ultrasound image in the image display area is frozen; if an annotation instruction and / or measurement instruction is received, the frozen ultrasound image is annotated and / or measured to obtain annotation information and / or measurement item values; if a save instruction is received, the frozen ultrasound image is saved; if a thaw instruction is received, the frozen ultrasound image is thawed, and the real-time ultrasound scan continues. In some examples, when the first interface is displayed, if a second instruction is received, the user is redirected from the first interface to the second interface—that is, from performing a follow-up scan procedure to performing a regular scan procedure. Specifically, when the second interface is displayed: the first image display area and the second image display area on the second interface respectively display historical target ultrasound images and real-time ultrasound images, and can respond to scan instructions to perform corresponding operations on the real-time displayed ultrasound images. For example, if a freeze instruction is received, the ultrasound images in the second image display area are frozen; if an annotation instruction is received, annotation information is added to the frozen ultrasound images; if a measurement instruction is received, the frozen ultrasound images are measured to obtain measurement values; if a save instruction is received, the frozen ultrasound images are saved; and if a thaw instruction is received, the frozen ultrasound images are thawed, and real-time ultrasound scanning continues.

[0236] In addition, the interface can have menu controls, such as a "Regular" menu control and a "Follow-up" menu control. Clicking the "Regular" menu control will enter the regular scanning process, and clicking the "Follow-up" menu control will enter the follow-up scanning process. Alternatively, a menu control can be displayed on the interface. Clicking this menu control will switch from the regular scanning process to the follow-up scanning process, and clicking the menu again will switch from the follow-up scanning process back to the regular scanning process.

[0237] Referring to Figure 19, some embodiments disclose an ultrasound image scanning method 101, which includes the following steps:

[0238] Step 140: Link a historical ultrasound imaging examination to the current ultrasound imaging examination.

[0239] For example, step 140 automatically binds the previous historical ultrasound imaging examination to the current ultrasound imaging examination.

[0240] For example, in step 140, the examinee's personal information is obtained, and based on the examinee's personal information, the examinee's historical ultrasound imaging examinations are retrieved; a selection interface is generated, which includes the retrieved historical ultrasound imaging examinations of the examinee; a selection operation for any historical ultrasound imaging examination is received, and the selected historical ultrasound imaging examination is bound to the current ultrasound imaging examination.

[0241] In one example, when a user uses ultrasound imaging device 01 for an examination, they enter the examinee's personal information. Ultrasound imaging device 01 then sends a retrieval request to server 02. Upon receiving the retrieval request, server 02 responds by searching based on the examinee's personal information, finding all of the examinee's historical ultrasound imaging examinations, and returning abbreviated information of the examinee's historical ultrasound imaging examinations to ultrasound imaging device 01. The user can manually select the desired historical ultrasound imaging examinations and download the data from server 02 to ultrasound imaging device 01.

[0242] In some embodiments, a single ultrasound imaging examination includes one ultrasound imaging examination item or multiple ultrasound imaging examination items with a fixed examination sequence.

[0243] Step 141: Based on the ultrasound imaging items included in the bound historical ultrasound imaging examinations (also referred to as historical ultrasound imaging items), recommend ultrasound imaging items for the current ultrasound imaging examination. For example, if the bound historical ultrasound imaging examination includes one ultrasound imaging item, then that ultrasound imaging item is recommended as the ultrasound imaging item for the current ultrasound imaging examination. If the bound historical ultrasound imaging examination includes multiple ultrasound imaging items with a fixed examination order, then these ultrasound imaging items and their examination order are recommended as the ultrasound imaging items for the current ultrasound imaging examination. Correspondingly, ultrasound imaging items of the same category in the historical ultrasound imaging examination and the current ultrasound imaging examination can be considered as corresponding, related, or bound.

[0244] In some examples, the system can also receive user confirmation instructions to confirm the above recommendations; in other examples, it can also receive editing instructions to edit the above recommendations, including deleting recommended ultrasound imaging examinations or adding other ultrasound imaging examinations, as well as editing the examination order of these ultrasound imaging examinations.

[0245] Therefore, in some examples, a historical ultrasound image is selected from one or more historical ultrasound images and bound to the current ultrasound image. For example, the current ultrasound image is bound to the previous historical ultrasound image.

[0246] In some examples, a historical ultrasound examination is identified from one or more historical ultrasound examinations and linked to the current ultrasound examination. For example, the current ultrasound examination is linked to the previous historical ultrasound examination. The historical ultrasound examinations include one or more historical ultrasound examination items of different item categories; the current ultrasound examination includes one or more ultrasound examination items of different item categories; each ultrasound examination item in the current ultrasound examination is linked to a historical ultrasound examination item of the same item category in the linked historical ultrasound examination.

[0247] In some examples, ultrasound imaging items that are included in the same category as the historical ultrasound imaging items are included in the current ultrasound imaging examination; and when the bound historical ultrasound imaging examination includes multiple historical ultrasound imaging items of different categories, the examination order of the ultrasound imaging items included in the current ultrasound imaging examination is determined to be the same for both based on the examination order of the multiple historical ultrasound imaging items of different categories.

[0248] In some examples, ultrasound imaging items that are included in the same category as the historical ultrasound imaging items are recommended as the ultrasound imaging items included in the current ultrasound imaging examination; and when the bound historical ultrasound imaging examination includes multiple historical ultrasound imaging items of different categories, the examination order of the ultrasound imaging items included in the current ultrasound imaging examination is recommended to be the same as the examination order of the multiple historical ultrasound imaging items of different categories; receiving editing instructions for the current ultrasound imaging examination, editing the recommended ultrasound imaging items, or editing the recommended ultrasound imaging items and their examination order.

[0249] The binding mentioned in other embodiments of this article can also be found in the above description, and will not be repeated here.

[0250] One scenario could be as follows: During a single ultrasound examination, a user might use multiple ultrasound imaging procedures to analyze the patient's condition. The user can adjust the order of these procedures as needed, creating a multi-procedure follow-up examination with a fixed sequence (also known as a multi-functional follow-up examination). For this type of follow-up examination, the ultrasound imaging procedures included in the linked historical ultrasound examinations can be recommended or matched to the current examination, including the order in which these procedures are performed. For example, the linked historical ultrasound examinations might involve sequential B-mode ultrasound imaging procedures. The system recommends or matches ultrasound imaging items in three modes: color Doppler, PW mode, and shear wave elastography. Therefore, the current ultrasound imaging examination should sequentially perform these three modes: B mode, color Doppler, PW mode, and shear wave elastography. After completing each ultrasound imaging item, the system automatically jumps to the next. After recommending these items, the system can be edited, including adding or deleting ultrasound imaging items and adjusting their order.

[0251] Step 142: Scan each ultrasound imaging examination item included in the current ultrasound imaging examination. For details, please refer to the description of steps 130 and 132 above. In the follow-up scan process for the current ultrasound imaging examination item, the historical ultrasound imaging examination item to which the target ultrasound image belongs is the historical ultrasound imaging examination item mentioned above that corresponds to, is associated with, or is bound to the current ultrasound imaging examination item.

[0252] This document describes various exemplary embodiments with reference to them. However, those skilled in the art will recognize that changes and modifications can be made to the exemplary embodiments without departing from the scope of this document. For example, various operational steps and components for performing operational steps can be implemented in different ways depending on the specific application or considering any number of cost functions associated with the operation of the system (e.g., one or more steps can be deleted, modified, or combined with other steps).

[0253] In the above embodiments, implementation can be achieved, in whole or in part, by software, hardware, firmware, or any combination thereof. Furthermore, as those skilled in the art will understand, the principles herein can be reflected in a computer program product on a computer-readable storage medium pre-loaded with computer-readable program code. Any tangible, non-transitory computer-readable storage medium may be used, including magnetic storage devices (hard disks, floppy disks, etc.), optical storage devices (CD-ROMs, DVDs, Blu-ray discs, etc.), flash memory, and / or the like. These computer program instructions can be loaded onto a general-purpose computer, special-purpose computer, or other programmable data processing apparatus to form a machine, such that instructions executing on the computer or other programmable data processing apparatus can generate means for implementing a specified function. These computer program instructions can also be stored in a computer-readable storage medium that can instruct the computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to operate in a particular manner, such that instructions stored in the computer-readable storage medium can form an article of manufacture including means for implementing the specified function. The computer program instructions can also be loaded onto a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to perform a series of operational steps on the computer or other programmable apparatus to produce a computer-implemented process, such that instructions executing on the computer or other programmable apparatus can provide steps for implementing the specified function.

[0254] While the principles herein have been illustrated in various embodiments, numerous modifications to the structure, arrangement, proportions, elements, materials, and components, particularly suited to specific environmental and operational requirements, may be used without departing from the principles and scope of this disclosure. These modifications and other alterations or alterations will be included within the scope of this document.

[0255] The foregoing specific descriptions have been described with reference to various embodiments. However, those skilled in the art will recognize that various modifications and changes can be made without departing from the scope of this disclosure. Therefore, considerations for this disclosure are to be illustrative rather than restrictive, and all such modifications are to be included within its scope. Similarly, advantages, other advantages, and solutions to problems with respect to various embodiments have been described above. However, benefits, advantages, solutions to problems, and any elements that produce these, or make them more explicit, should not be construed as critical, essential, or necessary. The term “comprising” and any other variations thereof as used herein are non-exclusive inclusion, meaning that a process, method, article, or apparatus that includes a list of elements includes not only those elements but also other elements not expressly listed or not part of the process, method, system, article, or apparatus. Furthermore, the term “coupled” and any other variations thereof as used herein refer to physical connections, electrical connections, magnetic connections, optical connections, communication connections, functional connections, and / or any other connections.

[0256] Those skilled in the art will recognize that many changes can be made to the details of the above embodiments without departing from the basic principles of the invention. Therefore, the scope of the invention should be determined only by the claims.

Claims

1. A method of scanning an ultrasound image, characterized by, include: Upon receiving a start command, initiate a real-time ultrasound scan of tissue containing blood vessels: emit ultrasound waves to the tissue and receive ultrasound echoes to generate real-time ultrasound images; Perform one of several scanning procedures, including a routine scanning procedure or a follow-up scan procedure; wherein: The routine scanning process includes: displaying the real-time ultrasound image in the image display area of ​​the first interface; freezing the ultrasound image in the image display area if a freeze command is received; annotating and / or measuring the frozen ultrasound image to obtain annotation information and / or measurement values ​​if an annotation command and / or measurement command are received; saving the frozen ultrasound image if a save command is received; and unfreezing the frozen ultrasound image and continuing the real-time ultrasound scan if an unfreeze command is received. The follow-up ultrasound scan process includes: displaying a historical target ultrasound image in the first image display area of ​​the second interface, with a first vascular diagram superimposed on the target ultrasound image, the first vascular diagram being used to schematically represent the blood vessels in the target ultrasound image; displaying the real-time ultrasound image in the second image display area of ​​the second interface, with a second vascular diagram superimposed on the real-time ultrasound image, the second vascular diagram being used to schematically represent the blood vessels in the real-time ultrasound image; calculating the matching degree between the target ultrasound image and the real-time ultrasound image, and displaying the matching degree on the second interface; updating the displayed first vascular diagram and the matching degree in real time when the ultrasound image displayed in the second image display area changes; wherein, the historical target ultrasound image is one of multiple historical ultrasound images included in a historical ultrasound imaging examination item, and is a historical ultrasound image matched from the multiple historical ultrasound images included in the historical ultrasound imaging examination item based on matching rules; the historical ultrasound imaging examination item and the current ultrasound imaging examination item are ultrasound imaging examination items of the same category and belong to the same examinee; If a freeze command is received, the ultrasound image in the second image display area is frozen; if an annotation command and / or a measurement command is received, the frozen ultrasound image is annotated and / or measured to obtain annotation information and / or measurement values; if a save command is received, the frozen ultrasound image is saved; if a thaw command is received, the frozen ultrasound image is thawed, and the real-time ultrasound scan continues.

2. The method of scanning of ultrasonic imagery of claim 1, wherein, The matching rules include any one of the following: The historical ultrasound image examination items and the current ultrasound image examination items are associated with the same scanning protocol, and both include multiple ultrasound section types to be scanned being scanned sequentially in a fixed scanning order; according to the fixed scanning order, a historical ultrasound image with the same order as the ultrasound section type to be scanned in the historical ultrasound image examination items is selected as the target ultrasound image of the current ultrasound image. According to the saving order of multiple historical ultrasound images in the historical ultrasound image examination item, select one historical ultrasound image from the historical ultrasound image examination item that is in the same saving order as the current ultrasound image as the target ultrasound image. Based on the annotation information and / or measurement items of the current ultrasound image, a historical ultrasound image with the same annotation information and / or measurement items is selected from the historical ultrasound image examination items as the target ultrasound image of the current ultrasound image. Obtain the ultrasound section type of the current ultrasound image, and select a historical ultrasound image with the same ultrasound section type from the historical ultrasound image examination items as the target ultrasound image of the current ultrasound image. Obtain the anatomical structure items included in the current ultrasound image, and select a historical ultrasound image with the same anatomical structure items from the historical ultrasound image examination items as the target ultrasound image of the current ultrasound image; Extract the image features of the current ultrasound image, and based on the image features, match a historical ultrasound image from the historical ultrasound image examination items as the target ultrasound image of the current ultrasound image.

3. The method of scanning of ultrasonic imagery of claim 1, wherein, The process of performing the follow-up examination further includes: acquiring the measurement items and values ​​of the target ultrasound image displayed in the first image display area, and the measurement items and values ​​of the ultrasound image displayed in the second image display area; and comparing and displaying the values ​​of the measurement items of the target ultrasound image and the values ​​of the measurement items of the ultrasound image.

4. The method of scanning of ultrasonic imagery of claim 3, wherein, The process of performing the follow-up examination also includes: calculating the difference between the values ​​of the same measurement item and displaying the difference.

5. The method of scanning of ultrasonic imagery of claim 1, wherein, The process of performing the follow-up examination also includes: if the matching degree is less than a first threshold, generating information prompting the user to move the ultrasound probe.

6. A method of scanning an ultrasound image, characterized by, include: Upon receiving the start command, initiate a real-time ultrasound scan of the tissue: emit ultrasound waves to the tissue and receive ultrasound echoes to generate real-time ultrasound images; The system executes one of several scanning procedures, including a routine scanning procedure or a follow-up scanning procedure. The routine scanning procedure includes: displaying the real-time ultrasound image on a first interface; freezing the ultrasound image on the first interface if a freeze command is received; annotating and / or measuring the frozen ultrasound image to obtain annotation information and / or measurement values ​​if an annotation command is received; saving the frozen ultrasound image if a save command is received; and thawing the frozen ultrasound image and continuing the real-time ultrasound scan if a thaw command is received. The process of performing the follow-up ultrasound examination includes: matching a historical ultrasound image from multiple historical ultrasound images included in a historical ultrasound examination item bound to the current ultrasound examination based on matching rules, and using it as the target ultrasound image for the current ultrasound examination; wherein the historical ultrasound examination item and the current ultrasound examination item are ultrasound examination items of the same category and belong to the same examinee. The second interface displays the real-time ultrasound image and its target ultrasound image for comparison. If a freeze command is received, the ultrasound image on the second interface is frozen; if an annotation command and / or a measurement command are received, the frozen ultrasound image is annotated and / or measured to obtain annotation information and / or measurement item values; if a save command is received, the frozen ultrasound image is saved; if a thaw command is received, the frozen ultrasound image is thawed, and the real-time ultrasound scan continues.

7. The method of scanning ultrasound imagery of claim 6, wherein, The process of matching a historical ultrasound image from multiple historical ultrasound images included in a historical ultrasound examination item bound to the current ultrasound examination based on matching rules, and using it as the target ultrasound image for the current ultrasound image, includes any one of the following: The historical ultrasound image examination items and the current ultrasound image examination items are associated with the same scanning protocol, and both include multiple ultrasound section types to be scanned being scanned sequentially in a fixed scanning order; according to the fixed scanning order, a historical ultrasound image with the same order as the ultrasound section type to be scanned in the historical ultrasound image examination items is selected as the target ultrasound image of the current ultrasound image. According to the saving order of multiple historical ultrasound images in the historical ultrasound image examination item, select one historical ultrasound image from the historical ultrasound image examination item that is in the same saving order as the current ultrasound image as the target ultrasound image. Based on the annotation information and / or measurement items of the current ultrasound image, select a historical ultrasound image with the same annotation information and / or measurement items from the historical ultrasound image examination items as the target ultrasound image of the current ultrasound image. Obtain the ultrasound section type of the current ultrasound image, and select a historical ultrasound image with the same ultrasound section type from the historical ultrasound image examination items as the target ultrasound image of the current ultrasound image. Obtain the anatomical structure items included in the current ultrasound image, and select a historical ultrasound image with the same anatomical structure items from the historical ultrasound image examination items as the target ultrasound image of the current ultrasound image; Extract the image features of the current ultrasound image, and based on the image features, match a historical ultrasound image from the historical ultrasound image examination items as the target ultrasound image of the current ultrasound image.

8. The ultrasound imaging method as described in claim 6, characterized in that, The process of performing the follow-up examination also includes: Calculate the matching degree between the ultrasound image displayed on the second interface and its target ultrasound image; The matching degree is displayed on the second interface; and / or, if the matching degree is less than a first threshold, a message prompting the user to move the ultrasound probe is generated; and / or, if the matching degree is greater than a second threshold, a message prompting the user that the matching is successful is generated.

9. The method of scanning ultrasound imagery of claim 6, wherein, The tissue is vascular tissue, and the follow-up examination process further includes: overlaying a first vascular schematic diagram onto the target ultrasound image displayed on the second interface, the first vascular schematic diagram being used to schematically represent the blood vessels in the target ultrasound image; overlaying a second vascular schematic diagram onto the current ultrasound image displayed on the second interface, the second vascular schematic diagram being used to schematically represent the blood vessels in the ultrasound image; or, The tissue is heart tissue, lung tissue, liver tissue, thyroid tissue, breast tissue, or musculoskeletal tissue. The execution of the follow-up examination process further includes: marking the anatomical structures included in the target ultrasound image displayed on the second interface; and marking the anatomical structures included in the current ultrasound image displayed on the second interface.

10. The method of scanning of ultrasonic imagery of claim 6, wherein, The process of performing the follow-up ultrasound scan further includes: obtaining the measurement items and values ​​of the target ultrasound image displayed on the second interface, and the measurement items and values ​​of the ultrasound image displayed on the second interface; comparing and displaying the values ​​of the measurement items of the target ultrasound image and the values ​​of the measurement items of the ultrasound image on the second interface or the third interface.

11. The method of scanning of ultrasonic imagery of claim 10, wherein, The process of performing the follow-up examination further includes: calculating the difference between the values ​​of the same measurement item, displaying the difference, and displaying the difference on the second interface or the third interface.

12. A method for scanning ultrasound images, characterized in that, include: Upon receiving the start command, initiate a real-time ultrasound scan of the tissue: emit ultrasound waves to the tissue and receive ultrasound echoes to generate real-time ultrasound images; Based on matching rules, a historical ultrasound image is matched from multiple historical ultrasound images included in a historical ultrasound image examination item bound to the current ultrasound image examination, and used as the target ultrasound image for the current ultrasound image; wherein, the historical ultrasound image examination item and the current ultrasound image examination item are ultrasound image examination items of the same item category and belong to the same examinee. The second interface displays the real-time ultrasound image and its target ultrasound image for comparison. If a freeze command is received, the ultrasound image on the second interface is frozen; if an annotation command and / or a measurement command are received, the frozen ultrasound image is annotated and / or measured to obtain annotation information and / or measurement item values; if a save command is received, the frozen ultrasound image is saved; if a thaw command is received, the frozen ultrasound image is thawed, and the real-time ultrasound scan continues.

13. The ultrasound imaging method as described in claim 12, characterized in that, The process of matching a historical ultrasound image from multiple historical ultrasound images included in a historical ultrasound examination item bound to the current ultrasound examination based on matching rules, and using it as the target ultrasound image for the current ultrasound image, includes any one of the following: The historical ultrasound image examination items and the current ultrasound image examination items are associated with the same scanning protocol, and both include multiple ultrasound section types to be scanned being scanned sequentially in a fixed scanning order; according to the fixed scanning order, a historical ultrasound image with the same order as the ultrasound section type to be scanned in the historical ultrasound image examination items is selected as the target ultrasound image of the current ultrasound image. According to the saving order of multiple historical ultrasound images in the historical ultrasound image examination item, select one historical ultrasound image from the historical ultrasound image examination item that is in the same saving order as the current ultrasound image as the target ultrasound image. Based on the annotation information and / or measurement items of the current ultrasound image, a historical ultrasound image with the same annotation information and / or measurement items is selected from the historical ultrasound image examination items as the target ultrasound image of the current ultrasound image. Obtain the ultrasound section type of the current ultrasound image, and select a historical ultrasound image with the same ultrasound section type from the historical ultrasound image examination items as the target ultrasound image of the current ultrasound image. Obtain the anatomical structure items included in the current ultrasound image, and select a historical ultrasound image with the same anatomical structure items from the historical ultrasound image examination items as the target ultrasound image of the current ultrasound image; Extract the image features of the current ultrasound image, and based on the image features, match a historical ultrasound image from the historical ultrasound image examination items as the target ultrasound image of the current ultrasound image.

14. The ultrasound image scanning method as described in claim 12, characterized in that, Also includes: Calculate the matching degree between the ultrasound image displayed on the second interface and its target ultrasound image; The matching degree is displayed on the second interface; And / or, if the matching degree is less than a first threshold, a message prompting the user to move the ultrasound probe is generated; and / or, if the matching degree is greater than a second threshold, a message prompting the user that the matching is successful is generated.

15. The ultrasound imaging method as described in claim 14, characterized in that, Displaying the matching degree on the second interface includes: displaying the matching degree on the second interface via a circular percentage progress bar, or displaying the matching degree on the second interface via a bar percentage progress bar.

16. The ultrasound imaging method as described in claim 12, characterized in that, The tissue is vascular tissue, and the scanning method further includes: superimposing a first vascular schematic diagram onto the target ultrasound image displayed on the second interface, the first vascular schematic diagram being used to schematically represent the blood vessels in the target ultrasound image; superimposing a second vascular schematic diagram onto the current ultrasound image displayed on the second interface, the second vascular schematic diagram being used to schematically represent the blood vessels in the ultrasound image; Alternatively, the tissue may be heart tissue, lung tissue, liver tissue, thyroid tissue, breast tissue, or musculoskeletal tissue, and the scanning method may further include: marking the anatomical structures included in the target ultrasound image displayed on the second interface; and marking the anatomical structures included in the current ultrasound image displayed on the second interface.

17. The ultrasound imaging method as described in claim 16, characterized in that, The comparison and display of the real-time ultrasound image and its target ultrasound image on the second interface includes: the second interface includes a first image display area and a second image display area arranged horizontally; the target ultrasound image and the real-time ultrasound image are displayed in the first image display area and the second image display area, respectively; The scanning method further includes: connecting one end of the first blood vessel diagram to the corresponding end of the second blood vessel diagram with a line, and connecting the other end of the first blood vessel diagram to the corresponding end of the second blood vessel diagram with a line.

18. The ultrasound imaging method as described in claim 12, characterized in that, Also includes: Obtain the measurement items and values ​​of the target ultrasound image displayed on the second interface, as well as the measurement items and values ​​of the ultrasound image displayed on the second interface; compare and display the values ​​of the measurement items of the target ultrasound image and the values ​​of the measurement items of the ultrasound image on the second interface or the third interface.

19. The ultrasound imaging method as described in claim 18, characterized in that, Also includes: Calculate the difference between the values ​​of the same measurement item, and display the difference on the second interface or the third interface.

20. The ultrasound image scanning method as described in claim 12, characterized in that, Also includes: The ultrasound image and its target ultrasound image displayed on the second interface are compared to determine the lesion. If the target ultrasound image contains a lesion and the ultrasound image does not contain a corresponding lesion, a prompt message is generated.

21. The ultrasound imaging method as described in claim 12, characterized in that, Also includes: When the second interface is displayed, if a first instruction is received, the user jumps from the second interface to the first interface, where the real-time ultrasound image is displayed but the target ultrasound image is not. When the first interface is displayed, if a freeze instruction is received, the ultrasound image in the image display area is frozen. If an annotation instruction and / or a measurement instruction are received, the frozen ultrasound image is annotated and / or measured to obtain annotation information and / or measurement values. If a save instruction is received, the frozen ultrasound image is saved. If a thaw instruction is received, the frozen ultrasound image is thawed, and the real-time ultrasound scan continues. If the first interface is displayed and a second instruction is received, the user is redirected from the first interface to the second interface, and the real-time ultrasound image and its target ultrasound image are compared and displayed on the second interface.

22. The ultrasound imaging method as described in claim 12, characterized in that, Also includes: One or more historical ultrasound imaging examination items are identified, and a target measurement item is determined; based on the value of the target measurement item in the identified historical ultrasound imaging examination items, a statistical analysis chart of the target measurement item is generated and displayed.

23. The ultrasound imaging method as described in claim 12, characterized in that, Also includes: For each of one or more ultrasound images, evaluation information is obtained by evaluating the ultrasound image using one or more historical ultrasound imaging examination items and the ultrasound image itself; the evaluation information includes measurement items and / or information related to lesions.

24. The ultrasound imaging method as described in claim 23, characterized in that, The ultrasound images being evaluated are those containing lesions.

25. The ultrasound imaging method as described in claim 12, characterized in that, Also includes: Select one historical ultrasound imaging examination item from one or more historical ultrasound imaging examination items and bind it to the current ultrasound imaging examination item; or, bind the current ultrasound imaging examination item to the previous historical ultrasound imaging examination item and bind it to the current ultrasound imaging examination item.

26. The ultrasound imaging method as described in claim 12, further comprising: A historical ultrasound image is identified from one or more historical ultrasound images and bound to the current ultrasound image, or the current ultrasound image is bound to the previous historical ultrasound image. The historical ultrasound imaging examination includes one or more historical ultrasound imaging examination items of different categories; the current ultrasound imaging examination includes one or more ultrasound imaging examination items of different categories. Each ultrasound imaging item in the current ultrasound imaging examination is bound to a historical ultrasound imaging item of the same category in the bound historical ultrasound imaging examination.

27. The ultrasound imaging method as described in claim 26, further comprising: The ultrasound images included in the bound historical ultrasound images that have the same item category as the historical ultrasound images are included as the ultrasound images included in the current ultrasound images; and if the bound historical ultrasound images include multiple historical ultrasound images with different item categories, the inspection order of the ultrasound images included in the current ultrasound images is determined according to the inspection order of the multiple historical ultrasound images with different item categories so that the two are the same. Alternatively, ultrasound imaging items included in the bound historical ultrasound imaging examination that have the same item category as the historical ultrasound imaging examination items may be recommended as ultrasound imaging examination items included in the current ultrasound imaging examination; and if the bound historical ultrasound imaging examination includes multiple historical ultrasound imaging examination items with different item categories, the examination order of the ultrasound imaging examination items included in the current ultrasound imaging examination may be recommended to be the same as the examination order of the historical ultrasound imaging examination items with multiple different item categories; receive editing instructions for the current ultrasound imaging examination, edit the recommended ultrasound imaging examination items, or edit the recommended ultrasound imaging examination items and their examination order.

28. A method for scanning ultrasound images, characterized in that, include: Upon receiving the start command, initiate a real-time ultrasound scan of the tissue: emit ultrasound waves to the tissue and receive ultrasound echoes to generate real-time ultrasound images; The first image display area and the second image display area of ​​the second interface respectively display the historical target ultrasound image and the real-time ultrasound image; wherein, the historical target ultrasound image is one of multiple historical ultrasound images included in a historical ultrasound imaging examination item, and is a historical ultrasound image matched from the multiple historical ultrasound images included in the historical ultrasound imaging examination item based on matching rules; the historical ultrasound imaging examination item and the current ultrasound imaging examination item are ultrasound imaging examination items of the same category and belong to the same examinee. If a freeze command is received, the ultrasound image in the second image display area is frozen; if an annotation command and / or a measurement command is received, the frozen ultrasound image is annotated and / or measured to obtain annotation information and / or measurement values; if a save command is received, the frozen ultrasound image is saved; if a thaw command is received, the frozen ultrasound image is thawed, and the real-time ultrasound scan continues.

29. The scanning method as described in claim 28, characterized in that, The matching rules include any one of the following: The historical ultrasound image examination items and the current ultrasound image examination items are associated with the same scanning protocol, and both include multiple ultrasound section types to be scanned being scanned sequentially in a fixed scanning order; according to the fixed scanning order, a historical ultrasound image with the same order as the ultrasound section type to be scanned in the historical ultrasound image examination items is selected as the target ultrasound image of the current ultrasound image. According to the saving order of multiple historical ultrasound images in the historical ultrasound image examination item, select one historical ultrasound image from the historical ultrasound image examination item that is in the same saving order as the current ultrasound image as the target ultrasound image. Based on the annotation information and / or measurement items of the current ultrasound image, a historical ultrasound image with the same annotation information and / or measurement items is selected from the historical ultrasound image examination items as the target ultrasound image of the current ultrasound image. Obtain the ultrasound section type of the current ultrasound image, and select a historical ultrasound image with the same ultrasound section type from the historical ultrasound image examination items as the target ultrasound image of the current ultrasound image. Obtain the anatomical structure items included in the current ultrasound image, and select a historical ultrasound image with the same anatomical structure items from the historical ultrasound image examination items as the target ultrasound image of the current ultrasound image; Extract the image features of the current ultrasound image, and based on the image features, match a historical ultrasound image from the historical ultrasound image examination items as the target ultrasound image of the current ultrasound image.

30. The ultrasound imaging method as described in claim 28, characterized in that, Also includes: Calculate the matching degree between the ultrasound image displayed on the second interface and its target ultrasound image; The matching degree is displayed on the second interface; And / or, if the matching degree is less than a first threshold, a message prompting the user to move the ultrasound probe is generated; and / or, if the matching degree is greater than a second threshold, a message prompting the user that the matching is successful is generated.

31. The ultrasound imaging method as described in claim 30, characterized in that, When the ultrasound image displayed in the second image display area changes, the displayed matching degree is updated in real time.

32. The ultrasound imaging method as described in claim 28, characterized in that, The tissue is vascular tissue, and the scanning method further includes: superimposing a first vascular schematic diagram onto the target ultrasound image displayed on the second interface, the first vascular schematic diagram being used to schematically represent the blood vessels in the target ultrasound image; superimposing a second vascular schematic diagram onto the current ultrasound image displayed on the second interface, the second vascular schematic diagram being used to schematically represent the blood vessels in the ultrasound image; Alternatively, the tissue may be heart tissue, lung tissue, liver tissue, thyroid tissue, breast tissue, or musculoskeletal tissue, and the scanning method may further include: marking the anatomical structures included in the target ultrasound image displayed on the second interface; and marking the anatomical structures included in the current ultrasound image displayed on the second interface.

33. The ultrasound imaging method as described in claim 32, characterized in that, When the ultrasound image displayed in the second image display area changes, the displayed schematic diagram of the second blood vessel is updated in real time; or, when the ultrasound image displayed in the second image display area changes, the labels of the anatomical structures included in the ultrasound image are updated in real time.

34. The ultrasound imaging method as described in claim 28, characterized in that, Also includes: Obtain the measurement items and values ​​of the target ultrasound image displayed on the second interface, as well as the measurement items and values ​​of the ultrasound image displayed on the second interface; compare and display the values ​​of the measurement items of the target ultrasound image and the values ​​of the measurement items of the ultrasound image on the second interface or the third interface.

35. The ultrasound imaging method as described in claim 34, characterized in that, Also includes: Calculate the difference between the values ​​of the same measurement item, and display the difference on the second interface or the third interface.

36. The ultrasound imaging method as described in claim 28, characterized in that, Also includes: When the second interface is displayed, if a first instruction is received, the system jumps from the second interface to the first interface, where the real-time ultrasound image is displayed but the target ultrasound image is not. When the first interface is displayed, if a freeze instruction is received, the displayed ultrasound image is frozen. If an annotation instruction and / or a measurement instruction are received, the frozen ultrasound image is annotated and / or measured to obtain annotation information and / or measurement values. If a save instruction is received, the frozen ultrasound image is saved. If a thaw instruction is received, the frozen ultrasound image is thawed, and the real-time ultrasound scan continues. If a second instruction is received while the first interface is displayed, the user will switch from the first interface to the second interface.

37. A device interconnection system for an ultrasound imaging department, characterized in that, include: A server, and one or more ultrasound imaging devices, the ultrasound imaging devices being communicatively connected to the server; The ultrasound imaging device is used to perform ultrasound imaging on the examinee to obtain image data; the ultrasound imaging device is used to upload the image data to the server so that the server stores the image data based on a dedicated database, wherein the dedicated database can classify and store the image data based on the examinee's personal information, the category of ultrasound imaging examination items, and the examination time. The ultrasound imaging device sends a retrieval request containing the personal information of the subject to the server, so that the server returns retrieval results; the ultrasound imaging device determines the image data to be downloaded based on the retrieval results, and downloads the corresponding image data from the server; When the ultrasound imaging device performs an ultrasound image scan on the subject, the ultrasound imaging device assists in performing an ultrasound image scan on the same subject based on the downloaded image data to execute a follow-up scan process; the follow-up scan process includes: comparing and displaying historical ultrasound images in the image data with real-time ultrasound images in the ultrasound image scan and performing comparative analysis.

38. The device interconnection system as described in claim 37, characterized in that, The step of comparing and analyzing historical ultrasound images in the image data with real-time ultrasound images in ultrasound image scanning includes: matching a historical ultrasound image from the downloaded image data based on matching rules, using it as the target ultrasound image for the real-time ultrasound image in ultrasound image scanning, calculating the matching degree between the target ultrasound image and the real-time ultrasound image; comparing and displaying the real-time ultrasound image and its target ultrasound image, and displaying the matching degree.

39. The device interconnection system as described in claim 37, characterized in that, The ultrasound imaging device includes a memory and a processor, the memory storing a program, and the processor executing the program stored in the memory to implement the method as described in any one of claims 1 to 36.

40. An ultrasonic imaging device, characterized in that, The device includes an ultrasound probe, a transceiver control circuit, a processor, and a display. The ultrasound probe is used to emit ultrasound waves into tissue and to receive echo signals from the ultrasound waves. The transceiver control circuit is used to control the ultrasound probe to emit ultrasound waves and receive echo signals from the ultrasound waves. The processor is used to process the echo signals to generate ultrasound images. The display is used to display the ultrasound images. The processor is also configured to perform the method as described in any one of claims 1 to 36.

Images