ULTRASOUND IMAGE PROCESSING METHOD AND ULTRASOUND DIAGNOSTIC DEVICE USING ULTRASOUND IMAGE PROCESSING METHOD

摘要

An ultrasound image processing method including: calculating motion amounts of pixel regions in one frame receive signal, based on receive signal units corresponding to identical pixel regions included in at least two frame receive signals; calculating cumulative motion amounts, each corresponding to a target pixel region in the one frame receive signal, by cumulating motion amounts corresponding to pixel regions in the one frame receive signal located substantially along a direction of transmission of the ultrasound beam from a pixel region located at an upstream end of an ultrasound beam to the target pixel region; calculating enhancement amounts for receive signal units corresponding to the pixel regions included in the one frame receive signal, the enhancement amounts being based on the motion amounts and the cumulative motion amounts; and enhancing the receive signal units based on the enhancement amounts.

主权项

1. An ultrasound image processing method for correcting at least one of a plurality of frame receive signals generated based on ultrasound scans performed sequentially, an ultrasound probe transmitting an ultrasound beam towards a range to be scanned in a subject and receiving reflected ultrasound in each of the ultrasound scans, the ultrasound image processing method comprising:
acquiring at least two of the frame receive signals; calculating motion amounts, each indicating motion of an object in the subject and corresponding to a respective one of a plurality of pixel regions in one of the two frame receive signals, each of the pixel regions indicating a region of at least one pixel, the calculating of each of the motion amounts being performed based on receive signal units corresponding to identical pixel regions included in the at least two of the frame receive signals; calculating cumulative motion amounts, each corresponding to a target pixel region in the one frame receive signal, by cumulating motion amounts corresponding to reference pixel regions in the one frame receive signal that are located substantially along a direction of transmission of the ultrasound beam from a pixel region located at an upstream end of the ultrasound beam to the target pixel region, each of the pixel regions included in the one frame receive signal being specified as the target pixel region; calculating enhancement amounts for receive signal units, each of the receive signal units corresponding to a respective one of the pixel regions included in the one frame receive signal, the enhancement amounts being based on the motion amounts and the cumulative motion amounts; and enhancing the receive signal units based on the enhancement amounts.