Patent ID: 6263093
Filing Date: 2001-07-17
Classification: A61B,G01S,G06T

Abstract:
A three-dimensional ultrasound image processing apparatus, which comprises:three-dimensional data acquiring means which forms scanning planes successively by ultrasound beam scanning to acquire three-dimensional data for a three-dimensional data acquiring region, each three-dimensional data being specified by two dimensional data represented by first and second values defining each scanning plane and relative positional information of the scanning plane with respect to a predetermined scanning plane;two-dimensional coordinate transformation means for transforming the first and second values for the respective scanning plane into two-dimensional data represented by two-dimensional coordinates (x, y);two-dimensional data storage means for sequentially storing the two-dimensional data for the respective scanning plane with one scanning plane as a unit, in which the two dimensional data for the respective scanning plane is written into an address specified by the two-dimensional coordinates (x, y) determined by the two-dimensional coordinate transformation means;three-dimensional coordinate transformation means for transforming the three-dimensional data defined by the two-dimensional data represented by the two-dimensional coordinates (x, y) and the relative positional information of the respective scanning plane into three-dimensional data represented by three-dimensional coordinates (X, Y, Z), in which the two-dimensional coordinate x is made to correspond to the three-dimensional coordinate X;three-dimensional data storage means for storing the three-dimensional data for each of the scanning planes which is defined by the two-dimensional data represented by the two-dimensional coordinates (x, y) outputted from the two-dimensional data storage means and the relative positional information of each scanning plane, in which the three-dimensional data for each scanning plane is written into an address specified by the three-dimensional coordinates (X, Y, Z) determined by three-dimensional coordinate transformation means; andthree-dimensional ultrasound image producing means for producing a three-dimensional ultrasound image based on the three-dimensional data outputted from the three-dimensional data storage means.