Patent ID: 8211021

Claim:
An ultrasound image processing apparatus comprising: first and second connecting portions to which first and second ultrasound probes are removably connected, the probes including first and second ultrasound transducers driven by first and second different ultrasound scanning systems, respectively; a transmission portion configured to transmit ultrasound from the first and second ultrasound transducers which are connected to the first and second connecting portions by an electronic scanning system as the first ultrasound scanning system and by a mechanical scanning system as the second ultrasound scanning system, respectively; an ultrasound image signal processing portion configured to perform signal processing for generating first and second ultrasound images corresponding to the first and second ultrasound scanning systems from ultrasound signals respectively received by the first and second ultrasound transducers; a control portion configured to perform control of the transmission portion and the ultrasound image signal processing portion and a freeze switch configured to display a still image; wherein the control portion is configured to control the transmission portion to alternately perform transmission of the ultrasound by the first and second ultrasound transducers such that a period of transmitting and receiving the ultrasound by the first ultrasound transducer and a period of transmitting and receiving the ultrasound by the second ultrasound transducer do not overlap, and thereby the ultrasound image signal processing portion generates the first and second ultrasound images as moving images, and the control portion is configured to stop the transmission of the ultrasound from one of the first and second ultrasound transducers in response to an operation of the freeze switch, and to perform the control such that the ultrasound image by the one of the first and second ultrasound transducers is displayed as a still image which corresponds to the stop of the transmission of the ultrasound and such that the ultrasound image by the other of the first and second ultrasound transducers is displayed as a moving image by transmitting and receiving the ultrasound only from the other of the first and second ultrasound transducers in an entire period of transmitting and receiving the ultrasound.