PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To acquire the direction of blood flow in the three-dimensional space at the center of an ultrasonic probe or in a coordinate system around a range gate (RG) of a living body.SOLUTION: Doppler signals corresponding to received beams F1-F4 by the two-dimensional ultrasonic probe 1 from the range gate RG are detected by a multi-beam Doppler signal processing part 7, and the vector norm N, the velocity (the blood flow velocity) of a subject 4 such as blood flow, the azimuthal angle &theta and the elevation angle &phiv are acquired as the three-dimensional fluid vector data indicating the three-dimensional flow direction and the blood flow rate of the subject 4 such as blood flow by a three-dimensional angle correction velocity vectoring part 8 based on the detected Doppler signals. Then, three-dimensional acoustic system audio output [y] is generated by a velocity vector conversion part 9 based on the three-dimensional fluid vector data [N, &theta, and &phiv] to sound a three-dimensional acoustic system 10.COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT【課題】超音波プローブの中心又は生体のレンジゲート(RG)を中心とする座標系において血流の方向が三次元空間で取得すること。【解決手段】二次元の超音波プローブ1によりレンジゲートRGから受波された各受信ビームF1~F4に対応するドプラ信号をマルチビームドプラ信号処理部7により検出し、このドプラ信号に基づいて血流等の被検体4の三次元の流れ方向及び血流等の被検体4の血流量を表す三次元の流体ベクトルデータとして血流等の被検体4の速度(血流速度)であるベクトルノルムN、方位角θ、仰角φを三次元角度補正速度ベクトル化部8により取得し、この三次元の流体ベクトルデータ[N、θ、φ]に基づいて速度ベクトル変換処理部9により三次元音響システム用オーディオ出力[y]を発生し、三次元音響システム10を鳴動する。【選択図】 図1
