JP2002165795A - Method and device for setting region of interest, and ultrasonic imaging device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To achieve labor savings in the setting of a region of interest for a plurality of image frames. SOLUTION: The positional change of an image is determined between one image frame and the other image frames by speckle pattern matching based on the sum of absolute values of differences among pixel values (214). The region of interest, which is set on one frame, is changed positionally in accordance with the positional change of the image and set on the other image frames (216).

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for setting a region of interest and an ultrasonic imaging apparatus, and more particularly, to a method and apparatus for setting a region of interest for a plurality of image frames obtained by ultrasonic imaging, and an apparatus therefor. The present invention relates to an ultrasonic imaging apparatus including such a region of interest setting device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In ultrasonic imaging, a plurality of image frames in which a tomographic image of the same part of an object is captured for a predetermined time are obtained, and a region of interest (ROI: Region of interest) of the image is obtained.
The change over time of the pixel value in the “Interest” is plotted (plot), and a so-called time intensity curve (TIC: Time Intensity) is plotted.
y Curve) is performed.

[0003] By performing this while injecting the contrast agent, a TI representing the time change of the concentration of the contrast agent in the ROI is obtained.
C can be obtained. The TIC of the contrast agent is used for determining the presence or absence of a lesion or the like.

[0004]

In the case where tissue motion or the like is present in the imaging region, the position of the ROI changes for each image frame. Therefore, in order to obtain a correct TIC, a plurality of image frames are required. It is necessary to correctly set the position of the ROI individually. Conventionally, a plurality of photographed image frames are called out one by one, and the user manually sets the ROI, thereby requiring a large amount of labor.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to realize a labor-saving method and apparatus for setting a region of interest and an ultrasonic imaging apparatus having such a region-of-interest setting device.

[0006]

Prior to describing means for solving the problems, a speckle pattern matching method used by the present invention is described.
matching) will be described. Speckle pattern matching is a technique for determining the change in the position of an image between two image frames.

[0007] Regarding speckle pattern matching, see Reference L. N. Bohs, G .; E. FIG. Trahe
y, "A Novel Method for Ang
le Independent Ultrasonic
Imaging of Blood Flow an
d Tissue Motion, "IEEE Tr
ans. Biomed. Eng. Vol. 38,
pp. 280-286.

In general, as shown in FIG. 15, an appropriate place in a reference image frame X is defined as a kernel area 1 having a matrix size of kX1, and the speckle of this area is defined. A best match (best match) region 2 having a speckle pattern that best matches the pattern is specified in the image frame Y. Then, a motion vector (motion vector) D from the kernel area 1 to the best match area 2 is obtained, and this is set as the amount and direction of the change in the position of the image between the image frames X and Y.

As the best match region 2, a region that minimizes εm, n given by the following equation is selected.

[0010]

(Equation 1)

Xi, j: pixel value of image frame X Yi + m, j + n: pixel value of image frame Y The above equation selects an area having the same matrix size as kernel area 1 in image frame Y, and selects a corresponding pixel value. Means that the absolute value of the difference from the kernel area 1 is obtained for each of them and all of them are added. Note that m and n mean that the region is translated in the image frame Y. (1)
The calculation by the equation is performed by SAD (sum-absolute-
Also referred to as “difference”.

M and n giving the minimum εm and n represent two mutually perpendicular components of the motion vector D. This also indicates a coordinate change accompanying a change in the position of the image between the image frames X and Y.

Speckle pattern matching using SAD is a speckle pattern correlation (spec) using two-dimensional cross-correlation of two image frames.
There is an advantage that almost the same result can be obtained with a much smaller amount of calculation than kle pattern correlation.

(1) According to one aspect of the present invention for solving the above problems, the present invention relates to a plurality of ultrasonic image frames.
Speckle pattern based on the sum of absolute values of pixel value differences
By matching, a position change of an image is obtained between one image frame and another image frame, and a region of interest set on the one image frame is changed in position according to the position change to thereby obtain another image. This is a method of setting a region of interest, which is set on a frame.

(2) According to another aspect of the present invention for solving the above-described problems, a plurality of image frames obtained by ultrasonic imaging are subjected to one speckle pattern matching based on the sum of absolute values of pixel values. Position change calculating means for obtaining a change in the position of an image between an image frame and another image frame; and changing the position of a region of interest set on the one image frame in accordance with the position change to the other image. A region of interest setting means for setting the region of interest on a frame.

(3) According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a photographing means for photographing a target tomographic image over a plurality of image frames by ultrasonic waves, and a difference in pixel value between the plurality of image frames. Position change calculating means for calculating a position change of an image between one image frame and another image frame by speckle pattern matching based on the sum of absolute values of A region-of-interest setting unit that changes a position of the region in accordance with the position change and sets the region on the another image frame.

(4) According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a photographing means for photographing a tomographic image of an object over a plurality of image frames by ultrasonic waves, and a difference in pixel value between the plurality of image frames. Position change calculating means for calculating a position change of an image between one image frame and another image frame by speckle pattern matching based on the sum of absolute values of A region-of-interest setting unit for changing the position of the region in accordance with the position change and setting the region on the other image frame; and a pixel value transition plotting unit for plotting a transition of a pixel value of the region of interest through the plurality of image frames. And an ultrasonic imaging apparatus comprising:

In the invention according to each of the above aspects, a position change of an image between one image frame and another image frame is obtained by speckle pattern matching based on the sum of absolute values of pixel values. (1) Since the region of interest set on one image frame is changed in position according to the change in the image position and set on another image frame, there is no need to manually set the position of the ROI for each of a plurality of image frames. .

[0019]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. Note that the present invention is not limited to the embodiment. FIG. 1 shows a block diagram of the ultrasonic imaging apparatus. This device is an example of an embodiment of the present invention. The configuration of the present apparatus shows an example of an embodiment relating to the apparatus of the present invention. By the operation of the present apparatus, an example of the embodiment relating to the apparatus of the present invention is shown.

As shown in FIG. 1, the present apparatus has an ultrasonic probe 2. The ultrasound probe 2 has an array of a plurality of ultrasound transducers (not shown). Each ultrasonic transducer is made of a piezoelectric material such as PZT (lead zirconate titanate (Zr)) ceramics. The ultrasonic probe 2 is used in contact with the object 4 by a user.

The ultrasonic probe 2 is connected to a transmitting / receiving unit 6. The transmission / reception unit 6 supplies a drive signal to the ultrasonic probe 2 to transmit ultrasonic waves. The transmitting / receiving unit 6 also receives the echo signal received by the ultrasonic probe 2.

FIG. 2 shows a block diagram of the transmitting / receiving section 6. As shown in FIG. As shown in the figure, the transmission / reception unit 6 transmits a signal at a transmission timing (tim).
ing) generating unit 602. The transmission timing generation unit 602 periodically generates a transmission timing signal to transmit a transmission beamformer (beamf).
(ormer) 604. The cycle of the transmission timing signal is controlled by the control unit 18 described later.

The transmission beamformer 604 performs beamforming of transmission, and generates a beamforming signal for forming an ultrasonic beam in a predetermined direction based on a transmission timing signal. The beam forming signal is composed of a plurality of drive signals to which a time difference corresponding to the azimuth is given. Beam forming is controlled by the control unit 18 described later. The transmission beamformer 604 inputs a transmission beamforming signal to the transmission / reception switching unit 606.

The transmission / reception switching unit 606 inputs a beam forming signal to the ultrasonic transducer array. In the ultrasonic transducer array, a plurality of ultrasonic transducers constituting a transmission aperture each generate an ultrasonic wave having a phase difference corresponding to a time difference of a drive signal. By the wavefront synthesis of the ultrasonic waves, an ultrasonic beam is formed along a sound ray in a predetermined direction.

The transmission / reception switching unit 606 is connected to a reception beam former 610. Transmission / reception switching unit 60
6 is a receiving beamformer 6 which receives a plurality of echo signals received by the receiving aperture in the ultrasonic transducer array.
Enter 10 The reception beamformer 610 performs beamforming of a reception wave corresponding to a sound ray of a transmission wave, adjusts the phase by giving a time difference to a plurality of reception echoes, and then adds them to obtain sound in a predetermined direction. Form the echo reception signal along the line. The receiving beamforming is controlled by the control unit 18 described later.

The transmission of the ultrasonic beam is repeatedly performed at predetermined time intervals by a transmission timing signal generated by the transmission timing generation unit 602. At the same time, the direction of the sound ray is changed by a predetermined amount by the transmission beam former 604 and the reception beam former 610.
Thereby, the inside of the object 4 is sequentially scanned by the sound ray. The transmitting / receiving unit 6 having such a configuration is, for example, as shown in FIG.
The scanning as shown in FIG. That is, a fan-shaped two-dimensional area 206 is scanned in the θ direction by a sound ray 202 extending in the z direction from the radiation point 200, and a so-called sector scan (secto scan) is performed.
r scan).

When the transmitting and receiving apertures are formed by using a part of the ultrasonic transducer array, the apertures are sequentially moved along the array to perform scanning as shown in FIG. 4, for example. Can be.
That is, the sound ray 202 emitted from the radiation point 200 in the z direction
Is moved in parallel along the linear trajectory 204, thereby scanning the rectangular two-dimensional area 206 in the x-direction, thereby performing a so-called linear scan.

The ultrasonic transducer array is
A so-called convex array (convex array) formed along an arc extending in the ultrasonic wave transmission direction.
In the case of y), the radiation point 2 of the sound ray 202 is, for example, as shown in FIG.
It is needless to say that so-called convex scanning can be performed by moving 00 along the arc-shaped trajectory 204 and scanning the fan-shaped two-dimensional area 206 in the θ direction.

The transmitting / receiving section 6 is connected to a B-mode (mode) processing section 10 and a Doppler processing section 12. The echo reception signal for each sound ray output from the transmission / reception unit 6 is input to the B-mode processing unit 10 and the Doppler processing unit 12.

The B-mode processing section 10 forms B-mode image data. As shown in FIG. 6, the B-mode processing unit 10 includes a logarithmic amplification unit 102 and an envelope detection unit 104.

The B-mode processing unit 10 logarithmically amplifies the echo reception signal in the logarithmic amplification unit 102, performs envelope detection in the envelope detection unit 104, and indicates a signal representing the intensity of the echo at each reflection point on the sound ray. That is, the A scope (sco
pe) signal is obtained, and B-mode image data is formed using the instantaneous amplitude of the A scope signal as a luminance value.

The Doppler processing section 12 forms Doppler image data. The Doppler image data includes flow velocity data, dispersion data, and power data described below.

As shown in FIG. 7, the Doppler processing unit 12 includes a quadrature detection unit 120, an MTI filter (mov
ing target indication fill
ter) 122, an autocorrelation operation unit 124, an average flow velocity operation unit 126, a dispersion operation unit 128, and a power operation unit 130.

The Doppler processing unit 12 performs quadrature detection on the echo reception signal with the quadrature detection unit 120 and performs MTI processing with the MTI filter 122 to obtain the Doppler shift of the echo signal. Further, an autocorrelation operation unit 124 performs an autocorrelation operation on the output signal of the MTI filter 122,
The average flow velocity calculation unit 126 calculates the average flow velocity V from the autocorrelation calculation result, and the variance calculation unit 128 calculates the flow velocity variance T from the autocorrelation calculation result.
At 30, the power PW of the Doppler signal from the autocorrelation calculation
Ask for. Hereinafter, the average flow velocity is simply referred to as a flow velocity. Also,
The dispersion of the flow velocity is simply called dispersion, and the power of the Doppler signal is also simply called power.

The Doppler processing unit 12 obtains, for each sound ray, data representing the flow velocity V, variance T, and power PW of the echo source moving within the object 4. These data show the flow velocity, variance, and power of each point (pixel) on the sound ray. The flow velocity is obtained as a component in the sound ray direction. Further, a direction approaching the ultrasonic probe 2 and a direction away from the ultrasonic probe 2 are distinguished.

The B-mode processing unit 10 and the Doppler processing unit 12 are connected to an image processing unit 14. Image processing unit 1
Reference numeral 4 configures a B-mode image and a Doppler image based on data input from the B-mode processing unit 10 and the Doppler processing unit 12, respectively.

As shown in FIG. 8, the image processing section 14 has a central processing unit (CPU: Cent).
ral Processing Unit) 140. A main memory (main memory) 144, an external memory 146, and a control unit interface (inter) are provided to the CPU 140 via a bus 142.
face) 148, input data memory (data me
memory) 152, Digital Scan Converter (DSC)
er) 154, an image memory 156, and a display memory 158.

The external memory 146 stores a program to be executed by the CPU 140. External memory 146
In addition, various data used by the CPU 140 when executing the program are also stored.

The CPU 140 performs a predetermined image processing by loading a program from the external memory 146 to the main memory 144 and executing the program. The program stored in the external memory 146 is
Let U140 implement the information display function described below. CPU1
The control unit 40 transmits and receives control signals to and from the control unit 18 through the control unit interface 148 during the execution of the program.

The B-mode image data and the Doppler image data input for each sound ray from the B-mode processing unit 10 and the Doppler processing unit 12 are stored in the input data memory 152, respectively. The data in the input data memory 152 is scan-converted by the DSC 154 and stored in the image memory 156. The data in the image memory 156 is output to the display unit 16 through the display memory 158.

The display unit 16 is connected to the image processing unit 14. The display unit 16 receives image data from the image processing unit 14 and displays an image based on the image data. Note that the display unit 16 is configured by a graphic display using a CRT capable of displaying a color image.

The transmission / reception unit 6, the B-mode processing unit 10,
Doppler processing unit 12, image processing unit 14, and display unit 16
Is connected to the control unit 18. The control unit 18 supplies a control signal to each of these units to control the operation. Various notification signals are input to the control unit 18 from each controlled unit. Under the control of the control unit 18, the B mode operation and the Doppler mode operation are performed.

The portion composed of the ultrasonic probe 2, the transmitting / receiving section 6, the B-mode processing section 10, the Doppler processing section 12, the image processing section 14, and the control section 18 is an example of the embodiment of the photographing means in the present invention.

An operation unit 20 is connected to the control unit 18. The operation unit 20 is operated by a user, and the control unit 18
, An appropriate command or information is input. The operation unit 20 includes, for example, a keyboard (keyboard) and a pointing device (pointing device).
e) and other operating tools.

The photographing operation of the present apparatus will be described. The user touches the ultrasonic probe 2 to a desired portion of the object 4 and operates the operation unit 20 to perform, for example, a shooting operation using both the B mode and the Doppler mode. Thus, under the control of the control unit 18, the B mode shooting and the Doppler mode shooting are performed in a time sharing manner. That is, for example, a mixed scan of the B mode and the Doppler mode is performed at a rate of performing the B mode scan once every time the Doppler mode scan is performed a predetermined number of times.

In the B mode, the transmitting / receiving unit 6 scans the inside of the object 4 in the order of sound rays through the ultrasonic probe 2 and receives the echo one by one. The B-mode processing unit 10
The echo reception signal input from the transmission / reception unit 6 is logarithmically amplified by the logarithmic amplification unit 102, envelope-detected by the envelope detection unit 104 to obtain an A-scope signal, and based on the signal, forms B-mode image data for each sound ray. .

The image processing section 14 stores the B-mode image data for each sound ray input from the B-mode processing section 10 in the input data memory 152. As a result, a sound ray data space for B-mode image data is formed in the input data memory 152.

In the Doppler mode, the transmission / reception unit 6 scans the inside of the object 4 in the order of sound rays through the ultrasonic probe 2 and receives the echo one by one. At this time, transmission of ultrasonic waves and reception of echoes are performed a plurality of times per sound ray.

The Doppler processing unit 12 performs quadrature detection on the echo reception signal with the quadrature detection unit 120, performs MTI processing with the MTI filter 122, obtains autocorrelation with the autocorrelation calculation unit 124, and calculates a flow rate calculation unit 126 from the autocorrelation result. , The variance T is obtained by the variance operation unit 128, and the power PW is obtained by the power operation unit 130. These calculated values are the speed of the echo source,
The data represents variance and power for each sound ray and for each pixel.

The image processing unit 14 stores the Doppler image data for each sound ray and each pixel input from the Doppler processing unit 12 in the input data memory 152. As a result, a sound ray data space for each Doppler image data is formed in the input data memory 152.

CPU 140 has an input data memory 152
B mode image data and each Doppler image data
In SC 154, each of them is scan-converted and written in the image memory 156.

At this time, the Doppler image data is flow velocity distribution image data combining the flow velocity V and the variance T, and the power PW
Are written as power Doppler image data using the variance T or power Doppler image data with the variance T combined with the power PW and the variance T, respectively.

The CPU 140 writes the B-mode image data and each Doppler image data in separate areas. An image based on the B-mode image data and each Doppler image data is displayed on the display unit 16.

The B-mode image shows a tomographic image of the body tissue on the sound ray scanning plane. Among the color Doppler images, the flow velocity distribution image is an image showing a two-dimensional distribution of the flow velocity of the echo source. In this image, the display color is changed in accordance with the direction of flow, the brightness of the display color is changed in accordance with the flow velocity, and the color mixing amount of a predetermined color is increased in accordance with the variance to change the purity of the display color.

The power Doppler image is an image showing a two-dimensional distribution of the power of the Doppler signal. This image indicates the location of the moving echo source. The brightness of the display color of the image corresponds to the power. When the dispersion is combined with the dispersion, the color mixture amount of a predetermined color is increased according to the dispersion to change the purity of the display color.

The variance image is an image showing a two-dimensional distribution of variance values. This image also shows the location of the moving echo source. The brightness of the display color corresponds to the magnitude of the variance. To display these images on the display unit 16, the display memory 1
By combining the B-mode image with the B-mode image at 58 and displaying the combined image on the display unit 16, it is possible to observe a color Doppler image in which the positional relationship with the body tissue is clear.

FIG. 9 schematically shows an example of a screen displaying such an image. As shown in FIG.
Shows a B-mode image 16 taken by a sector scan.
2 is displayed. On the B-mode image 162, a color Doppler image 164 is displayed. However, the color Doppler image 164 is represented by the boundary of the display area.

In the B mode image 162, the region of interest (RO)
I: Region of Interest) 168, and measurement cursors 172, 1
74 is displayed. The ROI 168 can be freely drawn by a user using a pointing device.
Also, measurement cursors (cursors) 172, 174
Can be freely moved by a user through a pointing device.

In the margin of the screen 160, the B-mode image 16
Gray scale (gray sc)
ale) 176 and user comments (user c)
178) is displayed.

Next, a time intensity curve (TIC: Time Intensity) is
Curve) will be described. When obtaining the TIC, ultrasound imaging is performed with the contrast agent injected into the subject 4.

The photographing is performed continuously for a predetermined time, and all the image frames photographed during that time are stored in the external memory 146. The external memory 146 storing all the image frames continuously shot is a cine memory (cine meme).
(mory). Hereinafter, the external memory 146 is also referred to as a cine memory.

FIG. 10 shows an operation flow (f) for obtaining the TIC.
low) figure. As shown in FIG.
At (ep) 110, a kernel area setting is performed. The kernel area corresponds to the kernel area 1 described in the above-mentioned document.

The kernel area is manually set by a user using a pointing device. That is, for example, on the screen shown in FIG. 11 where the first image frame of the cine memory 146 is displayed on the display unit 16, the B-mode image 1
A kernel area 19 of an appropriate size is provided at an appropriate place in 62.
Set 0. The kernel area 190 is preferably set at a position where the tissue is as uniform as possible.

Next, in step 112, the ROI is set. The ROI setting is for the user to specify on the screen the location for obtaining the TIC. For example, an ROI 192 as shown in FIG. 11 is manually set using a pointing device. The number of ROIs 192 is not limited to one, but may be an appropriate number. Hereinafter, an example in which the number is one will be described.

Next, in step 114, ROI tracking is performed. ROI tracking allows the ROI 192 to automatically track changes in tissue position between image frames. ROI
The tracking is performed by the image processing function of the image processing unit 14.

The image processing section 14 is an example of an embodiment of the region of interest setting apparatus of the present invention. The configuration of the present apparatus shows an example of an embodiment relating to the apparatus of the present invention. By the operation of the present apparatus, an example of the embodiment relating to the apparatus of the present invention is shown.

FIG. 12 shows a detailed flowchart of ROI tracking. As shown in the figure, in step 210, a frame number p is initialized. As a result, the first image frame for ROI tracking is specified. Frame number p
Is, for example, 2.

Next, at step 212, the frame number p
Are read from the cine memory 146.
Since p = 2, the second image frame in the cine memory 146 is read.

Next, at step 214, a motion vector D is calculated. The calculation of the motion vector D is to obtain m and n that minimize the expression (1), that is, the value of SAD. In this case, in equation (1), Xi, j is the pixel value of kernel area 190, and Yi, j
i + m and j + n are pixel values of the second image frame. The CPU 140 that calculates the motion vector D in step 214 is an example of an embodiment of the position change calculating means in the present invention.

Next, in step 216, the position of ROIp is calculated. ROIp is the ROI in the image frame of frame number p. The position of ROIp is obtained by adding m and n to the two-dimensional coordinates of ROI 192 set in step 112, respectively. The CPU 140 that performs the ROIp position calculation in step 216 is an example of the embodiment of the region of interest setting means in the present invention.

Next, at step 218, it is determined whether or not the processing has been completed for all frames. If not, 1 is added to the value of p at step 220, and the process returns to step 212. Thus, in step 212, the third image frame is read.

Next, in step 214, the motion vector D is calculated for the third image frame.
The calculation of the motion vector D is a calculation for obtaining m and n that minimize the value of the SAD. In this case, in Expression (1), Xi, j is the pixel value of the kernel area 190, and Yi + m, j + n is the pixel value of the third image frame.

Next, in step 216, the ROI position calculation in the third image frame is performed. The ROI position calculation is obtained by adding m and n to the two-dimensional coordinates of the ROI 192, respectively.

Next, in step 218, it is determined whether or not the processing has been completed for all the frames. If not, 1 is added to the value of p in step 220, and the process returns to step 212.

In the same manner, the calculation of the motion vector D calculation for the remaining image frames and the ROI position calculation based on the motion vector D are sequentially performed in the same manner. As a result, as conceptually shown in FIG.
The ROI 192 following the change in the tissue position can be automatically obtained for all the image frames 1 to q.

Next, in step 116 of the flowchart shown in FIG. 10, the TIC is created. The TIC is created by using the pixel value of the ROI 192 obtained for each image frame.
This is performed by creating a graph with the frame number as the horizontal axis. Note that the pixel value is ROI 192
Is used.

Thus, for example, a TIC as shown in FIG. 14 is created. The CPU 140 that creates the TIC in step 116 is an example of an embodiment of a pixel value transition plot (plot) unit according to the present invention.

The TIC indicates the state of the flow of the contrast agent into the ROI 192. In a malignant tumor such as a cancer, the blood flow becomes more active than in a normal tissue, and accordingly, the inflow of the contrast agent increases. Therefore, the presence or absence of a lesion in ROI 192 can be known based on the TIC displayed on display unit 16.

[0079]

As described above in detail, according to the present invention, it is possible to realize a labor-saving method and apparatus for setting a region of interest and an ultrasonic imaging apparatus having such a region-of-interest setting device. it can.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a device according to an example of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a transmission / reception unit in the device shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of sound ray scanning by the device shown in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of sound ray scanning by the device shown in FIG.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of sound ray scanning by the device shown in FIG.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram of a B-mode processing unit in the device shown in FIG.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram of a part of a Doppler processing unit in the apparatus shown in FIG.

8 is a block diagram of an image processing unit in the device shown in FIG.

9 is a schematic diagram showing an example of a screen of a display unit in the device shown in FIG.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart of an operation of the apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 11 is a schematic diagram showing an example of a screen of a display unit in the device shown in FIG.

FIG. 12 is a detailed flowchart of a part of the flowchart shown in FIG. 10;

FIG. 13 is a conceptual diagram of ROI tracking.

FIG. 14 is a graph of a TIC.

FIG. 15 is a conceptual diagram of speckle pattern matching.

[Explanation of symbols]

 2 Ultrasonic probe 4 Target 6 Transmitter / receiver 10 B-mode processor 12 Doppler processor 14 Image processor 16 Display unit 18 Control unit 20 Operation unit 140 CPU 142 Bus 144 Main memory 146 External memory 148 Control unit interface 152 Input data memory 154 DSC 156 Image memory 158 Display memory 190 Kernel area 192 ROI

Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification FI FI Theme Court II (Reference) G06T 7/20 G06T 7/20 B (72) Inventor Fatma Nazan Demyli Villecchi 127 Gee Yoko, Asahigaoka 4-chome, Hino City, Tokyo F-term in Kawa Medical System Co., Ltd. (reference) 4C301 DD01 DD04 DD06 EE13 EE14 JC11 JC14 KK30 LL03 5B057 AA09 BA05 DA07 DB02 DB09 DC32 5L096 AA02 CA04 FA34 FA69 GA08 HA04

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. An image position change between one image frame and another image frame by speckle pattern matching based on a sum of absolute values of pixel values for a plurality of image frames obtained by ultrasonic imaging. And setting the area of interest set on the one image frame on the other image frame by changing the position in accordance with the position change. 2. With respect to a plurality of image frames obtained by ultrasonic imaging, position change of an image between one image frame and another image frame by speckle pattern matching based on a sum of absolute values of pixel values. And a region-of-interest setting unit that changes the position of the region of interest set on the one image frame in accordance with the position change and sets the position on the other image frame. A region of interest setting device characterized by the above-mentioned. 3. A photographing means for photographing a tomographic image of a target over a plurality of image frames by ultrasonic waves, and a speckle pattern matching based on a sum of absolute values of pixel values for the plurality of image frames.
Position change calculating means for calculating a position change of an image between one image frame and another image frame; and changing the position of a region of interest set on the one image frame in accordance with the position change, to change the position of the other region. An ultrasonic imaging apparatus, comprising: a region of interest setting unit configured to set on an image frame. 4. A photographing means for photographing a tomographic image of an object over a plurality of image frames by ultrasonic waves, and for the plurality of image frames, speckle pattern matching based on a sum of absolute values of pixel values is performed.
Position change calculating means for calculating a position change of an image between one image frame and another image frame; and changing the position of a region of interest set on the one image frame in accordance with the position change, to change the position of the other region. An ultrasonic imaging apparatus comprising: a region-of-interest setting unit configured to be set on an image frame; and a pixel value transition plotting unit configured to plot a transition of a pixel value of the region of interest through the plurality of image frames.