Ultrasonic probe and ultrasonic thickness measuring device

Abstract

To provide an ultrasonic thickness measurement device which has the excellent usability by reducing the size of an ultrasonic probe and simplifying a processing circuit by reducing an information amount of tomography image data.SOLUTION: An ultrasonic probe 60 comprises an ultrasonic transmission element and a plurality of ultrasonic elements having reception elements. The plurality of ultrasonic elements are arranged in a plurality of rows. An ultrasonic thickness measurement device 100 comprises: an ultrasonic probe 60 which has an ultrasonic transmission element and a plurality of ultrasonic elements 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 having reception elements; and a control unit 33 which obtains the thickness of a target body tissue from the tomography image data of the body of a subject obtained on the basis of a reception signal received by each reception element of each ultrasonic element 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8. The control unit 33 obtains the thickness from the tomographic image based on each reception signal received by 8 or less ultrasonic elements 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to an ultrasonic probe for obtaining ultrasonic tomographic images from the body of a subject, and an ultrasonic thickness measuring device for determining the thickness of a target body tissue from the obtained ultrasonic tomographic images. [Background technology]

[0002] 2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there is known a measuring device that uses ultrasound to measure the thickness of muscle layers and fat layers in the body (Patent Document 1). [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Publication No. 61-220634 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] Conventional ultrasonic probes, including the measurement device of Patent Document 1, have a plurality of ultrasonic elements arranged in a linear row. However, such a linear arrangement makes the ultrasonic probe larger. Therefore, restrictions may be imposed when the ultrasonic probe is attached to other devices for use. [Means for solving the problem]

[0005] In order to solve the above problems, the ultrasonic probe of the present invention is an ultrasonic probe including a plurality of ultrasonic elements having ultrasonic transmitting elements and receiving elements, and is characterized in that the plurality of ultrasonic elements are arranged in a plurality of rows.

[0006] In addition, the ultrasonic thickness measuring device of the present invention includes an ultrasonic probe in which a plurality of ultrasonic elements, each having an ultrasonic transmitting element and a receiving element, are arranged in multiple rows, and a control unit that determines the thickness of a target body tissue from tomographic image data of the subject's body obtained based on reception signals sequentially received by each of the receiving elements of each of the ultrasonic elements, and the control unit determines the thickness from the tomographic image data based on each of the reception signals sequentially received by eight or less of the ultrasonic elements. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0007] [Figure 1] 1 is a schematic diagram showing the overall configuration of an ultrasonic thickness measurement device according to a first embodiment of the present invention. [Diagram 2] 1 is a schematic front view of an ultrasonic probe according to a first embodiment of the present invention. [Diagram 3] FIG. 2 is a front view of the ultrasonic probe of the first embodiment attached to the body. [Figure 4] FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an A-mode image obtained by one ultrasonic element of the first embodiment and a corresponding B-mode image of one line. [Diagram 5] FIG. 1A shows input image data consisting of an 8-line B-mode image that is input to the control unit of embodiment 1 to determine the target thickness, and FIG. 1B shows output image data with the target thickness estimated and output from the control unit. [Figure 6] FIG. 2A shows input image data consisting of an 8-line B-mode image in the first embodiment, and FIG. 2B shows corresponding training data. [Figure 7] A diagram of input image data consisting of B-mode images obtained with an ultrasound probe having 64 or more ultrasound elements (A), and a diagram of the corresponding training data (B). [Figure 8] 4 is a schematic front view of an ultrasound probe attached to a body at a position different from that shown in FIG. 3. [Figure 9] A B-mode image obtained with an ultrasound probe attached at the position shown in Figure 8. [Figure 10] A systematic diagram of the learning model update. [Figure 11]FIG. 1A shows the input image data (A) and the corresponding teacher data (B) showing an 8-line B-mode image of embodiment 1 divided into two of 4 lines each, and FIG. 1C shows the input image data (C) and the corresponding teacher data (D). [Figure 12] FIG. 4 is a schematic front view of an ultrasonic probe according to a second embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 13] 11A to 11C are schematic front views of three ultrasonic probes according to a third embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 14] FIG. 13A is a diagram of input image data consisting of an 8-line B-mode image in the third embodiment, and FIG. 13B is a diagram of the corresponding training data. [Figure 15] FIG. 11 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a main portion of an ultrasonic probe according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 16] FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an example of connection of ultrasonic transducers according to the fourth embodiment. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0008] The present invention will first be briefly described below. In order to solve the above problems, an ultrasonic probe according to a first aspect of the present invention is an ultrasonic probe including a plurality of ultrasonic elements having ultrasonic transmitting elements and receiving elements, and is characterized in that the plurality of ultrasonic elements are arranged in a plurality of rows.

[0009] According to this aspect, since the ultrasonic elements are arranged in multiple rows, it is possible to realize a miniaturization in the row direction, which is the direction in which the ultrasonic elements of the ultrasonic probe are arranged. In addition, by being miniaturized in the row direction, it is possible to expand the range of applications of the ultrasonic probe. In addition, it is possible to easily obtain a tomographic image of a portion of a measurement object corresponding to multiple rows rather than a single row, that is, a tomographic image of a wide range in the width direction.

[0010] An ultrasonic probe according to a second aspect of the present invention is characterized in that, in the first aspect, the multiple rows are two rows, a first row group and a second row group, and the number of ultrasonic elements forming the first row group is equal to the number of ultrasonic elements forming the second row group.

[0011] According to this aspect, the plurality of rows are two rows, a first row group and a second row group, and the number of ultrasonic elements constituting the first row group is equal to the number of ultrasonic elements constituting the second row group. This provides a structural balance to the arrangement of the plurality of ultrasonic elements, making it easier to process received signals.

[0012] An ultrasonic probe according to a third aspect of the present invention is characterized in that, in the first aspect, the multiple rows are three rows: a first row group, a second row group, and a third row group, and the number of ultrasonic elements constituting the first row group is equal to the number of ultrasonic elements constituting the third row group.

[0013] According to this aspect, the plurality of rows are three rows, namely, a first row group, a second row group, and a third row group, and the number of ultrasonic elements constituting the first row group is equal to the number of ultrasonic elements constituting the third row group. This allows further miniaturization in the row direction.

[0014] The ultrasonic probe according to a fourth aspect of the present invention is the ultrasonic probe according to the second or third aspect, characterized in that the adjacent one row group and the adjacent other row group are positioned with a shift in the row direction.

[0015] According to this aspect, the adjacent one of the row groups is shifted in the row direction, thereby making it possible to suppress a reduction in the measurement range in the row direction.

[0016] An ultrasonic probe according to a fifth aspect of the present invention is an ultrasonic probe including a plurality of ultrasonic elements having ultrasonic transmitting elements and receiving elements, the plurality of ultrasonic elements being arranged to surround a central position.

[0017] According to this aspect, since the ultrasonic elements are arranged so as to surround the central position, the ultrasonic probe can be made smaller than the conventional linear arrangement. Also, it becomes possible to obtain multiple tomographic images with a two-dimensional spread even for a small measurement target.

[0018] An ultrasonic probe according to a sixth aspect of the present invention is any one of the first to fifth aspects, characterized in that the number of the plurality of ultrasonic elements is eight or less.

[0019] According to this aspect, since the number of the plurality of ultrasonic elements is eight or less, the size of the ultrasonic probe can be reduced.

[0020] An ultrasonic probe according to a seventh aspect of the present invention is characterized in that, in the fifth or sixth aspect, the plurality of ultrasonic elements are arranged to form a polygon as a whole.

[0021] An ultrasonic probe according to an eighth aspect of the present invention is characterized in that, in the fifth or sixth aspect, the plurality of ultrasonic elements are arranged to form a circle as a whole.

[0022] An ultrasonic probe according to a ninth aspect of the present invention is characterized in that, in the fifth or sixth aspect, the plurality of ultrasonic elements are arranged to form an inner group and an outer group as a whole.

[0023] According to the seventh, eighth or ninth aspect, in relation to the measurement target site, it is possible to obtain a new tomographic image that cannot be obtained by the conventional linear arrangement.

[0024] An ultrasonic thickness measuring device according to a tenth aspect of the present invention comprises an ultrasonic probe according to any one of the first to ninth aspects, and a control unit that determines a thickness of a target body tissue from tomographic image data of the subject's body obtained based on reception signals sequentially received by each of the receiving elements of each of the ultrasonic elements, and is characterized in that the control unit determines the thickness from the tomographic image data based on each reception signal sequentially received by eight or less of the ultrasonic elements. Here, "thickness" is not limited to the thickness of muscle layers or fat layers of the body, but also includes thickness for identifying organs having a layered structure, thickness for identifying abnormal areas, and the like.

[0025] According to this aspect, the control unit obtains the thickness from the tomographic image data based on the reception signals sequentially received by the eight or less ultrasonic elements. The tomographic image data based on the reception signals sequentially received by the eight or less ultrasonic elements is tomographic image data in a state in which eight or less lines of tomographic image data are arranged in a depth direction from the skin surface. That is, the amount of information processed by the control unit to obtain the thickness is small because it is an arrangement of each of the 8 lines or less of tomographic image data. As a result, the circuit part constituting the control unit is not required to have high processing power, and the device can be made smaller. In addition, the size of the ultrasonic probe can be reduced.

[0026] The ultrasonic thickness gaging device according to the 11th aspect of the present invention is characterized in that, in the 10th aspect, the ultrasonic probe comprises a base member capable of being attached to a body, and eight or less of the ultrasonic elements are arranged on the base member.

[0027] According to this aspect, the number of ultrasonic elements included in the ultrasonic probe is eight or less, so that the size of the ultrasonic probe can be reduced. In addition, the ultrasonic probe can be attached to the body via the base member, so that the ultrasonic probe is easy to use.

[0028] The ultrasonic thickness measuring device according to the 12th aspect of the present invention is characterized in that in the 10th or 11th aspect, the input tomographic image data used by the control unit to calculate the thickness is each B-mode image generated from each A-mode image generated by processing each received signal received sequentially by the 8 or less ultrasonic elements, arranged in correspondence with the arrangement of each of the 8 or less ultrasonic elements.

[0029] Each B-mode image generated from each A-mode image is an image in which the brightness changes in the depth direction from the skin, but the brightness is constant in the width direction of each line, which is the direction intersecting the depth direction. In other words, a tomographic image in which each B-mode image of 8 lines or less is arranged is an image in which the brightness appears to change in a block shape for each line in the depth direction. According to this aspect, the input tomographic image data used by the control unit to calculate the thickness is tomographic image data in a state in which each B-mode image of 8 lines or less is arranged, and the brightness of each line changes in a block shape in the depth direction. As a result, the amount of information processed by the control unit to calculate the thickness is small because it is the tomographic image data that changes in a block shape. Therefore, the circuit part constituting the control unit is not required to have high processing power, and the device can be made smaller.

[0030] The ultrasonic thickness measuring device according to the 13th aspect of the present invention, in any one of the 10th to 12th aspects, is characterized in that the control unit is capable of accessing a learning model having parameters for obtaining attribute information corresponding to the thickness of the target body tissue from the input tomographic image data, and using the tomographic image data of the subject's body as input image data, performs a process to obtain attribute information corresponding to the thickness using the learning model, and obtains the thickness from the obtained attribute information.

[0031] According to this aspect, the control unit performs a process of obtaining attribute information corresponding to the thickness using the learning model with the tomographic image data of the subject's body as input image data, and obtains the thickness from the obtained attribute information. This makes it possible to automatically and accurately obtain the thickness of the target body tissue.

[0032] The ultrasonic thickness measuring device according to the 14th aspect of the present invention is characterized in that in the 13th aspect, the learning model is configured to learn from a plurality of sets of data, each set of data being made up of tomographic image data based on respective received signals sequentially received from the target body tissue by eight or less ultrasonic elements, and teacher image data corresponding to the tomographic image data and in a state in which the thickness can be calculated, and parameters are set to obtain attribute information corresponding to the thickness of the target body tissue from the input tomographic image data.

[0033] According to this aspect, the parameters of the learning model used to obtain attribute information corresponding to the thickness of the target body tissue from the input tomographic image data are set by learning the tomographic image data in a state in which each B-mode image of 8 lines or less is arranged, similar to the input tomographic image data. Therefore, the parameters of the learning model can be set using the tomographic image data with a small amount of information as described above.

[0034] The ultrasonic thickness measuring device of the 15th aspect of the present invention is characterized in that, in the 13th or 14th aspect, the control unit is connected to the learning model via a wireless or wired communication unit, and the learning model is capable of updating the parameters using new tomographic image data and teacher image data corresponding to the new tomographic image data.

[0035] According to this aspect, the learning model can update the parameters by new tomographic image data and teacher image data corresponding to the new tomographic image data, thereby making it possible to accurately obtain attribute information corresponding to the thickness of a target body tissue from input tomographic image data.

[0036] [Embodiment 1] An ultrasonic thickness measurement device including an ultrasonic probe according to a first embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to FIGS. 1 to 7. FIG. 1, the ultrasonic thickness measurement device 100 includes an ultrasonic probe 60 having ultrasonic elements for transmitting and receiving ultrasonic waves, and a control unit 33 for controlling the functions of the ultrasonic probe 60 and for performing signal processing. The control unit 33 is accommodated in a housing unit 10 (FIG. 3).

[0037] <Ultrasonic probe> 1 and 2, in this embodiment, the ultrasonic probe 60 includes eight ultrasonic elements 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8. The eight ultrasonic elements 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8 are arranged in multiple rows rather than in a single row. Here, the ultrasonic elements are arranged in two rows: four ultrasonic elements 1, 3, 5, and 7 forming a first row group 75, and the other four ultrasonic elements 2, 4, 6, and 8 forming a second row group 76. 1, six ultrasonic elements 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 other than ultrasonic element 1 and ultrasonic element 8 are omitted from the illustration. As shown in Fig. 1, ultrasonic element 1 has ultrasonic transmitting element 11 and receiving element 12, and ultrasonic element 8 has ultrasonic transmitting element 81 and receiving element 82. As shown in Fig. 2, the other six ultrasonic elements 2, ultrasonic element 3, ultrasonic element 4, ultrasonic element 5, ultrasonic element 6, and ultrasonic element 7 similarly have ultrasonic transmitting elements 21, 31, 41, 51, 61, and 71 and receiving elements 22, 32, 42, 52, 62, and 72, respectively. Here, "having an ultrasonic transmitting element and a receiving element" is a functional description, and structurally, one ultrasonic element has the function of a "transmitting element" and the function of a "receiving element." In Fig. 2, reference numeral 9 indicates wiring. The wiring 9 is a lead wire, an FPC, or the like, and is connected to connectors 73 and 74 of the control unit 33.

[0038] As shown in FIG. 2, the ultrasonic probe 60 comprises a flat base member 14 (FIG. 2) that can be attached to the body, and a total of eight ultrasonic elements 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 arranged equally spaced in two rows, a first row group 75 and a second row group 76, each of which has four ultrasonic elements on the base member 14. Here, the first column group 75 and the second column group 76 adjacent to each other are positioned with a shift in the column direction C as shown in Fig. 2. In this specification, the column direction C is defined as the direction in which the plurality of ultrasonic elements are arranged. As a result, the direction perpendicular to the column direction C becomes the row direction R. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 2, the four ultrasonic elements 1, 3, 5, and 7 constituting the first row group 75 and the other four ultrasonic elements 2, 4, 6, and 8 constituting the second row group 76 are arranged to be shifted in the row direction C.

[0039] As shown in FIG. 3, in this embodiment, the housing unit 10 accommodating the ultrasonic probe 60 and the control unit 33 of the ultrasonic thickness measurement device 100 is attached to a belt 13 . That is, the ultrasonic probe 60 and the control unit 33 are configured to be wrapped around the abdomen of the body and fixed with the belt 13. Specifically, the belt 13 is configured to be able to measure the thickness of a target muscle layer, etc., by attaching it to a target part of the body as shown in Fig. 3.

[0040] <Control Unit> The control unit 33 obtains the thickness of the target body tissue from the tomographic image data (FIG. 5) of the subject's body obtained based on the received signals sequentially received by each receiving element 12, 22, 32, 42, 52, 62, 72, 82 of each ultrasonic element 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. That is, the control unit 33 obtains the thickness from data of a tomographic image 30 (FIGS. 4 and 5) described later based on the reception signals sequentially received by the eight ultrasonic elements 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8.

[0041] 1, the control unit 33 includes a drive pulse generating circuit 15, a transmitting circuit 16, a signal processing circuit 17, a receiving circuit 18, a multiplexer 19, a microcomputer 20, and a communication unit 23. The control unit 33 is configured to be able to access the tablet 25 via the communication unit 23. The tablet 25 is equipped with a learning model 27, which will be described later. When transmitting ultrasonic waves, a pattern of a predetermined drive frequency and wave number is generated in the drive pulse generating circuit 15, a transmission waveform of a predetermined drive voltage is output in the transmission circuit 16, and ultrasonic waves are transmitted from each transmitting element 11, 21, 31, 41, 51, 61, 71, 81 of each ultrasonic element 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. When receiving ultrasonic waves, the reception signals by the reception elements 12, 22, 32, 42, 52, 62, 72, 82 of the ultrasonic elements 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 are amplified by the reception circuit 18 and subjected to envelope processing and LOG compression processing by the signal processing circuit 17 to generate an A-mode image 24 which is a tomographic image 30 of each of the eight ultrasonic elements 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. Fig. 4 shows the A-mode image 24 generated from the reception signal of one ultrasonic element. The control of each operation of each circuit 15, 16, 17, 18 is executed via a microcomputer 20. Furthermore, the microcomputer 20 is configured to sequentially switch the transmission and reception operations of each of the eight ultrasonic elements 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 using a multiplexer 19. That is, the eight ultrasonic elements 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 are configured to sequentially receive each reception signal.

[0042] In this embodiment, under the control of the microcomputer 20, data of eight A-mode images 24 of the eight ultrasonic elements 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8 is sent to a tablet 25 equipped with a learning model 27 via a communication unit 23. The communication unit 23 is configured with a wireless LAN circuit in this embodiment, but may be configured with a wired connection. The tablet 25 is equipped with a GPU, and generates data of eight B-mode images 26 from data of the eight sent A-mode images 24. In FIG. 4, one B-mode image 26 corresponding to one A-mode image 24 is shown.

[0043] The data of the input tomographic image 30 used by the control unit 33 to calculate the thickness is obtained by arranging each B-mode image 26 generated from each A-mode image 24 by processing the received signals sequentially received by each of the eight ultrasonic elements 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 in accordance with the arrangement of each of the eight ultrasonic elements 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. 5A shows eight B-mode images 26 arranged in accordance with the arrangement of the eight ultrasonic elements 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8. That is, this is eight lines of B-mode image 26 data in a state in which eight lines of tomographic image data are arranged along the depth direction (downward in the figure) from the skin surface 36. The data of these eight lines of B-mode image 26 is input image data used to calculate the thickness.

[0044] As described above, the control unit 33 can access the learning model 27 having parameters for obtaining attribute information corresponding to the thickness of the target body tissue from the input data of the tomographic image 30. The control unit 33 is configured to use, as input image data, data of an 8-line B-mode image 26 (FIG. 5A), which is data of a tomographic image 30 of the subject's body, to perform processing to obtain attribute information corresponding to the thickness using a learning model 27 mounted on the tablet 25, and to obtain the thickness from the obtained attribute information. The obtained thickness is displayed as output image data on the monitor 28 of the tablet 25, as described later (FIG. 5B). The learning model 27 may be installed in a computer such as a notebook computer instead of the tablet 25.

[0045] Here, "attribute information corresponding to thickness" refers to, for example, information on the position of the boundary between a fat layer and a muscle layer, which is obtained by utilizing the fact that transmitted ultrasound is largely reflected at the boundary between the fat layer and the muscle layer, and is hardly reflected in the muscle layer or the fat layer. If one surface of a muscle layer is in contact with a fat layer and the other surface is in contact with another fat layer, the positions of "one boundary" corresponding to one surface of the muscle layer and "the other boundary" corresponding to the other surface of the muscle layer can be obtained by ultrasound. The distance between the "one boundary" and the "other boundary" is the thickness of the muscle layer to be obtained. Alternatively, when determining the thickness of subcutaneous fat, the position of the boundary between the subcutaneous fat and the muscle layer beneath it can be determined using ultrasound as "attribute information," and the distance between the determined boundary and the skin surface becomes the thickness of the subcutaneous fat. 5B shows output image data displayed on the monitor 28 of the tablet 25. In this embodiment, image data is displayed in which the muscle layer is outlined and the muscle layer thickness 34 and subcutaneous fat thickness 35 can be seen.

[0046] <Learning model parameters> In this embodiment, the learning model 27 is constructed as follows. As shown in Fig. 6, eight lines of B-mode images 26 (Fig. 6(A)) which are data of a tomographic image 30 based on the respective reception signals sequentially received from the body tissue of a specified part by eight ultrasonic elements 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and teacher image data 50 (Fig. 6(B)) in a state in which the thickness corresponding to the eight lines of B-mode images 26 is obtained are treated as one set of data, and multiple sets, for example, 100 sets or more, are prepared. Then, machine learning is performed on the multiple sets of data prepared, and parameters are set for obtaining attribute information corresponding to the thickness of the target body tissue from the input image data. One example of a method for generating a learning model is the convolution processing method of U-Net, which is aimed at region segmentation of medical images. Specifically, the 8-line B-mode image 26 in FIG. 6(A) is subjected to normal convolution processing in a machine learning neural network and further to pooling processing. The output image data from this processing is compared with the teacher image data 50 in FIG. 6(B), and the parameters are set by performing calculations so as to reduce the error, that is, by using the cross-entropy error function and gradient descent method. This setting is performed for 100 or more sets to optimize the parameters. In this embodiment, as shown in Fig. 1, the tablet 25 is connected to the learning model generation center 37 via a communication line. The parameters are set in the learning model generation center 37, and each time the estimation accuracy is improved, the result is transmitted to the tablet 25 and the learning model 27 is updated.

[0047] The learning model 27 may be constructed as follows. FIG. 7 shows (A) input image data consisting of a B-mode tomographic image 30 obtained from 64 or more received signals received by all ultrasonic elements using an ultrasonic probe having 64 or more ultrasonic elements, and (B) the corresponding teacher image data 50. From the data of the tomographic image 30 in Fig. 7(A) and the teacher image data 50 in Fig. 7(B), 8 lines of tomographic image data and teacher data are cut out at the sensor arrangement interval, and 100 or more sets of such data may be prepared, and machine learning similar to that described above may be performed to set parameters for obtaining attribute information corresponding to the thickness of the target body tissue from the input image data. B-mode images using 64 or more ultrasonic elements have the advantage that muscle layers can be easily distinguished and teacher data can be easily created.

[0048] In addition, in this embodiment, the control unit 33 is connected to the learning model 27 via the wireless communication unit 23, and the learning model 27 can update parameters using data of a new tomographic image 30 corresponding to (A) in Figure 6 and teacher image data 50 corresponding to (B) in Figure 6 that corresponds to the data of the new tomographic image 30. That is, first, new tomographic image 30 data for tissue at a specific part of the body is obtained by ultrasound, and the thickness of the target body tissue is calculated. In addition, the new tomographic image 30 data is sent from the tablet 25 to the learning model generation center 37, and the parameters of the learning model 27 are updated from a set of teacher image data 50 corresponding to the image. If the estimation accuracy is improved, the result is sent to the tablet 25, and the parameters of the learning model 27 are updated.

[0049] <Explanation of the Function of the First Embodiment> Next, a step of determining the thickness of the target body tissue by the ultrasonic thickness measuring device 100 of the first embodiment is performed. First, the ultrasonic probe 60 and the control unit 33 of the ultrasonic thickness measuring device 100 of this embodiment are wrapped around the abdomen of the subject's body and fixed with the belt 13 as shown in Fig. 3. Then, ultrasonic waves are transmitted and received sequentially by eight ultrasonic elements 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8 arranged in two rows, and eight A-mode images 24 are generated based on the eight received signals. Furthermore, eight B-mode images 26 are generated from the eight A-mode images 24 by the tablet 25, that is, data of eight lines of B-mode images 26 (Fig. 5(A)) are generated. Next, the data of the 8-line B-mode image 26 (FIG. 5(A)) is used as input image data, and a learning model 27 is used to perform a process of determining attribute information corresponding to the thickness. The thickness is then determined from the determined attribute information (FIG. 5(B)), and this is displayed on a monitor 28. The thickness information displayed on the monitor 28 is not limited to the form shown in FIG. 5B, but may be in the form of, for example, numerical values ​​or a comparable graph.

[0050] <Explanation of Effects of First Embodiment> (1) According to the ultrasonic probe 60 of this embodiment, the eight ultrasonic elements 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8 are arranged in two rows, so that the ultrasonic probe 60 can be made smaller in size in the row direction. Furthermore, by making the ultrasonic probe 60 smaller in size in the row direction, the range of applications of the ultrasonic probe 60 can be expanded. Furthermore, a tomographic image 30 of a portion of a measurement target corresponding to multiple rows instead of one row, that is, a tomographic image 30 of a wide range in the width direction, can be easily obtained. (2) Furthermore, according to the ultrasound probe 60 of this embodiment, the first row group 75, which is one adjacent row group, and the second row group 76, which is the other adjacent row group, are positioned with a shift in the row direction, as shown in Fig. 2. This makes it possible to suppress a reduction in the measurement range in the row direction, making it easier to capture the boundaries between fat layers and muscle layers, and thus enabling the generation of highly accurate image data.

[0051] (3) Furthermore, according to the ultrasonic thickness measuring device 100 of this embodiment, the control unit 33 obtains the thickness of the target body tissue from a tomographic image based on each of the reception signals sequentially received by the eight ultrasonic elements 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8. The tomographic image data based on each of the reception signals sequentially received by the eight ultrasonic elements 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8 is tomographic image data ((A) in FIG. 5) in which data of each of the tomographic images 30 of eight lines along the depth direction from the skin surface 36 is arranged. That is, the amount of information processed by the control unit 33 to obtain the thickness is an arrangement of data of each of the eight lines of the tomographic images 30 (FIG. 5(A)), and therefore the amount of information is small. As a result, the circuit part constituting the control unit 33 is not required to have high processing power, and the device 100 can be made compact. Also, the size of the ultrasonic probe 60 can be reduced.

[0052] (4) In the present embodiment, the ultrasonic probe 60 includes eight ultrasonic elements, so that the size of the ultrasonic probe 60 can be made smaller than that of the conventional ultrasonic probe 60. In addition, the ultrasonic probe 60 can be attached to the body via the base member 14, so that the ultrasonic probe 60 is easy to use. (5) As shown in Fig. 4, the B-mode image 26 generated from the A-mode image 24 is an image in which the brightness changes on one line in the depth direction from the skin surface 36, but the brightness is constant in the width direction of the line, which is the direction intersecting the depth direction. In other words, the brightness changes in a block shape in the depth direction on the one line. As shown in Fig. 5(A), a tomographic image 30 in which eight lines of B-mode images are arranged is an image in which the brightness appears to change in a block shape in the depth direction for each line. According to the ultrasonic thickness measuring device 100 of this embodiment, the data of the tomographic image 30 inputted and used by the control unit 33 to calculate the thickness is tomographic image data (FIG. 5A) in which eight lines of B-mode images 26 are arranged, and the brightness of each line changes in a block shape in the depth direction. As a result, the amount of information processed by the control unit 33 to calculate the thickness is small because it is the data of the tomographic image 30 that changes in a block shape. Therefore, the circuit part constituting the control unit 33 is not required to have high processing power, and the device 100 can be made smaller.

[0053] (6) In the ultrasonic thickness measuring device 100 of this embodiment, the control unit 33 uses the data of the tomographic image 30 of the subject's body as input image data, performs processing to obtain attribute information corresponding to the thickness using the learning model 27, and obtains the thickness from the obtained attribute information. This makes it possible to automatically and accurately obtain the thickness of the target body tissue. (7) In addition, in the ultrasonic thickness measuring device 100 of this embodiment, the parameters of the learning model 27 used to obtain attribute information corresponding to the thickness of the target body tissue from the input data of the tomographic image 30 are set by learning the tomographic image data ((A) in FIG. 6) in which each of eight lines of B-mode images is arranged, similar to the input data of the tomographic image 30. Therefore, the parameters of the learning model 27 can be set using the data of the tomographic image 30 with a small amount of information as described above. (8) In addition, in the ultrasonic thickness measuring device 100 of this embodiment, the learning model 27 can update the parameters using data of a new tomographic image 30 (FIG. 6A) and teacher image data (FIG. 6B) corresponding to the new tomographic image 30 data. This allows attribute information corresponding to the thickness of a target body tissue to be obtained with high accuracy from the data of the input tomographic image 30.

[0054] [Modification of the first embodiment] In the above explanation, the tomographic image 30 acquired by the two-row configuration of ultrasonic elements 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8 shown in FIG. 2 is treated as one set of data consisting of data of eight lines of B-mode images 26 arranged in a row in numerical order as shown in FIG. 6(A) and teacher image data 50 (FIG. 6(B)) in a state in which the thickness corresponding to the eight lines of B-mode images 26 can be obtained, and machine learning is performed on the multiple sets of data to construct a learning model 27. The control unit 33 then uses the data of the 8-line B-mode image 26 ((A) in FIG. 5), which is the data of the tomographic image 30 of the subject's body, as input image data, and performs a process of obtaining attribute information corresponding to the thickness using the learning model 27 mounted on the tablet 25, and obtains the thickness from the obtained attribute information. The following explanation based on FIG. 11 is a modified example.

[0055] In this modified example, a first learning model 27 for the first row group 75 is constructed based on the data of a four-line B-mode image 26 (Figure 11(A)) acquired by ultrasonic elements 1, 3, 5, and 7 constituting the first row group 75 and its corresponding teacher image data (Figure 11(B)). Furthermore, a second learning model 27 for another second column group 76 is constructed based on the data of a 4-line B-mode image 26 (Figure 11(C)) acquired by the ultrasonic elements 2, 4, 6, and 8 constituting the second column group 76 and its corresponding teacher image data (Figure 11(D)).

[0056] The control unit 33 uses, as input image data, data of four lines of B-mode images 26 (not shown), which are data of a tomographic image 30 of the subject's body acquired by the ultrasonic elements 1, 3, 5, and 7 constituting the first column group 75, and performs a process to obtain attribute information corresponding to the thickness using a first learning model 27 for the first column group 75 mounted on the tablet 25, and obtains the thickness from the obtained attribute information. Furthermore, data of four lines of B-mode images 26 (not shown), which are data of a tomographic image 30 of the subject's body acquired by the ultrasonic elements 2, 4, 6, and 8 constituting the second column group 76, are used as input image data, and a process is performed to obtain attribute information corresponding to the thickness using a second learning model 27 for the second column group 76 mounted on the tablet 25, and the thickness is obtained from the obtained attribute information. The final thickness is determined by taking the average of the two thicknesses obtained.

[0057] According to the ultrasonic probe 60 of this embodiment, there are two rows, a first row group 75 and a second row group 76, and the number of ultrasonic elements 1, 3, 5, and 7 constituting the first row group 75 is equal to the number of ultrasonic elements 2, 4, 6, and 8 constituting the second row group 76. This results in a structurally well-balanced arrangement of the eight ultrasonic elements 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8, making it easier to process received signals.

[0058] [Embodiment 2] Next, an ultrasonic probe 60 according to a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. In this embodiment, the eight ultrasonic elements 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8 are arranged in a three-row structure, unlike the two-row structure of embodiment 1. Specifically, there are three rows: a first row group 85, a second row group 86, and a third row group 87. The first row group 85 is composed of ultrasonic elements 1, 4, and 7, the second row group 86 is composed of ultrasonic elements 3 and 6, and the third row group 87 is composed of ultrasonic elements 2, 5, and 8. The base member 14 is not shown in FIG. 12. The number of ultrasonic elements 1, 4, and 7 constituting the first row group 85 and the number of ultrasonic elements 2, 5, and 8 constituting the third row group 87 are equal, each being three. 12, the first row group 85, the second row group 86, and the third row group 87 are positioned such that the ultrasonic elements 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8 are shifted in numerical order in the row direction C, as in the first embodiment shown in FIG.

[0059] The learning model 27 for the probe 60 of this embodiment can be constructed in the same manner as in embodiment 1. That is, the learning model 27 is constructed based on an 8-line B-mode image 26 (FIG. 6A) and teacher image data 50 (FIG. 6B) in a state in which the thickness corresponding to the 8-line B-mode image 26 is to be calculated. Then, the thickness is calculated in the same manner. Alternatively, similarly to the modified example of the first embodiment, a first learning model 27, a second learning model 27, and a third learning model 27 are constructed based on the data of the three-line B-mode image 26 corresponding to the first column group 85, the data of the two-line B-mode image 26 corresponding to the second column group 86, and the data of the three-line B-mode image 26 corresponding to the third column group 87. In this case, the final thickness is preferably determined as the median of the three thicknesses obtained respectively.

[0060] Other configurations of the ultrasonic probe 60 of this embodiment are similar to those of the first embodiment, so the same parts are denoted by the same reference numerals and the description thereof is omitted. In addition, the structure of the ultrasonic thickness measurement device 100 including the ultrasonic probe 60 of this embodiment (FIG. 12), as well as its action and effect, are basically the same as those of the first embodiment, so the description thereof is also omitted. According to the ultrasonic probe 60 of this embodiment, the number of rows is three, that is, a first row group 85, a second row group 86, and a third row group 87, and the number of ultrasonic elements constituting the first row group 85 is equal to the number of ultrasonic elements constituting the third row group 87. This allows further miniaturization in the row direction.

[0061] [Embodiment 3] Next, an ultrasonic probe 60 according to a third embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. In this embodiment, eight ultrasonic elements 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8 are arranged to surround a central position 77. In FIG. 13A, eight ultrasonic elements 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8 are arranged so as to form a polygon, here a rectangle, as a whole. In FIG. 13B, eight ultrasonic elements 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8 are arranged to form a multi-circular shape as a whole. In FIG. 13C, eight ultrasonic elements 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8 are arranged to form an inner group 91 and an outer group 92 as a whole.

[0062] The learning model 27 for the probe 60 of this embodiment can be constructed in the same manner as in embodiment 1. That is, the learning model 27 is constructed based on an 8-line B-mode image 26 (FIG. 6A) and teacher image data 50 (FIG. 6B) in a state in which the thickness corresponding to the 8-line B-mode image 26 is to be calculated. Then, the thickness is calculated in the same manner. Alternatively, the ultrasonic probe 60 of FIG. 13(A) may be subjected to the following procedure. A four-line B-mode image may be generated by averaging the A-mode images of ultrasonic elements 1 and 2 to generate one line of data, and similarly generating data for ultrasonic elements 3 and 4, ultrasonic elements 5 and 6, and ultrasonic elements 7 and 8. A learning model 27 is constructed by learning using these four lines of B-mode images, and muscle estimation is performed. This improves the image quality accuracy of the line data through averaging processing, and since it only learns from a four-line image, the processing load is also reduced.

[0063] Furthermore, the ultrasonic probes 60 in FIG. 13(B) and FIG. 13(C) may be subjected to the following procedure. The line images are generated by averaging the A-mode images of ultrasonic elements 2 and 3, ultrasonic elements 4 and 5, and ultrasonic elements 6 and 7 to generate one line of data for each, and combining this with the A-mode images of ultrasonic elements 1 and 8 to generate a B-mode image of five lines in total, as shown in Fig. 14(A).Then, a learning model 27 is constructed by learning using the data of the B-mode images 26 of the five lines (Fig. 14(A)) and the corresponding teacher image data 50, and muscle estimation is performed. According to this embodiment, in addition to obtaining the same effects as the above-mentioned embodiment, it is possible to obtain a two-dimensional tomographic image on a plane that cannot be obtained by a linear arrangement in relation to the measurement target site.

[0064] [Embodiment 4] Next, an ultrasonic probe 60 according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. <Ultrasound probe configuration> FIG. 15 is a cross-sectional view showing an example of the configuration of an ultrasonic probe 60 (hereinafter referred to as "ultrasonic transmitting / receiving section 160") of this embodiment. The ultrasonic transmitting / receiving unit 160 is an ultrasonic transmitting / receiving unit that transmits ultrasonic waves to an object (not shown), performs ultrasonic transmission / reception processing to receive ultrasonic waves reflected by the object, and outputs a reception signal by receiving the ultrasonic waves. As shown in Fig. 15, the ultrasonic transmitting / receiving unit 160 is configured to include an element substrate 121, a diaphragm 122, and a piezoelectric element 123. In the following description, the transmission / reception direction of ultrasonic waves from the ultrasonic transmitting / receiving unit 160 toward the object is defined as the Z direction.

[0065] The element substrate 121 is a substrate that supports the diaphragm 122, and is made of a semiconductor substrate such as Si. The element substrate 121 is provided with a plurality of openings 211 that penetrate the element substrate 121 along the Z direction.

[0066] The diaphragm 122 is made of, for example, a laminate of SiO2 and ZrO2, and is provided on the -Z side of the element substrate 121. This diaphragm 122 is supported by the element substrate 121 that constitutes the openings 211, and closes the -Z side of the openings 211. Parts of the diaphragm 122 that overlap with the openings 211 when viewed from the Z direction constitute vibration sections 221 in the diaphragm 122 that transmit and receive ultrasonic waves by vibration.

[0067] The piezoelectric element 123 is provided on the vibration plate 122 at a position overlapping with each vibration portion 221 when viewed from the Z direction. The piezoelectric element 123 is configured by laminating a lower electrode 231, a piezoelectric film 232, and an upper electrode 233 in this order on the vibration plate 122, as shown in FIG.

[0068] In such an ultrasonic transmitting / receiving section 160, one vibration section 221 and the piezoelectric element 123 arranged on the vibration section 221 constitute one ultrasonic transducer . In this ultrasonic transmitting / receiving unit 160, when a voltage is applied between the lower electrode 231 and the upper electrode 233, the piezoelectric film 232 expands and contracts, and the vibration unit 221 vibrates at an oscillation frequency according to the opening width of the opening 211, etc. As a result, ultrasonic waves are transmitted from the vibration unit 221 toward the +Z side. In addition, in the ultrasonic transmitting / receiving unit 160, when an ultrasonic wave reflected by an object is input to the vibration unit 221, the vibration unit 221 vibrates with an amplitude corresponding to the sound pressure of the input ultrasonic wave, and a potential difference is generated between the lower electrode 231 side and the upper electrode 233 side of the piezoelectric film 232. Therefore, a reception signal corresponding to the potential difference is output from each piezoelectric element 123.

[0069] FIG. 16 is a diagram showing an example of a connection of the ultrasonic transducers 124 in the ultrasonic transmission / reception unit 160. As shown in FIG. In this embodiment, a plurality of ultrasonic transducers 124 are arranged in a matrix. The lower electrodes 231 of the ultrasonic transducers 124 are connected to each other by a first bypass wiring 231A and connected to a first terminal 251 provided on a part of the element substrate 121. Similarly, the upper electrodes 233 of the ultrasonic transducers 124 are connected to each other by a second bypass wiring 233A and connected to a second terminal 252 provided on a part of the element substrate 121. These first terminals 251 and second terminals 252 are each connected to the control unit 33. In this configuration, by applying a voltage between the first terminal 251 and the second terminal 252, all of the ultrasonic transducers 124 can be driven simultaneously. In addition, the example shown in FIG. 16 is a configuration example in which the lower electrodes 231 of all the ultrasonic transducers 124 are wired and connected to the first terminal 251, but a configuration in which a predetermined number of ultrasonic transducers 124 are one channel and the first terminal 251 is provided for each channel may be used. In this case, by inputting drive signals between all the first terminals 251 and the second terminals 252 at the same time, all the ultrasonic transducers 124 can be driven simultaneously, as in FIG. 16. It is also possible to drive each first terminal 251 individually. In this case, the transmission sound pressure can be adjusted by controlling the number of channels to be driven, and the transmission direction of the ultrasonic waves can be controlled by delaying and controlling the drive timing of each channel. In addition, a plurality of channels may be used by dividing them into a transmission channel for transmitting ultrasonic waves and a reception channel for receiving ultrasonic waves.

[0070] In the present embodiment, an example has been shown in which the ultrasonic transmitting / receiving unit 160 includes the ultrasonic transducer 124 that transmits ultrasonic waves by vibrating the vibration unit 221 with the piezoelectric element 123 and detects reception of ultrasonic waves by the vibration of the vibration unit 221 to which ultrasonic waves are input, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the ultrasonic transmitting / receiving unit 160 may be configured to include a bulk type ultrasonic transducer that arranges a bulk type piezoelectric body on a substrate, transmits ultrasonic waves by applying a voltage to the piezoelectric body to vibrate the piezoelectric body itself in the thickness direction, and detects reception of ultrasonic waves by the piezoelectric body vibrating in the thickness direction due to input of ultrasonic waves.

[0071] [Embodiment 5] Next, an ultrasonic thickness measurement device 100 according to a fifth embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. The ultrasonic thickness measuring device 100 of this embodiment is for determining visceral fat thickness, and as shown in FIG. 8, the ultrasonic probe 60 and the control unit 33 are attached to the ulnar groove of the body when used. In FIG. 8, the belt 13 is not shown. FIG. 9 is a tomographic image 30 of the ulnar groove of the body. The tomographic image 30 in FIG. 9 is a B-mode image obtained from 64 or more received signals received by all ultrasonic elements using an ultrasonic probe having 64 or more ultrasonic elements. The ulnar groove of the body does not have a rectus abdominis muscle 39, and an image for subcutaneous fat thickness 35 and an image for visceral fat thickness 38 can be obtained. Therefore, by measuring the epigastric area using the ultrasonic thickness measuring device 100 of this embodiment, it is possible to create a learning model 27 having parameters for calculating visceral fat thickness in the same manner as in embodiment 1, and the visceral fat thickness of the subject can be calculated using the learning model 27 in the same manner as above.

[0072] [Embodiment 6] Next, a sixth embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 10 shows four ultrasonic thickness measuring devices being used individually by user A, user B, user C, and user D, and connected wirelessly or via wires to a learning model generation center 37. User A and User D are both individual users and use the ultrasonic thickness measuring device 100 of this embodiment. User B is a training gym and uses the ultrasonic thickness measuring device 200 to visually check abdominal muscles and fat thickness using a portable echo probe 43 and a laptop computer 44 having a learning model. User C is a health and medical institution and uses an ultrasonic thickness measuring device 300 consisting of an ultrasonic diagnostic device connected to a normal ultrasonic probe 45.

[0073] Data of tomographic images 30 acquired by each of users A, B, C, and D is sent to a learning model generation center 37. The learning model generation center 37 identifies the body tissues, i.e., muscle layers and fat layers, that are the subject of the collected data of each tomographic image 30, creates teacher image data 50 (FIG. 6(B) and FIG. 7(B)), and generates a learning model 27 and parameters for the identified body tissues. This is performed for the data of each transmitted tomographic image 30 to improve the accuracy of the learning model 27 and parameters. It can be said that the more data of the tomographic images 30 that are collected, the more accurate the learning model 27 becomes. Every time the parameters of the learning model 27 are updated and the accuracy is improved, the latest parameters are sent from the learning model generation center 37 to the tablet 25 or notebook computer on which the learning model 27 is installed, and the learning model 27 is updated.

[0074] Other Embodiments The ultrasonic thickness gage 100 according to the embodiment of the present invention is based on the configuration described above, but it is of course possible to modify or omit some of the configuration without departing from the gist of the present invention. (1) In the above embodiment, the ultrasonic probe 60 is described as having eight ultrasonic elements 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8, but the number is not limited to eight. Four ultrasonic elements, or less than eight, may be used to arrange four lines of tomographic image data. The number of ultrasonic elements may be more than eight, such as 16 or 32, as long as reception is performed by eight or less ultrasonic elements among them and the number of received signals is eight or less. (2) In the above embodiment, the ultrasonic probe 60 and the control unit 33 are configured to be wrapped around the abdomen of the body and fixed with the belt 13, but it is needless to say that this is not limited to this. The ultrasonic probe 60 may be a commonly used ultrasonic echo probe. (3) As a structure in which a plurality of ultrasonic elements are arranged in a plurality of rows, in addition to the above-mentioned two or three rows, they may be arranged in a matrix, for example, in a matrix of four columns by four rows. (4) Furthermore, the probe 60 of the third embodiment may perform three-dimensional convolution processing as the convolution processing of the machine learning. For example, the three-dimensional data may be 4x4x1024, and the convolution processing may be performed for each 3x3x3 data. (5) In the above embodiment, a structure in which the control unit 33 and the learning model 27 are separate has been described. However, a configuration in which the learning model 27 and the communication unit 23 are provided within the control unit 33 may also be used. [Explanation of symbols]

[0075] 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 ultrasonic element, 9 wiring, 10 housing part, 11 transmitting element, 12 receiving element, 13 belt, 14 base member, 15 drive pulse generating circuit, 16 transmission circuit, 17 signal processing circuit, 18 receiving circuit, 19 multiplexer, 20 microcontroller, 21 transmitting element, 22 receiving element, 23 communication unit, 24 A-mode image, 25 Tablet, 26 B-mode image, 27 Learning model, 28 Monitor, 30 tomographic image, 31 transmitting element, 32 receiving element, 33 control unit, 34 muscle layer thickness, 35 Subcutaneous fat thickness, 36 Skin surface, 37 Learning model generation center, 38 Visceral fat thickness, 39 Rectus abdominis muscle, 41 Transmitting element, 42 Receiving element, 43 Portable echo probe, 44 Laptop, 45 normal ultrasound probe, 50 teacher image data, 51 transmitting element, 52 receiving element, 60 ultrasonic probe, 61 transmitting element, 62 receiving element, 71 transmitting element, 72 receiving element, 81 transmitting element, 82 receiving element, 100 Ultrasonic thickness measuring device

Claims

1. An ultrasonic probe having eight or less ultrasonic elements arranged in multiple rows; a control unit for determining a thickness of a target body tissue from tomographic image data of the subject's body obtained based on each reception signal sequentially received by the ultrasonic elements; The control unit processes each of the received signals sequentially received by the ultrasonic elements to generate an A-mode image, and generates a B-mode image from the generated A-mode image; The tomographic image data is obtained by arranging the generated B-mode images in accordance with the arrangement of the ultrasonic elements. An ultrasonic thickness measuring device characterized by:

2. 2. The ultrasonic thickness measurement device according to claim 1, The plurality of rows is two rows, a first row group and a second row group, The number of the ultrasonic elements forming the first row group is equal to the number of the ultrasonic elements forming the second row group. An ultrasonic thickness measuring device characterized by:

3. 2. The ultrasonic thickness measurement device according to claim 1, the plurality of rows are three rows, i.e., a first row group, a second row group, and a third row group; The number of the ultrasonic elements forming the first row group is equal to the number of the ultrasonic elements forming the third row group. An ultrasonic thickness measuring device characterized by:

4. 4. The ultrasonic thickness measuring device according to claim 2, one row group constituting the plurality of rows and another row group adjacent to the one row group are positioned to be shifted in the row direction; An ultrasonic thickness measuring device characterized by:

5. An ultrasonic probe having eight or less ultrasonic elements arranged to surround a central position; a control unit for determining a thickness of a target body tissue from tomographic image data of the subject's body obtained based on each reception signal sequentially received by the ultrasonic elements; The control unit processes each of the received signals sequentially received by the ultrasonic elements to generate an A-mode image, and generates a B-mode image from the generated A-mode image; The tomographic image data is obtained by arranging the generated B-mode images in accordance with the arrangement of the ultrasonic elements. An ultrasonic thickness measuring device characterized by:

6. 6. The ultrasonic thickness measuring device according to claim 5, The ultrasonic elements are arranged to form a polygon as a whole. An ultrasonic thickness measuring device characterized by:

7. 6. The ultrasonic thickness measuring device according to claim 5, The ultrasonic elements are arranged to form a circle as a whole. An ultrasonic thickness measuring device characterized by:

8. 6. The ultrasonic thickness measuring device according to claim 5, The ultrasonic elements are arranged to form an inner group and an outer group as a whole. An ultrasonic thickness measuring device characterized by:

9. 6. The ultrasonic thickness measuring device according to claim 1, The ultrasonic probe includes a base member that is attachable to a body; The ultrasonic element is disposed on the base member. An ultrasonic thickness measuring device characterized by:

10. 10. The ultrasonic thickness measuring device according to claim 9, The control unit is A learning model having parameters for obtaining attribute information corresponding to the thickness of the target body tissue from input tomographic image data is accessible; using the tomographic image data of the subject's body as input image data, performing a process of obtaining attribute information corresponding to the thickness using the learning model, and obtaining the thickness from the obtained attribute information; An ultrasonic thickness measuring device characterized by:

11. The ultrasonic thickness measurement device according to claim 10, The learning model is tomographic image data based on the respective reception signals received by the ultrasonic elements from the target body tissue; Teacher image data corresponding to the tomographic image data and in a state in which the thickness can be obtained; a set of data is used as one set of data, and learning is performed on a plurality of sets of data to set parameters for obtaining attribute information corresponding to the thickness of the target body tissue from the input tomographic image data. An ultrasonic thickness measuring device characterized by:

12. 12. The ultrasonic thickness measuring device according to claim 10, The control unit is connected to the learning model via a wireless or wired communication unit, The learning model is capable of updating the parameters using new tomographic image data and teacher image data corresponding to the new tomographic image data. An ultrasonic thickness measuring device characterized by:

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