Ultrasound diagnostic device and method for controlling the ultrasound diagnostic device

Abstract

The present invention enables an excrement region in an ultrasonic image to be highlighted and displayed so as not to hinder a user from interpreting the ultrasonic image. In the ultrasonic diagnostic device and the method for controlling an ultrasonic diagnostic device according to the present invention, an excrement information detection unit performs detection processing for detecting an excrement region from an ultrasonic image. When an excrement region is detected, a highlight degree determination unit determines the highlight degree for the excrement region on the basis of determination conditions for determining the highlight degree of the excrement region. An excrement information display unit highlights and displays the excrement region in the ultrasonic image displayed on a monitor according to the highlight degree determined by the highlight degree determination unit.

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present invention relates to an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus having a function of detecting a fecal area in an ultrasonic image and highlighting the fecal area in the ultrasonic image displayed on a monitor, and a method for controlling the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus. [Background technology]

[0002] In recent years, it has been proposed to diagnose constipation using ultrasound images, including the evaluation of the presence or absence of stool and the nature of the stool, such as hard stool, loose stool, or normal stool.

[0003] For example, Patent Document 1 describes an ultrasound diagnostic device that performs image analysis on ultrasound images to evaluate constipation, such as whether the stool present in the subject's rectum is soft or hard, and displays the constipation evaluation results on a display unit. Furthermore, although not related to constipation, Patent Document 2 describes an interventional treatment system that displays the outer boundary contour of an object of interest, such as the prostate, of an image slice of a reference image data set corresponding to a current ultrasound image, superimposed on the current ultrasound image.

[0004] However, the diagnosis of constipation using ultrasound images has not yet been fully adopted as a diagnostic or examination method, and even experienced practitioners have difficulty interpreting stool images in ultrasound images. Furthermore, it is extremely difficult for inexperienced or unskilled practitioners to interpret ultrasound images themselves. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0005] [Patent Document 1] International Publication No. 2020 / 075449 [Patent Document 2] Patent No. 6745796 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0006] By analyzing ultrasound images to detect the fecal area and highlighting the fecal area in the ultrasound image displayed on the monitor, it is expected that this will be helpful for those who are inexperienced or unskilled in diagnosing constipation using ultrasound images when diagnosing constipation.

[0007] However, if the stool area of ​​the ultrasound image displayed on the monitor continues to be highlighted while the user (examiner) is scanning the examination area of ​​the subject in real time, it may actually interfere with the user's interpretation of the ultrasound image. In particular, in diagnosing constipation, the user determines the presence or absence of stool and its properties based on the difference in brightness between the stool area and its surrounding areas, so if the stool area continues to be highlighted, the user will not be able to confirm the presence or absence of stool and its properties.

[0008] Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide an ultrasound diagnostic device and a control method for an ultrasound diagnostic device that can highlight the fecal area in an ultrasound image so as not to interfere with the user's interpretation of the ultrasound image. [Means for solving the problem]

[0009] In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides an ultrasonic probe, The monitor and an image generating unit that generates an ultrasound image based on a received signal obtained by scanning an examination point of a subject with an ultrasound beam using an ultrasound probe; a display control unit that displays an ultrasound image on a monitor; a stool information detection unit that performs detection processing to detect a stool region from an ultrasound image; an emphasis degree determination unit that, when a feces region is detected, determines the emphasis degree of the feces region based on a determination condition for determining the emphasis degree of the feces region; The present invention provides an ultrasound diagnostic device comprising: a stool information display unit that highlights a stool region in an ultrasound image displayed on a monitor according to a degree of emphasis determined by an emphasis degree determination unit.

[0010] Here, it is preferable that the stool information detection unit detects the stool area from the ultrasound image using at least one of template matching, machine learning using image features, and a deep learning model.

[0011] Also, a motion amount detection unit is provided to detect the amount of motion of the ultrasound probe, It is preferable that the emphasis degree determination unit determines the emphasis degree based on the amount of motion.

[0012] Furthermore, it is preferable that the motion amount detector obtains, for each frame of the ultrasound image, a correlation value between the ultrasound image of the current frame and the ultrasound image of the previous frame immediately preceding the current frame as the motion amount.

[0013] Furthermore, it is preferable that the motion amount detection unit calculates, for each frame of the ultrasound image, the correlation value between the ultrasound image of the current frame and the ultrasound image of a previous frame that is a predetermined number of frames before the ultrasound image of the current frame as the motion amount.

[0014] Furthermore, it is preferable that the motion amount detection unit calculates, for each frame of the ultrasound image, the degree of overlap between the feces area of ​​the ultrasound image of the current frame and the feces area of ​​the ultrasound image of the previous frame one frame before the current frame as the motion amount.

[0015] Furthermore, it is preferable that the motion amount detection unit calculates, for each frame of the ultrasound image, the amount of motion between the ultrasound image of the current frame and the ultrasound image of the previous frame immediately before the current frame as the amount of motion of the ultrasound image of the current frame, and calculates, as the amount of motion, a statistical value obtained from a group of motion amounts consisting of the amounts of motion from the ultrasound image of the current frame to the ultrasound images of a predetermined number of previous frames.

[0016] Furthermore, the statistical value is preferably an average value calculated from the group of motion amounts, a weighted average value calculated from the group of motion amounts with a weight that increases as the time approaches the present from the past, or a median value calculated from the group of motion amounts.

[0017] It also has a motion amount memory that stores the amount of motion. The stool information detection unit performs a stool area detection process for each frame of the ultrasound image, It is preferable that the motion amount detection unit calculates the motion amount for each frame of the ultrasound image and stores it in a motion amount memory, and when a feces area is detected, reads out the motion amounts of the ultrasound images of a predetermined number of past frames from the motion amount memory, and calculates a statistical value from a group of motion amounts consisting of the motion amount of the ultrasound image of the current frame and the motion amounts of the ultrasound images of the past frames read out from the motion amount memory.

[0018] It also has a motion amount memory that stores the amount of motion. The stool information detection unit performs a stool area detection process for each frame of the ultrasound image, When a stool area is detected, it is preferable that the motion amount detection unit reads out the motion amounts of the ultrasound images of the past frames stored in the motion amount memory from the motion amount memory as a first motion amount if there is a motion amount of the ultrasound images of the past frames stored in the motion amount memory among the motion amounts of the ultrasound images of a predetermined number of past frames, and calculates the motion amount of the ultrasound images of the past frames not stored in the motion amount memory as a second motion amount if there is a motion amount of the ultrasound images of the past frames not stored in the motion amount memory, and further calculates the motion amount of the ultrasound image of the current frame as a third motion amount, stores the second motion amount and the third motion amount in the motion amount memory, and calculates a statistical value from a group of motion amounts consisting of the first motion amount, the second motion amount, and the third motion amount.

[0019] Preferably, the motion amount detector detects the amount of motion based on the result of motion detection by a motion sensor provided in the ultrasound probe.

[0020] The motion amount detection unit performs a binary determination based on the amount of motion to determine whether the ultrasound probe is moving or not, It is preferable that the enhancement degree determination unit determines the first enhancement degree from among two levels of enhancement degrees corresponding to the binary movement of the ultrasound probe, namely, a first enhancement degree and a second enhancement degree smaller than the first enhancement degree, when it is determined that there is movement, and determines the second enhancement degree when it is determined that there is no movement.

[0021] The motion amount detection unit performs a multi-value determination to detect the motion of the ultrasound probe as three or more values ​​based on the amount of motion; The enhancement degree determination unit preferably determines the enhancement degree to be a level corresponding to the determination result of the multi-level determination from among multiple levels of enhancement degrees corresponding to the multi-level movement of the ultrasound probe.

[0022] Furthermore, when the judgment result of the multi-value judgment changes, it is preferable that the emphasis degree determination unit changes the emphasis degree in the ultrasound image of the frame immediately after the judgment result of the multi-value judgment changes to an emphasis degree of a stage corresponding to the judgment result of the multi-value judgment after the change.

[0023] Furthermore, when the judgment result of the multi-value judgment changes by two or more values, it is preferable that the emphasis degree determination unit gradually changes the emphasis degree in ultrasound images of multiple frames after the judgment result of the multi-value judgment changes from an emphasis degree corresponding to the judgment result of the multi-value judgment before the change to an emphasis degree corresponding to the judgment result of the multi-value judgment after the change.

[0024] In addition, it is preferable that the enhancement degree determination unit performs an identity determination to determine whether the fecal areas of the ultrasound images of adjacent frames are the same fecal area, and determines the enhancement degree based on the continuous display time of the fecal areas determined to be the same.

[0025] It is also preferable that the emphasis degree determining unit determines the emphasis degree based on the area of ​​the feces region.

[0026] In addition, it is preferable that the stool information display unit creates a mask that fills the stool area with a predetermined display color, changes the transparency of the display color depending on the degree of emphasis, and displays the mask with the changed transparency superimposed on the stool area.

[0027] In addition, it is preferable that the stool information display unit creates a contour line by detecting the contour of the stool area, changes the thickness of the contour line or the transparency of the display color depending on the degree of emphasis, and displays the contour line with the changed thickness or transparency superimposed on the contour of the stool area.

[0028] In addition, when the degree of emphasis is above a threshold, the stool information display unit preferably creates a mask that fills the stool area with a predetermined display color and displays the mask superimposed on the stool area, and when the degree of emphasis is below the threshold, creates a contour line by detecting the contour of the stool area and displays the contour line superimposed on the contour of the stool area.

[0029] It is also preferable that the feces information display unit highlights the feces area by thinning out the frames to be highlighted in accordance with the degree of highlighting.

[0030] The stool information detection unit further performs a detection process to detect stool properties in the stool region from the ultrasound image, When the stool properties are detected, the stool information display unit preferably changes the display color of the highlighted stool area according to the stool properties.

[0031] The stool information detection unit detects a statistic value of brightness within the stool area for each frame of the ultrasound image, and obtains a first comparison result by comparing the statistic value of brightness within the stool area with a threshold value, and detects the stool properties based on the first comparison result in one or more frames of the ultrasound image, or It is preferable that the stool information detection unit detects the brightness ratio between the statistical value of brightness within the stool area and the statistical value of brightness within a specified area surrounding the stool area for each frame of the ultrasound image, obtains a second comparison result by comparing the brightness ratio with a threshold, and detects the stool characteristics based on the second comparison result in one frame or multiple frames of the ultrasound image.

[0032] In addition, it is preferable that the stool information detection unit detects the stool area using a deep learning model.

[0033] In addition, it is preferable that the enhancement degree determination unit performs an identity determination to determine whether the stool areas of the ultrasound images of adjacent frames are the same stool area, and temporarily increases the enhancement degree when the detection result of the stool properties of the stool areas determined to be the same changes.

[0034] It is also preferable that the stool information display unit displays the detection results of the stool properties as text information on the monitor.

[0035] It is also preferable that the emphasis degree determination unit changes the emphasis degree in response to an instruction from the user.

[0036] The display device also has at least two operation modes among a first operation mode in which the feces area is not highlighted, a second operation mode in which the feces area is highlighted at a predetermined highlighting level regardless of the determination condition, and a third operation mode in which the highlighting level is determined based on the determination condition and the feces area is highlighted, It is preferable to provide a mode switching unit that switches between at least two operation modes in response to an instruction from a user.

[0037] The present invention also provides a method for detecting an ultrasound wave, the method comprising: generating an ultrasound image based on a received signal obtained by scanning an examination point of a subject with an ultrasound beam using an ultrasound probe; a step in which a display control unit causes an ultrasound image to be displayed on a monitor; a step in which a stool information detection unit performs a detection process for detecting a stool area from an ultrasound image; a step in which an emphasis degree determination unit determines, when a feces region is detected, an emphasis degree of the feces region based on a determination condition for determining an emphasis degree of the feces region; The present invention provides a method for controlling an ultrasound diagnostic device, which includes a step in which a stool information display unit highlights the stool area in the ultrasound image displayed on the monitor according to the degree of emphasis determined in the step of determining the degree of emphasis of the stool area. [Effects of the Invention]

[0038] In the present invention, the feces region is highlighted in the ultrasound image displayed on the monitor according to the degree of emphasis determined based on the conditions for determining the degree of emphasis. Therefore, when the degree of emphasis is determined to be large according to the conditions, the user can easily grasp the feces region in the ultrasound image, and when the degree of emphasis is determined to be small, the user can interpret the ultrasound image without being hindered by the highlighting. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0039] [Figure 1] 1 is a block diagram illustrating the configuration of an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 2] FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a transmission / reception circuit according to an embodiment. [Figure 3] FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of an image generating unit according to an embodiment. [Figure 4] FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a feces processing section according to an embodiment. [Figure 5] 4 is a flowchart illustrating an embodiment of the operation of the ultrasound diagnostic apparatus in the first operation mode. [Figure 6] 10 is a flowchart illustrating an embodiment of the operation of the ultrasound diagnostic apparatus in the second operation mode. [Figure 7] 10 is a flowchart illustrating an embodiment of the operation of the ultrasound diagnostic apparatus in the third operation mode. [Figure 8] 10 is a flowchart illustrating an embodiment of the operation of an ultrasound diagnostic apparatus when calculating statistical values ​​from a group of motion amounts of ultrasound images of a plurality of frames. [Figure 9]10 is a flowchart illustrating another embodiment of the operation of an ultrasound diagnostic apparatus when a statistical value is obtained from a group of motion amounts of ultrasound images of a plurality of frames. [Figure 10A] FIG. 10 is a conceptual diagram of one embodiment showing a display screen on a monitor of an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus when the transmittance of a mask is reduced according to the degree of enhancement. [Figure 10B] FIG. 10 is a conceptual diagram of one embodiment showing a display screen on a monitor of an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus when the transmittance of a mask is increased according to the degree of enhancement. [Figure 11A] FIG. 10 is a conceptual diagram illustrating an embodiment of a display screen on a monitor of an ultrasound diagnostic apparatus when the thickness of a contour line is increased according to the degree of enhancement. [Figure 11B] FIG. 10 is a conceptual diagram illustrating an embodiment of a display screen on a monitor of an ultrasound diagnostic apparatus when the thickness of a contour line is thinned according to the degree of enhancement. [Figure 12A] FIG. 10 is a conceptual diagram illustrating an embodiment of a display screen on a monitor of an ultrasound diagnostic apparatus when the display form of highlighting is changed to masking according to the degree of highlighting. [Figure 12B] FIG. 10 is a conceptual diagram illustrating an embodiment of a display screen on a monitor of an ultrasound diagnostic device when the highlighting display format is changed to a contour line according to the degree of highlighting. [Figure 13] FIG. 10 is a conceptual diagram of one embodiment showing a display screen of a monitor of an ultrasound diagnostic device when the detection result of stool characteristics is displayed as text information. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0040] DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus and the method for controlling the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus of the present invention will be described in detail below based on preferred embodiments shown in the accompanying drawings.

[0041] Fig. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an embodiment of an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to the present invention. The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus shown in Fig. 1 is a stationary ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, and includes an ultrasonic probe 1 and an apparatus main body 3 connected to the ultrasonic probe 1.

[0042] The ultrasonic probe 1 scans an examination location of a subject with an ultrasonic beam and outputs sound ray signals corresponding to an ultrasound image of the examination location. As shown in Fig. 1, the ultrasonic probe 1 includes a transducer array 11, a transmission / reception circuit 14, and a motion sensor 12. The transducer array 11 and the transmission / reception circuit 14 are bidirectionally connected. The transmission / reception circuit 14 and the motion sensor 15 are also connected to a device control unit 36 ​​of the device main body 3, which will be described later.

[0043] The transducer array 11 has a plurality of ultrasound transducers arranged one-dimensionally or two-dimensionally. Each of these transducers transmits ultrasound waves in accordance with a drive signal supplied from the transmission / reception circuit 14, and receives reflected waves from the subject and outputs an analog reception signal. Each vibrator is constructed using an element in which electrodes are formed on both ends of a piezoelectric body made of, for example, a piezoelectric ceramic such as PZT (Lead Zirconate Titanate), a polymer piezoelectric element such as PVDF (Poly Vinylidene Di Fluoride), or a piezoelectric single crystal such as PMN-PT (Lead Magnesium Niobate-Lead Titanate).

[0044] The transmission / reception circuit 14, under the control of the device control unit 36, causes the transducer array 11 to transmit ultrasonic waves and generates sound ray signals by performing reception focusing processing on reception signals output from the transducer array 11 that have received ultrasonic echoes. As shown in Fig. 2, the transmission / reception circuit 14 has a pulser 51 connected to the transducer array 11, and an amplifier 52, an AD (Analog-to-Digital) converter 53, and a beamformer 54 that are connected in series from the transducer array 11 in this order.

[0045] The pulser 51 includes, for example, a plurality of pulse generators, and adjusts the delay amount of each drive signal and supplies it to the plurality of transducers in the transducer array 11 so that the ultrasonic waves transmitted from the plurality of transducers form an ultrasonic beam based on the transmission delay pattern selected by the device control unit 36. In this way, when a pulsed or continuous wave voltage is applied to the electrodes of the transducers in the transducer array 11, the piezoelectric material expands and contracts, and pulsed or continuous wave ultrasonic waves are generated from each transducer, and an ultrasonic beam is formed from the composite wave of these ultrasonic waves.

[0046] The transmitted ultrasonic beam is reflected by an object such as a part of the subject, and propagates toward the transducer array 11 of the ultrasonic probe 1. Each transducer constituting the transducer array 11 expands and contracts upon receiving the ultrasonic echo propagating toward the transducer array 11 in this manner, generating received signals which are electrical signals, and outputs these received signals to the amplifier unit 52.

[0047] The amplifier 52 amplifies the signals input from the respective transducers constituting the transducer array 11 and transmits the amplified signals to the AD converter 53. The AD converter 53 converts the analog signals transmitted from the amplifier 52 into digital received data and outputs the received data to the beamformer 54.

[0048] The beam former 54 performs so-called reception focusing processing by delaying and adding each piece of reception data converted by the AD conversion unit 53 according to the sound speed or sound speed distribution set based on the reception delay pattern selected by the device control unit 36. By this reception focusing processing, each piece of reception data converted by the AD conversion unit 53 is phased and added, and a sound ray signal in which the focus of the ultrasonic echo is narrowed is generated.

[0049] The motion sensor 12 detects the movement of the ultrasonic probe 1 .

[0050] Next, the device main body 3 generates an ultrasound image of the examination location of the subject based on the sound ray signals generated by the ultrasound probe 1, and displays the ultrasound image of the examination location of the subject. As shown in Fig. 1, the device main body 3 includes an image generation unit 31, an image memory 32, a stool processing unit 35, a movement amount memory 38, a display control unit 33, a monitor (display unit) 34, an input device 37, and a device control unit 36.

[0051] The image generating unit 31 is connected to the transmitting / receiving circuit 14, and the image generating unit 31 is sequentially connected to a display control unit 33 and a monitor 34. The image generating unit 31 is also connected to an image memory 32 and a feces processing unit 35, respectively, and the image memory 32 and the feces processing unit 35 are connected to the display control unit 33. The feces processing unit 35 is bidirectionally connected to a movement amount memory 38. The image generating unit 31, the display control unit 33, the image memory 32, and the feces processing unit 35 are connected to a device control unit 36, and the device control unit 36 ​​is connected to an input device 37.

[0052] The image generating unit 31 generates an ultrasound image (ultrasound image signal) of the examination location of the subject under the control of the device control unit 36, based on received signals obtained by scanning the examination location of the subject with an ultrasound beam using the ultrasound probe 1 (more strictly, the transducer array 11), and further based on sound ray signals generated from the received signals by the transmission / reception circuit 14. As shown in Fig. 3, the image generating unit 31 has a configuration in which a signal processing unit 16, a DSC (Digital Scan Converter) 18, and an image processing unit 17 are connected in series.

[0053] The signal processing unit 16 generates image information data corresponding to an ultrasound image based on the sound ray signals generated by the transmitting / receiving circuit 14. More specifically, the signal processing unit 16 performs signal processing on the sound ray signals generated by the beam former 54 of the transmitting / receiving circuit 14, for example, performs correction for attenuation caused by the propagation distance in accordance with the depth of the position where the ultrasound is reflected, and then performs envelope detection processing to generate image information data representing tomographic image information regarding tissue within the subject.

[0054] The DSC 18 raster-converts the image information data generated by the signal processing unit 16 into an image signal that conforms to the scanning method of a normal television signal.

[0055] The image processing unit 17 performs various image processing on the image signal input from the DSC 18, such as brightness correction, tone correction, sharpness correction, image size correction, refresh rate correction, scanning frequency correction, and color correction in accordance with the display format of the monitor 34, to generate an ultrasound image (ultrasound image signal), and outputs the processed ultrasound image to the image memory 32, the bowel processing unit 35, and the display control unit 33.

[0056] The image memory 32 is a memory that stores a series of multiple frames of ultrasound images (ultrasound image signals) generated by the image generating unit 31 for each examination under the control of the device control unit .

[0057] The movement amount memory 38 is a memory that stores the amount of movement of the ultrasonic probe 1, for example, for each frame of an ultrasonic image, under the control of the stool processing unit 35.

[0058] The display control unit 33 displays various types of information on the monitor 34 under the control of the device control unit 36. The display control unit 33 performs predetermined processing on, for example, the ultrasound image generated by the image generation unit 31 or the ultrasound image stored in the image memory 32, and displays the processed ultrasound image on the monitor 34.

[0059] The monitor 34 displays various types of information under the control of the display control unit 33. The monitor 34 displays, for example, ultrasound images, etc. Examples of the monitor 34 include an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) and an organic EL (Electro-Luminescence) display.

[0060] The input device 37 receives various instructions input by a user (examiner) of the ultrasound diagnostic device. The input device 37 is not particularly limited, but may include various buttons, a voice input device for inputting various instructions using voice recognition, and a touch panel for the user to input various instructions by performing touch operations on a GUI (Graphical User Interface) screen displayed on the monitor 34.

[0061] The device control unit 36 ​​controls each part of the ultrasonic probe 1 and the device main body 3 based on a pre-stored program and user instructions input from the input device 37, etc.

[0062] The feces processing unit 35 performs various processes for highlighting the feces area in the ultrasound image under the control of the device control unit 36. As shown in FIG. 4, the feces processing unit 35 has a feces information detection unit 41, a movement amount detection unit 44, an emphasis degree determination unit 42, a feces information display unit 43, and a mode switching unit 46.

[0063] The stool information detection unit 41 is connected to the image generation unit 31. The emphasis degree determination unit 42 is connected to both the stool information detection unit 41 and the movement amount detection unit 44. The emphasis degree determination unit 42 is connected to the stool information display unit 43, which is connected to the display control unit 33. The movement amount detection unit 44 is bidirectionally connected to the movement amount memory 38. Although not shown in the figure, the mode switching unit 46 is connected to each unit of the stool processing unit 35.

[0064] The stool information detection unit 41 detects various pieces of information related to stool from the ultrasound image by analyzing the ultrasound image. The stool information detection unit 41 performs a detection process for detecting a stool area, which is an area where stool is present, from the ultrasound image, for example. In addition to detecting the stool area, the stool information detection unit 41 also performs a detection process for detecting the stool properties of the stool area from the ultrasound image as a result of the stool area detection process.

[0065] The method for detecting the stool area is not particularly limited, but the stool information detection unit 41 can detect the stool area from the ultrasound image using, for example, at least one of template matching, machine learning using image features, and a deep learning model.

[0066] When detecting a stool area from an ultrasound image using template matching, the stool information detection unit 41 prepares multiple templates with different sizes, shapes, textures, etc. within the region of interest, and raster scans the ultrasound image using each of the multiple templates to detect as a stool area an area whose correlation value with the template is above a predetermined threshold.

[0067] When detecting a stool area from an ultrasound image using machine learning that utilizes image features, the stool information detection unit 41 prepares multiple training images that include anatomical structures and stool areas, converts the area of ​​interest into a feature vector (image quantization), and performs machine learning using machine learning algorithms such as Adaboost (Adaptive Boosting) and SVM (Support Vector Machine) to detect the stool area from the ultrasound image.

[0068] When the stool information detection unit 41 detects a stool area from an ultrasound image using a deep learning model, it prepares a large number of teacher images including anatomical structures and stool areas, and uses the large number of teacher images to create a deep learning model that learns the relationship between the teacher images and the stool area in the teacher images from the large number of teacher images, and then uses this deep learning model to detect the stool area from the ultrasound image.

[0069] When detecting a stool area from an ultrasound image using a deep learning model, the stool information detection unit 41 may use the deep learning model to detect only the stool area from the ultrasound image, or may detect the stool area and the probability that this stool area is a stool area. When detecting only the feces area, the feces information detection unit 41 detects the feces area as a rectangular area using, for example, a deep learning model.

[0070] When detecting the feces area and the probability that this feces area is a feces area, the feces information detection unit 41 detects the feces area as a rectangular area for each frame of the ultrasound image using, for example, a deep learning model, and detects the position of the feces area and the probability that this feces area is a feces area.The feces information detection unit 41 then compares the probability statistics of multiple frames of the ultrasound image, such as the average, weighted average, or median, with a threshold to detect whether the feces area is an area where feces actually exists.For example, the feces information detection unit 41 detects that the feces area is a feces area when the statistical value of the probability that it is a feces area is equal to or greater than a threshold.

[0071] Alternatively, the stool information detection unit 41 may use a deep learning model to detect, for each pixel of the ultrasound image, the probability that the pixel is a stool pixel. In this case, the stool information detection unit 41, for example, uses a deep learning model to detect, for each frame of the ultrasound image and for each pixel of the ultrasound image, the probability that the pixel is a stool pixel, and compares the probability of being a stool pixel with a threshold to detect whether the pixel is a stool pixel. The stool information detection unit 41 detects that the pixel is a stool pixel, for example, if the probability is equal to or greater than the threshold. Then, the stool information detection unit 41 detects a collection (clump) of multiple pixels detected as stool pixels as a stool region.

[0072] As described above, when detecting a fecal area from ultrasound images of multiple frames, it is desirable that the fecal information detection unit 41 performs an identity determination to determine whether the fecal areas in ultrasound images of adjacent frames are the same fecal area, and then performs processing on the same fecal area.

[0073] The method of determining whether the feces areas are the same is not particularly limited, but the feces information detection unit 41 can, for example, determine an evaluation index based on the IoU (Intersection over Union) of the feces areas in the ultrasound images of adjacent frames, i.e., the degree of overlap of the feces areas in the ultrasound images between frames, and compare this evaluation index with a threshold to determine whether the feces areas are the same. For example, the feces information detection unit 41 determines that the feces areas are the same when the evaluation index is equal to or greater than the threshold.

[0074] The method for detecting the stool properties is not particularly limited, but the stool information detection unit 41 can detect the stool properties of the stool area, for example, based on the brightness value of the stool area or by using a deep learning model.

[0075] When detecting stool properties based on the brightness value of the stool area, the stool information detection unit 41, for example, detects the stool area from an ultrasound image, detects a statistical value of brightness within the stool area, such as the average, weighted average, or median, for each frame of the ultrasound image, obtains a first comparison result by comparing the statistical value of brightness within the stool area with a threshold, and detects stool properties based on the first comparison result for one or more frames of ultrasound image. For example, if the statistical value of brightness is equal to or greater than a first threshold, it is detected as hard stool; if it is equal to or greater than a second threshold that is smaller than the first threshold and less than the first threshold, it is detected as normal stool; and if it is less than the second threshold, it is detected as loose stool.

[0076] Alternatively, the stool information detection unit 41 may detect a stool area from the ultrasound image for each frame of the ultrasound image, detect a brightness ratio between the statistical value of brightness within the stool area and the statistical value of brightness within a specified area surrounding the stool area, obtain a second comparison result by comparing the brightness ratio with a threshold, and detect the stool condition based on the second comparison result for one or more frames of the ultrasound image. Similarly, if the brightness ratio is equal to or greater than a first threshold, it is determined to be hard stool; if it is equal to or greater than a second threshold that is smaller than the first threshold and less than the first threshold, it is determined to be normal stool; and if it is less than the second threshold, it is determined to be loose stool.

[0077] When detecting stool characteristics using a deep learning model, the stool information detection unit 41 may detect, as the stool characteristics, the probability that the stool area is each class of stool characteristics, for example, the probability that it is hard stool, soft stool, normal stool, or background, or may detect, for each pixel of the ultrasound image, the probability that the pixel is each class of stool characteristics.

[0078] When detecting the probability that a stool area corresponds to each stool property class, the stool information detection unit 41 uses a deep learning model to detect the stool area as, for example, a rectangular area and detects the probability that this stool area corresponds to each stool property class.The stool information detection unit 41 then detects the class with the highest probability among the stool property classes as the stool property of that stool area.

[0079] When detecting the probability that each pixel in an ultrasound image belongs to a stool property class, the stool information detection unit 41 uses a deep learning model to detect, for example, the probability that each pixel in an ultrasound image belongs to a stool property class, and detects the stool property class with the highest probability as the class of that pixel. Next, the stool information detection unit 41 detects a collection (clump) of multiple pixels detected as stool pixels based on the pixel class as a stool region. In this case, multiple pixels of different classes may be mixed in one stool region. Accordingly, the stool information detection unit 41 calculates the total area of ​​each stool property class, and detects the class with the largest total area as the stool property of that stool region.

[0080] The motion amount detector 44 detects the amount of motion of the ultrasound probe 1 when performing a scan.

[0081] The method for detecting the amount of movement is not particularly limited, but the movement amount detection unit 44 can detect the amount of movement of the ultrasonic probe 1 based on, for example, at least one of the analysis results of the ultrasonic image and the movement detection results by the motion sensor 12 provided in the ultrasonic probe 1.

[0082] When a feces area is detected from an ultrasound image as a result of the feces area detection process, the emphasis degree determination unit 42 determines (changes) the emphasis degree of the feces area when it is highlighted based on the determination conditions for determining (changing) the emphasis degree of this feces area.

[0083] The conditions for determining the degree of enhancement are not particularly limited, but may be, for example, at least one of the amount of movement of the ultrasound probe 1, the continuous display time of the same fecal area (the number of frames in which the same fecal area is continuously displayed), and the area of ​​the fecal area. The conversion of the amount of movement of the ultrasound probe 1, the continuous display time of the same stool area, and the area of ​​the stool area into the degree of emphasis of the stool area can be performed, for example, by preparing an LUT (Look Up Table) or a conversion formula in advance and using this LUT or conversion formula.

[0084] When the condition for determining the enhancement degree is the amount of movement of the ultrasound probe 1, the enhancement degree determining unit 42 determines the enhancement degree of the feces region based on the amount of movement of the ultrasound probe 1. It is considered that the user is searching for feces when the amount of movement of the ultrasound probe 1 is large. Therefore, the enhancement degree determination unit 42 increases the enhancement degree of the feces area as the amount of movement of the ultrasound probe 1 increases, so that the user can easily recognize the feces area. On the other hand, it is considered that the user is aware of the feces region when the amount of movement of the ultrasound probe 1 is small. Therefore, the enhancement degree determination unit 42 reduces the enhancement degree of the feces region as the amount of movement of the ultrasound probe 1 decreases, so as not to interfere with the user's interpretation of the ultrasound image.

[0085] When the condition for determining the degree of emphasis is the continuous display time of the same fecal area, the emphasis degree determination unit 42 performs the above-mentioned determination of the identity of the fecal areas and determines the degree of emphasis of the fecal areas based on the continuous display time of the fecal areas determined to be identical. A long continuous display time of the feces area means that the feces area in adjacent frames is not moving and is determined to be the same for a long time (the number of frames is large), that is, the amount of movement of the ultrasound probe 1 is small for a long time. If the continuous display time of the feces area is short, it is considered that the user is likely not yet able to fully grasp the feces area. Therefore, the emphasis degree determination unit 42 increases the emphasis degree of the feces area according to the continuous display time of the feces area, the shorter the continuous display time of the feces area, so that the user can easily grasp the feces area. On the other hand, if the continuous display time of the feces region is long, it is considered that the user has already recognized the feces region. Therefore, the emphasis degree determination unit 42 decreases the emphasis degree of the feces region according to the continuous display time of the feces region, as the continuous display time of the feces region becomes longer, so as not to interfere with the user's interpretation of the ultrasound image.

[0086] When the condition for determining the degree of emphasis is the area of ​​the feces region, the emphasis degree determination unit 42 determines the degree of emphasis of the feces region based on the area of ​​the feces region. If the area of ​​the feces area is small, the user may overlook the feces area. Therefore, the emphasis degree determination unit 42 increases the emphasis degree of the feces area according to the area of ​​the feces area, the smaller the area of ​​the feces area, so that the user can easily recognize the feces area. On the other hand, if the area of ​​the feces region is large, the user can easily recognize the feces region. Therefore, the enhancement degree determination unit 42 reduces the enhancement degree of the feces region according to the area of ​​the feces region, as the area of ​​the feces region increases, so as not to interfere with the user's interpretation of the ultrasound image.

[0087] The emphasis degree determining unit 42 can also change the emphasis degree of the feces area in response to an instruction from the user, regardless of the conditions for determining the emphasis degree.

[0088] The stool information display unit 43, under the control of the display control unit 33, displays various pieces of information related to stool on the monitor 34. For example, the stool information display unit 43 highlights the stool area in the ultrasound image displayed on the monitor 34 according to the emphasis degree determined (changed) by the emphasis degree determination unit 42.

[0089] The method for highlighting the feces area is not particularly limited, but the feces information display unit 43 may, for example, detect the contour of the feces area to create a contour line and display the contour line superimposed on the contour of the feces area. Alternatively, the feces information display unit 43 may create a mask by filling the feces area with a predetermined display color and display the mask superimposed on the feces area. Furthermore, the feces information display unit 43 may highlight the feces area using both the mask and the contour line.

[0090] The ultrasound diagnostic device has at least two operating modes: a first operating mode in which the fecal area is not highlighted; a second operating mode in which the fecal area is highlighted with a predetermined emphasis level regardless of the conditions for determining the emphasis level; and a third operating mode in which the emphasis level is determined (changed) based on the conditions for determining the emphasis level and the fecal area is highlighted. The mode switching unit 46 switches to one of the at least two operation modes described above in response to an instruction from the user input using, for example, a GUI or voice recognition.

[0091] The image generating unit 31, the feces processing unit 35, the display control unit 33, and the device control unit 36 ​​are configured by a processor 39.

[0092] Next, the operation of the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus in the first operation mode will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

[0093] In this case, first, with the ultrasonic probe 1 in contact with the examination location of the subject, the transmission / reception circuit 14 starts transmitting ultrasonic waves under the control of the device control unit 36, and a sound ray signal is generated (step S1).

[0094] That is, in accordance with the drive signal from the pulser 51, ultrasonic beams are transmitted from the plurality of transducers of the transducer array 11 to the examination location of the subject. The ultrasonic echo from the inspection point based on the ultrasonic beam transmitted from the pulser 51 is received by each transducer of the transducer array 11, and a received signal, which is an analog signal, is output from each transducer of the transducer array 11 that receives the ultrasonic echo. The received signal output from each transducer of the transducer array 11 is amplified by the amplifier 52 and AD converted by the AD converter 53 to obtain received data. The beamformer 54 performs reception focus processing on this reception data, thereby generating sound ray signals.

[0095] Next, under the control of the device control unit 36, the image generation unit 31 generates an ultrasound image (ultrasound image signal) of the examination point of the subject based on the sound ray signal generated by the beamformer 54 of the transmission / reception circuit 14 (step S2).

[0096] That is, the sound ray signals generated by the beam former 54 are subjected to various signal processing by the signal processing unit 16, and image information data representing tomographic image information relating to tissues within the subject is generated. The image information data generated by the signal processing unit 16 is raster converted by the DSC 18, and then subjected to various image processing by the image processing unit 17, thereby generating an ultrasound image (ultrasound image signal). The ultrasound image generated by the image processing unit 17 is stored in the image memory 32.

[0097] Next, under the control of the device control unit 36, the display control unit 33 performs predetermined processing on the ultrasound image generated by the image processing unit 17 or the ultrasound image stored in the image memory 32, and displays it on the monitor 34 (step S3).

[0098] Next, the operation of the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus in the second operation mode will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.

[0099] In this case, first, the image generator 31 generates an ultrasound image for each frame of the ultrasound image, and stores the image in the image memory 32 (step S11).

[0100] Next, the feces information detection unit 41 analyzes the ultrasound image and performs a detection process to detect a feces area from the ultrasound image (step S12).

[0101] As a result, if a feces region is not detected from the ultrasound image (No in step S13), the process returns to step S11, and the feces region detection process is repeated until a feces region is detected from the ultrasound image.

[0102] On the other hand, if a feces region is detected from the ultrasound image (Yes in step S13), the enhancement degree determination unit 42 determines a predetermined enhancement degree regardless of the enhancement degree determination conditions (step S14). That is, in the second operation mode, the enhancement degree determination unit 42 does not change the enhancement degree of the feces region from the predetermined enhancement degree even if the enhancement degree determination conditions change.

[0103] Then, under the control of the display control unit 33, the feces information display unit 43 highlights the feces area at a predetermined emphasis level in the ultrasound image displayed on the monitor 34 (step S15). Thereafter, the process returns to step S11, and the above-described operations are repeated for each frame of the ultrasound image.

[0104] In this way, in the ultrasound diagnostic device, in the second operating mode, the feces area is highlighted in the ultrasound image displayed on the monitor 34, allowing the user to easily identify the feces area in the ultrasound image.

[0105] Next, the operation of the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus in the third operation mode will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.

[0106] In this case, the operations from steps S21 to S23 are the same as the operations from steps S11 to S13 in the flowchart of FIG.

[0107] If the result of the feces area detection process is that a feces area is not detected from the ultrasound image (No in step S23), the process returns to step S21, and the feces area detection process is repeated until a feces area is detected from the ultrasound image.

[0108] On the other hand, if a feces region is detected from the ultrasound image (Yes in step S23), the enhancement degree determination unit 42 determines the enhancement degree based on the enhancement degree determination conditions (step S24). That is, in the third operation mode, if the enhancement degree determination conditions change, the enhancement degree determination unit 42 changes the enhancement degree of the feces region based on the enhancement degree determination conditions.

[0109] Then, under the control of the display control unit 33, the stool information display unit 43 highlights the stool area in the ultrasound image displayed on the monitor 34 according to the degree of emphasis determined (changed) based on the conditions for determining the degree of emphasis (step S25). Thereafter, the process returns to step S21, and the above-described operations are repeated for each frame of the ultrasound image.

[0110] Thus, in the ultrasound diagnostic device, in the third operation mode, the feces region is highlighted in the ultrasound image displayed on the monitor 34 according to the degree of emphasis determined (changed) based on the determination conditions for the degree of emphasis. Therefore, when the degree of emphasis is determined to be large in accordance with the determination conditions, the user can easily grasp the feces region in the ultrasound image, and when the degree of emphasis is determined to be small, the user can interpret the ultrasound image without being hindered by the highlighting.

[0111] Next, a method for detecting the amount of movement of the ultrasonic probe 1 based on the analysis results of the ultrasonic image will be described with a specific example.

[0112] For example, the motion amount detection unit 44 can determine, for each frame of an ultrasound image, the correlation value of the ultrasound images between adjacent frames, i.e., the correlation value between the ultrasound image of the current frame and the ultrasound image of the frame immediately preceding the current frame, as the amount of motion of the ultrasound images between adjacent frames, i.e., the amount of motion of the ultrasound probe 1. The motion amount detection unit 44 detects that the larger the correlation value, the smaller the amount of motion of the ultrasound probe 1, and vice versa. In other words, the magnitude relationship between the correlation value and the amount of motion of the ultrasound probe 1 is inverse. In this case, assuming that the current frame is n, the motion amount detector 44 calculates the correlation value between the ultrasound image of the nth frame and the ultrasound image of the (n-1)th frame. The method for calculating the correlation value is not particularly limited, but for example, the correlation value can be calculated by performing a normalized cross-correlation calculation. Alternatively, the correlation value may be calculated by calculating the optical flow of ultrasound images between adjacent frames.

[0113] Alternatively, the motion amount detection unit 44 may obtain, for each frame of the ultrasound image, the correlation value between the ultrasound image of the current frame and the ultrasound image of a previous frame that is a predetermined number of frames before the ultrasound image of the current frame, for example, five frames, as the motion amount of the ultrasound probe 1. In this case, assuming that the current frame is n, the motion amount detector 44 calculates the correlation value between the ultrasound image of the nth frame and the ultrasound image of the (n-5)th frame. Depending on the frame rate, the correlation value of ultrasound images between adjacent frames may become too large, making it difficult to accurately calculate the amount of movement of the ultrasound probe 1. In contrast, by calculating the correlation value of ultrasound images between frames separated by a predetermined number of frames, the amount of movement of the ultrasound probe 1 can be calculated more accurately.

[0114] The motion amount detection unit 44 may determine, for each frame of an ultrasound image, the degree of overlap between the feces area of ​​the ultrasound image of the current frame and the feces area of ​​the ultrasound image of the frame immediately preceding the current frame as the motion amount of the ultrasound probe 1. The motion amount detection unit 44 detects that the greater the degree of overlap of the feces area, the smaller the motion amount of the ultrasound probe 1, and vice versa.

[0115] The method for calculating the degree of overlap is not particularly limited, but the motion amount detection unit 44 can, for example, obtain the evaluation index based on IoU described above as the degree of overlap of the fecal area in the ultrasound image between frames. Note that the correlation value of the fecal area and the degree of overlap of the fecal area can be treated equally as the amount of motion of the ultrasound probe 1.

[0116] Furthermore, the motion amount detection unit 44 may determine, for each frame of the ultrasound image, the amount of motion between the ultrasound image of the current frame and the ultrasound image of the previous frame immediately before the current frame as the amount of motion of the ultrasound image of the current frame, and may determine, as the amount of motion of the ultrasound probe 1, a statistical value determined from a group of motion amounts consisting of the amounts of motion from the ultrasound image of the current frame to ultrasound images of a predetermined number of previous frames, for example, a statistical value determined from a group of motion amounts of ultrasound images for 10 frames. In this case, assuming that the current frame is n, the motion amount detection unit 44 calculates the amount of motion between the ultrasound image of the nth frame and the ultrasound image of the (n-1)th frame, and calculates statistical values ​​from the group of motion amounts of the ultrasound images for 10 frames from the nth frame to the (n-9)th frame. When the degree of emphasis of the feces area is changed by calculating the amount of movement of ultrasound images between adjacent frames, for example, by changing the transparency of the display color of the feces area, the degree of emphasis of the feces area may change frequently, making it difficult to see. In contrast, by calculating the amount of movement of the ultrasound probe 1 as a statistical value obtained from a group of amounts of movement of ultrasound images of multiple frames, the amount of movement of the ultrasound probe 1 can be calculated more accurately, and frequent changes in the degree of emphasis of the feces area can be prevented.

[0117] The statistical value is not particularly limited, but examples include an average value obtained from a group of movement amounts, a weighted average value obtained from a group of movement amounts with a larger weight the closer it is to the present from the past, or a median value obtained from a group of movement amounts.

[0118] When calculating statistical values ​​from a group of motion amounts of ultrasound images of multiple frames, the motion amount may be calculated for each frame of the ultrasound image regardless of whether a fecal area is detected, and when a fecal area is detected, statistical values ​​may be calculated from the group of motion amounts of ultrasound images of multiple frames.

[0119] In this case, as shown in the flowchart of FIG. 8, first, the image generating unit 31 generates an ultrasound image for each frame of the ultrasound image, and stores the image in the image memory 32 (step S31).

[0120] Next, the feces information detection unit 41 performs a feces area detection process for each frame of the ultrasound image (step S32).

[0121] Next, the motion amount detector 44 calculates the motion amount of the current frame of the ultrasound image for each frame of the ultrasound image (step S33). The motion amount detector 44 stores the motion amount calculated for each frame of the ultrasound image in the motion amount memory 38 as the motion amount of the ultrasound probe 1 (step S34).

[0122] If the result of the feces area detection process is that a feces area is not detected from the ultrasound image of the current frame (No in step S35), the process returns to step S31 and the feces area detection process is repeated until a feces area is detected from the ultrasound image.

[0123] On the other hand, if a feces area is detected from the ultrasound image of the current frame (Yes in step S35), the motion amount detection unit 44 reads out the motion amounts of the ultrasound images of a predetermined number of past frames from the motion amount memory 38 (step S36), and a statistical value is calculated from a group of motion amounts consisting of the motion amount of the ultrasound image of the current frame and the motion amounts of the ultrasound images of the predetermined number of past frames read out from the motion amount memory 38 (step S37).

[0124] Next, the emphasis degree determining unit 42 determines the emphasis degree based on the statistical values ​​obtained from the group of motion amounts (step S38).

[0125] Then, under the control of the display control unit 33, the stool information display unit 43 highlights the stool area in the ultrasound image displayed on the monitor 34 according to the degree of emphasis determined (changed) based on the statistical values ​​obtained from the movement amount group (step S39). Thereafter, the process returns to step S31, and the above-described operations are repeated.

[0126] Alternatively, when calculating statistical values ​​from a group of motion amounts of ultrasound images of multiple frames, if a feces area is detected, a group of motion amounts of ultrasound images of multiple frames may be calculated, and statistical values ​​may be calculated from this group of motion amounts.

[0127] In this case, as shown in the flowchart of FIG. 9, the operations in steps S41 and S42 are the same as the operations in steps S31 and S32 in the flowchart of FIG.

[0128] If the result of the feces area detection process is that a feces area is not detected from the ultrasound image of the current frame (No in step S43), the process returns to step S41 and the feces area detection process is repeated until a feces area is detected from the ultrasound image.

[0129] On the other hand, if a feces region is detected from the ultrasound image of the current frame (Yes in step S43), the motion amount detector 44 determines a group of motion amounts of the ultrasound images of multiple frames.

[0130] In this case, depending on the position of the frame of the past ultrasound image in which the fecal area was detected one frame before the current ultrasound image frame in which the fecal area was detected, there are cases in which not all of the motion amounts of the ultrasound images of a predetermined number of past frames are stored in the motion amount memory 38, cases in which only some of the motion amounts are stored in the motion amount memory 38, or cases in which all of the motion amounts are stored in the motion amount memory 38.

[0131] In response to this, if there is a motion amount of the ultrasound image of a past frame stored in the motion amount memory 38 among the motion amounts of the ultrasound image of a predetermined number of past frames, the motion amount detection unit 44 reads out the motion amount of the ultrasound image of the past frame stored in the motion amount memory 38 from the motion amount memory 38 as the first motion amount (step S44). Furthermore, when there is a motion amount of the ultrasound image of a past frame that is not stored in the motion amount memory 38 among the motion amounts of the ultrasound images of a predetermined number of past frames, the motion amount detector 44 determines the motion amount of the ultrasound image of the past frame that is not stored in the motion amount memory 38 as a second motion amount (step S45), and further determines the motion amount of the ultrasound image of the current frame as a third motion amount (step S46). The motion amount detector 44 stores the second motion amount and the third motion amount in the motion amount memory 38 as the motion amounts of the ultrasound probe 1 (step S47). Then, the motion amount detector 44 determines a statistical value from a group of motion amounts consisting of the first motion amount, the second motion amount, and the third motion amount (step S48).

[0132] The operations in steps S49 and S50 are the same as the operations in steps S38 and S39 in the flowchart of FIG. Thereafter, the process returns to step S41, and the above-described operations are repeated.

[0133] The motion amount detection unit 44 may perform a binary determination to determine the motion of the ultrasound probe 1 as either motion or no motion based on the amount of motion of the ultrasound probe 1. In this case, the motion amount detection unit 44 detects the presence or absence of motion of the ultrasound probe 1 by comparing the amount of motion of the ultrasound probe 1 with a threshold. That is, the motion amount detection unit 44 determines that there is motion when the amount of motion of the ultrasound probe 1 is equal to or greater than the threshold, and determines that there is no motion when the amount of motion of the ultrasound probe 1 is less than the threshold.

[0134] When the motion amount detection unit 44 makes a binary determination of the motion of the ultrasound probe 1, the enhancement degree determination unit 42, for example, determines the first enhancement degree from among the two levels of enhancement degrees corresponding to the binary motion of the ultrasound probe 1, i.e., motion and no motion, i.e., a first enhancement degree and a second enhancement degree smaller than the first enhancement degree, if it is determined that there is motion, and determines the second enhancement degree if it is determined that there is no motion. In addition, when the judgment result of the binary judgment changes, the emphasis degree determination unit 42 changes the emphasis degree in, for example, the ultrasound image of the frame immediately after the judgment result of the binary judgment changes to an emphasis degree of a stage corresponding to the judgment result of the multi-value judgment after the change.

[0135] Furthermore, the motion amount detection unit 44 may perform multi-value determination to determine the motion of the ultrasound probe 1 as three or more values ​​based on the amount of motion of the ultrasound probe 1. In this case, the motion amount detection unit 44 detects the motion of the ultrasound probe 1 as multiple values ​​by comparing the amount of motion of the ultrasound probe 1 with each of the multi-value thresholds. For example, the motion amount detection unit 44 detects the motion of the ultrasound probe 1 as (n+1) values ​​by comparing the amount of motion of the ultrasound probe 1 with each of n thresholds that are continuously converted.

[0136] When the motion amount detection unit 44 performs a multi-value determination of the motion of the ultrasound probe 1, the enhancement degree determination unit 42 determines the enhancement degree to be, for example, from among multiple levels of enhancement degrees corresponding to the multi-value motion of the ultrasound probe 1, the level of enhancement degree corresponding to the determination result of the multi-value determination. Furthermore, when the determination result of the multi-value determination changes, for example, the enhancement degree determiner 42 changes the enhancement degree in the ultrasound image of the frame immediately after the determination result of the multi-value determination changes to an enhancement degree of a level corresponding to the determination result of the multi-value determination after the change. Alternatively, when the determination result of the multi-value determination changes by two or more values, the enhancement degree determiner 42 may change the enhancement degree in stages in the ultrasound images of multiple frames after the determination result of the multi-value determination changes from an enhancement degree of a level corresponding to the determination result of the multi-value determination before the change to an enhancement degree of a level corresponding to the determination result of the multi-value determination after the change.

[0137] Next, a method for highlighting the feces area will be described with a specific example.

[0138] The stool information display unit 43, for example, creates a mask that paints the stool area with a predetermined display color, changes the transparency of the display color according to the degree of emphasis of the stool area determined by the emphasis degree determination unit 42, and can display the mask with the changed transparency superimposed on the stool area of ​​the ultrasound image displayed on the monitor 34. In this case, the flight information display unit 43 displays the mask 47 by decreasing the transparency of the mask 47 as shown in Fig. 10A as the degree of emphasis increases, and by increasing the transparency of the mask 47 as shown in Fig. 10B as the degree of emphasis decreases. Note that in Figs. 10A and 10B, differences in transparency are expressed by the density of the hatching. That is, the hatching is dense when the transparency is low as shown in Fig. 10A, and sparse when the transparency is high as shown in Fig. 10B.

[0139] Alternatively, the stool information display unit 43 can create a contour line by detecting the contour of the stool area, change the thickness of this contour line or the transparency of the display color depending on the degree of emphasis of the stool area, and display the contour line with the changed thickness or transparency superimposed on the contour of the stool area of ​​the ultrasound image displayed on the monitor 34. In this case, the stool information display unit 43 displays the contour line 48 with a thicker thickness as shown in Fig. 11A as the degree of emphasis increases, and displays the contour line with a thinner thickness as shown in Fig. 11B as the degree of emphasis decreases. Also, as in the case of the mask 47, the stool information display unit 43 displays the contour line 48 with a higher transparency as the degree of emphasis decreases, and displays the contour line 48 with a lower transparency as the degree of emphasis increases.

[0140] Furthermore, the feces information display unit 43 may change the display form of the highlighting from a mask to a contour line, or from a contour line to a mask, depending on the degree of emphasis of the feces area. In this case, for example, when the degree of emphasis of the feces area is equal to or greater than a threshold, i.e., when the degree of emphasis of the feces area is increased, the feces information display unit 43 creates the above-mentioned mask 47 and displays the mask 47 superimposed on the feces area as shown in Fig. 12A. On the other hand, when the degree of emphasis of the feces area is less than the threshold, i.e., when the degree of emphasis of the feces area is decreased, the feces information display unit 43 creates the above-mentioned contour line 48 and displays the contour line 48 superimposed on the outline of the feces area as shown in Fig. 12B.

[0141] The feces information display unit 43 may highlight the feces area by thinning out the frames that highlight the feces area in accordance with the highlighting degree of the feces area determined by the highlighting degree determination unit 42. In this case, the highlighting of the feces area appears to the user to be blinking. This allows the ratio between the number of frames (time) in which the feces area is highlighted and the number of frames (time) in which the feces area is not highlighted, i.e., the degree of blinking of the highlighting of the feces area, to be changed in accordance with the highlighting degree of the feces area.

[0142] For example, the feces information display unit 43 reduces the number of frames to be thinned out and lengthens the time for which the feces area is highlighted as the degree of emphasis of the feces area increases, and increases the number of frames to be thinned out and shortens the time for which the feces area is highlighted as the degree of emphasis of the feces area decreases. For example, when increasing the degree of emphasis, the feces information display unit 43 may thin out frames so that the blinking interval becomes shorter, or may thin out frames so that the time for which the feces area is highlighted is lengthened.

[0143] When the stool information detection unit 41 performs a detection process to detect the stool property of the stool area from the ultrasound image in addition to detecting the stool area, the stool information display unit 43 may change the display color of the highlighting of the stool area according to the stool property, for example, hard stool, loose stool, normal stool, etc., when the stool property of the stool area is detected from the ultrasound image as a result of the stool property detection process. This allows the user to understand the stool property just by looking at the display color of the highlighting of the stool area.

[0144] Although the stool properties of the stool area do not change during scanning, the stool information detection unit 41 may erroneously detect the stool properties of the stool area depending on the state in which the ultrasound probe 1 is in contact with the test area of ​​the subject. However, if the stool properties of the stool area change when the emphasis level of the display color of the highlighting of the stool area, for example, the transparency, is reduced and the display color of the highlighting of the stool area is changed accordingly, it is difficult for the user to notice the change in the display color of the highlighting of the stool area.

[0145] In response to this, the emphasis degree determination unit 42 may perform the above-mentioned determination of the identity of the stool area, and if the detection result of the stool properties of the stool area determined to be identical changes, i.e., if the stool properties of the stool area are incorrectly determined, temporarily increase the emphasis degree of the stool area. The feces information display unit 43 highlights the feces area according to the temporarily increased emphasis level of the feces area. Then, after a predetermined period of time has elapsed since the detection result of the stool condition has changed, the emphasis degree determination unit 42 returns the emphasis degree of the stool area to the level before the emphasis degree was increased, and thereafter determines the emphasis degree of the stool area based on the emphasis degree determination conditions. In this way, when the stool properties of the stool area change, the degree of emphasis of the stool area is temporarily increased to alert the user that the stool properties may have been falsely detected.

[0146] The stool information display unit 43 may display the detection result of the stool property, such as "hard stool present," as text information on the monitor 34, as shown in Fig. 13. In this case, the stool area may be highlighted and the text information may be displayed, or the stool area may not be highlighted and only the text information may be displayed. This allows the user to understand the stool property just by looking at the text information, even if the stool area is not highlighted or the stool area is only highlighted to a small extent.

[0147] The present invention is not limited to stationary ultrasonic diagnostic devices, but can also be applied to portable ultrasonic diagnostic devices in which the device main body 3 is realized by a laptop-type terminal device, and handheld ultrasonic diagnostic devices in which the device main body 3 is realized by a handheld terminal device such as a smartphone or a tablet PC (Personal Computer). The ultrasonic probe 1 and the device main body 3 may be connected by wire or wirelessly. The entire image generation unit 31 or only the signal processing unit 16 may be provided on the ultrasonic probe 1 side, or these may be provided on the device main body 3 side.

[0148] In the device of the present invention, the hardware configuration of the processing unit that performs various processes, such as the transmission / reception circuit 14, image generation unit 31, display control unit 33, feces processing unit 35, and device control unit 36, may be dedicated hardware or various processors or computers that execute programs.

[0149] Furthermore, the image memory 32 and the motion amount memory 38 may be storage media such as flash memory, HDD (Hard Disk Drive), SSD (Solid State Drive), FD (Flexible Disc), MO disk (Magneto-Optical disc), MT (Magnetic Tape), RAM (Random Access Memory), CD (Compact Disc), DVD (Digital Versatile Disc), SD card (Secure Digital card), USB memory (Universal Serial Bus memory), or an external server.

[0150] Various types of processors include CPUs (Central Processing Units), which are general-purpose processors that execute software (programs) and function as various processing units, programmable logic devices (PLDs), which are processors whose circuit configuration can be changed after manufacture, such as FPGAs (Field Programmable Gate Arrays), and dedicated electrical circuits, such as ASICs (Application Specific Integrated Circuits), which are processors with circuit configurations designed specifically for performing specific processes.

[0151] A single processing unit may be configured with one of these various processors, or may be configured with a combination of two or more processors of the same or different types, for example, a combination of multiple FPGAs, or a combination of an FPGA and a CPU, etc. Also, multiple processing units may be configured with one of the various processors, or two or more of the multiple processing units may be combined into one processor.

[0152] For example, as typified by server and client computers, one processor is configured by combining one or more CPUs and software, and this processor functions as multiple processing units. Another form is the use of a processor that realizes the functions of an entire system including multiple processing units on a single IC (Integrated Circuit) chip, as typified by system-on-chip (SoC).

[0153] Furthermore, the hardware configuration of these various processors is, more specifically, an electric circuit that combines circuit elements such as semiconductor elements.

[0154] The method of the present invention can be implemented, for example, by a program that causes a computer to execute each step. Also, a computer-readable recording medium on which this program is recorded can be provided.

[0155] Although the present invention has been described in detail above, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various improvements and modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. [Explanation of symbols]

[0156] 1 Ultrasound probe, 3 Device body, 11 Transducer array, 12 Motion sensor, 14 Transmitting / receiving circuit, 16 Signal processing unit, 17 Image processing unit, 18 DSC, 31 Image generation unit, 32 Image memory, 33 Display control unit, 34 Monitor, 35 Flight processing unit, 36 Device control unit, 37 Input device, 38 Motion amount memory, 39 Processor, 41 Flight information detection unit, 42 Enhancement degree determination unit, 43 Flight information display unit, 44 Motion amount detection unit, 46 Mode switching unit, 47 Mask, 48 Contour line, 51 Pulser, 52 Amplification unit, 53 AD conversion unit, 54 Beamformer.

Claims

1. an ultrasound probe; The monitor and an image generating unit that generates an ultrasound image based on a received signal obtained by scanning an examination point of a subject with an ultrasound beam using the ultrasound probe; a display control unit that displays the ultrasound image on the monitor; a stool information detection unit that performs detection processing to detect a stool region from the ultrasound image; an emphasis degree determination unit that, when the feces region is detected, determines the emphasis degree of the feces region based on a determination condition for determining the emphasis degree of the feces region; a stool information display unit that highlights the stool region in the ultrasound image displayed on the monitor according to the emphasis degree determined by the emphasis degree determination unit; a motion amount detection unit that detects a motion amount of the ultrasound probe, The enhancement degree determination unit determines the enhancement degree based on the amount of movement.

2. The ultrasound diagnostic device according to claim 1 , wherein the stool information detection unit detects the stool region from the ultrasound image using at least one of template matching, machine learning using image features, and a deep learning model.

3. 2. The ultrasound diagnostic device according to claim 1, wherein the motion amount detector calculates, for each frame of the ultrasound image, a correlation value between the ultrasound image of a current frame and the ultrasound image of a previous frame immediately preceding the current frame as the motion amount.

4. 2. The ultrasound diagnostic device according to claim 1, wherein the motion amount detection unit calculates, for each frame of the ultrasound image, a correlation value between the ultrasound image of a current frame and an ultrasound image of a previous frame that is a predetermined number of frames before the ultrasound image of the current frame as the motion amount.

5. 2. The ultrasound diagnostic device according to claim 1, wherein the motion amount detection unit calculates, for each frame of the ultrasound image, a degree of overlap between the feces region of the ultrasound image of a current frame and the feces region of the ultrasound image of a previous frame immediately preceding the current frame as the motion amount.

6. 2. The ultrasound diagnostic device according to claim 1, wherein the motion amount detection unit calculates, for each frame of the ultrasound image, a motion amount between the ultrasound image of a current frame and the ultrasound image of a previous frame immediately preceding the current frame as the motion amount of the ultrasound image of the current frame, and calculates, as the motion amount, a statistical value obtained from a group of motion amounts consisting of motion amounts from the ultrasound image of the current frame to ultrasound images of a predetermined number of previous frames.

7. 7. The ultrasound diagnostic apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the statistical value is an average value calculated from the group of motion amounts, a weighted average value calculated from the group of motion amounts with a weight that increases with increasing distance from the past to the present, or a median value calculated from the group of motion amounts.

8. a motion amount memory for storing the motion amount; the feces information detection unit performs a process of detecting the feces area for each frame of the ultrasound image, 7. The ultrasound diagnostic device according to claim 6, wherein the motion amount detection unit calculates the motion amount for each frame of the ultrasound image and stores the motion amount in the motion amount memory, and when the feces area is detected, reads out the motion amounts of the ultrasound images of the predetermined number of past frames from the motion amount memory, and calculates the statistical value from a group of motion amounts consisting of the motion amount of the ultrasound image of the current frame and the motion amounts of the ultrasound images of the past frames read out from the motion amount memory.

9. a motion amount memory for storing the motion amount; the feces information detection unit performs a process of detecting the feces area for each frame of the ultrasound image, 7. The ultrasound diagnostic device of claim 6, wherein, when the fecal area is detected, if there is a motion amount of the ultrasound image of a past frame stored in the motion amount memory among the motion amounts of the ultrasound images of the predetermined number of past frames, the motion amount detection unit reads the motion amount of the ultrasound image of the past frame stored in the motion amount memory from the motion amount memory as a first motion amount, and if there is a motion amount of the ultrasound image of a past frame not stored in the motion amount memory, the motion amount detection unit calculates the motion amount of the ultrasound image of the past frame not stored in the motion amount memory as a second motion amount, and further calculates the motion amount of the ultrasound image of the current frame as a third motion amount, stores the second motion amount and the third motion amount in the motion amount memory, and calculates the statistical value from a group of motion amounts consisting of the first motion amount, the second motion amount, and the third motion amount.

10. The ultrasound diagnostic apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the motion amount detector detects the amount of motion based on a result of motion detection by a motion sensor provided in the ultrasound probe.

11. the motion amount detection unit performs a binary determination of the motion of the ultrasound probe based on the amount of motion, determining whether there is motion or there is no motion; 4. The ultrasound diagnostic device according to claim 3, wherein the enhancement degree determination unit determines the first enhancement degree from among two levels of enhancement degrees corresponding to binary motions of the ultrasound probe, a first enhancement degree and a second enhancement degree smaller than the first enhancement degree, when it is determined that the motion is present, and determines the second enhancement degree from among two levels of enhancement degrees corresponding to binary motions of the ultrasound probe, when it is determined that the motion is absent.

12. the motion amount detection unit performs a multi-value determination to detect the motion of the ultrasound probe as three or more values ​​based on the motion amount; 4. The ultrasound diagnostic device according to claim 3, wherein the enhancement degree determination unit determines the enhancement degree to be a level corresponding to a determination result of the multi-value determination from among multiple levels of enhancement degrees corresponding to multi-value movements of the ultrasound probe.

13. 13. The ultrasound diagnostic device according to claim 12, wherein, when the determination result of the multi-value determination changes, the enhancement degree determiner changes the enhancement degree in the ultrasound image of a frame immediately after the determination result of the multi-value determination changes to an enhancement degree of a stage corresponding to the determination result of the multi-value determination after the change.

14. 13. The ultrasound diagnostic device according to claim 12, wherein, when the determination result of the multi-value determination changes by two or more values, the enhancement degree determiner changes the enhancement degree in stages in ultrasound images of a plurality of frames after the change in the determination result of the multi-value determination from an enhancement degree corresponding to the determination result of the multi-value determination before the change to an enhancement degree corresponding to the determination result of the multi-value determination after the change.

15. An ultrasonic probe; The monitor and an image generating unit that generates an ultrasound image based on a received signal obtained by scanning an examination point of a subject with an ultrasound beam using the ultrasound probe; a display control unit that displays the ultrasound image on the monitor; a stool information detection unit that performs detection processing to detect a stool region from the ultrasound image; an emphasis degree determination unit that, when the feces region is detected, determines the emphasis degree of the feces region based on a determination condition for determining the emphasis degree of the feces region; a stool information display unit that highlights the stool area in the ultrasound image displayed on the monitor according to the emphasis degree determined by the emphasis degree determination unit, The enhancement degree determination unit performs an identity determination to determine whether the fecal areas of ultrasound images in adjacent frames are the same fecal area, and determines the enhancement degree based on the continuous display time of the fecal areas determined to be the same.

16. An ultrasonic probe; The monitor and an image generating unit that generates an ultrasound image based on a received signal obtained by scanning an examination point of a subject with an ultrasound beam using the ultrasound probe; a display control unit that displays the ultrasound image on the monitor; a stool information detection unit that performs detection processing to detect a stool region from the ultrasound image; an emphasis degree determination unit that, when the feces region is detected, determines the emphasis degree of the feces region based on a determination condition for determining the emphasis degree of the feces region; a stool information display unit that highlights the stool area in the ultrasound image displayed on the monitor according to the emphasis degree determined by the emphasis degree determination unit, The enhancement degree determination unit determines the enhancement degree based on an area of ​​the feces region.

17. An ultrasonic probe; The monitor and an image generating unit that generates an ultrasound image based on a received signal obtained by scanning an examination point of a subject with an ultrasound beam using the ultrasound probe; a display control unit that displays the ultrasound image on the monitor; a stool information detection unit that performs detection processing to detect a stool region from the ultrasound image; an emphasis degree determination unit that, when the feces region is detected, determines the emphasis degree of the feces region based on a determination condition for determining the emphasis degree of the feces region; a stool information display unit that highlights the stool area in the ultrasound image displayed on the monitor according to the emphasis degree determined by the emphasis degree determination unit, The stool information display unit creates a mask that fills the stool area with a predetermined display color, changes the transparency of the display color according to the degree of emphasis, and displays the mask with the changed transparency superimposed on the stool area.

18. An ultrasonic probe; The monitor and an image generating unit that generates an ultrasound image based on a received signal obtained by scanning an examination point of a subject with an ultrasound beam using the ultrasound probe; a display control unit that displays the ultrasound image on the monitor; a stool information detection unit that performs detection processing to detect a stool region from the ultrasound image; an emphasis degree determination unit that, when the feces region is detected, determines the emphasis degree of the feces region based on a determination condition for determining the emphasis degree of the feces region; a stool information display unit that highlights the stool area in the ultrasound image displayed on the monitor according to the emphasis degree determined by the emphasis degree determination unit, The stool information display unit creates a contour line by detecting the contour of the stool area, changes the thickness of the contour line or the transparency of the display color according to the degree of emphasis, and displays the contour line with the changed thickness or transparency superimposed on the contour of the stool area.

19. An ultrasonic probe; The monitor and an image generating unit that generates an ultrasound image based on a received signal obtained by scanning an examination point of a subject with an ultrasound beam using the ultrasound probe; a display control unit that displays the ultrasound image on the monitor; a stool information detection unit that performs detection processing to detect a stool region from the ultrasound image; an emphasis degree determination unit that, when the feces region is detected, determines the emphasis degree of the feces region based on a determination condition for determining the emphasis degree of the feces region; a stool information display unit that highlights the stool area in the ultrasound image displayed on the monitor according to the emphasis degree determined by the emphasis degree determination unit, The stool information display unit, when the degree of enhancement is equal to or greater than a threshold, creates a mask that fills the stool area with a predetermined display color and displays the mask superimposed on the stool area, and when the degree of enhancement is less than the threshold, creates a contour line by detecting the outline of the stool area and displays the contour line superimposed on the outline of the stool area.

20. An ultrasonic probe; The monitor and an image generating unit that generates an ultrasound image based on a received signal obtained by scanning an examination point of a subject with an ultrasound beam using the ultrasound probe; a display control unit that displays the ultrasound image on the monitor; a stool information detection unit that performs detection processing to detect a stool region from the ultrasound image; an emphasis degree determination unit that, when the feces region is detected, determines the emphasis degree of the feces region based on a determination condition for determining the emphasis degree of the feces region; a stool information display unit that highlights the stool area in the ultrasound image displayed on the monitor according to the emphasis degree determined by the emphasis degree determination unit, The stool information display unit highlights the stool area by thinning out the frames to be highlighted in accordance with the degree of highlighting.

21. An ultrasonic probe; The monitor and an image generating unit that generates an ultrasound image based on a received signal obtained by scanning an examination point of a subject with an ultrasound beam using the ultrasound probe; a display control unit that displays the ultrasound image on the monitor; a stool information detection unit that performs detection processing to detect a stool region from the ultrasound image; an emphasis degree determination unit that, when the feces region is detected, determines the emphasis degree of the feces region based on a determination condition for determining the emphasis degree of the feces region; a stool information display unit that highlights the stool area in the ultrasound image displayed on the monitor according to the emphasis degree determined by the emphasis degree determination unit, The stool information detection unit further performs a detection process to detect stool properties of the stool region from the ultrasound image, The stool information display unit changes the display color of the highlighting of the stool area according to the stool properties when the stool properties are detected.

22. The stool information detection unit detects a statistical value of brightness within the stool area for each frame of the ultrasound image, and obtains a first comparison result by comparing the statistical value of brightness within the stool area with a threshold value, and detects the stool properties based on the first comparison result in one frame or multiple frames of ultrasound image, or 22. The ultrasound diagnostic device of claim 21, wherein the stool information detection unit detects, for each frame of the ultrasound image, a brightness ratio between a statistical value of brightness within the stool area and a statistical value of brightness within a specified area surrounding the stool area, obtains a second comparison result by comparing the brightness ratio with a threshold, and detects the stool characteristics based on the second comparison result in one frame or multiple frames of ultrasound image.

23. The ultrasound diagnostic device according to claim 21 , wherein the stool information detection unit detects the stool region using a deep learning model.

24. The ultrasound diagnostic device according to claim 21, wherein the enhancement degree determination unit performs an identity determination to determine whether the fecal areas of the ultrasound images of adjacent frames are the same fecal area, and temporarily increases the enhancement degree when a detection result of the fecal properties of the fecal areas determined to be the same changes.

25. The ultrasound diagnostic device according to claim 21 , wherein the stool information display unit displays the detection result of the stool condition on the monitor as text information.

26. An ultrasonic probe; The monitor and an image generating unit that generates an ultrasound image based on a received signal obtained by scanning an examination point of a subject with an ultrasound beam using the ultrasound probe; a display control unit that displays the ultrasound image on the monitor; a stool information detection unit that performs detection processing to detect a stool region from the ultrasound image; an emphasis degree determination unit that, when the feces region is detected, determines the emphasis degree of the feces region based on a determination condition for determining the emphasis degree of the feces region; a stool information display unit that highlights the stool area in the ultrasound image displayed on the monitor according to the emphasis degree determined by the emphasis degree determination unit, The enhancement degree determination unit changes the enhancement degree in response to an instruction from a user.

27. ​​An ultrasonic probe; The monitor and an image generating unit that generates an ultrasound image based on a received signal obtained by scanning an examination point of a subject with an ultrasound beam using the ultrasound probe; a display control unit that displays the ultrasound image on the monitor; a stool information detection unit that performs detection processing to detect a stool region from the ultrasound image; an emphasis degree determination unit that, when the feces region is detected, determines the emphasis degree of the feces region based on a determination condition for determining the emphasis degree of the feces region; a stool information display unit that highlights the stool area in the ultrasound image displayed on the monitor according to the emphasis degree determined by the emphasis degree determination unit, The display device has at least two operation modes among a first operation mode in which the feces area is not highlighted, a second operation mode in which the feces area is highlighted with a predetermined highlighting level regardless of the determination condition, and a third operation mode in which the highlighting level is determined based on the determination condition and the feces area is highlighted, The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus further comprises a mode switching unit that switches to one of the at least two operation modes in response to an instruction from a user.

28. an image generating unit generating an ultrasound image based on a received signal obtained by scanning an examination point of a subject with an ultrasound beam using an ultrasound probe; a step of causing a display control unit to display the ultrasound image on a monitor; a step in which a feces information detection unit performs a detection process for detecting a feces area from the ultrasound image; an emphasis degree determination unit determining, when the feces region is detected, a degree of emphasis of the feces region based on a determination condition for determining a degree of emphasis of the feces region; a step in which a stool information display unit highlights the stool area in the ultrasound image displayed on the monitor according to the degree of emphasis determined in the step of determining the degree of emphasis of the stool area; detecting an amount of movement of the ultrasound probe; The enhancement degree determination unit determines the enhancement degree based on the amount of movement.

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