JP4373544B2 - Ultrasonic diagnostic equipment - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, and more particularly to an apparatus that automatically calculates the volume and area of an organ.
[0002]
[Prior art]
Ultrasound diagnosis is used to measure the volume (capacity) of the heart and the size of the fetus. In the first conventional method, for example, a tomographic image of the heart to be measured is formed, the cross section of the heart is assumed to be an ellipse, the major and minor axes of the approximate ellipse are measured, and the ellipsoid is based on them. Is calculated. In this first method, although the calculation is simple, the reliability of the calculation result is low because the organ is assumed to be a simple form. In particular, it is difficult to measure a beating organ such as the heart in real time.
[0003]
In the second conventional method, echo data is captured in a three-dimensional region in the living body, all the data in the three-dimensional region is temporarily stored, and the shape of the organ is obtained using techniques such as binarization and boundary surface detection. Is extracted. However, according to this method, although the calculation accuracy is high, the calculation amount is extremely large, and it takes a considerable time to obtain the result. In addition, as described above, real-time volume calculation is difficult.
[0004]
Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 8-299341 discloses a volume calculation apparatus related to the second method. In the conventional apparatus, continuity determination is performed on each echo data after binarization using a three-dimensional mask, and the volume is calculated based on the number of data for which continuity is determined. Here, as the mask, for example, a size of 3 data × 3 data × 3 data centered on the data of interest is set.
[0005]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
However, even with the apparatus described in the above-mentioned JP-A-8-299341, it is difficult to calculate the volume in real time following the scanning of the scanning surface. Note that real-time measurement is also required for area calculations other than volume calculation.
[0006]
The present invention has been made in view of the above-described conventional problems, and an object thereof is to enable efficient extraction of continuous regions.
[0007]
Another object of the present invention is to make it possible to calculate the volume and area of a target organ in real time.
[0008]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
(1) In order to achieve the above object, the present invention has a flag storage space corresponding to a data capture space, and a storage means in which a predetermined flag is set at the corresponding address for data determined to be continuous. And the individual data acquired in the data capture space by ultrasonic transmission / reception as the attention data, referring to the vicinity range centering on the corresponding address in the flag storage space of the attention data, and the attention data Continuity determining means for determining continuity for the data of interest, flag setting means for setting a predetermined flag at a corresponding address in the flag storage space when continuity is determined for the data of interest, and in the flag storage space And a calculation means for executing a predetermined calculation using information. Here, preferably, the predetermined calculation is an area calculation or a volume calculation.
[0009]
According to the above configuration, the continuity determination result is stored in the flag storage space on the storage means, and when new data is acquired, the continuity of the new data is based on the past determination result. Can be determined. Therefore, there is an advantage that a continuous region can be extracted accurately and efficiently by using past results. For example, if the above-described continuity determination is performed for each data every time a data capture area is formed, the extraction accuracy of the continuous area can be gradually increased according to the number of times the data capture area is formed (the number of scans). Here, since past determination results are stored as flags, a large storage area is not required for this purpose.
[0010]
(2) Further, in order to achieve the above object, the present invention repeatedly scans the scanning surface to form a data capture space for each forward scan and backward scan, and corresponds to the data capture space. Storage means in which a predetermined flag is set in the corresponding address for data determined to have continuity, and each data on the scanning plane is set as attention data, and the flag storage of the attention data is performed. A determination unit that refers to the inside of a mask centered on a corresponding address in space and determines continuity for the attention data based on a value after binarization of the attention data and information in the mask; Flag setting means for setting a predetermined flag at the corresponding address in the flag space when the continuity is determined for the data of interest, and the number of the predetermined flag in the storage space Characterized in that it comprises a calculating means for calculating the Luo volume. Preferably, the volume calculation is executed in real time for each of the forward scan and the backward scan on the scanning surface.
[0011]
According to the above configuration, the volume of the target area (such as an organ) can be calculated in real time in parallel with repeated data measurement. In particular, if the number of repetitions of data measurement increases, the volume calculation accuracy can be increased. Even if the target region changes, it is possible to sufficiently follow the target region, and it is possible to enjoy an advantage that cannot be obtained by a conventional apparatus that can perform real-time volume calculation of a moving organ with constant accuracy.
[0012]
Preferably, the mask is set across the current scanning plane including the attention data and the previous scanning plane, and the orientation of the mask is reversed in the forward scanning and the backward scanning. In order to process the acquired data in real time, the asymmetric mask as described above is used. In this case, the direction of the extraction process during the forward scanning and the direction of the extraction processing during the backward scanning are opposite to each other, but the continuous region has a complicated form by repeatedly performing the process alternately. However, the continuous region can be efficiently extracted, and a result equivalent to the case of using a symmetric mask can be obtained.
[0013]
Desirably, the continuity of the attention data is determined when the value after binarization of the attention data is 1 and at least one predetermined flag exists in the mask. That is, if the value of the data of interest is 1 and a value of 1 exists around it, it is found that the data of interest is in communication with other data, so the continuity of the data of interest is determined. If the value of the attention data is 1, but there is no value of 1 around, it is highly likely that the attention data is isolated noise or data belonging to a separated island area. Do not determine continuity.
[0014]
Preferably, the predetermined flag has a value of 1, and the flag setting means writes a value of 0 to the corresponding address for the data of interest for which the continuity has not been determined. By such data update, it is possible to follow the movement of the organization and the change of the form.
[0015]
Preferably, a reference point setting unit for setting a reference point on the data capture space and an initial setting unit for setting an initial flag at a corresponding address of the reference point on the flag storage space are included. At least one reference point is set in the target area. The reference point is a starting point for determining continuity. Prior to that, the flag storage space is reset. The reference point can always be fixedly set as the center of the image. In this case, the probe posture and position may be adjusted so that the center of the target region is the center of the data capture space.
[0016]
Preferably, it includes means for forming a three-dimensional image using a predetermined flag in the storage space. Since the inside and outside of the continuous region can be identified by the value of each flag, the surface of the three-dimensional object can be easily extracted and expressed as a three-dimensional image.
[0017]
Preferably, the information processing apparatus further includes means for determining convergence based on a change in a predetermined number of flags in the storage space. When the variation in the number of flags falls within a certain convergence range, it is determined that a certain measurement accuracy has been obtained. For example, the volume calculation result may be actually displayed from the stage where a certain convergence is obtained, or the volume calculation result is displayed in yellow or gray before a certain convergence is obtained. After the convergence is obtained, the volume calculation result may be displayed in green or white. By switching the display processing in this way, the user can perceive that a certain measurement accuracy is ensured. Normally, a certain degree of region extraction accuracy can be obtained by performing scanning several times.
[0018]
(3) Further, in order to achieve the above object, the present invention includes a transmission / reception unit that repeatedly scans a two-dimensional or three-dimensional data capture space and acquires data for each scan; Binarizing means for converting into data, a flag storage space corresponding to the data capture space, and means for determining the presence or absence of continuity for each scan using individual data in the data capture space as the target data. If the value of the data of interest is 1 and at least one 1 exists in the neighborhood range centered on the corresponding address of the data of interest in the flag storage space, the determination of determining continuity for the data of interest And, for the data for which the continuity is determined, the corresponding address in the flag storage space is set to 1, and for the data for which the continuity is not determined, the flag storage space Characterized in that it comprises a flag setting means for setting a 0 in the corresponding address, the.
[0019]
Preferably, the memory includes a memory having an address space corresponding to the data fetch space, and n bits are assigned to each address of the memory, and m (where m <n) bits of the n bits are assigned to the data. A flag indicating the presence / absence of the continuity is stored using the remaining nm bits.
[0020]
According to the above configuration, the echo data and the flag indicating the presence or absence of continuity are stored in association with each address. For example, when 8 bits are allocated to each address and the echo data is 6 bits, the remaining A flag indicating the presence / absence of continuity can be stored using one of the two free bits. In such a case, it is not necessary to provide a separate memory because the free area of the memory can be used effectively.
[0021]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.
[0022]
FIG. 1 shows a preferred embodiment of an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to the present invention, and FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the overall configuration thereof. The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to the present embodiment has a function of calculating the volume of an organ such as a left ventricle in a living body. FIG. 1 shows a configuration related thereto.
[0023]
In FIG. 1, a three-dimensional probe 10 is an ultrasonic probe for taking in three-dimensional data. The three-dimensional probe 10 includes an array transducer composed of a plurality of vibrating elements and a scanning mechanism that mechanically scans the array transducer. An ultrasonic beam is electronically scanned by electronically scanning the array transducer, thereby forming a scanning surface. If the scanning plane is translated or oscillated in a direction perpendicular to the scanning plane, a three-dimensional data capture space can be formed. The three-dimensional probe 10 is generally used in contact with the body surface. For example, in the three-dimensional measurement of the heart, it is used in contact with the chest body surface.
[0024]
The mechanical scanning control unit 12 is means for controlling the mechanical scanning of the array transducer. The transmission / reception unit 14 is a circuit that supplies a transmission signal to the three-dimensional probe 10 and performs predetermined processing such as amplification on the reception signal from the three-dimensional probe. The electronic scanning control unit 16 is a unit that controls the electronic scanning of the ultrasonic beam by controlling the transmission / reception unit 14. The electronic scanning control unit 16 and the mechanical scanning control unit 12 are controlled by the main control unit 18.
[0025]
A binarization circuit 26 illustrated in FIG. 1 is a circuit that executes binarization processing on a reception signal output from the transmission / reception unit 14, that is, echo data. Specifically, it is a circuit that compares the echo data with a predetermined threshold value α and binarizes the echo data to a value of 1 or 0. For example, large echo data corresponding to the heart wall is converted to 0 by binarization processing, and small echo data corresponding to the blood flow portion is converted to 1 by binarization processing.
[0026]
The continuity determination unit 28 is a means for determining continuity for each echo data using a continuity determination mask described later. In determining this continuity, the value after binarization processing of the echo data of interest and the information stored in the flag storage unit 24 are used. This will be described in detail later.
[0027]
The flag setting unit 30 is a unit that sets a flag for attention echo data based on the determination result of the continuity determination unit 28. Specifically, the address corresponding to the echo data of interest in the flag storage unit 24 is set to 1 when continuity is determined, and is set to 0 when continuity is not determined.
[0028]
Accordingly, flag 1 or 0 is set as the continuity determination result for each echo data of interest in the flag storage unit 24. The volume calculation unit 34 is a circuit that calculates the volume from the number of flags 1 in the flag storage unit 24, outputs the volume calculation result to the display unit 40, and the display unit 40 displays the volume of the target organ as a numerical value. .
[0029]
Incidentally, the convergence determination unit 38 is a circuit for determining whether or not the volume calculation result has converged within a certain range as will be described later. When the convergence is determined, the convergence is determined on the display unit 40. The result is displayed in some form.
[0030]
The reference point setting unit 32 shown in FIG. 1 is a means for initially setting at least one starting point for starting the determination of continuity. The reference point setting unit 32 is configured by an input device such as a keyboard or a trackball. The
[0031]
The data storage unit 22 constitutes a storage unit for echo data, and each echo data in the data acquisition space acquired by the three-dimensional probe 10 is stored in the data storage unit 22. Incidentally, the binarization processing of the binarization circuit 26 may be executed on the echo data stored in the data storage unit 22, or the echo data directly output from the transmission / reception unit 14 as described above. Alternatively, binarization processing may be performed in time series order.
[0032]
The flag storage unit 24 and the data storage unit 22 constitute the memory 20 in the present embodiment. The memory 20 is, for example, a RAM, and 8 bits are assigned to each address. Here, the echo data has a value of 6 bits, for example, and in the conventional apparatus, 2 bits for each address in the memory 20 is an empty area. In the present embodiment, in order to effectively use the free area, 1 bit out of 2 bits as a free area for each address is used as a flag setting bit. Such an area is the flag storage unit 24 shown in FIG.
[0033]
In the apparatus of this embodiment, since volume calculation can be performed, there is an advantage that the storage capacity in volume calculation can be reduced as much as possible by using the flag stored in the flag storage unit 24. For example, when only the volume calculation result is displayed, that is, when no image processing is performed, the data storage unit 22 itself can be excluded. However, in the present embodiment, it is possible to form a three-dimensional image based on the echo data in the data storage unit 22, and it is also possible to form a tomographic image corresponding to each scanning plane. These ultrasonic images are formed by, for example, the three-dimensional image forming unit 36, and these images are displayed on the display unit 40.
[0034]
In the apparatus according to the present embodiment, the 3D image forming unit 36 has a function of forming a 3D image based on information stored in the flag storage unit 24. That is, in the flag storage unit 24, a flag representing the inside and outside of the continuous area is set for each address, so that the three-dimensional shape of the organ can be extracted from such a flag distribution, If the shading process is performed, a three-dimensional surface image of the object can be easily formed. Such an image is also displayed on the display unit 40.
[0035]
In addition to the above, the apparatus according to the present embodiment is equipped with a Doppler measurement mode and various modes, but the corresponding configuration is not shown in FIG.
[0036]
FIG. 2 shows the relationship between the data capture space 100 and the flag storage space 102. Here, the data capturing space 100 is a virtual space formed by the three-dimensional probe 10 and is a tertiary formed by further mechanically scanning a scanning surface formed by electronic scanning of the array transducer. This corresponds to the original area. Here, the X direction corresponds to the electronic scanning direction, the Y direction corresponds to the ultrasonic beam direction, that is, the depth direction, and the Z direction corresponds to the mechanical scanning direction. Although FIG. 2A shows a data acquisition space 100 of a cubic region, this form can be changed according to the type of the three-dimensional probe 10. That is, the present invention can also be applied when electronic sector scanning or convex scanning is applied.
[0037]
A flag storage space 102 shown in FIG. 2B is a storage space constructed on the flag storage unit 24. The X direction, the Y direction, and the Z direction in the flag storage space 102 correspond to the directions in the data capture space 100, respectively. That is, each voxel 104 in the data capture space 100 has a one-to-one correspondence with any flag cell 106 in the flag storage space 102. Here, the echo data is stored in the voxel 104 at the time of transmission / reception of the ultrasonic pulse, and binarization processing is performed on the echo data. Data is stored.
[0038]
On the other hand, each flag cell 106 in the flag storage space 102 stores the continuity determination result for the target voxel corresponding thereto, that is, the target data (target voxel) for which continuity is determined is set to 1 as a flag. In other cases, 0 is set.
[0039]
FIG. 3 shows a continuity determination mask included in the continuity determination unit 28. Here, (A) conceptually shows the entire mask, (B) shows a view from the front of the mask, and (C) shows it from the side of the mask. The figure is shown.
[0040]
In this embodiment, this mask is a neighboring region having a certain spread centering on the data of interest, that is, the address of interest 108, and the currently captured scanning plane and the previous scanning plane span two scanning planes. Is set. That is, the size in the scan direction of the mask corresponds to 2 data (2 voxels), the size in the Y direction corresponds to 3 data, and the size in the X direction also corresponds to 3 data. By using such a mask, it is possible to reverse the direction of the mask in forward scanning and backward scanning in the scanning direction, and to smoothly determine the continuity of each echo data on each scanning plane.
[0041]
The continuity determination unit 28 shown in FIG. 1 has the value of the echo data of interest 1 and at least one flag 1 in the mask centered on the corresponding address (the address of interest) of the data of interest in the flag storage unit 24. If it exists, the continuity of the data of interest is determined. Therefore, if the value of the data of interest is 0, or if the value is 1 and the flag 1 does not exist in the mask, such data has isolated noise and the continuity is determined. I will not. That is, 0 is set as the flag for the attention data. The setting is executed by the flag setting unit 30 as described above.
[0042]
4 and 5 show the operation of the apparatus shown in FIG.
[0043]
First, prior to volume calculation, the flag storage unit 24 is reset, and 0 is stored in all addresses. In this state, at least one reference point is set in the target organ by the user in S101. This state is shown in FIG. This will be described in detail later.
[0044]
In S102, 1 is set to the address on the flag storage space corresponding to the reference point. That is, the flag 1 is the starting point for the search for continuity extraction.
[0045]
S103 to S105 are steps for determining the continuity of all voxels constituting the data capture space 100. In S105, the Y coordinate is the start coordinate in a state where the Z coordinate and the X coordinate are fixed. In step S104, the X coordinate is incremented from the start coordinate to the end coordinate while the Z coordinate is fixed. In S103, the value of the Z axis is incremented in response to switching of the scanning plane. Yes. When the continuity determination is performed for all scanning planes in S118 described later, the processing shown in FIGS. 4 and 5 ends, and such processing is performed for each forward scan and each backward scan. Run every time. Then, as will be described later, the contents of the flag storage space on the flag storage unit 24 are sequentially improved by performing these scans repeatedly, that is, the information becomes highly accurate. By performing reciprocating scans a number of times, it is possible to obtain a considerably good volume calculation value. That is, the apparatus according to the present embodiment uses the determination result for each scan as a result and effectively uses it for the next volume calculation, and sequentially increases the calculation accuracy by such cumulative calculation. Of course, as will be described later, even when the organ moves, the scanning speed is sufficiently high compared to the movement of such an exercise, so that according to the present embodiment, real-time volume calculation for the moving organ can be realized. There is.
[0046]
Returning to FIG. 4, in S106, the binarization circuit 26 performs binarization processing on the echo data. As described above, when the left ventricular cavity is the target organ, the echo data of the blood part is binarized to 1.
[0047]
In S107, it is determined whether or not the data binarized in S106, that is, the data of the target voxel is 1, where the data is 0. And it is necessary to delete the area described later If there is, 0 is set to the corresponding address on the flag storage unit 24. (S108) , The parameter “change” in S109 amount "Is subtracted by one.
[0048]
On the other hand, when it is determined in S107 that the data of the target voxel is 1, it is determined in S110 whether or not the value of the corresponding address in the flag storage unit 24 is 1. Here, if the value is 1, continuity is already affirmed for the address, and 1 is obtained as a result of the binarization processing in the current scan, so the continuity of the data is The process proceeds to S115 as having been established.
[0049]
On the other hand, if it is determined in S110 that the value of the corresponding address is 0, in S111, at least one 1 is set as the flag value in the mask around the data of interest, that is, the address of interest. It is searched whether or not it exists. Here, if at least one 1 exists in S112, this means that data 1 of the address of interest and 1 exist around it, that is, because continuity is recognized, in S113, the attention is concerned. 1 is stored in the corresponding address corresponding to the data, and the parameter “variable” is incremented by one in S114. However, in S112, if 1 does not exist in the mask, there is a high possibility of isolated noise, for example, and therefore continuity is denied for the data.
[0050]
In S115, the volume value is calculated by multiplying the parameter “variable” by the volume of one voxel. In S116, the calculated volume value is displayed. Furthermore, in S117, a three-dimensional image is constructed based on the flag information in the flag storage space and displayed. In S118, it is determined whether or not the above processing has been completed for all combinations of X, Y, and Z. If the above processing has not been completed for all of these combinations, each step from S105 is repeatedly executed. The
[0051]
Therefore, according to the above processing example, the volume value is updated for each scan, and the three-dimensional image is updated.
[0052]
FIG. 6 and FIG. 7 show processing examples by the above method. In these figures, two-dimensional figures are shown for convenience. In FIG. 6, (a) to (f) conceptually show the processing contents for each scan. As shown in FIG. 6, the scanning direction is reversed in order, and with such reversal, the mask direction is also reversed, and the processing direction is reversed.
[0053]
As shown in FIG. 6A, at least one reference point 200 is set in the target area 202. Thereafter, when the first scan is executed as shown in (B), extraction of a region, that is, determination of connectivity is sequentially executed with the reference point 200 as a starting point. In this state, the entire region 202 has not been extracted yet. Next, the scanning direction is reversed, and as shown in (c), determination of continuity is executed based on the continuous area determined by (B). As a result, the determination area is greatly expanded. By performing this sequentially, even if the figure is finally complex as shown in (f), it is possible to extract the area by repeatedly executing the forward scanning and the backward scanning.
[0054]
As shown in FIG. 7, even when the area (object) moves, the movement of the object is followed by performing area extraction and area reduction based on the area extracted so far. It is possible to realize region extraction. Therefore, it is possible to perform volume calculation on a moving object such as the heart.
[0055]
Incidentally, although the volume calculation has been described in the above-described embodiment, the above method can be applied to the area calculation as a matter of course. According to the above-described embodiment, there is an advantage that a three-dimensional region can be extracted in two directions of forward scanning and backward scanning, and the results can be integrated to extract a three-dimensional region with high accuracy. Further, there is an advantage that a storage area for such extracted information is small, and a three-dimensional image can be formed using such information.
[0056]
The convergence determination unit 38 described above sequentially monitors the calculation results for each scan as described above, and determines the convergence when the calculation results converge within a certain range. As a result, for example, it is possible to assert that a certain convergence has occurred to the user by performing processing such as changing the color of the volume calculation result displayed on the display unit 40 or changing the display form. Become. As a result, the user can recognize that a certain degree of accuracy has been obtained. Incidentally, the convergence determination result may be expressed by a numerical value, and the accuracy of the volume calculation result may be expressed by the numerical value.
[0057]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to rationally extract a two-dimensional or three-dimensional region, and in particular, there is an advantage that computation can be performed in real time by effectively using past computation results. .
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an overall configuration of an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to the present embodiment.
FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a relationship between a data capture space and a flag storage space.
FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a continuity determination mask.
FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a processing example of a volume calculation method according to the present embodiment.
FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a processing example of a volume calculation method according to the present embodiment.
FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining a region extracting method according to the present embodiment.
FIG. 7 is a diagram for explaining a region extraction method according to the present embodiment.
[Explanation of symbols]
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 3D probe, 12 Mechanical scanning control part, 14 Transmission / reception part, 16 Electronic scanning control part, 20 Memory, 22 Data storage part, 24 Flag storage part, 26 Binary circuit, 28 Continuity judgment part, 30 Flag setting part , 32 Reference point setting unit, 34 Volume calculating unit, 36 Three-dimensional image forming unit, 38 Convergence determining unit, 40 Display unit.

Claims (12)

A storage unit having a flag storage space corresponding to the data capture space, and a predetermined flag is set at the corresponding address for the data for which continuity is determined;
Individual data acquired in the data capture space by ultrasonic transmission / reception is used as attention data, and a reference range of the attention data around the corresponding address in the flag storage space is referred to. Continuity judging means for judging sex,
Flag setting means for setting a predetermined flag at a corresponding address in the flag storage space when continuity is determined for the data of interest;
A calculation means for performing a predetermined calculation using information in the flag storage space;
An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus comprising: The apparatus of claim 1.
The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the predetermined calculation is an area calculation or a volume calculation. Scanning means for repeatedly reciprocating the scanning surface, and forming a data capture space for each of the forward scan and the backward scan;
A storage unit having a flag storage space corresponding to the data capture space, and a predetermined flag is set in the corresponding address for the data for which continuity is determined;
Each data on the scanning plane is set as attention data, the inside of the mask around the corresponding address in the flag storage space of the attention data is referred to, the value after the binarization of the attention data and the information in the mask A determination means for determining continuity for the data of interest based on
Flag setting means for setting a predetermined flag at a corresponding address in the flag space when the continuity is determined for the attention data;
A computing means for computing a volume from the number of predetermined flags in the storage space;
An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus comprising: The apparatus of claim 3.
An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, wherein volume calculation is performed in real time for each of forward scan and backward scan of the scanning surface. The apparatus of claim 3.
The mask is set across the current scanning plane including the attention data and the previous scanning plane,
The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, wherein the direction of the mask is reversed in the forward scanning and the backward scanning. The apparatus of claim 5.
An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus characterized in that if the value after binarization of the attention data is 1 and at least one predetermined flag exists in the mask, continuity is determined for the attention data. The apparatus of claim 6.
The predetermined flag has a value of 1;
The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus characterized in that the flag setting means writes a value of 0 to the corresponding address for the attention data for which the continuity has not been determined. The apparatus of claim 3.
A reference point setting means for setting a reference point on the data capture space;
Initial setting means for setting an initial flag at a corresponding address of the reference point on the flag storage space;
An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus comprising: The apparatus of claim 3.
An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus comprising means for forming a three-dimensional image using a predetermined flag in the storage space. The apparatus of claim 3.
An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus comprising: means for determining convergence based on a change in a predetermined number of flags in the storage space. A transmission / reception means for repeatedly scanning a two-dimensional or three-dimensional data capturing space and acquiring data for each scan;
A data storage unit for storing the data;
Binarization means for binarizing the data;
A flag storage unit that has a flag storage space corresponding to the data capture space, and in which a flag 1 is set to a corresponding address of data determined to be continuous;
A means for determining the presence or absence of continuity with individual data in the data capture space for each scan as the target data, the value of the target data after binarization being 1, and the data of the target data If at least one flag 1 exists in the vicinity range centered on the corresponding address in the flag storage space, determination means for determining continuity for the data of interest;
For data for which continuity is determined, flag 1 is set to the corresponding address in the flag storage space, and for data for which the continuity is not determined, flag 0 is set to the corresponding address in the flag storage space. Flag setting means;
An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus comprising: The apparatus of claim 11.
Possess an address space corresponding to the data acquisition space comprises a memory that functions as the data storage unit and said flag storage unit,
N bits are assigned to each address of the memory, and m (where m <n) of the n bits are used for storing the data, and the remaining mn bits are used to store the continuity. An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, wherein a flag indicating presence / absence is stored.

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