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Publication Number
US-12318248-B2
Publication Date
2025-06-03
Expiration Date
Abstract
An ultrasound diagnosis apparatus according to an embodiment of the present disclosure includes an acquirer configured to acquire an ultrasound image, an analyzer configured to analyze appearances of a fetus using the image acquired in the acquirer, and a sorter configured to sort out the image of the fetus corresponding to a target of interest among the appearances of the fetus analyzed in the analyzer.
Core Innovation
The invention relates to an ultrasound diagnosis apparatus that acquires ultrasound images including 2D image, 3D image, and 4D image of a fetus and analyzes fetal body-part appearances. The apparatus analyzes whether one or more body parts included in an appearance of the fetus correspond to a predetermined criterion based on the acquired ultrasound image, and sorts out the appearance of the fetus corresponding to a motion of interest related to the one or more body parts.
The apparatus detects fetal appearances of the fetal mouth, tongue, hand, and foot by analyzing sagittal planes and using a 3D midsagittal plane reference. In some implementations, falx cerebri is used for detection and the analysis applies predetermined geometric and positional criteria to determine whether the appearance corresponds to the motion of interest.
The apparatus classifies and automatically sorts and stores motion images of interest, including yawning, hand sucking motion, foot sucking motion, and tongue sticking out motion. The yawning classification is based on a lip vertical length and lip horizontal length ratio, the hand/foot sucking classification is based on mouth-to-hand or mouth-to-foot distance and whether the hand or foot is positioned around the mouth, and the tongue sticking out classification is determined by whether the tongue position is beyond a base line of the fetal mouth.
The apparatus may include an extractor that extracts high-quality image(s) from overlapping sorted frames, and a display unit for presenting the result. The display unit supports notification, simultaneous multi-image display, selection, and pregnancy-period categorization of the sorted motion images.
Claims Coverage
The partial content includes two independent claims. Across these claims, the core inventive features are acquisition of ultrasound images, analysis against predetermined criteria for fetal body-part appearances, and sorting out fetal appearances corresponding to a motion of interest, with dependent features covering yawning, hand/foot sucking, and tongue sticking out.
Acquiring ultrasound image and analyzing fetal appearance against predetermined criterion
The ultrasound diagnosis apparatus acquires an ultrasound image, analyzes whether one or more body parts included in an appearance of a fetus correspond to a predetermined criterion based on the acquired ultrasound image, and sorts out the appearance of the fetus corresponding to a motion of interest related to the one or more body parts.
Acquiring ultrasound image and sorting fetal appearance corresponding to motion of interest
The ultrasound diagnosis method performed by an ultrasound diagnosis apparatus acquires an ultrasound image, analyzes whether one or more body parts included in an appearance of a fetus correspond to a predetermined criterion based on the acquired ultrasound image, and sorts out the appearance of the fetus corresponding to a motion of interest related to the one or more body parts.
The independent claims cover fetal ultrasound-based analysis in which predetermined criteria are applied to fetal body-part appearances and the system sorts out the fetal appearances corresponding to a motion of interest. The dependent material further specifies yawning, hand/foot sucking, and tongue sticking out using sagittal-plane and 3D/2D imaging criteria and geometric and positional rules.
Stated Advantages
Documented Applications
Sorting and storing fetal motion images of interest including yawning, hand sucking motion, foot sucking motion, and tongue sticking out motion based on ultrasound image analysis.
Pregnancy period categorization and display of sorted motion images, including notification and simultaneous multi-image display with user selection.
Extraction of high-quality image(s) from overlapping sorted frames for the motion images of interest.
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