KR20190047370A - Apparatus and method for measuring blood flow based on infrared imaging - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to an apparatus and a method for measuring blood flow based on infrared imaging. The method of the present invention comprises the steps of: receiving an image for a blood vessel; specifying first and second positions of the blood vessel from the received image; measuring a distance between the first and second positions on the basis of the received image; extracting pulse wave information at the first and second positions of the specified blood vessel; measuring a moving time of blood using the pulse wave information at the first and second positions of the extracted blood vessel; and calculating a blood flow rate using the measured moving time and the measured distance. Accordingly, position and size information on a blood vessel to be observed can be accurately checked based on infrared imaging. Also, blood flow information such as pulse wave information, a blood flow rate, and a flow rate amount rate, etc., can be simultaneously obtained from various body parts. In addition, a distribution map for a blood flow rate and/or a blood flow amount rate can be obtained by using the blood flow rate and/or the blood flow amount rate by measuring the blood flow rate and/or the blood flow amount rate in various regions on a blood vessel image.

Description

[0001] APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR MEASURING BLOOD FLOW BASED ON INFRARED IMAGING [0002]

The present invention relates to an apparatus and an apparatus for measuring blood flow based on infrared imaging.

Because blood circulation information is closely related to physical health, accurate determination of blood information in real time is very important in confirming the physical condition of the body.

More specifically, it is necessary not only to check whether the vessel is stenosed or closed, but also to monitor changes in cerebral blood flow in real time, and it is also important to acquire blood flow information in various parts of the body.

According to a report by the World Health Organization (WHO), between 2000 and 2050, the proportion of the aged population over 65 is expected to double from 11% to 22%. As the elderly population increases, the incidence of various chronic diseases such as cardiovascular and diabetes is increasing. Blood velocity and blood flow velocity measurement techniques are essential for the diagnosis of various clinical vascular diseases such as arterial occlusion and peripheral vascular disease. Therefore, there is a growing demand for a blood flow measuring device that can provide various blood flow information at low cost and in various body parts.

However, existing blood flow measuring devices are limited to obtaining pulse information in nails or wrists.

In addition, since the blood flow measuring method using the laser Doppler effect and the ultrasonic wave is a physical contact type using a single sensor, it is necessary not only to collect a single blood flow information collectively in a certain region, The location and size information can not be accurately identified.

In addition, the blood flow measurement method using the laser Doppler effect, ultrasonic waves, etc., is utilized in expensive equipment, and it is disadvantageous that the measurement equipment can not be carried.

The apparatus and method for measuring blood flow according to the present invention are intended to solve the problems of the prior art described above and can accurately identify the position and size information of a blood vessel to be observed based on infrared imaging, Various blood flow information of the desired blood vessel can be obtained.

In addition, the blood flow measuring device according to the present invention has an advantage that the hardware part can be minimized. Such miniaturization of the blood flow measuring device can be applied to the point of care (POC) market, enabling real-time blood flow detection and remote medical service.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above problems of the prior art, and it is an object of the present invention to accurately check the position and size information of a blood vessel to be observed and obtain blood flow information such as pulse wave information, blood flow velocity, .

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided an apparatus for measuring blood flow according to an embodiment of the present invention. The apparatus includes an image receiving unit for receiving an image of a blood vessel, A distance measuring unit for measuring a distance between the first position and the second position based on the image received by the image receiving unit, a distance measuring unit for measuring a distance between the first position of the blood vessel specified by the position specifying unit A pulse wave information extracting unit for extracting pulse wave information at a first position and a second position, a movement time measuring unit for measuring a movement time of the blood using the pulse wave information at a first position and a second position of the blood vessel extracted by the pulse wave information extracting unit, And a blood flow velocity calculating unit that calculates a blood flow velocity using the movement time measured by the movement time measuring unit and the distance measured by the distance measuring unit Also it includes a calculation.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the volume measuring unit may include a volume measuring unit for measuring a volume of the blood vessel based on the image received by the image receiving unit, and a volume measuring unit for measuring the volume of the blood vessel measured by the volume measuring unit, And a blood flow velocity calculation unit for calculating a blood flow velocity using the velocity.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the apparatus may further include a light source unit for irradiating infrared rays to the subject, and the image receiving unit may be configured to acquire an image of the blood vessel based on infrared rays reflected from the subject.

In one embodiment of the invention, there are two or more pairs of the first position and the second position, and each pair may be in a different region on the received image.

In one embodiment of the present invention, a distribution obtaining unit obtains a distribution of blood flow velocity and / or blood flow velocity using a blood flow velocity and / or a blood flow velocity measured for a pair of a plurality of first positions and second positions .

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a blood flow measuring method including receiving an image of a blood vessel, determining a first position and a second position of the blood vessel from the received image, Measuring a distance between the first position and the second position based on the received image, extracting pulse wave information at a first position and a second position of the specified blood vessel, Measuring blood movement time using the pulse wave information at the first position and the second position of the blood vessel, and calculating the blood flow velocity using the measured movement time and the measured distance.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the method further comprises measuring the volume of the blood vessel based on the received image, and calculating the blood flow velocity using the measured volume of the blood vessel and the calculated blood flow velocity .

In one embodiment of the present invention, the step of receiving an image of the blood vessel may be based on infrared imaging.

In one embodiment of the invention, there are two or more pairs of the first position and the second position, and each pair may be in a different region on the received image.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the step of acquiring the blood flow velocity and / or the blood flow velocity distribution using the measured blood flow velocity and / or blood flow velocity for the pair of the first and second positions .

In the blood flow measuring method and apparatus according to the present invention, the position and size information of a blood vessel to be observed can be accurately confirmed based on infrared imaging, and blood flow information such as pulse wave information, blood flow velocity, Can be obtained.

Further, in the method and apparatus for measuring blood flow according to the present invention, blood flow velocity and / or blood flow velocity in various regions on a blood vessel image can be measured, and thus blood flow information in various regions on the blood vessel image can be obtained at the same time. In addition, the blood flow velocity and / or the blood flow velocity measured in the plurality of regions can be used to obtain the blood flow velocity and / or the blood flow velocity distribution.

In addition, since the blood flow measuring apparatus according to the present invention can be implemented to be portable, the blood flow measuring method according to the present invention can be utilized as a comparatively inexpensive apparatus. Therefore, blood flow information such as pulse wave information, blood flow velocity, It can be obtained more easily.

However, the effects of the present invention are not limited thereto, and can be variously extended without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention.

1 is a block diagram of a blood flow measuring apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.
2 shows an image of a blood vessel obtained through a blood flow measuring apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.
3 is a conceptual diagram for explaining an example of calculating the blood flow velocity on the basis of the blood flow measuring method of the present invention.
FIGS. 4 and 5 show blood vessel image and blood flow information obtained through the blood flow measuring apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.
6A shows a wrist blood flow measuring apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.
6B shows a handheld blood flow measuring apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.
6C shows an apparatus for measuring a band-like blood flow according to an embodiment of the present invention.
7 is a flowchart of a blood flow measurement method according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. The following examples of the present invention are intended only to illustrate the present invention and do not limit or limit the scope of the present invention. It will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and details may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.

The terms used in this specification will be briefly described and the present invention will be described in detail.

Throughout the specification, when a part is referred to as being "connected" to another part, it includes not only "directly connected" but also "electrically connected" with another part in between . Also, when a component is referred to as " comprising ", it may mean that it may include other components as well, without excluding other components unless specifically stated otherwise.

In addition, the term " user " used in the specification may be a doctor, a nurse, a clinical pathologist, a medical imaging expert or the like as a medical professional and may be a technician repairing a medical device, but is not limited thereto.

Also, as used herein, the term " part " refers to a hardware component such as software, FPGA or ASIC, and " part " However, " part " is not meant to be limited to software or hardware. &Quot; Part " may be configured to reside on an addressable storage medium, and may be configured to play back one or more processors. Thus, by way of example, and not limitation, " part (s) " refers to components such as software components, object oriented software components, class components and task components, and processes, Subroutines, segments of program code, drivers, firmware, microcode, circuitry, data, databases, data structures, tables, arrays, and variables. The functions provided in the components and " parts " may be combined into a smaller number of components and " parts " or further separated into additional components and " parts ".

Furthermore, throughout the specification, the singular forms "a," "an," and "the" include plural referents unless the context clearly dictates otherwise.

Hereinafter, some embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

1 is a block diagram of a blood flow measuring apparatus 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

1, an apparatus 100 for measuring blood flow according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention includes an image receiving unit 110 for receiving an image of a blood vessel, A distance measuring unit 130 for measuring a distance between the first position and the second position based on the image received by the image receiving unit, A pulse wave information extracting unit 140 for extracting pulse wave information at a first position and a second position of the blood vessel using the pulse wave information at the first position and the second position of the blood vessel extracted by the pulse wave information extracting unit, A blood flow velocity calculating unit 160 for calculating a blood flow velocity using the movement time measured by the movement time measuring unit and the distance measured by the distance measuring unit, It includes.

1 is an illustration for explaining an embodiment of the present invention, and the blood flow measuring apparatus may further include other components than the components shown in FIG. 1, or may be a component equivalent to the components shown in FIG. 1 It will be understood by those skilled in the art that substitution can be made.

Hereinafter, a blood flow measuring apparatus 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described in more detail.

The image receiving unit 110 receives an image related to a blood vessel. FIG. 2 shows an arbitrary image of a blood vessel received through the image receiving unit 110. FIG. The "blood vessels" described herein may include capillaries, veins, arteries, and the like. An " image " as described herein may refer to multi-dimensional data composed of discrete image elements (e.g., pixels in a two-dimensional image and voxels in a three-dimensional image) .

The blood flow measuring apparatus (100) of the present invention may further include a light source unit for irradiating an infrared ray to a subject. The " subject " described in this specification may include, for example, a user's skin and the like. The light source unit may include a support and an infrared light source arranged on an inner surface of the support. The shape of the support may be any shape as far as the infrared light source can be arranged on the inner surface so that the infrared light can be irradiated to the subject.

The blood flow measuring apparatus (100) of the present invention comprises an optical lens for receiving light reflected from a subject, which is irradiated from a light source unit, an infrared transmission filter through which light having passed through the optical lens is transmitted, And may further include a detection unit.

The blood flow measuring apparatus (100) of the present invention can receive light reflected from a subject irradiated from a light source unit using an optical lens. Further, the optical lens of the present invention may be an optical zoom lens, and an optically magnified image can be obtained through the optical zoom lens. Unlike the screen enlargement through the digital image processing, the original image itself is enlarged by using the lens, so that there is no blur of the image and a clear enlarged image can be obtained. Based on this, it is possible to clearly detect capillaries that are thin and can not be identified. It is also possible to include a function of adjusting the intensity of the incoming image by attaching a shutter to the inside of the optical lens.

The blood flow measuring apparatus 100 of the present invention can obtain an effective noise removing effect by filtering the reflected light using an infrared ray transmission filter just before the infrared ray is reflected from the subject and immediately before being detected by the camera detecting unit . The infrared transmission filter is used not to selectively filter the wavelength of the light source but to prevent noise from the external light source from entering the detector. For example, since the infrared LED has a narrow wavelength range of 10 nm, it has a filter effect that is necessary for selecting a specific wavelength when a light source of a broadband wavelength such as a lamp is used. The absorption of blood by a specific wavelength is enhanced by the infrared LED, and the noise due to the external light source is blocked by the optical filter, so that the sharpness of the image can be maximized.

The blood flow measuring apparatus (100) of the present invention can easily visualize the blood vessel image information in a desired form by easily obtaining the image information of the blood vessel in the form of digital data through the camera detecting unit. For example, since the digitized blood vessel image information is used, the accurate position of the blood vessel can be visualized in various forms, for example, by expressing it in a separate line. In addition, it is possible to implement the color and shape of the actual observation object so as to obtain the same effect as viewing blood vessels in the actual skin by adding various colors to the image. In addition, the camera detection unit may include one or more CCD (Charge Coupled Device) digital cameras, and it is possible to acquire a blood vessel image of black and white and a skin image of a natural color through a plurality of CCD digital cameras, You may.

The blood flow measuring apparatus (100) of the present invention may further include a signal processing unit. The signal processing unit may process and generate image information so that the light obtained from the camera detection unit can be displayed on the display unit 200. In addition, the signal processing unit may cause the display unit 200 to display a warning or guidance message if the generated image information does not satisfy the predetermined condition. For example, when the noise of the generated image information is included in a predetermined ratio or more, the signal processing unit displays a warning or guidance message on the display unit 200 to adjust the distance or angle for irradiating the light from the infrared image sensor . In this way, the user can adjust the light irradiation angle or distance of the infrared image sensor so that an optimal blood vessel detection image can be obtained.

The image receiving unit 110 may receive a blood vessel detection image obtained through an optical lens, an infrared ray transmission filter, a camera detection unit, a signal processing unit, and the like, and may obtain an image of a blood vessel based on the received blood vessel image.

In addition, the blood flow measuring apparatus 100 of the present invention may further include an image generating unit. The image generating unit may receive the blood vessel detection image acquired through the optical lens, the infrared ray transmission filter, the camera detection unit, the signal processing unit, and the like, and may generate an image of the blood vessel based on the received blood vessel image. The image receiving unit 110 may receive an image of the blood vessel generated by the image generating unit.

However, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and images relating to blood vessels can be obtained by various methods.

The position specifying unit 120 specifies a first position (starting point) and a second position (ending point) of the blood vessel to be observed in the image received by the image receiving unit 110.

The distance measuring unit 130 measures a distance between the first position (starting point) and the second position (ending point) based on the image received by the image receiving unit 110.

For example, as shown in FIG. 2, a first position (start point) and a second position (end point) of a blood vessel to be observed are specified in a blood vessel image received through the image receiving unit 110, And the distance L between the second position (end point) is measured. The unit of the measured distance may be, for example, centimeter (cm) or millimeter (mm).

The pulse-wave information extracting unit 140 extracts pulse-wave information at the first position and the second position of the blood vessel specified by the position specifying unit 120. [ For example, a pulse waveform at a first position (start point) and a second position (end point) specified in the blood vessel image shown in FIG. 2 can be shown as shown in FIG.

The movement time measuring unit 150 measures the movement time of the blood using the pulse wave information at the first position and the second position of the blood vessel extracted by the pulse wave information extracting unit 140. For example, as shown in FIG. 3, it is possible to measure the blood movement time by calculating the time interval between the highest points in the pulse waveform of the first position (start point) and the second position (end point). Alternatively, it is possible to measure the blood movement time by calculating the time interval between the lowest point in the pulse waveform of the first position (start point) and the second position (end point).

The blood flow velocity calculation unit 160 calculates the blood flow velocity using the movement time measured by the movement time measurement unit 150 and the distance measured by the distance measurement unit 130. [ The blood flow velocity V can be calculated by dividing the distance L measured by the distance measuring unit 130 by the moving time? T measured by the moving time measuring unit 150 as shown in Equation 1 below.

The unit of the calculated blood flow velocity may be, for example, mm / sec.

The blood flow measuring apparatus 100 of the present invention includes a volume measuring unit 170 for measuring a volume of a blood vessel based on an image received by the image receiving unit 110 and a volume measuring unit 170 for measuring a volume of the blood vessel measured by the volume measuring unit 170 And a blood flow velocity calculating unit 180 for calculating a blood flow velocity using the blood flow velocity calculated by the blood flow velocity calculating unit 160.

The volume measuring unit 170 measures the volume of the blood vessel based on the image received by the image receiving unit 110. For example, the volume measuring unit 170 measures the width of the blood vessel based on the image of the blood vessel received through the image receiving unit 110, and calculates the cross-sectional area of the blood vessel based on the measured width. The volume of the blood vessel is measured using the calculated cross-sectional area of the blood vessel and the distance measured by the distance measuring unit 130.

The blood flow velocity calculating unit 180 calculates the blood flow velocity using the volume of the blood vessel measured by the volume measuring unit 170 and the blood flow velocity calculated by the blood flow velocity calculating unit 160. The unit of the calculated blood flow rate may be, for example, ml / min.

In addition, the pair of the first position and the second position of the blood vessel specified by the blood flow measuring apparatus 100 of the present invention may be two or more, and each pair exists in a different region on the blood vessel image.

A blood flow measuring apparatus (100) of the present invention is a blood flow measuring apparatus (100) for obtaining a distribution chart for a blood flow velocity and / or a blood flow velocity using a blood flow velocity and / or a blood flow velocity measured for a pair of a plurality of first positions and a second position And may further include an acquisition unit 190.

The distribution degree obtaining unit 190 may use the blood flow velocity and / or the blood flow velocity measured for the pair of the first and second positions to indicate a section in which blood movement is smooth and stagnant as in the navigation of a vehicle .

In addition, the blood flow measuring apparatus 100 of the present invention may further include a display unit 200. The display unit 200 may display blood vessel images and blood flow information obtained through the blood flow measuring apparatus 100 of the present invention. Also, the display unit 200 may display a guide message indicating that the image of the blood vessel detection image and / or light is being correctly performed when the image obtained from the camera detection unit satisfies a predetermined condition, If the predetermined condition is not satisfied, a warning or guidance message can be displayed. Also, the display unit 200 can display various information necessary for using the blood flow measuring apparatus 100 of the present invention.

4 and 5 show blood vessel images and blood flow information displayed on the display unit 200 of the blood flow measuring apparatus 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, the blood flow measuring apparatus of the present invention can accurately identify the position and size information of a blood vessel to be observed on the basis of infrared imaging, and can also confirm pulse wave information, blood flow velocity , Blood flow rate, and the like can be obtained at the same time.

As shown in FIG. 4, the blood flow measuring apparatus of the present invention can measure the blood flow velocity and / or the blood flow velocity in various regions on the blood vessel image, and thus obtains blood flow information in various regions on the blood vessel image simultaneously . In one embodiment, FIG. 4 illustrates measuring blood flow velocity and / or blood flow velocity in three regions (1), (2), and (3).

In addition, the blood flow measuring apparatus of the present invention can obtain a blood flow velocity and / or a blood flow velocity distribution using the blood flow velocity and / or the blood flow velocity measured in a plurality of regions, as shown in FIG. In FIG. 5, as shown in FIG. 5, the sections where the blood is smoothly moved and the areas where the blood is stagnated are indicated in green, green, yellow, orange, and red. That is, the section with the best blood movement is green, and the section with the blood most stagnated is marked in red. Therefore, the blood flow measuring apparatus of the present invention can easily grasp not only the position and size information of the blood vessel to be observed, but also the blood movement information as shown in FIG.

When blood vessel diseases such as hypertension persist for a long time, low density-cholesterol (LDL-Cholesterol) accumulates on the blood vessel wall and inflammation reaction occurs at the corresponding position, resulting in cell proliferation and formation of a plaque. This narrows the internal diameter of the coronary or carotid arteries, which causes a decrease in blood flow velocity in the narrowed blood vessel area. In the blood flow measuring apparatus of the present invention, as shown in FIG. 5, the lowering of the blood flow velocity can be grasped at a glance through the blood flow velocity (blood flow velocity) distribution diagram.

The blood flow measuring apparatus of the present invention may be implemented as a wrist as shown in FIG. 6A as an embodiment. The wrist blood flow measuring apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention may be provided in a hospital, for example, as a fixed blood pressure monitor of a hospital, and may provide various blood flow information. As shown in FIG. 6A, the wrist blood flow measuring apparatus 600A according to an embodiment of the present invention may include, for example, a measuring unit 610A and a display unit 630A.

The blood flow measuring apparatus of the present invention may be implemented as a handheld type as shown in FIG. 6B as an embodiment. The handheld blood flow measuring apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention has a portable blood flow measuring apparatus with ease of transportation that can be used in the field, and is capable of measuring blood flow information such as pulse wave information, blood flow velocity, Information can be measured. 6B, the handheld blood flow measuring apparatus 600B according to an embodiment of the present invention may include, for example, a measuring unit 610B, a connecting unit 620B, and a display unit 630B. have.

The blood flow measuring apparatus of the present invention may be implemented in a band form as shown in FIG. 6C as an embodiment. For example, the band type blood flow measuring apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention can acquire blood flow information such as pulse information, blood flow velocity, blood flow velocity, etc. in a wearable manner by a general person or patient, It can be used as a device for communicating the state of the general public and the patient. As shown in FIG. 6C, the band-like blood flow measuring apparatus 600C according to an embodiment of the present invention can include, for example, a display unit 630C, and can be worn by a general person or a patient on the wrist . ≪ / RTI >

However, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and can be implemented in various forms of apparatuses.

7 is a flowchart of a blood flow measurement method according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The blood flow measuring method according to an embodiment of the present invention may include receiving a blood vessel image (S610) as shown in FIG. 7, identifying a first position and a second position of the blood vessel from the received image (S620) , Measuring a distance between the first position and the second position based on the received image (S630), extracting pulse wave information at a first position and a second position of the specified blood vessel (S640 (S650) measuring blood movement time using pulse wave information at the first position and the second position of the extracted blood vessel, and measuring blood flow velocity using the measured movement time and the measured distance (S660).

Each of steps S610 to S660 includes an image receiving unit 110, a position specifying unit 120, a distance measuring unit 130, a pulse wave information extracting unit 140, a movement time measuring unit 150 and the operation of the blood flow velocity calculating unit 160, respectively, so that a description overlapping with FIG. 1 will be omitted.

7, step S630 of measuring the distance between the first position and the second position, step S640 and step S650 of extracting the pulse wave information at the first position and the second position, and measuring the blood movement time But the order may be changed and may be performed at the same time.

In the blood flow measuring method of the present invention, the step (S610) of receiving the image related to the blood vessel may include receiving the image related to the blood vessel based on the infrared imaging, and specifying the first position and the second position of the blood vessel The pair of the first position and the second position of the blood vessel specified in S620 may be two or more, and each pair exists in different regions on the blood vessel image.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a blood flow measuring method comprising the steps of measuring a volume of a blood vessel based on a received blood vessel image (S670), calculating a blood flow velocity using the measured blood vessel volume and the calculated blood flow velocity S680) and acquiring a distribution map for the blood flow velocity and / or the blood flow velocity using the measured blood flow velocity and / or the blood flow velocity for the pair of the first position and the second position (S690) .

The respective steps of S670 to S690 correspond to the operations of the volume measuring unit 170, the blood flow velocity calculating unit 180, and the distribution degree obtaining unit 190 shown in Fig. 1, respectively. do.

Although the step of calculating the blood flow velocity (S660) and the step of calculating the blood flow velocity (S680) in FIG. 7 are sequentially performed, the order may be changed and may be performed simultaneously.

In the blood flow measuring method according to the present invention, the position and size information of a blood vessel to be observed can be accurately confirmed based on infrared imaging, and blood flow information such as pulse wave information (BPM), blood flow velocity, Can be obtained at the same time.

Further, in the blood flow measuring method of the present invention, it is possible to measure the blood flow velocity and / or the blood flow velocity in various regions on the blood vessel image, and thus, blood flow information in various regions on the blood vessel image can be acquired at the same time. In addition, the blood flow velocity and / or the blood flow velocity measured in the plurality of regions can be used to obtain the blood flow velocity and / or the blood flow velocity distribution.

The sequence of operations described in the methods or processes disclosed herein is described as an example. Accordingly, the order of each step can be adjusted within the spirit of the present invention as necessary. Furthermore, the devices and systems disclosed herein may include means for performing the functions described herein, and may be implemented as separate devices or systems as needed, or may be in an integrated or interfacial manner with other systems have.

The techniques described herein may be implemented, at least in part, in hardware, software, firmware, or any combination thereof. They may be implemented, for example, in one or more processors, a DSP, an ASIC, an FPGA, or equivalent logic circuit, or any combination of at least one of these. Such hardware, software, and firmware may be implemented within one or more systems or devices to support the operations and functions disclosed herein, or may be implemented in conjunction with or integrated with other systems or devices . In addition, the components described herein may be implemented separately or separately with separate but interoperable logic devices. It is to be understood that each function and operation identified and described herein is merely intended to accentuate each function, and not necessarily each such function must be implemented in a separate hardware, firmware, or software component, Or may be integrated within separate hardware and / or software combinations.

Further, the techniques described herein may also be implemented or stored in a computer-readable storage medium including instructions. And instructions stored in a computer-readable storage medium may cause the processor to perform the method and operation associated with the instruction. The computer readable storage medium may comprise RAM, ROM, PROM, EPROM, EEPROM, flash memory, hard disk, CD-ROM, magnetic media, optical media, or other storage media.

For the embodiments of the invention disclosed herein, specific structural and functional descriptions are set forth for the purpose of describing an embodiment of the invention only, and it is to be understood that the embodiments of the invention may be practiced in various forms, The present invention should not be construed as limited to the embodiments described in Figs.

The present invention is capable of various modifications and various forms, and specific embodiments are illustrated in the drawings and described in detail in the text. It should be understood, however, that the invention is not intended to be limited to the particular forms disclosed, but on the contrary, is intended to cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of the invention.

While the present invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to exemplary embodiments thereof, it will be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art that various changes in form and details may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the following claims. It can be understood that it is possible.

Claims (10)

An image receiving unit for receiving an image related to a blood vessel;
A position specifying unit for specifying a first position and a second position of the blood vessel from the image received by the image receiving unit;
A distance measuring unit for measuring a distance between the first position and the second position based on the image received by the image receiving unit;
A pulse wave information extracting unit for extracting pulse wave information at a first position and a second position of the blood vessel specified by the position specifying unit;
A movement time measuring unit for measuring the movement time of the blood using the pulse wave information at the first position and the second position of the blood vessel extracted by the pulse wave information extracting unit; And
And a blood flow velocity calculation unit for calculating a blood flow velocity using the movement time measured by the movement time measurement unit and the distance measured by the distance measurement unit. The method according to claim 1,
A volume measuring unit for measuring a volume of the blood vessel based on the image received by the image receiving unit; And
And a blood flow velocity calculation unit for calculating a blood flow velocity using the volume of the blood vessel measured by the volume measuring unit and the blood flow velocity calculated by the blood flow velocity calculation unit. The method according to claim 1,
Further comprising a light source unit for irradiating an infrared ray to a subject,
Wherein the image receiving unit is configured to acquire an image relating to a blood vessel based on infrared rays reflected from a subject. 3. The method of claim 2,
Wherein at least two pairs of the first position and the second position are present, and each pair is present in a different region on the received image. 5. The method of claim 4,
Further comprising a distribution obtaining unit for obtaining a distribution about blood flow velocity and / or blood flow velocity using the measured blood flow velocity and / or blood flow velocity for the pair of the first and second positions. Receiving an image of a blood vessel;
Identifying a first position and a second position of the blood vessel from the received image;
Measuring a distance between the first position and the second position based on the received image;
Extracting pulse wave information at a first position and a second position of the specified blood vessel;
Measuring blood movement time using pulse wave information at a first position and a second position of the extracted blood vessel; And
And calculating the blood flow velocity using the measured movement time and the measured distance. The method according to claim 6,
Measuring a volume of a blood vessel based on the received image; And
And calculating the blood flow velocity using the measured volume of the blood vessel and the calculated blood flow velocity. The method according to claim 6,
Wherein receiving the image of the blood vessel is based on infrared imaging. 8. The method of claim 7,
Wherein at least two pairs of the first position and the second position are present and each pair is in a different region on the received image. 10. The method of claim 9,
Further comprising the step of obtaining a distribution map for blood flow velocity and / or blood flow velocity using the measured blood flow velocity and / or blood flow velocity for a plurality of pairs of first and second positions.

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