Region extraction apparatus, method, and program

A region extraction processing method, comprising the steps of:

• extracting a gaseous region from a lumen image that includes a hollow organ;
• extracting a candidate of a residue region in the hollow organ from the lumen image as a residue candidate region;
• detecting a boundary candidate regions that include a boundary between the gaseous region and the residue candidate region;
• obtaining a representative direction component representing a plurality of directional components of an image in the boundary candidate regions, and detecting a boundary region that includes a boundary between the gaseous region and the residue region from the boundary candidate regions based on the representative direction component;
• and
• extracting the residue candidate region that includes the boundary region as the residue region.

A non-transitory computer-readable recording medium containing a region extraction processing program that causes a computer to function as:

• a gaseous region extraction unit that extracts a gaseous region from a lumen image that includes a hollow organ;
• a residue candidate region extraction unit that extracts a candidate of a residue region in the hollow organ from the lumen image as a residue candidate region;
• a boundary candidate region detection unit that detects a plurality of candidate regions that include a boundary between the gaseous region and the residue candidate region;
• a representative direction component obtaining unit that obtains a representative direction component representing a plurality of directional components of an image in the boundary candidate regions;
• a boundary region detection unit that detects a boundary region that includes a boundary between the gaseous region and the residue region from the boundary candidate regions based on the representative direction component;
• and
• a residue region extraction unit that extracts the residue candidate region that includes the boundary region as the residue region.

A region extraction processing apparatus, comprising:

• a memory configured to store commands to be executed by a computer therein;
• and
• a processor;
• the processor being configured to execute the processes of:
• extracting a gaseous region from a lumen image that includes a hollow organ;
• extracting a candidate of a residue region in the hollow organ from the lumen image as a residue candidate region;
• detecting a plurality of boundary candidate regions that include a boundary between the gaseous region and the residue candidate region;
• obtaining a representative direction component representing a plurality of directional components of an image in the boundary candidate regions;
• detecting a boundary region that includes a boundary between the gaseous region and the residue region from the boundary candidate regions based on the representative direction component;
• and
• extracting the residue candidate region that includes the boundary region as the residue region.