Excrement analysis apparatus, excrement analysis method, pre-colonoscopy state confirmation apparatus, state confirmation system, state confirmation method, and non-transitory computer-readable medium

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2025148589-A1
Application number	US-202218694003-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Oct 5, 2022
Priority date	Oct 28, 2021
Publication date	May 8, 2025
Grant date	—

Abstract

An excrement analysis apparatus being capable of dealing with a toilet bowl having various shapes and a toilet seat and capable of accurately analyzing image-captured excrement is provided. The excrement analysis apparatus inputs imaging data captured by an image capture apparatus being installed in such a way as to include, in a capturing range, an excretion range of excrement in a toilet bowl of a toilet. The excrement analysis apparatus performs classification of a capturing target substance in a pixel unit by using semantic segmentation with respect to imaging data being input. The excrement analysis apparatus outputs a classification result.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . An excrement analysis apparatus comprising:
at least one memory storing instructions; and at least one processor configured to execute the instructions to do excrement analysis, the excrement analysis includes: inputting imaging data captured by an image capture apparatus being installed in such a way as to include, in a capturing range, an excretion range of excrement in a toilet bowl of a toilet; performing classification processing of classifying a capturing target substance in a pixel unit by using semantic segmentation with respect to imaging data being input; and outputting a classification result by the classification processing.

2 . The excrement analysis apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the classification processing classifies, for each pixel, the capturing target substance into any of the excrement, a foreign body not being allowed to be discarded into the toilet bowl, and another substance.

3 . The excrement analysis apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein the classification processing classifies the excrement into any of feces, urine, and urine dripping, or any of feces, urine, feces and urine, and urine dripping.

4 . The excrement analysis apparatus according to claim 3 , wherein the classification processing also performs together with at least one of classification of the feces into a plurality of predetermined feces characteristics, classification of the feces into a plurality of predetermined feces colors, and classification of the urine into a plurality of predetermined urine colors.

5 . The excrement analysis apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein the another substance includes at least one of a buttocks washing machine, toilet paper, and a substance after flushing the excrement.

6 . The excrement analysis apparatus according to claim 5 , wherein
the another substance includes at least the buttocks washing machine, the excrement analysis includes stopping subsequent classification processing when a classification result by the classification processing is classified into the buttocks washing machine, and the outputting includes outputting an excretion completion notification to an observer observing a user of the toilet when a classification result by the classification processing is classified into the buttocks washing machine.

7 . The excrement analysis apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein
the outputting includes outputting an excretion notification to an observer observing a user of the toilet when a classification result by the classification processing is classified into the excrement, after the excretion notification is output, the classification processing classifies each pixel being classified into the excrement into any of feces, urine, and urine dripping, or any of feces, urine, feces and urine, and urine dripping, and also performs together with at least one of classification of the feces into a plurality of predetermined feces characteristics, classification of the feces into a plurality of predetermined feces colors, and classification of the urine into a plurality of predetermined urine colors, and the outputting includes outputting a classification result of the feces, the urine, and the urine dripping, and at least one of a classification result of the feces characteristic, the feces color, and the urine color.

8 . The excrement analysis apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the output outputting includes outputting a classification result by the classification processing as information including a classification image drawn by performing color classification for each classification.

9 . The excrement analysis apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the outputting includes notifying an observer observing a user of the toilet of a classification result by the classification processing.

10 . The excrement analysis apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the excrement analysis further includes determining whether a user of the toilet completes pretreatment before colonoscopy, based on a classification result by the classification processing, wherein
the classification processing also performs together classification of feces as the excrement into a plurality of predetermined feces characteristics and classification of the feces into a plurality of predetermined feces colors, and the outputting includes outputting a determination result by the determining as a classification result by the classification processing or as a part of a classification result by the classification processing.

11 . The excrement analysis apparatus according to claim 10 , wherein the excrement analysis further calculating a feces amount being an amount of the feces, based on a classification result by the classification processing, and
the determining includes determining whether a user of the toilet completes the pretreatment, based on a classification result by the classification processing and the feces amount calculated by the calculating.

12 - 21 . (canceled)

22 . An excrement analysis method comprising:
inputting imaging data captured by an image capture apparatus being installed in such a way as to include, in a capturing range, an excretion range of excrement in a toilet bowl of a toilet; performing classification processing of classifying a capturing target substance in a pixel unit by using semantic segmentation with respect to input imaging data; and outputting a classification result by the classification processing.

23 . The excrement analysis method according to claim 22 , wherein the classification processing classifies, for each of the pixels, the capturing target substance into any of the excrement, a foreign body not being allowed to be discarded into the toilet bowl, and another substance.

24 . The excrement analysis method according to claim 23 , wherein the classification processing classifies the excrement into any of feces, urine, and urine dripping, or any of feces, urine, feces and urine, and urine dripping.

25 . The excrement analysis method according to claim 24 , wherein the classification processing includes at least one piece of processing of classifying the feces into a plurality of predetermined feces characteristics, classifying the feces into a plurality of predetermined feces colors, and classifying the urine into a plurality of predetermined urine colors.

26 . The excrement analysis method according to claim 23 , wherein the another substance includes at least one of a buttocks washing machine, toilet paper, and a substance after flushing the excrement.

27 . The excrement analysis method according to claim 22 , further comprising determination processing of determining whether a user of the toilet completes pretreatment before colonoscopy, based on a classification result by the classification processing, wherein
the classification processing includes processing of performing classification of feces as the excrement into a plurality of predetermined feces characteristics and a plurality of predetermined feces colors, and the outputting a classification result by the classification processing is that a determination result by the determination processing is output as a classification result by the classification processing or as a part of a classification result by the classification processing.

28 . The excrement analysis method according to claim 27 , further comprising calculation processing of calculating a feces amount being an amount of the feces, based on a classification result by the classifi

Assignees

• Nec Platforms Ltd

Inventors

• Tomishima Hiroyuki
• Miena Tsutomu
• YAMABUCHI Haruhiko
• Wakabayashi Masahiro
• Kakehata Kazuhiro

Classifications

• G01N33/483 Primary

  Physical analysis of biological material · CPC title

• G06T2207/20081

  Training; Learning · CPC title

• G06T2207/20036

  Morphological image processing · CPC title

• G06T7/10

  Segmentation; Edge detection (motion-based segmentation G06T7/215) · CPC title

• G06T7/0012 Primary

  Biomedical image inspection · CPC title