transmitting, from the plurality of elements of the ultrasonic probe toward a target tissue of a subject into which a needle is inserted, a plurality of ultrasonic waves by one transmission, wherein transmission focus processing has been performed on the plurality of ultrasonic waves transmitted from the plurality of elements by the one transmission such that the plurality of ultrasonic waves are transmitted toward one focal point in a normal direction of an ultrasonic wave transmitting and receiving surface of the plurality of elements of the ultrasonic probe;

generating a plurality of pieces of reception data by receiving, by the plurality of elements, a plurality of reception waves which are reflected by the target tissue resulting from the plurality of ultrasonic waves, respectively,

performing a first reception focus processing on the plurality of pieces of reception data along the normal direction of the ultrasonic wave transmitting and receiving surface, to generate a plurality of pieces of processed first reception data, respectively;

generating a tissue image of the subject based on the plurality of pieces of processed first reception data;

performing a second reception focus processing on the plurality of pieces of reception data along different steering directions to generate a plurality of pieces of processed second reception data, respectively, wherein the different steering directions (i) each extend in a direction steered from the normal direction of the ultrasonic wave transmitting and receiving surface and (ii) include a direction that is a right angle with respect to a direction in which the needle extends;

generating a plurality of needle images of the needle based on the plurality of pieces of processed second reception data, respectively;

generating a needle direction of the needle based on the plurality of generated needle images;

visualizing by superimposing the generated needle direction on the tissue image, and setting a search region for searching for a needle tip of the needle on the tissue image based on the needle direction on the tissue image;

searching for the needle tip in the set search region, and

visualizing the needle tip on the tissue image based on the found needle tip,

wherein the plurality of needle images with the different steering directions are generated by changing a steering direction to steer the reception wave for the needle, and

the needle direction is generated based on the plurality of pieces of needle images with the different steering directions.