KR20020072142A - Electronic stethoscope - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: An electronic stethoscope is provided to allow a user to directly listen to the heartbeat of a patient and store the bio-data to the computer through a button operation during medical service. CONSTITUTION: An electronic stethoscope comprises a main body unit(110) for converting vibration caused due to the generated sound into an electrical acoustic signal, transmitting the electrical acoustic signal to a speaker(126), permitting the speaker to reproduce and generate in a sound, and outputting the electrical acoustic signal through an acoustic signal output terminal(128); an acoustic signal transmission control unit(150) interposed between the main body unit and a computer(200), and which transmits the electrical acoustic signal to the computer and generates a control signal to the computer if needed; and a power control unit(130) for controlling power supply to the main body unit and the acoustic signal transmission control unit.

Description

Electronic stethoscope

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an electronic stethoscope, and more particularly, to an electronic stethoscope that enables a patient to be examined by listening to sounds generated in the body by human heartbeat or breathing.

In general, an electronic stethoscope converts sound generated from a human body into an electroacoustic signal through a microphone, amplifies it, sends the speaker, and converts and outputs the electroacoustic signal from the speaker. Allow them to listen.

Such electronic stethoscopes are disclosed in Korean Patent Publication No. 94-80, "Electronic Stethoscope," Utility Model Registration No. 0204716, "Portable Electronic Stethoscope," Utility Model Registration No. 0181469, "Steak with Microphone." They send the collected sound to an external device so that they can listen to it with the patient or record it and play it back when necessary.However, to do so, the doctor must sit at the chair and examine the external device at the same time. It was difficult to operate the unit, and I could not record the desired medical examination moment at the moment. That is, the conventional electronic stethoscope was very inconvenient to use additional functions in addition to the original purpose of the stethoscope to listen directly to the patient's biological sound.

It is an object of the present invention to treat the patient with a stethoscope and at the same time the patient can save the acoustic data collected by the stethoscope on a computer to use when needed, and in some cases, the sound collected by self-care It is to provide an electronic stethoscope that can be used for remote medical care using the Internet by allowing data to be transmitted to a remote place through the Internet.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an acoustic signal transmission control device that can be used to transfer the electric sound signal generated from the stethoscope to a computer.

1 is a perspective view of an electronic stethoscope according to the present invention,

Figure 2 is a perspective view of the main body of the electronic stethoscope of Figure 1,

3 is a perspective view of an acoustic signal transmission adjusting unit of FIG. 1.

4 is a block diagram for explaining an internal configuration of the electronic stethoscope of FIG. 1;

5 is a rear perspective view of the chest piece of FIG. 1, FIG.

6 is a right side view of the chest piece of FIG. 5, FIG.

Figure 7 is a flow chart for explaining the process of treatment using an electronic stethoscope according to the present invention.

Explanation of symbols on the main parts of the drawings

100: electronic stethoscope 110: the main body

112: diaphragm 114: microphone

116: first amplifier 118, 119, 120: first to third filter

122: mode selection switch 124: second amplifier

126: speaker 128: sound signal output terminal

130: power control unit 132: battery

134: voltage regulator 136: low voltage detector

138: low voltage indicator 140: microcontroller

142: power switch 150: sound signal transmission adjustment unit

152: sound signal input terminal 154: sound signal output terminal

156: control signal generator 158: control signal output terminal

200: Computer 202: Computer Sound Signal Input Terminal

204: control signal input port

An object of the present invention, the main body for converting the vibration according to the generated sound into an electro-acoustic signal to be delivered to the speaker to reproduce and output the sound and at the same time output the electro-acoustic signal through the sound signal output terminal And a sound signal transmission adjusting unit which is installed between the main body and the computer to transmit the electric sound signal to the computer, and generates a predetermined control signal to the computer as necessary, and controls the power supply required for the main body and the sound signal transmission adjusting unit. It can be achieved by an electronic stethoscope, characterized in that it comprises a power control unit for.

The main body separates the first diaphragm and the amplified electroacoustic signal for amplifying the electroacoustic signal and the microphone for converting the diaphragm and the diaphragm oscillated according to the sound generated from the body into an electroacoustic signal according to the frequency band. A mode selection switch for selecting the filters and the electroacoustic signals separated by the filters according to the frequency bands, and a second amplifier and the amplified electroacoustic signals for amplifying the electroacoustic signals of the selected frequency band. Accordingly, a speaker for outputting sound and an audio signal output terminal for outputting the amplified electroacoustic signal may be provided, and the speaker may be provided inside the ear piece and the remainder inside the case of the chest piece.

The sound signal transmission adjusting unit is a sound signal input terminal for receiving an electric sound signal output from the main body and an input electric sound signal as a microphone terminal or a line in terminal. The control signal generator and the control signal generated by the control signal generator for generating the sound signal output terminal for output and the control signal for recording the electric sound signal, if necessary, for game port and serial port. The control signal output terminal for outputting to the control signal input port of the computer is preferable.

The power control unit provides a voltage regulator for constantly adjusting the battery and the voltage of the battery, a low voltage detector for detecting that the voltage of the battery falls below a certain value, and a low voltage indicator and power supply to notify the user when a low voltage is detected. It is good to have a configuration including a microcontroller for controlling and a power switch for power on / off.

The diaphragm may be configured to be inclined at a predetermined angle with respect to the case.

Another object of the present invention is an apparatus for transmitting an electroacoustic signal generated from the electronic stethoscope to the computer, which is installed between the electronic stethoscope and the computer, the sound signal input terminal for receiving the electroacoustic signal, the input electroacoustic signal To the audio signal input terminal of the computer such as a microphone terminal and a line-in terminal, a control signal generator for generating a control signal for recording an electric sound signal, and a control signal generated from the control signal generator. It can be achieved by a sound signal transmission control device comprising a control signal output terminal for outputting to a control signal input port of a computer such as a port, a serial port.

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

1 is a perspective view of an electronic stethoscope according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the main body of FIG. 1, FIG. 3 is a perspective view of an acoustic signal transmission adjusting unit of FIG. 1, and FIG. 4 is an internal configuration of the electronic stethoscope of FIG. It is a block diagram for explanation.

As shown in FIGS. 1 to 4, the electronic stethoscope 100 according to the present invention includes a main body unit 110 for collecting sound and a large power supply unit 130 and a main body unit for supplying power to a necessary place. The electronic sound signal generated from the 110 is transmitted to the computer 200 as necessary, recording, or transmitted to a place where necessary through the Internet, the sound signal transmission adjustment unit 150 to enable remote medical care.

The main body 110 collects the sound generated from the human body of the person to be treated, converts it into an electroacoustic signal, reproduces it as an acoustic sound, and outputs the electroacoustic signal to a necessary part. It consists of a chest piece (110a), a cable (110b) and the head piece (110c). The configuration of the main body 110 can be seen in FIG.

The main body 110 includes a diaphragm 112 and a microphone 114. The diaphragm 112 is a part that vibrates according to the sound pressure of sound generated in the human body, and the microphone 114 is for converting the vibration of the diaphragm 112 into an electric sound signal. The first amplifier 116 connected to the microphone 114 is to amplify the weak electrical signal from the microphone 114. The first filter 118, the second filter 119, and the third filter 120 are connected to the first amplifier 116, and the mode selection switch 122 is provided at the rear end of each filter. The first filter 118 is a low-sound electroacoustic signal in the 20Hz to 150Hz band, the second filter 119 is a relatively high-sound electroacoustic signal in the 200Hz to 750Hz, and the third filter 120 is in the 20Hz to 1KHz band By passing through a wide band of the electroacoustic signal, respectively, to be able to select according to the treatment site, the mode selection switch 122 is to select the desired one of the preceding three filters. A second amplifier 124 is connected to the mode selection switch 122, and a speaker 126 and an audio signal output terminal 128 are connected to the second amplifier 124, respectively. Here, the second amplifier 124 is for amplifying the speaker 126 to drive the electroacoustic signal to audible sound, and the speaker 126 outputs the sound according to the amplified electroacoustic signal. The sound signal output terminal 128 is a part for outputting an electric sound signal to the sound signal transfer adjusting unit 150 by connecting the sound signal transfer adjusting unit 150. Here, the speaker 126 is provided in the head piece 110c, and the rest of the speaker 126 is provided in the case of the chest piece 110a.

The electronic stethoscope 100 according to the present invention is provided with an acoustic signal transmission adjusting unit 150. The sound signal transmission adjusting unit 150 transmits the electric sound signal generated in the main body unit 150 to the computer 200 at any time at a desired time while the person treating the doctor treats it, converts it into digital data, and stores it or via the Internet. It is intended to be able to transmit. The sound signal transmission adjusting unit 150 inputs a sound signal input terminal 152 and an input electric sound signal to the main body 110 such as a microphone terminal or a line in terminal. The sound signal output terminal 154 for contacting the terminal 202 and the person who is being treated can generate a control signal to the computer 200 and apply it to the computer 200 at any time at a desired time. The control signal generated by the control signal generator 156 by connecting to the control signal generator 156 and the control signal input port 204 for inputting a control signal such as a game port, a serial port of the computer 200, etc. Control signal output terminal 158 for transmitting to the computer 200. Of course, the computer 200 is driven when a control signal is applied to convert the electric sound signal input to the computer sound signal input terminal 202, such as a microphone terminal or a line-in terminal to a digital signal and stored in an auxiliary storage device such as a hard disk Or a program to transmit to a remote location via the Internet. The sound signal transmission adjusting unit 150 may be used as an independent electric sound signal transmission control device for connecting between another electronic stethoscope and a computer.

The electronic stethoscope 100 according to the present invention includes a power control unit 130. The power control unit 130 is for controlling the power supply to the required portion, the battery 132 and the voltage regulator 134 for supplying a constant voltage and the low voltage detector 136 for detecting the voltage drop and As the low voltage is detected, the low voltage indicator 138 for displaying the power supply and the microcontroller 140 and the power switch 142 for controlling the operation of each component by controlling the power supply. The power control unit 130 is provided in the chest piece 110a.

5 is a rear perspective view of the chest piece of FIG. 1, and FIG. 6 is a right side view of the chest piece of FIG. 5.

The chest piece 110a includes a power control unit including a battery as described above, and components of the main body 110 except for a speaker and an audio signal output terminal, and a case C for allowing them to be installed. The diaphragm 112 shown by the dotted line in this case is installed inclined at a predetermined angle with respect to the longitudinal direction of the case (C). This is to reduce the angle of the patient's wrist bent during the treatment so that the practitioner can be treated in a comfortable position. Opposite the diaphragm 112 is a mode select switch 122, a low voltage indicator 138 of LED.

Figure 7 is a flow chart for explaining the process of treatment using an electronic stethoscope according to the present invention.

That is, by operating the power switch 142 to power on (step 1), the mode selection switch 122 is operated according to the body part to be treated, such as the heart or lung of the patient to select the mode (step 2). Then, the chest piece 110a of the stethoscope comes into close contact with the patient's chest and starts medical treatment (step 3). If you hear too little or too loud a heartbeat (step 4) during the procedure, adjust the volume (step 5). Then determine whether the mode is appropriate (step 6), if not appropriate, go back to step 2, otherwise, listen to the sound such as heartbeat with a stethoscope and if it is determined that the sound data should be stored in the computer, then the control signal generator ( 150) Press button B to operate control signal generator 156 (step 7). Accordingly, the control signal is transmitted to the computer 200 through the control signal input port 204, such as a game port, a serial port of the computer, the computer 200 is a computer sound signal such as a microphone terminal, a line-in terminal according to the executed program An analog type electric sound signal input through the input terminal 202 is digitized and stored in an auxiliary storage device such as a hard disk or transmitted to a remote place through the Internet (step 8). When the storage or transmission of the sound data is completed (step 9), the power is turned off using the power switch 142 (step 10), and ends.

In the case of using the electronic stethoscope according to the present invention as described above, the person who cares can directly hear the vital sound such as the heartbeat of the patient, and if necessary, the patient can be operated at the desired position while sitting at the desired time while consulting. Biometric data can be stored directly in the auxiliary memory of the computer. In some cases, remote medical treatment may be performed by transmitting sound data of a patient treated by a patient or a family member at home to a remote doctor via the Internet.

In addition, the computer can be listened to not only doctors, but also patients and guardians, and the sound waves can be analyzed through the computer to easily search for disease names.

In addition, the diaphragm is inclined at a predetermined angle with respect to the case, so that the wrist is less likely to be bent and is easy to treat.

Claims (6)

In the electronic stethoscope, A main body unit which converts the vibration according to the generated sound into an electroacoustic signal and transmits it to a speaker so as to reproduce and output the sound through the sound signal output terminal; An acoustic signal transmission adjusting unit installed between the main body and the computer to transmit the electroacoustic signal to the computer and to generate a predetermined control signal to the computer as necessary; And And a power control unit for controlling the power supply required for the main body unit and the sound signal transmission adjusting unit. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the main body unit comprises: a diaphragm vibrated according to a sound generated from a body, a microphone for converting the vibration of the diaphragm into an electroacoustic signal, and a first amplifier for amplifying the electroacoustic signal. Amplifying a mode selection switch for separating the electroacoustic signal according to the frequency band and the electroacoustic signal of the selected frequency band and a mode selection switch for selecting the electroacoustic signal separated by the filters according to the frequency band And a second amplifier for giving a sound and a speaker for outputting sound in accordance with the amplified electroacoustic signal, and an audio signal output terminal for outputting the amplified electroacoustic signal. Electronic stethoscope, characterized in that provided in the case of the chest piece. According to claim 1 or claim 2, wherein the sound signal transmission adjusting unit is a sound signal input terminal for receiving the electro-acoustic signal output from the main body portion and the input sound signal to the microphone terminal, line-in terminal, etc. A sound signal output terminal for outputting to the sound signal input terminal of the control port generator and a control signal generated by the control signal generator for generating a control signal for recording the electric sound signal, if necessary, and a game port and a serial port. And a control signal output terminal for outputting the control signal input port of the computer. According to claim 1 or claim 2, wherein the power control unit is a voltage regulator for constantly adjusting the voltage of the battery and the battery, a low voltage sensor for detecting that the voltage of the battery falls below a certain value and the low voltage is sensed And a low voltage indicator for notifying the user, a microcontroller for controlling the power supply, and a power switch for power on / off. The electronic stethoscope according to claim 2, wherein the diaphragm is installed at an angle with respect to the case. An apparatus installed between an electronic stethoscope and a computer for transmitting an electroacoustic signal generated by the electronic stethoscope to the computer, A sound signal input terminal for receiving the electric sound signal; A sound signal output terminal for outputting the input electric sound signal to a sound signal input terminal of a computer such as a microphone terminal and a line in terminal; A control signal generator for generating a control signal for recording the electroacoustic signal; And And a control signal output terminal for outputting a control signal generated by the control signal generator to a control signal input port of the computer such as a game port and a serial port.