CN111343906A

CN111343906A - Measuring device, computer-implemented method, program, and one or more computer-readable storage media

Info

Publication number: CN111343906A
Application number: CN201880072425.XA
Authority: CN
Inventors: 佐藤正平
Original assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Current assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Priority date: 2018-01-22
Filing date: 2018-01-22
Publication date: 2020-06-26
Anticipated expiration: 2038-01-22
Also published as: JP2021510100A; WO2019140694A1; CN111343906B; JP6968285B2

Abstract

The present invention provides a measuring device, comprising: a first measurement unit (10) for performing non-contact measurement of vital sign data of a body; a second measuring part (20) for measuring the movement of the body relative to the first measuring part (10); a detection section (30) for detecting whether the motion measured by the second measurement section (20) is smaller than a first reference value; a selection unit (40) for: setting the vital sign data measured by the first measuring part (10) as valid data if the motion measured by the second measuring part (20) is smaller than the first reference value.

Description

Measuring device, computer-implemented method, program, and one or more computer-readable storage media

Background

1. Field of the invention

The present invention relates to a measuring apparatus, a computer-implemented method, a program and one or more computer-readable storage media.

2. Correlation technique

In the fields of medical treatment, health care, etc., various conventional techniques have been proposed for non-contact measurement of vital sign data such as Heartbeat Rate (HR) and Respiration Rate (RR). However, when the body of the subject moves, the measurement accuracy of the vital sign data is low.

Disclosure of Invention

In one embodiment, a measurement device is provided. The measuring device includes: a first measurement unit for performing non-contact measurement of vital sign data of a body; a second measuring portion for measuring a movement of the body relative to the first measuring portion; a detection section for detecting whether the motion measured by the second measurement section is smaller than a first reference value; a selection section for: and setting the vital sign data measured by the first measuring part as valid data if the motion measured by the second measuring part is smaller than the first reference value. In this way, only vital sign data can be collected very accurately.

The first measurement portion may be configured to measure the vital sign data using radar. The second measurement portion may be configured to: measuring the movement based on a result of capturing an image of the body. The second measurement portion may be configured to: measuring the motion from a result of capturing the image including depth direction information. The second measurement unit may be configured to perform non-contact measurement on vital sign data of the body, and the selection unit may be configured to: setting the vital sign data measured by the second measuring part as valid data if the motion is greater than or equal to the first reference value.

In another embodiment, a computer-implemented method is provided. The method comprises the following steps: a first measurement unit for performing non-contact measurement of vital sign data of a body; a second measurement, wherein the second measurement part measures the movement of the body relative to the first measurement part; detecting whether the motion measured by the second measuring part is smaller than a first reference value; optionally, if the motion measured by the second measuring part is smaller than the first reference value, the vital sign data measured by the first measuring part is set as valid data. In this way, only vital sign data can be collected very accurately.

In another embodiment, there is provided a program causing a computer to function as the measuring apparatus according to one embodiment.

In yet another embodiment, one or more computer-readable storage media are provided that collectively store computer-executable program instructions. The program instructions cause the computer to function as a measurement device according to one embodiment.

This summary does not necessarily describe all necessary features of embodiments of the invention. The invention may also be a sub-combination of the features described above. The above and other features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following description of the embodiments taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

Drawings

Fig. 1 shows a measuring apparatus provided in an embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 2 shows a first measurement portion 10 provided in an embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 3 shows a second measuring portion 20 provided in the embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 4 shows the operation of the measuring device.

Fig. 5 shows an exemplary hardware configuration of a computer provided by an embodiment of the present invention.

Detailed Description

Some embodiments of the invention will be described below. These embodiments do not limit the invention described in the claims, and all combinations of features described in the embodiments are not necessarily essential to the means (means) provided by the aspects of the invention.

(1. configuration of measuring device)

Fig. 1 shows a measuring apparatus 1 provided in the present embodiment.

The measurement apparatus 1 is an apparatus for measuring vital sign data of a body 9 of a subject, and includes a first measurement unit 10, a second measurement unit 20, a detection unit 30, a selection unit 40, a drive unit 50, a display 60, and a storage unit 70. The measuring apparatus 1 may not necessarily include at least one of the driving section 50, the display 60, and the storage section 70. Each of the parts of the measuring device 1 may be formed as a single body, and may be, for example, a mountable device. The subject may be a human or an animal.

(1-1. first and second measuring parts)

The first measurement unit 10 performs non-contact measurement of vital sign data of the body 9. For example, the first measurement portion 10 may measure vital sign data of the body 9 at a distance of 0.2m to 3.0m (e.g., 1m to 1.5 m). The first measurement section 10 may measure vital sign data indicating at least one of a heart rate and a breathing rate of the body 9. The first measuring portion 10 may be used to adjust at least one of a direction and a distance of the first measuring portion 10 with respect to the body 9. For example, the first measuring portion 10 may be provided on a moving arm. The first measurement unit 10 may supply the measured vital sign data to the selection unit 40.

The second measuring portion 20 measures the movement of the body 9 relative to the first measuring portion 10. The movement of the body 9 relative to the first measuring portion 10 may mean that the relative position and/or relative orientation of the first measuring portion 10 and the body 9 changes. For example, a change in the position and/or orientation of the body 9 and/or the first measurement portion 10 may cause the body 9 to move relative to the first measurement portion 10. The second measurement portion 20 can measure the relative movement without contacting the body 9, and for example, the measurement can be performed at a distance of 1m to 1.5m from the body 9. The second measuring part 20 may provide the measured motion data to the detecting part 30.

Here, the method used by the first measurement unit 10 to measure the vital sign data and the method used by the second measurement unit 20 to measure the exercise may be different from each other. For example, the measurement method used by the first measurement portion 10 for measurement may have higher accuracy when the body 9 is stationary than when the body 9 is moving. The measurement method used for the measurement by the second measurement portion 20 hardly changes in accuracy even when the body 9 moves. As described in further detail below, for example, the first measurement portion 10 may perform measurements using radar, and the second measurement portion 20 may perform measurements using images of the body 9.

The second measurement unit 20 can perform non-contact measurement of vital sign data of the body 9. The second measurement portion 20 can measure vital sign data of the body 9 and movement of the body 9 relative to the first measurement portion 10 using the same sensor. The vital sign data measured by the second measurement unit 20 may be the same as or different from the vital sign data measured by the first measurement unit 10. If the movement of the body 9 is smaller than the first reference value, the accuracy of the vital sign data measurement performed by the second measurement portion 20 may be lower than that of the first measurement portion 10; if the movement of the body 9 is greater than or equal to the first reference value, the accuracy of the vital sign data measurement by the second measurement portion 20 may be higher than that of the first measurement portion 10. The second measurement section 20 may supply the measured vital sign data to the selection section 40.

(1-3. detecting part)

The detecting part 30 detects whether the motion measured by the second measuring part 20 is less than the first reference value. For example, the detection part 30 may detect whether the index value of the measured motion is smaller than a first reference value. The index value may be, for example, a change amount, a change in velocity, or a change in acceleration of the relative position and/or the relative direction of the first measurement portion 10 and the body 9. The first reference value may be a lower limit value of the motion or a value obtained by adding a margin (margin) to the lower limit value if the measurement accuracy of the first measurement portion 10 exceeds the allowable accuracy range.

The detection section 30 may detect whether the motion has returned to be smaller than the second reference value after becoming larger than or equal to the first reference value. The second reference value may be smaller than the first reference value. For example, if the measurement accuracy of the first measurement portion 10 is within the allowable accuracy range, the second reference value may be the upper limit value of the motion or a value obtained by subtracting a margin from the upper limit value. The detection section 30 may supply a detection signal indicating the detection result to the selection section 40.

(1-4. selection part)

Based on the detection signal from the detection unit 30, if the motion measured by the second measurement unit 20 is smaller than the first reference value, the selection unit 40 sets the vital sign data obtained by the first measurement unit 10 as valid data. Here, setting the vital sign data to valid data in the case where the motion is smaller than the first reference value may mean that the vital sign data is invalidated in the case where the motion is greater than or equal to the first reference value, thereby setting the remaining vital sign data to valid data. For example, the selection section 40 may label the vital sign data in the case where the motion is greater than or equal to the first reference value with a label indicating invalid data. Further, if the motion is greater than or equal to the first reference value, the selection part 40 causes the first measurement part 10 to output an invalid value. Still further, if the motion is greater than or equal to the first reference value, the selection portion 40 may disable the first measurement portion 10, thereby stopping the provision of the vital sign data and may stop the reception of the vital sign data from the first measurement portion 10. When the motion returns to be smaller than the second reference value after becoming greater than or equal to the first reference value, the selection portion 40 may set the vital sign data measured by the first measurement portion 10 as valid data.

When the second measurement section 20 measures the vital sign data, the selection section 40 may set the vital sign data measured by the second measurement section 20 as valid data if the motion is greater than or equal to the first reference value. For example, the selection section 40 may set the vital sign data from the second measurement section 20 as valid data using a method similar to the method of setting the vital sign data from the first measurement section 10 as valid data. Further, the selection unit 40 may attach a label to the valid data, the label indicating which of the vital sign data measured by the first measurement unit 10 and the vital sign data measured by the second measurement unit 20 is the valid data.

The selection section 40 may provide the vital sign data set as valid data to the display 60. The selection unit 40 may provide the vital sign data to the storage unit 70.

(1-5. drive section)

When at least one of the position and the orientation of the body 9 included in the motion measured by the second measurement section 20 changes, the drive section 50 moves the sensor portion of the first measurement section 10 to a position and an orientation at which vital sign data of the body 9 can be measured. For example, the driving part 50 may drive a moving arm on which the first measuring part 10 is disposed. Note that, as long as the first measurement section 10 can move, the driving section 50 may move the sensor portion of the first measurement section 10 using another method.

(1-6. display)

The display 60 displays the vital sign data set as valid data. For example, when the vital sign data from the first measurement section 10 is valid data, the display 60 displays the vital sign data from the first measurement section 10; when the vital sign data from the second measurement portion 20 is valid data, the display 60 displays the vital sign data from the second measurement portion 20. The display 60 may display the measured vital sign data in real time or may display the vital sign data generated when the measurements have been completed in chronological order in a graph or chart. If multiple types of vital sign data are measured, the display 60 may display each type of vital sign data. The display 60 may display vital sign data as well as identification information of the subject, e.g. an image of the body 9. The display 60 may be a touch panel, or may display a user interface that can be manipulated by touch.

(1-7. storage section)

The storage unit 70 stores the vital sign data measured by the first measurement unit 10. If the second measurement unit 20 measures vital sign data, the storage unit 70 may store the vital sign data measured by the second measurement unit 20 and the vital sign data measured by the first measurement unit 10. The storage unit 70 may store the vital sign data set as valid data and/or an invalid data tag attached to the selection unit 40, or may store only the vital sign data set as valid data by the selection unit 40. The storage section 70 may store vital sign data of each subject.

With the above-described measuring device, if the motion measured by the second measuring portion 20 is smaller than the first reference value, the vital sign data from the first measuring portion 10 is set as valid data. Thus, it is possible to collect very accurately only vital sign data measured when the movement of the body 9 is smaller than the first reference value.

Since the first measurement unit 10 and the second measurement unit 20 measure vital sign data and movement of the body 9 using different measurement methods, the vital sign data and movement of the body 9 can be measured very accurately.

Further, since the second measurement unit 20 performs both the exercise measurement of the body 9 and the vital sign data measurement, the measurement apparatus 1 can be simplified as compared with a case where a separate measurement unit performs these measurements. Further, since the vital sign data measured by the second measuring portion 20 is set as the valid data in the case where the motion is greater than or equal to the first reference value, the vital sign data can be collected very accurately even when the motion of the body 9 is greater than or equal to the first reference value. Thus, vital sign data can be collected safely and very accurately.

The valid data is labeled with a label indicating which of the vital sign data measured by the first measuring portion 10 and the vital sign data measured by the second measuring portion 20 has been set as the valid data. Therefore, the first measurement unit 10 or the second measurement unit 20 can be used for the analysis or the like while checking the measured vital sign data.

When the motion becomes smaller than a second reference value after becoming greater than or equal to the first reference value, the vital sign data from the first measuring portion 10 is set as valid data, wherein the second reference value is smaller than the first reference value. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the components that measure vital sign data from being frequently switched between the first measurement section 10 and the second measurement section 20, as compared with the case where the second reference value is greater than or equal to the first reference value.

Since the sensor portion of the first measuring part 10 moves when the second measuring part 20 measures a movement and/or a change in direction of the body 9, vital sign data can be continuously measured using the first measuring part 10. Thus, vital sign data can be collected more safely and very accurately.

(2. detailed example of first measuring section)

Fig. 2 shows the first measurement portion 10 provided in the present embodiment. For example, the first measurement unit 10 measures vital sign data using radar. For example, the first measurement portion 10 may detect periodic motion of the chest, skin surface, etc. of the body 9 using radar, and extract HR and/or RR using various signal processing algorithms. The first measurement section 10 may include a radar section 101, an amplifier/filter 102, an Analog Digital Converter (ADC) 103, a Digital Signal Processor (DSP) 104, and a vital sign data extraction section 105.

The radar section 101 emits radio waves, and measures reflected waves generated by the radio waves. For example, the radar unit 101 may perform measurement using a Frequency Modulated Continuous Wave (FMCW) radar or a Continuous Frequency Modulated radio Wave. The radar section 101 may use radio waves of an IQ signal including an in-phase (I phase) component and a Quadrature phase (Q phase) component that are phase-shifted by 90 degrees from each other. The radar section 101 may supply a measurement signal indicating a reflected wave waveform, for example, an IQ signal, to the amplifier/filter 102.

The amplifier/filter 102 may amplify and/or filter the measurement signal from the radar section 101. For example, the amplifier/filter 102 may remove a noise component of the IQ signal, for example, may remove aliasing noise corresponding to the sampling frequency of the radar section 101 or remove noise generated by diffuse reflection of radio waves. The amplifier/filter 102 may provide the amplified and/or filtered IQ signal to the ADC 103.

The ADC 103 converts the IQ signal from an analog signal to a digital signal. The ADC 103 supplies the signal-processed IQ signal to the DSP 104.

The DSP 104 performs various signal processing on the digitized IQ signal. For example, the DSP 104 may remove the DC component in the IQ signal. The DSP 104 supplies the signal-processed IQ signal to the vital sign data extraction section 105.

The radar unit 101 measures reflected waves from the body 9, and the vital sign data extraction unit 105 extracts vital sign data of the body 9 from the signals supplied in the above case. For example, the vital sign data extraction unit 105 may extract HR and/or RR of the body 9. For example, the vital sign data extraction section 105 may calculate a phase angle of an IQ signal, calculate a beat frequency from the phase angles of the transmission signal and the reception signal, input the beat frequency for FFT, and generate a spectrogram indicating a relationship between a distance between the radar section 101 and the reflection surface, a doppler shift, and a signal intensity. Then, the vital sign data extraction section 105 can extract vital sign data from the spectrogram by detecting the reciprocating motion of the chest, the skin surface, or the like of the body 9. The vital sign data extraction unit 105 may provide the vital sign data to the selection unit 40. Here, the doppler shift may be a frequency shift amount generated by the movement of the reflection surface of the reflected radio wave with respect to the radar section 101. The vital sign data extraction unit 105 may generate a spectrogram using Short Time Fourier Transform (STFT) or Discrete Wavelet Transform (DWT). The DSP 104 may calculate the phase angle of the IQ signal.

Since the vital sign data is measured by the first measurement unit 10 using radar, the vital sign data can be measured very accurately when the body 9 is almost not moving.

The first measuring portion 10 may have other configurations. For example, the first measurement section 10 may omit one or more of the amplifier/filter 102, ADC 103 and DSP 104, as long as radar can be used to measure vital sign data.

(3. detailed example of second measuring section)

Fig. 3 shows a second measurement portion 20 provided in the present embodiment. The second measurement section 20 measures the movement from the result of capturing an image of the body 9 or the like. Furthermore, the second measurement portion 20 may perform a non-contact measurement of vital sign data of the body 9, for example HR and/or RR may be measured. The second measurement unit 20 may include an image sensor 201, a depth sensor 202, a Region Of Interest (ROI) extraction unit 203, a motion detection unit 204, and a vital sign data extraction unit 205.

The image sensor 201 may acquire a video image of the body, for example, an image at a frame rate of 15fps to 60 fps. The image sensor 201 can acquire an image including at least a head or an upper body. The image sensor 201 may acquire an RGB color image. The image sensor 201 may supply the acquired image data to the ROI extracting section 203.

The depth sensor 202 may acquire depth direction information within the field of view. The depth sensor 202 may acquire depth data at the same field angle as the image sensor 201, for example, a depth image including the depth of each pixel of the image sensor 201 may be acquired. The depth sensor 202 may acquire depth data at the same frame rate as the image acquired by the image sensor 201. The depth sensor 202 may detect the depth using a multi-lens camera, or may calculate the depth by emitting a pulsed laser light and receiving the resulting reflected light. It should be noted that the techniques used for detecting the depth are not limited to the above-described techniques.

The depth sensor 202 may provide depth data to the ROI extraction section 203. In one example of the present embodiment, the depth sensor 202 may be provided integrally with the image sensor 201 to constitute an RGB-D sensor, capture an RGB-D image including depth direction information, and supply the RGB-D image to the ROI extracting section 203. The depth direction may be an optical axis direction of an optical system including the image sensor.

The ROI extracting unit 203 extracts an ROI corresponding to at least a part of the body 9 in the image from the RGB-D image data. The ROI may be the whole of the body 9 included in the contour or may be a part of the body 9. The portion of the body 9 that is the ROI may be at least one of a portion (e.g., the chest or the skin surface) where the first measurement section 10 measures the vital sign data and a portion (e.g., the head or the upper body) where the second measurement section 20 measures the vital sign data. The ROI extracting unit 203 may extract the ROI only from the image data from the image sensor 201, or may extract the ROI only from the depth image data from the depth sensor 202. The ROI extracting section 203 may extract the ROI using a segmentation algorithm and pattern matching.

The ROI extracting unit 203 may supply data on the ROI in the RGB-D image data to the motion detecting unit 204 and the vital sign data extracting unit 205. For example, the ROI extracting unit 203 may supply the RGB-D image data, in which the portion of the body 9 where the vital sign data is measured by the first measuring unit 10 is the ROI, to the motion detecting unit 204. The ROI extracting unit 203 may supply the RGB-D image data, in which the portion of the body 9 where the vital sign data is measured by the second measuring unit 20 is the ROI, to the vital sign data extracting unit 205. The ROI extracting section 203 may provide RGB-D image data including the ROI part with a label attached thereto, or may extract the ROI part only from the provided RGB-D image data and provide the ROI part.

The motion detection unit 204 detects the motion of the body 9 from the motion of the ROI in the image. For example, the motion detection section 204 may detect the motion of the ROI as the motion of the body 9.

The motion detection section 204 may measure the motion of the body 9 from the RGB-D image including the depth direction information. For example, the motion detector 204 may detect the motion of the body 9 by moving the ROI in the direction parallel to the object plane and/or in the depth direction in the RGB-D image. The motion detecting section 204 may detect the motion of the ROI by performing template matching in each frame image using the template and the shape of the ROI and detecting a change in at least one of the position, angle, and size of the ROI. If the depth sensor 202 is provided separately from the image sensor 201, the motion detection section 204 may acquire RGB images of the ROI from the ROI extraction section 203, acquire depth images from the depth sensor 202, and perform motion detection using these images. For example, the object plane may be a plane perpendicular to the depth direction. The motion detection section 204 may supply the measured motion data to the detection section 30.

The vital sign data extraction unit 205 extracts vital sign data of the body 9 from the video image supplied to the vital sign data extraction unit 205. For example, the vital sign data extraction unit 205 may measure the HR by detecting a periodic change in the face color in an RGB video image using an image photoplethysmography (iPPG) technique. Further, the vital sign data extraction section 205 may measure RR by detecting the gradient magnitude and direction of the edge of the shoulder or face in the RGB video image. The vital sign data extraction unit 205 may extract a periodic fluctuation of the body 9 in the depth direction from the depth video image, and measure HR and/or RR of the body 9 based on the periodic fluctuation. For example, the vital sign data extraction section 205 may measure RR by detecting the reciprocating motion of the chest in the depth video image. The vital sign data extraction unit 205 may extract vital sign data from the video image of the ROI portion supplied from the ROI extraction unit 203. This reduces the load of vital sign data extraction. The vital sign data extraction unit 205 may supply the vital sign data to the selection unit 40.

By the second measurement section 20 described above, the movement is measured from the image of the body 9, and therefore the movement of the body 9 on the object plane can be measured very accurately. Further, since the second measurement section 20 measures the motion from the image including the information on the depth direction, it is possible to measure the motion of the body 9 in the depth direction very accurately in addition to the motion of the body 9 in the object plane.

The ROI extracting unit 203 and the motion detecting unit 204 extract an ROI corresponding to at least a part of the body 9 in the image, and detect motion from movement of the ROI in the image. Therefore, by setting the portion of the body 9 where the measurement accuracy of the vital sign data of the first measurement section 10 is affected by the occurrence probability of the motion as the ROI, it is possible to avoid the first measurement section 10 from collecting the vital sign data inaccurately.

The second measurement portion 20 may have other configurations. For example, the second measurement section 20 may omit at least one of the image sensor 201 or the depth sensor 202, the ROI extracting section 203, and the vital sign data extracting section 205 as long as the motion of the body 9 can be measured. Further, the second measurement section 20 may omit at least one of the image sensor 201 or the depth sensor 202 and the ROI extracting section 203 as long as it can measure the motion of the body 9 and measure the vital sign data.

(4. operation of measuring device)

Fig. 4 shows the operation of the measuring device 1. The measurement apparatus 1 measures vital sign data of the body 9 very accurately by performing the processes of step S1 to step S5.

First, in step S1, the first measurement unit 10 measures vital sign data, and the second measurement unit 20 measures movement of the body 9. The second measurement portion 20 can also measure vital sign data.

For example, within the RGB-D video image, the motion detector 204 of the second measuring unit 20 may detect the motion of the body 9 from the video image of the ROI portion (e.g., the target portion corresponding to the vital sign data measured by the first measuring unit 10). In addition, within the RGB-D video image, the vital sign data extracting unit 205 of the second measuring unit 20 may measure the vital sign data from the video image of the ROI portion (for example, the target portion corresponding to the vital sign data measured by the second measuring unit 20).

Also, the vital sign data extraction unit 105 of the first measurement unit 10 may generate a spectrogram indicating a relationship between a distance to the radar unit 101, a doppler shift, and a signal intensity, and measure the vital sign data. The first measurement section 10 can measure vital sign data from a portion within a distance range including the distance of the body 9 measured by the depth sensor 202 of the second measurement section 20 in the spectrogram. For example, the first measurement section 10 may extract vital sign data from a spectrogram in a distance range including the body 9. The distance of the body 9 may be the depth of the body 9 or an average of a portion surrounded by the outline of the ROI among the depth of each pixel in the depth image. The measurement by the first measurement unit 10 may be performed before the measurement by the second measurement unit 20, and the measurement by the second measurement unit 20 may be performed before the measurement by the first measurement unit 10.

Here, if the second measuring part 20 detects a movement of the body 9 relative to the first measuring part 10, the driving part 50 may move the sensor portion of the first measuring part 10 to a position and direction where vital sign data of the body 9 can be measured. For example, if the body 9 moves relative to the first measurement part 10, the driving part 50 may change the position and/or direction of the sensor portion of the first measurement part 10 according to the movement of the body 9 so that the movement is smaller than the first reference value. Further, if the orientation of the body 9 with respect to the first measurement portion 10 is changed, the driving portion 50 may change the position and orientation of the sensor portion of the first measurement portion 10, thereby maintaining the orientation of the body 9 with respect to the first measurement portion 10.

Next, in step S3, the detection section 30 detects whether the motion measured by the second measurement section 20 is smaller than the first reference value. The detection section 30 may also detect whether the motion returns to being less than the second reference value if the motion is detected to be greater than or equal to the first reference value.

Next, in step S5, if the motion is smaller than the first reference value, the selection portion 40 sets the vital sign data from the first measurement portion 10 as valid data. The selection portion 40 may set the vital sign data from the second measurement portion 20 as valid data if the motion is greater than or equal to the first reference value. If the detected motion is greater than or equal to the first reference value, the selection portion 40 may set the vital sign data from the second measurement portion 20 as valid data as long as the motion does not return to less than the second reference value; the vital sign data from the first measuring part 10 can be set as valid data if the movement has returned to less than the second reference value. The selection unit 40 may display the valid vital sign data on the display 60, or may store the valid vital sign data in the storage unit 70.

Through the above operation, vital sign data is extracted from a part of the spectrogram acquired using radar in a distance range including the distance of the body 9 measured by the second measurement portion 20. Thus, vital sign data can be extracted from the spectrogram while eliminating information in distance ranges where the body 9 is not present, e.g. noise information due to diffuse reflections.

(5. modification)

In the present embodiment described below, the measuring apparatus 1 is described as an installation type apparatus, but may be a mobile apparatus. For example, the measuring apparatus 1 may move relative to the body 9 according to an external force of an operator, or may be accommodated in a mobile power supply not shown in the drawings to move by itself. In this case, the mobile power source may be the driving part 50, and since the measuring apparatus 1 is self-moving, the first measuring part 10 may be moved relative to the body 9. If the vital sign data measurement accuracy is degraded while the measurement apparatus 1 is moving, the selection unit 40 may attach a label indicating invalid data to the vital sign data acquired during the movement.

In the above description, the drive section 50 moves the sensor portion of the first measurement section 10 relative to the body 9, but it is also possible to move the body 9 relative to the first measurement section 10, differently or in addition to this. For example, the driving part 50 may move the body 9 relative to the first measurement part 10 by driving a support member (e.g., a stool or a chair) that supports the body 9 of the subject.

In the above description HR and/or RR are measured as vital sign data, but instead of or in addition to this, Heart Rate Variability (HRV) may also be measured.

In the above description, the second measurement section 20 includes the image sensor 201 and the depth sensor 202 as members for measuring the motion and/or vital sign data, but may include a temperature recorder, in addition to or instead of this. In this case, the second measurement portion 20 may detect the motion of the body 9 from a change in at least one of the position, angle, and size of the outline of the body 9 shown in the thermal image. The second measurement unit 20 can measure the body temperature as vital sign data. Also, the second measurement section 20 may measure RR according to a periodic change in body temperature of the mouth or nose portion in the thermal image or according to the magnitude and direction of the gradient of the edge of the shoulder or face in the thermal image. Further, the second measurement portion 20 may measure the HR based on the periodic variation of the blood-flow-induced thermal image.

Fig. 10 shows an exemplary hardware configuration of a computer for performing the above-described operations according to an embodiment of the present invention. A program installed in the computer 700 may cause the computer 700 to function as or perform operations associated with an apparatus of an embodiment of the invention or one or more parts thereof (including modules, components, elements, etc.), and/or cause the computer 700 to perform various processes of an embodiment of the invention or steps thereof. Such programs may be executed by CPUs 700-12 to cause computer 700 to perform certain operations associated with all or some of the blocks in the flowchart and block diagrams described herein.

The computer 700 provided in this embodiment includes CPUs 700-12, RAMs 700-14, graphic controllers 700-16, and display devices 700-18, which are connected to each other through a host controller 700-10. The computer 700 further includes input/output units such as communication interfaces 700-22, hard disk drives 700-24, DVD-ROM drives 700-26, and IC card drives, which are connected to the host controller 700-10 through the input/output controllers 700-20. The computer further includes conventional input/output units such as ROMs 700-30, keyboards 700-42, etc., which are connected to the input/output controllers 700-20 through the input/output chips 700-40.

The CPUs 700-12 operate according to programs stored in the ROMs 700-30 and the RAMs 700-14, thereby controlling the respective units. The graphic controller 700-16 acquires image data generated by the CPU 700-12 on a frame buffer or the like provided in the RAM 700-14 or in the RAN-14, and causes the image data to be displayed on the display device 700-18.

The communication interfaces 700-22 communicate with other electronic devices over the networks 700-50. The hard disk drives 700-24 store programs and data used by the CPUs 700-12 in the computer 700. The DVD-ROM drives 700-26 read programs or data from the DVD-ROM 700-01 and supply the programs or data to the hard disk drives 700-24 via the RAMs 700-14. The IC card driver reads a program and data from and/or writes a program and data in the IC card.

The ROMs 700 to 30 store a boot program or the like executed by the computer 700 at the time of activation, and/or store a program depending on the hardware of the computer 700. The input/output chips 700-40 may also connect various input/output units to the input/output controllers 700-20 through parallel ports, serial ports, keyboard ports, mouse ports, etc.

A computer-readable medium such as a DVD-ROM 700-01 or an IC card provides a program. The program is read from a computer-readable medium installed in the hard disk drives 700-24, the RAMs 700-14, or the ROMs 700-30, and executed by the CPUs 700-12. Hard drives 700-24, RAM 700-14, or ROM 700-30 are also examples of computer-readable media. The information processing described in these programs is read into the computer 700, so that the programs interact with the various types of hardware resources described above. An apparatus or method may be constructed by implementing information operations or processes in accordance with the usage of the computer 700.

For example, when the computer 700 communicates with an external device, the CPUs 700 to 12 can execute the communication programs loaded to the RAMs 700 to 14 according to the processing described in the communication programs to instruct the communication processing to the communication interfaces 700 to 22. The communication interfaces 700-22 read transmission data stored on a transmission buffer provided in a recording medium under the control of the CPUs 700-12 and transmit the read transmission data to the networks 700-50 or write reception data received from the networks 700-50 into a reception buffer or the like provided on the recording medium. The recording medium may be, for example, RAM 700-14, hard disk drive 700-24, DVD-ROM 700-01, or an IC card.

In addition, the CPU 700-12 can read all or necessary parts of a file or database into the RAM 700-14, and perform various processes on the data on the RAM 700-14. The file or database has been stored in an external recording medium, which may be, for example, a hard disk drive 700-24, a DVD-ROM drive 700-26(DVD-ROM 700-01), an IC card, or the like. The CPUs 700-12 can then write the processed data back to the external recording medium.

Various kinds of information, for example, various programs, data, tables, and databases, may be stored in the recording medium to perform information processing. The CPU 700-12 can perform various processes described in the present invention and specified by the instruction sequence of the program on the data read from the RAM 700-14 and write the result back to the RAM 700-14. The various processes include various operations, information processing, conditional judgment, conditional branching, unconditional branching, information search/replacement, and the like. In addition, the CPUs 700-12 can search for information in a file, a database, or the like in the recording medium. For example, when a plurality of entries are stored in the recording medium, the CPU 700-12 may search for an entry matching the condition specifying the attribute value of the first attribute among the plurality of entries, and read the attribute value of the second attribute stored in the entry, thereby obtaining the attribute value of the second attribute associated with the first attribute satisfying the predetermined condition. Each entry contains an attribute value of the first attribute associated with an attribute value of the second attribute.

The programs or software modules explained above may be stored on a computer readable medium on or near the computer 700. In addition, a recording medium such as a hard disk or a RAM provided in a server system connected to a dedicated communication network or the internet may be used as a computer-readable medium, thereby providing the program to the computer 700 through the network.

Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described, the technical scope of the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various alterations and modifications may be added to the above-described embodiments. It is also apparent from the scope of claims that the embodiments incorporating these changes or improvements can be included in the technical scope of the present invention.

The operations, flows, steps, and stages of each process performed by the apparatus, system, program, or method shown in the claims, embodiments, or drawings may be performed in any order as long as the order is not labeled "before … … (prior to/before)" or the like and as long as the output of the previous process is not used for the next process. Even if the phrases "first", "next", and the like are used in the claims, embodiments, or drawings to describe the process flow, it does not mean that the process must be executed in this order.

In summary, the embodiments of the present invention can be used to implement a measurement apparatus, a computer-implemented method, a program, and one or more computer-readable storage media, so as to collect vital sign data only very accurately.

Claims

1. A measuring device, comprising:

a first measurement unit for performing non-contact measurement of vital sign data of a body;

a second measuring portion for measuring a movement of the body relative to the first measuring portion;

a detection section for detecting whether the motion measured by the second measurement section is smaller than a first reference value;

a selection section for: setting the vital sign data measured by the first measuring part as valid data if the motion measured by the second measuring part is smaller than the first reference value.

2. The measuring device of claim 1,

the first measurement unit is configured to measure the vital sign data using radar.

3. A measuring device according to claim 1 or 2,

the first measurement section is configured to measure the vital sign data indicative of at least one of a heart rate and a breathing rate of the body.

4. The measurement device according to any one of claims 1 to 3,

the second measurement section is configured to: measuring the movement based on a result of capturing an image of the body.

5. A measuring device according to claim 4,

the second measurement section is configured to: measuring the motion from a result of capturing the image including depth direction information.

6. A measuring device according to claim 5,

the first measurement section is configured to: the vital sign data is extracted from a part of a spectrogram obtained by radar measurement in a distance range including the distance of the body measured by the second measurement section.

7. The measurement device according to any one of claims 4 to 6, wherein the second measurement portion includes:

a region-of-interest extracting section for extracting a region of interest corresponding to at least a part of the body in the image;

a motion detection section for: detecting the motion based on movement of the region of interest in the image.

8. The measurement device of claim 7,

the motion detection section is configured to: detecting the motion based on a movement of the region of interest in the image including depth direction information in a direction parallel to an object plane and in a depth direction.

9. The measurement device according to any one of claims 1 to 8,

the second measurement unit is configured to perform non-contact measurement on the vital sign data of the body;

the selection unit is configured to: setting the vital sign data measured by the second measuring part as valid data if the motion is greater than or equal to the first reference value.

10. The measurement arrangement according to claim 9,

the selection unit is configured to: labeling the valid data with a label indicating which of the vital sign data measured by the first measuring portion and the vital sign data measured by the second measuring portion has been set as the valid data.

11. The measuring device according to claim 9 or 10,

the selection unit is configured to: setting the vital sign data measured by the first measuring portion as the valid data when the motion returns to be less than a second reference value after having become greater than or equal to the first reference value, wherein the second reference value is less than the first reference value.

12. The measurement device according to any one of claims 9 to 11, wherein the second measurement portion is configured to:

capturing an image of the body, including depth direction information;

extracting the periodic fluctuation of the body in the depth direction from the image;

measuring the vital sign data indicative of at least one of the heart rate and the respiration rate of the body according to the periodic fluctuations.

13. The measurement device according to any one of claims 9 to 11,

the second measurement unit is provided with a temperature recorder for measuring the vital sign data.

14. The measurement device of any one of claims 1 to 13, further comprising:

a drive section for: relatively moving a sensor portion of the first measurement portion to a position and an orientation at which the first measurement portion can measure the vital sign data of the body when at least one of the position and the orientation of the body included in the motion measured by the second measurement portion changes.

15. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

a second measurement, wherein the second measurement part measures the movement of the body relative to the first measurement part;

detecting whether the motion measured by the second measuring part is smaller than a first reference value;

optionally, if the motion measured by the second measuring part is smaller than the first reference value, the vital sign data measured by the first measuring part is set as valid data.

16. A program characterized by causing a computer to function as the measurement apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 14.

17. One or more computer-readable storage media collectively storing computer-executable program instructions for causing the computer to function as the measurement device of any one of claims 1-14.