JP2002282216A - Health care apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a health care apparatus capable of precisely obtaining vital data (such as the body fat rate) indicating the health condition of a subject while reducing the trouble in inputting measured vital data. SOLUTION: The health care apparatus comprises a data receiving means 37, a vital data measuring means 101, and a vital data calculating means 100. The data receiving means 37 is for receiving outside measured data measured by an outside vital data measuring device 39 which measures part of plural vital measurement data as the outside measured data. The vital data measuring means 101 measures vital measurement data other than the outside measured data among the plural vital measurement data as inside measured data. The vital data calculating means 100 obtains the vital data indicating the health condition of the subject based on the outside measured data received by the data receiving means 37 and the inside measured data measured by the vital data measuring means 101.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a health management apparatus provided with biometric information calculation means for obtaining biometric information representing a health condition of a subject based on a plurality of biometric data.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, medical costs have risen sharply, and in order to reduce medical costs by early detection of illness, health information such as biometric information indicating a health condition can be routinely measured at home and self-managed. Management devices are beginning to spread. As such a health management device, for example, a health management bath that measures an electrocardiogram, a body fat percentage, and the like as the biological information in a state where a subject takes a bath in a bathtub (unrestricted state) is known.
In a conventional health management device (for example, a health management bath for measuring body fat percentage), a plurality of pieces of biometric data (for example, height, Weight etc.) were measured at home and manually input to the health management device together with information such as the age of the subject. However, general values are used for biometric data (for example, vital capacity) that cannot be measured at home because there is no measuring device.

[0003]

In a conventional health management device, biometric data used for obtaining biometric information representing the health condition of a subject is measured at home and manually input to the health management device. Therefore, there is a problem that it is inconvenient and a burden of input work is large.
In addition, since general values are used for biometric data that cannot be measured at home, a difference occurs between the biometric data of the subject and the general value, and as a result, the biometric data indicating the health condition of the subject is obtained. There is also a problem that the measurement accuracy when obtaining information becomes insufficient.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to reduce the burden of inputting biological measurement data and to accurately obtain biological information representing the health condition of a subject. It is to provide a health management device that can be used.

[0005]

A first characteristic configuration of a health management apparatus according to the present invention for achieving this object is a plurality of living body measurement systems as described in claim 1 of the claims. A receiving unit for receiving the external measurement data measured by an external biological data measurement device that measures a part of the data as external measurement data, and a living body other than the external measurement data among the plurality of biological measurement data Biological data measuring means for measuring the measurement data as internal measurement data is provided, wherein the biological information calculating means is the external measurement data received by the receiving means, and the internal data measured by the biological data measuring means. It is configured to obtain biological information representing the health condition of the subject based on the measurement data.

[0006] In the second feature configuration, in addition to the first feature configuration, the external biometric data measurement device may include the external measurement data as the external measurement data, as described in claim 2 of the claims. , At least, measuring the height and weight of the subject, the biological data measuring means, as the internal measurement data, at least, measuring the volume excluding the subject's head based on the rise in water level in the bathtub with bathing of the subject The biological information calculation means obtains a body fat percentage as the biological information based on the external measurement data including the height and weight of the subject and the internal measurement data including a volume excluding the head of the subject. The point is that it is configured as follows.

[0007] The third characteristic configuration is that, in addition to the first characteristic configuration, the external biometric data measurement device is configured to transmit the external measurement data as the external measurement data. , At least, the height and weight of the subject are measured, and the biometric data measurement means is configured such that, as the internal measurement data, at least, water level detection data in the bathtub when the subject is bathed in the bathtub, and electrocardiogram data of the subject The biological information calculation means includes the external measurement data including the height and weight of the subject, water level detection data in the bathtub when the subject is bathed in the bathtub, and electrocardiogram data of the subject. It is configured to obtain electrocardiogram information corrected as the biological information based on the internal measurement data.

[0008] In a fourth aspect, in addition to any one of the first to third aspects, the receiving means may include the external device, as described in claim 4 of the claims. The present invention is characterized in that it is constituted by communication means for receiving the external measurement data transmitted online from the biological data measurement device side.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in addition to any one of the first to fourth aspects, the external measurement data is the same as that of the first to fourth aspects. This is data measured as regular health examination data by the biological data measurement device of the above.

The operation and effect will be described below. According to the first characteristic configuration of the present invention, of a plurality of pieces of biometric data used when obtaining biometric information indicating a health state of a subject, a part of the data is measured as external measurement data by an external biometric data measurement device. The receiving means receives the external measurement data measured by the external biological data measuring device, and the biological data measuring means internally measures the biological measurement data of the plurality of biological measurement data other than the external measurement data. The biological information calculating means obtains biological information indicating the health condition of the subject based on the external measurement data measured by the receiving means and the internal measurement data measured by the biological data measuring means.

That is, of a plurality of biometric data used for obtaining biometric information indicating the health condition of a subject, biometric data which cannot be measured by the health management device is set to an external medical facility installed at an external medical facility or the like. Since the external measurement data measured for the subject is received and used by the biometric data measurement device, the internal measurement data measured for the subject by the biometric data measurement means of the health management device is used for the other biometric data. This eliminates the need for manually inputting the plurality of biological measurement data, and can use data actually measured for the subject as the plurality of biological measurement data. Accordingly, there is provided a health management device capable of reducing the burden of inputting the biological measurement data and accurately obtaining biological information representing the health condition of the subject.

According to the second characteristic configuration, at least the height and weight of the subject are measured as the external measurement data, and the internal measurement data is based on at least a rise in the water level in the bathtub accompanying the bathing of the subject. The volume excluding the subject's head is measured, based on external measurement data including the height and weight of the subject and internal measurement data including the volume excluding the subject's head, based on the body fat percentage as the biological information. Is required. In other words, in the case where the height and weight of the subject need to be measured with a height scale and a weight scale, if the health management device cannot accurately measure the height and weight, obtain external data measured at an external medical facility. For the volume excluding the subject's head, the actual volume when the body fat percentage is determined on the health management device side is measured as internal data, and the body fat percentage is determined using the external and internal measurement data. Therefore, in the case of a health care bath in which the health management device measures the body fat percentage as biometric information while the subject is bathed in the bathtub, at least the burden of inputting the biometric data of the height and weight of the subject is reduced. In addition to the reduction, the body fat percentage can be accurately obtained.
If the data of the vital capacity measured at an external medical facility or the like can be used as the external measurement data in addition to the height and the weight, the calculation accuracy of the body fat percentage can be further improved.

According to the third characteristic configuration, at least the height and weight of the subject are measured as the external measurement data, and at least the height and weight of the subject in the bathtub in a state where the subject is bathed in the bathtub are measured as the internal measurement data. The water level detection data and the subject's electrocardiogram data were measured, and the subject's electrocardiogram data in a state where the subject took a bath in the bathtub, the external measurement data including the height and weight of the subject, and the subject's bathing in the bathtub The ECG information can be obtained by performing correction based on the water level detection data in the bathtub at step (1). That is, external data obtained by measuring the height and weight of the subject at an external medical facility or the like is obtained. An actual value when the electrocardiogram information is obtained on the device side is measured as internal data, and the electrocardiogram information is obtained using the external and internal measurement data. Therefore, in the case of a health care bath in which the health management device measures electrocardiogram information as biometric information in a state in which the subject is bathed in the bathtub, at least the burden of inputting each biometric data of the height and weight of the subject is reduced. At the same time, it is possible to accurately obtain electrocardiogram information.

[0014] According to the fourth characteristic configuration, the external measurement data transmitted online from the external biological data measurement device is received by the receiving means constituted by communication means. Therefore, since the external measurement data measured by the external biometric data measurement device is transmitted to the health management device by online communication, when obtaining biometric information based on a plurality of biometric data, the external measurement data The biological information can be quickly obtained by minimizing the waiting time for obtaining the biological information.

[0015] According to the fifth characteristic configuration, the external measurement data is measured as regular health examination data by an external biological data measurement device. Therefore, in a health check periodically performed at an external medical facility or the like, when the plurality of biological measurement data are measured, obtain the health check data as external measurement data, and use the data together with the internal data. Since the biological information is obtained, it is possible to accurately obtain the biological information while effectively utilizing the health check data that is regularly measured and has high data reliability.

[0016]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS First Embodiment A first embodiment of a health management device according to the present invention is applied to a health management bath for measuring a body fat percentage of a subject who takes a bath in a bathtub, based on the drawings. Will be explained. As shown in FIG. 1, in a home or the like, a water heater 1 for supplying hot water heated from a water supply by a gas combustion type burner to a bath tub 5 in a bathroom 9 through a hot water supply path 6, and the water heater 1 is provided with a controller 2 for controlling the operation, and a bath remote controller 3 and a kitchen remote controller 4 communicably connected to the controller 2, respectively, to constitute an automatic hot water supply bath. The bath remote controller 3 is installed on a side wall of the bathroom 9. The controller 2 has communication means 3 for communicating with the outside.
7 is connected, and a storage means 21 composed of a nonvolatile memory is built in.

A water level sensor 7 for detecting the water level in the bathtub 5 is provided, and information detected by the water level sensor 7 is input to the controller 2. The water level sensor 7 is specifically configured by a pressure sensor provided at a location where the hot water supply path 6 communicates with the bathtub 5. That is, when the water level in the bathtub 5 rises, the pressure detected by the pressure sensor increases. Therefore, the water level in the bathtub 5 is detected based on the detected pressure value.

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the bath remote controller 3 has a control unit 30 communicably connected to the controller 2 and a control unit 30 connected to the control unit 30.
A liquid crystal display unit 31 for displaying various information, a speaker 32, an up / down type change key 33, and an individual selection for selecting one of a plurality of individuals (A, B, and C in the figure). A button 34, an operation switch 35, an automatic filling switch 36, and the like are provided. Although not shown, the kitchen remote controller 4 is also connected to the individual selection button 34.
, Except that the speaker 32 is not provided.

An external medical facility 38 such as a hospital or a health management center is provided. In the external medical facility 38, a living body measurement data of a subject is measured by a biometric data measuring device 39 in a periodic health check. Health examination data is registered in the database 40 in the facility. Then, the controller 2 of the water heater provided at home or the like includes the communication means 37, a communication network such as the Internet,
And via the communication means 41 on the external medical facility 38 side,
It is connected to the database 40 so as to be freely communicable, and is configured to be able to exchange measurement data and the like of the above-mentioned medical examination.

A biological information calculating means 100 for obtaining a body fat percentage as biological information representing the health condition of the subject based on a plurality of biological measurement data utilizing the signal processing section of the controller 2 is provided. Further, an external biological data measurement device that measures a part of the plurality of biological measurement data as external measurement data is configured by the biological data measurement device 39 of the external medical facility 38. Specifically, the biometric data measurement device 39 is configured to measure at least the height and weight of the subject as the external measurement data, and to measure these external measurement data as regular health examination data. Have been. The health examination data also includes information such as the vital capacity and age of the subject.

On the other hand, receiving means for receiving external measurement data measured by the biological data measuring device 39 is as follows:
The communication unit 37 is configured to receive the external measurement data transmitted online from the biological data measurement device 38 side. The external measurement data (health diagnosis data) received by the communication unit 37 is stored in the storage unit 2.
1 is stored.

Further, a biometric data measuring means 101 for measuring biometric data other than the external measurement data among the plurality of biometric data as internal measurement data using the signal processing section of the controller 2 is constituted. ing. Specifically, the biological data measurement means 101 is configured to measure, as the internal measurement data, at least a volume excluding the subject's head based on a rise in the water level in the bathtub 5 accompanying the subject's bathing. I have. Explaining with reference to FIG. 1, if the water level when the bath is filled so as to take a bath in the whole body bath state is s1, and the water level that the subject has bathed up to the shoulder and rises is s2, the difference between the water levels (s2−s1) ) Is multiplied by the average cross-sectional area of the bathtub, and the resulting volume is measured as the volume excluding the subject's head. The measured internal measurement data is stored in the storage unit 21.

Then, the biological information calculating means 100
The external measurement data received by the communication unit 30, ie, external measurement data including the height and weight of the subject, and the internal measurement data measured by the biological data measurement unit 101, ie, the internal including the volume excluding the subject's head. It is configured to obtain a body fat percentage as the biological information based on the measurement data. Hereinafter, the calculation procedure will be described.

(1) Determine the volume of the subject's head. Specifically, the head circumference, head width, neck circumference, and face length are obtained from the age using a database on the size of the Japanese, and the head volume is estimated from these data based on the following formula. .

[0025]

## EQU1 ## Male head volume = 0.184 × head circumference + 0.08
7 × head width + 0.095 × Kei囲-11.113 (cm ³⁾ female head volume = 0.157 × head circumference -0.051 × head width + 0.033 × face length -4.837 (cm ³ )

(2) Find the average amount of air remaining in the body during normal breathing. Specifically, the air volume is estimated from the vital capacity, age, and height using a human body measurement database. (3) Determine body specific gravity.

[0027]

## EQU2 ## body specific gravity = weight ÷ [the biological data measuring means 10
At 1, the volume excluding the head calculated from the rise in water level when bathing at the shoulder + the volume of the head estimated at (1)-the air amount estimated at (2)]

(4) Obtain the body fat percentage. Broz below
The estimation formula of ek is used.

[0029]

## EQU3 ## Body fat percentage = [(body specific gravity determined by 4.570 / (3))-4.142] × 100

The information on the body fat percentage, the vital capacity, the height and the weight, etc., obtained as described above are displayed on the display unit 31 of the bath remote controller 3 and the information on the body fat percentage and the like is displayed. Is stored in the storage unit 21 together with information on the measured date and time. In calculating the body fat percentage,
The body fat percentage was accurately obtained using the vital capacity data measured at an external medical facility, but if the vital capacity data cannot be obtained as external data, use the anthropometric database to determine the age, height, and weight. The value of the vital capacity estimated from the above is used.

[Second Embodiment] Next, a description will be given of a case in which a second embodiment of the health management device according to the present invention is applied to a health management bath for measuring an electrocardiogram of a subject who has taken a bath. In the second embodiment, as shown in FIG. 4, the biological data measurement device 39 determines at least the height and weight of the subject (
Waist) and the biological data measuring means 101
Measures at least water level detection data in the bathtub 5 and electrocardiogram data of the subject in a state where the subject bathes in the bathtub 5, and further, the biological information calculating means 100 outputs the external information including the height and weight of the subject. Based on the measurement data and the internal measurement data including the electrocardiogram data of the subject and the water level detection data in the bathtub 5 in a state where the subject bathes in the bathtub 5 measured by the biological data measuring means 101. The configuration is the same as that of the first embodiment except that the configuration is such that the electrocardiogram information corrected as the biological information is obtained. Hereinafter, differences from the first embodiment will be described.

As shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, the biometric data measuring means 101 detects electrocardiogram information generated from electric signals appearing on a plurality of electrocardiogram electrodes 10 installed on the inner wall surface of the bathtub 5 as the biometric information. It consists of a bathtub electrocardiograph 20. The bathtub electrocardiograph 20 comprises an electrocardiogram signal generating means 11 for generating an electrocardiogram signal from the plurality of electrocardiogram electrodes 10 and electric signals appearing on the plurality of electrocardiogram electrodes 10.
And a signal processing unit 12 for performing predetermined signal processing on the electrocardiogram signal generated by the electrocardiogram signal generation unit 11. The electrocardiogram information obtained by the bathtub electrocardiograph 20 is input to the controller 2.

The plurality of ECG electrodes 10 are divided into four electrodes 10a.
The electrodes 10a to 10d are separately installed at predetermined positions on the inner wall surface of the bathtub 5 soaked in hot water. Specifically, the first electrode 10a is located near the outside of the bather's right arm base, the second electrode 10b is located near the outside of the bather's left base, and the third electrode 10c is positioned at the left foot of the bather. The fourth electrode 10d is installed at a position close to the outside, and at a position close to the outside of the right foot base of the bather. Then, the surface potential of each corresponding part of the bather is induced to each of the electrodes 10a to 10d by a conductive path formed through hot water in the bathtub.

The electrocardiogram signal generating means 11 basically includes
It comprises a plurality of differential amplifiers for combining the electric signals guided to the respective electrodes 10a to 10d to obtain a difference signal between the combined signals, and includes six types in the standard 12-leading method represented by the following equation. ECG signals of the standard limb induction (V1, V2, V3, aV R, aV L, aV F) to produce a. Incidentally, _{wherein, V R, V L, V} F , respectively, the first electrode 1
0a, the potential induced at the second electrode 10b and the third electrode 10c.

[0035]

Equation 4] _{V1 = V L -V R V2 =} V F -V R V3 = V F -V L aV R = V R -0.5 (V L + V F) aV L = V L -0.5 ( _{V R + V F) aV F} = V F -0.5 (V R + V L)

The signal processing means 12 converts the electrocardiogram signal generated by the electrocardiogram signal generation means 11 into a low-frequency signal generated by movement of hot water in the bathtub 5 or movement of a bather's body. The baseline sway component is removed, and the P, Q, R, S, and T waves are obtained from the ECG signal after the removal of the baseline sway.
A specific signal wave is extracted from characteristic signal components such as a wave and a QRS complex, and electrocardiographic information included in the specific signal wave is further extracted and output. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 7, an R wave is extracted, its generation time phase is detected, and a heart rate and its time variation are detected from its generation interval.

However, the bathtub electrocardiogram signal changes depending on the state in which the subject is immersed in the hot water in the bathtub 5.
Specifically, in the half-body bathing state, since the vicinity of the heart is not soaked in hot water, the R-wave intensity (wave peak height) is lower than in the whole-body bathing state. Therefore, the biological information calculating means 100 uses the height, weight, and waist data of the subject obtained as the external measurement data and a publicly available human body database (for example, a human body measurement database of the Ergonomics Research Center). From the human body volume model and the water level rise detected by the water level sensor 7, it is determined whether the bath is half-body bath or whole body bath, or how far the body is soaked in hot water. The ECG signal obtained by the bathtub electrocardiograph 20 is corrected according to the level of the bathing. That is, when the level of bathing in a half-body bath or the like is low, the amplitude of the electrocardiogram signal obtained by the bathtub electrocardiograph 20 is corrected to be large.

The electrocardiogram information and the information such as height and weight obtained by correcting as described above are stored in the bath remote controller 3.
Are displayed on the display unit 31, and the electrocardiogram information and the like are stored in the storage unit 21 together with information on the measured date and time.

[Another Embodiment] Another embodiment will be described below. In the above embodiment, the body fat percentage and the electrocardiogram information as the biological information representing the health condition of the subject are combined with the external measurement data (specifically, health diagnosis data and the like) obtained from an external medical facility or the like and the internal measurement data. Thus, while reducing the burden of data input, it was determined with high accuracy.However, other biological information, such as the blood pressure value, blood glucose level, and perspiration amount of the subject, were similarly determined using external measurement data and internal measurement data. It may be configured so as to obtain

In the above embodiment, the external biological data measuring device measures the externally measured data as regular medical examination data.
If necessary, external measurement data such as the vital capacity, height, and weight may be measured as needed.

In the above embodiment, the receiving means 37 for receiving the external measurement data is connected to the external biological data measurement device 3.
Although the communication unit 37 is configured to receive the external measurement data transmitted online from the ninth side, the reception unit may receive the external measurement data transmitted offline. Specifically, the receiving unit is configured by a memory card having a built-in nonvolatile semiconductor memory or a magnetic storage medium for storing external measurement data measured by the external biological data measurement device 39. Then, the memory card is carried and attached to the health management device side, for example, the kitchen remote controller 4, and the controller 2 reads data stored in the memory card attached to the kitchen remote controller 4. The obtained body fat percentage and electrocardiogram information may be stored in the memory card or the like, and may be sent to the external medical facility or the like to be used as reference data at the time of a medical examination.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram of a hot water supply bath provided with a health management device according to a first embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a bath remote controller.

FIG. 3 is a front view of a bath remote controller.

FIG. 4 is an overall configuration diagram of a hot water supply bath including a bathroom environment information generating device according to a second embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a bathtub electrocardiograph.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of the bathtub showing the electrode arrangement of the bathtub electrocardiograph.

FIG. 7 is a graph showing an electrocardiogram signal obtained by a bathtub electrocardiograph.

[Explanation of symbols]

 5 Bathtub 37 Receiving means 37 Communication means 39 Biological data measuring device 100 Biological information calculating means 101 Biological data measuring means

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A health management device provided with a biological information calculating means for obtaining biological information indicating a health state of a subject based on a plurality of biological measurement data, wherein a part of the plurality of biological measurement data is externally provided. Receiving means for receiving the external measurement data measured by an external biological data measurement device that measures as measurement data; and internal measurement data of the plurality of biological measurement data other than the external measurement data. A biological data measurement unit that measures as the biological information calculation unit, based on the external measurement data received by the reception unit, and the internal measurement data measured by the biological data measurement unit, A health management device configured to obtain the biological information. 2. The external biometric data measurement device measures at least the height and weight of the subject as the external measurement data, and the biometric data measurement unit performs at least the subject's bathing as the internal measurement data. The volume excluding the subject's head is measured based on the rise in the water level in the accompanying bathtub, and the biological information calculating means calculates the external measurement data including the height and weight of the subject and the volume excluding the subject's head. The health management device according to claim 1, wherein a body fat percentage is obtained as the biological information based on the internal measurement data including the internal measurement data. 3. The external biometric data measurement device measures at least the height and weight of the subject as the external measurement data, and the biometric data measurement means includes at least a subject in the bathtub as the internal measurement data. The water level detection data in the bathtub in the state of bathing, and the electrocardiogram data of the subject are measured, and the biological information calculating means, the external measurement data including the height and weight of the subject, and the subject bathing in the bathtub 2. The health according to claim 1, wherein the electrocardiogram information corrected as the biological information is obtained based on the water level detection data in the bathtub and the internal measurement data including the subject's electrocardiogram data in a state where the state has been adjusted. Management device. 4. The communication device according to claim 1, wherein the receiving unit is configured to receive the external measurement data transmitted online from the external biological data measurement device.
4. The health management device according to any one of 3. 5. The health management device according to claim 1, wherein the external measurement data is data measured as periodic health examination data by the external biometric data measurement device.