JP2006223503A - Holder and composite living body measuring apparatus using the same - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a holder simultaneously executing both of a optical biological measurement and a brain wave measurement by holding light transmitting/receiving probes of an optical biological measuring apparatus and electrodes of an electroencephalograph. <P>SOLUTION: This holder is attached along the surface of a measured object and is provided with a plurality of probe sockets 2 for retaining the light transmitting/receiving probes 4a and 4b of the optical biological measuring apparatus and a plurality of electrode sockets 3 for retaining the electrodes 5 of the electroencephalograph B. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a holder for holding a probe and an electrode attached to the surface of a target measurement site of a living body, and a composite biometric apparatus using such a holder in order to measure in vivo information.

Conventionally, there are an optical biometric apparatus and an electroencephalograph as methods for measuring brain function without imposing strong posture constraints on the subject. The optical biometric device utilizes the phenomenon that the spectral absorption coefficient changes greatly in the near-infrared region when hemoglobin transporting oxygen in the blood is oxygenated (oxygenated hemoglobin) or deoxygenated (reduced hemoglobin). Then, near infrared light measurement light incident from a light transmission probe is measured with a light receiving probe located at a location several centimeters away to check the amount of change in transmitted scattered light. For example, Patent Document 1 and Patent Document There is what is shown in 2. An electroencephalograph has been known for a long time and measures the electrical activity of brain cells from the head surface through electrodes.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 08-43295 Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 09-98972

The electroencephalograph has high time resolution and is easy to use, and can use a large amount of accumulated data up to the present, but the derived signal is mixed with background noise caused by the inside of the living body and lacks clarity. There is a problem that the spatial resolution is low. On the other hand, the optical biometric device is capable of non-invasive measurement of the cerebral cortex, which is strongly related to higher brain functions developed especially in humans, and has high spatial resolution. Although it is an effective method, it has a drawback of low time resolution.
Therefore, conventionally, measurement by an optical biometric apparatus and measurement by an electroencephalograph are individually performed as necessary. However, when measured individually, it is difficult to accurately measure the measurement target site measured by the light transmission / reception probe of the photobiological measurement device with an electroencephalograph, and it imposes extra time and burden on the measurer and the subject. become.
At present, the relationship between changes in nerve potential and hemodynamic response (hemoglobin brain dynamic response) has not been sufficiently elucidated, and no device that can contribute to the elucidation has been disclosed.

  Therefore, the main object of the present invention is to provide a holder that can simultaneously perform measurement by an optical biometric apparatus and measurement by an electroencephalograph, thereby making it possible to compensate for the disadvantages of both and to perform biometric measurement that combines the advantages. It is what.

Furthermore, another object of the present invention is to provide a holder that can contribute to the elucidation of the relationship between the change in nerve potential and the hemodynamic response, which has not been elucidated, and a composite living body measurement apparatus using such a holder. A composite biometric apparatus characterized by performing measurement and electroencephalogram measurement simultaneously or sequentially one by one.
It is to provide.

  In order to achieve the above object, the present invention takes the following technical means. That is, the present invention is a holder that is attached along the surface of a living body to be measured, and includes a plurality of probe sockets that hold a light transmitting / receiving probe of an optical biometric apparatus and a plurality of electrode sockets that hold an electrode of an electroencephalograph It was set as the structure provided with.

  Since the holder of the present invention is configured as described above, by using this holder, the measurement by the optical biometric apparatus and the measurement by the electroencephalograph can be achieved at the same time. It becomes possible. In addition, there is an effect that it can greatly contribute to the elucidation of the relationship between a change in nerve potential, which is not currently elucidated, and a hemodynamic response (hemoglobin brain mechanical response).

(Means and effects for solving other problems)
In the above invention, the holder includes a plate-like holder part having a pair of right and left probe sockets for holding the light transmitting / receiving probe at a predetermined interval, and a plurality of holder parts are pivoted around the probe socket part. A net-like body that becomes a substantial holder is configured by being connected to each other in a grid pattern so as to be rotatable, and the electroencephalograph electrode socket is provided between the right and left probe sockets of the holder part. Is good.
As a result, the connection angle between the holder parts can be freely changed, and the net-like body, that is, the holder can be formed into a bowl-like shape along the shape of the measurement object, for example, the shape of the human head, Infrared light that passes through the probe can be measured accurately with an electroencephalograph, enabling more precise living body measurements and also helping to elucidate the relationship between changes in nerve potential and hemodynamic response. Can do.

In the present invention, an electroencephalograph electrode socket may be disposed in a space corresponding to the mesh eye. In this case, the electrode socket may be formed on a support plate held by the holder part, or a cloth-like material for blocking external light is interposed between the mesh and the measurement object, and this cloth-like material. It is preferable that the electrode socket is held in the structure.
By arranging the electroencephalograph electrode socket in the space corresponding to the eyes of the mesh body, a large number of electrode sockets and the probe socket of the optical biometric device are arranged in a balanced manner, and the probes and electrodes can be attached to and detached from the socket. It becomes easy and it can prevent that a cord gets entangled. Further, by interposing the cloth-like material on the lower surface of the mesh body, it is possible to prevent external light from adversely affecting the measurement at the light transmitting / receiving probe portion.

Further, the composite biological apparatus of the present invention made from another point of view is configured to perform optical biological measurement and electroencephalogram measurement simultaneously or sequentially using one of the above-described holders.
As a result, the measurement by the optical biometric apparatus and the measurement by the electroencephalograph can be performed simultaneously or individually according to each other, and both of the disadvantages of the both can be compensated and the biological measurement having the advantages can be achieved.

  The holder according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. 1 to 5 show a first embodiment of a holder according to the present invention, and reference numeral 1 denotes a holder part. This holder part 1 has holes 1a and 1a for fitting the probe socket 2 of the optical biometric device at both ends, and a hole 1b for holding the electroencephalograph electrode socket 3 in the middle part. The holder part 1 is formed from a resin material such as polypropylene, polyvinyl chloride, or polyacetal into an elongated oval plate material, and is not stretchable and is given flexibility only in the thickness direction. In this embodiment, the thickness is 0.1 mm, the width is 16 mm, the length is 46 mm, and the pitch between the holes 1a and 1a at both ends is 30 mm.

  The probe socket 2 fitted into the hole 1a of the holder part 1 is composed of a cylindrical socket body 2a and a nut member 2b. The socket body 2a is attached to the probe insertion hole 2c penetrating vertically, the external screw 2d formed on the upper outer peripheral surface, the large-diameter flange 2e formed at the lower end of the external screw 2d, and the lower surface of the flange The socket body 2a is inserted from the bottom of the hole 1a until the flange 2e contacts the edge of the hole 1a, and the nut member 2b is screwed onto the external screw 2d from above. The socket body 2a is attached to the holder part 1 by sandwiching the plate-like holder part 1 between the flange part 2e.

  A plurality of holes 1b for attaching the electrode socket 4 are formed so as to surround the hole 1c into which the electrode 5 is inserted. The electrode socket 3 has a cylindrical socket body 3b provided with a through hole 3a that is coaxial with the hole 1c when attached to the holder part 1, and a pin-like protrusion 3c formed on the upper end surface of the socket body 3b. The socket body 3b is attached to the holder part 1 by fitting the pin-shaped protrusion 3c into the hole 1b from below. Of course, an adhesive may be used for the connection between the socket body 3 b and the holder part 1.

  A net-like body 10 which is a substantial holder is formed by connecting the ends of a large number of holder parts 1 at the site of the probe socket 2. That is, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the holder parts 1 are connected to each other and the probe socket 2 is attached by sandwiching a plurality of holder parts 1 between the nut member 2b and the flange 2e. Yes. At this time, if the tightening of the nut member 2b is loosened so that the holder parts can be rotated with each other, the connection angle between the holder parts can be freely changed, and the net-like body, that is, the holder can be shaped into the object to be measured, for example, It can be formed in the shape of a bowl along the shape of the human head. After the holder shape is determined, the shape can be fixed by strongly tightening the nut member 2b.

As shown in FIG. 3, the above holder has a light transmitting probe 4 a of the optical biometric apparatus A in one probe socket 2 of the holder part 1 and a light receiving probe 4 b in the other probe socket 2. By inserting the electrode 5 of the electroencephalograph B into the intermediate electrode socket 3 and using it, the measurement by the optical biometric apparatus A and the measurement by the electroencephalograph B can be performed simultaneously. At this time, since the electrode 5 of the electroencephalograph is arranged between the light transmitting probe 4a and the light receiving probe 4b, the measurement by the optical biometric apparatus A, that is, measurement by infrared light passing through the light transmitting / receiving probes 4a, 4b. The electroencephalogram of the part can be accurately measured by the electroencephalograph B.
In the present embodiment, the measurement with the optical biometric apparatus A and the electroencephalograph B is performed at the same time, but they may be performed individually and sequentially.

  6 and 7 show another embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, the electrode socket 3 of the electroencephalograph B is arranged. In the socket 3, as shown in FIG. 7, a socket body 3b having the same form as that of the previous embodiment is held by a similar means in a hole 1b formed at the tip of a support plate 3d held by a holder part 1. . The support plate 3d is attached by inserting a groove 3e formed along the thickness direction into the holder part 1 from the side, and engaging the engagement pin 1d provided on the holder part 1 with the engagement groove 3f of the support plate 3d. It has been. In this embodiment, the light transmitting probe 4 a of the optical biometric apparatus A is inserted into one probe socket 2 of the holder part 1, and the light receiving probe 4 b is inserted into the other probe socket 2. When measurement is performed with the electrodes of the electroencephalograph B being inserted, the vicinity of the measurement site by infrared light passing through the light transmitting / receiving probes 4a and 4b is measured with an electroencephalograph, but on the diagonal line across the electrode socket 3 By inserting the light transmitting probe 4a into one of the probe sockets and the light receiving probe 4b into the other, the measurement site by the infrared light passing through the light transmitting / receiving probes 4a, 4b is accurately measured with an electroencephalograph. can do.

  8 to 10 show another embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, a flexible cloth for blocking external light used between the mesh 10 and the object to be measured is used. An electrode socket 3 of an electroencephalograph b that is disposed in a space corresponding to the eyes of the mesh body 10 is attached to the cloth material 11. As shown in FIG. 10, the socket 3 has an inner screw 3h formed on the inner surface of a cylindrical socket main body 3g and an outer screw 3k of a flange member 3j having a through hole, which is screwed into the socket main body 3g and the flange member 3j. The cloth-like material 1 is attached to the cloth-like material 1 by narrowing between the two. Further, the cloth-like material 1 is provided with a hole 11a for inserting the lower part of the light transmitting / receiving probes 4a and 4b protruding from the lower surface of the mesh body 10. The cloth-like material 11 prevents external light from adversely affecting the measurement at the transmitting / receiving probe portion during measurement by the optical biometric apparatus.

  Although typical embodiments of the present invention have been described above, the present invention is not necessarily limited to the above-described embodiments. For example, the means for attaching the probe socket and the electrode socket to the holder part can be modified or changed. The shape of the holder itself can also be formed as an integral structure like a helmet. In addition, in the present invention, it is needless to say that the present invention can be implemented with appropriate modifications within the range having the structural requirements and the effects.

  INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY The present invention can be used as a holder that can hold electrodes of an electrobiological measurement apparatus and an electroencephalograph electrode and can perform both measurements simultaneously.

The disassembled perspective view which shows a part of holder concerning this invention. The partial perspective view which shows the state which assembled | attached the said holder component with the socket. Sectional drawing which shows the state which attached the light transmission / reception probe and the electrode in FIG. The partial top view which shows the state which comprised the holder components which attached the socket in the mesh body. The side view which shows the state which mounted | wore the human body head with the holder of this invention. The partial top view which shows another Example of the holder concerning this invention. The disassembled perspective view of the socket part for electrodes in the Example shown in FIG. The partial top view which shows another Example of the holder concerning this invention. The partial perspective view which shows the cloth-like material in the Example shown in FIG. Sectional drawing which shows the state which attached the socket for electrodes to the said cloth-like material.

Explanation of symbols

A Optical biometric apparatus B Electroencephalograph 1 Holder part 2 Probe socket 3 Electrode socket 4a Light transmitting probe 4b Light receiving probe 5 Electrode 10 Net body 11 Cloth-like material

Claims (6)

  A holder that is attached along the surface of a living body to be measured, and includes a plurality of probe sockets for holding a light transmitting / receiving probe of an optical biometric apparatus and a plurality of electrode sockets for holding an electroencephalograph electrode. Holder with.   The holder includes a plate-like holder part having a pair of right and left probe sockets for holding the light transmitting / receiving probe at regular intervals, and a plurality of holder parts rotate with respect to the probe socket part as a pivot. 2. The electroencephalograph electrode socket is provided between the left and right probe sockets of the holder part, and the electroencephalograph electrode socket is provided so as to be connected in a lattice shape. Holder.   The holder includes a plate-like holder part having a pair of right and left probe sockets for holding the light transmitting / receiving probe at regular intervals, and a plurality of holder parts rotate with respect to the probe socket part as a pivot. The holder according to claim 1, wherein the holder is configured to be connected in a lattice shape to form a mesh, and an electroencephalograph electrode socket is disposed in a space corresponding to the eyes of the mesh.   4. The holder according to claim 3, wherein the electrode socket of the electroencephalograph arranged in the reticulated space is formed on a support plate held by a holder part.   The holder includes a cloth material for blocking external light interposed between the mesh body and an object to be measured, and an electroencephalograph electrode socket disposed in the space of the mesh body is formed on the cloth material. The holder according to claim 3, wherein the holder is provided.   A composite biometric apparatus using the holder according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein optical biomedical measurement and electroencephalogram measurement are performed simultaneously or sequentially one by one.

Images