JP2008086724A - Apparatus for measuring blood alcohol concentration - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To solve problems that practical applications of an apparatus for steadily mounting in a car to suppress drunk driving is difficult since as a means to suppress drunk driving an apparatus which measures the blood alcohol concentration of a driver has been designed to be steadily placed in a car to limit starting of the car but in this kind of apparatus the special action of a tested person such as blowing his breadth into a predetermined place is required at a specific time by an apparatus using the breadth of the tested person; and also to solve various problems such as mounting convenience and costs of an apparatus which has been disclosed as a substituting means by measuring alcohole concentration in sweat wherein many mechanical constitution parts such as a cylinder for suction and air switching valve are required. <P>SOLUTION: The apparatus for measuring the blood alcohol concentration is constituted to measure a component of a specific material generated in blood by drinking and the rate of its generation by irradiating a fingertip of a tested person with a measurement light having a predetermined wavelength and measuring the light absorption rate of the specific wavelength from the compound of the received light which is obtained by passing the measurement light through the fingertip. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

The present invention relates to an apparatus for measuring the concentration of alcohol taken into the body by drinking or the like.

In general, a breath collection type portable blood alcohol concentration measuring device of a driver (hereinafter referred to as a subject) is employed as a drunk driving suppression means. In addition, this type of alcohol concentration measuring device and a vehicle traveling system are linked to each other, and an engine starter or a vehicle traveling speed is limited in accordance with an instruction value of the alcohol concentration measuring device permanently installed in the vehicle. Yes.
JP 2005-224559 A

On the other hand, blood alcohol concentration is indirectly measured from the subject's sweat alcohol concentration for the purpose of not being able to guarantee a perfect match between the breath alcohol concentration and the test subject's breath, and for the purpose of simplifying the measuring device itself. A method has been proposed.
JP 2001-21567 A

However, since the apparatus for measuring the alcohol concentration in sweat requires many mechanical components such as a suction cylinder and an air switching valve, there is a problem in terms of mountability and cost when mounted on a vehicle. Further, in the case of using the exhalation of the subject, the subject needs a special operation such as blowing exhalation into a predetermined place when necessary, which has a problem in practicality.

Accordingly, the blood alcohol concentration measuring apparatus according to the present invention irradiates a subject's fingertip with measurement light having a predetermined wavelength as shown in claim 1, and light of a specific wavelength from a light receiving component obtained by transmitting the measurement light through the fingertip. By measuring the degree of absorption, it was configured to measure the components of the intrinsic substance produced in the blood by drinking and the degree of production.

Moreover, in Claim 2, it was set as the structure which also has personal authentication from the venous flow pattern of the biological body obtained from the said blood alcohol concentration measuring apparatus.

As a result, the test subject can measure the blood alcohol concentration by drinking just by inserting the fingertip into a predetermined part of the vehicle, so that practicality is greatly improved without complicated operations. In addition, since there is no mechanical moving part, it is possible to provide a low-cost blood alcohol concentration measuring apparatus having a semi-permanent lifetime at low cost.

Furthermore, since it is possible to have a personal authentication function by a known venous flow pattern from the transmitted light of the fingertip, it is adopted as a vehicle control device having both functions of personal authentication and alcohol detection as a switch for starting the engine of the vehicle. There is an excellent effect that it is possible.

Hereinafter, the configuration and operation of the first embodiment of the blood alcohol concentration measuring apparatus of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes the overall configuration of the blood alcohol concentration measuring apparatus according to the present invention. The case 10 also serves as a light shielding from external light and a housing for holding each optical element, a light emitting means 11, a light receiving means 13, and a control. It is comprised from the apparatus 14 and the electrical connection wires 14a-14c.

The case 10 is provided with an opening on at least one surface, and the subject's fingertip 100 can be inserted through the opening. Further, on the upper surface of the case 10, a light emitting element composed of an LED or the like having a visible light / or ultraviolet / or infrared wavelength region, and a light emitting means 11 incorporating a light diffusing plate or an optical filter, if necessary, are fixed. It is.

A light receiving means 13 made of a silicon phototransistor having a detection sensitivity in a desired light receiving wavelength region is fixed to the bottom surface of the case 10 facing the light emitting means 11.

The light emitting means 11 and the light receiving means 13 are electrically connected to the control device 14 by electrical connection wires 14a and 14b extending to the outside of the case 10, and the control device 14 controls the light emitting state of the light emitting means 11 while controlling the light emission state. The electrical signal obtained from the light receiving means 13 is processed to determine the blood alcohol concentration of the subject.

In general, it is known that a substance absorbs light of a predetermined wavelength according to its type, and the absorption wavelength varies depending on the substance. In terms of this characteristic, this is a widely known technique in the industry as spectroscopic analysis or light absorption analysis.
However, when the light-electrical conversion signal obtained from the light receiving means 13 of the present invention has the horizontal axis of the wavelength of the irradiation light, the absorbance data having a peak at a value corresponding to the existing substance in the subject's body as shown in FIG. You can get to know as.
The horizontal axis in FIG. 2 is described as “wave number” that is often used in the field of spectroscopic analysis as a unit related to wavelength.

As described above, the control device 14 calculates the absorbance value for each wavelength of the measurement light.
Here, when the subject is drinking, the absorbed light is present in the wavelength range related to known substances such as ethanol group, acetaldehyde, acetic acid, etc., so the blood alcohol concentration of the subject is measured by the degree of absorption. The measurement result is output from the connection line 14c.

In the present embodiment, the light emitting means 11 and the light receiving means 13 are disposed with the subject's fingertip 100 interposed therebetween. However, the light emitting means 11 and the light receiving means 13 may be disposed on the same side as viewed from the fingertip 100. In that case, the same measurement is performed by reflected light.

In this embodiment, the subject's fingertip is the measurement target. However, the measurement target is not limited to the fingertip, and it is obvious that the measurement target may be a palm, and the specific configuration of the light emitting means and the light receiving means is the LED. A laser diode or the like is not limited. Thus, it goes without saying that the structure, layout, and device shape of each element may be changed without departing from the gist of the present invention.

Furthermore, using the measurement result of the blood alcohol concentration measuring device of the present invention, various applications such as limiting the engine start or running speed of the vehicle, or automatically connecting to the Internet and issuing a substitute operation request signal are possible. There is a range that can be easily inferred by engineers in the field.

Hereinafter, a structure and an effect | action are demonstrated according to each figure about 2nd Example of the blood alcohol concentration measuring apparatus of this invention.
Also in this embodiment, since the diagram showing the configuration is the same as that of the first embodiment, FIG.

In FIG. 1, the light emitting means 11 and the light receiving means 13 are configured as a planar light emitting element / planar light receiving element, as can be detected as a planar image up to the vicinity of the first joint of the subject's fingertip 100. Alternatively, the light emitting means 11 and the light receiving means 13 are arranged at right angles to the longitudinal direction of the fingertip 100, and the subject slides the fingertip on the surface of the light receiving means, thereby obtaining desired surface image data of the fingertip 100. Configure to measure.

It is known that the image data from the transmitted light obtained by the above-described configuration is recognized as individual information that is complex and bright and dark at the vein portion of the human body as shown in FIG. .
(Sold as a biological venous flow authentication device).

Therefore, in this embodiment, as in the first embodiment, the blood alcohol concentration of the subject is measured by the absorbance obtained from the light receiving means, and the individual authentication of the subject is simultaneously performed from the venous flow image on the surface. Configured.

As described above, the blood alcohol concentration measurement apparatus of the present invention measures the blood component of the subject from the absorbance for each wavelength of the measurement light transmitted through the human body, and the blood alcohol concentration accompanying alcohol consumption by the subject based on the measured value. Since it does not require a mechanical moving part as in the prior art, and does not require a special action such as injecting exhaled air for measurement, it is easy to use drinking detection means. As an advantage, it is possible to supply low-priced products.

The blood alcohol concentration measuring device of the present invention is suitable as a personal authentication device for vehicles having accident prevention due to drunk driving, medical equipment, and also a drinking detection function.

It is a blood alcohol concentration measuring device of the present invention. It is a figure explaining the difference in the light absorbency by the substance. It is a figure showing a biological venous flow pattern

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Blood alcohol concentration measuring device 10 Case 11 Light emission means 13 Light reception means 14 Control apparatus

Claims (2)

A light emitting means in which a part of the human body is arranged so that the measurement light is transmitted / reflected, a light receiving means for receiving the measurement light and converting it into an electric signal, and an electric signal from the light receiving means for the measurement light A blood alcohol concentration measuring apparatus comprising: a control device that analyzes the degree of absorbed light with respect to the wavelength of the subject and measures a product in the body associated with alcohol drinking by the subject to determine the blood alcohol concentration of the subject. The light emitting means and the light receiving means of the blood alcohol concentration measuring apparatus are configured to be collected as image data by transmitted light having a predetermined area or more at a predetermined part of the human body, and an individual from a biological venous flow pattern obtained by such image data The blood alcohol concentration measuring apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a function for performing authentication.

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