JP2011179900A - Electronic clinical thermometer - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an electronic clinical thermometer capable of communicating measured data to the outside, while suppressing increase in circuit scale and increase in cost. <P>SOLUTION: The electronic clinical thermometer 101, which includes a sound generating section 125 for notifying its user of the finish of body temperature measurement with sound, includes a measurement section 121 for measuring the temperature of the body of a subject, and the sound for notifying the user of the finish is output by the sound generating section 125, in response to the finish of the temperature measurement by the measurement section 121. After that, the sounds of two wavelengths are output from the sound generating section, to make the sounds of the two wavelengths correspond to two values, and serially communicate binary codes describing the temperature measurement results acquired by the measurement section 121 by the sounds of the two wavelengths. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2011,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an electronic thermometer that measures the body temperature of a subject.

  Conventionally, as an electronic thermometer that measures the body temperature of a subject, a temperature sensor is provided at the tip of a long and slender bar that follows the shape of a mercury thermometer, and the body temperature is measured by pinching it under the armpit of the subject. The electronic thermometer to perform is generally known (patent document 1).

  In this type of electronic thermometer, the equilibrium temperature is predicted from the temperature rise of the temperature sensitive part such as the thermistor when sandwiched between the armpit of the subject, and this is displayed as the body temperature measurement result. The sound generation unit is sounded to notify the user of the completion of the prediction. As described above, in the electronic thermometer, the body temperature measurement value is obtained before the thermistor is thermally balanced with the portion to be measured, and the measurement time of the body temperature is shortened. Conventionally, in order to record the measurement result of the body temperature in the external device, an electronic thermometer that transmits the measurement result to the external device has been proposed (Patent Document 2).

JP 2008-203096 A JP 2009-066203 A

  In order to transmit a measurement result from an electronic thermometer to an external device, it is conceivable to use wired communication or wireless communication. However, in the case of wired communication, it is necessary to provide a communication connector for the electronic thermometer, leading to an increase in the size of the housing, and because the terminal for electrical connection is exposed and liquid tightness is reduced. Not suitable for electronic thermometers.

  On the other hand, in wireless communication, data is transmitted by radiation of radio waves or magnetic fields. However, a coil, an antenna, and a drive circuit for them are required, which is an obstacle to downsizing an electronic thermometer and an increase in cost.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object thereof is to provide an electronic thermometer capable of communicating measurement data to the outside while suppressing an increase in circuit scale and cost increase.

In order to achieve the above object, an electronic thermometer according to an aspect of the present invention has the following arrangement. That is,
An electronic thermometer having a sound generation unit for notifying the user of the end of body temperature measurement with sound,
A measuring means for measuring the body temperature of the subject;
A first output means for outputting a sound for notifying the user of the end by the sound generator in response to the end of the body temperature measurement by the measuring means;
The sound of the two wavelengths is output from the sound generation unit in order to correspond the binary information to the binary information and to serially communicate the binary code representing the measurement result of the body temperature obtained by the measuring means. Second output means.

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, it becomes possible to provide the electronic thermometer which can communicate measurement data outside, suppressing the increase in a circuit scale and a cost increase.

The figure which shows the external appearance of the storage case which stores the electronic thermometer and electronic thermometer by embodiment. The block diagram which shows the control structural example of the electronic thermometer by the embodiment, and a storage case. The flowchart which shows the process by the electronic thermometer of embodiment. The flowchart which shows the process in the storage case of embodiment. The figure explaining communication of the binary code by 2 wavelength sound.

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

  FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an external appearance of a thermometer system according to this embodiment including an electronic thermometer 101 according to this embodiment and a storage case 201 thereof. The electronic thermometer 101 has an LCD 102 for displaying measurement results and the like. The storage case 201 has a function as a receiving device that receives measurement data transmitted from the electronic thermometer 101 using sound of two wavelengths. In the storage case 201, the LCD 202 performs various displays such as display of measurement data received from the electronic thermometer 101. The operation switch 203 receives operation instructions from the user for various displays on the LCD 202. The microphone 204 receives measurement data based on two-wavelength sound transmitted from the electronic thermometer 101. The storage unit 205 provides a space for storing the electronic thermometer 101.

  FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a control configuration example of the electronic thermometer 101 and the storage case 201 according to the present embodiment.

  In the electronic thermometer 101, the temperature sensing unit 121 includes a thermistor and detects the temperature of the subject. The temperature measurement circuit 122 detects a change in electrical characteristics due to the temperature of the temperature sensing unit 121 (or a resistance value change in the case of a thermistor), and generates an electrical signal corresponding to the temperature detected by the temperature sensing unit 121. Further, the electric signal is converted into a digital value and sent to the arithmetic control unit 123.

  The arithmetic control unit 123 detects the start of measurement of body temperature based on the measurement value (digital value) sequentially provided from the temperature measurement circuit 122, and predicts the equilibrium temperature when the measurement start is detected. When the arithmetic control unit 123 determines that the prediction of the equilibrium temperature has been completed, the arithmetic control unit 123 displays the equilibrium temperature on the LCD 102 as a measurement result, and sounds the buzzer 125 as a sound generation unit to notify the user of the end of the measurement. . A means for notifying the user of the end of the measurement by ringing the buzzer 125 as the sound generating section is a first output means. The above-described configurations of the temperature sensing unit 121 and the temperature measurement circuit 122 and the calculation of the predicted temperature by the calculation control unit 123 are well-known techniques.

  The arithmetic control unit 123 of the present embodiment further drives the buzzer 125 to convert the measurement result into a binary code and transmit it using two-wavelength sound. Thus, the means for driving the buzzer 125 to transmit the measurement result using the two-wavelength sound is referred to as second output means. The buzzer 125 as a sound generator may be any sound that can output the sound for notifying the end of measurement and the above-described two-wavelength sound, and a piezoelectric buzzer, a micro speaker, or the like can be used. The arithmetic control unit 123 assigns the pitch of the sound to a binary value, thereby converting binary data corresponding to the measurement result into a sound of two wavelengths and causing the buzzer 125 to sound. For example, a 4 kHz sound is associated with a binary “1”, and a 2 kHz sound is associated with a binary “0”. However, this frequency is an example, and it goes without saying that the higher sound may be assigned to “0”. The binary data may be added with a start bit or a checksum to a binary code representing a measured value, and the configuration of such binary data will be apparent to those skilled in the art.

  FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating how binary data is converted into two-wavelength sound. The arithmetic control unit 123 assigns a low frequency sound to “0” and a high frequency sound to “1” for the binary data (501) of “011000101...” (502) and a two-wavelength sound (503). The buzzer 125 is sounded as follows. The two-wavelength sound emitted from the buzzer 125 is collected by the microphone 204 of the storage case 201 as a receiving device.

  In the storage case 201, the calculation control unit 220 includes a two-wavelength sound extraction unit 221, an analysis unit 222, and a control unit 223. The arithmetic control unit 220 digitizes the sound collected by the microphone 204 into a digital acoustic signal (sound data), and extracts the above-described two-wavelength sound from the sound data. The analysis unit 222 converts the extracted two-wavelength sound into binary data, analyzes this, and obtains a measurement value transmitted from the electronic thermometer 101. The control unit 223 displays the measurement value acquired by the analysis unit 222 on the LCD 202. In addition, the control unit 223 stores the acquired measurement value in the memory 224 in association with the time information from the clock 225. Furthermore, the control unit 223 can display the time and measurement value stored in the memory 224 on the LCD 202 in response to a user operation on the operation switch 203. Note that the LCD 202 may normally display time information from the clock 225.

  The operation of the arithmetic control unit 123 of the electronic thermometer 101 and the arithmetic control unit 220 of the storage case 201 having the above-described configuration will be described below with reference to the flowcharts of FIGS. Note that the arithmetic control unit 123 and the arithmetic control unit 220 may be realized by a CPU (not shown) executing predetermined software, or may be realized by a dedicated hardware circuit. It may be realized by a combination.

  By taking out the electronic thermometer 101 from the storage case 201, a magnet reed switch (not shown) is turned on, the electronic thermometer 101 is activated, and the processing shown in the flowchart of FIG. When the activated electronic thermometer 101 is sandwiched between the armpit and the like, the arithmetic control unit 123 detects the start of body temperature measurement by the rise in temperature detected by the temperature sensing unit 121 and predicts the equilibrium temperature (S301). In addition, a well-known thing can be applied to the prediction algorithm of the equilibrium temperature in a prediction type thermometer.

  When the prediction of the equilibrium temperature is completed and the measurement result is obtained, the arithmetic control unit 123 notifies the end of the measurement by ringing the buzzer 125 and displays the result of the body temperature measurement on the LCD 102 (S302, S303, S304). ). Note that the wavelength of the buzzer sound indicating the end of the measurement is different from the wavelength of each of the two-wavelength sounds described later (thus, the buzzer 125 can output sounds of three types of wavelengths). Thereafter, the arithmetic control unit 123 waits for a predetermined time to elapse by the timer 124, and when the predetermined time elapses, starts transmission of the measurement result by the two-wavelength sound using the buzzer 125. First, the arithmetic control unit 123 generates binary data (buzzer drive data) obtained by adding a start bit and a checksum to a binary code indicating a measurement value as a measurement result (S306). Then, the arithmetic control unit 123 drives the buzzer 125 by assigning the high and low sounds of the two-wavelength sound to the binary data 1 and 0 (S307). Thus, the binary code representing the measurement result is communicated serially.

  Here, the predetermined time is provided until the transmission by the two-wavelength sound, in order to prevent the user from feeling uncomfortable by performing the communication by the two-wavelength sound when the user reads the measurement result of the electronic thermometer 101. It is. In particular, when applied to an ear-type electronic thermometer, communication using two-wavelength sounds near the ear can be prevented. In order to prevent discomfort, a sound having a wavelength outside the audible range may be used as the two-wavelength sound.

  In the present embodiment, the shake hand communication is not performed regarding the notification of the measurement result by the two-wavelength sound, and data is unilaterally sent from the electronic thermometer 101. For this reason, the buzzer driving with the two-wavelength sound described above is repeated over a predetermined period so that the notification can be performed more reliably (S308). Note that the predetermined period for repeating the notification is measured by the timer 124. That is, a predetermined time is set in the timer 124, and the notification of the measurement result by the two-wavelength sound is repeated until the timer 124 expires. In this case, the display on the LCD 102 may be turned off as the predetermined time elapses. In other words, the transmission of the measurement result by the two-wavelength sound may be finished while the display of the measurement result by the LCD 102 is turned off. Alternatively, the communication may be repeated a predetermined number of times instead of elapse of the predetermined time by the timer.

  FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the reception process of the measurement result transmitted from the electronic thermometer 101 by the two-wavelength sound by the storage case 201. The reception process is performed by the arithmetic control unit 220 of the storage case 201. This reception process is started by pressing a predetermined switch of the operation switches 203, for example. However, the trigger for starting the reception process is not limited to the pressing of the operation switch 203, but by detecting that the cover of the storage case 201 has been opened or that the electronic thermometer 101 has been removed from the storage case 201. May be made.

  The two-wavelength sound extraction unit 221 extracts the two-wavelength sound from the sound data collected by the microphone 204 and digitized (S401). In the present embodiment, since sound having two wavelengths of 2 kHz and 4 kHz is used for data communication, sound data of these frequencies is extracted. Subsequently, the analysis unit 222 analyzes the start bit and checksum of the binary code from the arrangement of the two-wavelength sounds in the extracted sound data, and obtains a binary code (S402, S403). If the binary code is correctly obtained (S404), the control unit 223 converts the binary code received from the analysis unit 222 into a measurement result (body temperature measurement value) and displays it on the LCD 202 (S405). Further, the control unit 223 stores the measurement result in association with the current time indicated by the clock 225 in the memory 224 (S406).

  After that, the arithmetic control unit 220 waits for a predetermined time set in advance as the reception period of the two-wavelength sound, and ends this processing when the predetermined time elapses. If it is not determined in S402 that binary code transmission has started, or if it is determined in S404 that binary code acquisition has failed (for example, it has been determined that a binary code has not been correctly obtained by a checksum or the like). In the case), the process proceeds to S408. In S408, the arithmetic control unit 220 determines whether or not the predetermined time set in advance has elapsed, and if not, the process returns to S401. That is, when the process shown in FIG. 4 is started, detection and analysis of two-wavelength sound is performed for a predetermined time. Then, after the binary code is correctly received, the two-wavelength sound is not detected until the predetermined time elapses, and when the predetermined time elapses, the process is terminated. The electronic thermometer 101 may set a time slightly longer than the time required for predicting the body temperature for the predetermined time. By doing so, it is possible to prevent the measurement value from being received only once for one body temperature measurement, that is, to prevent the same measurement value from being recorded repeatedly.

  In order to prevent the measurement values from being recorded twice, for example, the measurement value (at the beginning or the tail) has a code different from the previous measurement value (for example, any alphabet from A to Z). May be added. In this case, if the same measured value and the same alphabet are added, it is determined that the duplicated measured value is acquired, and the duplicated record of the same measured value is recorded by ignoring the measured value. Can be prevented.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, it is possible to notify the external device of the measurement result using the buzzer that the electronic thermometer has conventionally provided to notify the completion of measurement. For this reason, measurement data can be communicated to the outside while suppressing an increase in circuit scale and cost increase in the electronic thermometer.

  In the above-described embodiment, the electronic thermometer 101 performs a buzzer sound (S307) for communicating a measured value after a predetermined time since the buzzer sounded for a measurement end notification (S303), but is not limited thereto. It is not a thing. For example, a switch (not shown) may be provided in the electronic thermometer 101, and communication of measurement results using two-wavelength sounds may be started by pressing the switch after the measurement is completed.

  Furthermore, it may be prepared to detect that the electronic thermometer 101 is stored in the storage case 201 and start communication of measurement results using two-wavelength sounds. In this case, for example, the calculation control unit 123 may detect that a magnet reed switch (not shown) is turned off, communicate a measurement result in response to this detection, and then turn off its own power supply. Since the communication using the two-wavelength sound is performed in the state of being stored in the storage case 201, the two-wavelength sound can be detected more reliably. In this case, the start timing of the reception process (FIG. 4) shown in the storage case 201 may be the time when it is detected that the electronic thermometer is stored in the storage unit 205 of the storage case 201. The detection of the storage of the electronic thermometer in the storage unit 205 is realized, for example, by providing a projection-like switch on the inner wall of the storage unit 205 and detecting that the switch is pressed on the outer surface of the electronic thermometer. it can.

  Further, the volume when outputting the sound for notifying the completion of measurement and the volume when outputting the two-wavelength sound for transmitting the measurement result may be different. That is, the volume when the buzzer sounds in S303 may be different from the volume when the buzzer sounds in S307. In this case, at the time of the buzzer ringing in S307, the measurement value may be communicated by lowering the volume so that a person cannot hear it. Further, as the two-wavelength sound, a sound having a wavelength outside the audible range may be used.

  Further, in the storage case, the data stored in the memory 224 can be configured such that the operation result is read with the time by operating the operation switch 203 and the time and the measurement result are displayed on the LCD 202. Note that when all the measurement results cannot be displayed due to the display size of the LCD 202 (for example, when only one measurement result can be displayed), the display may be switched by a scroll operation. As a result, the user can easily check a change in body temperature over time.

  Moreover, although the said embodiment demonstrated the communication in one direction from the electronic thermometer 101 to the storage case 201, it is not restricted to this. For example, when a ceramic speaker is used as the buzzer 125 of the electronic thermometer 101, it can be used as a microphone. Therefore, the electronic thermometer 101 side can receive transmission data by two-wavelength sound, and can realize bidirectional communication. In this case, since communication can be confirmed between the electronic thermometer 101 and the storage case 201, more reliable communication can be realized. Further, as a configuration using communication from the storage case 201 to the electronic thermometer 101, when the electronic thermometer 101 is provided with a clock function, the time information of the clock 225 included in the storage case 201 is set to the time adjustment. This can be done by transmitting to the 101 side. That is, the user interface to be equipped on the electronic thermometer can be simplified.

  Moreover, in the said embodiment, although the storage case was illustrated as a receiver, it is not restricted to this. For example, a cap can be mounted on the opposite side of the thermometer, such as a ballpoint pen cap, and the above-described configuration for receiving data using the two-wavelength sound may be provided on the cap. In this case, the cap can have a function of displaying the notified measurement result. When the measurement result is received by the cap, since the cap is in close contact with the electronic thermometer, reliable data communication can be performed even if the volume of data communication using two-wavelength sound is low. Further, the buzzer sound for notifying the end of measurement can be increased, and the capacity of the buzzer 125 included in the electronic thermometer 101 can be reduced.

  Furthermore, in the said embodiment, although the structure which displays the measurement result received via the data communication using 2 wavelength sound was illustrated in the storage case and the cap, it is not restricted to this, For example, by voice synthesis | combination You may make it notify a measurement result.

  Furthermore, as another example of the target for notifying the measurement result, for example, by connecting a microphone to a personal computer or a portable terminal, these can be used as a receiving device. In addition, data can be transmitted to a remote device by a telephone, a mobile phone, or the like. In particular, when a telephone including a mobile phone is used, it is conceivable that after connecting the telephone to the server, the electronic thermometer 101 is brought close to the mouthpiece and data is transmitted using two-wavelength sound. For example, when a mobile phone is used, the server can identify an individual by the telephone number and store the measurement value transmitted from the electronic thermometer for each individual. Therefore, the server can implement a service for sending a measurement result list or graph by e-mail to the e-mail address of the registered mobile phone. Furthermore, if you input an event by e-mail and reply, the data can be reflected in the graph. For example, if you have a fever or an antipyretic, enter an event such as `` fever '' or `` drug administration '' and send it via email. After the fever, it can be easily recognized visually that the fever has decreased due to the administration of the antipyretic drug.

  101: Electronic thermometer, 102: LCD, 201: Storage case, 202: LCD, 203: Operation switch, 204: Microphone, 205: Storage unit, 121: Temperature sensing unit, 122: Temperature measurement circuit, 123: Calculation control circuit, 124: Timer, 125: Buzzer, 220: Operation control unit, 221: Two-wavelength sound extraction unit, 222: Analysis unit, 223: Control unit

Claims (9)

An electronic thermometer having a sound generation unit for notifying the user of the end of body temperature measurement with sound,
A measuring means for measuring the temperature of the subject;
A first output means for outputting a sound for notifying the user of the end by the sound generator in response to the end of the temperature measurement by the measuring means;
In order to serially communicate a binary code representing the temperature measurement result obtained by the measurement means, the sound of the two wavelengths is output from the sound generation unit in order to correspond to the binary sound. An electronic thermometer comprising two output means.   The said 2nd output means outputs the sound of the said 2 wavelength, in order to represent the said measurement result after predetermined time passes after the notification by the said 1st output means. Electronic thermometer.   The electronic thermometer according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the second output means repeats an output corresponding to a binary code representing the measurement result a predetermined number of times. The sound collecting means for collecting sound by a microphone and the sound obtained by the sound collecting means are output from the sound generating section by the second output means of the electronic thermometer according to any one of claims 1 to 3. Extraction means for extracting the sound of the two wavelengths;
A receiving apparatus comprising: an analyzing unit that acquires a measurement result of a temperature transmitted from the electronic thermometer by converting a sequence of sounds of the two wavelengths extracted by the extracting unit into a binary code. .   The receiving apparatus according to claim 4, further comprising display means for displaying a temperature measurement result acquired by the analyzing means. A clock means for measuring time;
6. The receiving apparatus according to claim 4, further comprising storage means for storing the temperature measurement result acquired by the analyzing means in association with the time indicated by the clock means. An electronic thermometer having a sound generating unit for notifying the user of the end of temperature measurement with sound, and a thermometer system having a receiving device,
The electronic thermometer is
A measuring means for measuring the temperature of the subject;
A first output means for outputting a sound for notifying the user of the end by the sound generator in response to the end of the temperature measurement by the measuring means;
In order to serially communicate a binary code representing the temperature measurement result obtained by the measurement means, the sound of the two wavelengths is output from the sound generation unit in order to correspond to the binary sound. Two output means,
The receiving device is:
Sound collection means for collecting sound with a microphone;
Extraction means for extracting the sound of the two wavelengths output from the sound generator by the second output means from the sound obtained by the sound collection means;
A thermometer system comprising: an analysis unit that acquires a measurement result of a temperature transmitted from the electronic thermometer by converting a sequence of sounds of the two wavelengths extracted by the extraction unit into a binary code. . A method for controlling an electronic thermometer having a sound generation unit for notifying the user of the end of body temperature measurement with sound,
A measurement process for measuring the temperature of the subject;
A first output step of outputting a sound for notifying the user of the end by the sound generator in response to the end of the temperature measurement by the measurement step;
In order to make the two wavelengths of sound correspond to the binary value and to serially communicate the binary code representing the temperature measurement result obtained in the measurement step, the sound of the two wavelengths is output from the sound generator. A control method for an electronic thermometer, comprising two output steps. A sound collection process for collecting sound with a microphone;
The sound of the two wavelengths output from the sound generator by the second output means of the electronic thermometer according to any one of claims 1 to 3 is extracted from the sound obtained by the sound collecting step. An extraction process;
A receiving apparatus comprising: an analysis step of acquiring a measurement result of the temperature transmitted from the electronic thermometer by converting the arrangement of sounds of the two wavelengths extracted by the extraction step into a binary code. Control method.

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