JP2014144077A - Contact pickup system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a contact pickup system which can pick up vibration during mastication and vibration during deglutition with high sensitivity and utilize them.SOLUTION: A contact pickup system 1, which contacts the human body and picks up the vibration transmitting through the body tissue, is equipped with a contact pickup body 10 which picks up the vibration and converts it to electric signals and a casing 20 which holds the contact pickup body 10 and has a space 22 at least between a component 21 forming a part of an exterior surface and the contact pickup body 10.

Description

  The present invention relates to a contact pickup system that picks up vibrations transmitted through body tissues by contacting the human body, and in particular, can detect vibrations during mastication and vibrations during swallowing with high sensitivity, and can identify whether it is mastication or swallowing It is related to the technology to collect data.

  Conventionally, there is a desire to monitor the frequency and speed of meals (hereinafter referred to as “meal mode”) for treatment, care, improvement of lifestyle habits, and the like.

  For example, people who are obese tend to eat food at a high frequency, while saying that they do not eat much by themselves. Also, it is said that if the number of chewing times per mouth is small, obesity tends to occur. Here, mastication refers to a series of processes from ingestion of food to pulverization and mixing with saliva to form a bolus.

  It is said that the number of chewing times for modern people is about one-sixth that of people in the Yayoi period. The number of chewing cycles is influenced by the current number of teeth and salivary secretion in addition to the amount and properties of food. Many modern people prefer soft meals that can be eaten without much biting, and the number of chewing cycles is gradually decreasing. It has been reported that when the number of chewing cycles decreases, the development of chin bone is delayed, and health damage such as cavities and obesity easily occurs, and it is said that it is preferable to chew at least 30 times per bit.

  Various studies have been conducted on the relationship between the number of chewing times per mouth and obesity. A study comparing the relationship between the number of chewing cycles until the first swallowing of rice crackers and the physique for adults and older adults (http://www.niph.go.jp/soshiki/koku/kk/sosyaku/report/ In the report 2010_6.pdf), in adulthood (20-64 years old), men in the group with 24 or less chewing cycles have a higher rate of visceral fat accumulation than men in the group with 25 to 30 chewing cycles. The ratio of visceral fat accumulation and obesity is significantly higher in men in the group with significantly higher chewing frequency than 31 in comparison with men in the group with mastication frequency in 25-30 times. In the elderly (65 years old and over), men in the group with 31 or more chewing cycles have a significantly higher proportion of leanness (undernutrition) than men in the group with 30 or less chewing cycles. There is no statistically significant association between chewing frequency and visceral fat accumulation in women. As described above, in adult men, there is a tendency to accumulate visceral fat even if the number of chewing times is small (less than 24 times) or at most (more than 31 times), and in older men, the number of chewing times is large. (31 times or more) People tend to lack nutrition. For men with a small number of chewing cycles, it is speculated that eating behavior such as “early eating” and “not chewing well” may lead to obesity in adulthood, but there is no association with obesity in older age. It is presumed that men with 31 or more chewing cycles have a high percentage of people with few teeth, and their chewing ability is reduced and they cannot chew well. In the case of males who do not chew well in adulthood, it is speculated that a decline in chewing ability will affect food selection, leading to poor nutritional balance such as increased carbohydrate intake, leading to obesity. It is speculated that men who do not chew well in the period are causing a decrease in the total energy intake and the intake of each nutrient. On the other hand, women are generally knowledgeable about food and cooking, and a high percentage of people are concerned about diet and nutrition, so it is presumed that there was no association between the number of chewing cycles and physique. The Therefore, it is not always preferable if the number of chewing times is large, there is an appropriate number of chewing times (25 to 30 times for male adults), and the individual factors such as the number of teeth are taken into account individually. An appropriate number of chewing cycles can be determined.

  In addition, it is often difficult to manage the meal mode by self-reporting because the person's judgment and memory are often lacking in the field of care. Therefore, it is desired that each person obtains data that can objectively recognize their eating habits and uses them as a material for improving eating habits.

  In order to monitor the meal mode, there is a method in which another person visually confirms, but it is difficult to continue monitoring for 24 hours with this method. Therefore, it is desirable to record the number and pattern of mastication and swallowing automatically using some device and monitor the meal mode.

  For example, there are devices disclosed in Patent Documents 1 and 2, for example, for monitoring a conventional meal mode. The mastication sensor described in Patent Document 1 uses the deformation of the ear canal during mastication to provide an air chamber that communicates with the outside through a small hole in the ear microphone, and the sound pressure in the air chamber 13 is measured by the microphone. The number of mastications is measured by detecting with (paragraphs 0010 and 0011). The pronunciation / eating / drinking state detection system described in Patent Document 2 uses a bone conduction microphone or a contact microphone (a microphone that is directly attached to a sound source and converts air vibration into an electric signal) to generate sounds accompanying mastication, swallowing, and vocalization. It is detected and converted into an electric signal, and it is determined from the distribution of frequency patterns obtained by performing FFT whether it is a “food state” or “speech state” (paragraphs 0026 and 0027).

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-318862 JP 2008-61790 A

  However, in the mastication sensor of Patent Document 1, since it is determined whether or not the jaw has moved, even if the jaw is moved in conversation or the like, it reacts, so that only the number of mastications cannot be measured accurately.

  In the pronunciation / eating / drinking state detection system of Patent Document 2, the fact that a difference in frequency spectrum is used when determining the “eating / drinking state” and the “speech state” and a specific frequency serving as a determination criterion are disclosed. However, when determining the “mastication state” and the “swallowing state”, the frequency spectrum is not used, and it is disclosed that “high occurrence frequency can be divided into mastication state and low one can be divided into swallowing state”. (Paragraph 0038). Therefore, in the disclosure content of Patent Document 2, it is not clear how high the occurrence frequency is the “chew state” and how low the occurrence frequency is the “swallow state”. It is not possible to clearly understand how to specifically identify the “swallowing state”.

  In addition, Patent Document 2 has a description that “when a contact microphone is used, it is attached to the throat, so that it is easier to detect swallowing sound than that using a bone conduction microphone” (paragraph 0040). The actual measurement data is not disclosed, and it is unclear whether the swallowing sound can be correctly verified by actually making it easy to detect the swallowing sound, for example, by attaching a contact microphone to the throat.

  In addition, since the contact microphone picks up surrounding sounds such as conversations, it is suitable as a means for determining the “food state” and “speaking state” as in Patent Document 2, but in the case of the present invention The sound is noisy and a contact microphone that picks up the surrounding sound is not suitable.

  On the other hand, if a contact pickup is used instead of the contact microphone, the influence of ambient sounds can be positively eliminated. Actually, the present inventors tried to detect vibration during mastication and vibration during swallowing by bringing a commercially available bone conduction microphone into close contact with the clavicle and throat for contact pickup. Even during swallowing, a sufficient output signal could not be obtained.

  The present invention has been made in consideration of the conventional problems as described above, and can detect vibrations during mastication and vibrations during swallowing with high sensitivity and can identify whether it is mastication or swallowing. A contact pickup system capable of collecting data is provided.

  The contact pickup system according to the present invention is a contact pickup system that picks up vibrations that are transmitted to body tissues by contacting with a human body, the contact pickup body that picks up vibrations and converts them into electrical signals, and holds the contact pickup body, At least a housing having a space provided between a member forming a part of the outer surface and the contact pickup main body is provided.

  Moreover, it is preferable that the said space is a sealed space cut off from outside air.

  Moreover, it is preferable to provide the adhesive sheet which has adhesiveness with respect to a human body in the external air side of the member which forms a part of said outer surface.

  Further, it is possible to adopt an aspect in which an operation detection unit that receives an electrical signal from the contact pickup main body and detects a chewing operation and a swallowing operation based on the strength and vibration pattern of the electrical signal can be employed.

  In addition, a storage unit that stores a vibration pattern of a biting operation for each food, and an electrical signal received from the contact pickup body, and the vibration pattern of the electric signal stored in the storage unit is stored in the storage unit. Compared to the above, it is also possible to employ a mode in which a food identification unit that identifies a food that has been eaten is provided.

  In the contact pickup system of the present invention, when a space is provided between the member forming a part of the outer surface and the contact pickup main body, when the member is brought into contact with the human body, the space is not provided. It is possible to pick up vibrations transmitted through the body tissue more sensitively. Therefore, by attaching the member to the clavicle or the throat, vibrations during mastication and vibration during swallowing can be picked up with high sensitivity, and data can be collected so that it is possible to identify whether it is mastication or swallowing. be able to.

It is a figure which shows the outline | summary of the contact pick-up system which concerns on Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is sectional drawing cut | disconnected in the plane through which the dashed-dotted line A passes in FIG. It is a graph which shows the result of having measured the vibration when a subject eats rice crackers using the contact pickup system of the present invention. It is a graph which shows the result of having measured the vibration when a test subject eats a rice cracker by sticking a contact pick-up main body directly on a clavicle as a comparative example. It is a graph which shows the result of having measured the vibration when a subject eats an almond using the contact pickup system of the present invention. It is a graph which shows the result of having measured the vibration when a subject drinks tea using the contact pickup system of the present invention. It is a graph which shows the result of having measured the vibration when a subject picked up tea directly by sticking a contact pick-up body on a clavicle as a comparative example. It is a figure which shows the outline | summary of the contact pick-up system which concerns on Embodiment 2 of this invention. It is a figure which shows the outline | summary of the contact pick-up system which concerns on Embodiment 3 of this invention. It is a figure which shows the outline | summary of the contact pick-up system which concerns on Embodiment 4 of this invention. It is a figure which shows the outline | summary of the contact pick-up system which concerns on Embodiment 5 of this invention.

<Embodiment 1>
Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail based on the embodiments shown in the drawings.

  A contact pickup system 1 according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention shown in FIG. 1 includes a contact pickup main body 10 and a housing 20. Here, FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of FIG. 1 cut along a plane through which the alternate long and short dash line A passes.

  The contact pick-up main body 10 is a vibration sensor that picks up vibrations transmitted through body tissues by contacting with a human body like a bone conduction microphone, and has the same structure as a dynamic microphone here. Assuming a case where the contact pickup body 10 is used in contact with the human body for 24 hours for monitoring purposes, as an example, the outer shape of the contact pickup body 10 is approximately 0.6 mm long × 0.48 mm wide × 1.6 mm long. The substantially rectangular parallelepiped which consists of is preferable, and the two output cables 10a and 10b have come out.

  The housing 20 is a box formed of metal, plastic, or the like, and includes a hollow outer member 21 that forms an outer surface, and a space 22 between the outer member 21 and the contact pickup body 10. The outer shape of the housing 20 is slightly larger than that of the contact pickup main body 10, and taking into consideration the above-mentioned purpose of use, a substantially rectangular parallelepiped having a size of approximately 1.0 mm in length × 0.8 mm in width × 2.0 mm in length is approximately. preferable. In addition, since the outer shape of the housing 20 is difficult to handle when the corners are standing, it is preferable that the corners are rounded.

  By providing the space 22, when the outer member 21 is brought into contact with a human body, vibration transmitted through the body tissue can be picked up with higher sensitivity than when the space 22 is not provided. Therefore, by attaching the member to the clavicle or the throat, vibrations during mastication and vibration during swallowing can be picked up with high sensitivity, and data can be collected so that it is possible to identify whether it is mastication or swallowing. be able to.

  The space 22 may be communicated with the outside air, but is preferably a sealed space that is cut off from the outside air, so that the vibration during mastication and the vibration during swallowing can be picked up with high sensitivity. Can do.

  Here, in the contact pickup main body 10, a part of the output cables 10 a and 10 b is held by the outer member 21, and is installed at the approximate center of the outer member 21. The contact pickup main body 10 does not necessarily have to be installed at the approximate center of the outer member 21 as long as the space 22 is secured. Further, there is no problem even if a part of the contact pickup main body 10 contacts the inner wall of the outer member 21. For example, when the outer shape of the contact pickup main body 10 is a substantially rectangular parallelepiped, the corner portions of the substantially rectangular parallelepiped are external. It may be in contact with the inner wall of the material 21. Further, by filling a part of the space 22 with a member such as a sponge having many cavities, the contact pickup body 10 can be reliably held by the member without substantially narrowing the space 22. .

  Note that it is not necessary to provide a space around the contact pickup body 10, and a space may be provided between the contact pickup body 10 and a member that forms at least a part of the outer surface (a part of the outer member 21). For example, when the lower surface portion in FIG. 2 of the outer member 21 is a contact portion 21a that is brought into contact with the human body when used, a space 22a (in FIG. 2) is provided at least between the contact portion 21a and the contact pickup body 10. The chain line portion) may be provided.

<Verification>
The contact pick-up system 1 of Embodiment 1 was affixed on the clavicle, and it was verified whether the vibration transmitted through the body tissue could be picked up with high sensitivity. For comparison, the naked contact pickup main body 10 removed from the housing 20 was directly pasted on the clavicle, and the other conditions were the same as the contact pickup system 1 as much as possible. Here, the output cables 10a and 10b of the contact pickup main body 10 are connected to the audio input terminal of a commercially available laptop computer, and using free software for measurement, "eating rice crackers", "eating almonds", " Measurement was performed by having the subject actually perform the three actions of “Drinking tea”.

  FIG. 3 is a graph showing a result of measuring vibration when the contact pickup system 1 of the present invention is pasted on the clavicle and the subject eats rice crackers. According to FIG. 3, when a rice cracker is chewed (hereinafter referred to as “when chewing”) (A in FIG. 3), an electrical signal is generated at a substantially constant period and the rice cracker is swallowed. (Hereinafter referred to as “at the time of swallowing”) (B in FIG. 3), it can be seen that an electric signal having a strength about 3 to 4 times that at the time of mastication is generated with a slight delay after mastication.

  FIG. 4 is a graph showing a result of measuring vibration when the subject picks up rice crackers by attaching the contact pickup body 10 directly on the clavicle as a comparative example. According to FIG. 4, it can be seen that almost no electrical signal is generated during mastication and swallowing.

  FIG. 5 is a graph showing the results of measuring vibrations when the subject eats almonds using the contact pickup system 1 of the present invention as in FIG. According to FIG. 5, when almond chewing (A in FIG. 5), an electric signal is generated at a substantially constant cycle, as in the case of rice cracker chewing, but the signal strength is initially strong and then suddenly weakens. When swallowing almonds (B in FIG. 5), it can be seen that an electrical signal that is clearly weaker than when swallowing rice crackers is generated with a slight delay after chewing.

  FIG. 6 is a graph showing the results of measuring vibrations when the subject drinks tea using the contact pickup system 1 of the present invention, as in FIG. According to FIG. 6, it can be seen that a relatively large electrical signal is generated during the swallowing of tea.

  FIG. 7 is a graph showing the results of measuring vibration when the subject picked up tea with the contact pickup body 10 directly pasted on the clavicle as in FIG. According to FIG. 7, it can be seen that almost no electrical signal is generated during the swallowing of tea.

  From the above results, it can be seen that when the contact pickup system 1 is affixed on the clavicle as shown in FIGS. 3, 5, and 6, it is possible to detect chewing and swallowing motions.

  3 and 4 and FIG. 6 and FIG. 7, when the contact pickup system 1 is attached to the clavicle, the contact pickup body 10 is attached directly to the clavicle. It can be seen that vibration during mastication and vibration during swallowing can be picked up with high sensitivity.

  Furthermore, from the comparison of FIG. 3, FIG. 5, and FIG. 6, since different vibration patterns are obtained depending on the eaten food, it may be used as data for estimating the eaten food.

<Embodiment 2>
As shown in FIG. 8, in the contact pickup system 2 of the second embodiment, in the configuration of the contact pickup system 1 in the first embodiment, the contact pickup body 10 is further connected to the inner surface of the outer member 21 (in FIG. 8, the ceiling surface of the inner space). ) Is provided.

  The fixing member 30 includes a main body portion made of a material such as metal or plastic similar to the outer member 21, and an inner surface of the outer member 21 and a connection portion that is bonded or welded to the contact pickup main body 10 using an adhesive or the like. Including. The fixing member 30 may be formed integrally with the outer member 21 or the contact pickup main body 10 or may be a component piece independent of the outer member 21 or the contact pickup main body 10.

<Embodiment 3>
As shown in FIG. 9, the contact pickup system 3 of the third embodiment further includes an adhesive sheet 40 having adhesiveness to the human body in addition to the configuration of the contact pickup system 1 in the first embodiment.

  The pressure-sensitive adhesive sheet 40 is provided on the outside air side of the contact portion 21a, and is very convenient because it is not necessary to prepare a separate tool or pressure-sensitive adhesive for mounting the housing 20 on the human body.

<Embodiment 4>
As shown in FIG. 10, the contact pickup system 4 of the fourth embodiment further includes an operation detection unit 50 in addition to the configuration of the contact pickup system 1 of the first embodiment.

  The motion detection unit 50 receives an electrical signal from the contact pickup body 10 and detects a chewing motion and a swallowing motion based on the strength of the electrical signal and the vibration pattern.

  In addition, it is possible to set a condition for discriminating whether it is a chewing action or a swallowing action in the motion detection unit 50 in advance, and it is also possible to make a determination based on the condition. Here, the conditions include, for example, the strength of the electric signal, the length of the continuous electric signal, and the presence / absence of periodicity of the electric signal.

<Embodiment 5>
As shown in FIG. 11, the contact pickup system 5 of the fifth embodiment further includes a pattern storage unit 60 and a food identification unit 61 in addition to the configuration of the contact pickup system 1 of the first embodiment.

  The pattern storage unit 60 stores a vibration pattern of a chewing operation for each food. Here, the vibration pattern is, for example, a combination of vibration intensity, frequency, continuous vibration length, vibration period, and the like.

  The food identification unit 61 receives an electrical signal from the contact pickup body 10, compares the variation pattern of the electrical signal with the vibration pattern of the chewing operation for each food stored in the pattern storage unit 60, and there is no match. Search for and estimate the food you ate.

  In addition, as long as no contradiction arises, Embodiments 1-5 can be combined suitably.

  In the contact pickup systems 1 to 5 according to the present invention, since the space 22 is provided between the outer member 21 and the contact pickup main body 10, the space 22 is provided when the outer member 21 is brought into contact with the human body. The vibration transmitted through the body tissue can be picked up more sensitively than when there is not. Therefore, by attaching the outer member 21 on the clavicle, the throat, etc., the vibration during mastication and the vibration during swallowing can be picked up with high sensitivity, and data can be identified so that it is possible to identify whether it is mastication or swallowing. Can be collected.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1-5 Contact pick-up system 10 Contact pick-up main body 10a, 10b Output cable 20 Housing 21 External material 21a Contact part 22 Space 22a Space 30 Fixing member 40 Adhesive sheet 50 Motion detection part 60 Pattern memory | storage part 61 Food identification part

Claims (5)

A contact pick-up system that picks up vibrations transmitted through the body tissue by contacting the human body
A contact pickup body that picks up vibrations and converts them into electrical signals;
A contact pickup system comprising: a member that holds the contact pickup main body and that forms at least a part of an outer surface; and a housing in which a space is provided between the contact pickup main body.   The contact pickup system according to claim 1, wherein the space is a sealed space cut off from outside air. The contact pickup system further includes:
The contact pickup system according to claim 1, further comprising an adhesive sheet having adhesiveness to a human body on an outside air side of a member forming a part of the outer surface. The contact pickup system further includes:
The contact according to claim 1, further comprising an operation detection unit that receives an electrical signal from the contact pickup body and detects a chewing operation and a swallowing operation based on the strength and vibration pattern of the electrical signal. Pickup system. The contact pickup system further includes:
A storage unit for storing a vibration pattern of a chewing action for each food;
A food identifying unit that receives an electrical signal from the contact pickup body, compares a vibration pattern of the electrical signal with a vibration pattern of a chewing operation for each food stored in the storage unit, and identifies a eaten food. Item 5. The contact pickup system according to any one of Items 1 to 4.

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