JP2020124497A - Urinary excretion management device, urinary excretion management method, program, and storage medium - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide a new system capable of more accurately estimating an amount of urinary excretion.SOLUTION: A urinary excretion management device includes: a temperature spatial distribution acquisition unit for acquiring spatial distribution information on temperatures in a space in a toilet bowl; a correction temperature information acquisition unit for acquiring at least one of an environmental temperature in an arrangement environment of the toilet bowl and a urinary excretion temperature; and a urinary excretion amount estimation unit that, on the basis of the spatial distribution information on temperatures, calculates a temporary urinary excretion amount and corrects the temporary urinary excretion amount on the basis of at least one of the environmental temperature and the urinary excretion temperature using at least one of an environmental temperature correction coefficient and a urinary excretion temperature correction coefficient to estimate, as an estimation urinary excretion amount, a correction urinary excretion amount. The environmental temperature correction coefficient is a coefficient that is set for each environmental temperature and represents a correlation between temporary urinary excretion amounts and actual urinary excretion amounts. The urinary excretion temperature correction coefficient is a coefficient that is set for each urinary excretion temperature and represents a correlation between temporary urinary excretion amounts and actual urinary excretion amounts.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

The present invention relates to a urination management device, a urination management method, a program, and a recording medium.

Urinary disorders in the elderly and dementia patients are major problems that affect QoL (Quality of Life). In diagnosing and treating a patient having such a urinary disorder, medical institutions generally measure urinary information such as the amount of urine discharged each time and the urine flow rate which is the output of urine. .. However, the measurement in the examination room or the like cannot be performed well because the patient is nervous, and the result may be worse than usual. Therefore, it is desired to easily measure urination information and acquire reliable data in a private environment.

Therefore, a device that manages urine output using physiological monitoring has been proposed (Non-Patent Document 1). Specifically, a sensor (load cell) that detects force is arranged in the toilet seat, and the weight of a person sitting on the toilet seat is measured in time series, so that the urine output is automatically calculated. However, the weight of the discharged urine to be calculated is on the order of several tens to several hundreds of g with respect to the weight of a person on the order of several tens of Kg, and the measurement accuracy becomes a problem. In addition, a high-precision load cell is required, which is costly.

K. Yamakoshi, Unconstrained physiological monitoring in daily living for health care, Frontiers Med. Biol. Eng., 2000, 10, 239-259.

In response to this problem, a system has been proposed which newly arranges a temperature sensor on the toilet seat and measures the urine output based on the temperature information. According to such a system, an inexpensive temperature sensor can be used and the cost can be reduced. However, from the viewpoint of use for medical treatment and diagnosis in medical institutions, it is required to provide a system capable of measuring the urine output with higher accuracy.

Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a new system capable of measuring urine output with higher accuracy.

In order to achieve the above object, the urination management device of the present invention,
Including a temperature space distribution acquisition unit, a correction temperature information acquisition unit, and a urination amount estimation unit,
The temperature space distribution acquisition unit,
The correction temperature information acquisition unit for acquiring the spatial distribution information of the temperature in the space inside the toilet,
Obtaining at least one of the ambient temperature and the urination temperature in the toilet environment,
The urine volume estimation unit,
Based on the spatial distribution information of the temperature, to calculate the temporary urine output,
Based on at least one of the environmental temperature and the urination temperature, the provisional urination amount is corrected by at least one of the correction coefficient of the environmental temperature and the correction coefficient of the urination temperature to estimate the corrected urination amount as the estimated urination amount. ,
The environmental temperature correction coefficient, which is set for each environmental temperature, is a coefficient indicating the correlation between the temporary urine output and the actual urine output,
The correction coefficient of the urination temperature is a coefficient that is set for each urination temperature and indicates a correlation between the temporary urination amount and the actual urination amount.

The urination management method of the present invention is
Including a temperature space distribution acquisition step, a correction temperature information acquisition step, and a urination amount estimation step,
The temperature space distribution acquisition step,
Acquires the spatial distribution information of the temperature in the space inside the toilet bowl,
The correction temperature information acquisition step,
Obtaining at least one of the ambient temperature and the urination temperature in the toilet environment,
The urine volume estimation step,
Based on the spatial distribution information of the temperature, to calculate the temporary urine output,
Based on at least one of the environmental temperature and the urination temperature, the provisional urination amount is corrected by at least one of the correction coefficient of the environmental temperature and the correction coefficient of the urination temperature to estimate the corrected urination amount as the estimated urination amount. ,
The environmental temperature correction coefficient, which is set for each environmental temperature, is a coefficient indicating the correlation between the temporary urine output and the actual urine output,
It is characterized in that the correction coefficient of the urination temperature is a coefficient which is set for each urination temperature and which indicates a correlation between the temporary urination amount and the actual urination amount.

The program of the present invention causes a computer to execute the urination management method of the present invention.

The recording medium of the present invention is a computer-readable recording medium in which the program of the present invention is recorded.

The toilet bowl of the present invention is characterized by comprising a toilet body and the urination management device of the present invention. Further, the toilet seat of the present invention is characterized by including a toilet seat body and the urination management device of the present invention.

According to the present invention, a more accurate urination amount is measured by correcting using a coefficient that is set for each environmental temperature or for each urination temperature and that indicates the correlation between the temporary urination amount and the actual urination amount. be able to. Therefore, according to the present invention, it is possible to manage urination with higher accuracy and to effectively use the information for diagnosing or treating a patient with urination disorder, for example.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of a toilet bowl including the temperature sensor according to the first embodiment. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an example of the urination management device of the first embodiment. FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing an example of the hardware configuration of the urination management device of the first embodiment. FIG. 4(A) is an outline of a two-dimensional plane that exemplifies temperature images of urine before urination and during urination, and FIG. 4(B) is a three-dimensional solid of urination assumed from the two-dimensional plane. It is an overview. FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing an example of the urination management device of the second embodiment. FIG. 6 is a graph showing an example of the temperature measured by each channel of each space temperature sensor. FIG. 7 is a graph showing an example of a temperature change waveform based on the result of the space temperature sensor. FIG. 8: is a graph which shows an example of the waveform of a temperature change based on the result of a space temperature sensor. FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing an example of the urination management method according to the second embodiment. FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram showing addition of simulated urine to a toilet bowl equipped with the temperature sensor in Example 1. FIG. 11 is a graph showing the temperature measured by each channel of each temperature sensor in Example 1(1). FIG. 12 is a graph showing the relationship between the room temperature change and the estimated urine output in Example 1(1). FIG. 13 is a graph showing the relationship between the simulated urine temperature and the estimated urine output in Example 1(2). FIG. 14 is a graph showing the temperature measured by each channel of each temperature sensor when the subject urinates in Example 1 (3). FIG. 15 is a graph showing the relationship between the estimated amount of urination and the body weight difference before and after urination in Example 1(3). FIG. 16 is a graph showing the relationship between the estimated urination amount and the body weight difference before and after urination for the total number of urinations in Example 1(2). FIG. 17 is a graph showing the temperature measured by each channel of the space temperature sensor in the second embodiment.

In the present invention, "urinary volume" means the voided volume of urine by one urination, and "urine flow rate" means the urinary flow rate. In the present invention, the “environmental temperature” is the temperature of the environment in which the toilet bowl is placed, for example, the temperature of the toilet in which the toilet bowl is placed, the temperature of the atmospheric space inside the toilet bowl, or both room temperature. Say. In the present invention, the "urination temperature" is a direct or indirect temperature of urination. The direct temperature is a temperature at which urination is directly measured, and is, for example, a temperature measured by directly contacting a urine with a thermometer. The indirect temperature is a temperature at which urination is indirectly measured. For example, the temperature of urination corresponds to the body temperature, and thus is the temperature at which the body temperature is measured. In the present invention, the "subject" is a person whose urination is managed by the urination management device of the present invention, for example, healthy persons, cared persons, patients and the like, as a specific example, dementia elderly Etc. In the present invention, the “user” is, for example, a person who manages urination of the target person by the urination management device of the present invention, and the target person himself/herself, a caregiver or a care facility, a medical person (doctor, nurse). Etc.) or medical institutions such as hospitals, companies, health insurance associations, public health centers, and regional comprehensive support centers.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. The present invention is not limited to the embodiments below. In each of the following drawings, the same parts are designated by the same reference numerals. Further, the description of each embodiment can be referred to each other unless otherwise specified, and the configurations of each embodiment can be combined unless otherwise specified.

[Embodiment 1]
(1) Toilet bowl First, in describing the urination management device of the present invention, a toilet bowl used to acquire temperature information will be described. The urination management device of the present invention may be, for example, a device separate from a toilet bowl or a toilet in which the toilet bowl is installed, or a device attachable to the toilet bowl or incorporated in the toilet bowl when used. .. In the former case, for example, the toilet bowl acquires various information regarding temperature and transmits the information to the urination management apparatus by wire or wirelessly, and the urination management apparatus acquires the information from the toilet bowl and urinates. An estimate of the quantity can be made. In the latter case, the toilet bowl including the urination management device of the present invention can acquire the various information and estimate the urination volume. In the latter case, the urination management device may be installed, for example, in the toilet seat of the toilet bowl, or in an elevated toilet seat for adjusting the height of the seat surface of the toilet seat, and in the toilet bowl the elevated toilet seat. May be installed in the toilet bowl, or it may be installed in a urine collector that is used by being sandwiched between the toilet bowl and the toilet seat, and the urine collector is installed between the toilet bowl and the toilet seat. May be installed in. Specific examples of the urine collecting device include Yuripan (trade name) and urine collecting hat (trade name).

FIG. 1 shows an example of a toilet bowl. In FIG. 1, (A) is a plan view of the toilet bowl 1 seen from above, (B) is a side sectional view of the toilet bowl 1 of (A), and (C) is attached to the toilet bowl 1. It is a top view of the lower surface (back surface) of the supplementary toilet seat 14, and (D) is a schematic diagram of space temperature sensor 13. The toilet bowl 1 includes a toilet body 10, a toilet seat portion 12, and an elevated toilet seat 14. In FIG. 1, X is the front-back direction of the toilet bowl 1, Y is the left-right direction, and Z is the up-down direction (height direction).

In FIG. 1, the toilet body 10 is a Western-style toilet body. The toilet body 10 has a bowl 11 having an open top for receiving excrement, and further has a drainage channel (not shown) that connects the bottom of the bowl 11 and an external drainage pipe. The toilet body 10 has a toilet seat 12 at the upper edge of the bowl 11, and the toilet seat 12 is connected so that it can be raised and lowered. In addition, the toilet body 10 has a supplemental height toilet seat 14 for adjusting the height of the seat surface of the toilet seat portion 12 under the toilet seat portion 12, and the supplemental height toilet seat 14 is a space temperature sensor as described later. 13 and the like. In the present embodiment, the toilet body 10 is illustrated as a Western style, but may be a Japanese style.

As shown in FIG. 1C, the elevated toilet seat 14 arranged under the toilet seat 12 has, for example, four space temperature sensors 13 (ID=0, 1, 2, 3) on the back surface thereof. Has been done. Specifically, the four space temperature sensors 13 are installed in front of the elevated toilet seat 14 so as to sense the inside of the bowl 11 from the front of the elevated toilet seat 14. The type of the space temperature sensor 13 is not particularly limited as long as the spatial distribution information of the temperature in the space inside the bowl portion 11 can be acquired, and examples thereof include a non-contact temperature sensor, and a specific example is a non-contact matrix temperature sensor. Can be given. According to the non-contact temperature sensor, for example, the spatial distribution of the temperature inside the bowl 11 can be measured in a non-contact manner. An example of the non-contact temperature sensor is a thermo camera. In the present invention, the spatial distribution information of the temperature over time is used for calculating the temporary urine output. In the present invention, the spatial temperature distribution information is preferably spatial temperature spatial distribution information, for example, in order to obtain a temperature change. The temporal spatial distribution information of temperature may be, for example, continuous information or discontinuous (intermittent) information along the time axis, and in the latter case, for example, in a constant cycle. The information may be obtained information, information obtained at an indefinite cycle, or information obtained by designating the time from the start of information acquisition. The use of the spatial temperature distribution information over time will be described below as an example, but the present invention is not limited to this.

The installation position of the space temperature sensor 13 is not particularly limited, and may be the elevated toilet seat 14 as shown in FIG. 1, or is not limited thereto, and the toilet seat portion 12 and the toilet body 10 below the toilet seat portion 12 are not limited thereto. It may be a space, the toilet body 10 under the toilet seat 12, the toilet seat 12 or the like. In particular, as shown in FIG. 1C, if the space temperature sensor 13 is installed in front of the toilet body 10 and the toilet seat 12 by the elevated toilet seat 14, for example, the space temperature sensor 13 The distance between urine and urine becomes shorter, the accuracy of measuring the spatial distribution information of the temperature affected by urination can be further improved, and mounting and maintenance are easy.

The number of the space temperature sensors 13 is not particularly limited and can be appropriately set according to the purpose of use of the urination management device of the present invention, and may be one or two or more, and preferably a plurality. Specifically, for example, from the viewpoint of further improving the estimation accuracy of the urination amount, the number of the space temperature sensors 13 can be set relatively large, and for example, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, or 8 can be set. Can be set to individual. When a plurality of space temperature sensors 13 are installed, they can be installed in, for example, the front part, the rear part, and the side part. By installing the plurality of space temperature sensors 13, for example, the range in which the thermal energy radiated from urination is acquired is widened, and the estimation accuracy of the urination amount described later can be further improved. On the other hand, from the viewpoints of cost and installation property improvement in the toilet 1, the number of the space temperature sensors 13 can be set relatively small, for example, one. When only one space temperature sensor 13 is installed, its installation place is not particularly limited as long as it is installed in a place where the spatial distribution information of the temperature in the space inside the bowl portion 11 can be acquired. It may be installed at any of the back, the rear, and the side, or may be installed at a place other than this, but it is preferably installed at the front.

The space temperature sensor 13 is, for example, the non-contact matrix temperature sensor having m rows×n columns of thermopile elements. With this space temperature sensor 13, the temperature of each inspection surface 18 divided into a matrix of m rows in the X direction and n columns in the Y direction in the space inside the bowl 11 can be measured without contact. The space temperature sensor 13 illustrated in FIG. 1(D) has thermopile elements of 4 rows×4 columns, and can measure the temperature of a total of 16 inspection surfaces 18, and the inspection surface 18 is shown in FIG. 1(D). As shown, 16 channel numbers ch from 0 to 15 are allocated.

The toilet bowl 1 further includes, for example, an amplification unit that amplifies the output of the space temperature sensor 13, and an A/D conversion unit that converts the output into digital data, and the information measured by the space temperature sensor 13 is converted into digital data. May be output as. The toilet bowl 1 may include, for example, a wired or wireless communication unit for communicating information measured by the space temperature sensor 13. The information acquired by the space temperature sensor 13 is output to an external device by wire or wirelessly via the communication unit and displayed on the display unit of the external device or stored in the storage unit of the external device, for example. May be. Examples of the external device include a PC, a smartphone, and a tablet. In FIG. 1C, reference numeral 16 in the elevated toilet seat 14 is a processor, for example, a CPU such as Raspberry Pi, and reference numeral 17 is a multiplexer (Multiplexer) for inputting and outputting signals. The information obtained by the space temperature sensor 13 is input, for example, as a signal to the multiplexing device 17, and the signal is output from the multiplexing device 17 to the processor 16, and the processor 16 processes the information as described later. Be seen. The processor 16 in FIG. 1C corresponds to, for example, the CPU 30 in FIG. 3 described later.

Since the toilet bowl 1 is provided with the space temperature sensor 13 as described above, the space temperature sensor 13 can measure the spatial distribution of the temperature in the bowl portion 11 in time series (temporarily). That is, when urine is discharged into the bowl 11, for example, the temperature inside the bowl 11 changes due to urination, so the temperature changes on the inspection surface 18 that picks up the passage of urine by the space temperature sensor 13.

(2) Urination Management Device Next, an example of the urination management device and urination management method of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an example of the urination management device of this embodiment. The urination management device 2 includes a temperature space distribution acquisition unit 20, a correction temperature information acquisition unit 21, and a urination amount estimation unit 22. The urination management device 2 may further include, for example, a storage unit 23, and the storage unit 23 stores an environmental temperature correction coefficient 231 and a urination temperature correction coefficient 232. The urination management device 2 of this embodiment may be incorporated in a server as a system. Further, the urination management device 2 of this embodiment may be a personal computer (PC) in which the program of the present invention is installed. The urination management device 2 may be, for example, one device including the above-mentioned units, or a device in which the above-mentioned units are connectable via a communication line network, for example, a server or a user terminal via the communication line network. It may be connectable with other devices, and is also called a urination management system. Although not shown, the urination management device 2 of this embodiment may be connectable to an external terminal of a system administrator, for example, via a communication network. The system administrator may manage the urination management device 2 from the external terminal. In the urination management device 2, for example, the processing of each unit may be performed on the cloud.

The communication network is not particularly limited, and a known communication network can be used, and it may be wired or wireless. Examples of the communication line network include an internet line, a telephone line, a LAN (Local Area Network), a WiFi (Wireless Fidelity), a Bluetooth (registered trademark), and an LPWA (Low Power Wide Area). In the urination management device 2, for example, the processing of each unit may be performed on the cloud.

The temperature space distribution acquisition unit 20 acquires time spatial temperature space distribution information in the space inside the toilet bowl 1. The temperature space distribution acquisition unit 20 may be, for example, a space temperature sensor or a communication unit that acquires information from the space temperature sensor wirelessly or by wire. In the former case, for example, the space temperature sensor 13 installed in the toilet 1 described above may be used, and a specific example is a form in which the urine management device 2 is installed in the toilet 1. In the latter case, for example, a communication unit that acquires information from the space temperature sensor 13 installed in the toilet 1 wirelessly or by wire may be used. As a specific example, the space temperature sensor 13 and the urination management device 2 may be connected via a communication line. It is a form of connection through a network.

The form of the temperature spatial distribution information is not particularly limited, and examples thereof include a temporal temperature image of the space inside the toilet bowl 1. From the temperature image, for example, by extracting a urine flow temperature image showing the area of the urine flow rate of urination, the spatial distribution information of temperature over time can be obtained. The temperature image can be acquired by, for example, a space temperature sensor (for example, the space temperature sensor 13 in FIG. 1) such as the non-contact matrix temperature sensor as described above.

The correction temperature information acquisition unit 21 acquires the environmental temperature and the urine temperature. Here, the environment temperature is the temperature of the environment in which the toilet bowl is placed, that is, the room temperature, as described above, and may be the temperature of the toilet in which the toilet bowl is placed, or the atmospheric space in the toilet bowl 1, for example. May be the temperature. The urination temperature is the direct or indirect temperature of urination as described above. The direct temperature is, for example, the temperature measured by directly contacting the urine with a thermometer, and the indirect temperature is, for example, the body temperature.

The correction temperature information acquisition unit 21 may be, for example, a temperature sensor, or may be a communication unit that acquires information from the temperature sensor wirelessly or by wire. In the former case, the temperature sensor may be arranged in the elevated toilet seat 14 separately from the space temperature sensor 13, for example. In the latter case, for example, the temperature sensor is arranged in the toilet 1 or toilet, and the temperature sensor and the urination management device 2 are connected via a communication network, and the information from the temperature sensor is It may be acquired by the communication unit. The ambient temperature and the urination temperature may be measured by, for example, a single temperature sensor or may be measured by separate temperature sensors. The temperature sensor is, for example, a thermometer. Hereinafter, the temperature sensor for acquiring the correction temperature information will be referred to as a correction temperature sensor hereinafter.

The installation site of the correction temperature sensor is not particularly limited as long as it can measure the environmental temperature and the urine temperature. The correction temperature sensor for urination temperature may be arranged, for example, in the toilet bowl 1 at a position where its sensor portion is in direct contact with urination. It may be arranged. Further, since the urination temperature corresponds to, for example, the body temperature of the subject, it may be at a position where the temperature of the thigh in contact with the toilet seat 12 can be measured, for example. In addition, in the present embodiment, for example, the body temperature of the subject may be measured by the correction temperature sensor (for example, a thermometer) and may be acquired from the correction temperature sensor by wire or wirelessly. The body temperature measurement site is not particularly limited, and may be, for example, armpit temperature, sublingual temperature, eardrum temperature, frontal temperature, or the like.

The urination amount estimation unit 22 includes, for example, a temporary urination amount calculation unit 221 and a correction unit 222. Temporary urinary volume calculation unit 221, based on the spatial distribution information of the temperature, calculates the temporary urine volume, the correction unit 222, the temporary urine volume, based on at least one of the environmental temperature and the urine temperature, The correction is performed by at least one of the correction coefficient of the environmental temperature and the correction coefficient of the urination temperature. Thus, the obtained corrected urine output can be estimated as the estimated urine output.

When the present inventors calculated the urination amount (temporary urination amount in the present invention) from the spatial distribution information of the temperature in the space in the toilet bowl, the calculated temporary urination amount (also referred to as the calculated urination amount) is actually calculated. It was found that there may be a difference between the urine output and the actual urine output. As a result of earnest research, it was found that the deviation was influenced by the environmental temperature (that is, room temperature) in the environment where the toilet bowl is placed and the temperature of urine discharged. Therefore, the temporary urinary volume is calculated based on the spatial distribution information of the temperature, and further, based on the temperature condition during the urination (at least one of the environmental temperature and the urination temperature), the environmental temperature during the urination is determined. By using at least one of the correction coefficient according to the urination temperature and the correction coefficient according to the urination temperature, it is possible to estimate the corrected urination amount as a more accurate estimated urination amount by correcting the temporary urination amount. It became possible. The correction coefficient of the environmental temperature and the correction coefficient of the urination temperature are, for example, using urine or pseudo urine (for example, water) as a sample, a measured value of the urination amount, and a calculated value based on spatial distribution information of temperature over time. (Temporary urine output). Specifically, the correction coefficient can be obtained by changing the amount of the sample, the temperature of the sample, and the environmental temperature, and comparing the actual measurement value and the calculated value (temporary urination amount) of the urination amount.

The method for calculating the urinary volume (temporary urinary volume in the present invention) based on the spatial information of the temperature is not particularly limited, and for example, the method of Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2015-178768 can be referred to.

The spatial information of the temperature over time may be, for example, a temperature image. The temperature image is, for example, an image showing a temperature difference, and the temperature of the target portion can be calculated from the temperature difference with respect to the background temperature, for example. The temperature space distribution acquisition unit 20 acquires, for example, a time-dependent temperature image of the space inside the toilet bowl 1, and uses a urine flow temperature image showing the area of the urine flow rate of urination as the temperature distribution information from the temperature image. ,Extract. Then, the temporary urinary urination amount calculation unit 221 may, for example, based on the total pixel value of the urine flow temperature image indicating the area of the urine flow rate and the length of time when the urine flow temperature image is obtained. The amount is calculated, and the correction unit 222 corrects the temporary urine output, for example, based on at least one of the environmental temperature and the urination temperature, by at least one of the environmental temperature correction coefficient and the urination temperature correction coefficient. Thus, the estimated urine output can be estimated.

The principle of calculating the amount of urine (temporary urine output in the present invention) from the urine flow rate will be described below, but the present invention is not limited to this. For the principle, refer to the illustration in FIG. FIG. 4A is an outline of a two-dimensional plane that illustrates temperature images of urine before and during urination in 16 channels of the inspection surface 18 illustrated in FIG. 1D. B) is a three-dimensional outline of urination that is assumed from the two-dimensional plane. By photographing the urine flow of urine discharged to the bowl portion 11 of the toilet bowl 1 with the space temperature sensor 13 such as the thermo camera, for example, a temperature image showing the temperature difference between before urination and during urination can be obtained. Specifically, a two-dimensional temperature image of only the urine flow rate is obtained for urine that shows a temperature difference with respect to the background temperature, as exemplified by the droplet in FIG. Assuming that the urine flow rate is a cylinder, the faster the urine flow rate is, the thicker the cylinder is in the case of natural urination. Here, if the urination temperature is constant and the distance from the urine discharged to the space temperature sensor 13 is constant, each pixel value (that is, corresponding to the measured temperature) of only the urine flow in the temperature image is determined. The total is a value that reflects the thickness (area A) of the urine flow. That is, as shown in FIG. 4A, the horizontal arrow indicates the width (diameter 2r[m]) of the urine stream, and the vertical arrow indicates the length (height h[m]) of the urine stream. ), the area (2rh [m ² ]) obtained by multiplying the diameter 2r and the height h is considered to be equivalent to the surface temperature A [° C.] of the urine flow rate. Then, as shown in FIG. 4B, the volume (m ³ ) of the three-dimensional cylinder can be calculated by raising the area (m ² ) to the power of 3/2.

More specific examples will be given. In order to detect only the temperature from the urine flow surface, it is preferable to perform background subtraction, for example, in order to remove the influence of the background temperature. Specifically, for example, first, as shown in the following formula (1), the temperature difference A(t) between before urination and during urination, that is, the surface temperature of the urine flow is obtained. In the following formula (1), ch represents the channel number of the space temperature sensor 13.

Then, the difference A(t) between the measured temperature Temp(t0) [°C] before urination and the measured temperature Temp(t) [°C] at time t[s] including during urination is expressed by the following formula (2). As shown, it is raised to the power of 3/2 to obtain S(t) proportional to the amount of urine discharged at each time, that is, the temperature difference A raised to the power of 3/2 [° C. ^3/2 ]. In the following equation (2), ID represents the identifier of the space temperature sensor 13, ch represents the channel number of the space temperature sensor 13, and s represents seconds (sec).

Next, for the urine flow rate Q(t) [ml/s], for example, S(t) per unit time is multiplied by a conversion coefficient a [ml/°C ^3/2 ] as shown in the following formula (3). Then, it can be calculated. In Expression (3) below, Δt [s] represents the sampling period of the space temperature sensor 13.

Further, as shown in the following formula (4), the urine volume V [ml] can be calculated by integrating Q(t) over time. This urine volume V corresponds to the provisional urine volume in the present invention.

Then, the calculated urine volume (temporary urinary volume) V [ml] is corrected by using the correction coefficient as described above to calculate the corrected urine volume [ml], which is estimated as the estimated urine volume. it can.

The urination management device 2 can be connected to, for example, an external device, and as a specific example, can be connected via a communication network. Examples of the external device include a database in which various data such as the correction coefficient are stored, a server, a terminal, a temperature sensor (the space temperature sensor, the correction temperature sensor), a printer, and the like. The terminal is, for example, a PC, a tablet, a smartphone, or the like. The communication network is, for example, the same as that described above.

The information obtained by the urination management device 2 (for example, the estimated urination amount or the like) may be output by the output unit, for example. The output format is not particularly limited, and for example, when a display unit is included as the output unit, the output may be output to the display unit, or when a communication device (the communication unit) is included as the output unit, the communication is performed. It may be output to the connected external device via a device.

Next, FIG. 3 illustrates a block diagram of a hardware configuration of the urination management device 2. The urination management device 2 has, for example, a CPU (central processing unit) 30, a memory 31, a bus 32, and a storage device 36 as an example of a processor. The urination management device 2 may further include, for example, a space temperature sensor 13 that acquires the spatial distribution information of the temperature over time, and the correction temperature sensor that acquires the environmental temperature for correction and the urination temperature may be provided. You may prepare. The urination management device 2 may also include an input device 33 for inputting various information, a communication device 35 for the external device, a display 34 that is the display unit, and the like. The respective units of the urination management device 2 are mutually connected via a bus 32 by respective interfaces (I/F).

The CPU 30 cooperates with other configurations by, for example, a controller (system controller, I/O controller, or the like) and controls the entire urine management device 2. In the urination management device 2, the CPU 30 executes, for example, the program of the present invention or other programs, and also reads or writes various information. Specifically, for example, the CPU 30 functions as the temperature space distribution acquisition unit 20, the correction temperature information acquisition unit 21, and the urination amount estimation unit 22. The urination management device 2 includes a CPU as an arithmetic device, but may include other arithmetic devices such as a GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) and an APU (Accelerated Processing Unit), or a CPU and a combination thereof. Good. The CPU 30 functions as, for example, each unit other than the storage unit in the embodiments described later.

The urination management device 2 can be connected to a communication line network by, for example, a communication device 35 connected to the bus 32, and can also be connected to an external device via the communication line network. The external device is not particularly limited and is as described above, for example. The connection method between the urination management device 2 and the external device is not particularly limited, and may be, for example, a wired connection or a wireless connection. The wired connection may be, for example, a cord connection or a cable connection for using a communication network. The wireless connection may be, for example, a connection using a communication network or a connection using wireless communication. The communication line network is not particularly limited and, for example, a known communication line network can be used and is the same as described above. The connection form between the urination management device 2 and the external device may be, for example, USB.

The memory 31 includes, for example, a main memory, and the main memory is also referred to as a main storage device. When the CPU 30 performs processing, for example, the memory 31 reads various programs 37 such as the program of the present invention stored in an auxiliary storage device described later, and the CPU 30 receives data from the memory 31, The program 37 is executed. The main memory is, for example, a RAM (random access memory). The memory 31 further includes, for example, a ROM (read-only memory).

The storage device 36 is also called a so-called auxiliary storage device with respect to the main memory (main storage device), for example. The storage device 36 includes, for example, a storage medium and a drive that reads and writes the storage medium. The storage medium is not particularly limited and may be, for example, a built-in type or an external type, HD (hard disk), FD (floppy (registered trademark) disk), CD-ROM, CD-R, CD-RW, MO, Examples thereof include DVD, flash memory, and memory card, and the drive is not particularly limited. The storage device 36 may be, for example, a hard disk drive (HDD) in which a storage medium and a drive are integrated. For example, the program 37 is stored in the storage device 36 as described above, and the memory 31 reads the program 37 from the storage device 36 when the CPU 30 is executed as described above. The storage device 36 is, for example, the storage unit 23, and stores the above-described environmental temperature correction coefficient 231 and urine temperature correction coefficient 232.

The input device 33 is, for example, an image pickup unit such as a camera or a scanner; a touch panel, a trackpad, a pointing device such as a mouse, a keyboard; a card reader such as an IC card reader or a magnetic card reader; a voice input unit such as a microphone; To be Examples of the display 34 include a display device such as an LED display and a liquid crystal display. In the present embodiment, the input device 33 and the display 34 are separately configured, but the input device 33 and the display 34 may be integrally configured like a touch panel display.

In the urination management device 2, the memory 31 and the storage device 36 can also store access information and log information from a user, and information acquired from an external database (not shown).

Next, the urination management method of this embodiment will be described. The urination management method of the present embodiment can be implemented using, for example, the toilet bowl 1 of FIG. 1 and the urination management device 2 shown in FIGS. 2 and 3. The urination management method of this embodiment is not limited to the use of the toilet bowl 1 and the urination management device 2 shown in these drawings.

As described above, the urination management method of the present invention includes the temperature space distribution acquisition step, the temperature information acquisition step, and the urination amount estimation step.

The temperature space distribution acquisition step is a step of acquiring the time spatial temperature space distribution information in the space inside the toilet 1, and can be executed by the temperature space distribution acquisition unit 20 of the urination management device 2.

The correction temperature information acquisition step is a step of acquiring at least one of the environmental temperature and the urination temperature in the environment in which the toilet 1 is arranged, and can be executed by the correction temperature information acquisition unit 21 of the urination management device 2.

The urination amount estimation step, based on the spatial distribution information of the temperature, calculates the temporary urination amount, the temporary urination amount, based on at least one of the environmental temperature and the urination temperature, a correction coefficient of the environmental temperature and This is a step of estimating the corrected urine output as the estimated urine output by correcting at least one of the urination temperature correction coefficients. The calculation of the temporary urine output can be executed by the temporary urine output calculating unit 221 in the urine output estimating unit 22 of the urination management device 2, and the correction of the temporary urinary output can be performed by the correction unit in the urine output estimating unit 22 of the urination management device 2. 222.

When the correction is performed using the correction coefficient of the environmental temperature, the correction coefficient for the environmental temperature acquired in the correction temperature information acquisition step may be selected and the correction may be performed. When the correction is performed using the correction coefficient for the urination temperature, the correction coefficient for the urination temperature acquired in the correction temperature information acquisition step may be selected and the correction may be performed.

[Embodiment 2]
With regard to the urination management device and urination management method of the present invention, an example of a mode of estimating the behavior of the subject will be described. Unless otherwise indicated, the urination management device and urination management method of this embodiment are the same as those of the first embodiment.

FIG. 5: is a block diagram which shows an example of the urination management apparatus of this embodiment. The urination management device 2 is the same as that of the first embodiment, except that the behavior estimation unit 24 is further included, and the storage unit 23 further stores the estimation information 233, for example.

The behavior estimation unit 24 estimates the behavior of the target person from the temperature change based on the temporal spatial distribution information of the temperature and the estimation information 233. The estimated information 233 is, for example, temperature change information associated with an action. The estimated information 233 can be set, for example, by comparing a temperature change based on the temporal spatial distribution information of the temperature with an actual action and linking the temperature change and the action.

The urination management method of the present embodiment further includes, for example, a behavior estimation step, and the behavior estimation unit changes the temperature of the subject based on the spatial distribution information of the temperature over time, and the estimation information to determine the behavior of the subject. It is a process of guessing. This process can be executed by the behavior estimation unit 24 of the urination management device 2, for example.

Next, as an example of the estimation information 233, the relationship between the temperature change based on the temporal spatial distribution information of the temperature and the behavior of the target person will be described with reference to the drawings. Hereinafter, as shown in FIG. 1, the use of the toilet 1 including the urination management device 2 including the four space temperature sensors 13 will be described as an example, but the present invention is not limited thereto. A human presence sensor such as a distance sensor is arranged in advance in the toilet bowl 1 or a toilet in which the toilet bowl 1 is installed, and the human presence sensor detects the presence of a person or the sitting of the person. The measurement is started (time T=0).

FIG. 6 is a graph showing the temperature over time of each of the 16 channels (ch0-15) of the four space temperature sensors 13 (ID=0, 1, 2, 3). The horizontal axis represents time (s), and the vertical axis represents temperature (°C). Specifically, the temperature is a temperature calculated from the temperature difference with respect to the background temperature in the temperature image obtained by the space temperature sensor 13. For the sake of convenience, FIG. 6 also shows lines indicating the time points at which the subject sits down, starts urinating, stands up, starts running water, and ends running water.

FIG. 7 is a graph showing changes over time in temperature (° C.) based on the results of the four space temperature sensors 13 (ID=0, 1, 2, 3) shown in FIG. The horizontal axis represents time, and the vertical axis represents temperature (°C).

The curve X1 (solid line) in FIG. 7A will be described. A curve X1 is obtained by extracting temperatures of four typical channels from 16 channels for each of the four space temperature sensors 13 and plotting an average value a (4ID×4ch) in a frame calculated based on the extracted temperatures. It is a curved line. Typical channels are, for example, ch8, ch9, ch10, ch11. The curve X shows the behavior of the overall temperature change with respect to the background temperature.

The curve X2 (dotted line) in FIG. 7A will be described. The curve X2 extracts the temperatures of the four channels (ch0, ch1, ch2, ch3) for each of the four space temperature sensors 13, and plots the in-frame average value a (4ID×4 ch) calculated based on the extracted temperatures. It is a curved line. As shown in FIG. 6, these four channels (ch0, ch1, ch2, and ch3) are channels whose temperature changes are easily affected by seating. Therefore, the curve X2 is, for example, seating on the toilet seat and standing up. It can be used to guess.

The curve X3 (one-dot chain line) in FIG. 7A will be described. The curve X3 extracts the temperatures of the four channels (ch12, ch13, ch14, ch15) for each of the four space temperature sensors 13, and plots the in-frame average value a (4ID×4 ch) calculated based on the extracted temperatures. It is a curved line. As shown in FIG. 6, these four channels (ch12, ch13, ch14, and ch15) are channels whose temperature changes are easily affected by running water, so that the curve X3 is, for example, the start and end of running water. Can be used to guess.

Next, the estimation of the behavior of the subject will be described using the curves X1, X2, and X3.

(1) Seating and standing up estimation FIG. 7(B) shows the curve X1 and the curve X2 in FIG. 7(A). Since the curve X2 is the temperature from the channel that is easily affected by the seating as described above, the time when the difference between the curve X2 and the curve X1 exceeds the threshold value can be estimated as the seating. The threshold value for estimating seating is not particularly limited and can be set arbitrarily, and as a specific example, it is 0.5°C to 1°C. Further, for the same reason, it is possible to presume that the time when the difference between the curve X2 and the curve X1 recovers the threshold value (time point when the threshold value is reached) after sitting, that the sitting is finished (standing). The threshold value for estimating the standing is not particularly limited and can be set arbitrarily, and is, as a specific example, 0.3 to 0.8°C.

(2) Estimation of start and end of flowing water FIG. 7C shows the curves X1 and X3 in FIG. 7A. As described above, since the curve X3 is the temperature from the channel that is easily affected by the flowing water, it can be estimated that the time when the difference between the curve X3 and the curve X1 exceeds the threshold value is the start of the flowing water. The threshold value for estimating the start of running water is not particularly limited and can be set arbitrarily, and is specifically 0.5° C. to 1° C. Further, for the same reason, it is possible to presume that the time when the difference between the curve X3 and the curve X1 has recovered the threshold value (the time point when the threshold value has been reached) after the start of the flowing water is the end of the running water. The threshold value for estimating the end of running water is not particularly limited and can be set arbitrarily, and as a specific example, it is 0.3 to 0.8°C.

(3) Start and end of urination FIG. 8 shows a curve X1 of FIG. 7A as a representative curve of temperature change for supplementary explanation.

Here, the temperatures of the eight channels (ch4, ch5, ch6, ch7, ch8, ch9, ch10, ch11) of the four space temperature sensors 13 that are less likely to be affected by heat sources other than urination are used. That is, when temperature information is obtained from these channels, the average value a of temperature per unit time (measurement interval Δt) (hereinafter, referred to as average value a within frame a) is sequentially calculated from T=0. Until urination starts, as shown in FIG. 8, the in-frame average value a continues to have substantially the same temperature. This temperature is the average temperature (Temp. Ave.) after sitting and before urination. Subsequently, when the in-frame average value a is calculated, the in-frame average value a which is 0.3° C. higher than the average temperature (Temp. Ave.) is obtained. Since this is a result of the temperature increase due to urination, [Temp. Ave. It can be inferred that the actual urination was started before the time point of +0.3 (° C.)] (time T(s)+Δt). For this reason, the time T(s)+Δt is set in the estimated information that it is the actual urination start time. Based on this estimated information, as shown in the graph of FIG. 8, the in-frame average value a is sequentially calculated, and stable [Temp. Ave. ] To [Temp. A time point T(s)+Δt at which Ave+0.3 (° C.)] shifts is searched for, and the time point T(s) one frame back from that time point can be estimated as the urination start time point. That is, the behavior of the subject with the start of urination can be estimated.

Also, after the space temperature in the toilet bowl 1 gradually rises due to urination, the temperature in the toilet bowl 1 gradually drops as the end of urination approaches. Therefore, the reference temperature for the termination of urination [Temp. Ave+0.5 (° C.)] is set as the estimated information that the second time point is the urination end time T(e). The second time point is when the temperature gradually rises due to the start of urination [Temp. Ave+0.5 (° C.)], and this is ignored, and then the temperature decreases, so that [Temp. This is because the time when Ave+0.5 (° C.)] is set as the end of urination. Based on this estimated information, as shown in the graph of FIG. 8, [Temp. The time T(e) at which Ave+0.5 (° C.)] is reached can be estimated as the urination end time. That is, it is possible to infer the behavior of the subject with the end of urination. The time is not limited to the second time point, and for example, after a predetermined time has elapsed from the urination start time T(s) (for example, 3 seconds have elapsed), [Temp. Ave+0.5 (° C.)] may be set as the estimated information that it is the urination volume time T(e).

Reference temperature for starting urination [Temp. Ave+0.3 (° C.)] and the reference temperature [Temp. Ave+0.5 (° C.)] is arbitrary, and for example, the difference from the average value (Temp.Ave) can be arbitrarily set. Since the space temperature in the toilet bowl 1 varies depending on the season, for example, it may be set according to each season. In this embodiment, in the case of Japan, the space temperature is set to 15° C. from March to May, 25° C. from June to August, and 15° C. from September to November. The temperature may be 15°C from December to February.

Thus, according to the present embodiment, for example, seating, start of running water, start of urination, and end of urination can be easily estimated. In addition, since it is possible to estimate the time of urination start and urination end in this way, using the space temperature information acquired within the time from this start to the end, calculate the temporary urination volume as described above, and correct it. The estimated urine output may be estimated.

Next, FIG. 9 shows an example of a flowchart of a urination management method using the urination management device 2, which estimates the start and end of urination as the behavior of the subject, and further calculates the estimated urination volume. Note that, with respect to temporal space temperature information obtained by the space temperature sensor 13, refer to FIGS. As the environmental temperature and the urination temperature, for example, the temperature directly measured by another correction temperature sensor is used.

First, when the distance sensor installed in the toilet bowl 1 detects the seat of the subject on the toilet seat 12 of the toilet bowl 1, the measurement by the space temperature sensor 13 is started (START).

The space temperature sensor 13 starts measuring the spatial distribution information of the temperature inside the toilet 1 (S101), and the intraframe average value a is repeatedly calculated for each frame (S102). Then, the average temperature (Temp. Ave.) is set as the temperature after sitting and before urination (S103). Then, [Temp. It is determined whether or not there is a first in-frame average value a indicating Ave+0.3 (° C.)] (S104). If not (NO), it is estimated that there is no urination (S105). If there is (YES), the time one frame back from that time is estimated as the urination start time T(s) (S106), and further, the behavior of the subject is estimated to be the urination start (S107).

Next, [Temp. Ave+0.5 (° C.)] is determined twice, and it is determined whether there is an intra-frame average value a (S108). If not (NO), urination start is estimated but urination end cannot be estimated (S109). If there is (YES), the second time is estimated to be the urination end time T(e) (S110), and the behavior of the subject is further estimated to be the urination end (S111).

On the other hand, a correction temperature sensor other than the space temperature sensor 13 measures the environmental temperature of the toilet 1 or the toilet (S201) or the urine temperature (S301). A correction coefficient for the environmental temperature can be selected based on the environmental temperature measured in these steps, and a correction coefficient for the urination temperature can be selected based on the urination temperature.

Then, based on the urination start time T(s) and the urination end time T(e), which are the estimation results of the steps (S106) and (S110), from the temperature spatial distribution information acquired during this period, The amount of urination is calculated (S112). Further, the temporary urine output is corrected by the correction coefficient in the environmental temperature measured in the step (S201) and/or the correction coefficient in the urination temperature measured in the step (S301) (S113). Then, the obtained corrected urine output is estimated as the estimated urine output (S114).

Then, the estimated urine output is output based on the estimation result obtained in each step and the estimation result that cannot be estimated (S115), and the process ends (END).

[Third Embodiment]
The toilet bowl of the present invention, the elevated toilet seat of the present invention, and the toilet seat of the present invention may each be equipped with the urination management device of the present invention, and the exemplification of each of the embodiments can be applied.

[Embodiment 4]
The program of the present embodiment is a program capable of executing the urination management method of the present invention on a computer. Alternatively, the program of this embodiment may be recorded in a computer-readable recording medium, for example. The recording medium is, for example, a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium. The recording medium is not particularly limited, and examples thereof include the storage medium described above.

[Example 1]
According to the present invention, as described above, by correcting the calculated urination amount (estimated urination amount) by the correction coefficient of the environmental temperature or the correction coefficient of the urination temperature, a more accurate corrected urination amount can be calculated. .. Therefore, in the present embodiment, the effect of the environmental temperature and the urination temperature on the estimated urination amount, which is a prerequisite for this, was confirmed. Specifically, the following various evaluations were performed using the toilet bowl 1 in which the space temperature sensor 13 shown in FIG. 1 was installed.

First, the creation of the toilet bowl 1 in which the space temperature sensor 13 is installed will be described. As shown in FIG. 1(C), the space temperature sensor 13 is arranged on the elevated toilet seat 14 for adjusting the seat surface. Specifically, a commercially available supplemental toilet seat (brand name EWC441S, TOTO), four space temperature sensors 13 (brand name D6T-44L-06, OMRON Corporation), a processor 16 (brand name Raspberry Pi 3 Model B_Single, Raspberry Pi Foundation), Multiplexer 17, Distance sensor (Product name GP2Y0E03, SHARP), Power supply. The processor 16 is a program developed in the Java (registered trademark) language, and is controlled so as to calculate the urinary volume by the formulas (1) to (4). The position of each space temperature sensor 13 in the toilet bowl 1 of FIG. 1 is the coordinates (x, y, z) with the position of the frontmost and upper surface in the inner periphery of the elevated toilet seat 14 as the origin (star in FIG. 1A). Indicate. The urine drop positions of men and women were set to 60 mm and 120 mm in the x-axis direction from the origin, respectively, based on the anatomical viewpoint. The position of the space temperature sensor 13 was determined so that urination can be continuously measured at a distance of 150 mm from the origin on the x-axis. The ID=1 and ID=2 of the space temperature sensor 13 are installed at positions and angles where the center of the horizontal viewing angle coincides with the male urinary position (x=60 mm). And ID=3 were installed at the position and angle where the center of the horizontal viewing angle coincides with the female urinary position (x=120 mm). As shown in FIG. 1D, the space temperature sensor 13 has 16 channels of 4 rows×4 columns, and has a viewing angle of 44.2° in the x direction and 45.7° in the y direction. It was used.

The viewing angle of the space temperature sensor 13 is generally defined as an angle range in which 50% or more of the output is obtained with reference to the maximum output when the angle is changed. If there is a heat source outside the viewing angle, an output can be obtained although the value is smaller than that within the viewing angle. For this reason, in the present embodiment, the outer viewing angle space between ID=0 and ID=1 and the outer viewing angle space between ID=2 and ID=3 are not blind spots and are adjacent to each other. The temperature measurement was performed complementarily by summing the outputs from the space temperature sensor 13. The space temperature sensor 13 can detect a temperature range of 5 to 50° C. and transmits temperature data every 250 ms (Δt). For each space temperature sensor 13, the coordinate position of the arrangement from the origin is shown in Table 1 below. For the space temperature sensor 13, an ultrahigh molecular weight polyethylene film (No. 440, thickness 0.5 mm, white, Nitto Denko) that transmits infrared rays was used as a cover material. The elevated toilet seat 14 including the space temperature sensor 13 was installed between the toilet body 10 and the toilet seat portion 12 of a commercially available sitting toilet (sanitary ware).

(1) Evaluation of Influence of Environmental Temperature As shown in the schematic diagram of FIG. 10, the simulated urine 41 was dropped from the bottle 40 to the toilet bowl 1 in which the space temperature sensor 13 was installed. The simulated urine 41 was dropped from the origin to a position 60 mm in the x-axis direction (the position of the black dot in FIG. 1A) from the origin, and at a position 70 mm downward in the Z-axis direction from the fall position of the simulated urine 41. A temperature difference image was acquired by the space temperature sensor 13. At this time, the room temperature of the toilet was controlled to ±1.0°C with the target of predetermined temperatures (15.0°C, 20.0°C, 25.0°C, and 30.0°C). The urine output of the simulated urine 41 was 100 ml, 200 ml, and 300 ml, and the dropping conditions were the average simulated urine flow rates of 20 ml/s, 30 ml/s, and 40 ml/s.

The bottle 40 was previously installed at a position where the pseudo urine 41 in the bottle 40 before dropping did not affect the space temperature sensor 13. The average simulated urine flow rate was changed by adjusting the hole diameter at the tip of the bottle 40. The hole diameter was 5.7 mm when the average simulated urine flow rate was 20 ml/s, the hole diameter was 7.1 mm when the average simulated urine flow rate was 30 ml/s, and the hole diameter was 7.5 mm when the average simulated urine flow rate was 40 ml/s. The temperature of the simulated urine to be dropped was 37.0±0.5°C. In addition, the temperature was measured at room temperature of 37.0±1.0° C. under the conditions that the urine output of simulated urine 41 was 200 ml and the average simulated urine flow rate was 20 ml/s.

Further, the temperature difference image is acquired 9 times for each condition, and the maximum value and the minimum value are calculated from the temporary urine output of 9 times calculated by the program based on the temperature difference image obtained for each condition. Excluding this, 7 times of temporary voiding volume were used for analysis. An approximate straight line was generated from the results of all the temporary urine output at each room temperature, and the conversion coefficient a [ml/°C ^3/2 ] was calculated from the slope.

FIG. 11 shows each channel (ch0 to 15) of each space temperature sensor 13 (ID=0, 1, 2, 3) under the conditions of room temperature 20.0° C., simulated urine output 200 ml, and average simulated urine flow rate 20 ml/s. The typical example of the measurement temperature in is shown. FIG. 11 is a graph of each channel of each temperature sensor, in which the horizontal axis represents time and the vertical axis represents temperature. The layout of the graph of each channel in FIG. 11 corresponds to the layout of each channel of FIG. As a result, a temporary temperature rise due to the falling simulated urine 41 was confirmed in the central two rows of channels. Specifically, with two sensors in the anterior position, ch=1, 5, 9, and 13 with ID=1, and ch=2, 6, 10, and 14 with ID=2, temporary urine 41 A temperature rise was obtained. On the other hand, in the two sensors arranged rearward, that is, in ID=0 and ch=0, 4, 8 and ch=3, 7, 11 with ID=3, no significant temperature change was observed, but ID=0. In ch=12 of ID=3 and ch=15 of ID=3, a temporary temperature rise was recognized, and the temperature did not return to the temperature before the drop of the pseudo urine 41 even after the end time of the drop of the pseudo urine 41. It was

Next, FIG. 12 shows a graph of the relationship between room temperature change and temporary urine output, regarding the effect of room temperature change on temporary urine output. In FIG. 12, (A) shows the results of simulated urine output of 100 ml, (B) of 200 ml, and (C) of 300 ml. The horizontal axis shows room temperature and the vertical axis shows temporary urine output. As shown in FIG. 12, the temporary urine output decreased linearly with increasing room temperature, and it was confirmed that the lower the room temperature, the larger the temporary urine output (n=7). Moreover, even if the average simulated urine flow rate was changed, the change in the temporary urine output was small, and a linear relationship with a constant slope was obtained between room temperature and the temporary urine output. Under the conditions of the simulated urine output of 300 ml and the average simulated urine flow of 30 ml/s, the correlation of the approximate straight line was the worst (R ² =0.93), and the other conditions showed a better correlation. Further, in FIG. 12B, the temporary urine output (right end plot) at room temperature 37.0° C., pseudo urination temperature 37.0° C., pseudo urination volume 200 ml, and average pseudo urine flow rate 20 ml/s is room temperature. Although the simulated micturition volume was at the same temperature, it did not reach the theoretical value of zero, but the smallest value was 36.1±4.0 ml.

(2) Evaluation of influence of urination temperature Next, the influence of the change in urination temperature on the sensor part was measured by the same method as the evaluation of the influence of environmental temperature of (1) above. The temperature of the simulated urine is controlled to ±0.5°C with the target temperatures of 35.0°C, 37.0°C, 39.0°C, and 41.0°C, and the simulated urine output is 200 ml and the average simulated urine flow rate is 20 ml/ It was dropped under the condition of s. The room temperature was 20.0±1.0°C. Then, the measurement under each condition was performed 9 times, respectively, and the maximum and minimum values were excluded from the temporary urine output of 9 times calculated by the program based on each temperature measurement value, and the temporary urine output of 7 times was obtained. Was used for analysis. An approximate straight line was generated from the results of all the temporary urine output at each room temperature, and the conversion coefficient a [ml/°C ^3/2 ] was calculated from the slope.

FIG. 13 is a graph showing the relationship between the simulated urine temperature and the temporary urine output, regarding the effect of the simulated urine temperature on the temporary urine output. In FIG. 13, the horizontal axis represents the pseudo urine temperature, and the vertical axis represents the temporary urine output. Although the temporary urine output at the time of measurement at room temperature of 20.0° C. and pseudo urine temperature of 20.0° C. was the same temperature, it did not reach the theoretical value of 0, but the smallest value was 13.5±1. It showed 4 ml. Moreover, as the pseudo urine temperature increased, the temporary urine output increased linearly. The correlation coefficient of the approximate straight line at the pseudo urine temperature of 35.0 to 41.0° C. was R ² =0.98. It was confirmed that the dispersion of the temporary urine output (n=7) tends to increase as the pseudo urine temperature rises.

(3) Effect evaluation on toilet urination The effects of sitting on the toilet seat of the subject and washing water on the urine volume evaluation were confirmed.

Room temperature of toilet private room for 6 subjects 1 to 6 (healthy adult male, 22.5±0.76 years old, mean±SD) from May 8, 2018 to June 15, 2018 Was 20.0±1.0° C., the temperature was measured by the space temperature sensor 13 and the estimated urine output was calculated. When the subject urges to urinate, the subject enters a private room toilet having the toilet bowl 1 in which the space temperature sensor 13 of Example 1 is installed, lowers his underwear, and sits down on the toilet seat 12 of the toilet bowl 1 and sits down. After urinating in a posture, the excrement in the toilet bowl 1 was rinsed with water, dressed properly, and exited. Moreover, the subject measured the body weight before and after entering/leaving the toilet private room (that is, before and after urination) with an electronic scale (DP-7800PW-120: weighing 120 kg, scale 20 g, Yamato Scale). Then, the difference in body weight between before and after was recorded as a reference value of the urine output and used for comparison with the estimated urine output. The temperature measurement by the space temperature sensor 13 was started (t=0 s) when the subject approached the distance sensor installed in the toilet 1 up to 500 mm, and the temperature was measured for 180 s and recorded. The determination of the temperature at the urination start time and the urination end time was determined by the temperature changes of the channels ch=4 to 11, which are hardly affected by heat sources other than urination. Urination start time _{(t s) is, Temp ID,} temperature from ch (0) is set to 0.3 ° C. elevated time. Urination end time (t _e), the temperature was time decreased to 0.5 ℃ high state the background temperature prior to excretion. The conversion coefficient a [ml/°C ^3/2 ] was calculated from the weight difference and the estimated urine output.

FIG. 14 shows a typical example of the temperature distribution at the time of toilet urination for the subject 1 out of the 6 subjects. FIG. 14 is a graph showing the relationship between the measurement time and the temperature in each channel (ch=0 to 15) of each correction temperature sensor (ID=0, 1, 2, 3), and the horizontal axis represents the measurement time. And the vertical axis is the temperature. As shown in FIG. 14, the temperatures of ch=1, 5, 9, 13 and ch=2, 6, 10, 14 which are vertical channel arrangements increase by 3 to 5° C. from time 7 s, and from time 17 s. It decreased and returned to the temperature at the start of measurement. On the other hand, in channels 0 to 3 in the channel arrangement that measures the upper temperature inside the toilet 1 in the horizontal direction, a temperature increase of about 1° C. was confirmed from time 1s immediately after the start of measurement to 25s. Further, in ch=8 to 15 in which the lower temperature inside the toilet bowl 1 is measured, after a transient temperature increase from time 7s, a temperature higher than that at the start of measurement is maintained at about 1 to 2°C after 17s. It was After that, a temperature drop of about 1° C. was temporarily recorded at time 37 s, and the temperature returned to the temperature at the start of measurement at time 50 s. On the other hand, in ch=4 to 7, which is a channel array for measuring the temperature in the horizontal direction above the center of the toilet 1, only a temporary temperature increase of 3 to 5° C. is recorded in comparison with other channels. Was done. Of the 6 subjects, the other 4 subjects (subjects 2 to 5) excluding the subject 6 also showed the same tendency as the subject 1.

In FIG. 15, the results of total urination of 30 times obtained by 6 subjects are shown by Brand-Altman plots. In FIG. 15, the horizontal axis represents the estimated urine output and the vertical axis represents the weight difference before and after urination. As shown in FIG. 15, the difference between the body weight difference and the estimated urine output was −0.2±93.3 (mean±SD). Of the 30 urinations, 21 were within the range of ±1 SD, and no particularly strong positive or negative correlation was observed.

FIG. 16 shows the correlation between the weight difference and the estimated urine output for 30 times of total urination obtained by 6 subjects. The slope of the approximate straight line between the weight difference and the estimated urine output was 1.06, and the correlation coefficient was R ² >0.50. In addition, the error rate of the estimated urine output after 30 times of total urination was in the range of -49 to 123%. The average error rate of all estimated urine output was 31% (n=30). The error rate of the estimated urine output of the subjects 1 to 5 excluding the subject 6 was in the range of -49 to 42%. The average error rate of the estimated urine output of subjects 1 to 5 excluding subject 6 was 25% (n=25).

From the above results, the following things became clear.

In the environmental temperature evaluation of (1), the estimated urine output was calculated to be smaller as the temperature difference between the dropped simulated urine temperature and room temperature was smaller (FIG. 12). Further, in the urine temperature evaluation of (2) above, the higher the pseudo urine temperature, the larger the estimated urine output was calculated (FIG. 13 ). Thus, it was clarified that the estimated urine output is affected by the temperature of the measurement environment and the urination temperature. On the other hand, the estimated micturition volume showed a linear relationship with a change in the room temperature and the pseudo urine temperature, regardless of the magnitude of the simulated micturition volume. From these results, when the room temperature is close to the urine temperature and the temperature difference is small, the large conversion coefficient is the correction coefficient, while when the room temperature is low and the temperature difference from the urine temperature is large, the small conversion coefficient is the correction coefficient, By further correcting the calculated estimated urine output, it is possible to calculate a corrected urine output having a smaller error from the actual urine output.

In the above (3), the room temperature (environmental temperature) of the private room of the toilet was controlled to 20.0±1.0° C., and the temperature information regarding the urine of the subject was collected. As a result, it was clarified that there is the following relationship between the behavior of the subject and the temperature change. That is, similarly to the result of using pseudo urination in (1) above, also in urination of the subject in (3) above, as shown in FIG. = 1, 5, 9, 13 and ch = 2, 6, 10, 14. From the change in the temperature waveform shown in FIG. 14, it can be inferred that urination started at time 7s and ended at 17s. Furthermore, from the change in the temperature waveform shown in FIG. 14, it is possible to infer a temperature increase from the buttocks due to the sitting of the subject and a temporary temperature decrease due to washing water, as shown below. That is, as shown in FIG. 14, in the space temperature sensor 13, a temporary temperature rise from the buttocks due to the sitting of the subject was confirmed by the channel arrangement ch=0 to 3 for measuring the lower direction of the toilet seat. From this, it can be inferred that the subject sat down at time 1s and stood up at time 25s. Further, in the space temperature sensor 13, a temporary temperature decrease due to washing water was confirmed at time 37s by the channel arrangement ch=8 to 15 for measuring the washing surface direction inside the bowl portion 11 of the toilet 1. Further, since the channel arrangement ch=12 to 15 is a channel arrangement for measuring the water reservoir direction of the bowl portion 11, the heat from the urine collected in the water reservoir is measured by these channels from the start of urination to the flow of washing water. It is speculated that it was done. Thus, from the temperature change data, it is possible to estimate the seating time of the subject on the toilet seat, the start of urination, the end of urination, the start of washing with washing water, the standing time of the subject, and the like. Therefore, the behavior of a person can be grasped from the information on the temperature change even in a private private toilet.

As shown in FIG. 15, the estimated urine output calculated from the temperature information was within approximately ±1 SD. Further, as shown in FIG. 16, out of 30 measurements, 9 measurements were outside 1 SD, but the slope of the approximate straight line between the weight change and the estimated urine output was 1.06. .. The average error rate of the estimated urine output of 30 times was 31%. Subject 6 tended to be estimated to have a higher estimated amount of urination than other subjects, but this was because the body mass index BMI of Subject 6 was 18.3 kg/m ^2. Since it was slender as compared with the above, it is considered that there is a possibility that the buttocks fell to the inside of the toilet bowl 1. For the same reason, the measurement result of the subject 6 was that the temperature was high at the time of sitting in ch=4 to 7 in addition to ch=0 to 3 as in the case of other subjects. It is speculated that these channels may have measured the temperature of the buttocks due to sitting in addition to the temperature increase due to urination.

[Example 2]
It was confirmed that the temperature spatial distribution information can be acquired even if the number of the spatial temperature sensors 13 is one.

In the same manner as in Example 1(1) except that the space temperature sensor was one (ID=2) shown in FIG. 1(C), the simulated urine 41 was dropped on the toilet bowl 1 and the space temperature sensor The temperature was evaluated according to No. 13 (ID=2).

FIG. 17 shows a typical example of the measured temperature in each channel (ch0 to 15) of the space temperature sensor 13 (ID=2) under the conditions of room temperature 25.0° C., simulated urine output 300 ml, and average simulated urine flow rate 20 ml/s. Show. FIG. 17 is a graph of each channel of the space temperature sensor 13 (ID=2), in which the horizontal axis represents time and the vertical axis represents temperature. The layout of the graph of each channel in FIG. 17 corresponds to the layout of each channel of FIG. As a result, a temporary temperature increase due to the simulated urine 41 was obtained at ch=2, 6, 10 and 14.

As shown in FIG. 17, even if there was only one space temperature sensor 13 (ID=2), changes in the temperature space distribution information due to urination could be confirmed. Therefore, according to the urination management device of the present invention, it is possible to measure the amount of urination even if there is only one space temperature sensor 13 installed in the toilet bowl 1.

Although the present invention has been described with reference to the exemplary embodiments and examples, the present invention is not limited to the above exemplary embodiments. Various changes that can be understood by those skilled in the art can be made to the configuration and details of the present invention within the scope of the present invention.

This application claims the priority on the basis of Japanese application Japanese Patent Application No. 2019-016258 for which it applied on January 31, 2019, and takes in those the indications of all here.

<Appendix>
The whole or part of the exemplary embodiments and examples described above can be described as, but not limited to, the following supplementary notes.
(Appendix 1)
Including a temperature space distribution acquisition unit, a correction temperature information acquisition unit, and a urination amount estimation unit,
The temperature space distribution acquisition unit,
The correction temperature information acquisition unit for acquiring the spatial distribution information of the temperature in the space inside the toilet,
Obtaining at least one of the ambient temperature and the urination temperature in the toilet environment,
The urine volume estimation unit,
Based on the spatial distribution information of the temperature, to calculate the temporary urine output,
Based on at least one of the environmental temperature and the urination temperature, the provisional urination amount is corrected by at least one of the correction coefficient of the environmental temperature and the correction coefficient of the urination temperature to estimate the corrected urination amount as the estimated urination amount. ,
The environmental temperature correction coefficient, which is set for each environmental temperature, is a coefficient indicating the correlation between the temporary urine output and the actual urine output,
The urination management apparatus, wherein the urination temperature correction coefficient is a coefficient that is set for each urination temperature and indicates a correlation between a temporary urination amount and an actual urination amount.
(Appendix 2)
The temperature space distribution acquisition unit,
Obtaining a temperature image in the space inside the toilet bowl,
From the temperature image, a urine flow temperature image showing the area of the urine flow rate of urination is extracted as spatial distribution information of the temperature,
The urine output estimation unit,
Based on the total pixel value of the urine flow temperature image showing the area of the urine flow rate, and the length of time that the urine flow temperature image was obtained, the temporary urine output is calculated,
The estimated urine output is estimated by correcting the temporary urine output based on at least one of the environmental temperature and the urination temperature, and at least one of the environmental temperature correction coefficient and the urination temperature correction coefficient. The urination management device described.
(Appendix 3)
The urination management apparatus according to appendix 2, wherein the temperature image is an image detected by a non-contact matrix temperature sensor.
(Appendix 4)
Furthermore, including an action estimation unit,
The action estimation unit,
From the temperature change based on the spatial distribution information of the temperature, and the estimation information, infer the behavior of the subject,
4. The urination management device according to any one of appendices 1 to 3, wherein the estimated information is temperature change information associated with a behavior.
(Appendix 5)
Furthermore, it has a toilet bowl and a plurality of temperature sensors,
The plurality of temperature sensors are arranged in the toilet bowl,
The urination management device according to any one of appendices 1 to 4, wherein the plurality of temperature sensors include the temperature space distribution acquisition unit.
(Appendix 6)
The urination management apparatus according to appendix 5, wherein the temperature sensor is a non-contact matrix temperature sensor.
(Appendix 7)
Including a temperature space distribution acquisition step, a correction temperature information acquisition step, and a urination amount estimation step,
The temperature space distribution acquisition step,
The spatial temperature distribution information of the temperature in the space inside the toilet is acquired, and the correction temperature information acquisition step is
Obtaining at least one of the ambient temperature and the urination temperature in the toilet environment,
The urine volume estimation step,
Based on the spatial distribution information of the temperature, to calculate the temporary urine output,
Based on at least one of the environmental temperature and the urination temperature, the provisional urination amount is corrected by at least one of the correction coefficient of the environmental temperature and the correction coefficient of the urination temperature to estimate the corrected urination amount as the estimated urination amount. ,
The environmental temperature correction coefficient, which is set for each environmental temperature, is a coefficient indicating the correlation between the temporary urine output and the actual urine output,
The urination management method, wherein the correction coefficient of the urination temperature is a coefficient that is set for each urination temperature and that indicates a correlation between the temporary urination amount and the actual urination amount.
(Appendix 8)
The temperature space distribution acquisition step,
Obtaining a temperature image in the space inside the toilet bowl,
From the temperature image, a urine flow temperature image showing the area of the urine flow rate of urination is extracted as spatial distribution information of the temperature,
The urine volume estimation step,
Based on the total pixel value of the urine flow temperature image showing the area of the urine flow rate, and the length of time that the urine flow temperature image was obtained, the temporary urine output is calculated,
Estimating the estimated urine output, by correcting the temporary urine output based on at least one of the environmental temperature and the urination temperature, by correcting at least one of the correction coefficient for the urination temperature and the correction coefficient for the environmental temperature,
The urination management method according to attachment 7.
(Appendix 9)
9. The urination management method according to appendix 8, wherein the temperature image is an image detected by a non-contact matrix temperature sensor.
(Appendix 10)
Furthermore, including an action estimation step,
The action estimation step is
From the temperature change based on the spatial distribution information of the temperature, and the estimation information, infer the behavior of the subject,
The urination management method according to any one of appendices 7 to 9, wherein the estimated information is temperature change information associated with an action.
(Appendix 11)
A program for causing a computer to execute the urination management method according to any one of appendices 7 to 10.
(Appendix 12)
A computer-readable recording medium in which the program according to Appendix 11 is recorded.
(Appendix 13)
A toilet bowl comprising a toilet body and the urination management device according to any one of appendices 1 to 6.
(Appendix 14)
A toilet seat, comprising a toilet seat body and the urination management device according to any one of appendices 1 to 6.

1 Toilet 10 Toilet main body 11 Bowl 12 Toilet seat 13 Space temperature sensor 18 Inspection surface 2 Urination management device 20 Temperature space distribution acquisition 21 Correction urination temperature information acquisition 22 Urination volume estimation 23 Storage 30 CPU
31 Memory 32 Bus 33 Input Device 34 Display 35 Communication Device 36 Storage Device 37 Program

Claims (14)

Including a temperature space distribution acquisition unit, a correction temperature information acquisition unit, and a urination amount estimation unit,
The temperature space distribution acquisition unit,
The correction temperature information acquisition unit for acquiring the spatial distribution information of the temperature in the space inside the toilet,
Obtaining at least one of the ambient temperature and the urination temperature in the toilet environment,
The urine volume estimation unit,
Based on the spatial distribution information of the temperature, to calculate the temporary urine output,
Based on at least one of the environmental temperature and the urination temperature, the provisional urination amount is corrected by at least one of the correction coefficient of the environmental temperature and the correction coefficient of the urination temperature to estimate the corrected urination amount as the estimated urination amount. ,
The environmental temperature correction coefficient, which is set for each environmental temperature, is a coefficient indicating the correlation between the temporary urine output and the actual urine output,
The urination management apparatus, wherein the urination temperature correction coefficient is a coefficient that is set for each urination temperature and indicates a correlation between a temporary urination amount and an actual urination amount. The temperature space distribution acquisition unit,
Obtaining a temperature image in the space inside the toilet bowl,
From the temperature image, a urine flow temperature image showing the area of the urine flow rate of urination is extracted as spatial distribution information of the temperature,
The urine output estimation unit,
Based on the total pixel value of the urine flow temperature image showing the area of the urine flow rate, and the length of time that the urine flow temperature image was obtained, the temporary urine output is calculated,
Estimating the estimated urine output, by correcting the temporary urine output based on at least one of the environmental temperature and the urination temperature, by correcting at least one of a correction coefficient for the environmental temperature and a correction coefficient for the urination temperature,
The urination management device according to claim 1. The urination management device according to claim 2, wherein the temperature image is an image detected by a non-contact matrix temperature sensor. Furthermore, including an action estimation unit,
The action estimation unit,
From the temperature change based on the spatial distribution information of the temperature, and the estimation information, infer the behavior of the subject,
The urination management apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the estimated information is temperature change information associated with a behavior. Furthermore, it has a toilet bowl and a plurality of temperature sensors,
The plurality of temperature sensors are arranged in the toilet bowl,
The urination management device according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of temperature sensors include the temperature space distribution acquisition unit. The urination management apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the temperature sensor is a non-contact matrix temperature sensor. Including a temperature space distribution acquisition step, a correction temperature information acquisition step, and a urination amount estimation step,
The temperature space distribution acquisition step,
Acquires the spatial distribution information of the temperature in the space inside the toilet bowl,
The correction temperature information acquisition step,
Obtaining at least one of the ambient temperature and the urination temperature in the toilet environment,
The urine volume estimation step,
Based on the spatial distribution information of the temperature, to calculate the temporary urine output,
Based on at least one of the environmental temperature and the urination temperature, the provisional urination amount is corrected by at least one of the correction coefficient of the environmental temperature and the correction coefficient of the urination temperature to estimate the corrected urination amount as the estimated urination amount. ,
The environmental temperature correction coefficient, which is set for each environmental temperature, is a coefficient indicating the correlation between the temporary urine output and the actual urine output,
The urination management method, wherein the correction coefficient of the urination temperature is a coefficient that is set for each urination temperature and that indicates a correlation between the temporary urination amount and the actual urination amount. The temperature space distribution acquisition step,
Obtaining a temperature image in the space inside the toilet bowl,
From the temperature image, a urine flow temperature image showing the area of the urine flow rate of urination is extracted as spatial distribution information of the temperature,
The urine volume estimation step,
Based on the total pixel value of the urine flow temperature image showing the area of the urine flow rate, and the length of time that the urine flow temperature image was obtained, the temporary urine output is calculated,
Estimating the estimated urine output, by correcting the temporary urine output based on at least one of the environmental temperature and the urination temperature, by correcting at least one of the correction coefficient for the urination temperature and the correction coefficient for the environmental temperature,
The urination management method according to claim 7. The urination management method according to claim 8, wherein the temperature image is an image detected by a non-contact matrix temperature sensor. Furthermore, including a behavior estimation step,
The action estimation step is
From the temperature change based on the spatial distribution information of the temperature, and the estimation information, infer the behavior of the subject,
The guess information is temperature change information associated with the action,
The urination management method according to any one of claims 7 to 9. A program for causing a computer to execute the urination management method according to any one of claims 7 to 10. A computer-readable recording medium in which the program according to claim 11 is recorded. A toilet bowl comprising a toilet body and the urination management device according to any one of claims 1 to 6. A toilet seat comprising a toilet seat body and the urination management device according to any one of claims 1 to 6.