JP2723337B2 - Respiration measurement device - Google Patents

Description

Description: TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a respiratory measurement device.

[Prior art] One of the conventional respiratory measurement methods often used is a method in which a sensor whose electric resistance (impedance) changes due to expansion and contraction is attached to the abdomen or chest of a subject. (For example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. Sho 62-362 and Sanho Publishing Co., Ltd.
E ", pp. 55-56. In this method, the breathing is detected as an electrical signal, utilizing the fact that the resistance of the sensor changes in proportion to the movement of the abdomen or chest due to the breathing of the subject.
After removing unnecessary DC components and low-frequency components using a high-pass filter, the electric signal is amplified to a predetermined signal level by an amplifier. Thereafter, the information is displayed on a display device such as a cathode-ray tube oscilloscope or recorded on a recording device such as a data recorder.

Another example is a method of measuring respiration by attaching a temperature sensor near the nostril and detecting the temperature difference between expiration and inspiration (Japanese Utility Model Application Laid-Open Nos. 62-145603 and 64-3603). Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 1-65009), a method using a temperature sensor and chest impedance detection in combination (Japanese Patent Publication No. 1-37949), and a method of detecting respiration by generating sound by the flow of expiration and inspiration. There is also -79445.

However, in any of these methods, some sensors must be attached to the subject in the respiration measurement method conventionally used.

[Problem to be Solved by the Invention] In the conventional respiratory measurement device, the subject must be equipped with some kind of sensor and cannot move his body during the measurement, giving discomfort or mental pressure. There were problems such as. In addition, there is also a problem that the mounting of the sensor and the determination of the mounting position at the time of mounting require experience and are difficult for non-experts.

The present invention has been made in order to solve such a problem, and eliminates the need for mounting a sensor, and can measure breathing simply by sitting on a chair without restraining the subject, which is inconvenient for the subject. An object of the present invention is to provide a respiratory measurement device capable of performing measurement without giving pleasure or mental pressure and without being conscious of what is being measured.

[Means for Solving the Problems] A respiratory measurement apparatus according to the present invention includes a plurality of detection units attached to a chair and configured to detect a movement of a person to be measured sitting on the chair as a change in load. And a feature extracting means for extracting a change component due to the respiration of the subject, which is included in the load change detection signal, and a change in the center of gravity due to the respiratory change component extracted by the feature extracting means is converted into an X coordinate and a Y coordinate value. It is provided with conversion means and display / storage means for displaying and storing the extracted respiratory change component.

[Operation] In the present invention, the movement of the person to be measured sitting on the chair is detected as a change in load, and the movement is included in the detected load change signal.
A change component due to the respiration of the subject is extracted, and a change in the center of gravity due to the extracted respiration change component is converted into an X coordinate value and a Y coordinate value, and is displayed and stored.

Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

The drawing is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the respiration measuring device according to the present invention. In the figure, (1) is a chair for sitting the subject, (2) is a metal plate for fixing the chair (1), and (3a), (3b) and (3c) are sitting on the chair (1). A plurality of load sensors, for example, three load sensors, which are detection means for detecting the movement of the subject as a change in load; (4) another metal plate for fixing these load sensors (3a) to (3c);
(5a), (5b), and (5c) are load sensors (3a), (3
b) and (3c) are connected to the respective amplifiers for amplifying the output, for example, differential amplifiers (6a), (6b) and (6c) are connected to the output side of each amplifier (5a), (5b) and (5c). The first connected respectively
Filtering means such as a band pass filter (BPF), (7a),
(7b) and (7c) are connected to the output side of each amplifier (5a), (5b) and (5c), respectively, and each band-pass filter (6
a), (6b), and (6c) each connected in parallel with second filtering means such as a low-pass filter (LPF), (8a), (8
b) and (8c) are the bandpass filters (6a), (6b), and (6c).
c) and adders respectively connected to the output sides of the low-pass filters (7a), (7b) and (7c). Note that these band-pass filters (6a) to (6c) and the low-pass filter (7a) ) ~
(7c) and the adders (8a) to (8c) are included in the load change detection signal from the detection means. A feature extracting means for extracting a change component due to the respiration of the subject is constituted. (9a),
(9b) and (9c) are A / D converters respectively connected to the output side of each adder (8a), (8b) and (8c), and (10a) is an A / D converter (9a) to The digital arithmetic unit connected to the output side of (9c), and these AD converters (9a) to (9
c) and the digital calculator (10a) convert the respiratory change component extracted by the feature extracting means into a change in the center of gravity, and
A conversion means for obtaining the coordinate value and the Y coordinate value is configured. (11)
Is a display connected to the digital calculator (10a) and displays the calculated X coordinate value and Y coordinate value. (12) is connected to the digital calculation notation (10a) and the calculated X coordinate value and Y coordinate. This is a memory for storing values. The display (11) and the memory (12) constitute display / storage means for displaying and storing the respiratory change component extracted by the feature extraction means.

Next, the operation of the respiratory measurement device configured as described above will be described. As shown, the load change detection signals output from the load sensors (3a), (3b) and (3c) fixed under the chair (1) are output from the amplifiers (5a), (5b) and (5c). ), Each band-pass filter (6a), (6b),
(6c) and each low-pass filter (7a), (7b), (7c)
Given to. The load change detection signal is a bandpass filter (6a) to (6c) in which a change component due to the subject's respiration, that is, a signal in the respiration frequency band is extracted, and a low-pass filter (7a) to (7c) extracts a DC component. The signal is extracted. The output signals of the high-pass filters (6a) to (6c) and the low-pass filters (7a) to (7b) are added to the adder (8
After being added in (a), (8b) and (8c), respectively, they are supplied to A / D converters (9a), (9b) and (9c). Where AD
The output signals provided to the converters (9a) to (9c) are signals obtained by removing signals other than the respiratory frequency range from the respective outputs of the amplifiers (5a) to (5c). AD converter (9a)-
Each signal subjected to the AD conversion in (9c) is read into a digital calculator (10a), and the X coordinate value and the Y coordinate value of the center of gravity are calculated. Then, the calculated X coordinate value and Y coordinate value are sequentially displayed and stored in the display (11) and the memory (12).

Further, another digital arithmetic unit (10b) indicated by a broken line is connected to the above embodiment, and the X coordinate value and the Y coordinate value calculated by the digital arithmetic unit (10a) are converted into vector values (magnitude and direction), This vector value may be displayed on the display (11) and stored in the memory (12).

In the above-described embodiment, the band-pass filter and the low-pass filter for feature extraction are configured as analog circuits, but may be incorporated in the function of a digital arithmetic unit. Conversely, a digital arithmetic unit can also be realized as an analog arithmetic circuit. Although the digital arithmetic units (10a) and (10b) are shown as being independent, they can be realized as a program by using a microprocessor or the like. Naturally, if no processing is performed on the output of the amplifier and the movement of the center of gravity is obtained and displayed, both the respiration and the body movement of the subject can be observed.

[Configuration of the Invention] As described above in detail, the present invention relates to a detecting means attached to a chair and detecting a movement of a person sitting on the chair as a change in load, and a load change from the detecting means. A feature extracting means for extracting a change component due to the respiration of the subject included in the detection signal; and converting the respiratory change component extracted by the feature extracting means into a change in the center of gravity to convert the X coordinate value and the Y coordinate value. Since it is provided with a conversion means for obtaining and a display and storage means for displaying and storing the respiratory change component converted to the coordinate value, there is no need to attach a respiration sensor to the person to be measured as in the conventional apparatus, and the chair can be used. It is possible to perform respiration measurement without giving any discomfort or mental pressure simply by sitting on the subject, without being aware that the subject is being measured, and at the same time, to measure the movement of the body as a change in the center of gravity. In addition, there is an effect that the maximum value of the change due to breathing and the direction of the change can be measured regardless of the direction of the subject in the coordinate system.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of one embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, (1) is a chair, (3a) to (3c) are load sensors, (6a) to (6c) are bandpass filters, and (7a) to (7)
c) is a low-pass filter, (8a) to (8c) are adders, (9
a) (9c) is an AD converter, (10a) and (10b) are digital operators, (11) is a display, and (12) is a memory.

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. A plurality of detecting means attached to a chair and detecting the movement of a subject sitting on the chair as a change in load, and the subject included in a load change detection signal from the detecting means. Extracting means for extracting a change component due to respiration, converting means for converting the respiratory change component extracted by the feature extracting means into a change in the center of gravity to obtain an X coordinate value and a Y coordinate value, and converting the coordinate value into the coordinate value. And a display / storage means for displaying and storing the changed respiratory component. 2. The respiratory measurement apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the conversion means includes means for further converting the X coordinate value and the Y coordinate value into a vector quantity, and the display / storage means can display and store the vector quantity.