JP5338422B2 - Measuring apparatus and measuring method - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a measurement apparatus and a measurement method for measuring biological information by wearing on a person's arm or the like.

For early diagnosis of illness and control of exercise amount in function recovery training after treatment, a method of measuring biological information continuously or intermittently by using a measuring device that measures biological information is used. As such a measuring device, for example, a wristband type measuring device that is worn on an arm to measure biological information such as a pulse and blood pressure with light is widely used.
In such a measuring device, since there is a gap between the measurement surface having the light receiving element and the skin surface of the arm, external light (disturbance light) incident from the outside becomes noise light, which affects the measurement result. Gave. As a countermeasure against such noise light, as shown in Patent Document 1 below, a light-transmitting plate having a convex curved surface is provided between the skin surface and the sensor, and noise light is brought into close contact with the skin. Sensors have been proposed to prevent intrusions. Moreover, as shown in the following Patent Document 2, an elastic material having higher elasticity than the band base material wound around the arm is disposed on the inner peripheral side of the band, thereby making the sensor in close contact with the living body and preventing intrusion of noise light. A device has been proposed.

JP 2005-246089 A JP 2001-276001 A

  However, the above-described sensors and devices uniformly shield the light without actually grasping the effect of the noise light being shielded. Thinning and noise light flowing in through the gap caused an error, and biological information could not be measured accurately.

  SUMMARY An advantage of some aspects of the invention is to solve at least a part of the problems described above, and the invention can be implemented as the following forms or application examples.

[Application Example 1]
A measurement apparatus according to this application example is a measurement apparatus that is mounted on a living body and measures information related to the living body, and irradiates the living body with irradiation light, and the irradiation light irradiates the surface of the living body. Biological information measuring means for measuring information related to the living body based on reflected light reflected, and external light incident on the biological information measuring means by extending from the periphery of the biological information measuring means toward the irradiation region. A light shielding means for shielding, an inspection means for inspecting an effect of light shielding by the light shielding means, and a control means for controlling a degree of expansion of the light shielding means based on an inspection result of the inspection means.

  According to such a configuration, the external light incident on the biological information measuring unit is blocked by the extension of the light blocking unit. Furthermore, the degree of expansion of the light shielding means is controlled based on the inspection result of the light shielding effect by the inspection means. Therefore, the degree of expansion of the light shielding means is controlled based on the inspection result of the light shielding effect, so that incident external light can be shielded regardless of the state of the gap formed between the measuring device and the living body, and is reflected by the living body. Since the light incident from the outside can be effectively blocked to the biological information measuring means that measures using the reflected light, the information on the living body can be measured with high accuracy.

[Application Example 2]
In the measurement apparatus according to the application example described above, it is preferable that the control unit further expands the light shielding unit when the inspection unit determines that the light shielding effect is insufficient as a result of the inspection.

  According to such a configuration, when it is determined as a result of the inspection by the inspection means that the external light is insufficiently blocked, the light shielding effect can be enhanced by further extending the light shielding means.

[Application Example 3]
In the measurement apparatus according to the application example, when the control unit determines that the light shielding effect is sufficient as a result of the inspection by the inspection unit, the control unit measures information on the living body with respect to the biological information measurement unit. Preferably, the biological information measuring means measures information related to the living body in response to the measurement instruction.

  According to such a configuration, when it is determined that the external light is sufficiently blocked as a result of the inspection by the inspection unit, the biological information measurement unit is instructed to perform measurement, and the biological information measurement unit performs measurement according to the instruction. By doing so, highly reliable measurement can be performed.

[Application Example 4]
In the measurement apparatus according to the application example, it is preferable that the light shielding unit is formed of an elastic member.

  According to such a configuration, since the light shielding means is formed of an elastic member, it can be brought into close contact with the surface of the living body.

[Application Example 5]
In the measurement method according to this application example, the living body information measuring unit irradiates the living body with irradiation light, and the information about the living body is measured based on the reflected light reflected by the irradiation area where the irradiation light irradiates the surface of the living body. A measuring method comprising: extending a telescopic member from the periphery of the biological information measuring unit toward the irradiation region to block external light incident on the biological information measuring unit; An inspection process for inspecting the effect, and a control process for controlling the degree of expansion of the elastic member based on the inspection result in the inspection process.

  According to such a method, external light incident from the outside is shielded by the expansion and contraction member extending. Furthermore, the degree of expansion of the elastic member is controlled based on the inspection result of the light shielding effect. Therefore, by controlling the degree of expansion of the telescopic member based on the inspection result of the light shielding effect, the incident external light can be shielded regardless of the state of the gap generated between the measuring device and the living body. Since the light to be able to be shielded effectively, the information about a living body can be measured with high accuracy.

The figure which shows the external appearance of the biological information measuring device which concerns on embodiment of this invention. The figure which shows the external appearance of the back surface of the main body of the biological information measuring device which concerns on embodiment of this invention. (A) shows the cross section at the time of contracting an expansion-contraction part, (b) is a figure which shows the cross section at the time of expanding an expansion-contraction part. The block diagram which shows the function structure of the biological information measuring device which concerns on embodiment of this invention. The figure which shows the structure of a test | inspection means. The flowchart which shows the flow of a process of biometric information measurement. The flowchart which shows the flow of a light-shielding process. The flowchart which shows the flow of the process which investigates the light-shielding state of space.

  Hereinafter, a biological information measuring device will be described with reference to the drawings as an embodiment of the measuring device.

(Embodiment)
FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an appearance of the biological information measuring apparatus 10. The biological information measuring device 10 is like a wrist watch, and two opposite ends of a box-shaped main body 15 are connected by a belt 30 and attached to a person's arm 50 via the belt 30. In addition, the site | part to wear is not limited to the arm 50, A leg | leg or abdomen may be sufficient. A display unit 20 for displaying information measured by the biological information measuring device 10 and an operation button 25 for operating the biological information measuring device 10 are arranged on the surface of the main body 15. In the present embodiment, the biological information measuring apparatus 10 is configured to start measurement of biological information when a predetermined operation button 25 is pressed or a preset timer times out.
Although not shown in the drawings, the biological information measuring apparatus 10 includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit) that controls operations and the entire apparatus based on a control program, and a ROM that stores a CPU control program in a predetermined area in advance. (Read Only Memory), a RAM (Random Access Memory) for storing data read from the ROM and calculation results required in the CPU calculation process, and an SSD (Program for displaying information and measurement data) (Solid State Drive) and an interface (I / F) that mediates input / output of measurement instructions and measurement data to an external device or the like. These are connected so that data can be exchanged with each other by a bus which is a signal line for transferring data.

FIG. 2 is a view showing the appearance of the back surface of the main body 15. As shown in FIG. 2, the back surface of the main body 15 has a planar shape, and a biological information measuring unit 40 that measures information about the living body using light and a light amount that measures the amount of incident light at the substantially central portion of the back surface. A measurement unit 48 is embedded. Further, an expansion / contraction part 45 is formed around the biological information measurement unit 40 and the light amount measurement unit 48. The stretchable part 45 is formed of a stretchable stretchable member. In this embodiment, the elastic part 45 is formed in a bag shape by an elastic member such as rubber, and expands and contracts in response to the inflow and outflow of air as a fluid. In the present embodiment, the expansion / contraction part 45 is formed in a circle around the information measurement part 40 and the light quantity measurement part 48, but is not limited to this and may be square.
Next, FIGS. 3A and 3B are schematic cross-sectional views when the biological information measuring device 10 is attached to a person's arm 50. FIG. 3A shows a state where the stretchable portion 45 is contracted, and FIG. 3B shows a state where the stretchable portion 45 is expanded. As shown in FIG. 3A, in the state where the expansion / contraction part 45 is contracted, the back surface of the main body 15 is in contact with the arm 50, and external light (noise light) is transmitted to the biological information measurement unit 40 and the light amount measurement unit 48. Incident. Further, as shown in FIG. 3B, in a state where the expansion / contraction part 45 is inflated, the expansion / contraction part 45 is in close contact with the arm 50, thereby forming a closed space P between the back surface of the main body 15 and the arm 50, The biological information measuring unit 40 and the light amount measuring unit 48 are shielded without incident noise light. In the present embodiment, when the biological information measuring unit 40 measures biological information, the expansion / contraction unit 45 expands to generate a closed space P, and when the measurement of biological information ends, the expansion / contraction unit 45 contracts. Thus, the closed space P is opened.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a functional configuration of the biological information measuring device 10. The biological information measuring apparatus 10 includes a control unit 46, a biological information measuring unit 42, an inspection unit 70, and a light shielding unit 80. First, the inspection unit 70 acquires information on the light blocking state of the closed space P, and inspects the light blocking effect by the light blocking unit 80 based on the acquired information. In the present embodiment, the inspection means 70 that is the light quantity measurement unit 48 includes a photodiode 76, an A / D conversion circuit 74, and a comparison circuit 72 as shown in FIG. 5. The photodiode 76 outputs an electrical signal according to the amount of incident light. The A / D conversion circuit 74 converts the electrical signal (analog signal) output from the photodiode 76 into digital data. The comparison circuit 72 compares the value of the electric signal converted into the digital format with the electric signal indicating the assumed light-shielding state threshold value, and sends comparison information regarding the comparison result to the control means 46.
In response to an instruction from the control unit 46, the light shielding unit 80 extends the expansion / contraction unit 45 from the periphery of the biological information measurement unit 42, which is the biological information measurement unit 40, toward the irradiation area on the arm 50. The noise light incident on the biological information measuring means 42 is blocked. In this embodiment, by controlling the supplied air, the space between the back surface of the main body 15 and the arm 50 is blocked or opened by expanding or contracting the stretchable portion 45. To do. More specifically, the light shielding means 80 includes a small motor (not shown) that functions as a pump that generates compressed air, and generates air for expanding the expansion / contraction part 45 by the rotation of the small motor. Therefore, the air supplied to the expansion / contraction part 45 can be adjusted by controlling the rotation speed and rotation time of the small motor. The light shielding means 80 contracts the expansion / contraction part 45 by exhausting the air from the expansion / contraction part 45.

The control means 46 instructs the light shielding means 80 to shield light based on the comparison information sent from the inspection means 70. Further, the control means 46 sends an instruction to start the measurement to the biological information measuring means 42 when the expansion / contraction part 45 expands and the closed space P enters a predetermined light shielding state. The biological information measuring unit 42 receives an instruction sent from the control unit 46, irradiates the irradiation area on the arm 50 with irradiation light, and detects a reflection type light detection device that detects the intensity of the reflected light reflected by the irradiation area. It is used to measure biological information such as a person's pulse wave and pulse.
Next, the flow of the biological information measurement process performed by the biological information measuring apparatus 10 will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the flow of the biometric information measurement process. When the biometric information measurement apparatus 10 is activated, the CPU first determines whether or not measurement start is instructed (step S100). Wait until the start of measurement is instructed (No in step S100). Here, when the CPU determines that the start of measurement is instructed (Yes in step S100), the CPU instructs the control unit 46 to block light (step S102). The details of the process of shading in response to this instruction will be described later.

Next, the CPU instructs the biological information measuring unit 42 to measure biological information (step S104). Subsequently, the CPU instructs the control means 46 to cancel the light shielding (step S106). Next, the CPU determines whether or not an end instruction is given by the user (step S108). If it is determined that the CPU has not been instructed to end (No in step S108), the process returns to step S100 to return to the initial state. On the other hand, if it is determined that the CPU has been instructed to end (Yes in step S108), the series of processing ends.
FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing the flow of the process shown in step S102. First, the CPU executes a light shielding process, and injects a certain amount of air into the expansion / contraction part 45 (step S110). Subsequently, the CPU waits until a predetermined amount of air is injected into the expansion / contraction part 45 (step S112).

If the CPU determines that a predetermined amount of air has been injected into the expansion / contraction part 45 (Yes in step S112), the CPU checks the light shielding state of the space between the back surface of the main body 15 and the arm 50 (step S114). . Details of the process for checking the light shielding state will be described later.
Next, the CPU executes a control process, and determines whether or not the light shielding of the space between the back surface of the main body 15 and the arm 50 has reached a predetermined level (step S116). If it is determined that the light shielding has not reached the predetermined level (No in step S116), the process returns to step S110, and a certain amount of air is further injected into the expansion / contraction part 45.
On the other hand, when it is determined that the light shielding has reached a predetermined level (Yes in step S116), the CPU notifies the biological information measuring means 42 of the completion of the light shielding, which means an instruction for biological measurement (step S118), and a series of steps. Terminate the process.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing a flow of processing for checking the light shielding state of the space shown in step S114. First, the CPU instructs the photodiode 76 to receive light (step S120). Next, the CPU converts the analog data of the amount of light received by the photodiode 76 into digital data (step S122). Next, the CPU compares the value of the received light amount converted into the digital format with a preset threshold value (step S124).
Here, if the value of the amount of received light is equal to or greater than a preset threshold value (Yes in step S124), the CPU notifies the control means 46 of information indicating that the light shielding is not completed, and ends the series of processes. On the other hand, if the value of the amount of received light does not exceed the preset threshold value (No in step S124), the CPU notifies the control means 46 of information indicating that the light shielding is complete, and ends the series of processes.

  By the above processing, the biological information measuring means 42 can measure the area around the area to be measured while being shielded from light, so that it can accurately measure a person's pulse wave or pulse without being affected by noise light. In addition, since the elastic part 45 made of a rubber-like elastic member is in contact with the arm 50 and shields the light, the degree of adhesion is increased because it follows the surface of the arm 50 regardless of the thickness or surface state of the arm 50. The light shielding property of the space between the back surface of the main body 15 and the arm 50 can be further improved.

  Although the embodiment of the present invention has been described with reference to the drawings, the specific configuration is not limited to this embodiment, and includes design changes and the like within a scope not departing from the gist of the present invention. For example, when the value of the amount of light received by the photodiode 76 falls below a preset threshold value exceeding a predetermined value, the air injected into the expansion / contraction part 45 may be exhausted. In this case, the discomfort and pressure of the person wearing the biological information measuring device 10 can be removed. The photodiode 76 of the inspection unit 70 may share a device that detects the intensity of reflected light in the biological information measurement unit 42. In this case, the number of parts constituting the biological information measuring device 10 can be reduced.

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Biological information measuring device, 15 ... Main body, 20 ... Display part, 25 ... Operation button, 30 ... Belt, 40 ... Biological information measuring part, 42 ... Biological information measuring means, 45 ... Expansion / contraction part, 46 ... Control means, 48 ... light quantity measuring unit, 50 ... arm, 70 ... inspection means, 72 ... comparison circuit, 76 ... photodiode, 80 ... light shielding means.

Claims (5)

A measuring device that is mounted on a living body and measures information related to the living body,
A living body information measuring means for irradiating the living body with irradiation light, and measuring information about the living body based on reflected light reflected by an irradiation area where the irradiation light irradiates the surface of the living body;
A light shielding means for blocking external light incident on the biological information measuring means by extending from the periphery of the biological information measuring means toward the irradiation region;
Inspection means for inspecting the effect of light shielding by the light shielding means;
And a control unit that controls a degree of expansion of the light shielding unit based on an inspection result of the inspection unit. The measuring apparatus according to claim 1,
The control unit further extends the light shielding unit when the inspection unit determines that the light shielding effect is insufficient as a result of the inspection by the inspection unit. The measuring apparatus according to claim 1,
If the control means determines that the light shielding effect is sufficient as a result of the inspection by the inspection means, the control means instructs the biological information measurement means to measure information related to the living body,
The biological information measuring means measures information related to the living body in response to the measurement instruction. The measuring apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3,
The measuring apparatus, wherein the light shielding means is formed of an elastic member. The biological information measuring means irradiates a living body with irradiation light, and the measurement method measures information about the living body based on reflected light reflected by an irradiation region where the irradiation light irradiates the surface of the living body,
A light shielding step of blocking external light incident on the biological information measuring means by extending a telescopic member from the periphery of the biological information measuring means toward the irradiation region;
An inspection process for inspecting the effect of light shielding by the light shielding process;
And a control step of controlling the degree of expansion of the elastic member based on the inspection result in the inspection step.

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