JP5755281B2 - Smartphone with a function to measure sugar content - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a saccharimeter for a smartphone incorporating a function for nondestructively measuring the sugar content of a fruit from light reflected from the fruit to be purchased when purchasing the fruit at a supermarket.

In order to measure the sugar content of fruits and the like, generally, a portion of the fruit is cut out and the juice is placed on a refractometer to measure the sugar content. This utilizes the property that light is refracted by the sugar concentration. It is used by market and vegetable shop staff, but it is used by professionals and is generally unfamiliar to consumers. In recent years, non-destructive saccharimeters using near-infrared rays have been used for sorting fruit grades at fruit sorting centers in the fruit production areas. The display is also based on the Brix% scale.

JP-A-9-89767 7-92433 JP-A-5-288664 JP-A-6-213804

Problems to be solved by the invention

At the supermarket, there was a problem that consumers could not choose sweet fruits with certainty at any time whether they were sweet or not sweet when they tried to buy fruits. In addition, even if the sugar content is known, there is a problem with the display method of notifying the consumer about the eating quality with a simple message because the sugar content standard for each eating type is not known.
There was a problem with the providing method that consumers can use the sugar meter on a daily basis, and the sugar content display is easy to understand, the operation of the sugar meter is easy, and it can be carried and used at any time.

In view of the above problems, an object of the present invention is to add a function of nondestructive sugar content measurement to a smartphone which is a portable electronic device.

Means for solving the problem

  In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a smartphone, which is a portable electronic device according to the present invention, incorporates a non-destructive sugar content measuring machine using light in the near infrared region, and microscopically stores data related to fruit sugar content measurement using photoelectrically converted electrical signals. It is processed appropriately by a computer and the sugar content is displayed.

The sugar content is displayed with characters, characters and voices that are easy for consumers to judge.

Since it is necessary for anyone to be able to operate easily, sugar content can be measured simply by touching the icon displayed on the touch panel LCD monitor of the smartphone with a finger.

  Hereinafter, an embodiment of a smartphone which is a portable electronic device of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

In the following embodiment, the present invention is applied to the smartphone 1.

As shown in FIG. 1, the smartphone 1 includes a touch panel liquid crystal monitor on the front portion (A) and a light source section 3, a light receiving section a4, a light receiving section b5, a speaker 8 and the like on the back section (B).

And the near infrared sugar content measuring apparatus 10 is incorporated in the smart phone 1, and the data which calculates Brix% based on the refractive index of near infrared rays are extracted.

Further, the touch panel liquid crystal monitor 11 displays a standby screen for various data and various programs when using the telephone-related function, and a sugar concentration measurement standby icon sugar meter 40 shown in FIG. 4C. By touching the stand-by icon 40 with a finger, a display part dedicated to sugar content measurement can be displayed the kind of fruit whose sugar content is to be measured as shown in FIG. 4 (D).

FIG. 2 is a block diagram schematically showing a configuration example of a main part of the smartphone 1, but some components such as a phone-related function, a mail-related function, a camera-related function, and a GPS function specific to the smartphone are omitted. Is.

The sugar content measuring apparatus 10 is connected to a microcomputer 20 that centrally manages all functions of the smartphone 1.

In the microcomputer 20, most of the operation buttons are present on the touch panel liquid crystal monitor 11, and the speaker 8, the external interface 26, the RAM 27, the external interface 26, and the sugar content measuring device 10 are connected via a conversion signal interface (I / F) 24. Yes.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a procedure along the flow of the program for measuring the sugar content of the embodiment and display of the sugar content measurement results, and FIG. 4 is a stand-by icon sugar meter 40 displayed on the touch panel liquid crystal monitor 11 of the embodiment and the fruits. It is a figure which shows the icon 41 which selects a kind.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a fruit variety icon 42 and a sugar content measurement start icon 43 according to the embodiment.

6, 7 and 8 are diagrams for displaying the sugar content measurement results of the examples on the touch panel liquid crystal monitor.

FIG. 9 shows the sugar content for displaying the measured sugar content of the fruit of the embodiment in order to classify the sugar content range by fruit type and variety into three levels and express the sweetness in three types to make it easier for general consumers to understand. It is a data table table.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an overall flow according to the embodiment of the present invention.

Next, the operation of the embodiment will be described along the flow of FIG. In the smartphone 1, an icon 40 shown in FIG. 4C is displayed on the touch panel liquid crystal monitor 11 as a standby icon for the sugar content meter.

When the user touches the icon 40 with a finger, the sugar content measurement type item designating unit 50 shown in FIG. 10 is a screen for designating the fruit type and variety for starting the sugar content measurement as shown in FIG. The fruit type icon shown in FIG. 4D is displayed on the touch panel liquid crystal monitor 11.

When the user touches the icon 41 with his / her finger, the operation shifts to 31 in which the variety is designated by the icon shown in FIG. 3A, and an icon list for selecting the fruit variety whose sugar content is to be measured shown in FIG. It is displayed on the monitor 11.

When the user touches the icon 42 with a finger, the measurement button shown in FIG. 3A is pressed and the icon 43 for starting sugar content measurement shown in FIG. 5F is displayed on the touch panel liquid crystal monitor 11.

When the user touches the icon 43 with a finger, the sugar content measuring apparatus 10 shown in FIG. The irradiated light is reflected from the object to be measured via the light receiving unit 4, the light receiving unit 5, the light receiving partial light processing unit 52, the electric signal converting unit 53, and the conversion signal interface 24 shown in FIG. Is done.

The above data is calculated from the light intensity calculation processing unit 54 based on the electrical signal shown in FIG. 10 by the sugar content calculation unit 55, and from the sugar content data 34 by type shown in FIG. 3B to the sugar content data display determination unit 35. And a dial tone “beep” is sent to the speaker 8.

The sugar content data display determination unit 35 compares the data of FIG. 9 registered in the RAM 27 in advance with the sugar content calculation data, and if the determination is H, displays the content shown in FIG. 6 on the touch panel liquid crystal monitor. In addition, a “delicious” vocal sound is sent to the speaker 8.

If the determination data is N, the contents shown in FIG. 7 are displayed on the touch panel liquid crystal monitor. If the determination data is S, the contents shown in FIG. 8 are displayed on the touch panel liquid crystal monitor.

Effect of the invention

  As is apparent from the above description, the smartphone, which is the portable electronic device of the present invention, helps consumers to determine the deliciousness of fruits purchased at supermarket stores by sugar content, and makes shopping for consumers more enjoyable.

In addition, the sugar content, which is said to be sweet according to the variety of fruit, is classified into 3 levels, and it is displayed as “delicious, so good, one more step” that is easy for consumers to judge, so anyone can easily distinguish between sweetness It is easy to sort fruit.

In the present invention, data input by the user can be easily performed by simply touching a character icon displayed on the touch panel liquid crystal monitor with a finger, so that it can be easily operated at a supermarket and is easy to use.

2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10 show an embodiment of the smartphone of the present invention, and this figure shows an external appearance. . It is a block diagram which shows roughly the structural example of the principal part of a smart phone. It is a figure regarding the display of the operation procedure along the flow of the program which measures sugar content, and a sugar content result. It is an icon figure which selects the kind of fruit which measures a sugar content meter icon and sugar content on the standby screen of a smart phone. It is an icon display which selects the kind of fruit which measures sugar content measurement displayed on a touch-panel liquid crystal monitor, and an icon figure which starts sugar content measurement by touching a character. It is the content displayed on the touchscreen liquid crystal monitor of a smart phone, and a result display figure of sugar content measurement. It is the content displayed on the touchscreen liquid crystal monitor of a smart phone, and a result display figure of sugar content measurement. It is the content displayed on the touchscreen liquid crystal monitor of a smart phone, and a result display figure of sugar content measurement. It is the figure which divided sweetness into three steps for every kind by Brix% sugar content data according to the kind of fruit. It is a flowchart of the whole system concerning the embodiment of the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Smartphone 2 ... Camera lens 3 ... Light source part 4 ... Light-receiving part a
5 ... Light receiving part b
8 ... Speaker 10 ... Sugar content measuring device 11 ... Touch panel LCD 20 ... Microcomputer 24 ... Conversion signal interface (I / F)
25 .. Spectral processing electrical signal converter 26 .. External interface (I / F)
27..RAM
28 ・ ・ Near-infrared light projecting unit 29 ・ ・ Near-infrared light receiving unit 30 ・ ・ Specify fruit type with icon 31 ・ Specify variety with icon 32 ・ ・ Press measurement button (character) 33 ・ ・ Measure sugar content Get data 34 ・ ・ Read sugar content data by product type 35 ・ ・ Display sugar content data discriminator 36 ・ Display H data “Delicious”
37 ・ ・ Displays N data “Okay”
38 ・ ・ Display S data “one step now”
39-Output "delicious" from the speaker 40-Touch the icon to start the app 41-Fruit type icon 42-Fruit type icon 43-Sugar content measurement icon 44-・ Icon to display sugar content result (delicious)
45 .. Icon to display sugar content result (OK)
46 ... Aikon displaying sugar content results (one step now)
50 .. Sugar content measurement type item designation unit 51 .. near-infrared light projecting unit 52 .. received light partial light processing unit 53 .. electrical signal conversion unit 54 .. received light intensity calculation processing unit 55 based on electrical signal. 56 ··· Sugar content display determination 57 57

Claims (4)

When the first icon of the object to be measured for measuring the sugar content is displayed on the touch panel liquid crystal monitor and the first icon is touched with a finger, each of the operations necessary for starting and ending the measurement of the object to be measured A display unit that displays a second icon on the touch panel liquid crystal monitor that is announced at a time and touched with a finger to start sugar content measurement;
When the second icon is touched with a finger, a light projecting unit that emits light including a wavelength in the near infrared region of 2500 nm or less for measuring the sugar content;
A light receiving unit that receives the reflected light, and
A spectral processing photoelectric conversion unit that spectrally processes the received light and converts it into an electrical signal;
A data processing unit that takes in an electrical signal as data and appropriately processes the data with a microcomputer to calculate sugar content;
An informing unit for informing the end of measurement at the timing when the measurement is completed by observing the operation required for the measurement of the object to be measured;
Smartphone characterized by having.   The smartphone according to claim 1, wherein the device under test is a fruit, and the first icon is a fruit type and a fruit variety of the device under test.   The smartphone according to claim 2, wherein the sugar content of the measured fruit is displayed on the touch panel liquid crystal monitor together with voice notification of sweetness in the form of Brix% sugar content display, sugar content display by characters, and sugar content sweetness display by characters. .   The data processing unit divides the range of sugar content into three levels according to the type and variety of fruit, and displays the sweetness in three types: “Delicious! The smartphone according to any one of 3 to 3.