JP5986211B2 - Biological information measuring apparatus and control method thereof - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a biological information measuring apparatus for measuring biological information, such as an electronic thermometer, an electronic blood pressure monitor, a blood glucose meter, a pulse oximeter, and an activity meter, and a control method thereof.

  Conventionally, a biological information measuring device having a clock function is known. For example, in an electronic thermometer for women, it is necessary to manage the measurement value (body temperature) and the measurement date in association with each other in order to display the trend of the user's temperature or to predict the date of ovulation. Is essential (Patent Document 1). Many biological information measuring devices having such a clock function are operated by a battery.

  When such a battery-driven biological information measuring device is shipped with a battery attached, generally, the battery is packed in a state where it is taken out from the device, or the battery is mounted via an insulating film. It is packed in the state. This is to reduce the amount of battery consumed by the biological information measuring device during distribution.

  On the other hand, the operation of attaching a battery to the biological information measuring device or removing the insulating film at the time of purchase is an unexpectedly troublesome operation, and many consumers want to omit these operations. In particular, in a biological information measuring device using a button battery, it may be difficult for an elderly person to wear the battery. In order to meet such consumer demands, a battery is attached to the biological information measuring device in the same manner as during normal use. In this case, the battery consumption during the physical distribution period can be suppressed by turning off the biological information measuring device.

JP 2012-125349 A

  However, the biological information measuring apparatus having a clock function is configured to maintain the operation of the clock function even when the apparatus is turned off. For this reason, even if the apparatus is turned off at the time of factory shipment, the clock function continues to operate during the physical distribution period, so that the battery is greatly consumed until it reaches the consumer.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-described problems, and an object of the present invention is to reduce battery consumption when a biological information measuring device having a clock function is shipped with the battery mounted.

In order to achieve the above object, a biological information measuring apparatus according to an aspect of the present invention has the following configuration, for example. That is,
A biological information measuring device driven by a battery,
Measuring means for measuring biological information;
A clock means having an oscillation circuit, and generating date and time information by counting clock pulses generated by the oscillation circuit;
Power supply means for turning off the biological information measuring device while maintaining power supply from the battery to the timepiece means;
Control means for stopping oscillation of the oscillation circuit in response to detection of a predetermined condition, and causing the oscillation circuit to shift to an oscillation state at the next power-on ,
The control unit, when a change in the range of the measurement value or measurement value that is assumed in the measurement of normal biological information the measuring device is measured, it determined that the predetermined condition is detected.

  According to the present invention, in a biological information measuring device having a clock function, the clock function can be stopped until the consumer turns on the power even if the battery is shipped with the battery mounted. Consumption can be reduced.

  Other features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following description with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the accompanying drawings, the same or similar components are denoted by the same reference numerals.

The accompanying drawings are included in the specification, constitute a part thereof, show an embodiment of the present invention, and are used to explain the principle of the present invention together with the description.
It is a figure which shows the external appearance of the female thermometer which is an example of a biometric information measuring device. It is a block diagram which shows the internal structure of the situation thermometer shown in FIG. It is a block diagram which shows the circuit structure of a timepiece part. It is a flowchart which shows operation | movement of the female thermometer by embodiment. It is a figure explaining the state of power consumption from production of a female thermometer, shipment to use state.

  Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present embodiment will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

  When the biological information measuring device of the present embodiment is shipped from a manufacturer with a battery attached, the power can be turned off while the clock function is stopped. Significantly reduce power. The stop of the clock function is realized by stopping the oscillation by the clock crystal oscillator. Examples of the battery-driven biological information measuring apparatus to which such a configuration can be applied include various devices such as an electronic thermometer, an electronic blood pressure monitor, a blood glucose meter, a pulse oximeter, and an activity meter. A female thermometer will be described as an example.

  FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an appearance of a female thermometer 100 according to the embodiment. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 101 denotes a main body case formed of a synthetic resin having impact resistance and chemical resistance, and stores an arithmetic control section, a buzzer section, a battery (power supply section) and the like which will be described later. Reference numeral 102 denotes a stainless steel metal cap, in which a temperature measurement unit such as a thermistor (described later) is fixed and accommodated by an adhesive (that is, the metal cap 102 controls the body temperature (temperature) with respect to the thermistor. In addition to transferring heat, it plays the role of protecting the thermistor from external impacts). Reference numeral 103 denotes a display panel, which includes a dot matrix liquid crystal unit or the like that can display numbers, characters, and figures (characters, icons, etc.).

  Further, an input button 104 for inputting various instructions to the female thermometer 100 based on the display content displayed on the display panel 103 is provided on the main body case 101. The input button 104 includes a left button 111 and a right button 112 for moving a cursor for selecting a selection target such as a menu item displayed on the display panel 103. Further, an upper button 121 and a lower button 122 for giving an instruction (change instruction) for changing a set value for a selection target of a cursor movement destination are provided. Furthermore, a determination button 130 for determining a selection target of the cursor movement destination (or a set value changed for the selection target of the cursor movement destination) is provided. The determination button 130 also serves as a power ON / OFF switch for the female thermometer 100.

  Further, although not shown, the female thermometer 100 may be provided with an external communication unit (including a connector or the like) for connecting a personal computer (PC) or the like as a host. Moreover, the female thermometer 100 may be provided with an alarm function for urging regular measurement. The alarm function is a configuration that prompts the user to measure body temperature by sounding an alarm sound when a set alarm time is reached.

  A battery lid 140 is provided on the surface of the female thermometer 100 opposite to the surface on which the display panel 103 exists. The user can open / close the battery cover 140 and attach / detach the button battery 120.

  Next, the system configuration of the female thermometer 100 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a system configuration of the female thermometer 100.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the female thermometer 100 includes a temperature measurement unit 210 that outputs a signal having a resonance frequency corresponding to the temperature, and an arithmetic control unit 220 that controls the entire female thermometer 100. The calculation control unit 220 acquires a digital temperature value based on a signal from the temperature measurement unit 210 and calculates a predicted temperature from the acquired temperature. In addition, the female thermometer 100 has a display unit 230 for performing various displays such as measurement results. The display unit 230 includes a backlight LED 231 and a display panel 103. Further, the female thermometer 100 includes a buzzer unit 240 that outputs a sound such as an alarm sound, an input unit 250 that receives an operation from a user, a power source unit 260 that supplies power to each unit, and a dedicated crystal oscillation circuit. Is provided.

  The temperature measuring unit 210 includes a thermistor and a capacitor installed in a temperature sensing unit connected in parallel, and a temperature measuring CR oscillation circuit. The CPU 221 calculates the temperature value of the digital quantity according to the change in the count quantity of the counter 226 corresponding to the temperature of the thermistor. The configuration of the temperature measurement unit 210 is an example and is not limited to this.

  The arithmetic control unit 220 includes a CPU 221 that executes various processes in the female thermometer 100. For example, the CPU 221 performs body temperature prediction calculation according to the prediction formula program stored in the ROM 222, and records the obtained body temperature in the RAM 223 in association with the date / time information (date, time) obtained from the clock unit 270. The counter 226 counts the oscillation signal of the temperature measurement CR oscillation circuit included in the temperature measurement unit 210. The CPU 221 samples the count value of the counter 226, sequentially acquires the measurement result of the body temperature, and performs a prediction calculation. The display control unit 227 drives and controls the display unit 230 under the control of the CPU 221. That is, when the CPU 221 issues various display instructions to the display control unit 227, the display control unit 227 drives the display panel 103 of the display unit 230 to realize display.

  The input unit 250 includes the left button 111, the right button 112, the upper button 121, the lower button 122, the determination button 130, and the like described above, and receives various instructions from the user. A button battery 120 is attached to the power supply unit 260 and supplies power to each unit of the female thermometer 100. The power supply unit 260 shifts to a power-off state in response to a power-off instruction from the CPU 221, but the clock unit 270 continues to provide power even in the power-off state in order to maintain the clock function.

  The clock unit 270 counts clock pulses from the crystal oscillation circuit included in the clock unit 270 and provides date and time information to the CPU 221. FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of the clock unit 270 according to the present embodiment. The SR flip-flop 301 determines the on / off state of the output Q in accordance with the signal input from the S input 311 and the R input 312. The S input 311 and the R input 312 are connected to the ground level by pull-down resistors R1 and R2. A 32 KHz clock is generated by an oscillation circuit including a crystal oscillator 302, a NAND circuit 303, resistors R3 and R4, and capacitors C1 and C2, and this is input to the clock IC 304 via the inverter INV. The clock IC generates clock date and time information by counting the clock and provides it to the CPU 221.

  One input terminal of the NAND circuit 303 is connected to the crystal oscillator 302, and the other terminal is connected to the output Q of the SR flip-flop 301. Therefore, when a signal is applied to the S input 311 and the R input 312 so that the output Q of the SR flip-flop 301 is turned on, an output corresponding to the output of the crystal oscillator 302 can be obtained from the NAND circuit 303, and the clock IC 304 Is supplied with a clock. On the other hand, when a signal is applied to the S input 311 and the R input 312 so that the output Q of the SR flip-flop 301 is turned off, the output of the NAND circuit 303 is always turned off. For this reason, the clock supply to the clock IC 304 is stopped, and the clock function is stopped. As a result, power consumption in the clock unit 270 is drastically reduced.

  Needless to say, the above-described method for stopping the crystal oscillation circuit using the SR flip-flop 301 is merely an example, and other methods may be used.

  Next, operation | movement of the female thermometer 100 of this embodiment which has the above structures is demonstrated with reference to the flowchart of FIG. Below, especially the operation | movement regarding starting and a stop of the clock function of the female thermometer 100 is demonstrated.

  When the female thermometer 100 is turned on, the CPU 221 performs a set operation for setting the output Q of the SR flip-flop 301 to “1” in order to start the oscillation of the oscillation circuit of the clock unit 270. For example, [S = 0, R = 0] → [S = 1, R = 0] → [S = 0, S input 311 (hereinafter simply referred to as S) and R input 312 (hereinafter simply referred to as R). By applying a signal such as R = 0], the output Q of the SR flip-flop 301 maintains the state of “1”. This operation may be performed when the clock unit 270 is stopped, that is, when the output Q is “0”. Therefore, the CPU 221 acquires the value of the output Q, and the output Q is “1”. Alternatively, step S401 may be skipped. However, if the output Q is already “1”, the output state does not change even if the operation of step S401 is performed. Therefore, step S401 may be operated every time.

  Next, in step S402, the CPU 221 performs normal processing of the biological information measuring device. In this embodiment, since it is a female thermometer, biometric information will be a body temperature of a test subject.

  In step S <b> 403, the CPU 221 determines whether or not a predetermined condition for stopping the clock unit 270 has been detected. This predetermined condition is given to the female thermometer 100 at the final stage of factory shipment, for example, and will be described in detail later. The predetermined condition for stopping the clock unit 270 is a state that cannot be generated in a normal use state, and therefore, the clock unit 270 cannot be stopped in a normal use state by a user.

  If it is determined that the predetermined condition for stopping the clock unit 270 is detected, the process proceeds to step S404. In step S404, the CPU 221 drives the buzzer unit 240 with a predetermined pattern to notify that the predetermined condition has been detected. In step S405, the clock stop flag is turned on. As will be described later, when a power-off operation is performed while the clock stop flag is on, the CPU 221 performs a reset operation so that the output Q of the SR flip-flop 301 becomes “0”, and then the female thermometer 100 is turned on. Transition to the power off state.

  In step S406, the CPU 221 determines whether or not a power-off operation has been performed. For example, when the CPU 221 detects that the enter button 130 is pressed for a long time, the CPU 221 determines that the power-off operation is correct. If the power-off operation is not detected, the process returns to step S402 and the above-described process is repeated.

  If a power-off operation is detected, the process proceeds to step S407. In step S407, the CPU 221 determines whether or not the clock stop flag is on. If the clock stop flag is off, the process skips steps S408 and S409 and proceeds to step S410.

  On the other hand, if the clock stop flag is on, the process proceeds to step S408, and the CPU 221 stops the oscillation circuit of the clock unit 270. That is, the CPU 221 applies a signal to S and R so as to reset the SR flip-flop 301 and sets the output Q to “0”. For example, by applying a signal such that [S = 0, R = 0] → [S = 0, R = 1] → [S = 0, R = 0], the output Q of the SR flip-flop 301 is After that, the state of output Q = 0 is maintained until the set operation described in step S401 is performed. In step S409, the CPU 221 resets the stop unlove.

  In step S410, CPU221 moves the female thermometer 100 to a power-off state, and complete | finishes a process. As described above, when a predetermined condition is detected and a power-off operation is performed, the power is turned off while the clock unit 270 is stopped, and the power consumption of the button battery 120 can be extremely reduced.

  FIG. 5 is a diagram schematically showing changes in power consumption when the female thermometer 100 is produced, shipped, and used by the user. The final process at the time of production is a shipping inspection. Since the inspection is performed by actually operating the female thermometer 100, the power consumption is in a normal use state (period 501). When the shipping inspection is finished, a predetermined condition for stopping the above-described clock unit 270 is given to the female thermometer 100.

  For example, when the female thermometer 100 has a communication function, the predetermined condition used here can be performed by causing the female thermometer 100 to receive specific data through communication. The communication used here may be either wireless or wired, or may be proximity communication (NFC).

  Further, when the female thermometer 100 does not have a communication function, a physical quantity that is not measured in a normal use state or a change amount thereof is given. For example, in the inspection of an electronic thermometer such as the female thermometer 100, there is a step of performing a test by putting the electronic thermometer into a 40-degree thermostat. Therefore, by using this, the female thermometer 100 performing the side in a 40-degree thermostat is placed in the thermostat of about 10 degrees immediately after that, so that a temperature change that would never be possible in normal use ( Temperature gradient). The female thermometer 100 captures such a temperature change and detects it as a predetermined condition for stopping the clock unit 270. This is advantageous because a part of the test carried out in the shipping inspection can be used for detection of a predetermined condition for stopping the clock.

  Thereafter, if the power source of the female thermometer 100 is turned off, the female thermometer 100 is put into the “timepiece function stop + power-off state” by the processing described in FIG. A period 502 indicates a storage time (distribution period) of the female thermometer 100, and is a power-off state in which the clock function is stopped as described above. Therefore, even when the button battery 120 is attached to the female thermometer 100 during the physical distribution period, the power consumption of the button battery 120 can be minimized.

  Thereafter, when the user turns on the power of the female thermometer 100, the oscillation circuit of the timepiece unit 270 starts to operate by the process of step S401 described above, and the timepiece function is restarted. The user sets the time in the female thermometer 100 and then measures the body temperature (period 503). In the normal use state (period 503 and period 504), since the predetermined condition cannot be detected in step S403, the clock stop flag is not turned on thereafter, and the clock unit 270 is in the power-off state. Maintain its function. Therefore, in the period 504 in the normal power-off state, the power consumption is larger than the power consumption during storage (period 502).

  Further, since the power supply from the power supply unit 260 is completely stopped when the battery is replaced, the clock function of the clock unit 270 is naturally stopped (period 511). Thereafter, when the battery is installed, power supply from the power supply unit 260 to the clock unit 270 is resumed. At this time, whether the output Q of the SR flip-flop 301 is “1” or “0”. Indeterminate (period 512). That is, the clock function may or may not have resumed. However, when the user turns on the power of the female thermometer 100, the above-described step S401 is executed, so that the clock function is reliably restarted (period 513).

  As described above, according to the female thermometer 100 of the above embodiment, in the period 501 (during storage (distribution period)) from factory shipment to delivery to the user, the power is off and the clock unit 270 is stopped. It becomes a state. Therefore, even if the female thermometer 100 is shipped with the battery attached, the consumption of the attached battery can be suppressed, and the user can perform troublesome operations such as attaching the battery or pulling out the insulating film at the time of purchase. Without doing so, the female thermometer 100 can be used longer using the attached battery.

  In the above embodiment, the female thermometer 100 is exemplified as the biological information measuring device. However, the present invention is a variety of devices that measure biological information, such as other types of electronic thermometers, blood pressure meters, pulse oximeters, and activity meters. It can be applied to. If any type of biological information measuring device has a communication function, the predetermined condition for determining detection in step S403 can be set as a case where specific data is received by communication.

  Further, in the case of a biological information measuring device that does not have a communication function, for example, in the case of an electronic sphygmomanometer, a predetermined condition for stopping the clock unit 270 is that a pressure that does not occur during measurement of the living body is measured can do. Further, in the case of an activity meter, a predetermined condition for stopping the clock unit 270 can be that the activity meter measures vibrations that cannot be generated by humans, that is, acceleration exceeding a predetermined value. . Further, in the case of a pulse oximeter, detection of at least one of a pulse rate and a percutaneous arterial blood oxygen saturation that cannot be obtained from a living body is a predetermined condition for stopping the clock unit 270. be able to.

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and various changes and modifications can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. Therefore, in order to make the scope of the present invention public, the following claims are attached.

Claims (5)

A biological information measuring device driven by a battery,
Measuring means for measuring biological information;
A clock means having an oscillation circuit, and generating date and time information by counting clock pulses generated by the oscillation circuit;
Power supply means for turning off the biological information measuring device while maintaining power supply from the battery to the timepiece means;
Control means for stopping oscillation of the oscillation circuit in response to detection of a predetermined condition, and causing the oscillation circuit to shift to an oscillation state at the next power-on ,
The control unit, when a change in the range of the measurement value or measurement value that is assumed in the measurement of normal biological information the measuring device is measured, wherein the predetermined condition is characterized that you determined to be detected Biological information measuring device.   The biological information measuring apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the control means automatically moves the biological information measuring apparatus to a power-off state after stopping the oscillation of the oscillation circuit. The measuring means measures the body temperature of the subject,
Wherein when the change in the temperature values measured by said measuring means exceeds a predetermined gradient value, biometric according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the predetermined condition is characterized in that it is determined that the detected Information measuring device. The measuring means measures the pulse rate and percutaneous arterial oxygen saturation of the subject,
The control means determines that the predetermined condition has been detected when the pulse rate measured by the measuring means exceeds a predetermined value or when the percutaneous arterial oxygen saturation exceeds a predetermined value. The living body information measuring device according to claim 1 or 2 characterized by things. A method for controlling a biological information measuring apparatus driven by a battery, comprising: a measuring means for measuring biological information; and a clock means for generating date information by counting clock pulses generated by a clock oscillation circuit. There,
A power control step for turning off the biological information measuring device in a state where power is supplied from the battery to the timepiece means in response to a power-off instruction;
When the measurement means measures a measurement value outside the range assumed in normal biological information measurement or a change in the measurement value, the oscillation of the oscillation circuit is stopped and the oscillation circuit is in an oscillation state at the next power-on. And a control process for shifting to a control method for a biological information measuring device.

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