JPH0337042A - Organism signal detecting telemeter - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To satisfactorily transmit an organism signal to a receiver without installing a special antenna by providing a detecting means detecting the organism signal indicating the state of an organism, a transmitting circuit generating a transmission signal corresponding to the organism signal, and an applying section applying the transmission signal of the transmitting circuit to the organism. CONSTITUTION:A telemeter 1 fitted to an organism 2, e.g. a wrist of a driver, converts the skin potential signal detected by electrodes 3 and 4 into the corresponding detected signal with a detecting circuit 5, converts it into the corresponding transmission signal with a transmitting circuit 9 via a photo-coupler 8, applies it to the organism 2, and transmits it to a receiving section 17 side by using the organism 2 as an external antenna. The receiving section 17 receives the transmission signal and outputs it as an analog signal corresponding to the skin potential. The skin potential of the organism 2 when a doze or a drowsiness occurs is set in a reference voltage generating circuit 18 in advance, the skin potential signal from the receiving section 17 and the preset skin potential are compared by a comparator 19. When the skin potential becomes the preset value or below, a timer circuit 20 feeds a command signal to a cooler control circuit 21 for a preset period to switch the cooler control mode to the driver awakening mode.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] [Industrial application field] The present invention relates to a biological signal detection telemeter.

[Conventional technology]

This type of device detects biological signals such as brain waves, electrocardiograms, and myoelectric waves of the living body by bringing a biological electrode into contact with the living body, and transmits the detected biological signals to a remote location. The transmitted biosignal is received by the receiving device and used, for example, to control the indoor temperature of an air conditioner. That is, since the biological signal is transmitted wirelessly, the biological body is freed from the burden of wired communication.

Conventionally, this biological signal detection telemeter l has generally been
As shown in the figure, it is composed of a detection circuit 5 that detects biosignals of a living body 2 using electrodes 3, and a transmission circuit 9 that transmits the biosignals to a receiving device R. It has a similar structure. An antenna A for transmission is attached externally to the device 1, or an antenna wire is provided inside the device 1 to ensure good transmission and reception with the receiving side R.

The device having the above structure, for example, as shown in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 63-99449, is configured in the shape of a wristwatch (see Fig. 9) or in the shape of a ring, and has a structure that allows it to be worn in contact with a living body. There is.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

However, in the structure described above, since the antenna A and the living body 2 are electrically connected by the living body electrode 3,
Stray capacitance is likely to occur between the external antenna or the internal antenna and the skin of the living body, and in this case, for example, as in the case of a wristwatch shown in Figure 9, the influence of the stray capacitance Ic can no longer be ignored due to hand movements. be. In other words, since the relationship between the living body and the antenna is equivalent to that shown in Figure 10, there is a problem in that as the stray capacitance C increases, the antenna gain due to the inductance L to the antenna decreases, resulting in lower transmission efficiency. .

External attachment may be considered as a countermeasure to improve the antenna, but it cannot be a solution when considering the ease of attaching it to a living body.

The present invention was made in view of the above-mentioned circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide a biological signal detection telemeter that can satisfactorily transmit biological signals to a receiver without special installation of an antenna.

[Means to solve the problem]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention includes a detection means for detecting a biosignal generated from a living body and indicating the state of the living body, and emits the biosignal as a radio wave based on the biosignal from the detection means. a transmission circuit that generates a transmission signal corresponding to the biological signal; and an application section that applies the transmission signal of the transmission circuit to the living body; , the living body is used as a transmitting antenna.

[Action/Effect]

Therefore, based on the biosignal indicating the state of the living body detected by the detection means, the transmitting circuit generates a transmission signal corresponding to the biosignal in order to radiate this biosignal as a radio wave, and the applying section A signal is applied to the organism.

Thus, the living body functions as a transmitting antenna, and radio waves based on transmission signals corresponding to the biological signals emitted by the living body are transmitted to the wireless receiver.

That is, since a living body is used as a transmitting antenna, there is an excellent effect that a living body signal can be transmitted without the need for a special antenna.

〔Example] The present invention will be described below with reference to embodiments shown in the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an outline of a biological signal detection telemeter to which the present invention is applied. Figure 2 shows the first part of its basic configuration.
It is a figure showing an example.

In the figure, l is a telemeter, which is composed of a wristwatch type main body 15 and a ring 13, and the main body 15 has a band 16.
is fixed to the wrist of the living body 2.

The contact surface of the inner surface of the ring 13 that corresponds to the pad of the finger, and the main body 15
Electrodes 3 and 4 for detecting the skin potential of the living body 2 are respectively arranged on the contact surface between the body and the wrist.

The main body 15 also includes a detection circuit 5 for processing the skin potential detected by the electrode 3.4, and a transmission circuit 9 for transmitting a signal corresponding to the detected skin potential using FM waves in this embodiment. There is. The detection circuit 5 includes a detection amplifier 6 that amplifies the skin potential signal from the electrode 3.4, and an A/D converter 7 that digitally processes the analog signal processed by the detection amplifier 6 into a predetermined frequency signal. It consists of Further, the transmitting circuit 9 includes a modulator 10 that modulates the frequency signal into an FM signal, and an oscillator 11 that outputs the modulated signal from the modulator 10 to an output line 12.

Further, reference numeral 8 denotes a known isolation photocoupler 1 for sending a signal from the detection circuit 5 to the transmission circuit 9 and for electrically isolating the detection circuit 5 and the transmission circuit 9.
4 is a circuit 5 for detecting the skin potential signal from the electrode 3 of the ring 13;
This is the lead wire that leads to. Note that the output line 12 is connected to the transmitting circuit 9
The oscillator 21 in the transmitting circuit 9 and the electrode 4 are electrically connected in order to apply an output signal from the transmitter to the living body 2.

With the above configuration, the detection circuit 5 and the transmission circuit 9 are electrically separated by the isolation photocoupler 8, and by connecting the output line 12 from the transmission circuit 9 to the electrode 4, the simple structure shown in FIG. As shown in the equivalent circuit diagram,
The living body 2 will function as an external transmitting antenna for the device 1.

Therefore, it is not necessary to specially arrange an antenna section as in the conventional case, and the device itself can be made smaller and easier to wear. In addition, in this example, since the frequency of the transmitted signal is in the FM wave domain as described above, the frequency band is different from the frequency of the detected biological signal (several tens of kHz), and mutual interference is prevented. .

Next, as an application example of the device I, an automobile cooler control device that performs cooler control by determining the alertness level of a living body based on the skin potential of the living body will be described with reference to FIG.

As described above, the telemeter 1 installed on the wrist of a living body, for example, a driver, converts the skin potential signal detected by the electrode 3.4 into a corresponding detection signal in the detection circuit 5, and then converts it into an isolation photo. This detection signal is converted into a corresponding transmission signal by the transmission circuit 9 via the coupler 8, applied to the living body 2 through the electrode 4, and transmitted to the receiving section 17 side using the living body 2 as an external antenna.

The receiving unit 17 receives the transmission signal, demodulates it into an analog signal corresponding to the skin potential detected from the living body 2, and outputs the analog signal. In addition, the reference voltage generation circuit 18 is preset with the skin potential at the time when the living body (ii! person) falls asleep or sleeps.

Skin potential signal from receiving section 17 and reference voltage generation circuit 18
The comparator 19 compares the set skin potential with the set skin potential of the driver, and when the driver's dozing state or sleep occurs and the skin potential of the living body falls below the set value, the comparator 19 sends a high level signal to the timer circuit 20. and timer circuit 20
Activate. Then, the timer circuit 20 sends a command signal to the cooler control circuit 21 for a preset time, and in response to this command signal, the cooler control circuit 21 switches the cooler control mode from the normal mode to the wake-up mode that wakes up the driver. Note that in the wake-up mode, for example, cold air is blown toward the driver in order to wake the driver up.

With the above configuration, the driver is freed from interference with driving operations due to external antennas, and can also perform favorable transmission and reception of biological signals. Since the driver's wakefulness state is determined based on this biological signal and the cooler is controlled, it is possible to prevent the driver from dozing off.

In the first embodiment described above, the output line 12 from the transmitting circuit 9 is connected to the electrode 4 as shown in FIG. 2, but as in the second embodiment shown in FIG. Electrode 22
The output line 12 may be connected to the electrode 22, and the output signal of the transmitting circuit 9 may be applied to the living body 2 through the electrode 22.

Further, as shown in the third embodiment of FIG. 6, when a device GND electrode 23 is provided, the output line 12 may be connected to this GND line.

In the various embodiments described above, the isolation photocoupler 8 is used to electrically isolate the transmission circuit 9 from the detection circuit 5, but the isolation photocoupler 8 is not limited to this, and for example, a transformer as shown in FIG. They may be electrically separated by 24.

Furthermore, in the various embodiments described above, the skin potential of a living body may be used.

Further, in the above embodiment, the transmission signal frequency is in the FM wave domain, but it can be freely set so as not to interfere with the frequency of the detected biological signal.

Moreover, it goes without saying that the attachment part is not limited to the wrist.

In addition, in the above, a so-called contact type has been described in which a biological electrode is provided to detect a biological signal from a living body, and the biological signal is detected by bringing the electrode into contact with the living body. The present invention is also applicable to so-called non-contact devices that detect the condition of a living body without having any contact with the living body, such as the dozing prevention device disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 63-46925. In this case, since there is no contact part with the living body, it is not necessary to electrically separate the living body and the transmission circuit, and the living body can be transmitted by simply arranging an antenna electrode that comes into contact with the living body. It can function as a trust antenna. Therefore, there is no need to specially arrange the antenna, making the device smaller and lighter.
and improved wearability.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a diagram showing an outline of a biological signal detection telemeter to which the present invention is applied, Fig. 2 is a basic configuration diagram showing the first embodiment of the present invention, and Fig. 3 is an equivalent circuit of the one shown in Fig. 1 when installed. 4 shows the constituent countries of the cooler control device applying the telemeter according to the first embodiment, FIG. 5 shows the basic configuration of the second embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 6 shows the third embodiment of the present invention. Basic configuration diagram, Figure 7 is a diagram showing an embodiment using a transformer, Figure 8 is a diagram explaining transmission and reception of a conventional biological signal detection telemeter, Figure 9 is a wristwatch type transmitter, and Figure 10 is a conventional FIG. 3 is an equivalent circuit diagram when the device is attached. 1... Telemeter, 2... Biological body, 3.4.22.2
3... Electrode, 5... Detection circuit, 8... Photocoupler for isolation, 9... Transmission circuit, 12...
output line. 17... Receiving section, 24... Transformer, A... Antenna. R...Receiving device.

Claims (5)

[Claims] (1) A biological signal detection telemeter placed near a wireless receiver to detect the condition of a living body and transmit it to the wireless receiver, which detects a biological signal generated from the living body and indicating the condition of the living body. a detection means; a transmission circuit that generates a transmission signal corresponding to the biological signal in order to radiate the biological signal as a radio wave based on the biological signal from the detection means; A biological signal detection telemeter comprising: an applying section for applying an applied signal to the biological body, the biological signal being applied from the applying section to the biological body to use the biological body as a transmitting antenna. (2) The detection means has a biological electrode that comes into contact with the living body in order to detect the biological signal, and is provided with separation means that electrically separates the detection means and the transmission circuit. The biological signal detection telemeter according to claim 1, wherein the biological signal from the detection means is input to the transmission circuit via the separation means. (3) The biological signal detection telemeter according to claim 2, wherein the application section is the biological electrode. (4) The biological signal detection telemeter according to claim 2 or 3, wherein the separation means is an isolation photocoupler. (5) The biological signal detection telemeter according to claim 2 or 3, wherein the separation means is a transformer.