KR101648854B1 - Apparatus for inducing tactile sense using pulse laser - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a somatosensory induction device, and more particularly, to a device for inducing a somatosensory sensation in a user's skin in a safety standard using a pulse laser having a wavelength of 809 nm. In particular, the present invention relates to a somatosensory induction device capable of inducing a somatosensory to a user by controlling a main frequency, a sub frequency, an intensity, a duty ratio, and a diameter of a laser to be irradiated.

Description

[0001] APPARATUS FOR INDUCING TACTILE SENSE USING PULSE LASER [0002]

The present invention relates to a somatosensory induction device, and more particularly, to a device for inducing a somatosensory sensation in a user's skin in a safety standard using a pulse laser having a wavelength of 809 nm. In particular, the present invention relates to a somatosensory induction device capable of inducing a somatosensory to a user by controlling a main frequency, a sub frequency, an intensity, a duty ratio, and a diameter of a laser to be irradiated.

A laser device is a device that emits light using light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation.

Such a laser device emits artificial light with uniform direction, phase and wavelength. Due to the above-described property control, the laser device is widely used in various industrial fields such as communication, medical, nanotechnology, and precision machine tools .

On the other hand, the laser can be realized by two mechanisms, namely, a mechanism accompanied by damage to the medium and a mechanism not accompanied by damage to the medium.

The mechanism of damage to the medium is manifested by laser induced optical breakdown or laser ablation, which is used in biomedical stimulation and medical surgery.

On the other hand, the mechanism that does not cause damage to the medium is called the laser induced thermo-elastic effect, which is a mechanism of generating a stress wave without damaging the medium. Such a thermoelastic effect is called a nondestructive test non-destructive inspection, and medical imaging.

In recent years, studies on laser devices without such injury have been actively carried out, and studies for finding the property range of the laser which does not cause injury of the living body have been progressed in detail.

The present invention has been invented based on the above technical background and has been invented to provide additional technical elements that can not easily be invented by those skilled in the art, .

2012-0004709 (Jan. 13, 2012)

The present invention is intended to realize a mechanism in which there is no damage to the medium during laser irradiation, i.e., a mechanism not accompanied by damage to the user's skin.

In order to realize such a mechanism, the laser is irradiated to adjust the various properties of the laser such as the sub-frequency, the main frequency, the intensity, or the diameter of the irradiated laser so that the somatic sensation And to provide a device capable of inducing the same.

More specifically, the present invention can adjust the sub-frequency and intensity to adjust the ratio of the main frequency and the envelope width to the main period when the sub-frequency is set to a specific value, The present invention provides a range in which a somatic sensation can be induced without damaging the user's skin, a diameter, an intensity, and a sub-frequency of the laser to guide the somatic sensation without damaging the user's skin, And to control each attribute within the above range so that the user can feel the sense of body safely as a result.

The technical problem to be solved by the present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned technical problems, and various technical problems can be included within the scope of what is well known to a person skilled in the art from the following description.

The present invention provides a somatosensory induction device as means for solving the above problems. However, the categories of the present invention are not limited to the words themselves, and can be variously extended within the scope of technical ideas to be discussed below.

The somatic sensory guidance apparatus according to the present invention includes a sub frequency control unit for controlling a sub frequency; A laser generator for generating a laser according to a predetermined sub frequency; And a control unit for controlling the sub-frequency control unit and the laser generation unit.

In the somatic sensory guidance apparatus, the sub-frequency control unit may set the sub-frequency to any one of values of 3 kHz to 4.5 kHz.

Meanwhile, the somatic sensory guidance apparatus includes a power control unit for controlling a laser intensity;

Wherein the power control unit sets the intensity of the laser to any one of values of 23W to 36W.

In addition, the somatic sensory guidance apparatus may further include a diameter control unit for controlling a beam diameter of the laser, wherein the diameter control unit controls the diameter of the laser to be in a range of 0.45 mm to 7.0 mm Is set to any one of them.

The somatic sensory guidance apparatus may further include a main frequency control unit for controlling the main frequency.

The main frequency control unit may control the ratio of the envelope width to the laser main period to a specific value. In particular, the duty ratio of the envelope width with respect to the laser main period is 25 Or more and 75% or less.

In this case, the main frequency control unit may set the main frequency to any value of 0.5 Hz or more and 1 kHz or less.

According to the present invention, the user can induce somatic sensation without damaging the skin.

According to the present invention, it is possible to control various properties of the laser, that is, the frequency (sub frequency) and intensity of the pulse laser itself, the frequency of the envelope (main frequency) And a combination thereof. Thus, it is possible to provide a variety of methodologies that can induce somatic sensation without damaging the skin.

Further, according to the present invention, it is possible to provide a numerical range of each attribute or combination of attributes that does not damage the user's skin.

FIG. 1 is a view showing a user's sense of body sensation induced by using a somatosensory induction device according to the present invention.
2 is a block diagram showing a detailed configuration of a somatosensor according to the present invention.
Fig. 3 shows the envelope formed by the pulse laser and the pulse laser for explaining the respective properties of the laser to be irradiated.
FIG. 4 shows experimental results on the sub-frequency and the laser intensity range within a range that does not cause damage to the user's skin.
FIG. 5 shows experimental results on the ratio of the envelope width (envelope duty ratio) to the main frequency and the main period in a range in which no damage occurs to the user's skin.
FIG. 6 shows experimental results on the range of the laser diameter, sub-frequency, and laser intensity within a range that does not cause damage to the user's skin.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS Reference will now be made in detail to the preferred embodiments of the present invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference numerals refer to the like elements throughout. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

The embodiments disclosed herein should not be construed or interpreted as limiting the scope of the present invention. It will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art that the description including the embodiments of the present specification has various applications. Accordingly, any embodiment described in the Detailed Description of the Invention is illustrative for a better understanding of the invention and is not intended to limit the scope of the invention to embodiments.

The functional blocks shown in the drawings and described below are merely examples of possible implementations. In other implementations, other functional blocks may be used without departing from the spirit and scope of the following detailed description. Also, although one or more functional blocks of the present invention are represented as discrete blocks, one or more of the functional blocks of the present invention may be a combination of various hardware and software configurations that perform the same function.

In addition, the expression "including any element" is merely an expression of an open-ended expression, and is not to be construed as excluding the additional elements.

Further, when a component is referred to as being connected or connected to another component, it may be directly connected or connected to the other component, but it should be understood that there may be other components in between.

Before describing the present invention, the definition of terms used in the present description will be described first.

FIG. 1 is a view showing an operation period of a laser beam and an intensity of a laser, and FIG. 3 shows a sub period, a main period, a pulse width, an envelop width, and laser intensity.

First, the sub-period is a period in which the rising and falling of the irradiated laser pulse occur once, that is, a period, and is indicated by t1 in Fig. Therefore, the sub-period includes a period in which the laser pulse is in the high state and a period in which the laser pulse is in the low state. Of these, the rising period is separately referred to as t2 and referred to as pulse width.

On the other hand, the main period is a period in which formation and disappearance of a laser envelope to be irradiated are performed once, that is, a period, and is denoted by T1 in Fig. In this case, the envelope refers to a group formed by a plurality of consecutive short-period laser pulses, that is, a series of laser pulse groups. As shown in FIG. 1, a plurality of laser pulses are continuously present in a very short period In this case, macroscopically, it looks as if it is a single high period. The group of laser pulses is called an envelope.

As a result, the main period includes a period in which the envelope is in a high state and a period in which the state is in a low state, and in particular, a period in which the rising state is specifically indicated as T2 is referred to as an envelope width.

On the other hand, the intensity of the laser means the intensity of the energy contained in the laser, and the intensity of the laser can be controlled by the magnitude of the supplied power.

In addition, parameters to be described later assume that the wavelength of the laser used in the present invention is 809 nm. The 809nm wavelength laser has the advantage of being able to relatively easily control the repetition rate of the pulse width and pulse in the form of a diode pulse laser. In addition, in the case of 809 nm, penetration depth is higher than visible light wavelength, so that it can be said to be a laser having a wavelength suitable for stimulating cells in the human skin as in the present invention.

Hereinafter, the operation principle of the somatosensory induction device 100 according to the embodiment of the present invention and the detailed configuration of the device will be described with reference to FIG. 2 and FIG.

FIG. 2 is a view for explaining a process of inducing a somatosensory to a user by using the somatosensory induction apparatus 100 according to the present invention. The somatosensory induction apparatus 100 continuously generates a pulse laser, And transmits the pulsed laser through the optical fiber 200 connected to the somatic sensory guidance apparatus 100.

Meanwhile, the laser generated by the somatic sensory guidance apparatus 100 is transmitted to the user through the optical fiber 200. Here, the optical fiber 200 refers to a thin fiber that transmits a laser, Or plastic. The optical fiber 200 may be composed of a core and a cladding, and generally has a shape in which a round core is uniformly wrapped with a cladding. Since the manner in which a light signal including a laser is transmitted through the optical fiber 200 is well known, the process of transmitting the pulse laser generated by the somatic sense induction apparatus 100 according to the present invention through the optical fiber 200 will be described in detail Description thereof will be omitted.

On the other hand, when the part connected to the somatic sense-inducing device 100 is defined as one end of the optical fiber 200, the other end opposite thereto is connected with an accessory device for directly irradiating the pulsed laser to the medium. A lens is preferably used as the upper accessory, and the lens serves to focus the laser transmitted through the optical fiber 200 to one point.

2, the pulse laser is depicted as being irradiated with only one point of the user's finger. However, the pulse laser may be irradiated to a plurality of points according to the design change of the manufacturer, and further, Intervals, and the like, so that a specific body part of the user is irradiated according to a series of patterns.

The somatic sensory guidance apparatus 100 basically generates a laser for generating a mechanical reaction or a chemical reaction by stimulating a medium. As will be described later, the gastric sense induction apparatus 100 controls various properties of the laser, A laser can be generated.

On the other hand, the laser beam by the somatic sensory guidance apparatus 100 basically serves as an energy source, is transferred into the skin tissue of the user and is converted into thermal energy, and the thus converted thermal energy raises the temperature in the skin tissue of the user The heat is transferred to the surrounding tissues so that the user can feel the somatic sensation. More specifically, when the laser having a very short pulse width is irradiated to the medium, that is, the skin tissue of the user, the medium is locally heated by the momentary laser absorption, and the localized thermal expansion of the medium is caused by such instantaneous heating The thermal expansion of the medium again transmits pressure to the surroundings, that is, the pressure is transmitted to the elastic medium in the form of stress waves to stimulate tactile cells in the skin tissue. In other words, the somatic sensory guidance apparatus 100 according to the present invention increases the temperature by irradiating a laser, and allows the user to feel a touch through a series of thermal expansion, pressure increase, stress wave generation, do.

Hereinafter, the detailed configuration of the somatic sensory guidance apparatus 100 according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.

3, the somatic sensory guidance apparatus 100 includes a sub frequency control unit 110, a power control unit 120, a main frequency control unit 130, a laser generation unit 140, and a control unit 160 .

First, the sub frequency control unit 110 controls the frequency of the pulse laser generated in the somatic sensory guidance apparatus 100.

The sub-frequency is a value corresponding to the reciprocal of the sub-period described above with reference to FIG. 1, and indicates an index indicating the number of cycles of the laser pulse per unit time. The sub frequency control unit 110 in the present invention is preferably implemented to control the sub frequency in the range of 1 kHz to 100 kHz.

Meanwhile, the sub-frequency control unit 110 can control the width of the laser pulse, and preferably the width of the laser pulse can be adjusted to 1 to 1000 mu s.

The power control unit 120 in the somatic sensory guidance apparatus 100 controls the intensity of the laser. The intensity of a laser is proportional to the amount of energy contained in the laser. Generally, the intensity of the laser is determined by the magnitude of the power required to generate the laser. That is, the power control unit 120 controls the intensity of the irradiated laser by controlling the magnitude of the power when the laser generating unit 140 generates an actual laser when receiving power from an external power source .

Meanwhile, according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the power control unit 120 is configured to control the intensity of the laser within a range of 1W to 1000W.

The main frequency control unit 130 in the somatic sensory guidance apparatus 100 controls the frequency of the envelope defined in FIG. 1, that is, the main frequency.

The main frequency is a value corresponding to the reciprocal of the main period described above with reference to FIG. 1, and is an index indicating how many cycles of the envelope per unit time are repeated. The main frequency control unit 130 in the present invention is preferably implemented to control the main frequency in the range of 0.1 Hz to 1000 Hz.

In addition, the main frequency control unit 130 can control not only the size of the main frequency but also the envelope width. That is, the main frequency control unit 130 according to the present invention controls the length of the envelope width, that is, the portion where the envelope is high in the entire main period, so that the envelope width , That is, the duty ratio can be controlled.

Next, the laser generating unit 140 in the somatic sensory guidance apparatus 100 generates a laser actually irradiated according to a preset sub-frequency, intensity, or main frequency.

More specifically, the present laser generation unit 140 includes a laser driver and a cooling device, which are configured to output a pulsed laser beam.

In this case, the laser driver may further include a laser medium, an optical pumping unit, an optical resonator, and the like.

Further, the cooling device protects the laser driver device by cooling the heat generated by the laser driver in the process of generating the optical signal.

Meanwhile, the laser generator 140 may generate a laser beam according to various embodiments. For example, the laser generation unit 140 may be generated in various manners such as a ruby laser, a neodymium: YAG laser, a neodymium: glass laser, a laser diode, an excimer laser, and a dye laser.

Meanwhile, the somatic sensory guidance apparatus 100 may further include a diameter control unit 150 for controlling the diameter of the laser.

The diameter of the irradiated laser is related to the energy density transferred to the user's skin tissue, and generally, the energy density decreases as the laser diameter increases.

The diameter control unit 150 in the present invention is preferably configured to be set within a range of 0.01 mm to 10.0 mm.

Finally, the somatic sensory guidance apparatus 100 includes a control unit 160 for controlling the sub-frequency control unit 110, the power control unit 120, the main frequency control unit 130, and the laser generation unit 140, .

The control unit 160 may include at least one computing unit and a storage unit. The computing unit may be a general-purpose central processing unit (CPU), a programmable device device (CPLD, FPGA ), An application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), or a microcontroller chip. In addition, a volatile memory element, a non-volatile memory element, or a non-volatile electromagnetic storage element may be utilized as the storage means.

Hereinafter, referring to FIGS. 4 to 6, an example in which the somatosensory induction apparatus 100 according to the present invention is used for actual users will be described.

FIG. 4 shows a result of deriving the somatic sensation of the user through the intensity control of the sub frequency and the laser using the somatosensory induction apparatus 100 according to the present invention.

In the example of FIG. 4, a shaded area is displayed in a section in which 50% or more of the participants in the entire experiment felt that they felt somatic sensation (warmth, touch). FIG. 4 (a) Fig. 4 (b) is a response to whether or not the intensity of the somatic sensation induced is too much to be felt to be pain, Fig. 4 (c) is a response to whether the somatic sensation is a specific step of simple touch, This is the response to the survey.

4 (a) shows a case where when the laser irradiated by the somatic sense induction apparatus 100 is controlled at sub-frequencies of 1 kHz, 2 kHz, 3 kHz, 3.5 kHz, 4 kHz, and 4.5 kHz, Lt; / RTI > in the range of < RTI ID = 0.0 > W, < / RTI >

According to this, it is confirmed that the user begins to sense the somatic sensation from the range of the laser intensity of 23.2 W or more, and the sub-frequency at this time is the somatic sensation at the frequency of 4.5 kHz and somewhat higher value.

On the other hand, in the range of the laser intensity of 23.2 W or more, the user began to sense the somatic sensation when the sub frequency was 3 kHz.

4A, when the intensity of the irradiated laser is higher than a specific value and the frequency of the laser pulse, that is, the sub-frequency is higher than a specific value, users feel that the somatic sensation is induced in their skin can confirm. Also, at this time, the intensity of the laser or the frequency of the sub-frequency has a tendency to provide a more distinct body sense to the user as the value increases.

On the other hand, FIG. 4 (b) shows the result of the response in FIG. 4 (a) and further shows how strong the intensity of the somatosensory when the subjects felt the somatosensory sense. That is, It is the table which summarizes whether it is the touch feeling to be able to feel it, or whether the degree of the intensity is the degree which felt the pain a little.

According to Fig. 4 (b), when the laser intensity is in the range of 23.2 W to 29.39 W and the sub-frequency range is in the range of 3 kHz to 4.5 kHz, the users recognize that there is a simple touch, W and the frequency of the sub-frequency is more than 4 kHz, there were some subjects who felt simple tactile feeling in some cases, but most of the subjects felt that the tactile intensity was somewhat stronger.

On the other hand, FIG. 4 (c) is a table summarizing whether the somatic sensation felt by the laser was touch, warmth, or pain by further subdividing the somatic sensation experienced by the subjects.

According to this, it is not possible to know precisely whether the laser intensity and sub-frequency are within a certain range to cause tactile, warmth and pain to each user. However, when the laser intensity is 29.39 W or more and the sub- In this case, the subjects began to feel tactile sensation, ie, mechanical tactile sensation, over the warmth. Also, when the laser intensity was 30.55 W or more, the sub frequency was 3 kHz.

4 (a) to 4 (c), it can be seen that users can induce various somatic senses by controlling the two properties of the irradiated laser, that is, the laser intensity and sub frequency , And it can be confirmed that a certain range of laser intensity, sub frequency size, warmth, touch, and pain are largely induced.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram illustrating a main body of the present invention using the somatic sense induction apparatus 100 according to the present invention. In particular, the main feeling and the main body of the user are controlled through the ratio of the envelope width The results are shown in Fig. (In the table of Fig. 5, the horizontal axis indicates the main frequency and the vertical axis indicates the duty ratio)

5, the embodiment of FIG. 5 is similar to FIG. 4, except that at least 50% of the participants who participated in the entire experiment shaded in a section where they answered that they felt somatic sensation.

5 (a) shows whether the subjects felt somatic sensation when the main frequency and the duty ratio were set to a certain value. Particularly, the subjects showed that when the main frequency was 0.5 Hz and the duty ratio was 25%, 50% 75% of the subjects reported feeling somatosensory in all cases.

On the other hand, when the duty ratio of the laser to be irradiated is 75%, that is, the ratio of the width of the envelope in the period is equal to or more than a certain rate, even if the main frequency of the laser is set to any value from 0.5 Hz to 1 kHz, .

On the other hand, FIG. 5 (a) shows that the somatic sensation is not induced in the range of the main frequency of 5 Hz to 500 Hz and the duty ratio of 25% to 50%.

Fig. 5 (b) is a summary of the results of the response of Fig. 5 (a), which summarizes whether the somatosensory sensation was warmth, mechanical pressure, or pain when subjects felt somatosensory.

According to this, when the main frequency of the laser was 0.5 Hz and the duty ratio was 25% to 75%, the subjects answered that they felt warmness in the area where the laser was irradiated. Also, when the duty ratio of the laser was 75%, the subjects felt warmth in the range of the main frequency of 0.5 Hz to 500 Hz.

On the other hand, when the main frequency of the laser was set to 1 kHz, the user felt mechanical pressure beyond the warmth in the range of the duty ratio of 50% to 75%.

5 (a) to 5 (b), by controlling the main frequency and the duty ratio of the laser, it is possible for the users to induce various body senses. In particular, The higher the duty ratio, the more the user can feel the touch with higher probability. More specifically, it was confirmed in which range of main frequencies and duty ratios the warmth and touch were induced to the user.

FIG. 6 is a summary of a simulation result in which the variable of the laser diameter is further considered in the simulation of FIG. 4, which has been described above. In other words, FIG. 6 shows whether the subjects felt somatic sensation by controlling the sub-frequency and the intensity of the laser, as shown in FIG. 4, according to the diameter of the laser of three different values. This is the result of examining how the somatic sensation that is induced changes.

Fig. 6 (a) shows the experimental results when the diameter of the irradiated laser is 0.46 mm, Fig. 6 (b) is 1.86 mm and Fig. 6 (c) is 6.7 mm.

6 (a) to 6 (c), as the diameter of the irradiated laser increases, subjects in other conditions (except for the laser diameter) I felt mechanical pressure.

Also, with respect to the intensity of the somatic sensation induced, the subjects perceived that the intensity of the induced sensation decreased as the laser diameter increased.

6 (a) to 6 (c), it can be seen that by controlling the diameter of the laser to be irradiated, the users can induce various sensations of body strength. That is, as the energy density transferred to the skin tissue of the user is increased by the laser, the user can feel the touch with a higher probability.

The various elements that the somatosensory induction apparatus 100 and the somatosensory induction apparatus 100 according to the present invention can control can be described with reference to the drawings. The embodiments of the present invention described above are disclosed for the purpose of illustration, and the present invention is not limited thereto. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made in the present invention without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

100: somatosensory induction device
110: Sub frequency control unit
120: Power control unit
130: Main frequency control section
140: laser generator
150: Diameter control section
160:
200: Optical fiber

Claims (10)

A sub frequency control unit for controlling the sub frequency to set the sub frequency to any one of a value of 3 kHz to 4.5 kHz;
A laser generator for generating a laser irradiated to a skin tissue of a user and generating a laser according to a predetermined sub frequency; And
A control unit for controlling the sub-frequency control unit and the laser generation unit;
, ≪ / RTI &
Wherein the laser irradiated on the skin tissue of the user thermally expands a local portion of the medium in the user's skin tissue to stimulate the tactile cell to induce somatic sensation.
delete The method according to claim 1,
A power control unit for controlling the intensity of the laser;
Wherein the body sensory guiding device further comprises:
The method of claim 3,
The power control unit includes:
Wherein the intensity of the laser is set to any one of a value of 23 W to 36 W or less.

5. The method of claim 4,
A diameter control unit for controlling the diameter of the laser;
Wherein the body sensory guiding device further comprises:

6. The method of claim 5,
The diameter control unit
Characterized in that the diameter of the laser is set to a value of 0.45 mm or more and 7.0 mm or less.

The method according to claim 1,
A main frequency control unit for controlling the main frequency;
Wherein the body sensory guiding device further comprises:

8. The method of claim 7,
Wherein the main frequency control unit comprises:
Wherein the ratio of the envelope width to the laser main period is a specific value.

9. The method of claim 8,
Wherein the duty ratio of the envelope width with respect to the laser main period is a value between 25% and 75%.
10. The method of claim 9,
Wherein the main frequency control unit comprises:
Wherein the main frequency is set to any one of values of 0.5 Hz to 1 kHz.

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