KR102055185B1 - ear disease diagnosis system - Google Patents

Abstract

According to the present invention, the system for diagnosing diseases of the present invention is inserted into the user's ear and the ear insertion device for photographing the ear, the mobile communication terminal receiving the image taken by the ear insertion device, and the photographed image from the mobile communication terminal. And an analysis server for comparing the photographed image with a big data image showing an ear disease including an ear infection, which is stored in advance, and determining whether the user has an ear disease through a comparison result. According to the present invention, the ear canal is photographed using an ear plug-type inserting device, thereby diagnosing the ear canal disease including otitis media, thereby making it easy and simple to diagnose the ear canal disease including otitis media.

Description

Ear disease diagnosis system

The present invention relates to a technique for diagnosing a disease related to an ear, and more particularly, to a technique capable of diagnosing and determining an abnormality of an ear disease by photographing the ear.

Recently, the demand for miniature / ultra-personal health care medical devices is rapidly increasing due to environmental changes such as aging, income level improvement, and access to overseas medical services.

Accordingly, a technology that can monitor and manage diseases and manage exercise amount accurately and easily anytime, anywhere by implementing a smart-based health management system is emerging as a new paradigm of the future bio industry.

On the other hand, in the prior art to determine the otitis media (tympanitis or otitis media), the doctor observes through a low-moving ear endoscope to determine based on the experience and knowledge.

However, this conventional method uses expensive devices that can be used in hospitals, so that general users cannot easily use them outside of hospitals. Therefore, there is a problem that early detection, trend analysis, etc. of otitis media patients are difficult to proceed by the general user.

In particular, in children, otitis media disease that occurs frequently during the growth process has a long healing period, and it is difficult to monitor the progress of the disease without going to a hospital. Therefore, there is a great need for a technology that can monitor and manage the progress of disease in the home.

Republic of Korea Patent Publication 10-2016-0146740

The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, it is an object of the present invention to provide a diagnosis system of the semen disease to diagnose and diagnose the presence or absence of the disease in the ear.

The object of the present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned object, and other objects not mentioned will be clearly understood by those skilled in the art from the following description.

In order to achieve the above object, the system for diagnosing diseases of the present invention of the present invention is inserted into the user's ear and the ear insertion apparatus for photographing the ear, a mobile communication terminal receiving the image taken by the ear insertion apparatus, and the mobile device. The analysis server receives the photographed image from a communication terminal, compares the photographed image with the big data image showing the ear disease including the ear infection, which is stored in advance, and determines whether the user's ear disease exists through the comparison result. Include.

In the present invention, the analysis server transmits the result of the presence or absence of the disease to the mobile communication terminal, and the mobile communication terminal receives the result of the presence or absence of disease from the server, and displays it.

The ear insertion device may include a photographing unit for photographing the ear, a wireless communication unit for communicating in a wireless communication manner with the mobile communication terminal, and a wired communication unit provided for wired communication with the mobile communication terminal.

The photographing unit includes a first photographing module for photographing a high-quality image of the inside of the ear and a wide-angle image sensor having a wider imaging range than the first photographing module, and a second photographing part for photographing a wide-angle image including the high-quality image. It may be made by including a photographing module.

The photographing unit may further include an illumination module for illuminating the ear.

The analysis server may detect the illumination by analyzing the wide-angle image, and adjust the illumination of the light emitted from the illumination module so that the detected illumination is a predetermined reference illumination.

The analysis server may detect the color by analyzing the wide-angle image, and adjust the color of the light emitted from the lighting module so that the detected color becomes a predetermined reference color.

The analysis server may detect the color balance by analyzing the wide-angle image, and adjust the color balance of the light emitted from the illumination module such that the detected color balance becomes a predetermined reference color balance.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the first photographing module and the second photographing module respectively photograph images inside the ear at different angles of view and exposure time, and the analysis server synthesizes and processes the high quality image and the wide angle image. To generate a composite image, and compare the generated composite image with the big data image.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the high-definition image is an image taken mainly of the eardrum, and the wide-angle image is an image of a region including the middle ear and the ear canal including the eardrum, and the analysis server is the middle ear in the big data image. And processing the first ear into a basic shape image so that the size and position of the tympanic membrane meet a predetermined criterion, and generating the processed big data image through secondary processing of dividing the basic shape image into a pattern image of a predetermined size. have.

The analysis server performs a first detection process of comparing the color of the eardrum portion of the composite image and the processed big data image, and a second detection process of comparing element positions and sizes of the eardrum portion of the composite image and the processed big data image. The process and the third detection process for comparing the overlay of the composite image and the processed big data image is performed, through which the image similarity can be calculated, and the presence or absence of ear disease can be determined according to the calculated image similarity.

The analysis server may perform the first detection process by comparing color differences according to the degree of redness of the ear canal and the eardrum.

The analysis server may perform the first detection process by comparing color variations of the ear canal and the eardrum due to the liquid containing the effusion.

The analysis server may perform the secondary detection process by comparing the osseous bone location of the tympanic membrane and the exposed area of the tympanic membrane due to the liquid including the exudates.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the photographing unit further includes a far-infrared generation module for irradiating far-infrared to treat diseases in the ear, the analysis server, when the disease in the ear is diagnosed, driving the far-infrared generation module, the disease site Irradiation angle of the far-infrared generation module may be adjusted to irradiate far-infrared rays.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the ear insertion device further includes a temperature sensing unit for sensing a temperature, and the analysis server is a disease in the ear when the temperature detected by the temperature sensing unit exceeds a predetermined reference temperature. You can judge.

The mobile communication terminal may have a dedicated application interworking with the whisper insertion device. When the dedicated application is executed in the mobile communication terminal, communication is initiated through the wireless insertion network with the whisper insertion device. If the display of the usage guide phrases to use, and receives the analysis results from the analysis server, it may display the received analysis results.

According to the present invention, the ear canal is photographed using an ear plug-type inserting device, thereby diagnosing the ear canal disease including otitis media, thereby making it easy and simple to diagnose the ear canal disease including otitis media. Therefore, it is possible to easily diagnose the ear disease at home without going to the hospital.

In addition, according to the present invention by using the two imaging module to photograph the inside of the ear, it provides the more detailed and sophisticated image information, and thus there is an effect that it is possible to more accurately diagnose the disease.

In addition, according to the present invention, there is an advantage of excellent accessibility to the user by guiding the usage through a dedicated application of a mobile communication terminal such as a smart phone and providing a diagnosis result.

1 is a view showing the configuration of an ear disease diagnosis system according to an embodiment of the present invention.
Figure 2 is a block diagram showing the internal configuration of the ear insertion apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.
Figure 3 is a cross-sectional view of the ear portion is inserted into the ear insertion apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.
4 is a diagram illustrating a photographing unit according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.
5 is a flowchart illustrating a process of determining the presence or absence of a disease in an analysis server according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.
6 and 7 illustrate an image processing process according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

As the present invention allows for various changes and numerous embodiments, particular embodiments will be illustrated in the drawings and described in detail in the written description. However, this is not intended to limit the present invention to specific embodiments, it should be understood to include all modifications, equivalents, and substitutes included in the spirit and scope of the present invention.

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the invention. Singular expressions include plural expressions unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. In this application, the terms "comprise" or "have" are intended to indicate that there is a feature, number, step, action, component, part, or combination thereof described on the specification, and one or more other features. It is to be understood that the present invention does not exclude the possibility of the presence or the addition of numbers, steps, operations, components, components, or a combination thereof.

Unless defined otherwise, all terms used herein, including technical or scientific terms, have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art. Terms such as those defined in the commonly used dictionaries should be construed to have meanings consistent with the meanings in the context of the related art, and shall not be construed in ideal or excessively formal meanings unless expressly defined in this application. Do not.

In addition, in the description with reference to the accompanying drawings, the same components regardless of reference numerals will be given the same reference numerals and redundant description thereof will be omitted. In the following description of the present invention, if it is determined that the detailed description of the related known technology may unnecessarily obscure the subject matter of the present invention, the detailed description thereof will be omitted.

1 is a view showing the configuration of an ear disease diagnosis system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 1, in one embodiment of the present invention, the system for diagnosing a disease includes an insertion apparatus 100, a mobile communication terminal 200, and an analysis server 300.

The ear insertion device 100 is inserted into the ear of the user and serves to photograph the ear. For example, the ear insertion device 100 may be implemented in the form of an earphone, and communicate with the mobile communication terminal 200 through a short range wireless communication network such as Bluetooth, or directly using a cable, such as a mobile communication terminal ( 200 may be connected to communicate.

The mobile communication terminal 200 receives the image photographed by the ear insertion device 100 and displays the result of the presence or absence of a disease in the ear from the analysis server 300. For example, the mobile communication terminal 200 may be implemented as a smart phone, a tablet PC, etc. in which an application may be installed and executed.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the mobile communication terminal 200 may be provided with a dedicated application that interworks with the ear insertion device 100. When the dedicated application is executed in the mobile communication terminal 200, communication is started through the wireless insertion network 100 and the wireless communication network, and a usage guide phrase may be displayed so as to use the ear disease diagnosis system. When receiving the analysis result from the analysis server 300, the received analysis result is displayed.

The analysis server 300 receives the image photographed by the insertion device 100 from the mobile communication terminal 200, compares the captured image with the big data image showing the ear disease including otitis media stored in advance, The result of the comparison is used to determine the user's ear disease. Then, the result of the ear disease is transmitted to the mobile communication terminal (200).

Figure 2 is a block diagram showing the internal configuration of the ear insertion apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 2, the ear insertion device 100 according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention includes a photographing unit 110, a wireless communication unit 120, a wired communication unit 130, and a power supply unit 140.

The photographing unit 110 serves to photograph the ear speed using a plurality of image sensors.

The wireless communication unit 120 communicates with the mobile communication terminal 100 in a wireless communication method. In one embodiment of the present invention, the wireless communication unit 120 may be a Bluetooth communication module for Bluetooth communication.

The wired communication unit 130 is provided to communicate with the mobile communication terminal 100 by wire.

The power supply unit 140 serves to supply power required for driving the ear insertion device 100. For example, the power supply unit 140 may be implemented as a battery.

Figure 3 is a cross-sectional view of the ear portion is inserted into the ear insertion apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 3, the inside of the ear leads to the outer ear 301, the middle ear 302, and the inner ear 303, which refers to the eardrum 310 to the cochlea 320.

As shown in Figure 3, in one embodiment of the present invention, the ear insertion device 100 is implemented in the form of an earphone, it can be inserted into the ear.

In the embodiment of FIG. 3, the ear insertion device 100 has a protrusion inserted into the inlet of the outer ear 301. In addition, the imaging unit 110 is positioned at the end of the protrusion to photograph the ear canal, the tympanic membrane 310, the middle ear 302, and the like. In this case, the ear canal disease such as otitis media can be diagnosed using the photographed image.

In addition, a button 150 may be provided to perform a photographing operation on a surface facing the outside of the ear insertion apparatus 100. In another embodiment of the present invention, the button 150 may be used to turn on / off the power.

4 is a diagram illustrating a photographing unit according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 4, the photographing unit 110 includes a first photographing module 112, a second photographing module 114, and an illumination module 116.

The first photographing module 112 captures a high quality image of the inside of the ear.

The second photographing module 114 is composed of a wide-angle image sensor having a wider photographing range than the first photographing module 112, and serves to photograph a wide-angle image including a high quality image.

The lighting module 116 serves to illuminate the ear.

The analysis server 300 may analyze the wide-angle image to detect illuminance and adjust the illuminance of the light emitted from the illumination module 116 such that the detected illuminance is a predetermined reference illuminance.

In addition, the analysis server 300 may detect the color by analyzing the wide-angle image, and adjust the color of the light emitted from the lighting module 116 so that the detected color becomes a predetermined reference color.

In addition, the analysis server 300 may detect the color balance by analyzing the wide-angle image, and adjust the color balance of the light emitted from the illumination module 116 such that the detected color balance becomes a predetermined reference color balance.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the first photographing module 112 and the second photographing module 114 photograph images of the inside of the ear at different angles of view and exposure time, respectively.

The analysis server 300 synthesizes and processes a high quality image and a wide angle image to generate a synthesized image, and compares the generated synthesized image with a big data image.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the high-quality image is an image mainly taken of the eardrum, and the wide-angle image may be an image of an area including the middle ear and the ear canal including the eardrum.

5 is a flowchart illustrating a process of determining the presence or absence of a disease in an analysis server according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 5, the analysis server 300 processes an image photographed by the ear insertion apparatus 100 and a big data image (S501 and S503). In detail, the analysis server 300 generates a composite image by synthesizing and processing a high quality image and a wide angle image.

In addition, the analysis server 300 primarily processes the middle ear and the eardrum into a basic shape image so as to meet a predetermined criterion in the big data image.

In addition, the analysis server 300 generates a processed big data image through secondary processing of dividing the basic shape image into a pattern image of a predetermined size.

Next, the analysis server 300 performs a first detection process for comparing the color of the eardrum portion of the composite image and the processed big data image (S505). More specifically, the analysis server 300 may perform the first detection process by comparing the color difference according to the degree of redness of the ear canal and the eardrum, or comparing the color fluctuations of the ear canal and the eardrum due to the liquid containing the exudates. Can be. For reference, redness refers to a phenomenon in which the capillaries expand when the skin or mucous membrane is inflamed, causing red spots to swell.

In operation S507, a second detection process is performed in which an element position and a size of an eardrum portion of the composite image and the processed big data image are compared. In detail, the analysis server 300 may perform the second detection process by comparing the location of the ear bone of the tympanum and the exposed area of the tympanum due to the liquid including the exudates.

In operation S509, a third detection process of comparing an overlay of the composite image and the processed big data image is performed.

Through the first to third detection processes, the analysis server 300 calculates an image similarity (S511), and determines whether there is an ear disease according to the calculated image similarity (S513).

In one embodiment of the present invention, the photographing unit 110 may further include a far infrared ray generating module (not shown) for irradiating far infrared rays to treat diseases of the ear. At this time, when the disease in the ear is diagnosed, the analysis server 300 may drive the far-infrared generation module, and adjust the irradiation angle of the far-infrared generation module so that the far-infrared ray is irradiated to the disease site.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the ear insertion device 100 may further include a temperature detector (not shown) for sensing a temperature. At this time, the analysis server 300 may determine that there is a disease in the ear when the temperature detected by the temperature sensor exceeds a predetermined reference temperature.

6 and 7 illustrate an image processing process according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

In FIG. 6, a wide-angle image 610 taken by the second imaging module 114 and a high quality image 620 taken by the first imaging module 112 are illustrated.

As shown in FIG. 6, the high-definition image 620 is an image of high clarity and sharpness mainly focused on the eardrum, and the wide-angle image 610 is an image including the outer ear and the middle ear, including the eardrum. These two images can be synthesized to reinforce the center portion of the image. 7 is a composite image showing the result of combining two images.

When two images are synthesized and reinforced in this way, pixel discontinuity between boundaries resulting from the difference in resolution may occur. This is called a boundary phenomenon. The boundary phenomenon can be alleviated through blending and overlay processing. In the present invention, the blending and overlay processing method is not limited to a specific method, and various processing techniques for adjusting the pixel value and the image values may be used to reduce the difference of the pixel value from the area boundary of the two images.

While the invention has been described using some preferred embodiments, these embodiments are illustrative and not restrictive. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that various changes and modifications can be made without departing from the spirit of the invention and the scope of the rights set forth in the appended claims.

100 Inserting Device 200 Mobile Communication Terminal
300 Analysis Server 110 Shooting Unit
120 Wireless Communication Unit 130 Wired Communication Unit
140 Power Supply 112 First Photography Module
114 Second Shooting Module 116 Lighting Module

Claims (16)

An ear insertion device inserted into the ear of the user and configured to photograph the ear;
A mobile communication terminal for receiving an image captured by the ear insertion device; And
Receive the photographed image from the mobile communication terminal, and compares the big data image showing the ear disease including ear infection, which is stored in advance and the photographed image, and analyzes the presence of the user's ear disease through a comparison result Includes a server,
The analysis server transmits a result of the presence of a disease to the mobile communication terminal,
When the mobile communication terminal receives a result of the presence of a disease in the ear from the analysis server, and displays the
The ear insertion device,
A photographing unit for photographing the ear;
A wireless communication unit for communicating with the mobile communication terminal in a wireless communication method; And
It includes a wired communication unit provided to communicate with the mobile terminal by wire,
The photographing unit,
A first photographing module for photographing a high quality image of the inside of the ear; And
It is composed of a wide-angle image sensor having a wider shooting range than the first shooting module, and comprises a second shooting module for shooting a wide-angle image including the high-quality image,
The first photographing module and the second photographing module respectively photograph images inside the ear at different angles of view and exposure time.
And the analysis server synthesizes and processes the high quality image and the wide angle image to generate a synthesized image, and compares the generated synthesized image with the big data image.
delete delete The method according to claim 1,
The photographing unit,
An ear disease diagnosis system, characterized in that further comprising a lighting module for illuminating the light in the ear.
The method according to claim 4,
The analysis server detects illuminance by analyzing the wide-angle image, and adjusts the illuminance of the light emitted from the illumination module so that the detected illuminance is a predetermined reference illuminance.
The method according to claim 4,
The analysis server detects a color by analyzing the wide-angle image, and the ear disease diagnosis system, characterized in that for adjusting the color of the light emitted from the illumination module so that the detected color is a predetermined reference color.
The method according to claim 4,
And the analysis server analyzes the wide-angle image to detect a color balance, and adjusts the color balance of illumination emitted from the illumination module so that the detected color balance becomes a predetermined reference color balance.
delete The method according to claim 1,
The high quality image is an image taken mainly of the eardrum, and the wide-angle image is an image of an area including the middle ear and the ear canal including the eardrum.
The analysis server performs a primary processing into a basic shape image so that the size and position of the middle ear and tympanic membrane in the big data image meet a predetermined criterion, and divides the basic shape image into a pattern image of a predetermined size. Intestinal disease diagnosis system, characterized in that to generate a processed big data image through.
The method according to claim 9,
The analysis server performs a first detection process of comparing the color of the eardrum portion of the composite image and the processed big data image, and a second detection process of comparing element positions and sizes of the eardrum portion of the composite image and the processed big data image. And performing a third detection process comparing the overlay of the composite image and the processed big data image, calculating image similarity, and determining whether there is an ear disease according to the calculated image similarity. Disease diagnosis system.
The method according to claim 10,
The analysis server is an ear disease diagnosis system, characterized in that for performing the first detection process by comparing the difference in color according to the degree of redness of the ear canal and eardrum.
The method according to claim 10,
And the analysis server performs the first detection process by comparing the color fluctuations of the ear canal and the eardrum due to the liquid containing the effusion.
The method according to claim 10,
And the analysis server performs the second detection process by comparing the location of the ear bones of the tympanum and the exposed area of the tympanic membrane due to the liquid including the exudates.
The method according to claim 1,
The photographing unit further includes a far infrared generation module for irradiating far infrared rays to treat diseases of the ear,
When the analysis of the disease in the ear, the analysis server drives the far-infrared generation module, and the in-situ disease diagnosis system, characterized in that to adjust the irradiation angle of the far-infrared generation module so that far-infrared rays are irradiated to the disease site.
The method according to claim 1,
The ear insertion device further includes a temperature sensing unit for sensing a temperature,
And the analysis server determines that there is a disease in the ear when the temperature detected by the temperature sensor exceeds a predetermined reference temperature.
The method according to claim 1,
The mobile communication terminal may be installed with a dedicated application that works with the whisper insertion device,
When the dedicated application is executed in the mobile communication terminal, communication is started through the wireless insertion network and the wireless communication network, and a usage guide phrase is displayed to use the ear disease diagnosis system, and when the analysis result is received from the analysis server, An ear disease diagnosis system, characterized in that for displaying the analysis results received.

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