KR20060071597A - Method for analysing pulse using array of pressure sensor - Google Patents

Abstract

In the pulse wave analysis method using the disclosed array pressure sensor, a pulse position is searched, an array sensor is positioned at the detected pulse position, and the pulse wave information measured by the array sensor is analyzed to provide pressure versus pulse pressure information. It may include a step. The method may further include expressing the pulse wave information as a change state according to a change in the pressing force in a three-dimensional graph space having x, y, and z as axes.

In the pulse wave analysis method using the array pressure sensor having such a configuration, since the pressing force and the pulse pressure can be simultaneously measured using a piezoresistive pressure sensor, it is possible to measure various pulse types such as 6-position vein, Since the length and thickness of the Mac can be displayed in four dimensions, the user can visually provide information such as the softness and roughness of the Mac to the user.

Array Sensor, Piezoresistive Pressure Sensor, 6 Positional Vein, Flotation 5 Vein, 8 Sieve Vein, Pulse

Description

Method for analysing pulse using array of pressure sensor

1 is a flow chart of a pulse wave analysis method using an array pressure sensor according to an embodiment of the present invention.

2 is a flow chart of a scanning step in the pulse wave analysis method using the array pressure sensor of FIG.

FIG. 3 shows a hand of a measurer for explaining another embodiment of the scanning step of FIG.

4 is a process flow diagram of an elastic modulus calculating step that may be included in the scanning step of FIG.

5 is a flow chart of the steps of providing a force versus pulse pressure graph in the pulse wave analysis method using the array pressure sensor of FIG.

FIG. 6 illustrates the force versus pulse pressure graph of FIG. 5; FIG.

7 is a flow chart of a four-dimensional pulse wave information providing step in the pulse wave analysis method using the array pressure sensor of FIG.

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating a case of providing length and width information of a mac as an example of providing the 4D pulse wave information of FIG. 7. FIG.

The present invention relates to a pulse wave analysis method using an array pressure sensor, and more particularly, to a pulse wave analysis method using an array pressure sensor that can be used in medical fields, such as pulsation or vascular diagnosis of Chinese medicine.

In general, the diagnostic method of oriental medicine is composed of four methods, each of which is a paperweight, a paperweight, a paperweight, and a string of gold, and among them, pulse pulses are detected. The method of inferring the condition of the disease is a pulsating method belonging to the slack. The pulsation characteristics considered important in the pulse method include various characteristics such as the strength of the Mac, the depth of the Mac, the speed of the Mac, and the roughness of the Mac. In order to measure the characteristics of these various pulsations, a technique is needed to pinpoint the location of blood vessels and to read accurate measurements therefrom.

In the six-position method, one of the commonly known pulse methods, three fingers are placed on the inside of the examinee's wrist in three regions of the "chon", "tub", and "chuck". At the same time, pulsation is measured by placing three fingers or one finger in sequence. In other words, the coronary projections on the radial artery are called “tubs” and the examiner's middle finger is placed thereon. After placing the index finger and ring finger on 지를) ", the pulsation detected by three fingers is measured. In this state, the pulsation state is examined by applying a slight force to the three fingers in the first step. In this way, depending on the detected state, 'department', 'middle', ' Can be divided into 'spit'. When you apply a little force, the most vivid of the Mac is 'bu', and when you apply more force to the middle of the vessel, you press the vein of the most vivid. Spit 'is called.

  Therefore, when determining the condition of the examinee by the pulsation method, the three fingers are placed on the three areas of “chon”, “tube” and “chuck” as above, and the pressure of the finger is changed at this time. The pulse wave reacts.

However, if a person performs such a pulsation, the criteria for the pressure difference and the pulse wave intensity differ for each individual, and the examinee's condition is judged solely based on the subject's subjective sense and experience. As a result, the difference in measurement results may be severe and the reliability of diagnosis may be reduced. Therefore, in recent years, researches on pulse wave analysis methods that can objectively and visually identify pulsations of subjects have been actively conducted.

However, the conventional pulse wave analysis method cannot accurately measure the pressure applied to the pulsation position, and thus, it is impossible to measure various pulse types such as 6-position vein, levitation 5 vein, and sieving vein. There is a problem that cannot be provided.

The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, to provide a pulse wave analysis method using an array pressure sensor improved to be able to measure the pressing force and pulse pressure at the same time using a piezoresistive pressure sensor. do.

In addition, another object of the present invention is to provide a pulse wave analysis method using an array pressure sensor that calculates the thickness of the Mac and the thickness of the Mac by interpolating the signals collected from the array sensor, and displays them in four dimensions. .

The present invention for achieving the above object, a) a search step for locating the pulsation position, positioning the array sensor at the detected pulsation position; b) a pulse wave analysis step of analyzing and outputting pulse wave information measured by the array sensor.

Here, the array sensor is preferably composed of a plurality of piezoresistive pressure sensors for measuring the pressure applied to the pulsation position and the pulsation pressure of the pulsation position.

In addition, the step a) preferably comprises the step of calculating the elastic modulus by measuring the pressure applied to the array sensor in close contact with the pulsating position and the resulting movement distance of the array sensor.

In addition, the step b) preferably comprises the step of displaying the pulse pressure in accordance with the change in the pressure applied to the pulsating position.

Further, in step b), the pulse wave information includes any one of the thickness of the pulse and the length of the pulse, which are obtained by interpolating signals measured from the plurality of piezoresistive pressure sensors. In a three-dimensional graph space with z as the axis, it is desirable to be expressed in the state of change according to the change in the pressing force or over time.

Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. Prior to this, terms or words used in the specification and claims should not be construed as having a conventional or dictionary meaning, and the inventors should properly explain the concept of terms in order to best explain their own invention. Based on the principle that can be defined, it should be interpreted as meaning and concept corresponding to the technical idea of the present invention.

Therefore, the embodiments described in the specification and the drawings shown in the drawings are only the most preferred embodiment of the present invention and do not represent all of the technical idea of the present invention, various modifications that can be replaced at the time of the present application It should be understood that there may be equivalents and variations.

1 is a flowchart illustrating a pulse wave analysis method using an array pressure sensor according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. Referring to the drawings, the pulse wave analysis method using the array pressure sensor according to an embodiment of the present invention may be made including a scan step (S100) and the pulse wave analysis step (S200).

The scanning step S100 is a step of searching for a pulsation position and placing an array sensor at the detected pulsation position. Here, the pulsation position refers to a position where the pulse wave can be detected most accurately.

The array sensor may be composed of a plurality of pressure sensors for measuring the pressure force and the pulse pressure of the pulsation position, and the pressure sensor is preferably a piezoresistive pressure sensor. Pressing pressure is the pressure applied to the pulsating position. The array sensor may be implemented as a pressure sensor whose number and area are appropriately changed according to the area to be measured and the size of the corresponding artery.

The piezoresistive pressure sensor may be composed of a diaphragm for converting external pressure into stress and a part for converting vibration generated from the diaphragm into an electrical signal so as to simultaneously measure the pressing force and the pulse pressure according to the pressing force. The piezoresistive pressure sensor is preferably selected to measure the pressing force and pulse pressure in the linear section.

Conventional pulse instrument and pulse method using the same can not accurately measure the pressing force which is the most important factor (factor) when measuring the pulse, but according to the pulse wave analysis method using the array pressure sensor according to an embodiment of the present invention, the array Since the sensor is a piezoresistive pressure sensor, it is possible to accurately measure the pressing force.

Therefore, it is possible to measure by various pulse methods, such as 6-position vein, stimulation 5 veins, 8 constitution vein. In addition, it is possible to distinguish the factors of the six parts of the ulcers, acupuncture, limbs, saccharity, thread, intestine, and severity, and to compare the balance of each pulmonary, cardiac, non-liver, liver and kidney of the five stimulus. And, it is easy to distinguish between the shepherd, throat, soil constitution of the eight constitutions.

The process of locating the pulsation position can be accomplished by repeating the operation by pressing at a constant pressing force until the pressure sensor in the center of the array sensor receives the largest and clearest signal. This will be described in more detail with reference to FIG. 2.

First, the array sensor is positioned at the first point estimated to be the pulsation position (S102), and the pressure is applied to the first point by moving the array sensor downward and closely contacting the first point. When the applied pressure exceeds a predetermined threshold pressure, the array sensor stops moving. At this time, the first pressing force Max_1 applied to the first point and the position of the first point are stored (S104).

Next, the array sensor is positioned at a second point adjacent to the first point (S106), and the pressure is applied to the second point by moving the array sensor downward to closely contact the second point. When the applied pressure exceeds a predetermined threshold pressure, the array sensor stops moving. At this time, the second pressing force Max_2 applied to the second point and the position of the second point are stored (S108).

Next, by comparing the first pressing force and the second pressing force (S110), when the first pressing force is large, the array sensor is positioned at the first point (S112), and when the second pressing force is large, the array sensor is placed at the second point. (S114). This pulsation location search process may be implemented including a block (Process_n) (S120) to start the operation by a call to perform a certain task, and return the result.

The process of searching for a pulsation location can be extended to not only two points, but also four adjacent points, for example. Referring to Figure 3 will be described a method of selecting the pulsation position by comparing the pressing force of the four points.

First, determine the pressing force and position by moving the array sensor to position 1, and determine the pressing force and position by moving the array sensor to position 2, and then compare the pressing forces with each other, if the pressing force at position 1 is large, position 1 The array sensor is moved to the position 3 'adjacent to the position. If the pressing force of position 2 is large, the array sensor is moved to position 3 "adjacent to the position 2.

The pressing force of position 1, position 3 'and position 2 and position 3 "can also be compared in a similar way to comparing the pressing force of position 1 and position 2, and the array sensor can be moved to the position of higher pressing force.

The function of searching for the pulsation position may be implemented as a mechanism attached to a wrist by using a small motor, or may be implemented as a measuring robot that can be measured while the patient is sitting or lying down.

On the other hand, the scanning step (S100) may further include calculating the elastic modulus (S130 to 139). Calculating the elastic modulus (S130 to 139) may be a process of calculating the elastic modulus by measuring the pressure applied to the array sensor in close contact with the pulsation position and the resulting movement distance of the array sensor.

Figure 4 illustrates the step of calculating the elastic modulus in the pulse wave analysis method using an array pressure sensor according to an embodiment of the present invention. The calculating of the elastic modulus may include a process (not shown) for checking whether the pressing force is applied within an error range of the threshold value.

The calculated elastic modulus may be used as a constitution discriminating factor as skin characteristics different from person to person, and may be used as data for measuring the changed skin condition at the time of remeasurement.

The pulse wave analyzing step S200 is a step of analyzing and outputting pulse wave information measured by an array sensor. Here, the pulse wave information includes the pulse wave speed (slow and fast), pulse wave strength (strong and weak), the thickness of the pulse (thick and thick), the length of the pulse (long and short), the shape of the pulse wave (soft and rough), and the magnitude of the pressure ( Floating and sinking of the veins).

The pulse wave analyzing step S200 may include a pressing force versus pulse pressure information providing step S202 to S206 and a four-dimensional pulse wave information providing step S210 to S218. Herein, the provision of the four-dimensional pulse wave information means that the pulse wave information is represented in a three-dimensional graph space having x, y, and z axes as a change state with time or a change state with a pressing force. In this case, the x-axis may be the length of the mac, the y-axis may be the thickness of the mac, and the z-axis may be the size of the pulse pressure.

First, with reference to FIG. 5, the pressing force versus pulse pressure information providing steps S202 to S206 will be described. Referring to the drawing, the step of providing pressure versus pulse pressure information (S202 to S206) calculates the average of the pulse pressure and the pressure force measured by the array sensor step by step (S202, S204), and extracts the pressure versus pulse pressure curve ( S206) can be made by providing a graph. Figure 6 illustrates a graph showing the magnitude of the pulse pressure that changes with the pressing force.

At this time, the user may determine the ups and downs on the pulsation using the provided pressure vs. pressure pressure graph, and may also determine the ups and downs based on the absolute value of the pressure.

Since the duration of the disease, the front and back relationship of the disease, and the ups and downs in the identification of the books by dialect are not known by analyzing the pulse wave in a moment, the applied pressure versus pulse pressure graph can be usefully used by the user.

Next, referring to FIG. 7, the 4D pulse wave information providing step will be described. Referring to the drawings, the four-dimensional pulse wave information providing step (S210 to S218) receives and extracts the pulse wave information, such as the thickness or the length of the pulse from each piezoresistive pressure sensor (S210). Each of the extracted pulse wave information signals is connected to each other through an interpolation operation (S212). The interpolation operation is preferably performed within a range larger than the preset threshold value S214 (S216). The threshold value may be appropriately selected according to the density of the piezoresistive sensor constituting the array sensor. In this way, pulse wave information such as the thickness of the Mac or the length of the Mac may be generated (S218).

FIG. 8 illustrates a case of providing length and width information of a Mac as an example of providing 4D pulse wave information. In the pulse wave measuring method using an array sensor according to an embodiment of the present invention, firstly provided picture information exemplifies a pulse waveform corresponding to a sensor area, and the second provided graph information indicates length information of a mac, And thirdly, the graph information provides the thickness information of the Mac.

In the case of the length of the vein can be calculated by connecting the signals of the sensors located in the cross-section of the blood vessel through interpolation operation, and in the case of the thickness of the vein can be calculated by connecting the signals of the sensors located in the longitudinal section of the blood vessel through interpolation operation. have.

When pulsating, the sensations at the fingertips of the pulse wave vary widely, including the softness and roughness of the Mac, the flow of the Mac, and the tension of the Mac. These sensations are expressed in numerical values analyzed in the prior art, which makes it difficult for the user to easily feel.

However, in one embodiment of the present invention, since the pulse wave information such as the length of the mac and the thickness of the mac is displayed as a flow that changes with time or changes in pressure in the three-dimensional space, the user can obtain the pulse at the actual fingertip. You can visually check the information.

In the pulse wave analysis step (S200), when the area of the pulse (xy axis) and the magnitude of the pulse pressure (z axis) are displayed as values according to the pressing force, the skin elastic modulus measured in the elastic modulus calculation steps S130 to 139 When used, the thickness in the vertical plane of the blood vessel, the flexibility with blood, and the thickness of the skin reaching the blood vessel can be calculated and provided.

This makes it possible to know the skin characteristics that are different depending on the constitution, and to provide a numerical value by quantifying the portion of the skin thickness up to the blood vessel that feels the most difficulty when determining the acupuncture needle.

As described above, the pulse wave analysis method using the array pressure sensor of the present invention provides the following effects.

First, by using the piezoresistive pressure sensor to measure the pressing force and pulse pressure at the same time, it is possible to measure by various pulse methods such as 6-position vein, levitation 5 veins, 8 constitution vein, and to distinguish and compare factors by pulse method There is an effect that becomes easy.

Second, by interpolating the signals collected from the array sensor and calculating the length and thickness of the Mac and displaying them in four dimensions, the user can visualize the softness and roughness of the Mac, the flow of the Mac, and the feeling of tension. It is effective to provide.

As mentioned above, although this invention was demonstrated by the limited embodiment and drawing, this invention is not limited by this, The person of ordinary skill in the art to which this invention belongs, Of course, various modifications and variations are possible within the scope of equivalent claims.

Claims (7)

a) searching for a pulsation position and positioning the array sensor at the detected pulsation position; b) pulse wave analysis step of analyzing and outputting the pulse wave information measured by the array sensor; pulse wave analysis method using an array pressure sensor comprising a. The method of claim 1, The array sensor is a pulse wave analysis method using an array pressure sensor, characterized in that composed of a plurality of piezoresistive pressure sensors for measuring the pressure applied to the pulsation position and the pulse pressure of the pulsation position. The method of claim 1, wherein step a) a1) by placing the array sensor in close contact with a first point estimated to be a pulsing position, applying a pressure exceeding a predetermined threshold pressure, and storing the first pressure value applied to the first point and the position of the first point. Doing; a2) by placing the array sensor in close contact with the second point adjacent to the first point, applying a pressure exceeding a predetermined threshold pressure, and the position of the second pressure value and the second point applied to the second point; Storing the; a3) comparing the first pressure value with the second pressure value, and if the first pressure value is large, the array sensor is positioned at the first point, and if the second pressure value is large, the array sensor is located at the second point. Pulse wave analysis method using an array pressure sensor comprising the step of positioning. The method of claim 1, wherein step a) And calculating an elastic modulus by measuring the pressure applied by bringing the array sensor into close contact with the pulsating position and the movement distance of the array sensor. The method of claim 2, wherein b) And displaying a pulse pressure according to a change in pressure applied to the pulse position. The method of claim 2, wherein in step b) The pulse wave information includes at least one of the thickness of the pulse and the length of the pulse obtained by interpolating the signals measured from the plurality of piezoresistive pressure sensors. The method of claim 6, The pulse wave information is a pulse wave analysis method using an array pressure sensor, characterized in that the three-dimensional graph space on the x, y and z axis, represented by the change state of the applied pressure or over time.

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