KR20220086389A - The urine examination apparatus and controlling methodof the same - Google Patents

Abstract

Disclosed are a urine test apparatus and a method for controlling the same. According to this, the urine test device, the catheter into which urine is injected; And, the upper tube is connected to the catheter, divided into a predetermined number of compartments comprising a door and a camera rotated step by step in the vertical direction; And, a test strip disposed on the outer surface of the upper barrel; And, a lower barrel into which the urine and the test strip fall by the rotation of the door; and a control unit that moves the test strip into the upper container to come into contact with the accumulated urine, and rotates the door so that the test strip falls into the lower container when the camera captures the test strip. .

Description

Urine test device and its control method

The present invention relates to a urine test apparatus and a control method thereof, and more particularly, to a urine test apparatus capable of automatically performing urine volume and component analysis using IoT technology and a control method thereof.

Currently, when a urine component test is performed in a hospital, a total of four processes are performed. The nurse collects the patient's urine from the sample container, transfers it to the measuring cup, and sends the sample to the department of diagnostic testing. After the clinical pathologist analyzes it, the analysis result is entered into the EMR.

In the process of going through 4 processes like this, accidents in which the sample is contaminated or changed frequently occur in the middle. In addition, a lot of manpower and time are consumed to perform this process.

Korean Patent Publication No. 10-2013-0142564 (2013.12.30.)

The problem to be solved by the present invention is to provide a urine test apparatus and a method for controlling the same, which can compress and automate the urine volume measurement and urine component test process currently being implemented in a hospital into one process using IoT technology.

In addition, the problem to be solved by the present invention is to provide a urine test apparatus capable of preventing problems such as sample contamination and overturning by analyzing urine immediately after collection and a method for controlling the same.

Urinalysis apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, a catheter into which urine is injected; And, the upper tube is connected to the catheter, divided into a predetermined number of compartments comprising a door and a camera rotated step by step in the vertical direction; And, a test strip disposed on the outer surface of the upper barrel; And, a lower barrel into which the urine and the test strip fall by the rotation of the door; and a control unit that moves the test strip into the upper container to come into contact with the accumulated urine, and rotates the door so that the test strip falls into the lower container when the camera captures the test strip. .

In the urine test apparatus, the door is divided into four compartments by crossing a horizontal partition in a horizontal direction and a vertical partition in a vertical direction, and a plurality of through holes may be formed in the vertical partition.

In the urine test device, the control unit, when the test strip is moved to the inside of the upper tube and comes into contact with the urine accumulated on the horizontal partition, the door is rotated clockwise so that the vertical partition is arranged parallel to the ground. rotated by 90 degrees, and after photographing the test strip, the door may be rotated clockwise by 90 degrees again so that the test strip falls into the lower barrel.

In the urine test apparatus, a roller on which the test strip is wound and an outlet connected to the inside of the upper tube are formed on the outer surface of the upper tube, and the control unit rotates the roller to remove the test strip. It can be introduced through the outlet.

In the urine test apparatus, a load cell is attached to the lower tube, and the control unit may measure the weight of the urine by the load cell when the urine falls, and convert the measured weight into a volume.

A method for controlling a urine test apparatus according to another embodiment of the present invention includes: injecting urine into an upper tube through a catheter; And, moving the test strip disposed on the outer surface of the upper tube to the inside of the upper tube to come into contact with the accumulated urine; and photographing the test strip with a camera; and rotating the door divided into a predetermined number of compartments and rotated step by step in the vertical direction so that the test strip falls into the lower barrel.

In the control method of the urine test apparatus, the door is divided into four compartments by crossing a horizontal partition in a horizontal direction and a vertical partition in a vertical direction, and a plurality of through holes may be formed in the vertical partition. have.

In the control method of the urine test device, when the test strip moves into the upper tube and comes into contact with the urine accumulated on the horizontal partition, the door is rotated clockwise so that the vertical partition is arranged parallel to the ground. After rotating by 90 degrees and photographing the test strip, the door may be rotated clockwise by 90 degrees again so that the test strip falls into the lower barrel.

In the control method of the urine test apparatus, a roller on which the test strip is wound and an outlet connected to the inside of the upper tube are formed on the outer surface of the upper tube, and the test strip is removed from the outlet by rotating the roller. can be introduced into

In the control method of the urine test apparatus, a load cell is attached to the lower tube, and when the urine falls, the weight of the urine may be measured by the load cell, and the measured weight may be converted into a volume.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, it is possible to increase work efficiency by compressing and automating the urine volume measurement and urine component test process currently implemented in hospitals into one process using IoT technology.

In addition, according to an embodiment of the present invention, since urine is collected and analyzed immediately, problems such as sample contamination and reversal frequently occurring in the existing urine test can be prevented in advance.

Furthermore, according to an embodiment of the present invention, by relieving the burden of medical staff on urine testing, it is possible to reduce medical accidents and improve the quality of medical services, thereby increasing customer satisfaction by implementing patient safety.

1 is an external perspective view of a urine test apparatus according to the present invention.
2a to 2c are diagrams showing the detailed configuration of the urine test apparatus according to the present invention.
3 is a view showing a control process of the urine test apparatus according to the present invention.
4A to 4C are diagrams for explaining a method for the urine test apparatus according to the present invention to perform component analysis using a test strip.
5 is a view showing an embodiment of a door included in the urine test apparatus according to the present invention.
6 is a diagram illustrating a computing device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Hereinafter, with reference to the accompanying drawings, the embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail so that those of ordinary skill in the art to which the present invention pertains can easily implement them. However, the present invention may be embodied in several different forms and is not limited to the embodiments described herein. And in order to clearly explain the present invention in the drawings, parts irrelevant to the description are omitted, and similar reference numerals are attached to similar parts throughout the specification.

In the present specification, duplicate descriptions of the same components will be omitted.

Also, in this specification, when it is said that a certain element is 'connected' or 'connected' to another element, it may be directly connected or connected to the other element, but other elements in the middle It should be understood that there may be On the other hand, in this specification, when it is mentioned that a certain element is 'directly connected' or 'directly connected' to another element, it should be understood that the other element does not exist in the middle.

In addition, the terms used herein are used only to describe specific embodiments, and are not intended to limit the present invention.

Also, in this specification, the singular expression may include the plural expression unless the context clearly dictates otherwise.

Also, in this specification, terms such as 'include' or 'have' are only intended to designate that the features, numbers, steps, operations, components, parts, or combinations thereof described in the specification exist, and one or more It is to be understood that the existence or addition of other features, numbers, steps, operations, components, parts, or combinations thereof, is not precluded in advance.

Also in this specification, the term 'and/or' includes a combination of a plurality of described items or any item of a plurality of described items. In this specification, 'A or B' may include 'A', 'B', or 'both A and B'.

Also, in this specification, detailed descriptions of well-known functions and configurations that may obscure the gist of the present invention will be omitted.

First, prior to the description of the invention, related terms and technologies are defined.

Urine bag is used to monitor urine volume and pattern (color, turbidity) by connecting to a patient with a Foley catheter in a hospital.

Urinalysis is a urine test that examines physical properties such as urine color and turbidity and semi-quantitatively detects various types of waste products excreted in the urine. It is an important test used as a screening test for various diseases, including kidney/urinary system diseases such as urinary tract infections, endocrine diseases, metabolic diseases, and electrolyte abnormalities.

In the present invention, by applying IoT technology to the Urine bag to automate the urine test and integrate the urine volume measurement procedure and urine component test, it is intended to increase the efficiency of the urine test.

1 is an external perspective view of a urine test apparatus according to the present invention.

The urine test apparatus 100 may include a catheter 140 , an upper tube 110 , a lower tube 120 , a test strip storage unit 130 , and a control unit (not shown).

The urine test apparatus 100 may be accommodated in a dark room 10 in the form of a case. In this case, the urine test apparatus 100 is entirely surrounded by the dark room 10, thereby reducing distortion caused by external lighting when taking a picture.

The catheter 140 may be configured in the form of a long and thin tube. The catheter 140 is connected to the upper barrel 110 . In this case, when urine is injected into the catheter 140 from the outside, the urine may move through the catheter 140 and flow into the upper tube 110 .

The upper tube 110 may be connected to the catheter 140 . Urine flowing in through the catheter 140 may be loaded on the floor.

The upper barrel 110 may include a door. In this case, the door may be divided into a predetermined number of compartments and rotate stepwise in the vertical direction.

According to an embodiment, the door may be divided into four compartments by crossing a horizontal partition in a horizontal direction and a vertical partition in a vertical direction. In this case, a plurality of through-holes may be formed in the vertical partition.

The upper barrel 110 may include a camera. In this case, the camera may photograph the test strip when the test strip moves inside and comes into contact with urine accumulated on the floor.

The lower barrel 120 may be stored by dropping urine and test strips by rotation of the door.

A load cell may be attached to the lower cylinder 120 .

The test strip storage unit 130 stores a plurality of test strips and may be disposed on the outer surface of the upper barrel 110 .

The control unit (not shown) may move the test strip into the upper barrel 110 so that it comes into contact with the accumulated urine, and may control the camera to photograph the test strip.

When the camera captures the test strip, the controller (not shown) may rotate the door so that the test strip falls into the lower barrel 120 .

Specifically, the control unit (not shown) rotates the door by 90 degrees clockwise so that when the test strip moves into the upper barrel 110 and comes into contact with urine accumulated on the horizontal partition, the vertical partition is arranged parallel to the ground. After the test strip is photographed, the door may be rotated clockwise by 90 degrees again so that the test strip falls into the lower barrel 120 .

The controller (not shown) may analyze the amount of urine. To this end, when urine falls, it is possible to measure the weight of the urine by a load cell, and convert the measured weight into a volume.

The controller (not shown) may process and analyze the test strip image captured by the camera. In this case, the controller (not shown) may check the urine component and condition of the patient based on the color of the test strip. According to an embodiment, the urine component analysis may be performed in an external server or terminal instead of the urine test apparatus 100 .

The controller (not shown) may analyze and convert the extracted data and transmit it to an Electronic Medical Record (EMR) system.

2A to 2C are diagrams illustrating a detailed configuration of a urine test apparatus according to the present invention.

Specifically, FIG. 2A shows the upper barrel 110 .

A door 220 is provided inside the upper barrel 110 . The door 220 may be divided into a predetermined number of compartments and configured to rotate stepwise in a vertical direction.

The step motor 210 may be connected to the door 220 to rotate the door 220 stepwise in a vertical direction. According to an embodiment, the step motor 210 may rotate the door 220 by 90 degrees.

A camera 230 is provided on the ceiling of the upper barrel 110 . In this case, the camera 230 may photograph the test strip when the test strip enters the field of view due to the rotation of the door 220 .

Referring to FIG. 2A , the test strip falls on the upper left side of the door 220 at a predetermined test time. After the test strip is wetted with urine, the door 220 is rotated 90 degrees to move the test strip to the right. In this state, the camera 230 takes an image of the test strip. Thereafter, the door 220 is rotated further by 90 degrees, and the test strip is discharged into the lower container 120 .

2B shows the lower barrel 120 .

A load cell 240 is attached to the bottom surface of the lower cylinder 120 . In this case, when urine falls into the lower barrel 120 and accumulates on the floor surface, the load cell 240 measures the urine weight.

2C shows the structure of the test strip storage unit 130 .

A test strip storage unit 130 is disposed on the outer surface of the upper barrel 110 . The test strip storage unit 130 may include a roller 250 and an outlet 260 .

A plurality of test strips are wound around the roller 250 . According to an embodiment, the test strip may be a urine strip. Urine strip changes to different colors depending on the presence or concentration of specific components of urine. In this case, urine components and concentrations can be analyzed by measuring the degree of color change of the Urine strip.

The outlet 260 is formed to be connected to the inside of the upper barrel (110).

When the urine test is started, the controller (not shown) rotates the roller 250 to introduce the test strip into the outlet 260 . In this case, the test strip moves to the inside of the upper barrel 110 through the outlet 260 .

3 is a view showing a control process of the urine test apparatus according to the present invention.

According to the control method of the urine test apparatus 100 according to the present invention, the method comprising: injecting urine into the upper tube 110 through the catheter 140; And, moving the test strip disposed on the outer surface of the upper barrel 110 to the inside of the upper barrel 110 to come into contact with the accumulated urine; and, photographing the test strip by the camera 230; and rotating the door divided into a predetermined number of compartments and rotated step by step in the vertical direction so that the test strip falls into the lower barrel 120 .

Specifically, referring to FIG. 3 , urine flows into and accumulates in the upper barrel 110 through the catheter 140 at the top ( S301 ).

It is determined whether the urine test time has arrived (S302).

When the urine test time is reached (S302-Yes), the motor is operated to move the test strip to the upper barrel 110 .

The test strip is discharged to the upper barrel 110 (S303). In this case, the test strip is wetted with urine accumulated on the bottom of the upper barrel 110 .

It is determined whether the test strip is discharged (S304).

When the test strip is discharged (S304-Yes), it is determined that the test strip has moved into the upper barrel 110, and the door is rotated by 90 degrees (S305). The step motor 210 rotates the rotary door 90 degrees, whereby the test strip is positioned under the camera 230 . In this process, urine except for the test strip is discharged to the lower tube 120 .

The urine remaining in the upper tube 110 due to rotation is discharged to the lower tube 120 (S306).

At the same time, due to rotation, the test strip is positioned below the camera 230 (S307).

Specifically, when the vertical partition is arranged parallel to the ground by rotation, urine is discharged to the lower barrel through the through hole formed in the vertical partition. However, the test strip does not escape through the through hole, and is continuously positioned on the vertical partition.

A test strip is photographed (S308). The camera 230 photographs the test strip located below.

The load cell 240 of the lower barrel 120 detects and measures the urine weight (S309).

It is determined whether the extracted information has been transmitted to the server (S310). The urine test apparatus 100 may transmit information about the test strip image and urine weight to the server. In this case, the transmission is confirmed and the test strip is discarded through the lower container.

The door is rotated 90 degrees to discharge the test strip into the lower barrel 120 (S311).

To this end, the step motor 210 rotates the rotary door further by 90 degrees to discharge the test strip into the lower barrel 120 .

The necessary data is extracted through the image processing technique (S312).

Image processing is performed on the test strip image taken by the camera, and necessary information is extracted. For example, by analyzing the color of the test strip, information about the urine component, concentration, condition, etc. of the patient may be extracted.

Converts the extracted urine weight to volume (S313).

The weight of urine measured by the load cell 240 may be converted into a volume.

The extracted data is transmitted to the EMR (S314).

In this case, data on the patient's urine composition, concentration, condition, urine weight and volume, etc. can be transmitted to the EMR.

The standby state is maintained until the next measurement time (S315).

4A to 4C are diagrams for explaining a method for the urine test apparatus according to the present invention to perform component analysis using a test strip.

Specifically, FIG. 4A is an original image 250 of a test strip. When the original image 250 of the test strip is photographed by the camera, the urine test apparatus 100 may analyze the image 250 and transmit it to a management server or a terminal.

4B is a case in which the original image 250 is image-processed. In order to analyze and extract necessary information from the test strip, the original image 250 may be appropriately processed. In FIG. 4B , image processing is performed on the obliquely-slanted original image 250, and the image is set to be at right angles.

4C is a case in which only a test strip is extracted. A contour line may be found using a thresholding technique for the test strip dropped on the upper barrel 110 . Since the test strip falls to the bottom surface of the upper barrel 110 and the position of the camera is fixed, the drop position is approximately predictable. Using these points, the original image 250 is cut around the location of the test strip 400 . Since the bottom surface of the upper cylinder 110 is darker than the test strip, only the outline of the test strip can be detected through an appropriate threshold value after converting the image to gray scale.

5 is a view showing an embodiment of a door included in the urine test device according to the present invention.

The door may be divided into four compartments S1 , S2 , S3 , and S4 by crossing the horizontal partition 510 in the horizontal direction and the vertical partition 520 in the vertical direction.

A plurality of through holes 525 may be formed in the vertical partition 520 .

Urine flows in through the catheter 140 and collects in the first region S1 on the horizontal partition 510 of the upper tube 110 .

The test strip is moved to the first area S1 of the upper tube 110 and comes into contact with the urine accumulated in the first area S1. Thereby, the test strip is wetted with urine.

The door is rotated clockwise by 90 degrees so that the vertical partition 520 is arranged parallel to the ground. In a state in which the vertical partition 520 is disposed parallel to the ground, urine accumulated in the first region S1 is discharged to the lower barrel 120 through the through hole 525 . However, the test strip remains in the first region S1 rotated by 90 degrees.

The test strip is photographed through the camera 230 .

In this case, by rotating the door by 90 degrees clockwise, the test strip is discharged into the lower container 120 .

6 is a diagram illustrating a computing device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The computing device TN100 of FIG. 6 may be the urine test device 100 described herein.

In the embodiment of FIG. 6 , the computing device TN100 may include at least one processor TN110 , a transceiver device TN120 , and a memory TN130 . Also, the computing device TN100 may further include a storage device TN140 , an input interface device TN150 , an output interface device TN160 , and the like. Components included in the computing device TN100 may be connected by a bus TN170 to communicate with each other.

The processor TN110 may execute a program command stored in at least one of the memory TN130 and the storage device TN140. The processor TN110 may mean a central processing unit (CPU), a graphics processing unit (GPU), or a dedicated processor on which methods according to an embodiment of the present invention are performed. The processor TN110 may be configured to implement procedures, functions, and methods described in connection with an embodiment of the present invention. The processor TN110 may control each component of the computing device TN100 .

Each of the memory TN130 and the storage device TN140 may store various information related to the operation of the processor TN110. Each of the memory TN130 and the storage device TN140 may be configured as at least one of a volatile storage medium and a nonvolatile storage medium. For example, the memory TN130 may include at least one of a read only memory (ROM) and a random access memory (RAM).

The transceiver TN120 may transmit or receive a wired signal or a wireless signal. The transceiver TN120 may be connected to a network to perform communication.

On the other hand, the embodiment of the present invention is not implemented only through the apparatus and/or method described so far, and a program for realizing a function corresponding to the configuration of the embodiment of the present invention or a recording medium in which the program is recorded may be implemented. And, such an implementation can be easily implemented by those skilled in the art from the description of the above-described embodiment.

Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described in detail above, the scope of the present invention is not limited thereto, and various modifications and improvements by those skilled in the art using the basic concept of the present invention as defined in the following claims are also presented. It belongs to the scope of the invention.

100: urine test device 110: upper barrel
120: lower barrel 130: test strip storage unit
140: catheter 210: step motor
220: door 230: camera
240: load cell 250: roller
260: outlet 510: horizontal partition
520: vertical partition 525: through hole

Claims (10)

In the urine test device,
catheter into which urine is injected;
an upper barrel connected to the catheter, divided into a predetermined number of compartments, and including a door and a camera rotating stepwise in a vertical direction;
a test strip disposed on the outer surface of the upper barrel;
a lower barrel into which the urine and the test strip are dropped by rotation of the door; and
Urine test comprising a control unit that moves the test strip into the upper barrel to come into contact with the accumulated urine, and rotates the door so that the test strip falls into the lower barrel when the camera captures the test strip. Device. According to claim 1,
The door is divided into four compartments by crossing a horizontal partition in a horizontal direction and a vertical partition in a vertical direction,
In the vertical partition, a plurality of through-holes are formed, a urine test device. 3. The method of claim 2,
The control unit is
When the test strip moves into the upper barrel and comes into contact with the urine accumulated on the horizontal partition, the door is rotated clockwise by 90 degrees so that the vertical partition is arranged parallel to the ground, and the test strip After the photographing, the urine test device for rotating the door by 90 degrees clockwise again so that the test strip falls into the lower barrel. According to claim 1,
On the outer surface of the upper barrel, a roller on which the test strip is wound and an outlet connected to the inside of the upper barrel are formed,
The control unit rotates the roller to draw the test strip into the outlet, a urine test device. According to claim 1,
A load cell is attached to the lower tube,
The control unit is
When the urine falls, the urine test apparatus measures the weight of the urine by the load cell, and converts the measured weight into a volume. In the control method of the urine test device,
injecting urine into the upper chamber through the catheter;
moving the test strip disposed on the outer surface of the upper tube into the inner portion of the upper tube to come into contact with the accumulated urine;
photographing the test strip by a camera; and
A method of controlling a urine test apparatus, comprising rotating a door that is divided into a predetermined number of compartments and rotates stepwise in a vertical direction so that the test strip falls into the lower barrel. 7. The method of claim 6,
The door is divided into four compartments by crossing a horizontal partition in a horizontal direction and a vertical partition in a vertical direction,
The vertical partition, a plurality of through-holes are formed, the control method of the urine test device. 8. The method of claim 7,
When the test strip moves into the upper barrel and comes into contact with the urine accumulated on the horizontal partition, the door is rotated clockwise by 90 degrees so that the vertical partition is arranged parallel to the ground, and the test strip After the photographing, the control method of the urine test apparatus, which rotates the door by 90 degrees clockwise again so that the test strip falls into the lower barrel. 7. The method of claim 6,
On the outer surface of the upper barrel, a roller on which the test strip is wound and an outlet connected to the inside of the upper barrel are formed,
By rotating the roller, the test strip is drawn into the outlet, the control method of the urine test device. 7. The method of claim 6,
A load cell is attached to the lower tube,
When the urine falls, the weight of the urine is measured by the load cell, and the measured weight is converted into a volume, a control method of a urine test apparatus.

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