TWI785722B - Breathing Sensing Device - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention is a breathing sensing device, which includes a sensing pad, a plurality of coverage area sensing structures and a signal processor, wherein the plurality of coverage area sensing structures are arranged on the sensing pad, when a user is lying on When the sensing mat is on, the plurality of coverage signals respectively sensed by the plurality of coverage area sensing structures will produce a periodic change along with the deformation of the user's body shape due to breathing, and the signal processor circuit The complex coverage area sensing structure is connected to obtain the complex coverage signal, and the signal processor calculates the user's inhalation, exhalation, and rest periods from the waveform of the coverage signal according to a signal algorithm. Timing and proportion and depth information of breathing.

Description

Breathing Sensing Device

The present invention relates to breath sensing, in particular to a breath sensing device.

Respiration is an important sign of vital signs of the human body. For lung infection and infiltration caused by viruses (such as COVID-19), long-term bedridden patients, middle-aged and elderly people with chronic diseases such as hypertension and hyperlipidemia, long-term monitoring of respiration, Changes in the condition can be detected, and preventive treatment can be carried out, or emergency treatment can be carried out as soon as possible in an emergency.

According to the health news of National Network Medicine (https://hospital.kingnet.com.tw/service.php?mob=modload&name=diyonline&file=3-2): The process of breathing includes fast inhalation─slowly── Short pause—long breath—long pause, and then the next breath. In addition to directly observing the rise and fall of the chest, the clinical evaluation of the breathing condition can also be done by evaluating the speed of the breathing action (the time ratio of inhalation: exhalation: rest period is about 1:1.5:1 second, regular and smooth), depth (generally in The size of the movement during breathing and the amount of air flow in and out of the airway can be roughly evaluated), rhythm and difficulty, to diagnose whether the person being evaluated has tachypnea (breathing depth is constant but the frequency is more than 24 breaths per minute) ), bradypnea (breathing depth is constant but the number of breaths is less than 8 breaths per minute), hyperpnea (breathing rate is normal but the depth increases, the ventilation volume per minute increases), hypopnea (breathing rate remains the same and the depth changes Shallow), hyperventilation (excessive and rapid breathing), hypoventilation (slow and weakened breathing, with exceptionally prolonged rest periods), or other idiosyncratic breathing (persistent changes in depth or depth of breathing or prolonged pauses) .

As for the known way of sensing breathing, as disclosed in US Publication No. US06478747B1 "Method and device to sense breathing", the user wears a breathing sensor on the nasal cavity to directly sense the airflow of the user's breathing. However, it is only suitable for emergency patients. After long-term use, since the respirator will extend into the user's mouth and nose, the user's mouth and nose will easily feel uncomfortable, and it will be fixed at the position of the mouth and nose for a long time, which will often cause the patient's face. pressure injuries (decubitus ulcers), and increase the risk of infection.

As disclosed in the US Publication No. US08663126B1 "Wearable acoustic device for monitoring breathing sounds", it discloses a wearable breathing sensor for the user to wear directly on the chest to sense chest expansion during breathing, and obtain Know the user's breathing. Compared with mouth-nose breathing sensors, it is more suitable for patients with chronic diseases to use at home. However, this way of use needs to bind the user's chest cavity, which will make the user feel uncomfortable due to a sense of restraint. In addition to affecting the quality of sleep, wearing it for a long time may also cause pressure injuries (decubitus ulcers) to the user.

As disclosed in US Publication No. US11013415B2, "Hydraulic bed sensor and system for non-invasive monitoring of physiological data", it discloses a hydraulic bed sensor that transmits vibration through liquid. The sensor is divided into receiving the user's heartbeat and breathing vibration The liquid vibration transmission module and the second part of the pressure sensing module that measures the pressure change caused by vibration in the liquid vibration transmission module are installed under the mattress in a non-invasive way to sense lying on the mattress The vibration signal generated by the user's heartbeat and breathing vibration. The frequency of the measured vibration signal is analyzed through signal processing to obtain the user's heartbeat and breathing frequency. The user does not need to wear any equipment, and there is no problem affecting sleep quality.

However, the hydraulic bed rest sensor only collects the vibration signals generated by the user's heartbeat and breathing through a liquid vibration transmission module. In fact, the module not only obtains the vibration signals generated by the user's heartbeat and breathing, but also mixes various environmental Vibration noise includes all kinds of vibrations that belong to the same range as human breathing and heartbeat frequencies. After analyzing the frequencies of all vibration signals through cumbersome signal processing technology, it is necessary to determine which is the user's heartbeat and breathing frequency. It is easily distorted by various vibration noises that belong to the same range as human breathing and heartbeat frequencies. Although it has the advantage of being wear-free, it can only estimate the respiratory rate. Without information about the speed and depth of breathing movements, it cannot be used to evaluate breathing.

Therefore, the main purpose of the present invention is to disclose a breathing sensing device, which does not need to be worn, and can measure the time and ratio of inhalation, exhalation, and rest period, as well as the depth information of breathing, without being affected by the external environment. The interference of vibration noise can reduce the difficulty of signal processing and avoid the problem of measurement distortion.

To achieve the above purpose, the present invention is a breathing sensing device installed on (inside) a mattress where a user lies, and is used to sense a change in an area where the user covers the mattress, and the change in the area is It comes from the volume change of the body cavity produced when the user breathes. The volume change of the body cavity directly reflects the speed and depth of the breathing action. Therefore, detecting the volume change of the body cavity is equivalent to detecting the speed and depth of the breathing action. Signal processing can obtain the time and ratio of inhalation, exhalation, and rest period, and can also obtain common respiratory frequency. The breathing sensing device includes a sensing pad, a plurality of coverage area sensing structures and a signal processor, wherein the sensing pad has a surface layer and a support pad body, the surface layer is for the user to lie on, and the The support pad is located below the surface layer. The plurality of coverage area sensing structures are arranged on the support pad body, and the plurality of coverage area sensing structures respectively sense the area change to generate a plurality of coverage ratio signals. When the user lies on the surface layer of the sensing pad At the same time, the coverage signals sensed by part of the plurality of coverage area sensing structures will produce a periodic change along with the deformation of the user's body shape due to breathing. This is because the user There are three types of body cavities covered by the contour of the body shape of the surface layer. The first type is located next to the user, and the user will not be covered at all during the breathing process. The second type is located directly below the user, and the breathing process is all It will cover 100%, and the third type is located in the middle of the first type and the second type, which will change periodically with the deformation of the user's body shape due to breathing. The signal processor is electrically connected to the complex coverage area sensing structure to obtain the complex coverage signal. The signal processor first judges the complex coverage signal with the periodic change according to a signal algorithm, and based on having the Among the periodically changing complex coverage signals, the one with the best signal quality is used as the basis, and the user's inhalation, exhalation, and rest periods are calculated from the waveform of the coverage signal as the basis. Proportion and breath depth information.

As mentioned above, in the breathing sensing device of the present invention, the user does not need to wear a device, and can measure the user's inhalation, exhalation, time and ratio of rest periods and breathing as long as he lies on the sensing pad. The deep and shallow information, you can get the common breathing rate. Moreover, the present invention measures the periodic change of the deformation of the user's body shape and contour due to breathing, without the interference of vibration noise from the external environment, and can reduce the difficulty of signal processing and avoid the problem of measurement distortion. .

The technical content, features and effects of the present invention will be clearly presented in the following detailed description of preferred embodiments with reference to the drawings.

Please refer to "Figure 1" and "Figure 2", the present invention is a breathing sensing device for sensing the speed and depth information of a user A's breathing action, which includes a sensing pad 10, multiple covers Area sensing structure 20A and a signal processor 30, wherein the sensing pad 10 has a surface layer 11 and a support pad body 12, the surface layer 11 is for the user A to lie down, and the support pad body 12 is located The surface layer 11 is underneath. The plurality of coverage area sensing structures 20A are arranged on the support pad body 12. In actual structure, the plurality of coverage area sensing structures 20A can be hidden in the structure of the support pad body 12, and preferably, the adjacent There is a gap 21 non-parallel to the body shape of the user A between the two plurality of coverage area sensing structures 20A. The plurality of coverage area sensing structures 20A may be touch sensors selected from capacitive pressure sensors, resistive pressure sensors, optical pressure sensors and temperature sensors, or It is a non-contact sensor and is any one selected from an optical blocking sensor, a capacitive proximity sensor, a Hall element sensor, and an optical temperature sensor. Accordingly, the plurality of coverage area sensing structures 20A respectively sense the coverage area of the surface layer 11 to generate a plurality of coverage signals.

Please refer to "FIG. 3A" and "FIG. 3B" together, the intersection of the user A and the coronal section A1 is the contour A3. When the user A is breathing, the profile A3 of the user A will deform as he breathes and transform into a profile A3'. The area where the deformation of the profile A3 is more obvious is the chest cavity and abdominal cavity. Therefore, when the user A is lying down When on the surface layer 11 of the sensing pad 10, the plurality of coverage area sensing structures 20A will respectively sense the complex coverage ratio signals, which can be roughly divided into four types. The first type: partial coverage area sensing structures 20A will output a saturated value because it will be completely covered; the second type: part of the coverage area sensing structure 20A is not covered and outputs a value of 0 (all are not covered); the third type: part of the coverage area sensing structure 20A is covered by a part that does not produce contour deformation due to breathing, such as an arm, which will output a fixed value; the fourth type: the coverage area sensing structure 20A' at the edge (see FIG. 3B ), will follow the The periodic change caused by the contour A3 being transformed into the contour A3 ′ by the breathing of the user A produces a periodic numerical output of the coverage change.

If the adjacent coverage area sensing structures 20A have overlapping characteristics on the plane, such as rhombus design, non-linear shape and so on. That is to say, the gap between two adjacent multiple coverage area sensing structures is non-parallel to the user's body contour (as shown in FIG. 3B ), when the contour A3 of the user A due to breathing When the change of the profile A3' is small, at least one of the plurality of coverage area sensing structures 20A' can still detect a signal with a change in area coverage.

Please refer to "Fig. 4" again, the signal processor 30 is electrically connected to the plurality of coverage area sensing structures 20A to obtain the plurality of coverage ratio signals, and the signal processor 30 calculates a signal with a period according to a signal algorithm. The complex coverage signal with a constant value change, and further analyze the inspiratory time I, expiratory time E, breathing depth D and cycle P of the coverage signal S with the largest numerical change (as shown in Figure 4), and convert The breathing rate of the user A.

Please refer to "Fig. 5", which is another implementation structure of the breathing sensing device of the present invention, wherein the plurality of coverage area sensing structures 20A are arranged in an array, and the plurality of coverage area sensing structures 20A adjacent up and down are The staggered arrangement, in this way, when the contour A3 of the user A deforms into a contour A3' with breathing, the coverage area sensing structure 20A' at the edge will generate a periodic coverage change numerical output.

Please refer to "Fig. 6", which is a cross-sectional schematic diagram of another implementation structure of the breathing sensing device of the present invention. The plurality of coverage area sensing structures 20B are contact sensors and are multi-layer stacked structures, which are divided into an upper group. H and the lower layer group L, and the plurality of coverage area sensing structures 20B of the upper layer group H and the plurality of coverage area sensing structures 20B of the lower layer group L are stacked up and down. And in an embodiment, the plurality of coverage area sensing structures 20B of the upper group H and the plurality of coverage area sensing structures 20B of the lower group L may be vertically interleaved and stacked. Under this configuration, the chest sections A4, A4' of the user A will change with the breath and thus change the coverage rate of the surface layer 11, and the plurality of coverage area sensing structures 20B can sense the coverage of the surface layer 11 respectively. Multiple coverage signals are generated by coverage.

Please refer to "Fig. 7" again, in one embodiment, the support pad 12 includes an upper pad 121 and a lower pad 122, the upper pad 121 and the lower pad 122 have multiple The grid structure 123, the plurality of grid structures 123 can maintain a certain gap between the upper pad 121 and the lower pad 122 (not shown in the figure), the plurality of coverage area sensing structures 20B have a rhombus shape, The actual setting method is to allow the plurality of coverage area sensing structures 20B of the upper layer group H to be arranged on the upper layer pad body 121, and the plurality of coverage area sensing structures 20B of the lower layer group L to be arranged on the lower layer pad body 122, and the The plurality of coverage area sensing structures 20B are electrically connected to the signal processor 30 using a plurality of lines 23 , and the plurality of coverage area sensing structures 20B of the lower group L are electrically connected to the signal processor using a common line 24 30. As shown in FIG. 7 , the upper pad 121 and the lower pad 122 are unfolded. When the upper pad 121 and the lower pad 122 overlap up and down, the plurality of coverage area sensing structures 20B can respectively sense The coverage of the surface layer 11 generates complex coverage signals.

Please refer to "Figure 8", which is a schematic diagram of the implementation structure of the coverage area sensing structure of the breathing sensing device of the present invention. The plurality of coverage area sensing structures 20C are non-contact sensors and are selected from optical blocking Any of sensor, capacitive proximity sensor, Hall element sensor and optical temperature sensor. In this embodiment, the plurality of coverage area sensing structures 20C respectively have a sensing region 22 formed on the surface layer 11, and the plurality of sensing regions 22 have a wide-angle sensing range, so that the plurality of coverage area sensing structures 20C The plurality of sensing regions formed on the surface layer 11 are overlapped and overlapped without sensing gaps. Under this design, the plurality of coverage area sensing structures 20C can also respectively sense the coverage of the surface layer 11 to generate a plurality of coverage signals.

As mentioned above, the advantages of the present invention compared with the prior art are:

1. The user does not need to wear or wear an instrument, as long as he lies on the sensing mat, he can measure his breathing movement, no matter he is lying upright, lying on his side or sleeping on his stomach.

2. To measure the periodic numerical changes of the user's body contour deformation caused by breathing, without the interference of external environmental vibration noise, which can reduce the difficulty of signal processing and avoid the problem of measurement distortion.

3. Not only can the respiratory rate be measured, but also the time, speed and depth information of the breathing action can be measured, which can be effectively used for clinical respiratory evaluation.

D: breathing depth I: Inspiratory time E: exhalation time P: period A: User A1: Coronal section A3, A3': Contour A4, A4': Chest section H: upper group L: lower group S: coverage signal 10: Sensing pad 11: Surface layer 12: Support pad body 121: Upper pad body 122: lower cushion body 123: grid structure 20A, 20A', 20B, 20C: Coverage area sensing structures 21: Clearance 22: Induction area 23: line 24: Common line 30: Signal processor

FIG. 1 is a schematic top view of the structure of the breathing sensing device of the present invention. Fig. 2 is a schematic diagram of a coronal section of a user of the present invention. FIG. 3A is a schematic diagram of measuring the user's respiration according to the present invention. FIG. 3B is a schematic diagram of the contour deformation of the user of the present invention. Fig. 4 is a schematic diagram of the periodic frequency with the largest periodic value change in the present invention. FIG. 5 is a schematic top view of another embodiment of the breathing sensing device of the present invention. FIG. 6 is a schematic cross-sectional view of yet another embodiment of the breathing sensing device of the present invention. Fig. 7 is an implementation structure diagram of another embodiment of the breathing sensing device of the present invention. FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram of the implementation structure of the coverage area sensing structure of the breathing sensing device of the present invention.

10: Sensing pad

11: Surface layer

12: Support pad body

20A: Coverage area sensing structure

21: Clearance

30: Signal processor

Claims (8)

A breathing sensing device is installed on a mattress on which a user is lying, and is used to sense a change in an area of the mattress covered by the user, which includes: A sensing pad, the sensing pad has a surface layer for the user to lie on and a support pad body located below the surface layer; A plurality of coverage area sensing structures, the plurality of coverage area sensing structures are arranged on the support pad body, the plurality of coverage area sensing structures respectively sense the area changes to generate complex coverage ratio signals, and part of the plurality of coverage area sensing structures The coverage signals respectively sensed by the measuring structures will produce a periodic change along with the deformation of the user's body contour due to breathing; and A signal processor, the signal processor is electrically connected to the plurality of coverage area sensing structures to obtain the plurality of coverage signals, and the signal processor first judges the plurality of coverage signals with the periodic variation according to a signal algorithm , and based on the one with the best signal quality among the complex coverage signals with the periodic change, the user’s inhalation, exhalation, The time and proportion of the rest period and the depth of breathing information. The breath sensing device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the plurality of coverage area sensing structures are touch sensors and are selected from capacitive pressure sensors, resistive pressure sensors, and optical pressure sensors. with any kind of temperature sensor. The breathing sensing device as claimed in claim 1, wherein there is a gap between two adjacent plurality of coverage area sensing structures that is not parallel to the user's body shape. The breathing sensing device according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of coverage area sensing structures are arranged in an array, and the plurality of coverage area sensing structures adjacent up and down are arranged alternately. The breathing sensing device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the plurality of coverage area sensing structures are divided into an upper layer group and a lower layer group according to the installation height, and the plurality of coverage area sensing structures of the upper layer group and the lower layer group The plurality of coverage area sensing structures are vertically staggered and stacked. The breathing sensing device as claimed in item 5, wherein the support pad comprises an upper pad and a lower pad, wherein the plurality of coverage area sensing structures of the upper set are arranged on the upper pad, and the lower set The plurality of coverage area sensing structures are disposed on the lower pad. The breath sensing device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the plurality of coverage area sensing structures are non-contact sensors and are selected from optical blocking sensors, capacitive proximity sensors, Hall element sensors detectors and optical temperature sensors. The breathing sensing device as claimed in claim 7, wherein the plurality of coverage area sensing structures respectively have a sensing area formed on the surface layer, and the plurality of sensing areas are overlapped.

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