Personalized intelligent auricular point massager based on electrical stimulation

Abstract

A personalized intelligent auricular point massager based on electrical stimulation disclosed by the present invention comprises a massager frame, a control module, an electrical stimulator unit, a Bluetooth module and a sensor module, the electrical stimulator unit, the Bluetooth module and the sensor module are all connected with the control module, and the Bluetooth module is in communication connection with a mobile terminal. The massager frame is manufactured through the 3D printing technology and is attached to the outline of the ear, the electrical stimulator units are embedded into key acupuncture points of the massager frame, a millimeter-level ear micro-model is constructed through the three-dimensional scanning technology, and then automatic and accurate recognition and positioning of the auricular points are achieved through the image processing and neural network technology; finally, the massager frame fitting the physiological curve of the ear is customized through the 3D printing technology, acupuncture point positioning is accurate, the personalized adaptability degree is high, the technical requirement for operators is lowered, and the treatment effect is good.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to the technical field of medical instruments, in particular to the technical field of ear acupoint massagers. Background Art

[0002] In the field of traditional medicine, auricular acupuncture therapy has a long history and is widely used. According to Chinese medicine theory, ear acupuncture points are closely connected with the internal organs and meridians of the human body, like a "miniature map" of the health of the whole body. Stimulating specific ear acupuncture points can accurately regulate the functions of internal organs, dredge the meridians and qi and blood, and achieve the purpose of disease prevention and treatment. It has achieved remarkable results in the treatment of many diseases such as insomnia, hypertension, and diabetes. However, traditional ear acupuncture stimulation methods have significant limitations. The buried needle stimulation method is highly painful and prone to infection risks. Although the electrical stimulation method has quantitative advantages, it is often difficult to fix the electrodes and the current parameters are difficult to accurately adapt to individual differences, resulting in poor treatment comfort and large fluctuations in efficacy. The drug injection stimulation method is complicated to operate and requires strict professional skills, and the coexistence of drug side effects and allergic risks limits its widespread application. Although the pressing stimulation method is easy to operate and has high safety, it has encountered bottlenecks in improving the treatment effect due to the rough positioning of the acupuncture points, uneven stimulation intensity, and difficulty in personalized and precise treatment.

[0003] The patent document with publication number CN216124812U discloses a traditional Chinese medicine ear acupoint stimulation device, which applies electrical stimulation generated by a main body to the ear acupoints through a spherical conductor, thereby stimulating the ear acupoints with a certain waveform and a certain frequency; the device requires manual positioning of the acupoints, the operation is complicated, and high professional skills are required of the operator.

[0004] The patent document with publication number CN206414485U discloses a portable Bluetooth intelligent ear acupuncture therapy device based on APP. When in use, the first electrode protrusion points and the second electrode protrusion points can be controlled by the APP client to accurately press and stimulate the acupuncture points. The personalized adaptability of the therapy device is poor. When in use, the acupuncture point positioning will deviate, resulting in poor treatment effect. Summary of the invention

[0005] The purpose of the present invention is to solve the problems of insufficient accuracy, complicated operation and poor personalized adaptability in existing ear acupoint treatment equipment. The designed intelligent ear acupoint massager is not only easy to use, but also can accurately locate and stimulate the ear acupoints, greatly improving the treatment effect while reducing the technical requirements for users.

[0006] To achieve the above-mentioned purpose, the present invention proposes a massager frame, a control module, an electric stimulator unit and a sensor module. The massager frame is manufactured by 3D printing technology and fits the contour of the ear. The electric stimulator unit is embedded in the key acupoints of the massager frame. The sensor module is provided on the massager frame. The electric stimulator unit and the sensor module are both connected to the control module. The control module and the massager frame are integrated or separated.

[0007] The ear acupoint massager has a good effect on relieving or treating short stature, myopia, constipation, tinnitus (deafness), cold, rhinitis, acne, insomnia, breast hyperplasia, simple obesity, joint pain, infertility and other diseases.

[0008] Preferably, the sensor module includes a pressure sensor, a skin resistance sensor and a temperature sensor.

[0009] Preferably, the massager frame is of integrated design, the circuit is integrated into the massager frame and is independently controlled by a control module.

[0010] Preferably, the control module comprises an STM32 microcontroller, the STM32 microcontroller is connected to a power supply, and the power supply is connected to a charging module.

[0011] Preferably, the massager frame is provided with a Bluetooth module, the Bluetooth module is connected to the control module, and the massager frame is communicatively connected to the mobile terminal via the Bluetooth module.

[0012] Preferably, the massager frame is of external modular design, the massager frame is connected to the control device via an external circuit, and the control module is arranged on the control device.

[0013] Preferably, the control device is a pulse therapy device.

[0014] Preferably, the control device is a smart phone, and the massager frame is connected to the smart phone via a data cable.

[0015] Preferably, the massager frame is of ear-hanging type, embedded type, head-mounted type, neck-hanging type, or ear-clip type.

[0016] Preferably, the electrical stimulator is made of biocompatible material.

[0017] The preparation method of the personalized intelligent ear acupoint massager comprises the following steps: S1, 3D model construction; Use a 3D scanning device to scan the patient's ear, obtain 3D data of the ear, and construct a 3D model of the ear; S2, prediction of auricular acupoint locations; S2.1. Collect ear images of different people under different shooting conditions to form a data set; S2.2. Use data annotation tools to frame the ear in the image and annotate the ear points; S2.3, using a “top-down” approach to build and train the ear acupoint detection model; First, the target detection model is used to accurately locate the ear area, and then the key point detection model is used to accurately mark the ear acupoints based on the detection results. During the training process, the large-scale annotated ear acupoint dataset is fully utilized, and a variety of data enhancement strategies are introduced to improve the model's adaptability and generalization effect to complex scenarios. After multiple rounds of parameter adjustment and optimization, the model gradually achieves stable convergence, and generates high-performance target detection and key point detection models for the ear area, which support subsequent applications in the task of precise positioning of ear acupoints in different scenarios. S2.4, using the target detection model to detect the ear position and the key point detection model to detect the ear acupoint position; S3, determination of electrical stimulation location; S3.1. Input the patient's ear photo into the trained neural network model to predict the planar distribution map of ear acupoints, and then combine it with the three-dimensional ear model to obtain the three-dimensional distribution map of ear acupoints; S3.2. Design the ear-hanging type to reserve space for laying wires and holes for arranging the electrical stimulators. The designed model is formed using 3D printing technology; S4, embedded electrical stimulator; S5, integrated control module and Bluetooth module; S6, adding sensor module; S7. Simulation optimization and verification.

[0018] Preferably, the S7 includes the following contents: (1) Performance simulation: The high-precision bio-electrophysiology simulation software is used to simulate the process of electrical stimulation of auricular points in detail, covering the following key links: (1.1) Current conduction path: Analyze the conduction path of the current released by the electrical stimulator in the ear tissue, focusing on its propagation effect in the skin surface, nerve distribution area and deep tissue, to ensure that the current action range accurately covers the target ear acupoint area; (1.2) Changes in neural electrical activity: simulate the effects of electrical stimulation on the generation, transmission and frequency regulation of neuronal action potentials, and evaluate the effects of stimulation on neural excitability and tissue function recovery; (1.3) Physiological response process: Through simulation calculation, quantify the dynamic changes of local blood flow velocity, tissue temperature and muscle tension in the ear caused by electrical stimulation, and predict the therapeutic efficacy under different waveform and intensity parameters; (2) Clinical validation; After making the prototype of the massager framework, a small-scale clinical validation was carried out, with the patient's symptom improvement, physiological index changes and subjective feedback as the core evaluation indicators, and the following steps were carried out: (2.1) Symptom improvement assessment: record the changes in patients' symptoms before and after treatment, such as the degree of pain relief, recovery of neurological function, etc.; use standardized scales for quantitative analysis to ensure that the results are scientific and comparable; (2.2) Physiological indicator monitoring: Use professional equipment to monitor the physiological response of the patient's ear in real time, analyze the short-term and long-term effects of electrical stimulation, and provide objective data support for optimizing treatment plans; (2.3) Subjective feedback collection: Collect patients’ feedback on the wearing comfort of the device, the feeling of electrical stimulation, and the overall treatment experience, which will form an important reference for optimizing the design.

[0019] Beneficial effects of the present invention: The present invention first constructs a millimeter-level ear microscopic model through three-dimensional scanning technology, and then realizes automatic and accurate identification and positioning of ear acupoints through image processing and neural network technology, combines three-dimensional scanning technology and automatic identification of ear acupoints to find the corresponding acupoints of each individual, and finally customizes the massager frame that fits the physiological curve of the ear through 3D printing technology. The massager can effectively fit the ear, accurately locate the acupoints, and have a high degree of personalized adaptability, which reduces the technical requirements for operators and has a good treatment effect; the STM32 microcontroller provides core support for the intelligent regulation of electrical stimulation parameters, accurately controls current intensity, frequency range and pulse width, and realizes precise treatment; the present invention supports intelligent regulation, and can automatically adjust current parameters according to the patient's treatment feedback, realize personalized treatment, meet clinical diverse needs, and improve the quality of medical services.

[0020] The features and advantages of the present invention will be described in detail through embodiments in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0021] Figure 1 It is a training model architecture diagram of the present invention; Figure 2 is a planar distribution map of ear acupoints predicted by the neural network model of the present invention; Figure 3 is a map of auricular acupoint locations predicted by the present invention; Figure 4 is a schematic diagram of a model of an ear acupoint massager including an electric stimulator of the present invention; Figure 5 It is a schematic diagram of the structure of the electric stimulator of the present invention; Figure 6 Schematic diagram of the ear acupoint massager model with an electric stimulator at various viewing angles; Figure 7 It is a design flow chart of the present invention; Figure 8 The ear-hanging auricular acupoint massager of the present invention; Fig. 9 The embedded ear acupoint massager of the present invention; Fig.10 The ear-clip type auricular acupoint massager of the present invention; Fig.11 The head-mounted ear acupoint massager of the present invention; Fig.12 The neck-hanging ear acupoint massager of the present invention; Fig.13 A simplified diagram of the device charging and control system of the present invention; Fig.14 It is a schematic diagram of the external modularization of the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0022] See also Figures 1 to 14 A personalized intelligent ear acupoint massager based on electrical stimulation includes a massager frame, a control module, an electrical stimulator unit, a Bluetooth module and a sensor module. The electrical stimulator unit, the Bluetooth module and the sensor module are all connected to the control module. The Bluetooth module is connected to a mobile terminal for communication. The massager frame is made by 3D printing technology and fits the contour of the ear. The electrical stimulator unit is embedded in the key acupoints of the massager frame.

[0023] The method for preparing the personalized intelligent ear acupoint massager based on electrical stimulation comprises the following steps: S1. Construction of three-dimensional model: Use a high-precision three-dimensional scanning device to scan the patient's ear, obtain three-dimensional ear data, and construct a three-dimensional ear model; the resolution of the three-dimensional scanning device is not less than microns to ensure that the subtle structural features of the ear can be accurately captured, providing an accurate geometric basis for subsequent ear acupoint positioning.

[0024] S2. Prediction of ear acupoint location: S2.1. Collect ear images of different people under various shooting conditions to form a data set; S2.2. Use data annotation tools to frame the ear in the image and annotate the auricular points. The annotation format follows the Coco dataset specification. S2.3, using a “top-down” approach to build and train the ear acupoint detection model; First, the target detection model is used to accurately locate the ear area, and then the key point detection model is used to accurately mark the ear acupoints based on the detection results. During the training process, the large-scale annotated ear acupoint dataset is fully utilized, and a variety of data enhancement strategies are introduced to improve the model's adaptability and generalization effect to complex scenarios. After multiple rounds of parameter adjustment and optimization, the model gradually achieves stable convergence, and generates high-performance target detection and key point detection models for the ear area, which support subsequent applications in the task of precise positioning of ear acupoints in different scenarios. S2.4, using the target detection model to detect the ear position and the key point detection model to detect the ear acupoint position; S3. Determination of electrical stimulation position: S3.1. Input the patient's ear photo into the trained neural network model to predict the planar distribution map of ear acupoints, and then combine it with the three-dimensional ear model to obtain the three-dimensional distribution map of ear acupoints; Figure 3 The specific numbers corresponding to the acupoints are as follows: ① ear tip point ② Shenmen point ③ sympathetic point ④ kidney point ⑤ liver point ⑥ spleen point ⑦ lung point ⑧ heart point ⑨ subcortical point ⑩ occipital point ⑪ endocrine point ⑫ No. 1 eye point ⑬ No. 2 eye point ⑭ Chuanqian point ⑮ eye point; It should be noted that the acupoints predicted by the model are not limited to the acupoints marked in the figure, but include all acupoints in the ear.

[0025] S3.2, reserve space for laying wires and holes for arranging the electrical stimulator, and use 3D printing technology to form the designed stl model to obtain the massager frame; S4, embedded electrical stimulator; The structure of the electrical stimulator is as follows Figure 5 As shown, the material of the electric stimulator can be metal, conductive silicone or other conductive materials, all of which must have excellent conductivity and biocompatibility, and undergo strict medical-grade processing technology to ensure that the needle surface is smooth, corrosion-resistant and not easily oxidized; the diameter and length of the needle are optimized through clinical trials to ensure the electrical stimulation effect while minimizing mechanical damage to the auricle tissue and improving the safety and comfort of wearing.

[0026] S5, integrated control module and Bluetooth module; The control module comprises an STM32 microcontroller, the STM32 microcontroller is connected to a power supply, and the power supply is connected to a charging module.

[0027] To realize an efficient and safe electrical stimulation system, we use shielded wires to connect the electrical stimulator to the STM32 microcontroller to ensure stable and anti-interference signal transmission; the system supports multiple electrical stimulation modes such as continuous wave, sparse wave and intermittent wave; precise treatment is achieved by precisely controlling the current intensity, frequency range and pulse width, and multiple types of stimulation modes are designed in combination with different treatment needs: headache relief type, mainly stimulating Shenmen acupoint, subcortical acupoint, ear tip acupoint, and pillow acupoint; simple obesity treatment type, mainly stimulating lung acupoint, spleen acupoint, kidney acupoint, endocrine acupoint, and subcortical acupoint; eye fatigue relief type, mainly stimulating kidney acupoint, liver acupoint, ear acupoint No. 1, ear acupoint No. 2 and eye acupoint; overall conditioning type, mainly stimulating Shenmen acupoint, kidney acupoint, liver acupoint, spleen acupoint, lung acupoint and heart acupoint; sleep aid type, mainly stimulating Shenmen acupoint, sympathetic acupoint, kidney acupoint, lung acupoint, heart acupoint, subcortical acupoint and chuiqian acupoint.

[0028] The ear acupoint massager is connected to the mobile terminal in real time via a Bluetooth module. Users can select stimulation modes, adjust parameters and send instructions through the mobile phone to achieve an efficient, accurate and personalized treatment experience. At the same time, the system design is scalable. In the future, more electrical stimulation functions can be added according to clinical needs to provide a more comprehensive health solution.

[0029] The ear acupoint massager can also be connected to the mobile terminal via a data cable.

[0030] The ear acupoint massager has two design modes: The first is the integrated design, which integrates the circuit into the massager frame and is independently controlled by the STM32 microcontroller to achieve a beautiful and portable integrated structure. The charging module provides long-term stable power supply to meet the needs of independent work, referring to the Bluetooth headset charging module; The second is the external modular design, which is connected to the traditional Chinese medicine pulse therapy instrument or other pulse therapy equipment through an external circuit to form a stable signal transmission channel, receive a variety of electrical stimulation signals such as continuous wave, sparse wave and intermittent wave sent by the therapy instrument, and achieve precise stimulation of the ear points, such as Fig.14 shown.

[0031] S6, adding sensor module; The sensor module includes a pressure sensor, a skin resistance sensor and a temperature sensor.

[0032] The system has intelligent sensing capabilities, which monitor the contact pressure of the electrical stimulator, skin resistance and local temperature in real time, and feeds the data back to the microcontroller to dynamically adjust the stimulation parameters and optimize the treatment effect.

[0033] S7, simulation optimization and verification; (1) Performance simulation: Using high-precision bio-electrophysiological simulation software (COMSOL Multiphysics or ANSYS), the process of electrical stimulation of auricular acupoints is simulated in detail, covering the following key links: (1.1) Current conduction path: Analyze the conduction path of the current released by the electrical stimulator in the ear tissue, focusing on its propagation effect in the skin surface, nerve distribution area and deep tissue, to ensure that the current action range accurately covers the target ear acupoint area.

[0034] (1.2) Changes in neural electrical activity: Simulate the effects of electrical stimulation on the generation, transmission, and frequency regulation of neuronal action potentials, and evaluate the effects of stimulation on neural excitability and tissue function recovery.

[0035] (1.3) Physiological response process: Through simulation calculation, the dynamic changes of local blood flow velocity, tissue temperature and muscle tension in the ear caused by electrical stimulation are quantified, and the therapeutic efficacy under different waveform and intensity parameters is predicted.

[0036] (2) Clinical validation; After making the prototype of the massager framework, a small-scale clinical validation was carried out, with the patient's symptom improvement, physiological index changes and subjective feedback as the core evaluation indicators, and the following steps were carried out: (2.1) Symptom improvement assessment: record the changes in patients' symptoms before and after treatment, such as the degree of pain relief, recovery of neurological function, etc.; use standardized scales (such as VAS pain scores and muscle strength scores) for quantitative analysis to ensure that the results are scientific and comparable.

[0037] (2.2) Physiological indicator monitoring: Use professional equipment to monitor the patient's ear physiological responses (such as local blood flow velocity, skin resistance changes, etc.) in real time, analyze the short-term and long-term effects of electrical stimulation, and provide objective data support for optimizing treatment plans.

[0038] (2.3) Subjective feedback collection: Collect patients’ feedback on the wearing comfort of the device, the feeling of electrical stimulation, and the overall treatment experience, which will form an important reference for optimizing the design.

[0039] The massager frame is of an ear-hanging type, an embedded type, a head-mounted type, a neck-hanging type, or an ear-clipped type.

[0040] Safety and intelligent design: The system integrates multiple safety protection mechanisms, including current overload protection, current limiting and short-circuit detection functions, to ensure stable operation of the equipment during treatment and avoid any form of excessive stimulation or patient discomfort; in addition, the control module supports intelligent adjustment, which can automatically adjust the current parameters according to the patient's treatment feedback to achieve personalized treatment; in order to improve the convenience of operation, a simple and intuitive user interface is designed, allowing doctors or patients to select modes, adjust parameters and monitor the current output status in real time through buttons.

[0041] The above embodiments are intended to illustrate the present invention, not to limit the present invention. Any solution that is a simple transformation of the present invention belongs to the protection scope of the present invention.

Claims

1. A personalized intelligent ear acupoint massager based on electrical stimulation, characterized in that: The massager comprises a massager frame, a control module, an electric stimulator unit and a sensor module. The massager frame is manufactured by 3D printing technology and fits the contour of the ear. The electric stimulator unit is embedded at the key acupuncture points of the massager frame. The sensor module is arranged on the massager frame. Both the electric stimulator unit and the sensor module are connected to the control module. The control module is integrated with or separated from the massager frame.

2. The personalized intelligent ear acupoint massager based on electrical stimulation as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that: The sensor module includes a pressure sensor, a skin resistance sensor and a temperature sensor.

3. The personalized intelligent ear acupoint massager based on electrical stimulation as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that: The massager frame is an integrated design, the circuit is integrated into the massager frame, and is independently controlled by the control module.

4. The personalized intelligent ear acupoint massager based on electrical stimulation as claimed in claim 3, characterized in that: The control module comprises an STM32 microcontroller, the STM32 microcontroller is connected to a power supply, and the power supply is connected to a charging module.

5. The personalized intelligent ear acupoint massager based on electrical stimulation as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that: The massager frame is provided with a Bluetooth module, which is connected to the control module. The massager frame is connected to the mobile terminal through the Bluetooth module.

6. The personalized intelligent ear acupoint massager based on electrical stimulation as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that: The massager frame is of external modular design. The massager frame is connected to the control device through an external circuit, and the control module is arranged on the control device.

7. The personalized intelligent ear acupoint massager based on electrical stimulation as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that: The massager frame is of an ear-hanging type, an embedded type, a head-mounted type, a neck-hanging type, or an ear-clipped type.

8. The personalized intelligent ear acupoint massager based on electrical stimulation as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that: The electrical stimulator is made of biocompatible material.

9. The personalized intelligent ear acupoint massager based on electrical stimulation as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that: The preparation method of the personalized intelligent ear acupoint massager comprises the following steps: S1, 3D model construction; Use a 3D scanning device to scan the patient's ear, obtain 3D data of the ear, and construct a 3D model of the ear; S2, prediction of auricular acupoint locations; S2.

1. Collect ear images of different people under different shooting conditions to form a data set; S2.

2. Use data annotation tools to frame the ear in the image and annotate the ear points; S2.3, using the "top-down" approach to build and train the ear acupoint detection model; First, the target detection model is used to accurately locate the ear area, and then the key point detection model is used to accurately mark the ear acupoints based on the detection results. During the training process, the large-scale annotated ear acupoint dataset is fully utilized, and a variety of data enhancement strategies are introduced to improve the model's adaptability and generalization effect to complex scenarios. After multiple rounds of parameter adjustment and optimization, the model gradually achieves stable convergence, and generates high-performance target detection and key point detection models for the ear area, which support subsequent applications in the task of precise positioning of ear acupoints in different scenarios. S2.4, using the target detection model to detect the ear position and the key point detection model to detect the ear acupoint position; S3, determination of electrical stimulation location; S3.

1. Input the patient's ear photo into the trained neural network model to predict the planar distribution map of ear acupoints, and then combine it with the three-dimensional ear model to obtain the three-dimensional distribution map of ear acupoints; S3.2, reserve space for laying wires and holes for arranging the electrical stimulators, and use 3D printing technology to form the designed model; S4, embedded electrical stimulator; S5, integrated control module and Bluetooth module; S6, adding sensor module; S7. Simulation optimization and verification.

10. The personalized intelligent ear acupoint massager based on electrical stimulation as claimed in claim 9, characterized in that: The S7 includes the following contents: (1) Performance simulation: The high-precision bio-electrophysiology simulation software is used to simulate the process of electrical stimulation of auricular points in detail, covering the following key links: (1.1) Current conduction path: Analyze the conduction path of the current released by the electrical stimulator in the ear tissue, focusing on its propagation effect in the skin surface, nerve distribution area and deep tissue, to ensure that the current action range accurately covers the target ear acupoint area; (1.2) Changes in neural electrical activity: simulate the effects of electrical stimulation on the generation, transmission and frequency regulation of neuronal action potentials, and evaluate the effects of stimulation on neural excitability and tissue function recovery; (1.3) Physiological response process: Through simulation calculation, quantify the dynamic changes of local blood flow velocity, tissue temperature and muscle tension in the ear caused by electrical stimulation, and predict the therapeutic efficacy under different waveform and intensity parameters; (2) Clinical validation; After making the prototype of the massager framework, a small-scale clinical validation was carried out, with the patient's symptom improvement, physiological index changes and subjective feedback as the core evaluation indicators, and the following steps were carried out: (2.1) Symptom improvement assessment: record the changes in patients' symptoms before and after treatment, such as the degree of pain relief, recovery of neurological function, etc.; use standardized scales for quantitative analysis to ensure that the results are scientific and comparable; (2.2) Physiological indicator monitoring: Use professional equipment to monitor the physiological response of the patient's ear in real time, analyze the short-term and long-term effects of electrical stimulation, and provide objective data support for optimizing treatment plans; (2.3) Subjective feedback collection: Collect patients’ feedback on the wearing comfort of the device, the feeling of electrical stimulation, and the overall treatment experience, which will form an important reference for optimizing the design.

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