Capacitive measuring head device for measuring the frequency of an acupuncture point of the human body

Description

CROSS-REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0001] The present application claims priority to US Provisional Application No. 62102119 filed on January 12, 2015.FIELD OF THE INVENTION

[0002] The present invention relates to a detecting head device for capacitively measuring an acupuncture point frequency of a human body.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0003] The electrical status of various acupuncture meridians and acupuncture points reflects human health. According to electric circuit theories, detectable electric physical quantities are resistance, inductance and capacitance. It is known that the electrical resistance of human skin covering the entire body is from 100 K to 10 M ohms. Since the direct current resistance value needs be kept below 10 ohms when measuring the inductance, the electrical status of acupuncture meridians may not be determined by the measurement of inductance. The measurement of resistance is a possible way but affected by age, injuries, changes in weather conditions, and sweat production which change the direct current resistance. Physiological saline needs be applied to the measurement point to prevent errors. However, saline matters will corrode electronic devices and shortens the service lives of the measuring connectors when not appropriately maintained.

[0004] GB 2 009 413 A provides an apparatus and a method of determining bioenergetic ratios in humans and animals in the context of acupunctural diagnosis. Therein, electrical capacitance is measured between two points which are determined through their reduced electrical resistance relative to the surrounding skin by a resistance measurement. These points of reduced resistance are the terminal points of a "meridian" (an acupuncture for reservoirs or transport systems of "chi" energy). The respective apparatus comprises a resistance meter with tapping electrodes, a capacitance meter operating in the nano-farad range being combined with the resistance meter to feed an indicator via a changeover switch which highly increases complexity of the apparatus.

[0005] CN 201 302 712 Y discloses a capacity type touch detector capable of reliably detecting human touch input operation with a finger. An LC detection circuit comprises an induction electrode that is connected with a touch detection circuit; the touch detection circuit comprises an oscillation control circuit, a frequency detection circuit, an internal resistance detection circuit and a signal processing circuit; the induction electrode and the induction element are combined into an LC detection circuit to be connected with the oscillation control circuit; the touch detection circuit can detect the response of the induction electrode on being approached or touched by human body via detecting the oscillation frequency and internal resistance of the LC oscillation detection circuit, which is necessary for water cover resistance and electromagnetic interference resistance.BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0006] Figs. 1A and 1B respectively show a structural diagram of a body-contacting contact head of a detecting head device for capacitively measuring an acupuncture point frequency of a human body. Fig. 2 shows a structural block diagram of a detecting head device for capacitively measuring an acupuncture point frequency of a human body. Fig. 3 shows a circuit diagram of a detecting head device for capacitively measuring an acupuncture point frequency of a human body. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0007] The above identified problems are solved by the features of the independent claim.

[0008] The present invention inter alia provides a detecting head device for capacitively measuring an acupuncture point frequency of a human body, comprising: a contact head, which comprises two terminals and contacts with an acupuncture point of a human body to obtain a capacitance value CH of the acupuncture point, wherein one of two terminals is grounded; an internal oscillator, which comprises an inductor L1 and a capacitor C2 and generates a predetermined internal oscillation frequency F1; a counting module, which is connected to the internal oscillator and calculates the internal oscillation frequency; an external interrupt security routine (ISR) module, which is connected to the counting module and when the contact head contacts with an acupuncture point of a human body and the external interrupt security routine (ISR) module receives an acupuncture point frequency signal from the contacted human body, the external interrupt security routine (ISR) module calculates, in combination with the internal oscillation frequency, a frequency F2 of the contacted acupuncture point of the human body.DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0009] In order to overcome many of the deficiencies in prior art and to build a database connecting to a cloud storage for further analysis and determination of human health conditions, the present invention provides a detecting head device for capacitively measuring an acupuncture point frequency of a human body, comprising: a contact head, which comprises two terminals and contacts with an acupuncture point of a human body to obtain a capacitance value CH of the acupuncture point, wherein one of two terminals is grounded; an internal oscillator, which comprises an inductor L1 and a capacitor C2 and generates a predetermined internal oscillation frequency F1; a counting module, which is connected to the internal oscillator and calculates the internal oscillation frequency; an external interrupt security routine (ISR) module, which is connected to the counting module and when the contact head contacts with an acupuncture point of a human body and the external interrupt security routine (ISR) module receives an acupuncture point frequency signal from the contacted human body, the external interrupt security routine (ISR) module calculates, in combination with the internal oscillation frequency, a frequency F2 of the contacted acupuncture point of the human body using mathematical formula shown as follows; F 2 = 1 2 L 1 × C 2 + CH ; F 1 = 1 2 L 1 × C 2 , wherein F1 is an internal oscillation frequency of the internal oscillator, L1 and C2 are oscillatory elements of the internal oscillator, and CH is a capacitance value of the acupuncture point of the human body.EXAMPLES

[0010] The present invention may be implemented in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the examples set forth herein; The following detailed description is only used for representing the different examples and characters of the present invention, therefore, should not be construed as the limitation of the claims.

[0011] Figs. 1A and 1B respectively show a structural diagram of a structurally different contact head of a detecting head device 100 for capacitively measuring the frequency of an acupuncture point of the human body. Fig. 1A shows a cylinder shaped contact head 110, wherein a terminal 1 contacts with an acupuncture point, and a terminal 2 is grounded. Fig. 1B shows a planar contact head 110', wherein a terminal 1' contacts with an acupuncture point, and a terminal 2' is grounded.

[0012] In addition, the material of the contact head includes, but is not limited to, a metal or an alloy, for example plated gold.

[0013] The device uses an 18k gold contact head to measure the capacitance, which determines physical quantities mainly through its electrical charge and discharge characteristics rather than direct measurement of electric currents passing through a human body to minimize the effects of factors influencing the skin resistance. Therefore, the present invention measures capacitance to obtain parameters of each acupuncture point. There are two methods of measuring the capacitance. The first method is to apply a fixed electric voltage to observe transient characteristics. The second method is to assemble an oscillator by combining suitable feedback circuits to measure an output frequency. The first method provides higher accuracy, but the size of the measuring device is rather large. The second method, when errors can be controlled below 5%, the size of the device can be reduced effectively. Therefore, the present invention adopts a method of generating a circuit by frequencies to measure a capacitance value of an acupuncture point of acupuncture meridians.

[0014] Fig. 2 shows a structural block diagram of a detecting head device 100 for capacitively measuring an acupuncture point frequency of a human body, comprising: a contact head 110, shown in Fig. 1A, (also, a contact head 110', shown in Fig. 1B) which comprises two terminals (i.e. terminals 1 and 2 shown in Fig. 1A, terminals 1' and 2' shown in Fig. 1B) and contacts with an acupuncture point of a human body to obtain a capacitance value CH of the acupuncture point; an internal oscillator 120, which generates a predetermined oscillation frequency; a counting module 130, which is connected to the internal oscillator and calculates an internal oscillation frequency; an external interrupt security routine (ISR) module 140, which is connected to the counting module and when the contact head contacts with an acupuncture point of a human body and the external interrupt security routine (ISR) module receives an acupuncture point frequency signal from the contacted human body, the external interrupt security routine (ISR) module calculates, in combination with the internal oscillation frequency, a frequency F2 of the contacted acupuncture point of the human body, using mathematical formula shown as follows: F 2 = 1 2 L 1 × C 2 + CH ; F 1 = 1 2 L 1 × C 2 , wherein F1 is an internal oscillation frequency of the internal oscillator, L1 and C2 are oscillatory elements of the internal oscillator, and CH is a capacitance value of the acupuncture point of the human body.

[0015] Fig. 3 shows a circuit diagram of a detecting head device of the present invention, P2 is a human body measurement point; an oscillatory circuit which is constructed by combining a tank circuit, which comprises C2 and L1, and a LM311 comparison circuit. According to electric circuit theories, an output frequency F1 of an oscillator can be derived from the following formula: F 1 = 1 2 L 1 × C 2

[0016] When P2 is set as an input point, electric charges of an acupuncture point of a human body can be seen as a small capacitor, and CH is set as a capacitance value of an acupuncture point. According to the formula used to calculate capacitors coupled in parallel, after contacting with a human body, an output frequency F2 of an oscillator can be derived from the following formula: F 2 = 1 2 L 1 × C 2 + CH

[0017] Based on the relationship between F1 and F2, the capacitance value caused by electric charges of a skin can be derived from the following formula: CH = F 1 2 F 2 2 − 1 680 pF wherein F1 is an output frequency of the detecting head device before contacting with a human body, which is approximately 700 KHZ ±5% under normal conditions, and F2 is an output frequency of the detecting head device when contacting with a human body, which is approximately from 400 KHZ to 700KHZ, depending on the physical condition of the human body. The device further comprises an alarm component (not shown in the figures) which generates an alarm signal, such as a sound signal or a light signal, when (F1-F2)> 500 HZ is detected, which means that the detecting head device has contacted with a human body. The present invention further comprises an analysis component (not shown in the figures), which is connected to the counting module, divides F2 ranging from 400 KHZ to 700KHZ into 200 equal parts and analyzes according to a measured value of F2 of a human body depending upon which equal part the measured value of F2 falls within.

[0018] Before contacting with a human body, the frequency under normal conditions is approximately 700 KHZ. When contacting with a human body, the range of the frequencies is approximately from 400 KHZ to 700 KHZ. When there are communication devices having the same frequency range in the surrounding area, they may cause interference.

[0019] When frequency signals are sent to a motherboard through RS232, they can be analyzed and quantified.

[0020] Because the contact area will affect the stabilization time of the circuit charging and discharging, when designing the mechanism, the area of the terminal 1 of the contact head (P2) should be expanded as much as possible, i.e. the area of the terminal 1 is bigger than the area of the terminal 2 (grounded end) to accelerate the steady speed. The contact areas of the two terminals 1' and 2', of course, can also be same (shown in Fig. 1B).

[0021] Further, the structure comprises an external interrupt security routine (ISR) module of an integrated circuit (e.g. model number STM32F103C8T6), a counting module, an internal oscillator (an internal frequency generating module). The frequency counter is configured as follows: when turning on a power supply, the internal oscillator with a predetermined frequency will be activated, output signals are connected to a counter, allows the counter to keep counting, and when a frequency signal is inputted, the external interrupt security routine (ISR) is activated.

[0022] The function of the external interrupt security routine (ISR) module is to read out a numerical value in the counter, together with the frequency of the internal oscillator, to determine a numerical value of the input frequency signal. To avoid errors caused by instantaneous contacts, the first and the final data are automatically abandoned. To avoid errors, frequency samples are taken by this system 10 times per second, and a total sampling time is 3 seconds.

[0023] When the contact head contacts with the skin, electric characteristics of the skin will change the frequency of the detecting head device; when a frequency change is detected by a controller, a recording program is activated to start the measurements. The recorded program language is as follows:

[0024] It should be noted that the highest frequency of an input signal should not be more than half of the frequency of the internal oscillator, otherwise the accuracy of the calculation of the frequency will be compromised. The highest frequency of the detecting head device used by this system is 700 KHZ and the highest frequency of the internal oscillator may be 36 MHZ, which are in conformity with the principle.

[0025] In addition, as shown in Fig. 2, the detecting head device 100 for capacitively measuring the frequency of an acupuncture point of a human body further comprises a human body contacting sensor 150, which is connected to an external interrupt security routine (ISR) module 140 and generates a trigger signal when contacting with a human body to activate the external interrupt security routine (ISR) module to start calculating.

Claims

1. A detecting head device (100) for determining a capacitance value CH of an acupuncture point of a human body, comprising: a contact head (110), which comprises two terminals (1, 1'; 2, 2') including a first terminal (1, 1') that contacts with an acupuncture point (P2) of a human body to obtain a capacitance value (CH) of the acupuncture point (P2) and a second terminal (2, 2') that is grounded; an oscillatory circuit including an LM311 comparison circuit in combination with a tank circuit that comprises an inductor L1 and a capacitor C2, the oscillatory circuit is configured to: generate and output oscillations of a oscillation frequency F1 when the contact head (110) does not contact the acupuncture point (P2) of the human body based on mathematical formula: F 1 = 1 / 2 π √ L 1 ⋅ C 2 , generate and output oscillations of an oscillation frequency F2 when the contact head (110) contacts the acupuncture point (P2) of the human body based on mathematical formula: F 2 = 1 / 2 π √ L 1 ⋅ C 2 + CH , wherein L1 is the inductor value of the tank circuit, C2 is the capacitor value of the tank circuit and CH is the capacitance value of the contacted acupuncture point (P2) of the human body, wherein the oscillation frequency F1 is 700 KHz ± 5%, and wherein the oscillation frequency F2 is in a range from 400 KHz to 700 KHz; a counting module (130), which is connected to an internal oscillator (120) and is configured to count oscillations that are output from the internal oscillator (120), wherein a highest frequency value of the internal oscillator (120) is 36 MHz; and an external interrupt service routine, ISR, module (140), which is connected to the counting module (130) and when the contact head (110) contacts with the acupuncture point (P2) of the human body, the external ISR module (140) receives an acupuncture point frequency signal (Fin) of the contacted human body, the external ISR module (140) determines, in combination with the counted oscillations from the internal oscillator (120) and the frequency of the internal oscillator, the frequency F2 of the contacted acupuncture point (P2) of the human body, wherein frequency samples are taken by the external ISR module (140) 10 times per second, and a total sampling time is 3 seconds, wherein the detecting head device (100) further comprises a human body contacting sensor (150), which is connected to the external ISR module (140) and generates a trigger signal when contacting with a human body to activate the external ISR module (140) to start determining; wherein based on the relationship of the oscillation frequency F1 and the oscillation frequency F2, the capacitance value CH of the acupuncture point (P2) of the human body is determined.

2. The detecting head device (100) of claim 1, wherein the external ISR module (140) further comprises an alarm component which generates an alarm signal when (F1 - F2) > 500Hz is detected.

3. The detecting head device (100) of claim 1, which further comprises an analysis component which is connected to the counting module (130), that is configured to: divide a range of the oscillation frequency F2 from 400 KHz to 700 KHz into 200 equal parts, and analyze according to the determined value of the oscillation frequency F2 of the human body which part of the divided range equals the determined oscillation frequency F2.

4. The detecting head device (100) of claim 1, wherein the internal oscillator (120), the counting module (130), and the external ISR module (140) are integrated in an integrated circuit.

5. The detecting head device (100) of claim 1, wherein the external ISR module (140) reads out, in combination with the internal oscillations from the internal oscillator (120), a numerical value of an input frequency (Fin), wherein frequency samples are taken 10 times per second, and a total sampling time is 3 seconds.

6. The detecting head device (100) of claim 1, wherein the acupuncture point frequency signal (Fin) of the human body measured by the detecting head device (100) may not be more than half of the internal oscillation frequency of the internal oscillator (120).

7. The detecting head device (100) of claim 1, wherein, the area of the second terminal (2, 2') in the contact head (110) is larger than or equal to the area of the first terminal (1, 1').