Biological signal detection device, biological signal detection system, and contact determination method

Abstract

To enable determination as to whether a vital sensor is in contact with an organism.SOLUTION: The present disclosure is a biological signal detection device 10 including: a housing 11 mounted on an organism; a vital sensor 12 installed on one surface of the housing 11 and detecting a biological signal; and a plurality of electrodes 13 installed on the same surface as the surface on which the vital sensor 12 is installed.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present disclosure relates to a vital sensor for detecting a biological signal. [Background technology]

[0002] A vital sensor for detecting biological signals over a long period of time has been proposed (see, for example, Patent Document 1). The vital sensor of Patent Document 1 brings a light-emitting element into contact with the surface of a living body, receives light emitted from the light-emitting element and reflected from within the living body with the light-receiving element, and detects a pulse wave signal based on the intensity of the reflected light.

[0003] A vital sensor such as that described in the cited document 1 can detect accurate biological signals if it is in contact with a living body. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0004] [Patent Document 1] JP 2012-19926 A Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0005] Therefore, after attaching the vital sensor to the living body, the initial signal of the vital sensor is observed to confirm whether it is attached properly, and then the vital signal is detected for a long time. However, during the long time, the subject may move, cough, sneeze, etc., causing the vital sensor to float away from the living body. In the floating state, time may pass without detecting the vital signal. Also, when the vital signal to be detected is sudden, there is no means to confirm whether the initial attachment was performed correctly.

[0006] Therefore, an object of the present disclosure is to make it possible to determine whether a vital sensor is in contact with a living body. [Means for solving the problem]

[0007] The present disclosure is configured to place a pair of electrodes on the same surface as the vital sensor, and measure the impedance between the pair of electrodes.

[0008] The present disclosure relates to A housing to be attached to the living body; A vital sensor that is installed on one surface of the housing and detects a biological signal; A plurality of electrodes are provided on the same surface as the vital sensor; A biological signal detection device comprising: It is.

[0009] The present disclosure relates to The biological signal detection device; an impedance measuring device for measuring impedance between the plurality of electrodes; a contact determination device that detects whether the impedance measured by the impedance measuring device has changed by a predetermined value or a predetermined ratio from a reference value and determines whether the biosignal detection device is in a normal state in which it is in contact with a living body or in an abnormal state in which it is not in contact with a living body; A biological signal detection system comprising: It is.

[0010] The present disclosure relates to The reference value is the impedance when the biological signal detection device is in contact with a living body. It is characterized by:

[0011] The present disclosure relates to When the contact determination device determines that an abnormal state exists, it issues a warning. It is characterized by:

[0012] The present disclosure relates to The apparatus further includes a biosignal measuring device for acquiring bioinformation from the biosignal from the biosignal detecting device, When the contact determination device determines that an abnormal state exists, the vital sign measurement device stops acquiring vital information. It is characterized by:

[0013] The present disclosure relates to The apparatus further includes a biosignal measuring device for acquiring bioinformation from the biosignal from the biosignal detecting device, In the biosignal measuring device, a detection period during which the vital sensor detects a biosignal and a pause period during which the vital sensor does not detect a biosignal are alternately set, The impedance measuring device measures the impedance during the pause period. It is characterized by:

[0014] The present disclosure relates to The impedance measuring device measures impedance by contacting a plurality of electrodes with a living body, and determines a reference value for the impedance. The impedance measuring device detects whether the impedance has changed from the reference value by a predetermined value or a predetermined ratio. A contact determination method in which a contact determination device determines whether the plurality of electrodes are in a normal state in which they are in contact with each other or in an abnormal state in which they are not in contact with each other It is.

[0015] The above disclosures may be combined to the greatest extent possible. Effect of the Invention

[0016] According to the present disclosure, it is possible to determine whether a vital sensor is in contact with a living body. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0017] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram of a configuration example of a biological signal detection device. [Diagram 2] FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram of a configuration example of a biological signal detection system. [Diagram 3] FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram of a configuration example of a biological signal detection system. [Figure 4] FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram of an operation example of the biological signal detection system. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0018] Hereinafter, the embodiments of the present disclosure will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. Note that the present disclosure is not limited to the embodiments shown below. These implementation examples are merely illustrative, and the present disclosure can be implemented in various forms with various modifications and improvements based on the knowledge of those skilled in the art. Note that components with the same reference numerals in this specification and drawings are assumed to indicate the same components.

[0019] An example of the configuration of a biosignal detection device is shown in Fig. 1. In Fig. 1, a biosignal detection device 10 includes a housing 11 to be attached to a living body, a vital sensor 12 that is installed on one side of the housing 11 and detects a biosignal, and a plurality of electrodes 13 that are installed on the same side as the vital sensor 12.

[0020] The shape of the housing 11 is not limited to that shown in Fig. 1. It is preferable that the side facing the living body is flat. Examples of materials for the housing 11 include metal and plastic.

[0021] The vital sensor 12 is installed on one side of the housing 11 and detects a biosignal. Biological information acquired from the biosignal detected by the vital sensor 12 includes heart sounds, electrocardiograms, heartbeats, pulse waves, pulses, respiration, blood flow, blood pressure, oxygen saturation, body temperature, lung sounds, and the like. The vital sensor 12 has a structure for detecting these biosignals. Examples of the structure include an LED and a photoreceiver, electrodes for measuring voltage and current, a microphone, and a thermometer. The vital sensor 12 is not limited to one, and may be a plurality of different sensors or a plurality of sensors of the same type.

[0022] The multiple electrodes 13 are placed on the same surface of the housing 11 as the surface on which the vital sensor 12 is placed. When the multiple electrodes 13 are placed on the same surface, it becomes easier to determine whether the vital sensor 12 is in contact with a living body. The multiple electrodes 13 may be a pair or three or more. The three electrodes 13 may be placed on a straight line or at the vertices of a triangle. The four electrodes 13 may be placed on a straight line or at the vertices of a square. Examples of materials for the electrodes include metal and conductive plastic.

[0023] With this configuration, it becomes possible to determine whether the vital sensor is in contact with a living body by measuring the impedance through the electrodes.

[0024] An example of the configuration of a biosignal detection system is shown in Fig. 2. In Fig. 2, the biosignal detection system includes the above-mentioned biosignal detection device 10, an impedance measuring device 20 that measures the impedance between a plurality of electrodes 13, and a contact determination device 30 that detects whether the impedance measured by the impedance measuring device 20 has changed by a predetermined value or a predetermined percentage from a reference value and determines whether the biosignal detection device 10 is in a normal state in which it is in contact with a living body or in an abnormal state in which it is not in contact with a living body. Equipped with.

[0025] In Figure 2, an impedance measuring device 20 uses the impedance measured by contacting multiple electrodes 13 with a living body as a reference value, detects when the impedance has changed from the reference value by a predetermined value or a predetermined percentage, and a contact determination device 30 determines whether the multiple electrodes 13 are in contact (normal state) or not (abnormal state).

[0026] The impedance measuring device 20 applies an AC signal between the multiple electrodes 13 and measures the AC impedance between the electrodes. When the multiple electrodes 13 are in contact with a living body, the AC impedance is small due to the capacitance of the living body. When the multiple electrodes 13 are not in contact with a living body, the AC impedance is large due to the capacitance of the space filled with air.

[0027] The impedance measuring device 20 may apply an impulse voltage from a plurality of electrodes and measure an impulse response from a plurality of other electrodes, calculate a frequency characteristic from the measured impulse response, and measure the impedance at a specific frequency.

[0028] The contact determination device 30 detects whether the impedance measured by the impedance measuring device 20 has changed from a reference value by a predetermined value or a predetermined percentage, and determines whether the biosignal detection device 10 is in a normal state in which it is in contact with a living body, or in an abnormal state in which it is not in contact. The change from the reference value may be an impedance increase by a fixed value, or an impedance increase by a fixed percentage.

[0029] The reference value may be the impedance measured by the impedance measuring device 20 while the biosignal detection device 10 is in contact with the living body. Even if the impedance differs for each living body to be measured or the condition of the living body to be measured changes, the contact determination device 30 can change the reference value to make an accurate determination.

[0030] When the contact determination device 30 determines that an abnormal state has occurred, it may issue a warning. The warning may be an audible warning, an optical warning, a warning indication on a display, or a combination of these. By issuing a warning, it is possible to quickly know that the biosignal detection device 10 is not in contact with a living body.

[0031] With this configuration, it becomes possible to determine whether the vital sensor is in contact with a living body by measuring the impedance through the electrodes.

[0032] An example of the configuration of a biosignal detection system is shown in Fig. 3. In Fig. 3, the biosignal detection system includes the above-mentioned biosignal detection device 10, the above-mentioned impedance measuring device 20, the above-mentioned contact determination device 30, and a biosignal measuring device 40 that acquires bioinformation from a biosignal from the biosignal detection device 10.

[0033] The vital sign measuring device 40 processes the vital sign detected by the vital sensor 12 to obtain vital sign information such as heart sounds, electrocardiogram, heart rate, pulse waves, pulse, breathing, blood flow, blood pressure, oxygen saturation, body temperature, and lung sounds.

[0034] When the contact determination device 30 determines that an abnormal state exists, the biosignal measurement device 40 may stop acquiring the bioinformation. This makes it possible to prevent the acquisition of meaningless bioinformation. Alternatively, if the acquisition of the bioinformation is not stopped, information indicating that the bioinformation exists during that period may be added to the bioinformation.

[0035] The biosignal measuring device 40 may be configured such that detection periods during which the vital sensor 12 detects a biosignal and pause periods during which the vital sensor 12 does not detect a biosignal are alternately set, and the impedance measuring device 20 measures the impedance during the pause periods. A measurement situation is shown in FIG. 4. In FIG. 4, when the impedance measuring device 20 detects a biosignal, detection periods during which the vital sensor 12 detects a biosignal and pause periods during which the vital sensor 12 does not detect a biosignal are alternately set. The impedance measuring device 20 measures the impedance during the pause periods. It is possible to prevent the signal applied by the impedance measuring device 20 from affecting the biosignal detected by the vital sensor 12.

[0036] With this configuration, it is possible to determine whether the vital sensor is in contact with the living body by measuring the impedance through the electrodes. If the vital sensor is in contact with the living body, the vital signal measuring device can correctly acquire vital information.

[0037] As described above, according to the present disclosure, even when acquiring biometric information over a long period of time or detecting a sudden biometric signal, it is possible to instantly determine whether a vital sensor is being worn correctly.

[0038] The contact determination device 30 and the biosignal measuring device 40 of the present embodiment can also be realized by a computer and a program, and the program can be recorded on a recording medium or provided through a network. The program of the present disclosure is a program for causing a computer to realize each functional unit of the contact determination device 30 or the biosignal measuring device 40 according to the present disclosure, and is a program for causing a computer to execute each procedure executed by the contact determination device 30 or the biosignal measuring device 40 according to the present disclosure. [Explanation of symbols]

[0039] 10: Biological signal detection device 11: Housing 12: Vital Sensor 13: Electrode 20: Impedance measuring device 30: Contact determination device 40: Biosignal measuring device

Claims

1. A housing to be attached to the living body; A vital sensor that is installed on one surface of the housing and detects a biological signal; A plurality of electrodes are provided on the same surface as the vital sensor; A biological signal detection device comprising:

2. The biological signal detection device according to claim 1 , an impedance measuring device for measuring impedance between the plurality of electrodes; a contact determination device that detects whether the impedance measured by the impedance measuring device has changed by a predetermined value or a predetermined ratio from a reference value and determines whether the biosignal detection device is in a normal state in which it is in contact with a living body or in an abnormal state in which it is not in contact with a living body; A biosignal detection system comprising:

3. The reference value is the impedance when the biological signal detection device is in contact with a living body.

3. The biosignal detection system according to claim 2.

4. When the contact determination device determines that an abnormal state exists, it issues a warning.

3. The biosignal detection system according to claim 2.

5. The apparatus further includes a biosignal measuring device for acquiring bioinformation from the biosignal from the biosignal detecting device, When the contact determination device determines that an abnormal state exists, the vital sign measurement device stops acquiring vital information.

3. The biosignal detection system according to claim 2.

6. The apparatus further includes a biosignal measuring device for acquiring bioinformation from the biosignal from the biosignal detecting device, In the biosignal measuring device, a detection period during which the vital sensor detects a biosignal and a pause period during which the vital sensor does not detect a biosignal are alternately set, The impedance measuring device measures the impedance during the pause period.

3. The biosignal detection system according to claim 2.

7. The impedance measuring device measures impedance by contacting a plurality of electrodes with a living body, and determines a reference value for the impedance. The impedance measuring device detects whether the impedance has changed from the reference value by a predetermined value or a predetermined ratio. A contact determination method in which a contact determination device determines whether the plurality of electrodes are in contact, that is, a normal state, or are not in contact, that is, an abnormal state.

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