Night penile tumescence monitoring device

Abstract

FIELD: medical equipment.SUBSTANCE: claimed invention relates to a portable device for personal diagnostics of erectile dysfunction symptoms. A device for monitoring nocturnal penile tumescence is proposed, comprising a wearable recorder comprising a microprocessor for measuring inductance and recording measurement results and calibration constants in a memory card, a memory card, an autonomous power source, an LC generator and an inductive sensor made in the form of a curvilinear shape with two peripheral ends, forming an opening for receiving a penis and which is given a shape repeating the external contour of the penis, connected to the LC generator. The device comprises a microcontroller periodic wake-up timer, a three-color RGB LED, and a USB port in OTG mode. The power source is a power supercapacitor connected to the USB port and a voltage regulator. The power source is a power supercapacitor with a capacity of 0.47 F at 5 V. Data is written to the microcontroller's memory card every 10 seconds. A USB Type-C port is used as the USB port. The claimed invention measures the diameter of a patient's penis to determine the degree of erectile dysfunction, reads data on commonly used wearable devices, and transmits the obtained data to the attending physician.EFFECT: improved performance.1 cl, 3 dwg

Description

[0001] The invention relates to medical equipment, namely to a portable device for conducting personal diagnostics of erectile dysfunction symptoms.

[0002] The measurement method and implementation method are designed to test nocturnal penile tumescence and rigidity in the treatment of psychogenic erectile dysfunction in medicine. The system records rigidity over a specified time interval, visualizes it using a smartphone app, transmits the data to the physician via the internet, and analyzes the degree of erectile dysfunction using a hardware and software system with pre-installed software. Applications: urology and andrology.

[0003] Currently, a device based on an inductive spring sensor, which changes its inductance depending on the diameter of the penis, is used as a tool for studying nocturnal penile tumescence (Patent for Utility Model No. 137715, published on February 27, 2014, Bulletin No. 6, and Patent for Invention No. 2735059, published on October 27, 2020, Bulletin No. 30). Information about changes in the sensor's inductance or resistance is transmitted via wires to a recording unit worn on the patient's belt. The unit has a circuit for measuring the sensor's inductance or resistance, a microcontroller, a built-in battery, and memory for a certain number of measurements. The previously proposed idea of ​​combining a sensor and recorder in a miniature design (Patent No. 2735059) without wires and batteries creates more comfortable conditions for taking measurements and has a positive effect on their accuracy and reliability.Using a radio channel to read data from the recorder to a PC allows the physician to quickly and easily retrieve measurement results, patient identification data, the date, and other patient information without additional tools. This maintains the single-use principle of the sensor and recorder, increasing the sterility of measurements and diagnostics. The system measures changes in penile diameter and, based on this data, plots its changes during the patient's sleep, thereby tracking the nature of changes in nocturnal tumescence. A disadvantage of these technical solutions is the repeated use of the device by different patients, followed by its subsequent return to the physician after the study is completed.

[0004] The objective of this measurement method and its implementation is to improve the previously described devices for recording nocturnal tumescence in order to expand its functionality - assessing the diameter of the penis for a certain time interval in the memory of the microcontroller using a miniature recorder of changes in their inductance with a rechargeable supercapacitor (ionistor) that powers the electronic part of the device, worn on the patient's body together with a sensor in the form of a spring ring and reading data similar to reading from a USB flash drive on portable wearable devices using USB OTG technology.

[0005] This problem is solved by a penile diameter measurement system for assessing erectile dysfunction. It consists of a portable microcontroller-based data logger for measuring and recording variable inductance (diameter) values. The data logger is then connected to the patient's smartphone via a USB port to read the data from the device, similar to an external flash drive. The smartphone also has software (an app) for visualizing the obtained data as a graph and an interface for transmitting this data to the doctor via the internet. The data logger is a microcontroller operating in USB MSC (mass storage device) mode, an oscillator based on a comparator integrated into the microcontroller, a power supercapacitor, and an inductive sensor.

[0006] The technical result achieved by the proposed invention is the measurement of the diameter of the patient's penis, the storage of information about the diameter in flash drive mode, the compatibility of the device with smartphones (hereinafter wearable devices), remote and autonomous conduct of an individual study, safe built-in power supply from a repeatedly rechargeable supercapacitor (ionistor).

[0007] The essence of the proposed invention is explained by the drawings, which depict:

[0008] - in Fig.1 - The appearance of the device in the form of a flash drive,

[0009] - in Fig.2 - Block diagram of the device,

[0010] - in Fig.3 - Results of data processing on the screen of a wearable device.

[0011] The system contains a patient-worn recording device (hereinafter referred to as the recorder) with a processor, a memory card, an autonomous power source, placed in a plastic case (Fig. 1), an inductive sensor, activated and put on by the patient himself before going to bed.

[0012] The wearable recorder consists of an inductive sensor 1, a microprocessor 2 for measuring inductance, a USB interface in OTG mode (On-The-Go technology that allows you to connect external devices to your smartphone) 3, which is part of the peripheral unit of the microcontroller itself and is supported by it by hardware, an LC generator 4 built into the microcontroller, a power supercapacitor 5, a low-power timer 6 that wakes up the microprocessor and the LC generator for measuring the inductance of the sensor and recording the measurement results in the memory of the microcontroller 7 (memory card), a three-color indicator 8 on LEDs, where R is red, G is green, B is blue, to indicate the operating modes: R - start, G - measuring the inductance of the sensor once every 10 seconds, B - measuring once per second.

[0013] Power supply supercapacitor 5 is a small-sized disk supercapacitor with a capacity of 0.47 Farads, connected on one side to the +5V power line of USB connector 3, and on the other side to a 10 to 2.5V voltage stabilizer for powering the microcontroller.

[0014] The recorder is started by the patient himself by pressing the built-in button 9.

[0015] In measurement mode, external inductive sensor 1 excites the microcontroller's built-in oscillator, which is based on a comparator using the classic Colpitts circuit. The oscillator's frequency depends on the sensor's inductance, which in turn depends on its diameter at the time of measurement.

[0016] The inductive sensor is curved with two peripheral ends, forming an opening for receiving the penis and shaped to follow the external contour of the penis. The sensor is comprised of at least one coil of conductive spring material, either a ring or a multi-coil spring curved to form the ring. Due to its nonlinear relationship between inductance and diameter, the sensor is pre-calibrated according to the method described in patent RU 2822243 for an absolute diameter measurement method. Calibration constants are stored in a separate area of ​​the microcontroller's FLASH memory.

[0017] The recorder is made in a miniature design due to its implementation on the basis of a “system on a chip” (SOIC), containing a microcontroller, FLASH memory for storing calibration constants and measurement data, a timer for periodic waking up of the microcontroller, a comparator for generating a measured frequency proportional to the inductance of the sensor, which in turn depends on its diameter, a USB MSC channel of the microcontroller, a USB type C connector in OTG mode, a power supercapacitor.

[0018] The recorder is designed to periodically measure the inductance of a connected sensor, which forms a single unit in the form of a flash drive. It also stores the data in its internal memory and reads it when connected to a smartphone. The recorder operates in three modes:

[0019] 1. Measurement mode with falling asleep and periodic waking up;

[0020] 2. Save and turn off mode;

[0021] 3. Data reading mode to wearable device.

[0022] In measurement mode, external inductive sensor 1, which is a soft spring ring, is connected to the inputs of the microcontroller's built-in LC oscillator (comparator) 4 as an inductance L, forming an oscillatory circuit. When the recorder is turned on, the comparator operates in Colpitts oscillator mode. The oscillator frequency depends on the sensor's inductance, which in turn depends on the sensor's diameter at the time of measurement.

[0023] After the recorder and generator are turned on, the measurement is initiated using the algorithm described in patent no. 2822243 for two sensors, but in a similar manner for a single sensor (in that patent, there were two inductive sensors, and now there's only one. Please describe how the measurement is performed now). The resulting pulse count (frequency) will be inversely proportional to the inductance of the sensor(s) and directly proportional to its diameter. This value is recorded in the internal memory of recorder 7.

[0024] Microcontroller 2 spends most of its operating time in sleep mode. The data logger's current consumption during this time is negligible (a few microamps), allowing it to be powered by a pre-charged supercapacitor 5 for the entire duration of the measurement. When awakened by timer 6, the microcontroller performs a single measurement of the sensor's inductance, records the measurement results in its internal non-volatile memory (FLASH memory) 7, and then powers down until it is next awakened.

[0025] Data is stored in memory as a byte (8 bits). The memory capacity of the microprocessor, the write frequency (once every 10 seconds), and the supercapacitor charge are sufficient to monitor changes in the inductance of both sensors for 12 hours.

[0026] This mode of alternating sleep and short-term awakening or shutdown in the absence of free memory or the absence of a sensor allows the recording unit to remain operational for a long time from a 5V 0.47 Farad power supercapacitor.

[0027] Data is read from the recorder when it is connected to the USB (OTG) type C 3 connector of the smartphone and is detected by the smartphone operating system as an external storage device (flash drive).

[0028] The obtained data is displayed on the wearable device screen as a graph of the sensor diameter change (Fig. 3), the estimated degree of erectile dysfunction, and a recommendation to consult a doctor and send the obtained data online for further analysis and treatment, if necessary. The patient's data is analyzed using the doctor's specialized software.

[0029] This software allows you to save data received from the recorder on your PC, display them in the form of graphs, change the scale of curves and save them for further viewing in the database.

[0030] The result of processing the data received from the patient is the doctor's determination of the degree of erectile dysfunction and the selection of effective treatment, if necessary.

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