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Biological information monitoring apparatus

Biological information monitoring apparatus description/claims

This application is a divisional of application Ser. No. 10/555,873, filed Mar. 23, 2005 as PCT/JP05/05998, claims benefit thereof under 35 U.S.C. § 120, claims benefit under 35 U.S.C. § 119 of Japanese Patent Application 2004/092401, filed Mar. 26, 2004, and incorporates the entire disclosure of each of the two mentioned prior applications by reference.

This invention relates to a biological information monitoring apparatus for acquiring biological information including the respiratory condition, the pulse wave, the pulse rate and so on of a living body, or subject, judging the psychosomatic condition of the subject and taking out the judgment as output signal in order to grasp the physical and emotional conditions and support the daily life of the subject.

Known apparatus for monitoring the respiratory condition, the pulse rate and so on of a living body, or subject, include those comprising one or more than one sensors to be put on the body of the subject or those adapted to observe the subject while the subject is lying still in bed. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2002-576 discloses an apparatus comprising one or more than one contact type electrodes to be put on some of the finger tips and/or either or both of the ear lobes and/or irradiating a beam of light onto the body of the subject in order to detect necessary information. The disclosed apparatus has advantages including that it is resistant against external noises and that the components of the apparatus to be put on the subject are lightweight and compact.

On the other hand, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H10-229973 discloses an apparatus comprising one or more than one vibration detection means to be arranged in a bed or a chair in order to detect fine vibrations of the body of the subject caused by the circulation of blood of the subject who is lying on the bed or sitting on the chair, whichever appropriate, for the purpose of monitoring the biological information of the subject. FIG. 9 of the accompanying drawings schematically illustrates the disclosed apparatus. A supersonic sensor or an infrared sensor 111, which is a non-contact type sensor, can be used as vibration detection means for detecting the displacement M of the subject 112 shown in FIG. 9. A piezoelectric sensor may be used to monitor the vibrations of the body when the subject is lying on the bed 109. The detected vibrations of the body may be displayed on a display 113 that is buried in the head wall 110 as shown in FIG. 9.

While monitoring apparatus of the type having components to be put on the body of the subject can be handled with ease and light weight, they are neither convenient nor comfortable when used in daily life. On the other hand, monitoring apparatus comprising components arranged in a bed or a chair are also rather inconvenient because the subject is forced to quietly keep a predetermined posture in the bed or on the chair for the purpose of monitoring. When ultrasonic waves or infrared rays are used for non-contact sensors, the subject can voluntarily take a posture that is comfortable to him or her because biological information can be acquired remotely. However, the apparel and the hair of the subject reflect and absorb ultrasonic waves and infrared rays to operate as obstacles so that only limited sites can be observed by such means if the subject is clothed. Additionally, movements of the apparel and those of the hair that are caused by flows and vibrations of the air can enter the monitoring system as noise.

In view of the above-identified circumstances, it is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a biological information monitoring apparatus that can highly precisely observe a clothed subject who is taking any desired posture in order to make it conveniently utilizable and support the life of the subject.

A biological information monitoring apparatus according to the invention employs a high frequency electromagnetic wave (especially 300 GHz to 30 THz) including a terahertz band to remotely detect positional fluctuations of the surface of the skin of the subject so as to acquire biological information easily and conveniently. When such an electromagnetic wave is used, it is possible to acquire the temporal displacement of positional fluctuations, or the vibration component, by detecting the component of the electromagnetic wave transmitted through the wear and scattered and reflected by the surface of the skin of the subject.

If a short pulse electromagnetic wave with a pulse width of 3 psec is used as will be discussed in greater detail in the description of examples, it is possible to detect the amplitude of vibrations with a level of precision of the order of 100 μm by measuring the delay time of the electromagnetic wave. Therefore, it is possible to monitor a finely vibrating state that is produced by the pulse and/or the breathing of the subject. Such a short pulse can be generated, for instance, by means of a photoconductive element that is adapted to convert a short pulse laser beam irradiated onto it into an electromagnetic wave by applying a voltage to the electrodes formed on a GaAs substrate by low temperature growth and irradiating a short pulse laser beam. The reflected electromagnetic wave can also be detected by means of such an element. A remote sensing apparatus using an electromagnetic wave in the terahertz region can be realized as a small module by way of hybrid integration. The details of such an apparatus will become apparent from the description of examples.

If such a module is integrated into a wash basin, a chair or some other object that people use in daily lives, remaining there or in the vicinity thereof for a certain period of time per day, it is possible to acquire biological information including information on the pulse and the respiration of the subject without consciousness on the part of the subject. Additionally, the pulse rate, the pulse wave, the pulse propagation time, the blood pressure, the electrocardiographic wave and the degree of hardening of the arteries can be determined by waveform analyzing computations that are conducted on the basis of the acquired vibration-related information. Such data can be stored continuously in a memory section. Additionally, generalized patterns relating to such biological information that are stored in a database may also be stored in the memory section. Then, it is possible to judge the physical and emotional conditions of the subject by pattern matching. Information on such judgments can also be stored in the memory section so as to be displayed at a display section and/or communicated to the user as voiced information. It can also be displayed at a terminal by way of a communication network and/or transmitted to a terminal by way of a mobile phone.

Information on such judgments can be output as behavior advice for maintaining the health of the subject and/or as assistance to the man-machine interface for the purpose of smoothly controlling office-activity (“OA”) equipment, navigation system, robots and other machines and/or electronic appliances that belong to the subject.

A biological information monitoring apparatus according to the invention can highly precisely observe a clothed subject who is taking any desired posture. Therefore, it can be utilized very conveniently to support the daily life of the subject. For example, it is possible to judge the physical and emotional conditions of the subject and give advice for the behavior of the subject by acquiring information on the pulse, the respiration and other activities of the body that cause vibrations of the body that are transmitted through the body and computing the pulse wave, the pulse rate, the blood pressure and so on.

Additionally, it is possible to smoothly handle the interfaces of machines and electronic appliances that the subject operates.

FIG. 1 is a schematic illustration of the first embodiment of biological information monitoring apparatus according to the invention;

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