Surgery – Diagnostic testing – Measuring electrical impedance or conductance of body portion
Reexamination Certificate
2000-02-09
2001-12-04
Winakur, Eric F. (Department: 3736)
Surgery
Diagnostic testing
Measuring electrical impedance or conductance of body portion
C600S485000, C600S500000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06327495
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a health management device, and, more particularly, to a body fat meter which is mounted on an intelligent terminal unit such as a portable telephone, a portable personal computer with a modem or an electronic organizer with communication system and shares a numeral input means and a display means therewith, which are inherently provided for said intelligent terminal unit. The present invention also relates to a health management system in which a body fat meter, a blood pressure manometer, a pulse monitor, etc. is mounted on a intelligent terminal unit such as a portable telephone or the like and shares the numeral input means and the display means therewith, which are inherently provided for said intelligent terminal unit, and transmits/receives various data concerning the body fat, the blood pressure, the pulse rate, etc. to/from an aggregation center.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Recently, the body fat meter has been spread over many families based on a concept that one shall control one's health by oneself. There has been proposed several types of body fat meters including an integral type body fat meter incorporated into a weight measuring scale, a grip type body fat meter gripped by both hands in use for measuring, and furthermore a card type body fat meter capable of being carried with. However, since these body fat meters are, with an exception of the integral type one incorporated into a weight measuring scale, exclusive machines for measuring a body fat rate and are not used for any other uses, there is a problem that a certain place has to be prepared for keeping it. In addition, some of these body fat meters are too large to be carried with while going outdoor therewith, or, in case of the card type one, it is too small so that sometimes it is forgot to be carried with. Further, the integral type one incorporated into the weight measuring scale is generally used in a bathroom or the like in a home and is not suitable for being taken out of the house and being used in the outdoors.
Said body fat meter is constructed as an independent unit from a mechanical and electrical viewpoint, so that, when a measured data is analyzed by a special facility in various ways, the measured data shall be delivered by, for example, a mail or the body fat meter itself including a measured data stored therein shall be brought into the special facilities.
Portable blood pressure manometers and pulse monitors have also been developed and used. However, in these prior devices, the measured data have been delivered to a special facility by a mail, or the device itself including a measured data stored therein has been brought into the special facility, to analyze the data, as in a body fat meter mentioned above.
The present invention is achieved in the light of the problems described above, and the object of the invention is to provide a health management device which is mounted on an intelligent terminal unit such as portable telephone, which is usually carried with, and causes no problem for keeping it in a certain place, and allows a body fat rate to be measured at any time at any place.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a health management system which allows various data concerning a measurement of the body fat rate to be analyzed from a specialized viewpoint based on a communication with a large-scale aggregation center by the use of communication function installed in the intelligent terminal unit with body fat meter, and also allows various data to be fed back to the user of the intelligent terminal unit by sending back an analyzed data using said communication function.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a health management system which allows various data concerning the blood pressure, the pulse rate, etc. of a patient or a user to be fed back to the patient or user.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a health management device comprising:
at least four electrodes provided on a main body of an intelligent terminal unit;
a constant current generating unit which applies a constant current to at least two electrodes among said at least four electrodes;
a voltage detecting unit which detects a voltage of at least two electrodes among said at least four electrodes;
a numeral input unit provided on said intelligent terminal unit;
a display unit provided on said intelligent terminal unit;
a switching unit which switches a function as an intelligent terminal unit into a function as a health management device and vice versa; and
a control unit which calculates a health management indicator based on data input from said numeral input unit and a detected data from said voltage detecting unit and displays a calculated result on said display unit when said function being switched into the function as the health management device by said switching unit.
According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a health management system characterized by that:
an intelligent terminal unit having a numeral input unit, a display unit, a transmitting and receiving function unit, a memory unit or the like comprises:
at least four electrodes;
a constant current generating unit which applies a constant current to at least two electrodes among said at least four electrodes;
a voltage detecting unit which detects a voltage of at least two electrodes among said at least four electrodes;
a switching unit which switches a function as an intelligent terminal unit into a function as a health management device and vice versa; and
a control unit which calculates a health management indicator based on data input from said numeral input unit and a detected data from said voltage detecting unit and displays a calculated result on said display unit when said function being switched into the function as the health management device by said switching unit;
an aggregation center which performs analysis based on a data from said intelligent terminal unit and transmits a result data of said analysis to said intelligent terminal unit is provided; and
a data communication is performed between said intelligent terminal unit and said aggregation center.
According to still another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a health management system comprising:
a connector section provided on a main body of an intelligent terminal unit which connects probe unit which can be attached to predetermined portions of the body of a patient to detect predetermined biological parameters of the patient;
activating unit which activates said probe unit connected to said connector section to cause said probe unit to detect said predetermined biological parameters of the patient;
a numeral input unit provided on said intelligent terminal unit;
a display unit provided on said intelligent terminal unit;
a switching unit which switches a function as an intelligent terminal unit into a health management function and vice versa; and
a control unit which calculates a desired health management parameter of the patient on the basis of data input from said numeral input unit if it is required for calculating said desired health management parameter of the patient and said predetermined biological parameters detected by said probe unit and displays a calculated result on said display unit when said function being switched into said health management function by said switching unit.
According to still another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a health management system characterized by that:
an intelligent terminal unit having a numeral input unit, a display unit, a transmitting and receiving function unit, a memory unit or the like comprises:
a connector section which connects probe unit which can
be attached to predetermined portions of the body of a patient
to detect predetermined biological parameters of the patient;
activating unit which activates said probe unit connected
to said connector section to caus
Hakomori Ikuo
Iwabuchi Tamotsu
Kodama Miyuki
Carter Ryan
McDermott & Will & Emery
Tanita Corporation
Winakur Eric F.
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