JP3285424B2 - Blood flow measurement device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention is used for observing human skin. INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY The present invention is used as an apparatus for observing blood flow in the capillaries of skin. The present invention is a device developed for observing the condition of the skin and selecting a cosmetic product adapted to the condition of the skin, but can be widely used as a medical measuring device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In order to properly select cosmetics adapted to the condition of the skin, devices for easily observing the condition of the skin have been developed, and various devices have been used in stores for selling cosmetics. Since the equipment used at the store is not used by doctors or qualified medical technicians, it must be easy to operate and must not be designed so as not to cause harm to the subject if mistaken. No.

[0003] Conventionally, as this type of device, a device for observing and measuring the degree of dryness of the skin and the color of the skin has been known, but there has been no device for measuring the blood flow of the skin, particularly the blood flow of capillaries. .

[0004]

That is, capillaries serve to carry nutrients to the skin, and are closely related to the skin's color. It is believed that sunburn reduces capillaries and reduces blood flow. Therefore, it is significant to evaluate the state of the skin according to the color of the skin or the state of the blood flow flowing through the capillaries.

The present invention has been made in view of such a background, and provides an apparatus for measuring the blood flow of the skin which can be properly handled by a simple operation without causing any harm to a subject. The purpose is to.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention provides a laser light source for irradiating a skin with laser light, a photoelectric conversion element for converting reflected light into an electric signal, and a processing of a signal converted by the photoelectric conversion element. Processing means to output the processing result.
In the bloodstream measurement device that includes a power unit, wherein the processing means divides a change in intensity of the reflected light into frequency components, the blood flow
The time variation of the frequency component indicating the state of
It is characterized by including means for applying force .

[0007]

When the scattered light from the skin is focused on a specific frequency component and the signal level of the frequency component is displayed on the time axis, it is found that the state of the blood flow in the capillaries can be detected. By evaluating the state of the blood flow based on a certain standard, it is possible to rationally evaluate the state of the skin relating to the color of the skin.

In the present invention, since a light beam is applied to the skin to capture the scattered light, if the output light level of the light source is kept constant, there is no possibility that the examinee will be harmed at all. Since the analysis of the scattered light is automatically performed inside the apparatus, the apparatus can be operated without requiring any special knowledge or technique.

[0009]

Next, an embodiment of the present invention will be described.
The embodiment of the present invention comprises a laser light source, a photoelectric conversion element, and a means for displaying a time change of the frequency component of the output of the photoelectric conversion element. By irradiating and measuring the reflected light,
It measures the state of blood flow, decomposes the intensity fluctuation of the reflected light into frequency components, and measures the time change of the decomposed frequency components.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an example of the configuration of the apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, the skin 1 for measuring blood flow is used.
A laser light source 3 for irradiating output light 2 toward the light source, a photoelectric conversion element 6 including an optical amplifier 5 for receiving the reflected light 4 from the skin 1 and converting it to an electric signal, and an amplifier 7 for amplifying the electric signal. A band-pass filter 8 through which the output of the amplifier 7 passes, processing means 9 for processing the output having passed through the band-pass filter 8, and an output from the processing means 9 as time variation of the frequency component. Display device 10 and processing means 9
And an output device 11 for recording and outputting the output from the recording paper as time variation of the frequency component on recording paper.

The processing means 9 has an A / D converter 12 for converting an analog output signal passed through the band-pass filter 8 into a digital output signal, and takes in the digital output signal from the A / D converter 12 to perform an arithmetic operation. , An analysis parameter setting device 14 for setting analysis parameters in accordance with the calculation results from the calculation unit 13, and a post-processing based on the calculation results from the calculation unit 13 and the analysis parameters set by the analysis parameter setting device. And a post-processing device 15 for outputting a processing result to the display device 10 and / or the output device 11.

Next, the operation of the embodiment of the present invention thus configured will be described.

Output light (for example, 830n) from the laser light source 3
When m) 2 is irradiated toward the skin 1, the output light is reflected as scattered light 4 on the surface of the skin 1. The scattered light is received by the photoelectric conversion element 6, amplified by the optical amplifier 5 and converted into an electric signal. This electric signal is passed through a band-pass filter 8 (for example, at a frequency of 30 Hz to 24 kHz) and sent to a processing means 9.

In the processing means 9, the analog output signal passed through the band-pass filter 8 is converted into a digital output signal by the A / D converter 12, and is sent to the arithmetic unit 13. Arithmetic unit 13
Calculates the time variation of each frequency component or level. Next, the analysis parameter setting device 14 sets the analysis parameters according to the calculation result of the calculation unit 13. The post-processing device 15 performs predetermined post-processing based on the analysis parameter set by the analysis parameter setting device 14 and the time variation of each frequency component or level calculated by the calculation unit 13, and displays the result on the display device 10. I do. When the user wants to obtain the record, it is output from the output device 11.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of a change in intensity of scattered light with time according to the apparatus of the present invention, and FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a change of frequency component intensity over time according to the apparatus of the present invention. 4 is a frequency of 4.5 kHz by the apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention.
It is a figure showing an example of change with time progress of frequency component intensity in z.

As shown in FIG. 4, the period of the frequency component intensity changes in accordance with the pulsation of the human body, so that the state of the blood flow in the capillaries can be observed from such a measurement result. Further, the degree of the blood flow of the subject can be known from the level of the frequency component intensity, and information such as selection of a cosmetic suitable for the blood flow can be provided.

[0017]

As described above, according to the present invention, a person other than a physician or a qualified medical technician can measure the blood flow of the skin by a simple operation without harming the subject. Thus, information such as selection of the most suitable cosmetic for the subject can be provided according to the state of the blood flow.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an example of an apparatus configuration according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of a change in scattered light intensity over time by the apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a change in the frequency component intensity over time by the apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a change with time of the frequency component intensity at a frequency of 4.5 kHz according to the apparatus of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 1 skin 2 output light 3 laser light source 4 scattered light 5 optical amplifier 6 photoelectric conversion element 7 amplifier 8 band-pass filter 9 processing means 10 display device 11 output device 12 A / D conversion unit 13 operation unit 14 analysis parameter setting device 15 Post-processing device

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuation of front page (56) References JP-A-64-17624 (JP, A) JP-A-55-63634 (JP, A) JP-A-64-70030 (JP, A) (58) Field (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) A61B 5/00-5/0295 JICST file (JOIS)

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A laser light source for irradiating a skin with laser light, a photoelectric conversion element for converting reflected light into an electric signal, processing means for processing a signal converted by the photoelectric conversion element, and a processing result of the processing The processing means divides the change in the intensity of the reflected light into frequency components, and calculates the time variation of the frequency components indicating the state of the blood flow.
A blood flow measuring device comprising means for outputting to an output means .