Mobile terminal with health care function and method of controlling the mobile terminal

• US 10,172,562 B2
• Filed: 03/13/2013
• Issued: 01/08/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 05/21/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Original Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Inventors: Lim, Gukchan, Kim, Seonghyok, Oh, Hyunghoon, Ha, Jeunguk, Lee, Seehyung
• Primary Examiner(s): NGANGA, BONIFACE N
• Application Number:
  US13/799,102
• Publication Number:
  US 20130310656A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,127 Days
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2560/0242 adapted to measure environmental factors, e.g. temperature, pollution
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0022 Monitoring a patient using a global network, e.g. telephone networks, internet
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0082 adapted for particular medical purposes
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0205 Simultaneously evaluating both cardiovascular conditions and different types of body conditions, e.g. heart and respiratory condition
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/02438 with portable devices, e.g. worn by the patient
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0245 by using sensing means generating electric signals, i.e. ECG signals
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1112 Global tracking of patients, e.g. by using GPS
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/14542 for measuring blood gases A61B5/14551 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/14551 for measuring blood gases
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/318 Heart-related electrical modalities, e.g. electrocardiography [ECG]
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6817 Ear canal
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6898 Portable consumer electronic devices, e.g. music players, telephones, tablet computers
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7203 for noise prevention, reduction or removal
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/721 using a separate sensor to detect motion or using motion information derived from signals other than the physiological signal to be measured
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7275 Determining trends in physiological measurement data; Predicting development of a medical condition based on physiological measurements, e.g. determining a risk factor
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7282 Event detection, e.g. detecting unique waveforms indicative of a medical condition A61B5/4094, A61B5/4818, A61B5/349, A61B5/0823 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/742 using visual displays A61B5/339 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/743 Displaying an image simultaneously with additional graphical information, e.g. symbols, charts, function plots
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/746 Alarms related to a physiological condition, e.g. details of setting alarm thresholds or avoiding false alarms alarms per se G08B
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/67 for remote operation
• CPC Class Codes: G16Z 99/00 : Subject matter not provided for in other main groups of this subclass

Abstract

The present invention relates to a mobile terminal with a health care function and a method of controlling the mobile terminal. An embodiment of the present invention relates to a mobile terminal with a health care function. The mobile terminal includes a sensing unit that senses a living body signal from a user and information on user'"'"'s surroundings when performing the health care function, a controller that generates a numerically-valued living body information using the living body signal, sets a reference range of numerical values using the information on the user'"'"'s surroundings and generates alerting information depending on whether or not a numerical value of the living body information falls into the reference range of numerical values, and a display unit that displays the alerting information under the control of the controller.

Claims

1. A mobile terminal with a health care function, comprising:

a display;

a sensing unit that includes a living body sensor that is configured to sense a living body signal from a user and a surroundings information sensor that is configured to sense information on user'"'"'s surroundings when performing the health care function, wherein the living body sensor includes a “

electrocardiogram (ECG) sensor” and

a photoplethysmography (PPG) sensor and the surroundings information sensor includes a pressure sensor generating external pressure information, temperature sensor generating temperature information, and humidity sensor generating humidity information;

a controller is configured to;

generate a numerically-valued living body information using the living body signal, set a reference range of numerical values using the information on the user'"'"'s surroundings, wherein the reference range of numerical values includes a minimum (MIN) value and a maximum (MAX) value;

change at least one of the MIN value and the MAX value based on the external pressure information, the temperature information, and the humidity information,

generate alerting information depending on whether or not a numerical value of the living body information falls into the changed reference range of numerical values; and

display, via the display, the alerting information,

wherein the living body sensor includes;

a light emit diode (LED) that emits incident light to the user; and

a photo diode (PD) that receives reflection light reflected in the user,

wherein, the controller is further configured to;

measure a signal to noise ratio (SNR) of the living body signal using the reflection light;

determine whether or not the signal to noise ratio is less than a reference value;

display, via the display, a menu screen image for selecting an increase or a decrease in strength of the incident light when the signal to noise ratio is determined to be less than the reference value; and

control an amount of electric current that drives the light emit diode to increase or decrease the strength of the incident light in response to a user input at the displayed menu screen image.

2. The mobile terminal with a health care function, according to claim 1, further comprising:

global position system (GPS) configured to sense information on location of the mobile terminal; and

a database that stores the location information and the living body information, the surroundings information, and the alerting information in association with one another.

3. The mobile terminal with a health care function, according to claim 2,

wherein the controller generates map information representing an expected degree of a hazard on the basis of a district using statistical data relating to the information stored in the database.

4. The mobile terminal with a health care function, according to claim 3,

wherein the controller updates the map information when a change occurs in at least part of the statistical data.

5. The mobile terminal with a health care function, according to claim 1, further comprising:

a detection unit including a gyro sensor and an acceleration sensor, and the detection unit is configured to detect a motion of a main body of the mobile terminal,

wherein the controller determines the amount of the electric current that drives the light emit diode, based on the motion of the main body of the mobile terminal.

6. The mobile terminal with a health care function, according to claim 1,

wherein a constituent element making up the living body sensor is positioned in a main body of the mobile terminal or an accessory device that connects to the main body of the mobile terminal.

7. The mobile terminal with a health care function, according to claim 1,

wherein the controller determines an alerting level of the alerting information, based on the degree to which the numerical value of the living body signal is out of the reference range of the numerical values.

8. The mobile terminal with a health care function, according to claim 1,

wherein the sensing unit responds to a change in location of the mobile terminal to sense the living body signal and the surroundings information.

9. The mobile terminal with a health care function, according to claim 1,

wherein the living body signal includes at least one of an electrocardiogram (ECG) signal, and a photoplethysmography (PPG) signal.

10. The mobile terminal with a health care function, according to claim 1,

wherein the living body information includes at least one of a number of heartbeats and oxygen saturation in blood.

11. The mobile terminal with a health care function, according to claim 1, further comprising:

an accessory device including at least one earphone and finger-clipped sensor and configured to connect to the mobile terminal in a wireless or wire manner for communication, wherein the accessory device includes a first and a second output modules configured to output audio signals,

wherein the living body sensor includes a first ECG sensor disposed at the first output module, and a second ECG sensor disposed at the second output module, wherein the first and second ECG sensors sense an ECG signal by measuring an active electric current occurring in a user'"'"'s heart muscle.

12. A method of controlling a mobile terminal with a health care function, comprising:

sensing, via an ECG sensor and a PPG sensor of the mobile terminal, a living body signal from a user when performing the health care function;

sensing, via a pressure sensor, a temperature sensor and a humidity sensor of the mobile terminal, information on user'"'"'s surroundings information when performing the health care function, wherein the information includes external pressure information, temperature information, and humidity information;

generating, via a controller of the mobile terminal, a numerically-valued living body information using the living body signal;

setting, via the controller, a reference range of numerical values using the information on the user'"'"'s surroundings, wherein the reference range of numerical values includes a minimum (MIN) value and a maximum (MAX) value;

changing, via the controller, at least one of the MIN value and the MAX value based on the external pressure information, the temperature information, and the humidity information; and

generating, via the controller, alerting information depending on whether or not a numerical value of the living body information falls into the reference range of numerical values, wherein the alerting information is generated based on the changed at least one of the MIN value and the MAX value;

displaying, via the controller, the alerting information on a display of the mobile terminal,

wherein the sensing of the living body signal from the user includes;

emitting incident light generated by a light emit diode to the user, and

sensing the living body signal from the user, by using the reflection light reflected in the user, and

wherein the method further comprises;

measuring a signal to noise ratio (SNR) of the living body signal using the reflection light;

determining whether or not the signal to noise ratio is less than a reference value;

displaying a menu screen image for selecting an increase or a decrease in strength of the incident light to sense the living body signal when the signal to noise ratio is determined to be smaller than the reference value; and

controlling an amount of electric current for driving the light emit diode to increase or decrease the strength of the incident light in response to a user input at the menu screen image.

13. The method of controlling a mobile terminal with a health care function, according to claim 12, further comprising:

obtaining information on location of the mobile terminal; and

storing the location information and the living body information, the surroundings information, and the alerting information in a database, in association with one another.

14. The method of controlling a mobile terminal with a health care function, according to claim 13, further comprising:

generating map information representing an expected degree of a hazard on the basis of a district using statistical data relating to the information stored in the database.

15. The method of controlling a mobile terminal with a health care function, according to claim 14, further comprising:

updating the map information when a change occurs in at least part of the statistical data.

16. The method of controlling a mobile terminal with a health care function, according to claim 12, further comprising:

detecting a motion of a main body of the mobile terminal,

wherein the amount of the electric current for driving the light emit diode is determined based on the motion of the main body of the mobile terminal, in the emitting of the incident light to the object, or in the controlling of the electric current for driving the light emit diode.

17. The method of controlling a mobile terminal with a health care function, according to claim 12,

wherein the living body signal and the surroundings information responds to the change in the location of the mobile terminal, and thus is detected, in the detecting of the living body signal and the surroundings information.