Stethoscope apparatus

• US 20070058818A1
• Filed: 05/18/2005
• Published: 03/15/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 05/18/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Takashi Yoshimine
• Original Assignee: Takashi Yoshimine
• Inventors: Yoshimine, Takashi
• Granted Patent: US 7,636,445 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 381/67
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2560/0209 adapted for power saving
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 7/04 Electric stethoscopes microphones, acoustic transducers therefor H04R

Abstract

[Object]To provide a stethoscope apparatus that can contribute to medical cares that can eliminate anxieties of a patient as much as possible.

[Means for Solving]A stethoscope apparatus 10 according to the embodiment integrally mounts a speaker 9 and a microphone 8; accordingly, the speaker 9 can reproduce sounds obtained with the microphone 8. For instance, when a physician explains the pathology and so on to a patient with the patient allowed hearing sounds from a speaker, the patient can be diagnosed at ease more than ever.

Claims

1. A stethoscope apparatus, comprising:

a microphone;

a speaker that outputs a sound in accordance with an electrical signal generated by the microphone; and

a housing that integrally mounts the microphone and speaker.

2. The stethoscope apparatus, as set forth in claim 1, further comprising:

a diaphragm capable of vibrating supported by the housing.

3. The stethoscope apparatus as set forth in claim 1, wherein the housing has:

a first housing on which the microphone is mounted;

a second housing on which the speaker is mounted; and

an adjusting mechanism capable of adjusting an angle of the second housing to the first housing.

4. The stethoscope apparatus as set forth in claim 3,

wherein the adjusting mechanism has a uniaxial hinge mechanism.

5. The stethoscope apparatus as set forth in claim 4,

wherein the first housing has a contact portion that is brought into contact with a patient;

and

wherein the contact portion and the speaker, respectively, are disposed to the first and second housings so that the speaker outputs the sound to an opposite side of the contact portion when the first and second housings are closed with the hinge mechanism.

6. The stethoscope apparatus as set forth in claim 3,

wherein in the adjusting mechanism is a universal joint.

7. The stethoscope apparatus as set forth in claim 1, further comprising:

a sensor that is disposed to the housing and detects that the stethoscope mechanism has come into contact with a patient; and

a power supply portion that inputs electric power in accordance with a signal detected by the sensor.

8. The stethoscope apparatus as set forth in claim 1, further comprising:

a memory portion that memorizes a sound obtained by the microphone; and

a memory controller that controls the memory operation.

9. The stethoscope apparatus as set forth in claim 1, further comprising:

an interface provided on the housing having a slot capable of being loaded with a portable recording medium;

the interface is capable of communicating sound data obtained by the microphone to the recording medium when the recording medium loaded in the slot; and

a controller that controls at least one of recording of the data in the recording medium through the interface and reproducing of data recorded in the recording medium through the interface.

10. The stethoscope apparatus, as set forth in claim 1, further comprising:

a clip mechanism disposed to the housing.

11. The stethoscope apparatus, as set forth in claim 10,

wherein the clip mechanism has a plane table-shaped or frame-shaped pressure member.

12. The stethoscope apparatus as set forth in claim 1, further comprising:

storing means for storing data of patterns of a plurality of biological sounds; and

pattern-matching means for pattern-matching a biological sound obtained from a patient with the microphone with the respective pattern data storing with the storing means.

13. The stethoscope apparatus as set forth in claim 12,

wherein the storing means store a plurality of informations on a pathology so that each of the information corresponds to the respective pattern data;

and

the stethoscope apparatus further comprises;

pathology output means for outputting the information of the pathology corresponding to at least one pattern data matched by the pattern-matching means is extracted from the storing means and outputted through the speaker.

14. The stethoscope apparatus as set forth in claim 12,

wherein the storing means store a plurality of information on pathology so that each of the information corresponds to the respective pattern data;

and

the stethoscope apparatus further comprises;

display means; and

display control means that control so that information of the pathology corresponding to at least one pattern data matched by the pattern-matching means is extracted from the storing means and displayed through the display means.