APPARATUS FOR MEASUREMENT OF BODY COMPOSITION

• US 20070179360A1
• Filed: 02/02/2007
• Published: 08/02/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 02/02/2006
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Richard P. Mikat
• Original Assignee: Richard P. Mikat
• Inventors: Mikat, Richard P.
• Application Number:
  US11/670,811
• Publication Number:
  US 20070179360A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 600/300
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2562/0247 Pressure sensors
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2562/046 in a matrix array
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/103 Detecting, measuring or recording devices for testing the shape, pattern, colour, size or movement of the body or parts thereof, for diagnostic purposes A61B5/08 takes precedence; measuring aids for tailors A41H1/00; measuring instruments specially adapted for dentistry A61C19/04
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/11 Measuring movement of the entire body or parts thereof, e.g. head or hand tremor, mobility of a limb for measuring pulse A61B5/02 ;A61B5/1038 takes precedence; motion detection to correct for motion artifacts in physiological signals A61B5/721
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/4869 Determining body composition
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/4872 Body fat
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6892 Mats

Abstract

An apparatus for measurement of an individual'"'"'s body composition includes a pressure mat configured to fully support an adult supine patient and to provide a series of pressure readings at a series of cells over the surface of the pressure mat and then electronically transmits the readings to a computer or the like. The pressure readings along with other relevant clinical information such as the patient'"'"'s weight are then used to determine the patient'"'"'s body composition such as percent body fat, body density, total body volume, fat mass and fat-free mass.

Claims

1. A device for measuring body composition comprising:

an area pressure sensor providing a pressure map indicating pressures over a range of points of an area receiving a body being measured; and

a composition analyzer receiving the pressure map to output a body composition measurement.

2. The device of claim 1 wherein the composition analyzer further receives a weight of the body being measured and wherein the body composition measurement output is body density.

3. The device of claim 1 wherein the body composition measurement output is at least one of fat mass, fat-free mass, percent body fat, body density, and body volume.

4. The device of claim 1 wherein the body being measured is a human body, and the pressure sensor provides a pressure map indicating pressures when the human body lies supine on a horizontal surface forming the area.

5. The device of claim 1 wherein the composition analyzer computes an estimate of at least one of fat mass, fat-free mass, percent body fat, body density, and body volume of the body based on the pressure map.

6. The device of claim 1 wherein the composition analyzer includes a model relating a pressure map to at least one of fat-free mass, percent body fat, body density, and body volume.

7. The device of claim 6 wherein the model is a regression relating empirical body composition measurements to the weight of the body being measured and the pressure map.

8. The device of claim 1 wherein the composition analyzer receives a series of pressure maps taken over time and processes the series to remove variation caused by breathing.

9. The device of claim 1 wherein the pressure map covers substantially an entire body of a human being.

10. The device of claim 1 wherein the composition analyzer partitions the pressure map into zones to separately relate each zone to a body composition.

11. A method of determining body composition comprising the steps of:

providing a pressure mat wherein a patient rests on the pressure mat in a supine position, such that a pressure map indicating pressures over a range of points of the patient are detected from the pressure being applied by the patient on the mat;

transmitting the pressure map to a computer;

calculating the patient'"'"'s body composition by entering the pressure map and the patient'"'"'s mass into an equation.

12. The method of determining body composition of claim 11 wherein a patient'"'"'s gender is also transmitted to the computer and different equations are used for different genders.

13. The method of determining body composition of claim 11 further including the steps of weighing the patient to determine a patient'"'"'s mass and wherein the patient'"'"'s mass is transmitted to the computer wherein the patient'"'"'s body density is calculated.

14. The method of determining body composition of claim 11 wherein the patient'"'"'s proportion of body fat to non-fat tissue is calculated.

15. The method of determining body composition of claim 11 wherein a series of pressure maps are taken and transmitted to the computer so that the patient'"'"'s body composition may be calculated based on a calculated average pressure map.

16. The method of determining body composition of claim 11 wherein an estimate of at least one of fat-free mass, percent body fat, body density, and body volume of the body is calculated based on the pressure map.

17. The method of determining body composition of claim 11 wherein the equation is an empirically derived model relating the pressure map to at least one of fat-free mass, percent body fat, body density, and body volume.

18. The method of determining body composition of claim 17 wherein the model relating the pressure map to fat mass is a regression of empirical data.

19. The method of determining body composition of claim 11 wherein the patient holds their breath during a measurement of the pressures of the pressure map to eliminate variation caused by the patient'"'"'s breathing.

20. The method of determining body composition of claim 11 wherein the pressure map covers substantially the patient'"'"'s entire body.

21. The method of determining body composition of claim 11 wherein the pressure map is partitioned into zones to separately relate each zone to a given body composition.