Living body measuring device having function for determining measured subject

• US 6,621,013 B2
• Filed: 05/29/2002
• Issued: 09/16/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 05/29/2001
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Tanita Corporation (Tanita)
• Original Assignee: Tanita Corporation (Tanita)
• Inventors: Sato, Yuki, Kenmochi, Masayuki, Nakagawa, Fumiko, Tanida, Daisuke
• Primary Examiner(s): GIBSON, RANDY W
• Application Number:
  US10/155,991
• Publication Number:
  US 20020179338A1
• Time in Patent Office: 475 Days
• Field of Search: 177/25.16, 177/25.19, 177/25.13, 177/245, 177/4, 177/5, 600/547, 600/554, 600/372, 600/382, 600/384, 340/5.82
• US Class Current: 177/4
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2560/0468 Built-in electrodes
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0537 Measuring body composition by impedance, e.g. tissue hydration or fat content
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/107 Measuring physical dimensions, e.g. size of the entire body or parts thereof
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/117 Identification of persons methods or arrangements for recognising patterns, e.g. fingerprints, G06F18/00, G06V40/00; identification of persons by analysing their voice or speech G10L17/00
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1171 based on the shapes or appearances of their bodies or parts thereof
• CPC Class Codes: G01G 19/4146 for controlling caloric intake, e.g. diet control
• CPC Class Codes: G01G 19/50 having additional measuring devices, e.g. for height

Abstract

An object of the present invention is to provide a living body measuring device which, once the personal information having been set therein, executes an arithmetic operation simply by making a measurement without requiring a user to remember his/her personal memory number.

The living body measuring device of the present invention stores the measured body weight value and/or bioelectrical impedance value as well as the personal body information set in the initial stage, compares the measured values with those stored values, and determines a current subject who is being measured by considering the most proximal values to be the data associated with the measured subject, thereby calculating a body-related index automatically. Especially, if both of the bioelectrical impedance and the body weight are used, then the determination may be more accurate.

Claims

1. A living body measuring device having a function for determining a measured subject, comprising an input unit, a bioelectrical impedance measuring unit, a storage unit and an arithmetic unit,

wherein

said input unit enters information relating to a body of a subject;

said bioelectrical impedance measuring unit measures a bioelectrical impedance of said subject;

said storage unit stores data for a plurality of subjects, said data representing the body-related information entered from said input unit and the measured bioelectrical impedance values; and

said arithmetic unit compares the measured current bioelectrical impedance value with the bioelectrical impedance values for the plurality of subjects stored in said storage unit to automatically determine, in consideration of an elapsed day count from a last measurement day stored in said storage unit to a current measurement day, a body-related information which is to be used for calculation from among the body-related information for the plurality of subjects, and calculates an index relating to the body of the subject based on the determined body-related information and the measured current bioelectrical impedance value.

2. A living body measuring device having a function for determining a measured subject, comprising an input unit, a body weight measuring unit, a bioelectrical impedance measuring unit, a storage unit and an arithmetic unit,

wherein

said input unit enters information relating to a body of a subject;

said body weight measuring unit measures a body weight of said subject;

said bioelectrical impedance measuring unit measures a bioelectrical impedance of said subject;

said storage unit stores data for a plurality of subjects, said data representing the body-related information entered from said input unit and measured body weight values and bioelectrical impedance values; and

said arithmetic unit compares the measured current body weight value and bioelectrical impedance value with the body weight values and bioelectrical impedance values for the plurality of subjects stored in said storage unit to automatically determine, in consideration of an elapsed day count from a last measurement day stored in said storage unit to a current measurement day, a body-related information which is to be used for calculation from among the body-related information for the plurality of subjects and calculates an index relating to the body of the subject based on the determined body-related information and the measured current body weight value and bioelectrical impedance value.

3. A living body measuring device having a function for determining a measured subject in accordance with claim 2, said device further comprising a switch,

wherein

said switch is activated to measure a body weight and a bioelectrical impedance upon a subject putting his/her body on said device.

4. A living body measuring device having a function for determining a measured subject in accordance with claim 2, said device further comprising a display unit,

wherein

said display unit indicates an index relating to a body of a subject, said index representing a result from the calculation by said arithmetic unit, and

said display unit also indicates the body information stored in said storage unit and used in the calculation as well as the result indication.

5. A living body measuring device having a function for determining a measured subject in accordance with claim 4, in which

said arithmetic unit recalculates the index relating to the body based on a selected information if the information to be used in the calculation is changed during the indication of the index relating to the body.

6. A living body measuring device having a function for determining a measured subject in accordance with claim 2, in which

a bioelectrical impedance value and a body weight value for a subject stored in said storage unit are updated at each time when the measurements are made.

7. A living body measuring device having a function for determining a measured subject in accordance with claim 2, in which

said arithmetic unit makes a determination of a subject in favor of a result obtained from a comparison of the body weights between the comparison of body weight values and the comparison of bioelectrical impedance values.

8. A living body measuring device having a function for determining a measured subject, comprising an input unit, a bioelectrical impedance measuring unit, a storage unit and an arithmetic unit,

wherein

said input unit enters information relating to a body of a subject;

said bioelectrical impedance measuring unit measures a bioelectrical impedance of said subject;

said storage unit stores data for a plurality of subjects, said data representing the body-related information entered from said input unit and the measured bioelectrical impedance values, and in said storage unit the measured bioelectrical impedance values for each of the plurality of subjects are stored on a measurement time slot; and

said arithmetic unit compares the stored measured values in the same time slot as the current time with the current measured value to automatically determine the body-related information which is to be used for calculation from among the body-related information for the plurality of subjects, and calculates an index relating to the body of the subject based on the determined body-related information and the measured current bioelectrical impedance value.

9. A living body measuring device having a function for determining a measured subject, comprising an input unit, a body weight measuring unit, a bioelectrical impedance measuring unit, a storage unit and an arithmetic unit,

wherein

said input unit enters information relating to a body of a subject;

said body weight measuring unit measures a body weight of said subject;

said bioelectrical impedance measuring unit measures a bioelectrical impedance of said subject;

said storage unit stores data for a plurality of subjects, said data representing the body-related information entered from said input unit and measured body weight values and bioelectrical impedance values, and in said storage unit the measured bioelectrical impedance values and the measured body weight for each of the plurality of subjects are stored on a measurement time slot; and

said arithmetic unit compares the stored measured values in the same time slot as the current time with the current measured value to automatically determine the body-related information which is to be used for calculation from among the body-related information for the plurality of subjects, and calculates an index relating to the body of the subject based on the determined body-related information and the measured current body weight value and bioelectrical impedance value.

10. A living body measuring device having a function for determining a measured subject, comprising an input unit, a bioelectrical impedance measuring unit, an electrode, a storage unit and an arithmetic unit,

wherein

said input unit enters information relating to a body of a subject;

said bioelectrical impedance measuring unit measures a bioelectrical impedance of said subject;

said electrode is used for measurement of a sole length of a subject and also the measurement of the bioelectrical impedance value at said bioelectrical impedance measuring unit, said electrode comprising a plurality of sub-electrodes;

said storage unit stores data for a plurality of subjects, said data representing the body-related information entered from said input unit, the measured bioelectrical impedance values and the sole lengths; and

said arithmetic unit compares the measured current bioelectrical impedance value and sole length with the bioelectrical impedance values and sole lengths for the plurality of subjects stored in said storage unit to automatically determine the body-related information which is to be used for calculation from among the body-related information for the plurality of subjects, and calculates an index relating to the body of the subject based on the determined body-related information and the measured current bioelectrical impedance value.

11. A living body measuring device having a function for determining a measured subject, comprising an input unit, a body weight measuring unit, a bioelectrical impedance measuring unit, an electrode, a storage unit and an arithmetic unit,

wherein

said input unit enters information relating to a body of a subject;

said body weight measuring unit measures a body weight of said subject;

said bioelectrical impedance measuring unit measures a bioelectrical impedance of said subject;

said electrode is used for measurement of a sole length of a subject and also the measurement of the bioelectrical impedance value at said bioelectrical impedance measuring unit, said electrode comprising a plurality of sub-electrodes;

said storage unit stores data for a plurality of subjects, said data representing the body-related information entered from said input unit, the measured body weight values, the bioelectrical impedance values, and the sole lengths; and

said arithmetic unit compares the measured current body weight value, bioelectrical impedance value and sole length with the body weight values, bioelectrical impedance values and sole lengths for the plurality of subjects stored in said storage unit to automatically determine the body-related information which is to be used for calculation from among the body-related information for the plurality of subjects, and calculates an index relating to the body of the subject based on the determined body-related information and the measured current body weight value and bioelectrical impedance value.