Infrared ear thermometer
First Claim
1. A method for determining the temperature of a subject, the method comprising:
- taking successive temperature measurements of the subject using an infrared thermometer;
storing a plurality of most recent temperature measurements in a moving time window;
successively calculating an average of up to all of the plurality of stored measurements;
calculating the difference between successive averages;
determining whether the difference is less than a predetermined value; and
outputting a calculated average temperature.
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Abstract
An infrared ear thermometer includes a detector head housing, a heat sink, a recess formed in the heat sink, a thermopile sensor mounted within the recess, a thermistor, and temperature determination circuitry. The recess defines an aperture that limits the field of view of the thermopile sensor. The thermal capacities and conductivities of the heat sink and the thermopile sensor are selected so that the output signal of the thermopile sensor stabilizes during a temperature measurement. A method of determining temperature using the ear thermometer takes successive measurements, stores the measurements in a moving time window, averages the measurements in the moving window, determines whether the average has stabilized, and outputs an average temperature. A method of calculating a subject'"'"'s temperature determines the temperature of a cold junction of the thermopile, looks up a bias and slope of the thermopile based upon the temperature of the cold junction, measures the output of the thermopile, and calculates the subject'"'"'s temperature based upon a linear relationship between the output and the subject'"'"'s temperature. The linear relationship is defined by the bias and the slope.
106 Citations
12 Claims
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1. A method for determining the temperature of a subject, the method comprising:
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taking successive temperature measurements of the subject using an infrared thermometer;
storing a plurality of most recent temperature measurements in a moving time window;
successively calculating an average of up to all of the plurality of stored measurements;
calculating the difference between successive averages;
determining whether the difference is less than a predetermined value; and
outputting a calculated average temperature. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
inserting the infrared thermometer into an ear of the subject;
waiting until a temperature threshold is exceeded;
imposing a time delay before beginning a first ear temperature measurement, the time delay selected to allow full insertion of the infrared thermometer in the ear; and
beginning the first ear temperature measurement.
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5. The method of claim 1, wherein the moving time window has a span of 0.5 seconds.
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6. The method of claim 1, wherein successively calculating the average of up to all of the plurality of stored measurements comprises discarding readings from the time window.
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7. The method of claim 6, wherein the discarded readings are selected from a group consisting of peak readings, high readings, and low readings.
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8. The method of claim 1, further comprising moving the time window upon determining that the difference is not less than the predetermined value, and wherein successively calculating the average of up to all of the plurality of stored measurements is performed upon determining that the difference is not less than the predetermined value.
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9. The method of claim 1, wherein outputting the calculated average temperature is performed upon determining that the difference is less than the predetermined value.
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10. The method of claim 1, wherein the infrared thermometer comprises a thermopile sensor, and the stored plurality of most recent temperature measurements comprises output values from the thermopile sensor.
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11. The method of claim 1, wherein the stored plurality of most recent temperature measurements in the moving time window comprises calculated temperatures.
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12. The method of claim 1, wherein the infrared thermometer comprises:
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a detector head housing;
a heat sink disposed in the detector head housing, the heat sink having a recess formed therein;
a thermopile sensor mounted on the heat sink within the recess, the recess defining an aperture that limits the field of view of the thermopile sensor;
a thermal sensor; and
temperature determination circuitry configured to calculate a temperature in response to output of the thermopile sensor and the thermal sensor.
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Specification