Apparatus, method and medium measuring skin moisture content

• US 8,273,021 B2
• Filed: 08/09/2007
• Issued: 09/25/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 08/18/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: Jang, Woo Young, Kim, Hong Sig, Park, Jeong Je, Kim, Sang Ryong, Shin, Kun Soo
• Primary Examiner(s): Mallari, Patricia
• Assistant Examiner(s): WESTON, TIFFANY C
• Application Number:
  US11/889,188
• Publication Number:
  US 20080045816A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,874 Days
• Field of Search: 600/307, 600/306, 600/547, 324/60
• US Class Current: 600/307
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0531 Measuring skin impedance
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/4266 sweat secretion
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/442 Evaluating skin mechanical properties, e.g. elasticity, hardness, texture, wrinkle assessment

Abstract

An apparatus for measuring skin moisture content in a user'"'"'s skin is provided. The apparatus may include a signal supplier to generate an out-of-phase signal from a voltage signal obtained from the user'"'"'s skin and an in-phase signal from the voltage signal, a susceptance measurement unit to measure the susceptance of the voltage signal by synchronizing the voltage signal and the out-of-phase signal received from the signal supplier, a conductance measurement unit to measure the conductance of the voltage signal by synchronizing the voltage signal and the in-phase signal, and an output unit to output sweat gland activity information of the user based on the measured conductance and skin moisture content information of the user based on the measured susceptance.

Claims

1. An apparatus measuring skin moisture content, the apparatus comprising:

an electrode module to supply a predetermined voltage to a skin of a user and detecting a current signal in the skin of the user; and

a measurement control module to measure the skin moisture content and a sweat gland activity of the user using the current signal and a predetermined phase signal generated with respect to the current signal, wherein the measurement control module comprises;

a susceptance measurement unit to measure susceptance of a voltage signal by synchronizing the voltage signal and an out-of-phase signal generated from the voltage signal;

a conductance measurement unit to measure conductance of the voltage signal by synchronizing the voltage signal and an in-phase signal generated from the voltage signal, wherein the conductance measurement unit measures the conductance simultaneously with the susceptance measurement unit'"'"'s measurement of the susceptance; and

an output unit to simultaneously output sweat gland activity information of the user based on the measured conductance and skin moisture content information of the user based on the measured susceptance, thereby providing skin moisture content information that takes sweat gland activity into account.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the electrode module comprises:

at least one electrode unit comprising a reference (R) electrode, a current (C) electrode, and a measuring (M) electrode; and

a voltage supplier to supply two power voltages to the electrode unit.

3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the electrode unit supplies the voltage to the skin of the user via the R electrode and the C electrode, and detects the current signal via the M electrode, and the current signal is generated by the voltage and an impedance of a stratum corneum of the skin of the user.

4. An apparatus measuring skin moisture content, the apparatus comprising:

an electrode module to supply a predetermined voltage to a user'"'"'s skin, and detecting a current signal in the user'"'"'s skin;

a measurement control module to measure the skin moisture content and a sweat gland activity of the user using a direct current (DC) signal and an alternating current (AC) signal of the current signal; and

an output unit to simultaneously output the sweat gland activity information and the skin moisture content information of the user thereby providing skin moisture content information that takes sweat gland activity into account.

5. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the electrode module comprises:

at least one electrode unit comprising an R electrode, a C electrode, and an M electrode; and

a voltage supplier to supply a single power voltage to the electrode unit.

6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the electrode unit supplies the voltage to the user'"'"'s skin via the R electrode and the C electrode, and detects the current signal via the M electrode, and the current signal is generated by the voltage and an impedance of a stratum corneum of the user'"'"'s skin.

7. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the measurement control module comprises:

a signal converter to convert the current signal into a voltage signal;

a high-pass filter to high-pass filter the voltage signal to generate an AC voltage signal;

a signal supplier to generate an out-of-phase signal with respect to the voltage signal;

a susceptance measurement unit measuring susceptance of the current signal by synchronizing the AC voltage signal and the out-of-phase signal received from the signal supplier;

a low-pass filter to low-pass filter the voltage signal to generate a DC voltage signal; and

a conductance measurement unit to measure conductance of the current signal from the DC voltage signal.

8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the measurement control module measures the sweat gland activity of the user'"'"'s skin from the conductance of the current signal, and measures the skin moisture content of the user'"'"'s skin from the susceptance of the current signal.

9. A method of measuring skin moisture content, the method comprising:

generating an in-phase signal and an out-of-phase signal based on a voltage signal obtained from a user'"'"'s skin, and supplying the generated in-phase signal and the out-of-phase signal to the voltage signal;

measuring conductance of the voltage signal by synchronizing the voltage signal and the in-phase signal;

measuring susceptance of the voltage signal by synchronizing the voltage signal and the out-of-phase signal, wherein the conductance is measured at the same time as the susceptance; and

simultaneously outputting sweat gland activity information of the user based on the measured conductance and skin moisture content information of the user based on the measured susceptance, thereby providing skin moisture content information that takes sweat gland activity into account.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising supplying two power voltages to the user'"'"'s skin, and detecting a current signal in the user'"'"'s skin.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising converting the current signal into a voltage signal.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein the sweat gland activity information and the skin moisture content information are output to a display.

13. A method of measuring skin moisture content, the method comprising:

supplying a single power voltage to the skin of a user, and detecting a current signal in the skin of the user;

converting the current signal into a voltage signal;

high-pass filtering the voltage signal to generate an AC voltage signal;

generating an out-of-phase signal with respect to the voltage signal to supply to the AC voltage signal;

measuring susceptance of the current signal by synchronizing the AC voltage signal and the out-of-phase signal;

low-pass filtering the voltage signal to generate a DC voltage signal; and

measuring conductance of the current signal from the DC voltage signal.

14. At least one non-transitory medium comprising computer readable code to control at least one processing element to implement a method of measuring skin moisture content, the method comprising:

generating an in-phase signal and an out-of-phase signal based on a voltage signal obtained from a user'"'"'s skin, and supplying the generated in-phase signal and the out-of-phase signal to the voltage signal;

measuring conductance of the voltage signal by synchronizing the voltage signal and the in-phase signal;

measuring susceptance of the voltage signal by synchronizing the voltage signal and the out-of-phase signal, wherein the conductance is measured at the same time as the susceptance; and

simultaneously outputting sweat gland activity information of the user based on the measured conductance and skin moisture content information of the user based on the measured susceptance, thereby providing skin moisture content information that takes sweat gland activity into account.

15. An apparatus measuring skin moisture content in a user'"'"'s skin, the apparatus comprising:

a signal supplier to generate an out-of-phase signal from a voltage signal obtained from the user'"'"'s skin and an in-phase signal from the voltage signal;

a susceptance measurement unit to measure susceptance of the voltage signal by synchronizing the voltage signal and the out-of-phase signal received from the signal supplier;

a conductance measurement unit to measure conductance of the voltage signal by synchronizing the voltage signal and the in-phase signal, wherein the conductance measurement unit measures the conductance simultaneously with the susceptance measurement unit'"'"'s measurement of the susceptance; and

an output unit to simultaneously output sweat gland activity information of the user based on the measured conductance and skin moisture content information of the user based on the measured susceptance, thereby providing skin moisture content information that takes sweat gland activity into account.