Health data generating method, health data generation apparatus therefor, user terminal therefor, and computer-readable recording medium therefor

• US 8,566,120 B2
• Filed: 12/14/2007
• Issued: 10/22/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 12/25/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Tanita Corporation (Tanita)
• Original Assignee: Tanita Corporation (Tanita)
• Inventors: Takehara, Katsumi
• Primary Examiner(s): Holcomb, Mark
• Application Number:
  US11/957,145
• Publication Number:
  US 20080154645A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,139 Days
• Field of Search: 705 2- 4, 600/300, 600/547, 600/587, 702/19
• US Class Current: 705/3
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0002 Remote monitoring of patients using telemetry, e.g. transmission of vital signals via a communication network A61B5/07 takes precedence; transmission systems for measured values G08C; transmission H04B; transmission of digital information H04L; wireless communication networks H04W
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0537 Measuring body composition by impedance, e.g. tissue hydration or fat content
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/4872 Body fat
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7435 Displaying user selection data, e.g. icons in a graphical user interface
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7475 User input or interface means, e.g. keyboard, pointing device, joystick
• CPC Class Codes: G01G 19/50 having additional measuring devices, e.g. for height
• CPC Class Codes: G01G 23/3728 with wireless means
• CPC Class Codes: G01G 23/3735 using a digital network
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/60 for the operation of medical equipment or devices
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 50/30 for calculating health indices; for individual health risk assessment

Abstract

A health data generation system has a measuring apparatus and a user terminal. The measuring apparatus transmits to the user terminal function type information indicating function of the measuring apparatus. The user terminal selects a desired function based on the received function type information and transmits the selected function as function designation information to measuring apparatus. The measuring apparatus transmits to the user terminal parameter specifying information designating the types of parameters necessary for performing the function specified by the function designation information. The user terminal prompts a user to input individual data to the parameters and registers the individual data together with the function designation information as registration information R.

Claims

1. A health data generation apparatus provided with plural functions of generating plural types of health data serving as indices of health conditions and to communicate with a user terminal operated by a user, the health data generation apparatus comprising:

a communication unit that communicates with a user terminal that is portable with respect to the health data generation apparatus;

a human subject index measurer that measures conditions of a human subject and outputs the measured conditions as human subject index information;

a function storage device that stores function type information indicating types of the plural functions and parameter specifying information specifying types of parameters relating to characteristics of the human subject, the parameters being used for generation of one of the plural types of health data corresponding to the one of the plural functions, wherein the plural functions generate health data including at least one of body weight, body fat percentage, visceral fat, body water mass, bone mass, and basal metabolism;

a function responder that, upon receiving, from the user terminal, via the communication unit, a function inquiry that inquires about a function of the health data generation apparatus, reads the function type information from the function storage device and transmits, via the communication unit, a function response to the user terminal, the function response containing the function type information for the plural types of functions;

a parameter responder that, upon receiving, from the user terminal via the communication unit, function designation information that designates one of the plural types of functions of the health data generation apparatus, reads, from the function storage device, the parameter specifying information corresponding to the function designated in the function designation information and transmits, via the communication unit, a parameter response containing the parameter specifying information to the user terminal;

a health data generator that, upon receiving from the user terminal, via the communication unit, an execution request containing registration information that includes the function designation information and individual data, with the execution request instructing generation of health data corresponding to the function designated by the function designation information and with the individual data corresponding to the parameter specifying information, generates the health data by executing a predetermined computation based on the human subject index information measured by the human subject index measurer and the individual data included in the registration information.

2. A health data generation apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the communication unit wirelessly communicates with the user terminal.

3. A user terminal operated by a user and to communicate with a health data generation apparatus having plural functions to generate plural types of health data serving as indices of health conditions, the user terminal comprising:

a controller;

a communication unit that communicates with an external device; and

a storage device that stores predetermined information;

the controller including;

a function requester that transmits, to the health data generation apparatus, via the communication unit, a function inquiry that inquires about functions of the health data generation apparatus, wherein the functions generate health data including at least one of body weight, body fat percentage, visceral fat, body water mass, bone mass, and basal metabolism;

a function designation requester that, upon receiving from the health data generation apparatus, via the communication unit, a function response containing function type information indicating types of the plural functions, displays the functions of the health data generation apparatus based on the types of functions indicated by the function type information, the display prompting the user to designate one of the functions, and transmits a function designation request containing function designation information indicating the designated function;

a registration information generator that, upon receiving, from the health data generation apparatus, via the communication unit, a parameter response containing parameter specifying information specifying types of parameters necessary to generate health data corresponding to the function designated by the function designation information, prompts the user to input individual data of the user for only the types of parameters specified by the received parameter specifying information and generates registration information including the function designation information and the individual data, for storage in the storage device, wherein one or more sets of registration information for a particular user for each function are stored; and

an execution requester that, upon receiving an instruction from the user to measure a health condition, reads one of the one or more sets of registration information from the storage device and transmits, via the communication unit, an execution request containing the read registration information to the health data generation apparatus,

wherein the user terminal is separate and remote from the health data generation apparatus.

4. A user terminal according to claim 3, wherein the user terminal wirelessly communicates with the health data generation apparatus.

5. A user terminal according to claim 3, wherein the user terminal is portable with respect to the health data generation apparatus.

6. A health data generating method for use in a health data generation system, the method comprising:

providing a first health data generation apparatus having a function storage device and a human subject index measuring device for measuring conditions of a human subject and outputting the measured conditions as human subject index information and having plural functions of generating plural types of health data serving as indices of health conditions;

providing a separate and remote user terminal in communication with the health data generation device, the user terminal having a second storage device for storing predetermined data;

storing, in the function storage device of the health data generation apparatus, function type information indicating plural types of functions and parameters specifying information specifying types of parameters relating to characteristics of the human subject, the parameters being used for generation of one of the plural types of health data corresponding to the one of the plural functions;

transmitting, from the user terminal to the first health data generation apparatus, a function inquiry for inquiring about functions of the first health data generation apparatus;

reading at the health generation apparatus, upon receiving the function inquiry, the function type information from the function storage device;

transmitting, from the first health data generation apparatus to the user terminal, a function response containing the function type information read from the function storage device;

displaying, at the user terminal, the functions of the first health data generation apparatus based on the function type information contained in the received function response, thereby prompting a user to designate one of the functions, and transmitting the designated function as function designation information to the health data generation apparatus;

reading at the health generation apparatus, upon receiving the function designation information from the user terminal, parameter specifying information specifying types of parameters necessary for generation of a type of the health data that will be generated by the function designated by the received function designation information, the parameter specifying information being read from the function storage device;

transmitting, from the first health data generation apparatus to the user terminal, the read parameter specifying information;

generating, at the user terminal, registration information including the function designation information and individual data of the user associated with each other by prompting, at the user terminal, the user to input the individual data for only the types of parameters specified by the received parameter specifying information, the registration information then being stored in the second storage device, wherein one or more sets of individual data for a particular user for each function are stored;

transmitting, from the user terminal to the first health data generation apparatus, an execution request containing registration information after reading the registration information from the second storage device in a case in which an operation input for measuring a health condition is performed by the user; and

generating, at the first health data generation apparatus, upon receiving the execution request containing the registration information from the user terminal, health data corresponding to the function designated by the function designation information included in the registration information based on the human subject index information of the user and the individual data included in the registration information.

7. A health data generating method according to claim 6,

wherein at least one of the plural sets of health data is generated based only on the human subject index information,

wherein the step of transmitting parameter specifying information includes:

in a case in which there is parameter specifying information corresponding to the received function designation information, transmitting the corresponding parameter specifying information, and

in a case in which the function designated by the function designation information generates health data based only on the human subject index information and there is no parameter specifying information corresponding to the received function designation information, notifying the user terminal; and

wherein the step of registering the registration information includes the function designation information as the registration information in a case in which the user terminal receives a notification that there is no parameter specifying information corresponding to the function designation information.

8. A health data generating method according to claim 6,

wherein the user terminal is used by plural users;

wherein the registration information includes function designation information, individual data of one of the plural users, and call name information for uniquely specifying the one of the plural users, wherein plural sets of function designation information and individual data exist for one call name information, and wherein the parameters included in the individual data are different for each function;

wherein the step of generating registration information includes;

prompting the user to input call name information for uniquely specifying the user; and

generating a nickname representing the function designation information and the call name information and storing the nickname in association with the function designation information and with the individual data as the registration information; and

wherein the step of transmitting the execution request includes;

displaying plural nicknames;

prompting the user to select one of the plural nicknames;

reading, from the storage device, as the registration information, the function designation information and the individual data corresponding to the nickname selected by the user; and

transmitting the execution request containing the registration information.

9. A health data generating method according to claim 8,

wherein at least one of the plural sets of health data is generated based only on the human subject index information,

wherein the step of transmitting parameter specifying information includes:

in a case in which there is parameter specifying information corresponding to the received function designation information, transmitting the corresponding parameter specifying information, and

in a case in which the function designated by the function designation information generates health data based only on the human subject index information and there is no parameter specifying information corresponding to the received function designation information, notifying the user terminal; and

wherein the step of registering the registration information includes the function designation information as the registration information in a case in which the user terminal receives a notification that there is no parameter specifying information corresponding to the function designation information.

10. A health data generation method according to claim 6, wherein the separate and remote user terminal wirelessly communicates with the first health data generation apparatus.

11. A health data generation method according to claim 6, wherein the user terminal is portable with respect to the first health data generation apparatus.

12. A health data generation method according to claim 6, wherein the user terminal is a portable telephone terminal.

13. A health data generation method according to claim 6, wherein the user terminal is communicable at least with a second health data generation apparatus that is the same type as the first health data generation apparatus, the method further comprising:

transmitting, from the user terminal to the second health data generation apparatus, an execution request containing registration information after reading the registration information from the second storage device in a case in which an operation input to measure a health condition is performed by the user; and

generating, at the second health data generation apparatus, upon receiving the execution request containing the registration information from the user terminal, health data corresponding to the function designated by the function designation information included in the registration information based on the human subject index information of the user and the individual data included in the registration information.

14. A computer-readable recording medium non-transitorily storing a computer program to control a user terminal operated by a user, the user terminal communicating with a health data generation apparatus having plural functions to generate plural types of health data serving as indices of health conditions, the user terminal having a storage device storing predetermined information, a communication unit to communicate with an external device, and having a computer, and the user terminal being separate and remote from the health data generation apparatus,

the computer program at least including computer readable instructions to cause the computer to execute:

a function request process that transmits, to the health data generation apparatus, via the communication unit, a function request inquiring about functions of the health data generation apparatus, wherein the plural functions generate health data including at least one of body weight, body fat percentage, visceral fat, body water mass, bone mass, and basal metabolism;

a function designation request process that, upon receiving from the health data generation apparatus, via the communication unit, a function response containing function type information indicating types of the plural functions, displays the functions of the health data generation apparatus based on the types of functions indicated by the function type information, the display prompting the user to designate one of the functions, and that transmits a function designation request containing function designation information indicating the designated function;

a registration information generating process that, upon receiving, from the health data generation apparatus, via the communication unit, a parameter response containing parameter specifying information specifying types of parameters necessary to generate health data corresponding to the function designated by the function designation information, prompts the user to input individual data of the user for only the types of parameters specified by the received parameter specifying information and that generates registration information including the function designation information and the individual data, for storage in the storage device, wherein one or more sets of registration information for a particular user for each function are stored; and

an execution requesting process that, upon receiving an instruction from the user to measure a health condition, reads one of the one or more sets of registration information from the storage device and transmits, via the communication unit, an execution request containing the read registration information to the health data generation apparatus.