Remote controller for television having a function of measuring body fat and television receiver with the same

• US 20030090389A1
• Filed: 10/29/2002
• Published: 05/15/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 10/29/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Funai Electric Co., Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Funai Electric Co., Ltd.
• Inventors: Maeda, Osamu, Yoshida, Shinji, Morisada, Katsuhiro
• Granted Patent: US 6,867,705 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 324/692
• 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 5/4872 Body fat

Abstract

A remote controller for a television having a function of measuring a body fat includes a physical data setting section for registering a physical data including the weight and the height of a user and an impedance measuring circuit for measuring the impedance across the body to determine the body fat of the user. For determining the body fat of a user to be examined, the body fat meter equipped television remote controller registers the physical data including the weight and the height of the user, measures the impedance across the body of the user, and transmits to a television receiver a body fat measurement signal which carries the physical data and the impedance measurement. The television receiver calculates the body fat of the user from the physical data and the impedance measurement carried on the body fat measurement signal and displays a resultant calculation of the body fat on its display provided for displaying images of the existing television broadcasting.

Claims

1. A remote controller for a television with a function of measuring a body fat having a transmitter which transmits a select signal for selecting a desired receiving/recording channel of television broadcasting to a television receiver and a control section which controls actions of each section of the remote controller, comprising:

a physical data setting section which is operated by a user for registering physical data including a weight and a height of the user;

an electrode section including a pair of current electrodes which feed a current across the body of the user through direct contact with the body and a pair of measurement electrodes which detect an electric signal generated by the current being fed across the body of the user; and

an impedance measuring circuit which feeds the current between the current electrodes of the electrode section and measures an impedance across the body of the user to determine a body fat of the user from the electric signal detected by the measurement electrodes, wherein

the transmitter is controlled by the control section to transmit to the television receiver a body fat measurement signal which carries the physical data registered by the physical data setting section and the impedance measured by the impedance measuring circuit so that the body fat of the user can be calculated in the television receiver.

2. A remote controller for a television with a function of measuring a body fat according to claim 1, further comprising a body fat measurement key for starting a body fat measurement mode to measure the body fat of the user, wherein

the body fat measurement mode allows an ON signal for turning on a power supply in the television receiver to be transmitted together with the body fat measurement signal from the transmitter to the television receiver.

3. A remote controller for a television with a function of measuring a body fat according to claim 2, wherein the ON signal for turning on the power supply in the television receiver is transmitted to the television receiver when the body fat measurement key is switched on.

4. A remote controller for a television with a function of measuring a body fat according to claim 2, wherein the body fat measurement mode allows the ON signal for turning on the power supply in the television receiver to be automatically transmitted to the television receiver when the impedance across the body of the user has been measured by the impedance measuring circuit.

5. A remote controller for a television with a function of measuring a body fat according to claim 2, further comprising a transmission key for starting the transmission of the body fat measurement signal to the television receiver, wherein

when the transmission key is switched on in the body fat measurement mode after the completion of the measurement of the impedance across the body, an ON signal for turning on the power supply in the television receiver is transmitted to the television receiver.

6. A remote controller for a television with a function of measuring a body fat according to claim 2, further comprising a transmission key for starting the transmission of the body fat measurement signal to the television receiver, wherein

when the body fat measurement key is switched on, an ON signal for turning on the power supply in the television receiver is transmitted to the television receiver and when the transmission key is switched on after the completion of the measurement of the impedance across the body, the body fat measurement signal is transmitted to the television receiver.

7. A remote controller for a television with a function of measuring a body fat according to claim 2, further comprising a transmission key for starting the transmission of the body fat measurement signal to the television receiver, wherein

when the transmission key is switched on in the body fat measurement mode after the completion of the measurement of the impedance across the body, an ON signal for turning on the power supply in the television receiver is transmitted together with the body fat measurement signal to the television receiver.

8. A remote controller for a television with a function of measuring a body fat according to claim 1, wherein the impedance measuring circuit comprises a constant current generator circuit for feeding the two current electrodes with a constant current, a differential amplifier circuit for amplifying a difference in voltage between the two measurement electrodes, an envelope detector circuit for detecting the envelope of an output of the differential amplifier circuit, an integrator circuit for integrating an output of the envelope detector circuit, and a waveform shaper circuit for shaping the waveform of an output of the integrator circuit into a square wave, so that the impedance across the body can be determined by the control section examining an interval from a rise to a following rise of the square wave released from the waveform shaper circuit.

9. A remote controller for a television with a function of measuring a body fat according to claim 1, wherein the impedance measuring circuit comprises a constant current generator circuit for feeding the two current electrodes with a constant current, a differential amplifier circuit for amplifying a difference in voltage between the two measurement electrodes, and a DC detector circuit for DC detecting an output of the differential amplifier circuit, so that the impedance across the body can be determined by the control section in the remote controller examining a voltage of an output of the DC detector circuit.

10. A television receiver having a function of measuring a body fat, comprising:

a remote controller having a transmitter which transmits a select signal for selecting a desired receiving/recording channel of television broadcasting to a television receiver and a control section which controls actions of each section of the remote controller; and

a main television unit having a remote control signal receiver which receives the select signal from the remote controller and an video display which displays an image of the desired channel of the television broadcasting determined by the select signal received at the remote control signal receiver,

the remote controller including,

a physical data setting section which is operated by a user for registering physical data including a weight and a height of the user;

an electrode section including a pair of current electrodes which feed a current across the body of the user through direct contact with the body and a pair of measurement electrodes which detect an electric signal generated by the current being fed across the body of the user; and

an impedance measuring circuit which feeds the current between the current electrodes of the electrode section and measures an impedance across the body of the user to determine a body fat of the user from the electric signal detected by the measurement electrodes, wherein

the transmitter is controlled by the control section to transmit to the television receiver a body fat measurement signal which carries the physical data registered by the physical data setting section and the impedance measured by the impedance measuring circuit so that the body fat of the user can be calculated in the television receiver,

the main television unit including,

a body fat calculator which calculates the body fat of the user from the impedance and the physical data which are carried in the body fat measurement signal received at the remote control signal receiver, wherein

a resultant calculation of the body fat of the user determined by the body fat calculator is displayed on the video display of the television receiver.

11. A television receiver having a function of measuring a body fat according to claim 10, wherein

the remote controller includes a body fat measurement key for starting a body fat measurement mode to measure the body fat of the user and the body fat measurement mode allows an ON signal for turning on a power supply in the main television unit to be transmitted together with the body fat measurement signal from the transmitter section to the main television unit, and

when receiving the ON signal at the remote control signal receiver, the power supply in the main television unit remaining turned off can be turned on.

12. A television receiver having a function of measuring a body fat according to claim 11, wherein when the power supply is turned on by the reception of the ON signal, the main television unit displays a resultant calculation of the body fat of the user in an on-screen-display (OSD) form over a blue back screen on the video display.

13. A television receiver having a function of measuring a body fat according to claim 11, wherein when the power supply remains turned on at the reception of the ON signal, the main television unit displays a resultant calculation of the body fat of the user in an OSD form over an image of the television broadcasting on the video display.

14. A television receiver having a function of measuring a body fat according to claim 11, wherein when the power supply is turned on by the reception of the ON signal, the main television unit displays a resultant calculation of the body fat of the user in an OSD form over a blue back screen on the video display, or when the power supply remains turned on at the reception of the ON signal, the main television unit displays a resultant calculation of the body fat of the user in an OSD form over an image of the television broadcasting on the video display.