APPARATUS FOR MEASURING BODY FAT AND METHOD THEREOF

• US 20160106337A1
• Filed: 07/06/2015
• Published: 04/21/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 10/21/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: JUNG, Myounghoon, NAMKOONG, Kak, EOM, Kunsun, LEE, Yeolho, CHO, Seongho
• Granted Patent: US 10,368,773 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/681 Wristwatch-type devices
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7278 Artificial waveform generation or derivation, e.g. synthesising signals from measured signals A61B5/327 takes precedence

Abstract

Provided is a method of measuring body fat of a user, the method including: measuring a first impedance by using a 4-point measuring method; measuring a second impedance by using a 2-point measuring method; determining a bio impedance by using the first impedance and the second impedance; and determining a body fat percentage by using the bio impedance and body information of the user.

Claims

1. A method of measuring body fat of a user, the method comprising:

measuring a first impedance of the user by using a 4-point measuring method;

measuring a second impedance of the user by using a 2-point measuring method;

determining a bio impedance of the user by using the first impedance and the second impedance; and

determining a body fat percentage of the user by using the bio impedance and body information of the user.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining of the bio impedance is performed by using a look-up table.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining of the bio impedance is calculated using a central processing unit (CPU) according to values of the first impedance and the second impedance.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the measuring of the first impedance comprises applying a constant current through two first electrodes among four electrodes and measuring a voltage across two second electrodes among the four electrodes.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the first two electrodes are different than the second two electrodes.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein the measuring of the second impedance comprises:

connecting one of the first electrodes to one of the second electrodes; and

measuring the second impedance by using the first electrode and the second electrode which are connected to each other.

7. The method of claim 4, wherein the measuring of the second impedance comprises measuring the second impedance by using two third electrodes different than the four electrodes.

8. A non-transitory computer readable medium having embodied thereon a computer program, which when executed by a computer, performs the method of one of claim 1.

9. A body fat analyzer comprising:

a plurality of electrodes configured to contact a user, the plurality of electrodes comprising two first electrodes and two second electrodes;

an impedance measurer configured to measure a first impedance by using the first electrodes and the second electrodes and measure a second impedance by connecting the first electrodes with a corresponding one of the second electrodes;

a bio impedance determiner configured to determine a bio impedance by using the first impedance and the second impedance; and

a body fat determiner configured to determine a body fat percentage by using the bio impedance and body information of the user.

10. The body fat analyzer of claim 9, wherein the bio impedance determiner determines the bio impedance by inputting the first impedance and the second impedance to a look-up table.

11. The body fat analyzer of claim 9, wherein the bio impedance determiner comprises a central processing unit (CPU) configured to determine the bio impedance according to values of the first and second impedance.

12. The body fat analyzer of claim 9, wherein the impedance measurer is configured to apply a constant current through the first electrodes and measure the first impedance by measuring a voltage across the two second electrodes.

13. The body fat analyzer of claim 12, wherein the first two electrodes are different than the second two electrodes.

14. The body fat analyzer of claim 12, wherein the impedance measurer is configured to connect one of the first electrodes to one of the second electrodes by using a switch, and measure the second impedance by using the first electrode and the second electrode which are connected to each other.

15. The body fat analyzer of claim 9, wherein the body fat analyzer is a wearable device that the user wears on a wrist.

16. The body fat analyzer of claim 15, wherein two of the plurality of electrodes are arranged on an inner surface of the wearable device, and two of the plurality of electrodes are arranged on an outer surface of the wearable device.

17. A body fat analyzer comprising:

a plurality of electrodes that come in contact with a user when the user wears the body fat analyzer, the plurality of electrodes comprising four first electrodes and two second electrodes;

an impedance measurer configured to measure a first impedance by using the first electrodes and measure a second impedance by using the second electrodes;

a bio impedance determiner configured to determine a bio impedance by using the first impedance and the second impedance; and

a body fat determiner configured to determine a body fat percentage by using the bio impedance and body information.

18. A device for measuring body fat, the device comprising:

an impedance measurer configured to measure a first body impedance using a plurality of first electrodes and measure a second body impedance using a plurality of second electrodes;

a bio impedance determiner configured to determine a bio impedance using the measured first body impedance and the measured second body impedance; and

a body fat determiner configured to determine a body fat percentage based on the determined bio impedance and body information of the user.

19. The device of claim 18, wherein the plurality of first electrodes are a first size and the plurality of second electrodes are a second size different from the first size.

20. The device of claim 19, wherein the bio impedance determiner is further configured to control at least one switch to connect pairs of the first electrodes to form the second electrodes.

21. A method of measuring body fat of a user comprising:

measuring a first impedance of the user using a first number of electrodes;

measuring a second impedance of the user using a second number of electrodes;

determining a bio impedance of the user using the first and second impedances; and

determining the body fat of the user using the bio impedance and body information of the user.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the first number of electrodes is four and the second number of electrodes is two.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein the four electrodes used in measuring the first impedance are different from the two electrodes used in measuring the second impedance.

24. The method of claim 22, wherein the two electrodes used in measuring the second impedance are also used in measuring the first impedance.

25. The method of claim 22, wherein the four electrodes used in measuring the first impedance are identical in size.

26. The method of claim 22, wherein each of the two electrodes used in measuring the second impedance is greater in size than each of the four electrodes used in measuring the first impedance.

27. The method of claim 21, wherein a same level of current is applied to the user while measuring the first and second impedances.