Wearable respiration measurement apparatus

• US 8,636,671 B2
• Filed: 09/09/2010
• Issued: 01/28/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 12/21/2009
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute
• Original Assignee: Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute
• Inventors: Jang, Yong Won
• Primary Examiner(s): Kahelin, Michael
• Assistant Examiner(s): ALTER, MITCHELL E
• Application Number:
  US12/878,857
• Publication Number:
  US 20110152707A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,237 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 600/539
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/09 using an element rotated by the flow toys actuated by air current A63H33/40
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6803 Head-worn items, e.g. helmets, masks, headphones or goggles

Abstract

A wearable respiration measurement apparatus including: an eyeglass frame having a nose flap which is formed in such a manner as to cover a user'"'"'s nose; and an induced current generation device attached to the nose flap and generating an induced current corresponding to an amount of air inhaled or exhaled through the user'"'"'s nose.

Claims

1. A wearable respiration measurement apparatus comprising:

an eyeglass frame including a nose flap that covers a user'"'"'s nose; and

an induced current generation device attached to the nose flap and generating an induced current corresponding to an amount of air inhaled through the user'"'"'s nose,

wherein the induced current generation device comprises;

a body having provided therein a structure defining an exhalation path and a structure defining an inhalation path housed within the structure defining the exhalation path, the structure defining the inhalation path including an inhalation valve plate, and the structure defining the exhalation path including an exhalation valve plate;

wherein the exhalation valve plate is provided at an upper portion of the exhalation path and is configured to be open during exhalation and closed during inhalation,

wherein the inhalation valve plate is provided at an upper portion of the inhalation path and is configured to be open during inhalation and closed during exhalation,

wherein the exhalation valve plate is provided over the inhalation valve plate, and

wherein a path extends from the inhalation valve plate to the exhalation valve plate to form a hole in the exhalation valve plate so that inhaled air passes through the path and the hole.

2. The wearable respiration measurement apparatus of claim 1, wherein the induced current generation device comprises:

a propeller installed in the inhalation path so as to be rotated by air inhaled through the inhalation path; and

a plurality of coils installed on an inner surface of the structure defining the inhalation path, the plurality of coils generating the induced current-,

wherein the induced current corresponds to alternating magnetic fields caused by rotation of the propeller.

3. The wearable respiration measurement apparatus of claim 2, wherein the propeller comprises a plurality of blades having a magnetic property,

wherein the plurality of blades includes odd-numbered blades and even-numbered blades, and

wherein the odd-numbered blades have an opposite magnetic polarity to the even-numbered blades.

4. The wearable respiration measurement apparatus of claim 2, wherein the plurality of coils includes odd-numbered coils and even-numbered coils, and

wherein the odd-numbered coils have an opposite polarity to the even-numbered coils.

5. The wearable respiration measurement apparatus of claim 2, wherein the plurality of coils are coupled in parallel to each other.

6. The wearable respiration measurement apparatus of claim 2, wherein the body further comprises:

a frame fixing a position of the inhalation path inside of the exhalation path and fixing a position of the propeller.

7. The wearable respiration measurement apparatus of claim 1, wherein the nose flap is implemented in such a manner as to cover only the nose or cover both the nose and the mouth.

8. The wearable respiration measurement apparatus of claim 7, further comprising a mouthpiece for inducing respiration through the nose, when the nose flap is implemented in such a manner as to cover only the nose,

wherein the mouthpiece is separate from the eyeglass frame.

9. The wearable respiration measurement apparatus of claim 8, wherein the mouthpiece comprises a temperature sensor mounted thereon.

10. The wearable respiration measurement apparatus of claim 7, further comprising a mouthpiece for inducing respiration through the nose, when the nose flap is implemented in such a manner as to cover both the nose and the mouth,

wherein the mouthpiece is coupled to the eyeglass frame and positioned under the nose flap.

11. The wearable respiration measurement apparatus of claim 10, wherein the mouthpiece comprises a temperature sensor mounted thereon.

12. The wearable respiration measurement apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a signal processing device coupled to, or inserted into, the eyeglass frame and generating respiration-related information corresponding to the induced current.

13. The wearable respiration measurement apparatus of claim 12, wherein the signal processing device comprises:

a current-voltage converter configured to convert the induced current into a voltage;

a filter configured to remove noise in the voltage;

an amplifier configured to amplify the filtered voltage;

an analog-digital converter configured to generate a digital signal corresponding to the amplified voltage; and

a controller configured to analyze a generation pattern of the digital signal to calculate information including any of a respiration rate and a respiration amount.

14. The wearable respiration measurement apparatus of claim 13, wherein the signal processing device further comprises:

a memory configured to store an output of the controller; and

an external interface configured to provide an output of the controller to an external device through a wired or wireless communication scheme.

15. The wearable respiration measurement apparatus of claim 13, wherein the signal processing device further comprises a power supply unit configured to provide power to drive the signal processing device.

16. The wearable respiration measurement apparatus of claim 15, wherein the power supply unit is configured to charge the wearable respiration measurement apparatus with the induced current.

17. The wearable respiration measurement apparatus of claim 1, wherein the induced current generator is positioned on the nose flap and includes an air pipe to align the body of the wearable respiration measurement apparatus with a nostril of the user'"'"'s nose.