JP7632482B2 - Biometric device, system, biometric method, and program - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a biometric measurement device, a biometric measurement method, and a program, and in particular to a biometric measurement device, a biometric measurement method, and a program that measure biometric information using an array sensor.

Related technologies analyze the state of a living body, such as health or emotions, based on measurements of activity of the autonomic nervous system (called bioinformation). For example, in the related technology described in Patent Document 1, a biometric device measures the pulse rate of a living body. Then, an emotion analysis device uses a machine-learned model to estimate a person's emotions based on changes in the pulse rate measured by the biometric device.

In one example, a pulse wave sensor that detects changes in blood vessel volume is used for the biometric device to measure the pulse. In recent years, array sensors have been developed in which a large number of light receiving elements (photodiodes) are arranged in a matrix on a flexible substrate. In the related technology described in Non-Patent Document 1, the array sensor is attached to the skin of a living body. By using this array sensor, the large number of light receiving elements can simultaneously and individually detect the pulse wave. It is expected that the biometric device will be able to measure the pulse with higher accuracy based on multiple sensor data output from the multiple light receiving elements that make up the array sensor.

Special table 2018-504188 publication JP 2015-039542 A JP 2015-142666 A Special table 2018-534031 publication International Publication No. 2015/129843

Yokota, T., Nakamura, T., Kato, H. et al. “A conformable imager for biometric authentication and vital sign measurement.”, Nat Electron (2020). Nature Research Internet site address URL (https://doi.org/10.1038/s41928-019-0354-7) (Retrieved November 26, 2020)

In the related technology described in Non-Patent Document 1, noise due to the movement of the living body (body movement noise) is superimposed on the multiple sensor data output from the multiple light receiving elements that make up the array sensor. In the related technology described in Non-Patent Document 1, the shot noise is cancelled out by averaging the sensor data from the multiple light receiving elements. However, body movement noise caused by the movement of the living body cannot be removed by this method.

In the related technology described in Patent Document 2, multiple detection signals are classified into those having a pulse component and body movement noise based on the strength of pressure applied to the living body by the array sensor. Then, the body movement noise is removed by subtracting the detection signal of the body movement noise from the detection signal having the pulse component. However, if the array sensor does not have a pressure application mechanism, the related technology described in Patent Document 2 cannot be used to remove body movement noise.

On the other hand, in the related technology described in Patent Document 5, multiple detection signals are classified into those having a pulse component and body movement noise based on whether or not they have periodic fluctuations due to pulse waves. In reality, all detection signals have a pulse component to a greater or lesser extent, so it is difficult to accurately classify multiple detection signals based on the presence or absence of periodicity.

The present invention has been made in consideration of the above problems, and its purpose is to remove body movement noise caused by biological movements from sensor data.

A biometric device according to one aspect of the present invention includes a sensor data acquisition means for acquiring multiple sensor data from an array sensor attached to a living body, a selection means for selecting from the multiple light receiving elements constituting the array sensor a first light receiving element for measuring biometric information and a second light receiving element for detecting body movement noise caused by the movement of the living body, a noise removal means for removing body movement noise caused by the movement of the living body from the first sensor data from the first light receiving element using second sensor data from the second light receiving element, and an output means for outputting a specific range of frequency components contained in the first sensor data from which the body movement noise has been removed as measurement data.

A biometric measurement method according to one aspect of the present invention acquires multiple sensor data from an array sensor attached to a living body, selects a first light receiving element for measuring biometric information and a second light receiving element for detecting body movement noise caused by the movement of the living body from among the multiple light receiving elements constituting the array sensor, removes body movement noise caused by the movement of the living body from first sensor data from the first light receiving element using second sensor data from the second light receiving element, and outputs frequency components within a specific range contained in the first sensor data from which the body movement noise has been removed as measurement data.

A program relating to one aspect of the present invention causes a computer to execute the following processes: acquiring multiple sensor data from an array sensor attached to a living body; selecting a first light receiving element for measuring biological information and a second light receiving element for detecting body movement noise caused by the movement of the living body from among the multiple light receiving elements constituting the array sensor; removing body movement noise caused by the movement of the living body from first sensor data from the first light receiving element using second sensor data from the second light receiving element; and outputting frequency components within a specific range contained in the first sensor data from which the body movement noise has been removed as measurement data.

According to one aspect of the present invention, body movement noise caused by biological movement can be removed from sensor data.

1 is a diagram illustrating an example of a configuration of a system including a biometric device according to any one of first to third embodiments. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an array sensor provided in the system shown in FIG. 1. FIG. 2 is a plan view of an array sensor provided in the system shown in FIG. 1 . 3 is a cross-sectional view of the array sensor shown in FIG. 2 attached to the skin of a living body. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a biometric device according to a first embodiment; 4 is a flowchart showing the operation of the biometric device according to the first embodiment. 10 is a flowchart showing an example of details of a selection process according to a second embodiment. 11 is a graph showing an example of sensor data. FIG. 9 is a diagram showing spectrum data obtained by Fourier transforming the sensor data shown in FIG. 8 into the frequency domain. 9 is a graph showing the difference between the sensor data shown in FIG. 8 . FIG. 11 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a biometric device according to a third embodiment. 13 is a flowchart showing the operation of a biometric device according to a third embodiment. 13 is a flowchart showing an example of details of the selection process in step S2 shown in FIG. 12 . 14 is a diagram for explaining an example of how a plurality of light receiving elements constituting an array sensor are selected in the selection process shown in FIG. 13. FIG. 14 is a diagram for explaining another example of how to select a plurality of light receiving elements that constitute the array sensor in the selection process shown in FIG. 13. FIG. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a hardware configuration of a biometric device according to any one of the first to third embodiments.

(System 1)
An example of the configuration of a system 1 including a biometric device according to any one of embodiments 1 to 3 described below will be described with reference to Fig. 1. Fig. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of the configuration of the system 1.

As shown in FIG. 1, the system 1 includes a biometric device 10 or a biometric device 30 (hereinafter referred to as "biometric device 10 (30)"), an array sensor 100, and a data analysis device 200.

The biometric device 10 (30) transmits a control signal to the array sensor 100. This causes the biometric device 10 (30) to operate the array sensor 100 as described below.

The array sensor 100 comprises a light emitting unit 110 and a number of light receiving elements 120. The light emitting unit 110 emits an optical signal into a living body (not shown in the figure, for example, a human body). The optical signal passes through the skin of the living body and is partially scattered and partially absorbed by the tissue within the living body. The scattered or reflected light is then emitted from the living body to the outside. The multiple light receiving elements 120 detect the light emitted from the living body to the outside.

The array sensor 100 transmits to the biometric device 10 (30) a plurality of sensor data based on the light detected by each of the plurality of light receiving elements 120 constituting the array sensor 100. An example of the configuration of the array sensor 100 will be described later.

The biometric device 10 (30) receives multiple sensor data from the array sensor 100. The biometric device 10 (30) derives measurement data including bioinformation based on the multiple sensor data, and outputs the derived measurement data. A specific example of a method in which the biometric device 10 (30) derives measurement data based on the multiple sensor data will be described in the first embodiment and onwards. The biometric device 10 (30) transmits the measurement data to the data analysis device 200. Alternatively, the biometric device 10 (30) may output the measurement data derived in this manner to an external device (e.g., a display).

Biometric information is information relating to the mind and body of a living organism, and in particular is a measurable indicator related to the health and emotions of the living organism. For example, the biological information is pulse rate, blood flow, blood oxygen concentration, brain waves, blood pressure, or sweat rate. In the following embodiments 1 to 3, the case where the measurement target is pulse rate will be described.

The data analysis device 200 receives measurement data from the biometric device 10 (30). The data analysis device 200 estimates the state of the living body, such as health and emotions, by analyzing the measurement data.

(Array sensor 100)
The above-mentioned array sensor 100 will be described with reference to FIGS.

Figure 2 is a block diagram showing an example of the configuration of the above-mentioned array sensor 100. As shown in Figure 2, the array sensor 100 is composed of a light-emitting unit 110 and a plurality of light-receiving elements 120 (n elements in Figure 12) (n is an integer of 2 or more).

The light-emitting unit 110 is, for example, a near-infrared light-emitting diode (NIR-LED). The light-emitting unit 110 emits light of a fixed wavelength or wavelength range in the near-infrared band. In general, the pulse is measured from changes in the volume of blood vessels, changes in components such as blood cells, or changes in the expansion and contraction of blood vessels. Therefore, when the subject of measurement is the pulse, it is necessary to select a wavelength that can sense these.

Each of the multiple light receiving elements 120 receives light reflected from the living body. For example, the light receiving elements 120 are photoconductive cells, photovoltaic cells, photoresistors, photodiodes, or phototransistors. The multiple light receiving elements 120 transmit multiple sensor data based on the reflections they receive to the biometric device 10 (30).

Figures 3 and 4 show an example of the configuration of the array sensor 100. Figure 3 is a plan view of the array sensor 100. As shown in Figure 3, in the array sensor 100, a plurality of light receiving elements 120 fixed to one side of a substrate 130 are arranged in a two-dimensional direction, for example in a matrix. An adhesive layer 140 surrounding the plurality of light receiving elements 120 is used to attach the array sensor 100 to a living body. The number and arrangement of the plurality of light receiving elements 120 are not particularly limited. Note that the light emitting section 110 is omitted in Figure 3.

Figure 4 is a cross-sectional view showing the array sensor 100 and a cross section of a living body. In Figure 4, the array sensor 100 is attached to the skin of the living body. Blood vessels run under the skin of the living body. The light-emitting unit 110 (Figure 2) of the array sensor 100 emits near-infrared light. The near-infrared light passes through the skin of the living body and is partially absorbed by blood components in the blood vessels. The near-infrared light that is not absorbed is reflected by the inner membrane or outer membrane of the blood vessel or the bones of the living body. The multiple light-receiving elements 120 of the array sensor 100 each receive the reflection emitted from the skin of the living body. The microcontroller 150 of the array sensor 100 generates sensor data, which is a digital signal, by A/D converting the analog signal detected by the light-receiving elements 120.

[Embodiment 1]
The first embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. 5 and FIG.

(Biometric device 10)
Fig. 5 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the biometric device 10 according to the present embodiment 1. As shown in Fig. 5, the biometric device 10 includes a sensor data acquisition unit 11, a selection unit 12, a noise removal unit 13, and an output unit 14.

The sensor data acquisition unit 11 acquires multiple sensor data from the array sensor 100 attached to the living body. The sensor data acquisition unit 11 is an example of a sensor data acquisition means.

The selection unit 12 selects from the array sensor 100 a first light receiving element for measuring biological information (pulse in this embodiment 1) and a second light receiving element for detecting body movement noise caused by biological movement. The selection unit 12 is an example of a selection means.

In one example, the selection unit 12 detects pulse components from multiple sensor data and compares the magnitude of the pulse components between the multiple sensor data. The selection unit 12 then selects a light receiving element that outputs sensor data with a relatively large pulse component as a first light receiving element. The selection unit 12 also selects a light receiving element that outputs sensor data with a relatively large pulse component as a second light receiving element (embodiment 2).

Here, the pulse component in the sensor data is a frequency component in a specific range that indicates the period that the pulse wave has characteristically. In one example, the pulse component is a frequency component from 40 Hz to 200 Hz.

Alternatively, in another example, the selection unit 12 compares the distance from the blood vessels between the multiple light receiving elements based on blood vessel map data that indicates the locations of the blood vessels in the living body. The selection unit 12 selects the light receiving element located directly above or near the blood vessel as the first light receiving element. The selection unit 12 also selects the light receiving element located away from the blood vessel as the second light receiving element (embodiment 3).

The noise removal unit 13 removes body movement noise caused by the movement of the living body from the first sensor data from the first light receiving element by using the second sensor data from the second light receiving element. The noise removal unit 13 is an example of a noise removal means.

In one example, the noise removal unit 13 subtracts the second sensor data output from the second light receiving element from the first sensor data output from the first light receiving element. This removes body movement noise caused by the movement of the living body from the first sensor data. The reason is that if the living body moves, body movement noise of approximately the same degree occurs simultaneously in both the first light receiving element and the second light receiving element. Therefore, by subtracting the second sensor data from the first sensor data, the body movement noise contained in the first sensor data can be canceled out by the body movement noise contained in the second sensor data.

The output unit 14 outputs, as measurement data, frequency components in a specific range contained in the first sensor data from which body movement noise has been removed. The output unit 14 is an example of an output means. In one example, the output unit 14 outputs the measurement data to the data analysis device 200 (FIG. 1) of the above-mentioned system 1. Alternatively, the output unit 14 may output the measurement data to an external device (e.g., a display) not shown.

(Operation of biometric device 10)
The operation of the biometric device 10 according to the first embodiment will be described with reference to Fig. 6. Fig. 6 is a flow chart showing the flow of processes executed by each unit of the biometric device 10.

As shown in Figure 6, the sensor data acquisition unit 11 acquires multiple sensor data from the array sensor 100 attached to the living body (S1). The sensor data acquisition unit 11 outputs the multiple sensor data to the selection unit 12.

The selection unit 12 selects a first light receiving element for measuring biometric information and a second light receiving element for detecting body movement noise caused by biometric movement from the array sensor 100 (S2). The selection unit 12 outputs the sensor data from the selected first light receiving element and the sensor data from the second light receiving element to the noise removal unit 13. In step S2, the selection unit 12 may select the first light receiving element and the second light receiving element taking into account the effects of fluctuations in the bit rate and power of the sensor data received by the biometric device 10 from the array sensor 100. For example, when the bit rate or power is reduced, the selection unit 12 narrows down the light receiving elements to be selected from the array sensor 100 in advance before performing the process of step S2. This allows the selection unit 12 to select, from the narrowed-down light receiving elements, a first light receiving element that is more suitable for measuring biological information and a second light receiving element that is more suitable for detecting body movement noise.

The noise removal unit 13 removes body movement noise from the first sensor data from the first light receiving element by using the second sensor data from the second light receiving element (S3). The noise removal unit 13 outputs the first sensor data from which the body movement noise has been removed to the output unit 14.

The output unit 14 outputs, as measurement data, frequency components in a specific range contained in the first sensor data from which body movement noise has been removed (S4). In one example, the output unit 14 outputs the measurement data to the data analysis device 200 (FIG. 1) of the above-mentioned system 1.

This concludes the operation of the biometric measurement device 10.

(Effects of this embodiment)
According to the configuration of this embodiment, the sensor data acquisition unit 11 acquires a plurality of sensor data from the array sensor 100 attached to a living body. The selection unit 12 selects a first light receiving element for measuring biological information and a second light receiving element for detecting body movement noise caused by the movement of the living body from among the plurality of light receiving elements constituting the array sensor 100. The noise removal unit 13 removes body movement noise caused by the movement of the living body from the first sensor data from the first light receiving element using the second sensor data from the second light receiving element. The output unit 14 outputs a specific range of frequency components included in the first sensor data from which the body movement noise has been removed as measurement data.

As described above, some of the multiple light receiving elements 120 constituting the array sensor 100 are selected for measurement, and other parts of the multiple light receiving elements 120 are selected for detecting body movement noise. By using two types of light receiving elements 120 with different roles in this way, body movement noise caused by the movement of the living body can be removed from the sensor data.

[Embodiment 2]
A second embodiment will be described with reference to Fig. 7 to Fig. 10. In the second embodiment, an example of the procedure of the sorting process (S2 in Fig. 6) executed by the sorting unit 12 of the biometric device 10 will be described. Note that the configuration and operation of the biometric device 10 will be described with reference to the description of the first embodiment, and will not be described in the second embodiment.

(Sorting process (S2))
7, first, the selection unit 12 performs Fourier transform processing on a plurality of sensor data outputted within a certain time from the array sensor 100 (FIG. 1) (S21), whereby the plurality of sensor data are transformed from the time domain into the frequency domain.

Fig. 8 shows two sensor data _S1 and _S2 in the time domain, while Fig. 9 shows frequency domain data _FS1 and _FS2 obtained by Fourier transforming these two sensor data _S1 and _S2 , respectively.

Returning to the flow of FIG. 7, next, the selection unit 12 compares the magnitude of the pulse components in the frequency domain data FS ₁ and FS ₂ (S22).

As a result of the comparison in step S22, the selection unit 12 determines that the pulse component of the frequency domain data _FS1 is relatively large (A in S23), and that the pulse component of the frequency domain data _FS2 is relatively small (B in S23).

The selection unit 12 then selects the light receiving element 120 corresponding to the data _FS1 having the larger pulse component as the first light receiving element (S24X), and the selection unit 12 selects the light receiving element 120 corresponding to the data _FS2 having the smaller pulse component as the second light receiving element (S24Y).

This completes the selection process (S2) for this embodiment 2.

Here, for simplicity of explanation, we have described the case where the sorting unit 12 sorts two light receiving elements 120 into a first light receiving element and a second light receiving element.

In reality, the same number of sensor data as the number of light receiving elements 120 included in the array sensor 100 is output. Therefore, there are cases where three or more sensor data are output from the array sensor 100.

In this case, the sorting unit 12 calculates the difference (Δ shown in FIG. 9) between the peaks of the pulse components in the frequency domain data for any two combinations of sensor data. The sorting unit 12 extracts a predetermined number of combinations of sensor data in descending order of the calculated difference. Then, following the procedure shown in steps S22 to S24X or S24Y in FIG. 7, the sorting unit 12 sorts the light receiving elements corresponding to the extracted sensor data into a first light receiving element and a second light receiving element.

In this way, the sorting unit 12 can sort the first light receiving element and the second light receiving element regardless of the number of light receiving elements 120 that constitute the array sensor 100.

In one example, as described in embodiment 1 above, the noise removal unit 13 of the biometric device 10 removes body movement noise from the first sensor data by subtracting the second sensor data from the first sensor data.

Fig. 10 shows an example of the first sensor data S (= _S1 - _S2 ) obtained in this manner and from which body movement noise has been removed. Comparing the first sensor data S shown in Fig. 10 with the first sensor data _S1 shown in Fig. 8, it can be seen that the first sensor data S from which body movement noise has been removed has a shape that more clearly shows the periodicity of the pulse wave.

(Effects of this embodiment)
According to the configuration of this embodiment, the sensor data acquisition unit 11 acquires a plurality of sensor data from the array sensor 100 attached to a living body. The selection unit 12 selects a first light receiving element for measuring biological information and a second light receiving element for detecting body movement noise caused by the movement of the living body from among the plurality of light receiving elements constituting the array sensor 100. The noise removal unit 13 removes body movement noise caused by the movement of the living body from the first sensor data from the first light receiving element using the second sensor data from the second light receiving element. The output unit 14 outputs a specific range of frequency components included in the first sensor data from which the body movement noise has been removed as measurement data.

As described above, some of the multiple light receiving elements 120 constituting the array sensor 100 are selected for measurement, and other parts of the multiple light receiving elements 120 are selected for detecting body movement noise. By using two types of light receiving elements 120 with different roles in this way, body movement noise caused by the movement of the living body can be removed from the sensor data.

Furthermore, according to the configuration of this embodiment, the selection unit 12 selects the first light receiving element and the second light receiving element from among the multiple light receiving elements 120 constituting the array sensor 100 based on the magnitude relationship of the pulse components contained in the sensor data. This allows the selection unit 12 to select the first light receiving element and the second light receiving element regardless of the number of light receiving elements 120 constituting the array sensor 100.

[Embodiment 3]
A third embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS.

(Biometric device 30)
Fig. 11 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a biometric device 30 according to the present embodiment 3. As shown in Fig. 11, the biometric device 30 includes a sensor data acquisition unit 11, a selection unit 12, a noise removal unit 13, and an output unit 14. The biometric device 30 further includes a vascular map generation unit 35.

The vascular map generating unit 35 acquires vascular map data indicating the locations of blood vessels within a living body. The vascular map generating unit 35 is an example of a vascular map generating means.

In one example, the vascular map generating unit 35 generates vascular map data based on multiple sensor data output from the array sensor 100 and information indicating the positional relationship of multiple light receiving elements 120, which is stored in advance in a memory unit (not shown). As shown in FIG. 3, in the array sensor 100, multiple light receiving elements 120 are arranged in a matrix. Since the near-infrared light from the light emitting unit 110 is partially absorbed by blood components, the reflection received by the light receiving elements 120 located directly above or near the blood vessels is dark (i.e., has low intensity), and the reflection received by the light receiving elements 120 located away from the blood vessels is strong (i.e., has high intensity).

Therefore, a small amplitude of the sensor data output by the light receiving element 120 indicates that a blood vessel is present at or near the position corresponding to the light receiving element 120. Conversely, a large amplitude of the sensor data output by the light receiving element 120 indicates that the light receiving element 120 is far from the blood vessel.

The vascular map generating unit 35 receives sensor data output from each of the multiple light receiving elements 120 from the array sensor 100. The vascular map generating unit 35 also receives information indicating the positional relationship of the multiple light receiving elements 120 that make up the array sensor 100 from a storage unit (e.g., a memory) not shown.

The vascular map generating unit 35 determines the presence or absence of blood vessels at the positions corresponding to each light receiving element 120 based on the amplitude of the sensor data from each light receiving element 120. The vascular map generating unit 35 then generates vascular map data indicating the running positions of blood vessels in the living body using the result of the determination of the presence or absence of blood vessels and information indicating the positional relationship of the multiple light receiving elements 120. In this vascular map data, areas with blood vessels and areas without blood vessels are distinguished.

In this way, the vascular map generating unit 35 generates vascular map data of the living body by using the array sensor 100 like a camera sensor. The vascular map generating unit 35 outputs the acquired vascular map data of the living body to the selecting unit 12.

The selection unit 12 receives vascular map data indicating the running positions of blood vessels in a living body from the vascular map generation unit 35. In this embodiment 3, the selection unit 12 selects, from among the multiple light receiving elements 120 constituting the array sensor 100, the light receiving elements 120 that correspond to areas where blood vessels are present in the vascular map data as first light receiving elements. In addition, the selection unit 12 selects, from among the multiple light receiving elements 120 constituting the array sensor 100, the light receiving elements 120 that correspond to areas where blood vessels are not present as second light receiving elements. The selection unit 12 outputs the sensor data output by the first light receiving element and the second light receiving element selected from the multiple light receiving elements 120 to the noise removal unit 13.

The processing performed by the noise removal unit 13 and the output unit 14 is the same as in embodiments 1 and 2, so its description is omitted in this embodiment 3.

(Operation of biometric device 30)
The operation of the biometric device 30 according to the third embodiment will be described with reference to Fig. 12. Fig. 12 is a flow chart showing the flow of processes executed by each unit of the biometric device 30.

As shown in Fig. 12, the sensor data acquisition unit 11 acquires multiple sensor data from the array sensor 100 attached to the living body (S1). The sensor data acquisition unit 11 outputs the multiple sensor data to the selection unit 12.

The vascular map generating unit 35 generates vascular map data indicating the running positions of blood vessels in a living body (S15). In one example, the vascular map generating unit 35 generates vascular map data indicating the running positions of blood vessels in a living body, as described above, based on multiple sensor data received from the array sensor 100. The vascular map generating unit 35 outputs the acquired vascular map data to the selecting unit 12.

The selection unit 12 selects from the array sensor 100 a first light receiving element for measuring biological information and a second light receiving element for detecting body movement noise caused by biological movement (S2). In this embodiment 12, the selection unit 12 uses the blood vessel map data received from the blood vessel map generation unit 35 to select the first light receiving element and the second light receiving element from the multiple light receiving elements 120 (Figure 3) that constitute the array sensor 100. The selection unit 12 outputs the sensor data from the selected first light receiving element and the sensor data from the selected second light receiving element to the noise removal unit 13.

The noise removal unit 13 removes body movement noise caused by the movement of the living body from the first sensor data from the first light receiving element using the second sensor data from the second light receiving element (S3). The noise removal unit 13 outputs the first sensor data from which the body movement noise has been removed to the output unit 14.

The output unit 14 outputs, as measurement data, frequency components in a specific range contained in the first sensor data from which body movement noise has been removed (S4). In one example, the output unit 14 outputs the measurement data to the data analysis device 200 (FIG. 1) of the above-mentioned system 1.

This concludes the operation of the biometric measurement device 10.

(Sorting process (S2))
An example of the sorting process (S2 in FIG. 12) executed by the sorting unit 12 of the biometric device 30 according to the third embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 13 and 14. FIG.

As shown in FIG. 13, first, the selection unit 12 receives vascular map data from the vascular map generation unit 35 (S221).

Next, the selection unit 12 judges the presence or absence of blood vessels for each region of the received vascular map data corresponding to each light receiving element 120 (S222). Specifically, the selection unit 12 judges the regions with blood vessels and the regions without blood vessels in the vascular map data obtained from the vascular map generation unit 35.

Figure 14 shows an example of vascular map data that the selection unit 12 receives from the vascular map generation unit 35. In the vascular map data shown in Figure 14, the thick solid lines represent simulated blood vessels. Furthermore, two dashed rectangles arranged vertically in the vascular map data each represent an area corresponding to a different light receiving element 120. The upper rectangle is an area that does not include blood vessels. On the other hand, the lower rectangle is an area that includes blood vessels.

Returning to the flow of FIG. 13, based on the result of the judgment in step S222, if there is a blood vessel in the area corresponding to the light receiving element 120 (Yes in S223), the selection unit 12 selects the light receiving element 120 as the first light receiving element (S224X). On the other hand, if there is no blood vessel in the area corresponding to the light receiving element 120 (No in SS3), the selection unit 12 selects the light receiving element 120 as the second light receiving element (S224Y).

In the example shown in Figure 14 again, of the two dashed rectangles arranged vertically, the lower one corresponds to the first light receiving element and the upper one corresponds to the second light receiving element.

This completes the selection process (S2) for embodiment 3.

(Modification)
A modified example of the above-mentioned selection process (S2) will be described with reference to Fig. 15. In this modified example, the selection unit 12 may execute the selection process (S2) by using not the vascular map data received from the vascular map generating unit 35 itself but a part of the data.

In this modified example, prior to the above-mentioned step S222 (Figure 13), the selection unit 12 extracts from the vascular map data a block of an m x m area that includes blood vessels and corresponds to m x m (m is an integer greater than or equal to 1) light receiving elements 120.

Figure 15 shows an example of a block that includes blood vessels and corresponds to m x m light receiving elements 120. Figure 15 illustrates the case where m = 2. In this case, the block corresponds to four light receiving elements 120.

The selection unit 12 performs the process from step S222 (FIG. 13) of the selection process (S2) described above on the blocks of the m×m area thus extracted. In this modified example, the description of the process from step S222 onward is omitted.

According to the configuration of this modified example, the first light receiving element and the second light receiving element can be selected from the light receiving elements 120 corresponding to the block. Furthermore, the processing amount (i.e., the load) of the selection unit 12 can be reduced compared to performing the selection process (S2) on the entire vascular map data.

(Effects of this embodiment)
According to the configuration of this embodiment, the sensor data acquisition unit 11 acquires a plurality of sensor data from the array sensor 100 attached to the living body. The selection unit 12 selects a first light receiving element for measuring biological information and a second light receiving element for detecting body movement noise caused by the movement of the living body from the plurality of light receiving elements 120 constituting the array sensor 100. The noise removal unit 13 removes body movement noise caused by the movement of the living body from the first sensor data from the first light receiving element using the second sensor data from the second light receiving element. The output unit 14 outputs a specific range of frequency components included in the first sensor data from which the body movement noise has been removed as measurement data.

As described above, some of the multiple light receiving elements 120 constituting the array sensor 100 are selected for measurement, and other parts of the multiple light receiving elements 120 are selected for detecting body movement noise. By using two types of light receiving elements 120 with different roles in this way, body movement noise caused by the movement of the living body can be removed from the sensor data.

Furthermore, according to the configuration of this embodiment, the vascular map generating unit 35 generates vascular map data indicating the running positions of blood vessels in a living body. The selecting unit 12 selects, from among the multiple light receiving elements 120 constituting the array sensor 100, light receiving elements 120 that correspond to areas where blood vessels are present in the vascular map data as first light receiving elements, and selects light receiving elements 120 that correspond to areas where no blood vessels are present as second light receiving elements.

In this way, regions with blood vessels and regions without blood vessels are accurately distinguished based on the vascular map data. Therefore, based on the presence or absence of blood vessels in each region corresponding to the light receiving element 120, a first light receiving element for measuring biological information and a second light receiving element for detecting body movement noise caused by biological movement can be selected.

[Hardware configuration]
Each component of the biometric device 10 (30) described in the first to third embodiments is shown as a functional block. Some or all of these components are realized by an information processing device 900 as shown in Fig. 16. Fig. 16 is a block diagram showing an example of the hardware configuration of the information processing device 900.

As shown in FIG. 16, the information processing device 900 includes, as an example, the following configuration:

・CPU (Central Processing Unit) 901
・ROM (Read Only Memory) 902
・RAM (Random Access Memory) 903
Program 904 loaded into RAM 903
A storage device 905 for storing the program 904
A drive device 907 for reading and writing data from and to the recording medium 906
A communication interface 908 for connecting to a communication network 909
An input/output interface 910 for inputting and outputting data
A bus 911 connecting each component
Each of the components of the biometric device 10 (30) described in the first to third embodiments is realized by the CPU 901 reading and executing a program 904 that realizes these functions. The program 904 that realizes the functions of each component is, for example, stored in advance in the storage device 905 or the ROM 902, and is loaded into the RAM 903 and executed by the CPU 901 as necessary. The program 904 may be supplied to the CPU 901 via the communication network 909, or may be stored in advance in the recording medium 906, and the drive device 907 may read out the program and supply it to the CPU 901.

According to the above configuration, the biometric measurement device 10 (30) described in the first to third embodiments is realized as hardware. Therefore, it is possible to achieve the same effects as those described in the first to third embodiments.

Although the present invention has been described above with reference to the embodiments (and examples), the present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiments (and examples). Various modifications that can be understood by a person skilled in the art can be made to the configurations and details of the above-mentioned embodiments (and examples) within the scope of the present invention.

The present invention can be used, for example, in biometric devices that measure biometric information such as pulse rate, and emotion analysis devices that estimate the state of a living organism, such as its health and emotions, based on measurement data including biometric information.

REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 System 10 Biometric measurement device 11 Sensor data acquisition unit 12 Selection unit 13 Noise removal unit 14 Output unit 30 Biometric measurement device 35 Blood vessel map generation unit 100 Array sensor 120 Light receiving element

Claims (10)

a sensor data acquiring means for acquiring a plurality of sensor data from an array sensor attached to a living body;
a selection means for selecting a first light receiving element for measuring biological information and a second light receiving element for detecting body movement noise caused by the movement of the biological body from among a plurality of light receiving elements constituting the array sensor;
a noise removing means for removing body movement noise caused by the movement of the living body from the first sensor data from the first light receiving element by using the second sensor data from the second light receiving element;
an output means for outputting, as measurement data, frequency components in a specific range included in the first sensor data from which the body movement noise has been removed;
The selection means detects frequency components within a specific range as pulse components for any combination of two sensor data from the plurality of sensor data, calculates the difference between the peaks of the pulse components in the frequency domain, extracts a predetermined number of combinations of sensor data in order of the largest calculated difference, and compares the magnitude of the detected pulse components between each of the combinations of sensor data to select a light receiving element corresponding to the sensor data with the largest pulse component as the first light receiving element, and selects a light receiving element corresponding to the sensor data with the smallest pulse component as the second light receiving element. a blood vessel map generating unit for generating blood vessel map data indicating the running positions of blood vessels in the living body,
The biomeasurement device according to claim 1, characterized in that the selection means selects, from among the multiple light-receiving elements constituting the array sensor, light-receiving elements that correspond to areas in the vascular map data where blood vessels of the living body are present as the first light-receiving elements, and selects light-receiving elements that correspond to areas in which blood vessels are not present as the second light-receiving elements. The selecting means is
Dividing the blood vessel map data into unit blood vessel map data corresponding to each individual sensor constituting the array sensor;
3. The biometric device according to claim 2, wherein a plurality of light receiving elements constituting the array sensor are selected based on whether or not the unit blood vessel map data includes a blood vessel of the living body. The biometric device according to claim 1 , wherein the selection means selects the plurality of light receiving elements constituting the array sensor by comparing the magnitude of the frequency components in the specific range among the plurality of sensor data. The biometric device according to claim 1 , further comprising a measuring means for measuring a pulse rate of the living body using the first sensor data from which the body movement noise has been removed. A biometric measurement device according to any one of claims 1 to 5,
an array sensor including the array sensor attached to the living body;
and a data analysis device that analyzes a state of the living body based on the first sensor data output from the biometric device. Multiple sensor data are acquired from an array sensor attached to a living body,
selecting a first light receiving element for measuring biological information and a second light receiving element for detecting body movement noise caused by the movement of the biological body from among the plurality of light receiving elements constituting the array sensor;
removing body movement noise caused by movement of the living body from first sensor data from the first light receiving element by using second sensor data from the second light receiving element;
outputting, as measurement data, frequency components in a specific range included in the first sensor data from which the body movement noise has been removed, the biometric measurement method comprising:
a light receiving element corresponding to the sensor data having a larger pulse component than the pulse component in the frequency domain; a light receiving element corresponding to the sensor data having a smaller pulse component than the pulse component in the frequency domain; a light receiving element corresponding to the sensor data having a larger pulse component than the pulse component in the frequency domain; generating vascular map data indicating the running positions of blood vessels in the living body;
The biomeasurement method according to claim 7, characterized in that, of the multiple light-receiving elements constituting the array sensor, light-receiving elements corresponding to areas in the vascular map data where blood vessels of the living body are present are selected as the first light-receiving elements, and light-receiving elements corresponding to areas in which blood vessels are not present are selected as the second light-receiving elements. A process of acquiring a plurality of sensor data from an array sensor attached to a living body;
A process of selecting a first light receiving element for measuring biological information and a second light receiving element for detecting body movement noise caused by the movement of the biological body from among a plurality of light receiving elements constituting the array sensor;
a process of removing body movement noise caused by movement of the living body from first sensor data from the first light receiving element by using second sensor data from the second light receiving element;
and outputting, as measurement data, frequency components in a specific range included in the first sensor data from which the body movement noise has been removed, the frequency components being included in the first sensor data, the program for causing a computer to execute the steps of:
The computer, in the process of selecting the first light receiving element and the second light receiving element from the plurality of light receiving elements, detects frequency components in a specific range as pulse components for a combination of any two of the plurality of sensor data, calculates the difference between the peaks of the pulse components in the frequency domain, extracts a predetermined number of combinations of sensor data in order of the largest calculated difference, and compares the magnitude of the detected pulse component between each of the combinations of sensor data to select the light receiving element corresponding to the sensor data with the largest pulse component as the first light receiving element, and selects the light receiving element corresponding to the sensor data with the smallest pulse component as the second light receiving element. further causing the computer to execute a process of generating vascular map data indicating the running positions of blood vessels in the living body;
The program according to claim 9, characterized in that in the selection process, of the multiple light receiving elements constituting the array sensor, light receiving elements corresponding to areas in the vascular map data where blood vessels of the living body are present are selected as the first light receiving elements, and light receiving elements corresponding to areas where no blood vessels are present are selected as the second light receiving elements.

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