JPH0249101B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Field of Industrial Application) The present invention relates to a calorie consumption measuring device that is attached to a person or an animal, such as various pets, to measure exercise calorie consumption and basal metabolic consumption calorie consumption at any time. Specifically, for example, it is used to grasp the balance of calorie consumption to total calorie intake in a day and use it for prevention or treatment of diabetes and the like.

(Prior Art) Conventionally, an acceleration sensor that is attached to the human body and used in a calorie consumption measuring device that measures the calories consumed during human exercise, and that operates according to the acceleration of human exercise, is a sealed cylinder as shown in Fig. 9. A light emitting diode 32 is attached to the body 31 of the light emitting diode 30, and a photodetector 33 is attached at a position facing the light emitting diode 32.
2A is received by the photodetector 33, the N pole of a permanent magnet 34 fixedly attached inside the sealed cylinder 30 is opposed to the N pole of another permanent magnet 35 to generate a repulsive force. The permanent magnet 35 is arranged so as to block the light beam 32A when the permanent magnet 35 descends against magnetic repulsion due to vertical acceleration during human body movement. When the light beam 32A is blocked by the downward movement of the permanent magnet 35, the photodetector 33 is configured to output a logic signal "1", and a lock signal is output from a separately provided clock generator. A microcomputer counts the clock signal output from the 2-input AND gate, and calculates the accumulated count value by a characteristic constant set in advance according to the physical condition of the person being measured. Based on this, the calorie consumption is calculated and integrated according to the calorie consumption calculation formula, and the result is displayed on the display.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) The acceleration sensor of the conventional calorie consumption measuring device requires the light beam 32A to be emitted from the light emitting diode 32 at all times during the measurement period. Therefore, there is a problem in that the battery used as a power source consumes a lot of energy.Furthermore, the acceleration of movement that can be detected is limited to the vertical direction, so the movement of the person being measured in directions other than the vertical direction is not displayed as calories burned. There was a problem. Further, when the permanent magnet 35 moves up and down due to the acceleration of the motion, the end face does not necessarily move in a horizontal state, so it gets caught on the inner diameter of the sealed cylinder 30 and becomes unable to move.
There was a problem that the acceleration of the measured person's movement could not be detected.

Therefore, in order to solve the above problems, the present invention makes it possible to omnidirectionally detect the acceleration caused by the exercise of the person whose calorie consumption is to be measured without using a light emitting diode that consumes a large amount of battery power. The technical problem to be solved is to use an acceleration sensor that generates vibration by the acceleration and converts the amount of strain caused by the vibration into an electrical signal and outputs it.

(Means for solving the problem) The technical means for solving the above problem is an acceleration sensor that detects acceleration due to movement of a person or animal and outputs a signal according to the acceleration, and a signal from the acceleration sensor. a signal conversion means for converting into a computable signal, and a constant for setting a characteristic constant corresponding to the physical condition necessary for measuring the calorie consumption of the person or animal based on the signal from the acceleration sensor. a setting means, a means for calculating the amount of exercise of the person or animal by inputting the signal from the signal converting means, an exercise calorie consumption count corresponding to the calculated amount of exercise, and the characteristic constant set by the constant setting means; A calorie consumption measuring device comprising a calorie consumption calculation means for calculating the cumulative calorie consumption of the person or animal based on the calorie consumption calculation means, and a display device for displaying the calorie consumption calculated by the calorie consumption calculation means, wherein the acceleration sensor A thin plate made of a piezoelectric element, a weight attached to the tip of the thin plate, and a case for fixing the base end of the thin plate and integrally covering the weight and the thin plate. a member, a case fixing body for fixing the case member, and case mounting means for attaching the case member to the case fixing body so that the thin plate is tilted at 45 degrees from a horizontal state. It is necessary to configure it as follows.

(Function) According to the calorie consumption measuring device having the above configuration, when the acceleration sensor receives acceleration due to the movement of a person or an animal, the direction of acceleration can be any direction, up, down, left, or right.
Because the case member to which the thin plate is attached is fixed to the case fixing body so that distortion occurs mainly due to bending in a direction tilted at 45 degrees, distortion occurs in the thin plate regardless of the direction of acceleration, resulting in distortion. Since an electric signal corresponding to the amount of exercise is output, the calorie consumption calculation stage calculates the calorie consumption of the person or animal based on the exercise calorie consumption coefficient corresponding to the calculated amount of exercise and the characteristic constant set by the constant setting means. Accurate integration calculations can be performed and displayed.

(Example) Next, a configuration of an example of the present invention will be described. The acceleration sensor of the calorie consumption measuring device, which is an embodiment of the present invention, outputs an electrical signal corresponding to the acceleration of exercise of a person or animal whose total calorie consumption of exercise calorie consumption and basal metabolic consumption calorie consumption is measured. , its structure is shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, taken along the line A--A in FIG. For example, when measuring calorie consumption by attaching a calorie consumption measuring device to the waist of the person being measured, when the movement acceleration of the person to be measured causes the weight 2A of the acceleration sensor 2 to vibrate, the piezoelectric element vibrates. Strain, mainly caused by bending, occurs in the formed thin plate 2B. The piezoelectric element uses barium titanate, for example, and is configured so that a voltage due to a charge corresponding to the amount of strain is outputted from both electrodes via the lead wire 2C. The base end of the thin plate 2B forming the piezoelectric element is molded into the sealing part 2D, and the sealing part 2D is molded into the case 2E.
will be enclosed in. For example, a case 2E made of plastic or the like to be dustproof or to prevent shocks due to external forces may include an acceleration sensor 2, for example, a fourth
As shown in the figure, a mounting piece 2F for mounting on the printed circuit board PC is provided. The mounting piece 2F is fixed to the printed circuit board PC using an adhesive or the like.

In addition, when the acceleration sensor 2 is mounted on the printed circuit board PC by changing the position of the mounting piece 2F so that the angle of the piezoelectric element forming thin plate 2B is inclined by 45 degrees as shown by the broken line in FIG. Since the piezoelectric element-forming thin plate 2B is tilted 45 degrees from the horizontal state, strain can be generated by acceleration of movement in any direction.

FIG. 3 shows a calculation control block diagram of the calorie consumption measuring device 1. As shown in FIG. The voltage output from the acceleration sensor 2 in response to the motion acceleration of the person to be measured is generated by the vibration of the weight 2A and becomes an alternating current voltage, which is input to the amplifier circuit 3 consisting of an operational amplifier etc. and is amplified. , are input to the A/D conversion circuit 4. In the A/D conversion circuit 4, if the AC voltage output from the amplifier circuit 3 is directly A/D converted, the negative part of the AC voltage will not be output as a digital signal. Add voltage VR and raise the level so that the entire voltage becomes positive. bias voltage
VR is set to a preset reference voltage, for example, 1/2 of 1.55 volts, or approximately 0.775 volts, and this value is the same as that of the amplifier circuit 3, the
It is determined in accordance with the circuit characteristics of the D conversion circuit 4.
In the A/D conversion circuit 4, the bias voltage VR
An arbitrary voltage of the voltage waveform E whose level has been increased by
If en, |en-VR| is converted into a digital signal and output to the microcomputer 5.

The microcomputer 5 includes an input interface 5A that inputs the digital signal output from the A/D conversion circuit 4, a microprocessor 5B as a central processing unit, and characteristic constants corresponding to the physical conditions of the person being measured. Alternatively, a storage element RAM for temporarily storing digital signals outputted from the A/D conversion circuit 4, and a storage element ROM for storing an arithmetic control program and related data for calculating calorie consumption. , and an output interface 5C that outputs a display signal to a display 6 that displays calorie consumption, other setting values set by a constant setting device 7, which will be described later, and the like.

Furthermore, a characteristic constant corresponding to physical conditions necessary for measuring the calorie consumption of the person to be measured;
For example, the constant setting device 7 for setting gender, age, height, weight, etc. is connected to the input interface 5.
Connected to A. Note that the * mark is a timing switch for storing the set characteristic constant in the register section of the microprocessor 5B.

The power supply circuit 8 uses a lightweight battery as a power source to supply stabilized power necessary for each of the circuits, the microcomputer 5, the display 6, and the constant setting device 7.

The mode changeover switch 9 is used to set and store characteristic constants of the person to be measured, such as gender, age, height, and weight, in the register section of the microprocessor 5B before measuring the calorie consumption of the person to be measured.
This is a switch for switching to SET and RUN when setting of characteristic constants is completed and measurement of calorie consumption starts, and is connected to the input interface 5A.

FIG. 5 shows an example of the operation display screen of the calorie consumption measuring device 1 composed of the above-mentioned electrical elements. Note that FIG. 6 shows a right side view thereof.
As shown in FIG. 6, the calorie consumption measuring device 1 is provided with a clip 1A on the back and is formed so as to be easily attached to the waist or chest of the person to be measured. Further, a liquid crystal is used as a display element of the display 6, and alphabetical characters, Japanese characters, and numbers, which will be described later, are displayed at appropriate times.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be explained according to the flowchart shown in FIG. First, in order to set the gender, age, height, and weight of the person whose calorie consumption is to be measured, the mode changeover switch 9 provided on the operation display screen in FIG. 5 is turned from the OFF state to the SET state. In this state, the characters male and female flash on the display 6 (STEP 1). Next, it is determined whether the person to be measured is a man or a woman (STEP 2). If the person is a man, press 2/Male on the constant setter 7 (STEP 3A), and if it is a woman, press 3/Female (STEP 3B). ). Said STEP 3A,
Or, if the gender of male or female is set in STEP 3B, the male set on the display 6,
Or the female character will be displayed. In the next step 4, when the switch * of the constant setter 7 is pressed, the signal corresponding to male or female is sent to the microprocessor 5B.
At the same time as the age is stored in the register, the age characters flash on the display 6. For example, if the age of the person being measured is
If you are 32 years old, use constant setter 7's 1 to increment the 100's digit and set it to 0, the 2 to increment the 10's digit to 3, and the 3 to increment the 1's digit to 2 (STEP 5). ), press the switch*,
At the same time that the set age 32 is stored in the register of the microprocessor 5B, the characters height in cm flash on the display 6 (STEP 6). For example, if the height of the person to be measured is 175 cm, the constant setter 7's 1 increments the 100 digit, and the 2 increments it to 10.
Increment the digit of 1 to set it to 7, increment the digit of 1 to 5 by 3 (STEP 7), and press the switch *.The set height of 175 is memorized in the register of the microprocessor 5B, and at the same time , the characters Kg weight will flash on the display 6 (STEP
8). For example, if the weight of the person being measured is 63Kg,
1 of constant setter 7 increments the 100 digit to 0, 2 increments the 10 digit to 6,
Increment the 1's digit at 3 and set it to 3 (STEP 9), and press the switch *.The set weight of 63 kg is memorized in the register of the microprocessor 5B, and at the same time, the text ``run OK'' appears on the display 6. blinks, indicating that preparations for measuring the calorie consumption of the person to be measured are completed (STEP 10).

If you have completed up to STEP 10 and want to correct the gender, age, height, and weight of the person being measured again,
Or, if you decide that you want to check (STEP 11), press the switch * (STEP 1)
2), the flow returns to STEP 2, so STEP again
Perform operations up to 10. In STEP 11, if it is determined that there is no need to correct or check the gender, age, height, and weight of the person being measured, switch the mode changeover switch 9 to RUN (STEP 1
3) Attach it to, for example, the waist of the person to be measured and start measuring calorie consumption.

The calories consumed by the person being measured are:
Calories consumed by exercise and calories consumed by basal metabolism are broadly classified. The exercise calorie consumption is the calorie consumed according to the amount of exercise of the person to be measured, while the basal metabolic calorie consumption is the calorie consumed to maintain life regardless of the exercise of the person to be measured. Assume that the following formula is used to calculate the calorie consumption C of the person to be measured.

C=1.11W _o=N 〓 ⁿ⁼¹ Kan+1.11W ^0.425 _o=M 〓 ⁿ⁼¹ Kbn (Kcal/B) (1) In formula (1), C indicates the daily calorie consumption, and the exercise calorie consumption 1.11W to calculate _o=N 〓 ⁿ⁼¹ Kan and to calculate basal metabolic calorie consumption
1.11W ^0.425 _o=M 〓 ⁿ⁼¹ Kbn. In equation (1), the weight of the person to be measured is shown, and Kan is an exercise calorie consumption coefficient set at the exercise intensity determined by the amount of exercise of the person to be measured. Further, Kbn is the basic metabolic calorie consumption coefficient of the person to be measured, and is a coefficient determined by the gender, age, and height of the person to be measured.
The exercise intensity is divided into, for example, six levels depending on the intensity of the exercise, and the value of the exercise calorie consumption coefficient Kan corresponding to each level is set in the memory element ROM. Further, the amount of exercise A of the person to be measured is calculated using the following equation.

A=1/T∫ ^T _O adt=1/256 _o=256 〓 ⁿ⁼¹ an (2) In other words, the average value of the integral value at time T, where a is the acceleration due to the movement of the person being measured, is For example, if the number of samples of acceleration due to movement is 256, the formula is given as a range of momentum.
It is shown as 1/256 of (2) _o=256 〓 ⁿ⁼¹ an.

In this embodiment, as a means for calculating the amount of momentum A, the acceleration a due to motion is converted into an electrical signal by the acceleration sensor 2, amplified, and converted into the voltage E shown in FIG. ...e2
55, e256 by subtracting the bias voltage VR, |en-VR| is integrated, and the momentum A is determined by averaging. That is, A=1/256 _o=256 〓 ⁿ⁼¹ |en−VR| (3) A concrete means of calculating the momentum A using equation (3) is, for example, sampling |en−VR| in 3 seconds. The microcomputer 5 uses the A/D conversion circuit 4 to convert the analog quantity |en-VR|
The value converted into a digital quantity every (3 seconds/256 times),
That is, input approximately every 11 milliseconds. The microcomputer 5 samples the acceleration of the person to be measured at a sampling time of about 11 milliseconds, and calculates the
According to (3), calculate the momentum A every 3 seconds. The exercise intensity corresponding to this calculated amount of exercise A is
Decide on one of the stages and search for the corresponding exercise calorie consumption coefficient Ka value. Note that the exercise intensity and the value of the exercise calorie consumption coefficient Ka are stored in the storage element ROM as a search table.

After sampling the acceleration due to the exercise of the person to be measured approximately every 11 milliseconds and finding the average amount of exercise for 3 seconds, the exercise intensity - exercise calorie consumption coefficient Ka is calculated.
When the value of the exercise calorie consumption coefficient Ka is determined by looking up the search table, the microcomputer 5 calculates the exercise calorie consumption for 3 seconds by multiplying the determined exercise calorie consumption coefficient value Ka by 1.11×W. do. Converting 24 hours in a day to seconds
24 x 3600 = 86400 seconds, and if you calculate the exercise calorie consumption of the person being measured every 3 seconds, it will be 86400 / 1 day.
By calculating the exercise calorie consumption of the person to be measured 3=28,800 times and adding up each calculation, the daily exercise calorie consumption of the person to be measured is measured. Therefore, the formula for calculating the exercise calorie consumption in this example can be expressed as 1.11W _o=28800 〓 ⁿ⁼¹ Kan.

When calculating the basal metabolic calorie consumption in equation (1), for example, if the sampling time interval is 1 minute, the number of samplings will be 1440 in 24 hours, so the microcomputer 5 will use the equation 1.11W ^0.425 _o=1440 〓 ⁿ⁼¹ Kbn
The daily basal metabolic calorie consumption of the person to be measured is calculated according to the following.

Therefore, by inserting each sampling number into the above equation (1), the calorie consumption trial calculation formula in this example can be expressed as follows.

C=1.11W _o=28800 〓 ⁿ⁼¹ Kan+1.11W ^0.425 _o=1440 〓 ⁿ⁼¹ Kbn (kcal/B) (1A) In this way, the microcomputer 5 calculates the movement of the person being measured according to equation (1A). 3 calories burned
Calculations are performed 28,800 times per second, and basal metabolic calorie consumption is calculated and integrated 1,400 times per minute to calculate the daily calorie consumption. The calorie consumption of the person to be measured, which is accumulated over the course of the measurement time, is sequentially converted into a display signal by the microcomputer 5, which is output to the display 6 via the output interface 5C and displayed as the value of the cumulative calorie consumption. .

Note that, before displaying the cumulative calorie consumption that is displayed as the measurement time elapses, the corresponding intensity values of the exercise intensities classified into the six levels are displayed for, for example, three seconds.

After determining the daily calorie consumption,
If it is determined in STEP 14 that you want to continue measuring calories burned, press the mode switch 9.
When switched to SET (STEP 15), the daily calorie consumption displayed on the display 6 is cleared and returns to 0. However, the setting data such as gender, age, height, and weight of the person to be measured remains unchanged.
In this state, when the mode changeover switch 9 is set to RUN, the measurement continues again and the calorie consumption of the person to be measured is measured. Note that if it is determined that the calorie consumption is not to be continuously measured (STEP 16), the mode changeover switch 9 is turned OFF (STEP 17). In this state, the registers of the microprocessor 5B and
All memory elements RAM are cleared.

In this way, the calorie consumption of the person displayed on the display 6 at the time when the measurement of the calorie consumption for one day is completed is compared with the calorie intake confirmed by the calorie intake measuring means unrelated to the present invention. hand,
You can adjust your new calorie intake.

In addition, by changing the formula (1) for calculating the calorie consumption of a human to the formula for calculating the calorie consumption of any animal and setting the program, it is possible to calculate the calorie consumption of any animal in the same way as with humans. Calories consumed can be measured.

(Effects of the Invention) As described above, according to the present invention, an acceleration sensor that detects acceleration due to the movement of a person or an animal and outputs an electric signal corresponding to the acceleration can detect acceleration due to the movement of the person or animal. The thin plate with a weight attached to its tip is configured so that the bending occurs in a direction tilted 45 degrees from the horizontal direction, so distortion occurs in the thin plate regardless of the direction of acceleration, and the bending occurs in a direction corresponding to the amount of distortion. Since it can output an electrical signal, it has the effect of accurately measuring the calories consumed by exercise of a person or animal based on the electrical signal.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

1 and 2 are structural explanatory diagrams of an acceleration sensor of a calorie consumption measuring device according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 3 is a calculation control block diagram of a calorie consumption measuring device according to an embodiment of the present invention. Figure 4 is an explanatory diagram of the installation of an acceleration sensor, Figures 5 and 6 are external views of a calorie consumption meter according to an embodiment, Figure 7 is an explanatory diagram showing the operation of an embodiment, and Figure 8 is an illustration of an embodiment. A flowchart showing the operation, FIG. 9 is a structural explanatory diagram of an acceleration sensor used in a conventional calorie consumption measuring device. 1... Calorie consumption measuring device, 2... Acceleration sensor, 3... Amplification circuit, 4... A/D conversion circuit, 5
...Microcomputer, 6...Display unit, 7...
... Constant setter, 8 ... Power supply circuit, 9 ... Mode changeover switch, STEP 1 to STEP 17 ... Flowchart steps.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. An acceleration sensor that detects acceleration due to movement of a person or an animal and outputs a signal corresponding to the acceleration; a signal conversion means that converts the signal from the acceleration sensor into a signal that can be calculated; constant setting means for setting a characteristic constant corresponding to physical conditions necessary for measuring the calorie consumption of the person or animal based on the signal from the acceleration sensor; and inputting the signal from the signal conversion means. means for calculating the amount of exercise of the person or animal; and calculating the cumulative amount of calories consumed by the person or animal based on the exercise calorie consumption count corresponding to the calculated amount of exercise and the characteristic constant set by the constant setting means. A calorie consumption measuring device comprising a calorie consumption calculation means and a display for displaying the calorie consumption calculated by the calorie consumption calculation means, wherein the acceleration sensor is a thin plate formed of a piezoelectric element, and a thin plate formed of a piezoelectric element. a weight attached to the tip of the plate; a case member for fixing the base end of the thin plate and integrally covering the weight and the thin plate;
The case member is configured to have a case fixing body for fixing the case member, and a case mounting means for attaching the case member to the course fixing body so that the thin plate is tilted at 45 degrees from a horizontal state. A calorie consumption measuring device characterized by: