The present invention generally relates to an examination system and a method for recognition and interpretation. More particularly, the present invention relates to a system for physiologic parameter examination and a method for test strip recognition and interpretation.
In recent years, as material life improves, people have become more conscious concerning the issues of health. Most people are unaware of their current health condition or environmental condition, and overlook warning signals from their body. Thus, in order to let the public be able to observe their own physiological condition, various measuring devices having been gradually emerging. As such, the public can use the various measuring devices to monitor their own physiological condition, and immediately determine if there are any unusual problems occurred with their health condition. By this manner, the user can pay more attention to their physical condition, and make any suitable adjustments. Therefore, using information technology to collect various physiological signals and analyze physiological heath status of an individual case is a joint collaborative research topic for the fields of medical care and information science.
Most signs of diseases will show slight differences in the variability of operation and rhythm of physical organs, so many international companies and medical researchers have provided processes and methods for monitoring and analyzing the physiological signal. However, all kinds of apparatuses and accessories for physiological signal monitoring and examination on the market nowadays are inconvenient to carry around. Moreover, an additional calculating device installed with at least one examination program is needed to perform sequential analyses and applications. Therefore, conventional apparatuses are usually large in size, hard to operate and expensive. Generally, each of the apparatuses is customized for particular examination or for single purpose, which is still inconvenient for users.
Accordingly, the present invention is directed to a system for physiologic parameter examination, which is configured to be integrated with a portable electronic device to perform optics and image analyses and calculations to obtain examination results.
The present invention is further directed to a method for test strip recognition and interpretation, which can perform test strip recognition and interpretation through optics and image analyses and calculations.
The present invention provides a system for physiologic parameter examination includes a housing and a test-strip tray. The housing includes a carrying cavity disposed on a top surface of the housing and including a window. The carrying cavity is configured to receive a portable electronic device having an image capturing component. The image capturing component corresponds to the window. The test-strip tray is movably disposed in the housing and located below the carrying cavity. The test-strip tray is configured to carry at least one test strip. The image capturing component is adapted to capture a test reaction of the test strip through the window.
The present invention provides a method for test strip recognition and interpretation. The method includes the following steps. A plurality of test strips are provided, wherein the test strips are configured to examine a plurality of physiologic parameters respectively, and the test strips respectively have a plurality of color characteristics corresponding to the physiologic parameters respectively. A plurality of physiologic parameter examinations are performed to the corresponding test strips respectively, so as to obtain a plurality of test reactions. An image of the test strips is captured. The color characteristics and the test reactions of the test strips are obtained according to the image. The physiologic parameters examined by the test strips respectively are obtained according to the color characteristics. The physiologic parameters examined by the test strips are matched with the test reactions to obtain a plurality of physiologic parameter examination results.
Based on the above-mentioned description, the system for physiologic parameter examination of the invention is configured to be integrated with a portable electronic device, so as to use the image capturing component such as a camcorder of the portable electronic device to capture test reactions of the test strips and perform recognition and calculation by the portable electronic device to obtain and display results of the physiologic parameter examination tested by the test strips. Therefore, the present invention indeed improves the flexibility and convenience of the system for physiologic parameter examination in use.
In addition, the present invention further provides a method for test strip recognition and interpretation, which obtains the color and the test reactions of test strips by capturing the image of the test strips, and recognizes examination items (physiologic parameters to be examined) of the test strips according to the color of the test strips. Then, the physiologic parameters examined by the test strips are matched with the test reactions of the test strips, so as to obtain the examination results of the physiologic parameters. Therefore, the method of the present invention make the test strip recognition and interpretation performed automatically, so as to improve efficiency of the physiologic parameter examination.
The accompanying drawings are included to provide a further understanding of the invention, and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification. The drawings illustrate embodiments of the invention and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the invention.
Reference will now be made in detail to the present preferred embodiments of the invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. Wherever possible, the same reference numbers are used in the drawings and the description to refer to the same or like parts.
Referring to
In the present embodiment, the test strip tray 120 is movably disposed in the housing 110 and located below the carrying cavity 112. For instance, the test strip tray 120 may be a drawer structure, which can move along, for example, a sliding rail between a closed position as shown in
To be more specific, an inner wall of the test strip tray 120 may be a light-absorbing surface to prevent the inner wall of the test strip tray 120 from reflecting light and affects the capturing result of the image capturing component 210. Specifically, the inner wall of the test strip tray 120 may be a black surface or the inner wall of the test strip tray 120 may be coated with light absorbing coating. Moreover, when the test strip tray 120 is located in the closed position, the test strip tray 120 and the housing 110 jointly form a closed space to prevent external light from leaking in, so as to improve image quality captured by the image capturing component 210.
With such structural disposition, the system for physiologic parameter examination 100 of the present embodiment can be integrated with the portable electronic device 200, so as to use the image capturing component 210 of the portable electronic device 200 to capture the image of the test reactions of the test strips and perform recognition and calculation by the portable electronic device 200 to obtain and display preliminary results of the physiologic parameter examination tested by the test strips 300. If further analyses are needed, the examination results may be transmitted to a particular destination through internet by the portable electronic device 200. The particular destination may be, for example, a cloud system, a data storing and analyzing system or a data base of a hospital, medical survey or research organization, or health examination center, etc., so as to obtain an advanced examination result and suggestion. Furthermore, when the system for physiologic parameter examination 100 is electrically connected to the portable electronic device 200, the system for physiologic parameter examination 100 may also perform data transmission with the portable electronic device 200 to obtain the preliminary examination result or the advanced examination result.
In detail, in the present embodiment, the number of the test strips 300 is plural, and is configured to examining a plurality of physiologic parameters respectively. For example, the test strips 300 may include all kinds of blood test strips, urine test strips, breath test strips, blood sugar test strips, etc. Moreover, the colors of the test strips 300 are different from each other for examining different physiologic parameters respectively, so as to distinguish different examining purposes. After the image capturing component 210 of the portable electronic device 200 captures the image of the test strips 300, algorithm, such as image analyzing and recognition software, pre-installed in the portable electronic device 200 can be used to analyze the image to recognize the colors of the test strips, so as to obtain the corresponding examining items, such as all kinds of examinations of blood, urine, breath and/or blood sugar, etc., then the results are combined for calculation, so as to obtain the preliminary examination results of the physiologic parameters examined by the test strips.
Referring to
Certainly, the disposition in the present embodiment is merely for illustration and the present invention is not limited thereto.
Referring to
In addition, the system for physiologic parameter examination 100 of the present embodiment may further include a plurality of device trays 130 as shown in
For example, one of the device trays 130a, 130b, 130c (taking the device tray 130a extended toward left as shown in
Referring to
Referring to
In sum, the system for physiologic parameter examination of the invention is configured to be integrated with a portable electronic device, so as to use the image capturing component of the portable electronic device to capture test reactions of the test strips and perform recognition and calculation by the portable electronic device to obtain and display results of the physiologic parameter examination tested by the test strips. Therefore, general users can instantly monitor their body condition at home, so the present invention indeed improves the flexibility and convenience of the system for physiologic parameter examination in use.
In addition, the present invention further provides a method for test strip recognition and interpretation, which obtains the color and the test reactions of test strips by capturing the image of the test strips, and recognizes examination items (physiologic parameters to be examined) of the test strips according to the color of the test strips. Then, the physiologic parameters examined by the test strips are matched with the test reactions of the test strips, so as to obtain the examination results of the physiologic parameters. Therefore, the method of the present invention make the test strip recognition and interpretation performed automatically, so as to improve efficiency of the physiologic parameter examination.
It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made to the structure of the present invention without departing from the scope or spirit of the invention. In view of the foregoing, it is intended that the present invention cover modifications and variations of this invention provided they fall within the scope of the following claims and their equivalents.
This is a divisional application of patent application Ser. No. 15/054,146, filed on Feb. 26, 2016, which claims the priority benefits of U.S. provisional application Ser. No. 62/156,855, filed on May 4, 2015. The entirety of each of the above-mentioned patent applications is hereby incorporated by reference herein and made a part of this specification.
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Number | Date | Country |
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Number | Date | Country | |
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20180003645 A1 | Jan 2018 | US |
Number | Date | Country | |
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62156855 | May 2015 | US |
Number | Date | Country | |
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Parent | 15054146 | Feb 2016 | US |
Child | 15708154 | US |