The present invention relates to a sanitary device, and more particularly a sanitary device for a urine glucose test.
In recent years, diabetes has become more and more prevalent. A non-invasive glucose testing method is much needed for the general public to be able to monitor glucose levels without pain.
In usual circumstances, as glucose level exceeds 180 milligrams/deciliter (mg/dL), a person may have glycosuria. When the person's kidneys would not be able to absorb all the glucose in the body, the person would therefore expel excessive glucose through urine. The excessive glucose expelled through urine is called the glycosuria. The non-invasive glucose testing method is to measure the glucose level present in the person's urine.
One of the most commonly used glucose testing methods is an enzymatic method, and more particularly a glucose oxidase method by using a test strip. The test strip however requires about 30 to 60 seconds to conduct a test, making it inefficient.
The test strip is also problematic, as its result is colorimetrically determined by human eyes for color representations of glucose levels. In other words, the test strip generates inconsistent results as people perceive colors differently. Furthermore, the test strip displays only semi-quantitative results, meaning the result of the glucose levels in the person's urine is displayed within a glucose level range rather than a precise value.
Moreover, the test strip is hard to store, as a storing condition can affect its test results qualitatively. Further, while maintaining consistent quality for the test strip is hard, a test can also be inconvenient to conduct, as sampling urine requires the subject to urinate into a cup. Therefore, a better device with a more convenient way is needed to conduct a urine glucose test.
To overcome the aforementioned difficulties, the present invention provides a sanitary device for a urine glucose test. The sanitary device for the urine glucose test is able to perform the urine glucose test and collect urine without a cup, and the sanitary device for the urine glucose test uses an optical method to stably measure glucose level in a person's urine.
The sanitary device for the urine glucose test of the present invention comprises a main body and a measuring module.
The main body has a waste container and a urine container, and the urine container is formed on an inner wall of the main body.
The measuring module is mounted at a bottom of the urine container, and has an inner space. The measuring module further includes a lens, a rail, a light unit, a sensor, a processor, and a driving module.
The lens is mounted in the inner space, and includes a measuring surface and a bottom surface. The measuring surface of the lens closely attaches to the bottom of the urine container.
The rail is mounted in the inner space, and faces the bottom surface of the lens.
The light unit is movably mounted on the rail, and shoots a detection beam at the bottom surface of the lens.
The sensor is mounted in the inner space, faces the bottom surface of the lens, and receives the detection beam shooting out of the bottom surface.
The processor is mounted in the inner space, and electrically connects the light unit and the sensor.
The driving module is mounted in the inner space, connects the light unit, and electrically connects the processor. The driving module is controlled by the processor to drive the light unit to move along the rail.
When the processor receives a starting signal, the processor controls the light unit to shoot the detection beam at the bottom surface of the lens. The detection beam reflects off the measuring surface of the lens and shoots out from the bottom surface of the lens. The sensor receives the detection beam out of the bottom surface, and a beam intensity signal is generated by the sensor based on the detection beam received.
The processor further controls the driving module to drive the light unit to move along the rail, and the processor determines whether a beam intensity of the beam intensity signal is smaller than an intensity threshold. When the beam intensity determined by the processor is smaller than the intensity threshold, a position of the light unit on the rail is detected by the processor, and a urine glucose level data is generated by the processor accordingly.
The sanitary device for the urine glucose test of the present invention uses the detection beam to measure a urine glucose level, obtaining the urine glucose level and generating the urine glucose level data much faster than a current paper-based sensor.
With reference to
With reference to
The lens 10 is mounted in the inner space 8 and the lens 10 includes a measuring surface 11 and a bottom surface 12. The measuring surface 11 closely attaches to the bottom 7 of the urine container 4, and the measuring surface 11 and the inner wall 3 are closely sealed, preventing any of the urine 9 from entering the inner space 8.
The rail 20 is mounted in the inner space 8, and the rail 20 surrounds and faces the bottom surface 12 of the lens 10. The light unit 30 is movably mounted on the rail 20 in the inner space 8, and the light unit 30 shoots a detection beam from along the rail 20 at the bottom surface 12 of the lens 10. The sensor 40 is mounted in the inner space 8, and the sensor 40 faces the bottom surface 12 of the lens 10, receiving the detection beam shooting out of the bottom surface 12.
In a better embodiment of the present invention, the bottom surface 12 of the lens 10 is curved. The curved bottom surface 12 faces both the light unit 30 and the sensor 40. In the better embodiment of the present invention, the rail 20 shares a same curvature of the bottom surface 12. As a result, the detection beam moving along the rail 20 is able to maintain perpendicular angles with the curved bottom surface 12 as the detection beam enters the bottom surface 12.
Since the detection beam enters the bottom surface 12 perpendicularly, the detection beam enters the lens 10 without any angle changes. This result is an application of Snell's Law, and Snell's Law will be discussed in detail in later parts. After the detection beam enters the lens 10 perpendicularly, a refraction and a reflection would occur at a place where medium changes, or in other words, a refraction and a reflection would occur between the measuring surface 11 of the bottom 7 of the urine container 4 and the urine 9. The detection beam refracts because of medium changes from the lens 10 to the urine 9, and the detection beam reflects because a vector of the detection beam perpendicular to the measuring surface 11 changes direction. By drawing a normal line perpendicular to the measuring surface 11, when the detection beam enters a new medium, an angle of incidence θi, an angle of reflection θr, and an angle of refraction θt are created with respect to the normal line. A relationship between the angle of incidence θi, the angle of reflection θr, and the angle of refraction θt, and a relationship between how much of the detection beam refracts and reflects will be discussed in detail in later parts.
The processor 50 is mounted in the inner space 8 and is electrically connected to the light unit 30 and the sensor 40. The driving module 60 is also mounted in the inner space 8 and is both connected to the light unit 30 and electrically connected to the processor 50. The processor 50 controls the driving module 60 to drive the light unit 30 to move along the rail 20.
More particularly, when the processor 50 receives a starting signal, the processor 50 controls the light unit 30 to shoot the detection beam into the bottom surface 12 of the lens 10. According to a position of the light unit 30 on the rail 20, or in other words according to an amount of how much the driving module 60 moves the light unit 30, the processor 50 is able to calculate the angle of incidence θ1 of the detection beam of the light unit 30 on the measuring surface 11. The processor 50 then analyzes a urine glucose level and generates a urine glucose level data within 3 seconds from the urine 9 based on the angle of incidence θ1 of the detection beam and based on a beam intensity of a beam intensity signal measured from the sensor 40. The present invention is able to instantly analyze the urine glucose level and generate the urine glucose level data because an optical glucose level detection method is able to provide analytical data regarding the urine glucose level in an instance as the detection beam passes and reflects from the urine 9.
With reference also to
The processor 50 further determines whether the urine glucose level data is greater than a warning level. When the urine glucose level data is greater than the warning level, the processor 50 generates a warning message, for warning a user to be more cautious about glucose levels in the blood. The processor 50 then controls the outputting unit 100 to output the warning message. In the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the outputting unit 100 is a monitor, wherein the monitor displays the warning message. Alternatively, the outputting unit 100 can also be a buzzer, wherein the buzzer makes sounds to convey the warning message.
The inputting unit 200 is responsible for generating the starting signal. Once the starting signal is generated by the inputting unit 200, the processor 50 receives the starting signal and starts working. Furthermore, the power unit 300 is responsible for supplying power in the form of electricity to the processor 50.
Before detailing how the sanitary device for the urine glucose test 1 works, a technical background of the present invention is first provided as below, describing how a light travels between two media.
With reference also to
n1*sin(θi)=n2*sin(θt),
wherein when n1>n2 and the angle of incidence θi is at a critical angle θcri, the above equation can be written as:
In order to have sin(θt)=1 as shown above, the angle of refraction θt must be
radians or 90 degrees, meaning when a light has the angle of incidence θi at a critical angle θcri, the light will refract at 90 degrees and travel along the surface of the medium one and the medium two. When the light reflects, the angle of incidence θi and the angle of reflection θr should be the same under usual circumstances, yet an exception happens when the light has the angle of incidence θi exactly at the critical angle θcri.
Fresnel equations can be used to further determine how much of the detection beam will refract and how much of the detection beam will reflect. According to Fresnel equations, reflectance R and transmittance T are percentages representing how much the light reflects and how much of the light refracts. In this regard, reflectance R plus transmittance T will equal 1. An incident light can be categorized as S-polarized light and P-polarized light, wherein the S-polarized light is perpendicularly polarized against the surface, and P-polarized light is parallel polarized with the surface. As the light is not particularly polarized in any way, the light is assumed to be randomly polarized by both the S-polarized light and the P-polarized light. According to the Fresnel equations, the reflectance R and the transmittance T for both the S-polarized light and the P-polarized light can be written as:
When
cosine will equal zero as cos
simplifying the Fresnel equations to be:
Therefore, no matter how the incident light is polarized, both the S-polarized light and the P-polarized light will have same results. In other words, when θi=θcri
and
not only will the light travel along the surface between the medium one and the medium two, but also mathematically the light is already considered as having total internal reflection, since RS and RP both equal 1.
When θi<θcri, the incident light will continue total internal reflection, meaning all of the light will reflect as RS and RP, both stay as 1, and TS and TP both stay as 0. The angle of reflection θr will equal the angle of incidence θi.
When θi=θcri, the incident light will travel along the surface between the medium one and the medium two. The light will reflect without the angle of reflection θr, since when
the angle of incidence θi can be mathematically viewed as
meaning the light travels along the surface. This causes cos
and generates me same RS and RP results as:
In another way of explaining this phenomenon, since the light travels along the surface without crossing the surface, the light travels differently than when the light reflects off the surface from medium changes. Therefore this is a special case wherein θi=θcri≠θr.
In the present invention, the surface discussed in
With reference also to
Therefore, when the angle of incidence θi equals the critical angle θcri, the beam intensity of the beam intensity signal detected by the sensor 40 at the very instance will be smaller than the beam intensity detected at any other instance when the angle of incidence θi equals any other degree. Conversely, when the sensor 40 detects a smallest value for the beam intensity as the angle of incidence θi changes, the angle of incidence θi at the moment will correspondingly be the critical angle θcri. According to Snell's Law, the critical angle θcri can be determined as:
The present invention is based on how the urine glucose level changes in the urine 9 can affect the index of refraction of the urine 9. More particularly, the present invention corresponds changes in the angle of incidence θi to the beam intensity of the beam intensity signal measured by the sensor 40 to determine the critical angle θcri. Once the critical angle θcri is known, the present invention calculates the index of refraction of the urine 9 from the critical angle θcri, then corresponds the index of refraction of the urine 9 to the urine glucose level, and finally generates the urine glucose level data from the processor 50.
The present invention has an intensity threshold, and the intensity threshold is adjustable. When the beam intensity of the beam intensity signal is determined by the processor 50 to be smaller than the intensity threshold, the processor 50 determines that the angle of incidence θi equals the critical angle θcri at a moment when the total internal reflection happens by determining the position of the light unit 30 on the rail 20 and the angle of incidence θi on the measuring surface 11 at the moment.
Furthermore, when the beam intensity is determined by the processor 50 to be smaller than the intensity threshold, the processor 50 further determines whether the beam intensity has a relatively small value. In other words, after the beam intensity of the beam intensity signal is determined by the processor 50 to be smaller than the intensity threshold, the processor 50 continues controlling the sensor 40 for continuous sensing while the processor 50 also continues controlling the light unit 30 moving along the rail 20. The sensing of the sensor 40 and the moving of the light unit 30 cease when the beam intensity signal sensed by the sensor 40 starts to intensify after weakening. When the beam intensity signal starts to intensify after weakening, the relatively small value will appear, and the relatively small value will be able to help the processor 50 better determine the position of the light unit 30 on the rail 20 when the critical angle θcri appears. A reason why the beam intensity signal intensifies after weakening is because when total internal reflection first happens, the beam intensity signal sensed will weaken, and when total internal reflection continues to happen after the detection beam continues to incident on the measuring surface 11 passed the critical angle θcri, the beam intensity signal sensed will strengthen. Further detail about the weakening and intensifying of the beam intensity signal is covered in the abovementioned explanation regarding
After the beam intensity is determined to have the relatively small value by the processor 50, the processor 50 ceases controlling the sensing of the sensor 40 and the moving of the light unit 30 because the processor 50 has obtained enough information to calculate the critical angle θcri. After determining the beam intensity to be smaller than the intensity threshold and determining the beam intensity having the relatively small value, the processor 50 can firmly obtain the critical angle θcri, and proceed to further calculate the urine glucose level.
With reference also to
In
When the urine container 4 of the present invention is flushed, remaining water in the urine container 4 will have an averaged volume. The processor 50 would take the averaged volume of the remaining water into account for calibration when calculating the urine glucose level from the urine 9. This way the urine glucose level remains accurate after the urine container 4 of the present invention is flushed.
With reference to
With reference also to
With reference also to
In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, a volume of the urine container 4 is at least 0.5 milligram (mg), for creating a thick enough layer of the urine 9 to prevent external light sources from optically interfering with the urine glucose measurement, and as well as to provide enough sample of the urine 9 for better accuracy measuring the urine glucose level.
Furthermore, in another embodiment of the present invention, the light unit 30 can be multiple light-emitting diodes (LEDs), or a laser diode (LD), for making the detection beam well collimated. The sensor 40 can be multiple photodiodes, or a spectrometer, or a charged-coupled device sensor (CCD), or a complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor sensor (CMOS sensor). The sensor 40 can be chosen most suitably according to the wavelength of the light unit 30.
Number | Name | Date | Kind |
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5772606 | Ashibe | Jun 1998 | A |
10575830 | Attar | Mar 2020 | B2 |
10591407 | Akagawa | Mar 2020 | B2 |
11123049 | Kramer | Sep 2021 | B2 |
11311156 | Hall | Apr 2022 | B2 |
20090216099 | Kim | Aug 2009 | A1 |
20110051125 | Kim | Mar 2011 | A1 |
Number | Date | Country |
---|---|---|
211554031 | Sep 2020 | CN |
212213723 | Dec 2020 | CN |
Entry |
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English language Abstract of CN 212213723 U (Dec. 25, 2020). |
English language Abstract of CN 211554031 U (Sep. 22, 2020). |
Office Action in related Taiwanese Application No. 110115764, mailed Oct. 4, 2021. |
Number | Date | Country | |
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20220369980 A1 | Nov 2022 | US |