Patent ID: 11883141
Assignee: OMRON HEALTHCARE CO., LTD.
Field: Medical technology (Instruments)
Classification: CPC A | IPC A

Claim 5:
6. A biological information measurement method comprising:
controlling a pressing force to be exerted by a pressing mechanism which is placed adjacent to a pressure sensor and configured to press the pressure sensor against an artery in a living body, the pressure sensor including a pressure detector for detecting a pressure pulse wave that is a blood pressure wave;
measuring blood flow information based on an output signal of a blood flow sensor which is placed adjacent to the pressure sensor, the blood flow sensor used for measuring the blood flow information indicating a flow of blood that flows through the artery;
deciding a first pressing force to be exerted by the pressing mechanism based on:
the blood flow information measured during a pressing force control time period when the pressing force either increased or decreased; and
information of the pressure pulse wave that is detected by the pressure detector during the pressing force control time period; and

on a recording medium, recording the pressure pulse wave that is detected by the pressure detector in a first state where the pressing force to be exerted by the pressing mechanism is controlled to the first pressing force, and the blood flow information that is measured in the first state,
wherein the blood flow information is a blood flow velocity,
wherein the biological information measurement method further comprising:
determining a first time period in which a change rate of the information of the pressure pulse wave detected during the pressing force control time period is equal to or smaller than a threshold;
determining a second time period which is within a part of the first time period and which is a continuous time period in which the blood flow information is within a predetermined range while setting a timing when the pressing force is controlled to be minimum, as a starting point of the second time period, and
selecting a time period which extends from the starting point of the second time period, to a timing when the pressure pulse wave having a maximum amplitude is detected in the first time period, as the part of the first time period,

wherein in the deciding, one of pressing forces in the second time period is decided as the first pressing force, in which the blood flow velocity is within the predetermined range, to prevent a variation of the blood flow velocity being increased,
wherein the blood flow sensor is configured to non-invasively measure the blood flow velocity by an ultrasonic Doppler method or a laser Doppler method, and
wherein the pressure detector is configured with a plurality of rows of elements, which are arranged in a horizontal direction perpendicular to a blood flow direction in the artery.