Patent ID: 8409115
Filing Date: 2013-04-02
Classification: A61B,G01B,G01G

Abstract:
1. A body composition measuring apparatus, for estimating a body composition index including visceral fat area, comprising: a bioelectrical impedance measurer that measures foot-to-foot bioelectrical impedance by applying at least one electrode to the sole of each foot of a human subject; an abdominal width measurer that measures an abdominal width of the human subject that uses a reflection-type contactless distance measuring sensor to measure the abdominal width, the contactless distance measuring sensor measuring a gap distance between a position of the sensor and a position of a point to be measured, with a distance measuring axis of the contactless distance measuring sensor being in parallel with a lateral direction of the abdomen; a frame including a navel position indicator that indicates the position of a navel of the human subject, wherein the frame is brought to rest at a position at which the navel of the human subject is indicated by the navel position indicator, wherein the abdominal width measurer measures the abdominal width at the position at which the navel position of the human subject is indicated; a weigher that measures a body weight of the human subject; and a calculator having memory with a computer program stored thereon, said calculator: determining body fat ratio based on bioelectrical impedance and weight; determining a body composition index including visceral fat area by performing certain calculations using the measured abdominal width, weight, bioelectrical impedance, and body fat ratio derived from the bioelectrical impedance and weight; and displaying the visceral fat area of the subject.