Abstract:
A health management device is disclosed in embodiments of the present invention. The health management device comprises at least one sensor, a microprocessor and a memory unit. The sensor measures the status of a target and generates a sensing signal. The microprocessor, coupling to the sensor, processes the sensing signal and generates a data signal. The memory unit, coupling to the microprocessor, generates a measurement data according to the data signal and stores the measurement data. Wherein, at least one health management software is embedded in the memory unit and computes the data signal to obtain the measurement data.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0001]    (a) Field of the Invention 
         [0002]    The invention relates to a health management device, particularly to a health management device for recording the physiology information of a user for a long period of time and making statistics of the recorded information to be easily operable for the user in his own residence. 
         [0003]    (b) Description of the Related Art 
         [0004]    Currently, a general physiology measurement device, such as sphygmomanometer, blood sugar meter, etc., only shows the currently measured physiology parameter. However, when the result of the measurement is normal, it does not guarantee that the body function is well. Sometimes, pathological changes have the incubation period. Thus, it is not easy to be aware of the hidden risk for a user and the health status cannot be effectively managed and improved. Besides, a general measurement device hiving on-line and data management functions requires additional cost and installation effort for the management software and driver that causes operation barriers. 
       BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0005]    Therefore, in order to solve the above-mentioned problem, one object of the invention is to provide a health management device for recording the physiology information within a predetermined period of time. 
         [0006]    One object of the invention is to provide a health management device operable in a computer system without installing additional software in the computer. 
         [0007]    One object of the invention is to provide a health management device, storing the detected information in a swappable/swap memory unit. 
         [0008]    One embodiment of the invention provides a health management device, comprising at least one sensor, a microprocessor and a memory unit. The sensor measures physiology information and generates a sensing signal. The microprocessor, coupling to the sensor, processes the sensing signal and generates a data signal. The memory unit, coupling to the microprocessor, generates a measurement data according to the data signal and stores the measurement data. At least one health management software is embedded in the memory unit and is executed on a compatible platform to compute and analyze the data signal to obtain the measurement data according to the operation by a user. 
         [0009]    Another embodiment of the invention provides a health management device, comprising at least one sensor, a microprocessor, a memory unit, and a transmission interface. The sensor measures physiology information and generates a sensing signal. The microprocessor, coupling to the sensor, processes and analyzes the sensing signal and generates a data signal. The memory unit, coupling to the microprocessor, generates a measurement data according to the data signal and stores the measurement data. At least one health management software is embedded in the memory unit and is executed on a compatible platform to compute and analyze the data signal to obtain the measurement data according to the operation by a user. The sensing signal comprises one of the information selected from the group consisting of the following or combination thereof: blood sugar data, blood pressure data, and body weight data. The transmission interface couples to the memory unit for outputting the measurement data. 
         [0010]    One other embodiment of the invention provides a health management device, comprising at least one sensor, a microprocessor, a first transmission interface, a memory unit, and a second transmission interface. The sensor measures physiology information and generates a sensing signal. The microprocessor, coupling to the sensor, processes the sensing signal and generates a data signal. The first transmission interface couples to the microprocessor for outputting the data signal. The memory unit, coupling to the transmission interface, generates a measurement data according to the data signal and stores the measurement data. The second transmission interface couples to the memory unit for outputting the measurement data. At least one health management software is embedded in the memory unit and is executed on a compatible platform to compute and analyze the data signal to obtain the measurement data according to the operation by a user. The sensing signal comprises one of the information selected from the group consisting of the following or combination thereof: blood sugar data, blood pressure data, and body weight data. 
         [0011]    The health management device according to the invention utilizes the embedded health management software to record the physiology parameters for a long period of time and make statistics of these data and can be easily operable in the other computer system. Therefore, the health status of a user can be effectively managed and improved. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
         [0012]      FIG. 1A  shows a schematic diagram illustrating the health management device according to one embodiment of the invention. 
           [0013]      FIG. 1B  and  FIG. 1C  show a statistical chart generated by the health management device shown in  FIG. 1A . 
           [0014]      FIG. 2  shows a schematic diagram illustrating the health management device according to one embodiment of the invention. 
           [0015]      FIG. 3  shows a schematic diagram illustrating the health management device according to one embodiment of the invention. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
       [0016]    Please refer to  FIG. 1A ,  FIG. 1B  and  FIG. 1C .  FIG. 1A  shows a schematic diagram illustrating the health management device according to one embodiment of the invention while  FIG. 1B  and  FIG. 1C  show a statistical chart generated by the health management device shown in  FIG. 1A . 
         [0017]    As shown in  FIG. 1A , the health management device  100  comprises at least one sensor  101 , a microprocessor  102 , and a memory unit  103 . 
         [0018]    The sensor  101  is used to measure physiology information (status) of a user to generate a sensing signal S and transmit the sensing signal S to the microprocessor  102 . The microprocessor  102  couples to the sensor  101  for processing the sensing signal S and then generating a data signal I. It should be noted that the sensing signal S can include blood sugar data, blood pressure data, or body weight data, or any combination of the above. 
         [0019]    The memory unit  103  couples to the microprocessor  102  and has at least one embedded health management software  103   a.  The health management software  103   a  is executed on a compatible platform to compute and analyze the data signal I to obtain the measurement data DT according to the operation by a user. The health management software  103   a  is proprietary native software (for example: win32) or cross-platform software (for example: java or javascript) and the compatible platform is determined by the setting of the designer and can be any current platform or the platform to be developed in the future. 
         [0020]    According to at least a preset rule, the health management software  103   a  performs one task selected from the group consisting of the following or combination thereof: data statistics, management, and operation. For example, the preset rule can be calculating all of the historical data signals I in the memory unit  103 , calculating the historical data signals I within N days where N is more than 0 and less than infinity, or a blood sugar calculation equation. But, the invention is not limited to the above mentioned examples. The measurement data DT calculated by the health management software  103   a  comprises the average value, the trend chart, and the physiology parameter log. The user can record the blood sugar value before and after each of the three meals everyday and calculate the average of the blood sugar value for each period of time and the percentage that is beyond the normal blood sugar value via the health management software  103   a.  Referring to the following Table 1, the blood sugar values for each period of time from Jul. 26, 2008 to Jul. 31, 2008 are shown. The health management software  103   a  tables the measurement data DT for the user to understand his blood sugar value to be at either high or low level. 
         [0021]    For example, on Jul. 31, 2008, the blood sugar values for each period of time are 71, 137, 114, and 110 separately, and the average calculated by the health management software  103   a  is 108. 
         [0000]    
       
         
               
             
               
               
               
               
               
               
               
               
             
           
               
                 TABLE 1 
               
             
             
               
                   
               
               
                 blood sugar value for each period of time and average value 
               
             
          
           
               
                   
                 Before 
                 After 
                 Before 
                 After 
                 Before 
                 After 
                 Average of 
               
               
                   
                 breakfast 
                 breakfast 
                 lunch 
                 lunch 
                 dinner 
                 dinner 
                 the day 
               
               
                 Date 
                 mg/dl 
                 mg/dl 
                 mg/dl 
                 mg/dl 
                 mg/dl 
                 mg/dl 
                 mg/dl 
               
               
                   
               
               
                 2008/07/31 
                 71 
                 137 
                 114 
                   
                 110 
                   
                 108 
               
               
                 2008/07/30 
                 74 
                 148 
                 118 
                   
                 112 
                 154 
                 124 
               
               
                 2008/07/29 
                 75 
                 135 
                   
                   
                 117 
                 149 
                 118 
               
               
                 2008/07/28 
                 81 
                   
                 101 
                   
                 117 
                 146 
                 111 
               
               
                 2008/07/27 
                   
                 145 
                 102 
                   
                 123 
                 161 
                 131 
               
               
                 2008/07/26 
                 81 
                 134 
                 102 
                   
                   
                   
                 110 
               
               
                 Average 
                 76 
                 140 
                 107 
                   
                 116 
                 153 
               
               
                   
               
             
          
         
       
     
         [0022]    In addition, in order to conveniently monitor the blood sugar of a user, the health management device  100  plots the trend chart and the average trend chart of the blood sugar values for each period of time for each day. The trend chart or statistical chart demonstrates the data in a way that the user can easily realize his body status. 
         [0023]    It should be noted that  FIG. 1B  and  FIG. 1C  show the blood sugar values as an example but the invention is not limited to this example. Although this embodiment uses the blood sugar value as an example, the operating principle of the other physiology parameter, such as blood pressure, pulse rate, body fat, body weight, etc., is in the same manner and thus its details will not be described hereafter. 
         [0024]    As described in the above, finally the measurement data DT is stored in the memory unit  103 . The memory unit  103  can be implemented by a flash memory or other current or future storage device. 
         [0025]      FIG. 2  shows a schematic diagram illustrating the health management device  200  according to another embodiment of the invention. The difference between the health management device  100  and the health management device  200  is that the memory unit  203  is a swappable/swap device. Since the health management software  203   a  is built in the memory unit  203 , when the memory unit  203  is unplugged from the health management device  200 , a transmission interface  204 , such as universal serial bus (USB), can transmit the measurement data DT to a computer system  205  or one other compatible platform  206 . The transmission interface  204  includes at least one mass storage class, such as external hard disc, flash drive, card reader, etc. The additional driver is not required to be installed in the computer system  205  or the compatible platform  206 . The health management software  103   a  can be operated or accessed directly from the memory unit  203  by the computer system  205  or the compatible platform  206 . It is convenient for a user to operate in the computer at home. Moreover, the measured information can be provided to the physicians or as a reference for interrogation enquiry or therapy. The long-term records of the physiology parameter can assist in the effect of the whole therapy. 
         [0026]    Furthermore, since the memory unit  203  is a swappable/swap device, the user can replace the memory unit  203  for different physiological needs. For example, at the beginning a user purchases a health management device and a memory unit with the embedded blood sugar management software. After that, if the user wants to measure body fat and then manage it, the user can just purchase another memory unit with the embedded body fat management software. Unlike the current product, there is no need to purchase many measurement devices for measuring various types of physiology information. Only one health management device is needed. Thus measuring and managing various types of physiology information can be achieved by utilizing different memory units. Therefore, the user can have the flexibility in utilizing the health management device and obtain the health monitoring result with better quality by lower cost. 
         [0027]      FIG. 3  shows a schematic diagram illustrating the health management device  300  according to another embodiment of the invention. The difference between the health management device  200  and the health management device  300  is that the health management device  300  comprises two transmission interfaces  304  and  304 ′. During operation, the sensor  301  generates a sensing signal S after measuring physiology information of a user and then transmits the sensing signal S to the microprocessor  302 . The data signal I issued by the microprocessor  302  is outputted to a computer system  305 ′ via the second transmission interface  304 ′ and stored by the storage device  305   a  of the computer system  305 ′. The storage device  305   a  can be implemented by a flash memory, hard disk (HD), or other current or future storage device. In addition, the first transmission interface  304  and the second transmission interface  304 ′ can be USBs and the second transmission interface  304 ′ comprises at least one mass storage class, such as hard external disc, flash drive, card reader, etc. By such allocation, the health management device  300  according to this embodiment is more flexible in operation. Thus, it is convenient in use. 
         [0028]    In conclusion, the health management device according to the invention utilizes the embedded health management software to make long-term records and statistics according to the need of a user. The health management software can be easily executed on the other computer system. Therefore, the health status of the user can be effectively managed and improved.