Abstract:
This invention relates to a bio-signal detecting device which can be belted up on a user. The bio-signal detecting device includes a respiratory signal detecting module, a electrocardiogram (ECG) signal detecting module, a body temperature detecting module, a contacting object and a flexible belt, wherein the respiration signal detecting module is used for obtaining a respiratory signal, the ECG signal detecting module is used for obtaining a ECG signal and the body temperature detecting module is used for a temperature value. The respiratory signal detecting module, the ECG signal detecting module, and the body temperature detecting module are disposed on the contacting object. The flexible belt is coupled to the contacting object and belts the user in order to fix the contacting object on the user.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0001]    1. Field of the invention 
         [0002]    The present invention relates to a bio-signal detecting device, and more particularly, to a bio-signal detecting device that detects many kinds of bio-signals. 
         [0003]    2. Prior art 
         [0004]    Conventional electrocardiogram detection is difficult. Wet electrodes within electrolyte are often used as the interface between skin and detecting machine during electrocardiogram detection. However, the electrodes must stick to the subject&#39;s skin and cause minor damage to the skin when tearing off after each usage. 
         [0005]    Nevertheless, the electrode stickers are disposable, which increases the cost and might cause allergy and infection on subject&#39;s skin during long-term detection. Those disadvantages bring about some impact on the popularity of the electrocardiogram detection. 
         [0006]    Besides, elderly care is more important when the number of elders is increased. Generally speaking, in order to determine whether a man is healthy, we often need to detect the subject&#39;s bio-signals such as body temperature. Although there are various kinds of home care detecting devices, those devices are often used when necessary, not to be used to monitor the elders&#39; physiological status at any time. Moreover, many elderly people live alone, even if they use those detecting devices to obtain various kinds of bio-signals, doctors and nurses at a remote end can not know the physiological status of elderly people immediately. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0007]    One object of the present invention is to provide a bio-signal detecting device to improve the defects of conventional use. 
         [0008]    According to the object of the present invention, the bio-signal detecting device is to be worn on the subject. The bio-signal detecting device includes an ECG signal detecting module, a contacting object and a flexible belt. The ECG signal detecting module is disposed on the contacting object, and the ECG signal detecting module has a plurality of dry electrode contact portion. The flexible belt couples to the contacting object and winds around the subject&#39;s body for the ECG signal detecting module to obtain an ECG signal from the dry electrode contact portion. 
         [0009]    In one embodiment of the present invention, the flexible belt can be wound around the contacting object by coiling to achieve coupling effect. Furthermore, the bio-signal detecting device provided in the present embodiment can also integrate with respiratory detecting module and body temperature detecting module to obtain more bio-signals. 
         [0010]    The advantage of the present invention is to provide a useful, convenient, stable, comfortable detecting device for continuous monitoring with alert function. It can be used to detect three important physiological parameters such as the ECG signals, respiration signals and the body temperature at the same time. Thus, it can be worn for long term and detect bio signals anytime as an early warning system. The present invention achieves the best and the most convenient way for recording the electrocardiogram, respiration and body temperature signals, and increases the variety of applications of bio-signals. 
         [0011]    The foregoing aspects and many of the attendant advantages of this invention will become more readily appreciated as the same becomes better understood by reference to the following detailed description, when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0012]      FIG. 1  illustrates the bio-signal detecting device of an exemplary according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention that is worn on a subject&#39;s body; 
           [0013]      FIG. 2  illustrates the functional block diagram of an exemplary of the bio-signal detecting device in a preferred embodiment of the present invention; 
           [0014]      FIG. 3A  illustrates a chart of an exemplary that shows the first model of the bio-signal detecting device in a preferred embodiment of the present invention; 
           [0015]      FIG. 3B  illustrates a top view of an exemplary of the bio-signal detecting device in a preferred embodiment of the present invention. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
       [0016]      FIG. 1  shows the bio-signal detecting device worn on a subject&#39;s body according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention. The bio-signal detecting device  2  provided in the preferred embodiment of the present invention is suitable for fixing on the body of subject  1  with a flexible belt  28 . The bio-signal detecting device  2  is belted between the chest and the abdomen of the subject  1  by the flexible belt  28  in the present embodiment. In the preferred embodiment, the material of the flexible belt  28  can be leather, cotton, or metal as long as the flexible belt  28  possesses flexibility. 
         [0017]      FIG. 2  is the functional block diagram of the bio-signal detecting device in a preferred embodiment of the present invention. In  FIG. 2 , the bio-signal detecting device  2  includes an ECG signal detecting module  21 , a respiratory signal detecting module  22 , a body temperature detecting module  23 , a signal processing circuit  24  and a wireless transmitting module  25 . The ECG signal detecting  21  includes a plurality of dry electrode contacting portion  211 ,  212 , and the respiratory signal detecting module  22  comprises a plurality of force detecting unit  221 ,  222 . 
         [0018]    The ECG signal detecting module  21  is to obtain the ECG signals, the respiratory signal detecting module  22  is to obtain the respiratory signals, and the body temperature detecting module  23  is to obtain the body temperature signals. 
         [0019]    The signal processing circuit  24  couples to the ECG signal detecting module  21 , the respiratory signal detecting module  22 , the body temperature detecting module  23 , and the wireless transmitting module  25  respectively. In the present embodiment, the signal processing circuit  24  comprises a filter circuit, an amplifier circuit, an Analog-to-Digital circuit, a digital signal processing circuit and a micro processor to process the bio-signals obtained from the ECG signal detecting module  21 , the respiratory signal detecting module  22 , and the body temperature detecting module  23 . The signal processing circuit  24  can transmit the processed bio-signals to a remote receiving device  4  in a distant location via the wireless transmitting module  25 . 
         [0020]    In the present embodiment, the remote receiving device  4  can be any tools that receive and analyze signals, such as a mobile phone, a PDA, a MP3, a watch, a blood pressure monitor, a blood sugar meter, a thermometer, an ear thermometer, even an activity detector or other specific instruments. These instruments can transmit the analyzed data to a monitoring device of a family doctor in a predetermined time or real-time after receiving and analyzing the received signals. In some embodiments, the remote receiving device  4  is the monitoring device of a family doctor. 
         [0021]      FIG. 3A  is a chart that shows the first model of the bio-signal detecting device in a preferred embodiment of the present invention.  FIG. 3B  shows the top view of the bio-signal detecting device in a preferred embodiment of the present invention. Detail description of the first preferred embodiment will conduct with  FIG. 1 ,  FIG. 2 ,  FIG. 3A  and  FIG. 3B . 
         [0022]    The bio-signal detecting device  2  comprises a contacting object  26  and a flexible belt  28 . The contacting object  26  further includes a body  261  and two supporters  262 ,  263 . The body  261  has a first surface  2611  and a second surface  2612 . In the present embodiment, two supporters  262 ,  263  are made of metal. The ECG signal detecting module  21 , the respiratory signal detecting module  22 , the body temperature detecting module  23 , the signal processing circuit  24  and the wireless transmitting module  25  described above are all disposed in the body  261 . 
         [0023]    In the present embodiment, the body temperature detecting module  23  is a thermistor that can be disposed on the first surface  2611  of the body  261 . In the present embodiment, a thin metal sheet  29  is attached to the first surface  2611  of the body  261 . The thin metal sheet  29  is flat and can be attached to a subject closely for a better contact. The temperature is balanced in the thin metal sheet  29 . The other side of the thin metal sheet  29  contacts the body temperature detecting module  23  and transfers the temperature of the subject  1  into voltage signal to obtain the temperature signal. And the temperature signal is transmitted to the signal processing circuit  24  for further processing. 
         [0024]    The wireless transmitting module  25  described above is disposed on the second surface  2612  of the body  261 . In other embodiments, the wireless transmitting module  25  can be disposed in the body  261  without any limitation. 
         [0025]    In the embodiment, two supporters  262 ,  263  described above are disposed on two sides of the body  261  and form a duel retaining rings. In the present embodiment, the dry electrode contacting portions  211 ,  212  described above couple the metal supporters  262 ,  263  to contact the skin of the subject  1  indirectly to obtain the ECG signal via metal supporters  262 ,  263 . In other embodiments, dry electrode contacting portions  211 ,  212  can also be disposed on the first surface  2611  of the body  261  for contacting the skin of the subject  1  directly to obtain ECG signal. 
         [0026]    The flexible belt  28  repstively winds around two supporters  262 ,  263  (duel retaining rings) to couple the contacting object  26 . Furthermore, the flexible belt  28  can also winds around the body of the subject  1  (ex. wind around the body of the user for one lap), so that the dry electrode contacting portions  211 ,  212  of the ECG signal detecting module  21  contact the skin of the subject  1  through metal supporters  262 ,  263  for obtaining ECG signals. In the present embodiment, the ECG signals include electrocardiogram signals. In other embodiments, the ECG signals also comprise the electrocardiogram signals and heart rate variability signals. 
         [0027]    In the present embodiment, the plurality of the dry electrode contacting portions  211 ,  212  of the ECG signal detecting module  21  are disposed on the upper left and lower right of the body  261  of the contacting object  26 . The force detecting units  221 ,  222  of the respiratory signal detecting module  22  are disposed on the upper right and the lower left of the body  261  of the contacting object  26 . It is not limited for the location of the ECG signal detecting module  21  and the respiratory signal detecting module  22  in the present invention. 
         [0028]    In the present embodiment, the plurality of the dry electrode contacting portions  211 ,  212  of the ECG signal detecting module  21  are disposed in different locations on the body  261  of the contacting object  26  respectively, to collect the electric signals from the metal supporters  262 ,  263  by contacting skin. Moreover, the dry electrode contacting portions  211 ,  212  are disposed on the left side and the right side of the body  261  so that the ECG signal from two sides of the body  261  are collected. Furthermore, the body temperature detecting module  23  is the reference for the ECG signal detecting module to generate the ECG signal. The body temperature detecting module  23  and the dry electrode contacting portions  211 ,  212  configure a three-point electrocardiogram input structure to collect better ECG signals. 
         [0029]    Referring to  FIG. 1 ,  FIG. 2  and  FIG. 3A , the flexible belt  28  winds around two metal supporters  262 ,  263  of the retaining ring in the present embodiment. After the flexible belt  28  winds around the body of the subject  1  for one lap, the flexible belt  28  produces a little tensile force to drive the force detecting unit  221 ,  222 , and thus generates the respiratory signal. 
         [0030]    Therefore, the change of chest expansion of the subject  1  while breathing will cause the change of tensile force of the flexible belt  28 . The change of tensile force will be detected by the force detecting unit  221 ,  222 , thus the continuous upper (chest) and lower (abdomen) respiratory signals are obtained. 
         [0031]    In conclusion, the bio-signal detecting device provided in the preferred embodiment in the present invention detects various bio-signals. The detecting device is configured alike the retaining ring of the belt, and the dimension is alike the retaining ring of a belt as well. The detecting device winds around the subject between the chest and the abdomen by the flexible belt to detect three important physiological parameters such as the ECG signal, respiratory signal and the body temperature. Thus, it can be worn for long term and detect bio signals anytime as an early waning system. The present invention achieves the best and the most convenient way for recording the electrocardiogram, respiratory and body temperature signals, and increases the variety of applications of bio-signals. 
         [0032]    While the preferred embodiment of the invention has been illustrated and described, it will be appreciated that various changes can be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.