WO2004069129A1

WO2004069129A1 - Medical treatment system for stimulating spots on the body suitable for acupuncture

Info

Publication number: WO2004069129A1
Application number: PCT/KR2003/001909
Authority: WO
Inventors: Min-Hwa Lee
Original assignee: Healthpia Co., Ltd.
Priority date: 2003-02-05
Filing date: 2003-09-18
Publication date: 2004-08-19
Also published as: KR20040070952A; KR100509887B1; AU2003263628A1

Abstract

A medical treatment system stimulates acupoints of a patient by interacting a mobile terminal with an acupoint stimulator, monitors a biological response result in response to the stimulation applied to the acupoints, and reports either the biological response result or the monitored result at a remote site.

Description

MEDICAL TREATMENT SYSTEM FOR STIMULATING SPOTS ON THE BODY SUITABLE FOR ACUPUNCTURE

Technical Field

The present invention relates to a medical treatment system for stimulating acupoints of a human being, and more particularly to a medical treatment system which stimulates acupoints of the human being by interacting a mobile terminal with an acupoint stimulator, monitors the result of a biological response in response to the stimulation applied to the acupoints, and reports either the biological response result or the monitored result at a remote site.

Background Art

Acupuncture is a representative example of a variety of oriental medical treatments, inserts a needle into a plurality of acupoints inside of the human body to facilitate the circulation of blood, and dissolves waste matter such as blood stasis contained in muscle in such a way that it can treat diseases or medical problems .

Particularly, there are about 700 acupoints on the human body. If a disease occurs in the human body, nervous tender points also occur at acupoints associated with a specific spot on the skin. The closer the nervous tender position moves to an edge of the human body, the higher the response of the disease. Oriental medical therapy searches for such acupoints, stimulates the acupoints using a needle, such that suppression and sedation effects occur in abnormal accentuations of five viscera and sex entrails, blood vessel, and autonomic nerve, etc., and internal adjustment effect of the human body also occurs in the abnormal accentuations, resulting in an increased natural healing effect, and prevention and elimination of disease.

Such acupuncture typically enables a doctor or a physician to insert a needle into acupoints of a patient, but it has a disadvantage in that bacteria or microbes unexpectedly invade the body of the patient via the needle, resulting in infection of the acupoints where the needle is inserted. To solve this problem, there has been newly proposed an acupoint stimulator for stimulating acupoints of a patient to acquire the above-identified effects of the acupuncture . A representative example of the acupoint stimulator is an electronic acupuncture device.

The electronic acupuncture device is generally adapted to treat acupoints of a patient, creates a microcurrent by a user's operation, and enables the mirocurrent to be induced on a needle inserted into a human body, such that the microcurrent is transferred to acupoints contained in the human body to cure bad acupoints . In order to effectively use the electronic acupuncture device, the electronic acupuncture device must correcly find an appropriate acupoint from among acupoints according the condition of a patient, and must stimulate the found acupoint .

However, the above-identified electronic acupuncture device creates such a microcurrent and applies the created microcurrent to a needle inserted into the acupoints, but it cannot provide a doctor or physician with correct position information of the acupoints. Although the doctor or physician receives position information of the acupoints from the electronic acupuncture device, the electronic acupuncture device cannot provide the doctor or physician with correct position information of the acupoints to be stimulated for patient's symptom treatment.

Therefore, there must be newly developed an improved electronic acupuncture device capable for in real-time providing a user (e.g., doctor or physician) with position information of all acupoints and specific position information of a specific acupoint to be stimulated.

In case of treating the acupoints using the electronic acupuncture device, provided that a therapy degree of this treatment is numerically expressed, the user may perform a self-curing operation in response to therapy degrees of the acupoints, and may provide information convertible to numerical data to a remote site, such that a telemedicine service is made available.

Disclosure of the Invention

Therefore, the present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a medical treatment system for stimulating acupoints of a user, which is able to stimulate the acupoints while being carried by the user, converts a biological response level into numerical data, and transmits the numerical data to either the user or a telemedicine server.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a medical treatment system for stimulating acupoints of a user, which enables a user to inquire about acupoint position information in response to symptoms using a mobile terminal, and stimulates a prescribed acupoint in response to the inquiry request of the user using a mobile stimulator accessible by the mobile terminal.

In accordance with the present invention, the above and other objects can be accomplished by the provision of an acupoint stimulation therapy apparatus including a mobile terminal and an acupoint stimulator, comprising: the acupoint stimulator including: a needle for stimulating acupoints; a biological current detector contained in the needle, for measuring a variation of a biological current of the acupoints; a signal processor for amplifying the measured biological current, and converting the amplified biological current into digital biological current data; and a main frame interface (l/F) unit for interfacing the digital biological current data to the mobile terminal, and the mobile terminal including: a stimulator interface (l/F) unit for communicating with the acupoint stimulator; an RF (Radio Frequency) unit for transmitting the biological current measurement over a wireless network; and a controller for transmitting acupoint position information over a user interface (l/F) unit, converting the received biological current measurement received from the acupoint stimulator into numerical data, and transmitting the numerical data via either the user interface (l/F) unit or the RF unit.

Preferably, the acupoint stimulation therapy apparatus may further comprise a telemedicine service server for wirelessly transmitting the acupoint position information to the mobile terminal.

Therefore, the acupoint stimulation therapy apparatus enables the mobile terminal to provide a user with acupoint position information, or enables the user to receive either the acupoint position information or position information of a specific acupoint suitable for a user's symptom from the telemedicine service server, such that the user can stimulate the acupoints using the acupoint stimulator connectable to the mobile terminal .

Brief Description of the Drawings

The above and other objects, features and other advantages of the present invention will be more clearly understood from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a medical treatment system for stimulating acupoints in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a detailed block diagram illustrating the medical treatment system shown in Fig. 1 in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention; and Fig. 3 is a detailed block diagram illustrating a medical treatment system for stimulating acupoints in accordance with another preferred embodiment of the present invention.

Best Mode for Carrying Out the Invention

Now, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the annexed drawings . In the drawings, the same or similar elements are denoted by the same reference numerals even though they are depicted in different drawings. In the following description, a detailed description of known functions and configurations incorporated herein will be omitted when it may make the subject matter of the present invention rather unclear.

Fig. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a medical treatment system for stimulating acupoints in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention. As shown in Fig. 1, the medical treatment system for stimulating acupoints includes an acupoint stimulator 70 for stimulating acupoints of a user using either one of a i variety of devices, for example, a physical or electrical device, and a laser light source, and a mobile terminal 10 for transferring a biological current detected by the acupoint stimulator 70 to a telemedicine service server 60 over a base station 20. A detailed block diagram of the acupoint stimulator 70 and the mobile terminal 10 are shown in Fig. 2. A medical treatment system for stimulating acupoints according to another preferred embodiment of the present invention includes an acupoint stimulator 70, a battery pack device for receiving a biological current from the acupoint stimulator 70, and a mobile terminal's main frame for transferring the biological current received from the battery pack device to the telemedicine service server 60 over the base station 20. A detailed block diagram of the acupoint stimulator 70, the battery pack device, and the mobile terminal is shown in Fig. 3. Referring back to Fig. 1, a reference numeral 50 indicates a doctor's terminal. The doctor gains access to the telemedicine service server 60 to receive a personal biological current and personal information having been stored in the telemedicine service server 60, diagnoses therapy degree information of individual patients or users, and diagnosis result data is stored in the server 60. For reference, if a mobile terminal user gains access to a telemedicine service server 60 over his or her computer, and enters personal information (e.g., name, weight, and age, etc.), the user can receive a telemedicine service according to the present invention.

The telemedicine service server 60 includes a database for storing personal information of individual members . The database stores personal information of individual members, biological current information of acupoints uploaded by the mobile terminal, and diagnosis result data entered by a doctor or physician.

In more detail, the telemedicine service server 60 receives personal information and biological current information of acupoints from mobile terminals of individual members, provides the doctor with the personal information and the biological current information, and transfers diagnosis result data received from the doctor to individual registration members .

WAP (Wireless Application Protocol) gateway 30 is a wireless access point of a wireless network carrier connecting a wired network with a wireless network, and connects the mobile terminal 10 communicating with the base station 20 with the telemedicine service server 60.

Operations and configuration of the medical treatment system for stimulating acupoints will hereinafter be described with reference to two components (i.e., the acupoint stimulator 70 and the mobile terminal's main frame 10) or three components (i.e., the acupoint stimulator 70, the battery pack device 80, and the mobile terminal's main frame 10) .

Fig. 2 is a detailed block diagram illustrating the medical treatment system shown in Fig. 1 in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to Fig. 2, the acupoint stimulator 70 and the main frame 10 are communicable with each other via a USB cable or an RS-232C cable. The acupoint stimulator 70 may serve as a stimulator for transferring physical pressure to acupoints of a human body, may serve as an electronic needle for transferring an internal microcurrent to the acupoints, or may be a laser needle for generating laser light and transferring the laser light to the acupoints .

The acupoint stimulator 70 basically includes a needle for stimulating the acupoints . If the acupoint stimulator 70 is an electronic needle, the acupoint stimulator 70 further includes a current generator 72 for generating a microcurrent and transferring the microcurrent to the needle. The current generator 72 is made of a piezoelectric element, and is typically an igniter available for a lighter. If the igniter is adapted as the current generator 72, external pressure, which is created by pressing a specific button provided on an external frame of the stimulator 70, is transmitted to the current generator 72, resulting in microcurrent creation. The current generator 72 may create a microcurrent in response to a current generation signal received via a main frame l/F (Interface) unit 78.

Provided that the acupoint stimulator 70 is a laser needle, the acupoint stimulator 70 must further include a laser source attached to a needle's edge so as to generate laser light, and a light source driver for controlling a driving operation of the laser source. In this case, a controller contained in the mobile terminal's main frame 10 controls the light source driver.

In the meantime, each acupoint stimulator 70 shown in Fig. 2 includes a biological current detector 74 to detect a variation of microcurrents varying with stimulation of acupoints. For reference, if a weak or low current is transferred to the human body, a current flowing in acupoints may be variable with health condition because individual cells contained in the human body have different electric potentials. In more detail, since a current of an injured cell is different from that of a normal cell, a user can recognize therapy degree information created by the stimulation of acupoints by measuring a difference between two currents of the injured cell and the normal cell.

The acupoint stimulator 70 includes a biological current detector 74 for measuring a biological current of acupoints, and a signal processor 76 for amplifying the measured biological current, and converting it into digital data. Preferably, the biological current detector 74 may be contained in a needle, and the signal processor 76 may be contained in a main frame of the acupoint stimulator 70. Furthermore, the acupoint stimulator 70 further includes a main frame I/F (Interface) unit 78 for interfacing the digital biological current data received from the signal processor 76 with the mobile terminal's main frame 10. The measured biological current data may be wirelessly transmitted to the mobile terminal's main frame by means of a near-field RF (Radio Frequency) transceiver such as a Bluetooth module. The mobile terminal's main frame 10 accessible to the acupoint stimulator 70 includes at least an electronic needle I/F unit 11 comunicating with the acupoint stimulator 70. The electronic needle I/F unit 11 may use either one of a variety of wireless transmission/reception schemes, for example, a USB scheme, an RS-232C scheme, and a Bluetooth scheme, etc. The mobile terminal's main frame 10 includes an RF unit 15 for transmitting the measured biological current over a wireless network, and a controller 13 for transmitting acupoint position information to a user l/F unit 19, and outputting the received biological current measurement received from the stimulator 70 over either the user I/F unit 19 or the RF unit 15. The controller 13 controls operations of the acupoint stimulator 70 on the basis of program data stored in a memory.

For reference, the RF unit 15 modulates the biological current received from the controller 13 , performs frequency conversion on the modulated biological current, and wirelessly transmits the frequency-converted biological current serving as an RF signal over an antenna. The RF unit 15 separates a signal (e.g., acupoint position information, etc.) other than voice data from the received RF signal, performs frequency conversion on the separated signal, demodulates the frequency-converted signal, and transmits the demodulated signal to the controller 13. A voice processor 17 digitally processes the voice data received over a microphone MIC upon receiving a control signal from the controller 13, transmits the digitally- processed signal to the RF unit 15, demodulates the received voice data received from the RF unit 15, and outputs the demodulated voice data via a speaker SPK. The user I/F unit 19 includes a display and a keypad, and displays acupoint position information or a biological current for user' s recognition. Generally, the mobile terminal's main frame 10 may further include a memory (not shown in drawings) for storing downloaded data. The memory stores data regarding a usage of the acupoint stimulator 70, and is controlled by the controller 13. In this case, this data is text data or voice data. Operations of the medical treatment system for stimulating acupoints will hereinafter be described with reference to Fig. 2.

A user of the mobile terminal connects the acupoint stimulator 70 with the main frame 10 of the mobile terminal via a USB cable. The user selects an acupoint stimulation therapy command using the user I/F unit 19. Provided that the acupoint stimulator 70 serving as an electronic needle generates a current upon receipt of a control signal from the main frame 10, the controller 13 of the main frame 10 responds to the acupoint stimulation therapy command, and outputs a current generation signal to the acupoint stimulator 70. This current generation signal is applied to the current generator 72 to create a microcurrent, and this microcurrent is applied to the needle. In this case, it should be noted that the needle must be brought into contact with a specific acupoint to be stimulated. Therefore, it is preferable for the user to receive position information of the acupoint to be stimulated, before selecting the acupoint stimulation therapy command. In more detail, if the user gains access to the telemedicine service server 60 using a typical wireless access method, the telemedicine service server 60 authenticates the user as a member, and queries the user for his or her symptoms . If the user answers the inquiry of the telemedicine service server 60, then the telemedicine service 60 provides the user with position information of acupoints to be differently stimulated in response to the user's symptoms in the form of a Web image or a single image file, such that the user can bring the needle into contact with a corresponding acupoint while visually checking the download file received from the telemedicine service server 60 in such a way that target acupoints can be properly stimulated.

In case of stimulating the acupoints using the electronic needle, a biological current detector 74 contained in the electronic needle measures and generates different biological currents according to therapy degree information of the acupoints . The measured biological current is a microcurrent ranging from lOμA to 50μA. The level of this microcurrent of 10~50μA is amplified by the signal processor 76, and the amplified microcurrent is converted into digital data, and the digitally-converted microcurrent is transmitted to the main frame 10 of the mobile terminal via the main frame I/F unit 78. In the meantime, upon receipt of a user's selection command, the controller 13 of the mobile terminal's main frame 10 may output the biological current received from the acupoint stimulator 70 serving as an electronic needle over the user l/F unit 19, or may temporarily store the biological current in the memory in order to transmit it to the telemedicine service server 60. If needed, if a present biological current is higher than a predetermined current, the controller may output a prescribed message or sound for indicating the motion of the electronic needle, resulting in greater convenience for the user. The above operation or function available for such user' s convenience may be basically an optional matter associated with information regarding how to design an application program executable in the mobile terminal's main frame. According to the above-identified preferred embodiments of the present invention, the user can receive correct position information of acupoints to be differently stimulated in response to his or her symptoms via the mobile terminal 10, and therefore can stimulate target acupoints by himself or herself, resulting in an increased healing effect of acupoint stimulation therapy. In addition, the user can measure a biological current at a specific acupoint, and can transmit the measured biological current to the telemedicine service server 60, such that the user can freely use the telemedicine service.

Although the medical treatment system for stimulating acupoints, which includes the acupoint stimulator 70 and the mobile terminal's main frame 10, has been disclosed as aforementioned, another medical treatment system for stimulating acupoints, which includes an acupoint stimulator 70, a battery pack device 80, and a mobile terminal's main frame 10, will hereinafter be described with reference to Fig. 3.

Fig. 3 is a detailed block diagram illustrating a medical treatment system for stimulating acupoints in accordance with another preferred embodiment of the present invention. In comparison with the aforementioned acupoint stimulator 70 of Fig. 2, the acupoint stimulator 70 of Fig. 3 uses a BP (Battery Pack) l/F unit 79 whereas the aforementioned acupoint stimulator 70 shown in Fig. 2 uses the main frame I/F unit 78, however, ' the remaining parts other than the BP I/F unit 79 are the same as those of Fig. 2. The BP I/F unit 79 interfaces transmission/reception data (e.g., a biological current at a specific acupoint) between the electronic needle 70 serving as an acupoint stimulator and the battery pack device 80.

Compared with Fig. 2, the mobile terminal's main frame 10 of Fig. 3 uses a BP l/F unit 14 instead of the electronic needle I/F unit 11, however, the remaining parts other than the BP I/F unit 14 are the same as those of Fig. 2. The BP I/F unit 14 interfaces transmission/reception data (e.g., a biological current at a specific acupoint) between the batter pack device 80 and the mobile terminal's main frame 10. A detailed description of the battery pack device 80 located between the electronic needle 70 and the mobile terminal's main frame 10 will hereinafter be described in detail. The battery pack device 80 includes a plurality of battery cells to provide the mainframe 10 with a power- supply voltage. An electronic needle l/F unit 82 interfaces data (e.g., a biological current) between the electronic needle 70 and the battery pack device 80. In this case, the electronic needle I/F unit 82 may also use either a USB port or a Bluetooth module . A battery pack controller 83 controls the creation of a microcurrent or a laser light source by executing an application program loaded in the mobile terminal's main frame 10 according to class information of the acupoint stimulator 70, for example, information indicative of an electronic needle or a laser needle. The battery pack controller 83 stores position information of acupoints, and outputs the stored position information over the user I/F unit 19 of the mobile terminal's main frame 10. The battery pack controller 83 controls the controller 13 of the mobile terminal's main frame 10 to output a biological current received from the acupoint stimulator 70 via either the RF unit 14 or the user I/F unit 19 of the mobile terminal's main frame. The controller 13 controls an entire system on the basis of an application program needed for acupoint stimulation therapy. For example, the controller 13 may transmit the received biological current via the RF unit 15, or may control the battery pack controller 83 to generate a current generation signal.

Operations of the above-identified medical treatment system for stimulating acupoints will hereinafter be described with reference to Fig. 3.

A user of the mobile terminal connects the acupoint stimulator 70 with the battery pack device 80 via a USB cable. It should be noted that the battery pack device 80 must be connected with the mobile terminal's main frame 10. The user selects an acupoint stimulation therapy command using the user l/F unit 19. Provided that the acupoint stimulator 70 serving as an electronic needle generates a current upon receipt of a control signal from the battery pack device 83, the controller 13 of the main frame 10 transmits the acupoint stimulation therapy command to the battery pack controller 83, and thereby the battery pack controller 83 outputs a current generation signal to the acupoint stimulator 70 in response to the acupoint stimulation therapy command. This current generation signal is applied to the current generator 72 to create a microcurrent, and thus microcurrent is applied to the needle. As previously described in Fig. 2, it is preferable for the user to receive acupoint position information in advance.

In the meantime, if the current generator 72 stimulates the acupoints using a microcurrent, the biological current detector 74 contained in the needle measures different biological currents in response to acupoint stimulation information. The level of the measured biological current is amplified by the signal processor 76, the amplified biological current is converted into digital data, and is transmitted to the battery pack device 80 via the BP l/F unit 79. Therefore, the battery pack controller 83 transmits a biological current received from the electronic needle l/F unit 82 to the mobile terminal's main frame 10 via the main frame l/F unit 85.

Upon receipt of a user's selection command, the controller 13 of the mobile terminal's main frame 10 may output the biological current received from the acupoint stimulator 70 and the battery pack device 80 via the user I/F unit 19, or may temporarily store the biological current in the memory in order to transmit it to the telemedicine service server 60. In other words, the medical treatment system for stimulating acupoints according to another preferred embodiment of the present invention enables a user to receive correct position information of the acupoints to be differently stimulated in response to user' s symptoms using the mobile terminal 10, such that the user can freely stimulate a target acupoint by himself or herself. Further, the medical treatment system measures biological current information of acupoints, and transmits the measured biological current information to a telemedicine service server, such that a telemedicine service is made available.

Industrial Applicability

As apparent from the above description, the present invention enables a user to receive position information of acupoints to be stimulated using his or her mobile terminal, converts the biological response result created by the stimulation of acupoints into numerical data, provides the user with the numerical data, resulting in an increased self-curing effect.

Furthermore, the present invention can transmits the biological response result data created by the stimulation of acupoints to a remote server such as a telemedicine service server, such that the user can easily recognize a change of his or her physical condition information at a remote site.

Although the present invention has been described in connection with specific preferred embodiments, those skilled in the art will appreciate that various modifications, additions, and substitutions to the specific elements are possible, without departing from the scope and spirit of the present invention as disclosed in the accompanying claims.

Claims

1. An acupoint stimulation therapy apparatus including a mobile terminal and an acupoint stimulator, comprising: said acupoint stimulator including: a needle for stimulating acupoints; a biological current detector contained in the needle, for measuring a variation of a biological current of the acupoints ; a signal processor for amplifying the measured biological current, and converting the amplified biological current into digital biological current data; and a main frame interface (I/F) unit for interfacing the digital biological current data to the mobile terminal, and said mobile terminal including: a stimulator interface (I/F) unit for communicating with the acupoint stimulator; an RF (Radio Frequency) unit for transmitting the biological current measurement over a wireless network; and a controller for transmitting acupoint position information over a user interface (I/F) unit, converting the received biological current measurement received from the acupoint stimulator into numerical data, and transmitting the numerical data via either the user interface (I/F) unit or the RF unit .

2. The apparatus as set forth in claim 1, wherein the acupoint stimulator serving as an electronic needle includes a current generator for creating a microcurrent, and transmitting the created microcurrent to the needle .

3. The apparatus as set forth in claim 1, wherein the acupoint stimulator includes : a laser light source serving as a laser needle, which is attached to an end of the needle, and creates laser light; and a light source driver for controlling operations of the laser light source.

4. The apparatus as set forth in one of claims 1 to 3, further comprising: a telemedicine service server for wirelessly transmitting the acupoint position information to the mobile terminal .

5. The apparatus as set forth in one of claims 1 to 3, further comprising: a memory for storing text or voice data regarding a usage of the acupoint stimulator, and controlling its own access operation upon receipt of a control signal from the controller.

6. An acupoint stimulation therapy apparatus including a battery pack connectable with a mobile terminal and an acupoint stimulator for communicating with the battery pack, comprising: said acupoint stimulator including: a needle for stimulating acupoints; a biological current detector contained in the needle, for measuring a variation of a biological current of the acupoints; a signal processor for amplifying the measured biological current, and converting the amplified biological current into digital biological current data; and a battery pack interface (I/F) unit for interfacing the digital biological current data to the battery pack, and said battery pack composed of a plurality of battery cells including: individual interface (I/F) units for receiving the biological current from the acupoint stimulator, and interfacing an internally-processed biological current to the mobile terminal; and a battery pack controller for converting the biological current received from the acupoint stimulator into numerical data, and commanding a controller of the mobile terminal to output the numerical data over the RF unit or the user interface (l/F) unit.

7. The apparatus as set forth in claim 6, wherein the acupoint stimulator serving as an electronic needle includes a current generator for creating a microcurrent, and transmitting the created microcurrent to the needle, wherein said current generator is controlled by the battery pack controller.

8. The apparatus as set forth in claim 6, further comprising: a telemedicine service server for receiving the biological current measurement from the mobile terminal, converting the received biological current measurement into another data format configured in the form of a database, and transmitting either one of acupoint position information, a user manual of the acupoint stimulator, and diagnosis result data according to user's request information.