U.S. patent application number 11/019744 was filed with the patent office on 2006-06-29 for system and method for controlling a tilt table.
Invention is credited to Walter Hong-Shong Chang, Shih-Wei Liu.
Application Number | 20060137577 11/019744 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 36609923 |
Filed Date | 2006-06-29 |
United States Patent
Application |
20060137577 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Chang; Walter Hong-Shong ;
et al. |
June 29, 2006 |
System and method for controlling a tilt table
Abstract
A system and method for controlling a tilt table employs a
physiological sensing module to sense the physiological status of a
person lying on the tilt table and to generate at least one
physiological signal. Also, the above-mentioned system and method
employs a tilt table control module to receive the physiological
signal mentioned above and the corresponding changed threshold of
the physiological signal to compare the physiological status of the
person and to generate an angle adjustment value. Whereby, the tilt
table control module can perform an adjustment process to adjust
the tilt table to a tilt angle according to the angle adjustment
value.
Inventors: |
Chang; Walter Hong-Shong;
(Jhong-Li City, TW) ; Liu; Shih-Wei; (Taichung
City, TW) |
Correspondence
Address: |
ROSENBERG, KLEIN & LEE
3458 ELLICOTT CENTER DRIVE-SUITE 101
ELLICOTT CITY
MD
21043
US
|
Family ID: |
36609923 |
Appl. No.: |
11/019744 |
Filed: |
December 23, 2004 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
108/7 |
Current CPC
Class: |
A61B 5/704 20130101;
A61B 5/369 20210101; A61B 5/145 20130101; A61B 5/318 20210101; A61B
5/00 20130101; A61B 5/021 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
108/007 |
International
Class: |
A47F 5/12 20060101
A47F005/12 |
Claims
1. A system for controlling a tilt table, said system comprising: a
physiological sensing module, measuring the physiological status of
a person lying on the tilt table and generating at least one
physiological signal; and a tilt table control module, receiving
said at least one physiological signal and at least one
corresponding changed threshold to compare the physiological status
of the person and generating an angle adjustment value; whereby
said tilt table control module being able to perform an adjustment
process to adjust the tilt table to a tilt angle according to said
angle adjustment value.
2. The system according to claim 1, wherein said physiological
sensing module at least includes one of the following and any
combinations thereof: a sensor for blood pressure, a sensor for
pulse, a sensor for cardiograph, a sensor for brain waves, a sensor
for brain blood, a sensor for oximeter, and a sensor for
spirometer.
3. The system according to claim 1, wherein said tilt table control
module comprise: an angle detection module, detecting the tilt
angle of the bedplate of the tilt table and generating a detected
angle value; a main controller, receiving said at least one
physiological signal and said at least one corresponding changed
threshold to compare the physiological status of the person and
generating said angle adjustment value, wherein said main
controller also receives said detected angel value to calculate
said detected angle value and said angle adjustment value and
generates a tilt angle value; and an angle adjustment module,
receiving said angle adjustment value and adjusting the tilt table
to a tilt angle according to said angle adjustment value.
4. The system according to claim 3, wherein said main controller
compares said detected angle value to said tilt angle value, and
said angle adjustment module adjusts the tilt angle of the bedplate
of the tilt table according to said angle adjustment value when
said detected angle value is not equal to said tilt angle
value.
5. The system according to claim 3, wherein said main controller
compares said detected angle value to said tilt angle value, and
said angle adjustment module does not work when said detected angle
value is equal to said tilt angle value.
6. The system according to claim 1, further comprising an
interruption control module, wherein said interruption control
module is able to interrupt said adjustment process performed by
said tilt table control module.
7. The system according to claim 6, wherein said interruption
control module further provides a manual adjustment function for
people to adjust the tilt angle of the bedplate of the tilt
table.
8. The system according to claim 1, wherein said at least one
corresponding changed threshold is sent to said tilt table control
module from one of the following: an input module, a memory, and a
database.
9. The system according to claim 1, further comprising an output
module, wherein said output module at least includes one of the
following and any combinations thereof: a displayer, a printer, a
speaker, and a database.
10. A system for controlling a tilt table, said system comprising:
a physiological sensing module, measuring the physiological status
of a person lying on the tilt table and generating at least one
physiological signal; an angle detection module, detecting the tilt
angle of the bedplate of the tilt table and generating a detected
angle value; a main controller, receiving said at least one
physiological signal and at least one corresponding changed
threshold to compare the physiological status of the person and
generating an angle adjustment value, wherein said main controller
also receives said detected angel value to calculate said detected
angle value and said angle adjustment value and generates a tilt
angle value; and an angle adjustment module, receiving said angle
adjustment value and adjusting the tilt table to a tilt angle
according to said angle adjustment value.
11. The system according to claim 10, wherein said main controller
compares said detected angle value to said tilt angle value, and
said angle adjustment module adjusts the tilt angle of the bedplate
of the tilt table according to said angle adjustment value when
said detected angle value is not equal to said tilt angle
value.
12. The system according to claim 10, wherein said main controller
compares said detected angle value and said tilt angle value, and
said angle adjustment module does not work when said detected angle
value is equal to said tilt angle value.
13. The system according to claim 10, wherein said physiological
sensing module at least includes one of the following and any
combinations thereof: a sensor for blood pressure, a sensor for
pulse, a sensor for cardiograph, a sensor for brain waves, a sensor
for brain blood, a sensor for oximeter, and a sensor for
spirometer.
14. The system according to claim 10, further comprising an
interruption control module, wherein said interruption control
module is able to interrupt the control performed by said main
controller to said angle adjustment module, and said interruption
control module further provides a manual adjustment function for
people to adjust the tilt angle of the bedplate of the tilt
table.
15. The system according to claim 10, wherein said at least one
corresponding changed threshold is sent to said main controller
from one of the following: an input module, a memory, and a
database.
16. The system according to claim 10, further comprising an output
module, wherein said output module at least includes one of the
following and any combinations thereof: a displayer, a printer, a
speaker, and a database.
17. A method for controlling a tilt table, said method comprising:
measuring the physiological status of a person lying on the tilt
table and generating at least one physiological signal; receiving
said at least one physiological signal and at least one
corresponding changed threshold to compare the status of the person
and generating an angle adjustment value; and performing an
adjustment process, wherein said adjustment process adjusts the
tilt table to a tilt angle according to said angle adjustment
value.
18. The method according to claim 17, wherein said adjustment
process further includes: detecting the tilt angle of the bedplate
of the tilt table and generating a detected angle value;
calculating said detected angle value and said angle adjustment
value and generating a tilt angle value; and adjusting the tilt
table to said tilt angle when said detected angle value is not
equal to said tilt angle value.
19. The method according to claim 8, when said detected angle value
is equal to said tilt angle value, stopping said adjustment
process.
20. The method according to claim 17, wherein said physiological
signal at least includes one of the following and any combinations
thereof: a signal for blood pressure, a signal for pulse rate, a
signal for electrocardiogram, a signal for brain waves, a signal
for brain blood, a signal for oximeter, and a signal for
spirometer.
21. A method for controlling a tilt table, said method comprising:
performing a physiological signal feedback control, said
physiological signal feedback control comprising: measuring the
physiological status of a person lying on the tilt table and
generating at least one physiological signal; receiving said at
least one physiological signal and at least one corresponding
changed threshold to compare the status of the person and
generating an angle adjustment value; and adjusting the tilt table
to a tilt angle according to said angle adjustment value; and
performing a tilt angle control, said tilt angle control
comprising: detecting the tilt angle of the bedplate of the tilt
table and generating a detected angle value; calculating said
detected angle value and said angle adjustment value and generating
a tilt angle value; and adjusting the tilt table to said tilt angle
when said detected angle value is not equal to said tilt angle
value.
22. The method according to claim 21, further comprising:
performing a physiological signal sampling control, said
physiological signal sampling control comprising: receiving said at
least one physiological signal and said at least one corresponding
changed threshold to compare the status of the person and
generating a physiological sampling rate and time adjustment value;
and adjusting the time and frequency for measuring the
physiological status of the person according to said physiological
sampling rate and time adjustment value.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0001] 1. Field of the Invention
[0002] This invention generally relates to a system and method for
controlling a tilt table, and more particularly, to a system and
method that employs the feedback physiological signal to control
the tilt table.
[0003] 2. Description of the Prior Art
[0004] Although a well-known tilt table can driver its own bedplate
to change the tilt angle through a power-driven device, the
well-known tilt table, however, only provides the manual functions
of tilt angle adjustment, rising/lowering rate control, and time
control. Moreover, the tilt angle of the bedplate of the tilt table
is controlled and adjusted in reference to the dizzying feeling
told by a tester in a testing process and the experience judgment
of an operator. Therefore, when one of the above-mentioned statuses
is abnormal or cannot match each other, such as the tester can not
explicitly express his dizzying feeling, or the operator adjusts
the tilt angle according to his subjective experience, etc., it is
easy to make the tester dizzy and bad psychological stress.
[0005] The above-mentioned tilt angle control uses open-loop design
architecture, and the operation parameters, such as tilt angle, and
adjustment speed, etc., and the operation method in a general
testing process are regularized, such as the tilt angle is
gradually increased after a tester lies horizontally and is not
stopped and lowered until the tester is dizzy or even in a state of
shock. Hence, when the tilt angle and the adjustment speed are
unsuitable, it is easy to make the tester dizzy or even in a state
of shock and make the tester second hurt since the tester could be
a rehabilitation patient. Further, the experience of dizzying and
in a state of shock to the tester can make them heavy psychological
stress and negative result in his long term treatment.
[0006] According to the research and documents, the physiological
statuses of a tester in a tilt table testing process and his dizzy
feeling have a close relationship. Presently, the clinical signals,
such as the signals for blood pressure, pulse, electrocardiogram,
and brain blood, etc., are commonly used as physiological indexes
for evaluating the state of dizzying, such as postural hypotension.
Therefore, in order to solve the problem resulted from the
well-known tilt table that uses open-loop architecture to control
the tilt angle, to eliminate the status that an operator adjusts
the tilt angle according to his subjective experience, and to help
the tester to explicitly express his dizzy feeling during his
testing process, a tilt table including a device and functions for
feeding back physiological signals and automatically adjusting the
tilt angle not only can improve the safety of the testing process
but also can provide objective evaluation tools for the testing
results and the progress indexes.
[0007] In view of the drawbacks mentioned with the tilt table in
the prior art, there is a continued need to develop a new and
improved tilt table that overcomes the disadvantages associated
with the tilt table in the prior art. The advantages of this
invention are that it solves the problems mentioned above.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0008] In accordance with the present invention, a system and
method for controlling a tilt table substantially obviates one or
more of the problems resulted from the limitations and
disadvantages of the prior art mentioned in the background.
[0009] The present invention provides a physiological sensing
module to measure and to feed back the physiological signals of a
tester in real time for being used as a basis to adjust the tilt
angle of the tilt table, and to control the measuring time and
frequency according to the physiological status of the tester, so
as to achieve a safe treatment.
[0010] The present invention provides a tilt table control module
to process measured physiological signals and to perform an
adjustment process for the tilt table, so as to adjust the tilt
table to a tilt angle.
[0011] The present invention integrates the physiological sensing,
the tilt table control, and the related input/output modules to
provide a multi-functional system for controlling the tilt
table.
[0012] The present invention provides a method for controlling a
tilt table to control the tilt angle of the bedplate of the tilt
table through feeding back the physiological signals of the
tester.
[0013] In accordance with the present invention, a system for
controlling a tilt table is disclosed. The system includes a
physiological sensing module sensing the physiological status of a
person lying on the tilt table and generating at least one
physiological signal, and a tilt table control module receiving the
at least one physiological signal and at least one corresponding
changed threshold to compare the physiological status of the person
and generating an angle adjustment value. Whereby, the tilt table
control module can perform an adjustment process to adjust the tilt
table to a tilt angle according to the angle adjustment value.
[0014] The present invention further discloses a method for
controlling a tilt table. The method includes measuring the
physiological status of a person lying on the tilt table and
generating at least one physiological signal, receiving the at
least one physiological signal and at least one corresponding
changed threshold to compare the status of the person and
generating an angle adjustment value, and performing an adjustment
process, wherein the adjustment process adjusts the tilt table to a
tilt angle according to the angle adjustment value.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0015] 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, wherein:
[0016] FIG. 1A illustrates a schematic system block diagram for a
preferred embodiment in accordance with the present invention;
[0017] FIG. 1B illustrates one preferred embodiment block diagram
of FIG. 1;
[0018] FIG. 2A illustrates a preferred embodiment flow chart in
accordance with the present invention;
[0019] FIG. 2B illustrates a flow chart for a preferred adjustment
process embodiment in accordance with the present invention;
and
[0020] FIG. 2C illustrates a flow chart for a preferred
physiological signal feedback control embodiment in accordance with
the present invention.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
[0021] Some embodiments of the invention will now be described in
greater detail. However, it should be noted that the present
invention can be practiced in a wide range of other embodiments
besides those explicitly described, and the scope of the present
invention is expressly not limited except as specified in the
accompanying claims. Moreover, some irrelevant details are not
drawn in order to make the illustrations concise and to provide a
clear description for easily understanding the present
invention.
[0022] Referring to FIG. 1, a schematic system block diagram for a
preferred embodiment in accordance with the present invention is
illustrated. A physiological sensing module 120 measures the
physiological status of a tester lying on a tilt table 110 and
generates at least one physiological signal. The physiological
sensing module 120 at least includes one of the following and any
combinations thereof: a sensor for blood pressure, a sensor for
pulse, a sensor for cardiograph, a sensor for brain waves, a sensor
for brain blood, a sensor for oximeter, and a sensor for
spirometer. A tilt table control module 130 receives the
above-mentioned at least one physiological signal and at least one
corresponding changed threshold to compare the physiological status
of the tester and generates an angle adjustment value, so that the
tilt table control module 130 can executes an adjustment process to
adjust the bedplate of the tilt table 110 to a tilt angle according
to the angle adjustment value. Generally speaking, the
corresponding changed threshold corresponds to the physiological
signal. For example, when the physiological signal is the signal of
blood pressure, the corresponding changed threshold could be a
changed value in 20 mmHg of systolic pressure, but should not be
limited to. Moreover, when the change of the physiological signal
is over the corresponding changed threshold, the tilt table control
module 130 generates an angle adjustment value to adjust the tilt
angle of the bedplate of the tilt table 110.
[0023] In the present embodiment, the physiological sensing module
120 should not be limited to generate only one physiological
signal, but can simultaneously measure and generate various
physiological signals according to the physiological status of the
tester. As for the above-mentioned corresponding changed threshold,
it could be set and inputted from an input module 140, such as
keyboard, mouse, digitizer, and touch panel, etc., to the tilt
table control module 130, could be retrieved from a database 170
that records the corresponding changed thresholds for the testers,
or could be transmitted form a memory 180, such as nonvolatile
memory, that sets and stores the corresponding changed thresholds
in advance.
[0024] An output module 150, such as displayer, printer, and
speaker, etc., is utilized to receive the output data of the tilt
table control module 130 and to display the messages including the
safe ranges for the corresponding changed threshold, the quantified
values for the physiological status of the tester in a testing
process, the tilt angles of the bedplate of the tilt table, and so
forth. Moreover, when the change of the physiological signal is
over the corresponding changed threshold, the output module 150 can
further generate a warning action via the control of the tilt table
control module 130, such as displaying a warning message on the
displayer, buzzing the speaker, and so forth. Besides, the database
170 can also receive the output data of the tilt table control
module 130 and stores it in electronic format, such as the safe
ranges for the corresponding changed threshold, the quantified
values for the physiological status of the tester in a testing
process, the tilt angles of the bedplate of the tilt table, and so
forth. Whereby, the testing records and history of a tester can be
completely stored to provide the related people to study, such as
providing to the medical stuffs to use as the reference for further
treatment. An interruption module 160 is employed to stop that the
tilt table control module 130 adjusts the tilt angle of the
bedplate of the tilt table 110. The interruption module 160 further
provides a manual adjustment function for people to adjust the tilt
angle of the bedplate of the tilt table 110.
[0025] Referring to FIG. 1B, one preferred embodiment block diagram
of FIG. 1 is illustrated. The difference between FIG. 1B and FIG.
1A is that FIG. 1B further illustrates one preferred embodiment for
the tilt table control module 130 shown in FIG. 1A. Wherein, the
tilt table control module 130 includes a main controller 132, an
angle adjustment module 134, and an angle detection module 136. The
angle detection module 136 detects the angle of the bedplate of the
tilt table 110 and generates a detected angle value. The main
controller 132 not only receives the above-mentioned at least one
physiological signal and at least one corresponding changed
threshold to compare the physiological status of the tester to
generate the above-mentioned angle adjustment value, but also
receives the detected angle value detected and generated by the
angle detection module 136 to calculate the detected angle value
and the angle adjustment value to generate a tilt angle value. For
example, when the detected angle value shows 45, that means the
angle of the bedplate of the tilt table 110 is 45 degrees but
should not be limited to, and the angle adjustment value shows -15,
the tilt angle value should be 30 after the calculation, that means
the angle of the bedplate of the tilt table 110 should be lowered
from 45 to 30 degrees. The angle adjustment module 134 receives
control signals generated by the main controller 132 according to
the angle adjustment value to adjust the angle of the bedplate of
the tilt table 110.
[0026] During executing the process for adjusting the tilt angle of
the bedplate of the tilt table 110, the angle adjustment module 136
keeps detecting the tilt angle of the bedplate of the tilt table
110 to provide to the main controller 132 to compare to the tilt
angle corresponding to the above-mentioned tilt angle value. When
both of them are equal to each other, that means, the angle of the
bedplate of the tilt table 110 has been adjusted to the tilt angle
corresponding to the tilt angle value, the process is therefore
finished. This process is so-called adjustment process mentioned
above. Besides, the adjustment process could also be performed
through the main controller 132 directly transforming the
above-mentioned angle adjustment vale into the control signals of
the angle adjustment module 134. For example, when one control
signal generated by the main controller 132 can make the angle
adjustment module 134 change the tilt angle of the bedplate of the
tilt table 100 in 0.5 degree, but should not be limited to, and
when the angle adjustment value is 15, the main controller 132 only
needs to transform the angle adjustment value into 30 control
signals of the angle adjustment module to adjust the angle of the
bedplate of the tilt table 100, and the adjustment process is then
finished. In the present embodiment, the main controller 132 could
be a personal computer, or a micro control system with a single
chip, and the angle adjustment module 134 could be a stepping
motor.
[0027] As for the interruption module 160, it can generate an
interruption signal to the main controller 132. The main controller
132 stops transmitting control signals to the angle adjustment
module 134 as soon as receiving the interruption signal. Whereby,
the interruption module 160 can stop the adjustment process being
proceeding. Also, the interruption module 160 can further protect
the angle adjustment module 134 through the main controller 132
interrupting the control signal, and provides a manual adjustment
function for people to adjust the tilt angle of the bedplate of the
tilt table 110.
[0028] Referring to FIG. 2A, a preferred embodiment flow chart in
accordance with the present invention is illustrated. In step 211,
a physiological sensing module measures the physiological status of
a tester lying on a tilt table and generates at least one
physiological signal, wherein the physiological signal could be a
signal for blood pressure, a signal for pulse rate, a signal for
electrocardiogram, a signal for brain waves, a signal for brain
blood, a signal for oximeter, a signal for spirometer, and so
forth. In step 213, a tilt table control module receives the
above-mentioned at least one physiological signal and at least one
corresponding changed threshold (as shown in step 212) to compare
the physiological status of the tester, that is, to compare the
physiological signal to the corresponding changed threshold, and
generates an angle adjustment value. Wherein, the at least one
corresponding changed threshold could be transmitted form an input
module, a memory, or a database to the tilt table control module.
In step 214, the tilt table executes an adjustment process to
adjust the bedplate of the tilt table to a tilt angle according to
the angle adjustment value. In step 215, the tilt table control
module judges the physiological status of the tester if in the
corresponding changed threshold, that is, the physiological signal
whether smaller than the corresponding changed threshold. When the
answer is negative, the steps 213, 214, and 215 keep performing; in
contrast, when the answer is positive, the adjustment process is
finished, as shown in step 216.
[0029] Referring to FIG. 2B, a flow chart for a preferred
adjustment process embodiment in accordance with the present
invention is illustrated. In step 221, an angle adjustment module
detects the angle of the bedplate of the tilt table and generates a
detected angle value. In step 222, a main controller calculates the
detected angle value and the above-mentioned angle adjustment value
and generates a tilt angle value. In step 223, the main controller
compares the detected angle value to the tilt angle value. When the
detected angle value is not equal to the tilt angle value, the
angle adjustment module adjusts the bedplate of the tilt table to
the tilt angle, as shown in step 224, and the steps 223 and 224
keep performing; in contrast, when the detected angle value is
equal to the tilt angle value, the angle adjustment module stops
the adjust process, as shown in step 225.
[0030] Referring to FIG. 2C, a flow chart for a preferred
physiological signal feedback control embodiment in accordance with
the present invention is illustrated. In step 231, a physiological
sensing module measures the physiological status of a tester lying
on a tilt table and generates at least one physiological signal. In
step 233, a tilt table control module receives the above-mentioned
at least one physiological signal and at least one corresponding
changed threshold (as shown in step 232) to compare the
physiological status of the tester, that is, to compare the
physiological signal of the tester to the corresponding changed
threshold, and generates a physiological sampling rate and time
adjustment value. Wherein the physiological sampling rate and time
adjustment value is utilized to control the measuring time and
frequency of the physiological sensing module. In step 234, the
physiological sensing module adjusts its measuring time and
frequency according to the physiological sampling rate and time
adjustment value. Then, the steps 231, 233, and 234 keep performing
in the feedback control.
[0031] From another aspect, the present invention provides closed
loop control architecture to improve the well-known tilt table that
employs open-loop control architecture. Referring to FIG. 1B and
FIG. 2A again, a closed loop for physiological signal feedback
control in accordance with the present invention includes the
following: the physiological sensing module 120 performing the step
211; the main controller 132 performing the step 213; and the main
controller 132, the angle adjustment module 134, and the tilt table
110 performing the step 214. Wherein, the above-mention modules and
steps that have been described above are respectively included in
closed loop control architecture and a closed loop control method.
By doing so, employing the physiological signal measured form the
tester controls the tilt angle of the bedplate of the tilt
table.
[0032] Referring to FIG. 1B and FIG. 2B again, a closed loop for
tilt angle control in accordance with the present invention
includes the following: the angle detection module 136 performing
the step 221; the main controller 132 performing the steps 222 and
223; and the main controller 132, the angle adjustment module 134,
and the tilt table 110 performing the step 224. Wherein, the
above-mention modules and steps that have been described above are
also respectively included in closed loop control architecture and
a closed loop control method. By doing so, the tilt table is able
to automatically perform the adjustment process to adjust the tilt
angle of the bedplate thereof.
[0033] Referring to FIG. 1B and FIG. 2C again, a closed loop for
physiological signal sampling control in accordance with the
present invention includes the following: the physiological sensing
module 120 performing the step 231; and the main controller 132
performing the step 233 and controlling the physiological sensing
module 120 to perform the step 234 according to the result of the
step 233. For example, when the change of the physiological signal
measured by the physiological sensing module 120 through the main
controller 132 comparing to the corresponding changed threshold
goes beyond, the main controller 132 increases the measuring time
or frequency of the physiological sensing module 120, such as
measuring the tester form every five minutes to every three
minutes, but should not be limited to. By doing so, automatically
adjusting the sampling rate (or measuring frequency) of the
physiological sensing module 120 provides a more accurate measuring
record and control.
[0034] Although specific embodiments have been illustrated and
described, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that
various modifications may be made without departing from what is
intended to be limited solely by the appended claims.
* * * * *