CN221997850U - Urine volume monitoring device and system - Google Patents

Abstract

The present utility model relates to urine volume monitoring devices and systems. The urine volume monitoring device comprises a shell, an infrared ranging sensor and a controller. The housing is for mounting to the inside of a cover plate of a urine collector, the urine collector including a receiving portion and a cover plate for mounting over the receiving portion. The infrared ranging sensor is arranged in the shell and is used for emitting infrared rays to and receiving infrared rays from the urine liquid level in the accommodating part of the urine collector when the cover plate of the urine collector is in a closed state, so that the height of the infrared ranging sensor from the urine liquid level is measured. The controller is configured for communicative coupling with the infrared ranging sensor and for: the change in urine volume within the receptacle of the urine collector is determined based on the first height at the first time and the second height at the second time and pre-stored cross-sectional area information at different heights within the receptacle of the urine collector. The urine volume monitoring device can improve the use convenience of users.

Description

Urine volume monitoring device and system

Technical Field

The utility model relates to the technical field of medical equipment, in particular to a portable urine volume monitoring device and system.

Background

Urine volume is an important index reflecting the dynamic balance of human body fluids and heart and kidney functions. Clinically, in order to accurately determine patient condition changes and to formulate treatment regimens accordingly, patients are often required to monitor and record urine volume in real time. The current urine volume monitoring mode used clinically generally comprises the steps of collecting urine by using a simple toilet or a urinal, pouring the urine into a measuring cup (cylinder) or a syringe for measurement, or retaining urinary catheterization for measurement by using a precise urine bag for collection, or weighing and measuring the urine, and the like. However, these monitoring methods require manual operation by the patient or healthcare worker, which not only increases the burden on the patient or healthcare worker, but also increases the risk of urine contact contamination. Most patients needing to record the urine volume do not have a indwelling catheter, and life can be self-care, but the patients are not used or often forget to collect the urine in a urinal, a flat toilet or other simple urine collection vessels, so that in order to cope with the urine volume monitoring requirements of medical staff, a number report is estimated at will by a plurality of patients, and the clinical urine volume recording error is large, so that great trouble is caused to diagnosis and treatment of clinicians. Particularly female patients, the problems in urine volume monitoring are more serious because of their physiological construction factors, which are inconvenient when they use the conventional urinal or urine collecting vessel.

In addition, systems for automatically monitoring urine volume have also been proposed. For example, in the patent application CN115715681a, a urine monitoring system and a urine monitoring method are proposed. The urine monitoring system comprises a urine collecting box, a urine inlet pipe, a floating plate and a laser range finder. The urine inlet tube communicates with the urine collection tank so that urine enters the urine collection tank via the urine inlet tube. The floating plate is arranged in the urine collecting box and moves upwards under the buoyancy of the urine as the urine enters the urine collecting box. The laser range finder is arranged at the top end of the urine collecting box and is positioned right above the floating plate so as to indirectly measure the liquid level height of urine in the urine collecting box by measuring the height of the top end of the urine collecting box from the floating plate. Based on the urine level height measured by the laser range finder at intervals, the urine volume produced by the patient during the period of time can be calculated.

However, the overall structure of the urine monitoring system is complex, and the laser rangefinder needs to be matched with a urine collecting box with a specific structure (namely, the urine collecting box is modified to be provided with a chute and a floating plate matched with the chute), so that the urine amount can be monitored. For patients with home measurement requirements (for example, heart failure patients requiring home self-management after discharge), a whole set of the urine monitoring system (including the urine collecting tank with the specific structure) needs to be purchased specifically to meet the urine measurement requirements, which increases the cost burden of the patient on one hand and also requires the patient to provide a special space in the home to place the urine monitoring system on the other hand, thereby improving the application difficulty of the urine monitoring system. In addition, the position of the floating plate in the urine collecting box in the system is limited and guided through the sliding block on the floating plate and the sliding groove in the urine collecting box, and the situation that the floating plate is clamped possibly occurs, so that the measured urine liquid level is inaccurate, and the accuracy of calculating the urine volume is reduced.

Disclosure of utility model

The technical scheme provided by the utility model aims to provide a simple and convenient automatic urine volume monitoring mode applicable to different places.

In one aspect of the present utility model, there is provided a urine volume monitoring device comprising: a housing for mounting to an inside of a cover plate of a urine collector, wherein the urine collector includes a receiving portion and the cover plate is for mounting over the receiving portion; an infrared ranging sensor disposed within the housing and configured to emit and receive infrared rays to and from a urine level within a receiving portion of the urine collector in a closed state of a cover plate of the urine collector so as to measure a height of the infrared ranging sensor from the urine level; and a controller configured for communicative coupling with the infrared ranging sensor, and for: a change in urine volume within the receptacle of the urine collector is determined based on a first height at a first time and a second height at a second time, the first height being known or measured by the infrared ranging sensor, and pre-stored cross-sectional area information at different heights within the receptacle of the urine collector.

In at least one embodiment of one aspect of the utility model, the housing has: a front surface having an aperture therein; and a rear surface having a mounting portion for mounting the housing to an inside of a cover plate of the urine collector; the infrared ranging sensor emits and receives infrared rays outwardly through a hole on the front surface of the housing so as to measure the height of the infrared ranging sensor from the urine level.

In at least one embodiment of one aspect of the present utility model, the urine volume monitoring device includes a plurality of the infrared ranging sensors, the front surface of the housing having a plurality of apertures, each of the plurality of infrared ranging sensors emitting and receiving infrared light outwardly through a respective one of the plurality of apertures on the front surface of the housing so as to measure a height of the infrared ranging sensor from the urine level.

In at least one embodiment of one aspect of the utility model, the plurality of apertures of the front surface of the housing are distributed within a central region of the inside of the cover of the urine collector when the housing is mounted to the inside of the cover of the urine collector.

In at least one embodiment of one aspect of the utility model, the mounting portion of the rear surface of the housing includes adhesive tape for adhering the housing to the inside of the cover plate of the urine collector.

In at least one embodiment of one aspect of the utility model, the urine volume monitoring device further comprises a display configured for communicative coupling with the controller and for receiving the determined urine volume change from the controller and displaying the urine volume change, and a power source for powering at least one of the infrared ranging sensor, the controller, and a display disposed within the housing, the power source and the controller disposed on a front surface of the housing.

In at least one embodiment of one aspect of the utility model, the urine volume monitoring device includes an input device located on the housing and operated by a user to send height measurement instructions to the controller.

In another aspect of the present utility model, there is provided a urine volume monitoring system comprising: one or more urine collectors, each urine collector comprising: a housing part; and a cover plate for mounting over the accommodation portion; and one or more urine volume monitoring devices as described in any preceding paragraph, the housing of each urine volume monitoring device being for mounting to the inside of a cover plate of a corresponding urine collector.

In at least one embodiment of another aspect of the utility model, the urine collector is a toilet.

In at least one embodiment of another aspect of the utility model, the urine collector includes a sensor located in an edge region of the cover plate and adapted to monitor whether the cover plate of the urine collector is in a closed state.

Compared with the prior art, the technical proposal provided by the utility model has at least one or more of the following advantages:

(1) According to the utility model, the infrared distance measuring sensor is arranged to directly measure the height of the urine from the urine level, the automatic calculation of the urine volume is realized by utilizing the change of the height, and the visualization of the calculated urine volume is realized by utilizing the display;

(2) The urine volume monitoring device is small and portable, has a wide application range, can be suitable for being mounted on various urine collectors, such as a urinal with a cover plate, a closestool and the like, and considers the shape and the size of the accommodating part of the urine collector when determining the urine volume change, so that the urine volume monitoring device can be conveniently carried by a user and used in different places while ensuring the monitoring accuracy, and greatly improves the use convenience of the urine volume monitoring device;

(3) The urine volume monitoring system comprising the central control console can be suitable for being used in a hospital scene, is convenient for medical staff to manage a plurality of urine collectors (such as a plurality of toilets in a disease area) and determine the urine volume changes in the urine collectors, and realizes automatic recording of the urine volume changes of a plurality of patients through the mobile terminal, so that the burden of the medical staff and the patients is reduced;

(4) The urine volume monitoring system comprising the mobile terminal can meet the requirement of measuring urine volume at home of a patient (for example, a heart failure patient requiring home self-management after discharge), and is convenient for the heart failure patient to perform effective self-management after discharge; and

(5) In the present utility model, when the housing is mounted to the inside of the cover plate of the urine collector, the hole on the front surface of the housing, which allows the infrared ranging sensor to emit and receive infrared rays outwardly, is located in the central region of the cover plate, which can reduce the probability that infrared rays are emitted to the inner wall of the receiving part of the urine collector and reflected back, so that the accuracy of the infrared ranging sensor in measuring the height thereof from the urine level in the receiving part can be improved.

Drawings

To further clarify the above and other advantages and features of embodiments of the present utility model, a more particular description of embodiments of the utility model will be rendered by reference to the appended drawings. It is appreciated that these drawings depict only typical embodiments of the utility model and are therefore not to be considered limiting of its scope.

Fig. 1 shows a schematic structure of a urine volume monitoring device as seen from the front end direction according to an embodiment of the present utility model.

Fig. 2 shows a schematic structural view of a urine volume monitoring device as seen from the rear end direction according to an embodiment of the present utility model.

Fig. 3 is a schematic view showing an internal structure of a housing of the urine volume monitoring device according to an embodiment of the present utility model.

Fig. 4 shows a schematic structure of a urine volume monitoring system according to an embodiment of the present utility model.

Fig. 5 shows a flow chart of a urine volume monitoring method according to an embodiment of the utility model.

Detailed Description

The present utility model will be further described in conjunction with the following specific embodiments and the accompanying drawings, in which further details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the present utility model, but it will be apparent that the present utility model can be practiced in many other ways than those described herein, and that those skilled in the art may make a similar promotion or deduction depending upon practical circumstances without departing from the spirit of the present utility model, and therefore, the scope of the present utility model should not be limited in its context to such specific embodiments.

The application uses specific words to describe embodiments of the application. Reference to "one embodiment," "other embodiments," and/or "some embodiments" means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic is associated with at least one embodiment of the application. Thus, it should be emphasized and should be appreciated that two or more references to "one embodiment" or "other embodiments" or "some embodiments" in various positions in this specification are not necessarily referring to the same embodiment. Furthermore, certain features, structures, or characteristics of one or more embodiments of the application may be combined as suitable.

It should be noted that in order to simplify the presentation of the present disclosure and thereby aid in understanding one or more embodiments, the present disclosure may sometimes incorporate features from the description of embodiments of the present application into one embodiment, the drawings, or the description thereof. This method of disclosure does not imply that the subject application requires more features than are set forth in the claims.

Fig. 1 shows a schematic structure of a urine volume monitoring device 10 according to an embodiment of the present utility model, as seen from the front end direction. Fig. 2 shows a schematic structural view of the urine volume monitoring device 10 seen from the rear end direction according to an embodiment of the present utility model. As shown in fig. 1 and 2, the urine volume monitoring device 10 may have a housing 1, and the housing 1 may have a front surface 11 and a rear surface 13.

Referring to fig. 1, the front surface 11 may have a plurality of holes 111. In the embodiment shown in fig. 1, 6 holes 111 are shown. In other embodiments, other numbers of apertures 111 may be provided on the front surface 11, for example, only 1, or more than 1. The aperture 111 may be used to allow infrared light to enter or exit the housing 1 therethrough. Fig. 3 shows a schematic view of the internal structure of the housing 1 of the urine volume monitoring device 10 according to an embodiment of the present utility model. As shown in fig. 3, a plurality of infrared ranging sensors 12 may be provided in the housing 1 (in fig. 3, 6 infrared ranging sensors 12 are shown). The number of infrared ranging sensors 12 may be set equal to the number of holes 111 on the front surface 11 of the housing 1. Each infrared ranging sensor 12 may correspond to one hole 111 of the plurality of holes 111 on the front surface 11 of the housing 1, respectively, so as to transmit and receive infrared rays outwardly therethrough. The infrared ranging sensor 12 may be used to measure the height H of the infrared ranging sensor 12 from the level of liquid (e.g., urine level) in the direction of travel of the infrared light it emits. In some embodiments, the height H may be measured based on a time difference ranging method, in particular, the height H may be calculated by a light propagation distance formula h=c×t, where H is the height, c is the propagation speed of light in air, and t is the time difference between the time when the infrared ranging sensor emits infrared light and the time when the infrared light is received. In other embodiments, the height H may be measured based on other infrared ranging methods known to those skilled in the art.

Referring to fig. 3, a circuit board 14 is further provided in the housing 1, and the circuit board 14 may have a controller 141. The controller 141 may be configured to communicatively couple with each of the plurality of infrared ranging sensors 12 to control the infrared ranging sensors 12 to perform height measurement operations and to receive measured heights from the infrared ranging sensors 12. The controller 141 may be configured to determine a liquid amount change (e.g., a urine amount change) based on the first height H1 at the first time and the second height H2 at the second time and pre-stored cross-sectional area information at different heights inside the receiving portion of the liquid collector (e.g., the urine collector 20 described below in connection with fig. 4). In some embodiments, the first height H1 may be known and the second height H2 may be measured by the infrared ranging sensor 12 at the second time. In other embodiments, the first height H1 and the second height H2 may be measured by the infrared ranging sensor 12 at a first time and a second time, respectively.

In some embodiments, the urine volume monitoring device 10 may also include an input device, such as a button (not shown). In one embodiment, the input device may be located on the housing 1. In other embodiments, the input device may be a separate component located outside the housing 1. The input device is operable by a user and is communicatively coupled to the controller 141. When the user operates the input device, the input device may send a height measurement instruction to the controller 141. In one embodiment, the controller 141 may be configured to: receiving a height measurement instruction; in response to receiving the altitude measurement instruction, the infrared ranging sensor 12 is controlled to measure a second altitude H2 at a second time. In another embodiment, the controller 141 may be configured to: receiving a first height measurement instruction; in response to receiving the first height measurement instruction, controlling the infrared ranging sensor 12 to measure the first height H1 at the first time; receiving a second height measurement instruction; determining a time interval between receiving the first altitude measurement instruction and receiving the second altitude measurement instruction; determining whether the time interval is greater than a predetermined value; controlling the infrared ranging sensor 12 to measure a second height H2 at a second time in response to determining that the time interval is greater than the predetermined value; receiving a third height measurement instruction in response to determining that the time interval is less than or equal to a predetermined value; and in response to receiving the third height measurement instruction, controlling infrared ranging sensor 12 to measure second height H2 at a third time.

Referring to fig. 1, the urine volume monitoring device 10 may also include a display 113, the display 113 being configured for communicative coupling with the controller 141 and for receiving and displaying a change in the volume of liquid (e.g., a change in the volume of urine) determined by the controller 141. In the embodiment shown in fig. 1, the display 113 may be a component provided on the front surface 11 of the housing 1. In other embodiments, the display 113 may be a user computer or cell phone in remote communication with the controller 141, or other portable form of display device.

In some embodiments, the urine volume monitoring device 10 may further include an information receiving module (not shown). The information receiving module may be communicatively coupled to a mobile terminal (e.g., a cell phone, tablet computer, etc.). The user can manually input the model of the urine collector to be used and the internal dimensions of the urine collector corresponding to the model and the sectional area information at different heights to the urine volume monitoring device 10 via the mobile terminal communicatively connected to the information receiving module. Additionally, the urine volume monitoring device 10 may also include a memory (not shown). The memory may be used to store cross-sectional area information at different heights within the urine collector. These cross-sectional area information may be stored in advance or obtained by measurement. For example, for a known model of urine collector, its internal dimensions and cross-sectional area information at different heights are known. On the other hand, for an unknown model of urine collector, the cross-sectional area at different heights inside it can be monitored visually, e.g. by a depth camera. The cross-sectional area information may be externally transferred and stored into the memory. In some embodiments, the memory may store the urine collector model received via the information receiving module and corresponding cross-sectional area information for subsequent use, for example, for use by the controller 141 in calculating urine volume changes. In other embodiments, the various urine collector models and their corresponding internal dimensions and cross-sectional area information at different elevations may be pre-stored in the memory of the urine volume monitoring device 10 prior to shipment thereof for later use, for example, for the controller 141 to acquire and use based on user settings or inputs in calculating urine volume changes.

Referring to fig. 3, the circuit board 14 in the housing 1 may also have a power source 143 thereon. In some embodiments, the power source 143 may be used to provide power to at least one of the plurality of infrared ranging sensors 12, the controller 141, the display 113, the memory, and the information receiving module.

Referring to fig. 2, the rear surface 13 of the housing 1 may have a mounting portion 131 for mounting the housing 1 inside the cover 21 of the urine collector 20 (see fig. 4). In some embodiments, the mounting portion 131 may include adhesive tape for adhering the housing 1 to the inside of the cover 21 of the urine collector 20.

Referring to fig. 4, fig. 4 shows a schematic diagram of the structure of a urine volume monitoring system 100 according to an embodiment of the present utility model. The urine volume monitoring system 100 may include the urine volume monitoring device 10 and the urine collector 20 as described above. In the embodiment shown in fig. 4, urine volume monitoring system 100 includes two urine volume monitoring devices 10 and two urine collectors 20. In other embodiments, the urine volume monitoring system 100 may include other numbers of urine volume monitoring devices 10 and urine collectors 20, such as only one urine volume monitoring device 10 and only one urine collector 20, or more than two urine volume monitoring devices 10 and more than two urine collectors 20, where the number of urine volume monitoring devices 10 and urine collectors 20 may be the same. Each urine collector 20 may include a cover plate 21 and a receiving portion 23, and the cover plate 21 may be mounted above the receiving portion 23. In the embodiment shown in fig. 4, the cover 21 may be a flip-top lid hinged to the receiving portion 23. In other embodiments, the cover 21 may be a cover that is completely removable from the receptacle 23.

As shown in fig. 4, the housing 1 of the urine volume monitoring device 10 may be mounted inside the cover plate 21 of the urine collector 20. When the cover plate 21 of the urine collector 20 is in the closed state, the infrared ranging sensor 12 may emit infrared rays to the urine level 231 in the receiving part 23 of the urine collector 20 through the hole 111 on the front surface 11 of the housing 1 and receive infrared rays from the urine level 231 so as to measure the height H of the infrared ranging sensor 12 from the urine level 231. In some embodiments, when the housing 1 is mounted inside the cover plate 21 of the urine collector 20, the plurality of holes 111 of the front surface 11 of the housing 1 may be distributed in a central region inside the cover plate 21 of the urine collector 20, so that infrared rays emitted outward from the infrared ranging sensor 12 via the holes 111 are emitted to the urine level 231 within the receiving part 23 of the urine collector 20 as much as possible without being emitted to the inner wall of the receiving part 23, so that the height measurement accuracy of the infrared ranging sensor 12 may be improved.

In an implementation where the urine volume monitoring device 10 includes an input device and the input device is located on the housing 1, the urine volume monitoring device 10 may further include a timer (not shown). The timer may count upon receiving user input via the input device and send a signal to the controller 141 after a predetermined period of time. This may cause a delay in the activation of the controller 141 by the user input. For example, in the case where the urine volume monitoring device 10 shown in fig. 4 is mounted inside the cover plate 21 of the urine collector 20, after the user operates the input device on the housing 1, the cover plate is not yet closed, and measurement cannot be directly started. A certain time margin may be provided by a timer for the user to close the cover 21.

Referring to fig. 4, the urine volume monitoring system further comprises a central console 30, and the central console 30 may comprise an information input device 31 and a central memory (not shown in the figure). The information input device 31 may include a keyboard, a mouse, a touch screen, and the like. The information input device 31 is operable by a user (e.g., a healthcare worker) to input at least one of: the model number of the one or more urine collectors 20, and cross-sectional area information at different heights inside the accommodation portion of the urine collector corresponding to each urine collector model number. The information input device 31 may be adapted to be communicatively coupled to a central memory for transmitting user-entered model and cross-sectional area information of the urine collector 20 to the central memory.

In some embodiments, the central memory may be communicatively coupled to the controller 141 of the urine volume monitoring device 10 for the controller to retrieve a model number and corresponding cross-sectional area information of the urine collector 20 corresponding to the urine volume monitoring device 10 (e.g., the urine collector 20 to which the urine volume monitoring device 10 is mounted). For example, the controller of the first urine volume monitoring device may retrieve from the central memory the model number and corresponding cross-sectional area information of the first urine collector corresponding to the first urine volume monitoring device. The controller of the second urine volume monitoring device may retrieve from the central memory the model number and corresponding cross-sectional area information of the second urine collector corresponding to the second urine volume monitoring device. In other embodiments, central console 30 may also include a central controller that may be communicatively coupled to the central memory, and that may be configured for communicative coupling to an infrared ranging sensor mounted to each of the one or more urine collectors. The central controller may be configured to perform the operations described herein as being performed by the controller 141 of the urine volume monitoring device 10.

In addition to or instead of a central memory, each urine volume monitoring device 10 may comprise a memory which may be provided within the housing of the urine volume monitoring device 10 and which may be communicatively coupled to the controller of the urine volume monitoring device and to the information input device 31 of the central console 30. In one embodiment, the memory may be used to receive and store cross-sectional area information from the information input device 31 at different heights inside a urine collector corresponding to the urine volume monitoring device (e.g., the urine collector to which the urine volume monitoring device is mounted).

As shown in fig. 4, the center console 30 may also include a center display 33. In some embodiments, the central display 33 may be adapted to be communicatively coupled with the controller of one or more urine volume monitoring devices to receive and display the controller-determined urine volume changes. For example, the central display 33 may be adapted to be communicatively coupled to the controller of the first urine volume monitoring device to receive and display the urine volume change determined by the controller of the first urine volume monitoring device. For another example, the central display 33 may be adapted to be communicatively coupled to the controller of the second urine volume monitoring device to receive and display the urine volume change determined by the controller of the second urine volume monitoring device. In other embodiments, the central display 33 may be communicatively coupled to the central controller to receive and display the urine volume changes within the one or more urine collectors determined by the central controller. For example, the central display 33 may receive and display the determined change in urine volume within the first urine collector from the central controller. For another example, the central display 33 may receive and display the determined change in urine volume within the second urine collector from the central controller. The central display 33 may display the urine volume changes in multiple urine collectors simultaneously.

In some embodiments, urine collector 20 may also include a sensor (not shown) that may be located in an edge region of cover plate 21 and that is used to monitor whether cover plate 21 of urine collector 20 is in a closed state. The sensor may be communicatively coupled to the controller 141 of the urine volume monitoring device 10. When the sensor monitors that the cover 21 of the urine collector 20 is in the closed state, the sensor may send a height measurement instruction to the controller 141.

In some embodiments, urine collector 20 may be a toilet. The user can attach the urine volume monitoring device 10 to the inside of the toilet lid and monitor the change in the volume of urine in the toilet before and after urination by the user using the urine volume monitoring device 10.

The urine volume monitoring system 100 described above in connection with fig. 4 may be used in a hospital setting where the central console 30 in the urine volume monitoring system 100 may be manipulated by a healthcare worker to manage multiple urine collectors 20 within a patient room (e.g., multiple toilets within the patient room) and determine changes in the volume of urine within these urine collectors 20.

In the solution of the utility model, a urine volume monitoring system for use by a user (e.g. a patient) at home is also contemplated, which may comprise one or more infrared ranging sensors as described above, which may be used to be mounted inside a cover plate of a urine collector in order to emit and receive infrared light to and from the urine level in a receiving portion of the urine collector in a closed state of the cover plate of the urine collector in order to measure the height of the infrared ranging sensors from the urine level. The urine volume monitoring system may also include a mobile terminal, such as a user's cell phone, tablet computer, or the like. The mobile terminal may include a controller that may be used to perform the operations performed by the controller 141 described herein. Additionally, the mobile terminal may also include a user interaction interface and memory. The user interaction interface may be communicatively coupled with the memory and the controller and may be configured to: receiving at least one of the following from user input: the urine collector type and the sectional area information at different heights inside the accommodating part of the urine collector corresponding to the urine collector type; receiving the determined urine volume change from the controller; and displaying the urine volume change. The memory may receive and store from the user interaction interface: one or more urine collector models, and cross-sectional area information at different heights inside the receiving portion of the urine collector corresponding to each of the one or more urine collector models. In some embodiments, the first height H1 may be known and the second height H2 may be measured by an infrared ranging sensor at the second time. In this case, the user interaction interface may be configured to: receiving a height measurement instruction input by a user; and sending the received altitude measurement instruction to the controller. The controller may be configured to: receiving a height measurement instruction from a user interaction interface; in response to receiving the height measurement instruction, controlling the infrared ranging sensor to measure a second height at a second time; and determining a change in the urine volume within the receptacle of the urine collector based on the first and second heights and pre-stored cross-sectional area information at different heights within the receptacle of the urine collector. In other embodiments, the first height H1 and the second height H2 may be measured by an infrared ranging sensor at a first time and a second time, respectively. In this case, the user interaction interface may be configured to: receiving a first height measurement instruction and a second height instruction which are input by a user at different times; and sending the received first height measurement instruction and second height instruction to the controller. The controller may be configured to: receiving a first altitude measurement instruction from a user interaction interface; in response to receiving the first height measurement instruction, controlling the infrared ranging sensor to measure the first height at a first time; receiving a second altitude measurement instruction from the user interaction interface; in response to receiving the second height measurement instruction, controlling the infrared ranging sensor to measure a second height at a second time; and determining a change in the urine volume within the receptacle of the urine collector based on the first and second heights and pre-stored cross-sectional area information at different heights within the receptacle of the urine collector.

Fig. 5 shows a flow chart of a urine volume monitoring method 500 according to an embodiment of the utility model. It should be understood that the urine volume monitoring method itself does not constitute a protective body of the utility model, but that the description of the urine volume monitoring method will be helpful in understanding the relevant structure and function of the urine volume monitoring device 10 and the urine volume monitoring system 100. In some embodiments, the method 500 may be performed using the controller 141 of the urine volume monitoring device 10 or the controller of a central controller or mobile terminal described above.

In some embodiments, the user may mount the housing 1 of the urine volume monitoring device 10 inside the cover 21 of the urine collector 20 before the method 500 is performed. For example, when the user uses the urine volume monitoring device 10 in his home for the first time, the housing 1 of the urine volume monitoring device 10 may be mounted (e.g., adhered) to the inside of the toilet lid in his home. In other embodiments, the user may install one or more infrared ranging sensors directly inside the cover plate 21 of the urine collector 20 before the method 500 is performed.

At step 501, a first altitude measurement instruction is received. In some embodiments, the user may manually operate the input device, at which point the input device may send a first height measurement instruction to the controller 141 (or central controller), which controller 141 (or central controller) may receive from the input device. In other embodiments, a user may close the cover 21 of the urine collector 20 (e.g., close a toilet lid), a sensor on the urine collector 20 may send a first height measurement instruction to the controller 141 (or central controller) in response to monitoring that the cover 21 of the urine collector 20 is in a closed state, and the controller 141 (or central controller) may receive the first height measurement instruction from the sensor. In implementations where the urine volume monitoring device 10 includes a timer (not shown), the user may operate the input device to send an indication of the height measurement and then close the cover 21 of the urine collector 20. The timer may begin counting after receiving user input from the input device and send a signal to the controller 141 (or central controller) as a first altitude measurement command after a predetermined period of time has elapsed. The preset time period may be set such that the user is enough to close the cover plate 21. In other embodiments, the user may manually operate the user interface of the mobile terminal, at which point the user interface of the mobile terminal may send a first altitude measurement instruction to the controller of the mobile terminal, which may receive the first altitude measurement instruction from the user interface of the mobile terminal. In still other embodiments, a user may close the lid 21 of the urine collector 20 (e.g., close a toilet lid), a sensor on the urine collector 20 may send a first height measurement instruction to a controller of the mobile terminal in response to monitoring that the lid 21 of the urine collector 20 is in a closed state, and the controller of the mobile terminal may receive the first height measurement instruction from the sensor.

Next, the method 500 may proceed to step 503.

At step 503, the infrared ranging sensor is controlled to measure a first height at a first time. In some embodiments, controller 141 (or a central controller) may control one or more infrared ranging sensors 12 to measure first height H1 at a first time in response to receiving (e.g., from an input device or sensor) a first height measurement instruction. In other embodiments, the controller of the mobile terminal may control the one or more infrared ranging sensors to measure the first height H1 at the first time in response to receiving the first height measurement instruction (e.g., from a user interface or sensor of the mobile terminal).

Next, the method 500 may proceed to step 505.

At step 505, a second altitude measurement instruction is received. In some embodiments, the user may manually operate the input device, at which point the input device may send a second height measurement instruction to the controller 141 (or central controller), which controller 141 (or central controller) may receive from the input device. In other embodiments, a user may close the cover 21 of the urine collector 20 (e.g., close a toilet lid), a sensor on the urine collector 20 may send a second height measurement instruction to the controller 141 (or central controller) in response to monitoring that the cover 21 of the urine collector 20 is in a closed state, and the controller 141 (or central controller) may receive the second height measurement instruction from the sensor. In implementations where the urine volume monitoring device 10 includes a timer (not shown), the user may operate the input device to send a height measurement indication and then close the cover 21 of the urine collector 20. The timer may begin counting after receiving user input from the input device and send a signal to the controller 141 (or central controller) as a second altitude measurement command after a preset period of time has elapsed. The preset time period may be set such that the user is enough to close the cover plate 21. In other embodiments, the user may manually operate the user interface of the mobile terminal, at which point the user interface of the mobile terminal may send a second altitude measurement instruction to the controller of the mobile terminal, which may receive the first altitude measurement instruction from the user interface of the mobile terminal. In still other embodiments, the user may close the lid 21 of the urine collector 20 (e.g., close the toilet lid), the sensor on the urine collector 20 may send a second height measurement instruction to the controller of the mobile terminal in response to monitoring that the lid 21 of the urine collector 20 is in a closed state, and the controller of the mobile terminal may receive the second height measurement instruction from the sensor.

Next, the method 500 may proceed to step 507.

At step 507, a time interval between receipt of the first altitude measurement instruction and receipt of the second altitude measurement instruction is determined. In some embodiments, the controller 141 (or a central controller, or a controller of the mobile terminal) may determine a time interval between when the first altitude measurement instruction is received and when the second altitude measurement instruction is received. Next, the method 500 may proceed to step 509.

At step 509, it is determined whether the time interval is greater than a predetermined value. In some embodiments, the controller 141 (or a central controller, or a controller of the mobile terminal) may determine whether a time interval between receiving the first altitude measurement instruction and receiving the second altitude measurement instruction is greater than a predetermined value, which may correspond to a single urination time of the user, e.g., 10 seconds, 15 seconds, 20 seconds, 30 seconds, etc. In some cases, a case may occur in which a second height measurement instruction is erroneously transmitted before urination is completed (for example, a button to transmit the height measurement instruction is inadvertently pressed, or the cover plate 21 of the urine collector 20 is accidentally repeatedly closed), in which case, by setting a predetermined value and setting the predetermined value to correspond to a single urination time of the user, the infrared ranging sensor 12 of the urine volume monitoring device 10 can be prevented from performing height measurement based on the erroneous height measurement instruction.

When controller 141 (or the central controller, or the controller of the mobile terminal) determines that the time interval between receiving the first altitude measurement instruction and receiving the second altitude measurement instruction is greater than a predetermined value, method 500 may proceed to step 511. When controller 141 (or the central controller, or the controller of the mobile terminal) determines that the time interval between receipt of the first altitude measurement instruction and receipt of the second altitude measurement instruction is less than or equal to a predetermined value, method 500 may proceed to step 510.

At step 511, the infrared ranging sensor is controlled to measure a second height at a second time. In some embodiments, the controller 141 (or a central controller, or a controller of the mobile terminal) may control the one or more infrared ranging sensors to measure the second height H2 at the second time in response to determining that the time interval is greater than the predetermined value. Next, the method 500 may proceed to step 513.

At step 510, a third altitude measurement instruction is received. In some embodiments, the user may manually operate the input device, at which point the input device may send a third height measurement instruction to the controller 141 (or central controller), which controller 141 (or central controller) may receive from the input device in response to determining that the time interval is less than or equal to the predetermined value. In other embodiments, a user may close the cover 21 of the urine collector 20 (e.g., close a toilet lid), a sensor on the urine collector 20 may send a third height measurement instruction to the controller 141 (or central controller) in response to monitoring that the cover 21 of the urine collector 20 is in a closed state, and the controller 141 (or central controller) may receive the third height measurement instruction from the sensor in response to determining that the time interval is less than or equal to a predetermined value. In implementations where the urine volume monitoring device 10 includes a timer (not shown), the user may operate the input device to send a height measurement indication and then close the cover 21 of the urine collector 20. The timer may begin counting after receiving user input from the input device and send a signal to the controller 141 (or central controller) as a third height measurement instruction after a preset period of time has elapsed. The preset time period may be set such that the user is enough to close the cover plate 21. In other embodiments, the user may manually operate the user interface of the mobile terminal, at which point the user interface of the mobile terminal may send a third altitude measurement instruction to the controller of the mobile terminal, which may be received from the user interface of the mobile terminal in response to determining that the time interval is less than or equal to the predetermined value. In still other embodiments, the user may close the lid 21 of the urine collector 20 (e.g., close the toilet lid), the sensor on the urine collector 20 may send a third height measurement instruction to the controller of the mobile terminal in response to monitoring that the lid 21 of the urine collector 20 is in a closed state, and the controller of the mobile terminal may receive the third height measurement instruction from the sensor in response to determining that the time interval is less than or equal to the predetermined value.

Next, the method 500 may proceed to step 512.

At step 512, the infrared ranging sensor is controlled to measure a second height at a third time. In some embodiments, controller 141 (or a central controller) may control one or more infrared ranging sensors 12 to measure second height H2 at a third time in response to receiving (e.g., from an input device or sensor) a third height measurement instruction. In other embodiments, the controller of the mobile terminal may control the one or more infrared ranging sensors to measure the second height H2 at a third time in response to receiving a third height measurement instruction (e.g., from the mobile terminal user interface or sensor).

Next, the method 500 may proceed to step 513.

At step 513, a urine volume change is determined. In some embodiments, the controller 141 (or a central controller, or a controller of the mobile terminal) may receive the measured first height H1 and second height H2 from the infrared ranging sensor and determine a change in the urine volume within the receiving portion 23 of the urine collector 20 based on the H1 and H2 and cross-sectional area information at different heights inside the receiving portion 23 of the urine collector 20 stored in the memory. For example, the controller 141 (or a central controller, or a controller of the mobile terminal) may determine the urine volume change according to the following formula (1):

Where V is the urine volume variation and f (H) is the cross-sectional area of the receiving portion 23 of the urine collector 20 at the height H. In some embodiments, when the controller 141 (or the central controller, or the controller of the mobile terminal) receives a plurality of first height values measured at a first time from a plurality of infrared ranging sensors, the controller 141 (or the central controller, or the controller of the mobile terminal) may determine the first height H1 by any one of the following means: calculating an average of the plurality of first height values as the final first height H1, selecting the first height value having the greatest number of occurrences as the final first height H1, calculating an average of a plurality of values other than the lowest value and the highest value among the plurality of first height values as the final first height H1, or other suitable means. When the controller 141 (or the central controller, or the controller of the mobile terminal) receives a plurality of second height values measured at a second time or a third time from a plurality of infrared ranging sensors, the controller 141 (or the central controller, or the controller of the mobile terminal) may determine the second height H2 by any one of the following means: calculating an average of the plurality of second height values as the final second height H2, selecting the second height value having the greatest number of occurrences as the final second height H2, calculating an average of a plurality of values other than the lowest and highest values of the plurality of second height values as the final second height H2, or other suitable means. In some embodiments, the urine collector 20 may be a type a toilet, the memory (or the central memory) may store therein cross-sectional area information f (H) of the type of toilet at different heights H, and the controller 141 (or the central controller, or the controller of the mobile terminal) may calculate the change of the urine volume in the toilet based on the first height H1 and the second height H2 and the cross-sectional area information f (H) of the toilet using the above formula (1).

At step 515, the determined urine volume change is transmitted. In some embodiments, the controller 141 (or a central controller) may send the determined urine volume change to the display 113 or a central display for the display 113 or the central display to display the urine volume change to the user. In other embodiments, the controller of the mobile terminal may send the determined urine volume change to a user interaction interface of the mobile terminal for the user interaction interface to display the urine volume change to the user.

At step 517, the urine volume monitoring method 500 ends.

The above steps are exemplary, and are not intended to be limiting. One skilled in the art may add one or more steps, or delete one or more of the above steps, or merge or replace one or more of the above steps, or adjust the order of one or more of the above steps as desired. For example, in some embodiments, prior to step 501, the user may input or select a model of urine collector 20 (e.g., a toilet of model A) to be used to the information receiving module via a mobile terminal communicatively coupled to the information receiving module of urine volume monitoring device 10. The controller 141 of the urine volume monitoring device 10 may receive the urine collector model from the information receiving module, acquire cross-sectional area information at different heights inside the accommodation portion 23 of the urine collector 20 corresponding to the urine collector model from the memory, and determine a change in the volume of urine inside the accommodation portion 23 of the urine collector 20 using the cross-sectional area information at different heights inside the accommodation portion 23 of the urine collector 20 corresponding to the model at step 513. In other embodiments, prior to step 501, the user may enter or select the model of urine collector 20 to be used (e.g., model a toilet) via the user interface of the mobile terminal. The controller of the mobile terminal may receive the urine collector model from the user interface, acquire cross-sectional area information at different heights inside the receiving part 23 of the urine collector 20 corresponding to the urine collector model from the memory of the mobile terminal, and determine a urine volume change inside the receiving part 23 of the urine collector 20 using the cross-sectional area information at different heights inside the receiving part 23 of the urine collector 20 corresponding to the model at step 513.

In some embodiments, when a height measurement instruction is received with the central controller, the sender of the height measurement instruction (e.g., an input device mounted to the urine collector, or a sensor on the urine collector) may have an identification corresponding to the particular urine collector for identification by the central controller. The central processor may control the infrared ranging sensor with the same identification to take the altitude measurement after receiving the altitude measurement instruction and/or send the determined urine volume change to the display or central display with the same identification.

Portions of embodiments of the present disclosure may be provided as a computer program product that may include a computer-readable medium having stored thereon computer program instructions that may be used to program a computer (or other electronic devices) to be executed by one or more processors to perform a process according to some embodiments. Computer-readable media may include, but is not limited to, magnetic disks, optical disks, read-only memory (ROM), random Access Memory (RAM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), magnetic or optical cards, flash memory, or other types of computer-readable media suitable for storing electronic instructions. Furthermore, embodiments may also be downloaded as a computer program product, wherein the program may be transferred from a remote computer to a requesting computer. In some embodiments, the non-transitory computer-readable storage medium includes data stored thereon representing sequences of instructions that, when executed by a controller or processor, cause the controller or processor to perform certain operations, such as one or more of the steps in method 500 described above in connection with fig. 5.

While the utility model has been described in terms of the preferred embodiments of the present disclosure, it is not intended to be limited thereto but only by the scope set forth in the following claims. It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that changes and modifications may be made to the embodiments described herein without departing from the utility model in its broader spirit and scope as set forth in the appended claims.

Claims (10)

1. A urine volume monitoring device, characterized in that the urine volume monitoring device comprises:

A housing for mounting to an inside of a cover plate of a urine collector, wherein the urine collector includes a receiving portion and the cover plate is for mounting over the receiving portion;

an infrared ranging sensor disposed within the housing and configured to emit and receive infrared rays to and from a urine level within a receiving portion of the urine collector in a closed state of a cover plate of the urine collector so as to measure a height of the infrared ranging sensor from the urine level; and

A controller configured for communicative coupling with the infrared ranging sensor, and for: a change in urine volume within the receptacle of the urine collector is determined based on a first height at a first time and a second height at a second time, the first height being known or measured by the infrared ranging sensor, and pre-stored cross-sectional area information at different heights within the receptacle of the urine collector.

2. The urine volume monitoring device of claim 1 wherein the housing has:

A front surface having an aperture therein; and

A rear surface having a mounting portion for mounting the housing to an inside of a cover plate of the urine collector;

The infrared ranging sensor emits and receives infrared rays outwardly through a hole on the front surface of the housing so as to measure the height of the infrared ranging sensor from the urine level.

3. The urine volume monitoring device of claim 2, wherein the urine volume monitoring device comprises a plurality of the infrared ranging sensors, the front surface of the housing has a plurality of holes,

Each of the plurality of infrared ranging sensors transmits and receives infrared rays outwardly through a corresponding one of a plurality of holes on the front surface of the housing so as to measure a height of the infrared ranging sensor from the urine level.

4. A urine volume monitoring device as claimed in claim 3, wherein the plurality of apertures of the front surface of the housing are distributed within a central region of the inside of the cover of the urine collector when the housing is mounted to the inside of the cover of the urine collector.

5. The urine volume monitoring device of claim 2, wherein the mounting portion of the rear surface of the housing comprises adhesive tape for adhering the housing to the inside of the cover plate of the urine collector.

6. The urine volume monitoring device of claim 1, further comprising a display configured for communicative coupling with the controller and for receiving the determined urine volume change from the controller and displaying the urine volume change, and a power source for powering at least one of the infrared ranging sensor, the controller, and the display,

The power supply and the controller are disposed within the housing, and the display is disposed on a front surface of the housing.

7. The urine volume monitoring device of claim 1, including an input device located on the housing and operated by a user to send a height measurement instruction to the controller.

8. A urine volume monitoring system, the urine volume monitoring system comprising:

One or more urine collectors, each urine collector comprising:

a housing part; and

A cover plate for mounting over the receiving portion; and

A urine volume monitoring device as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 7, the housing of each urine volume monitoring device being for mounting to the inside of a cover plate of a corresponding urine collector.

9. The urine volume monitoring system of claim 8, wherein the urine collector is a toilet.

10. The urine volume monitoring system of claim 8, wherein the urine collector includes a sensor located in an edge region of the cover plate and adapted to monitor whether the cover plate of the urine collector is in a closed state.