KR20170037738A - An Acne Evaluating Apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to an acne diagnosing apparatus for analyzing information on an expected occurrence part of acne by photographing and analyzing skin after irradiating light to the skin. The acne diagnosing apparatus according to the present invention includes: a housing which includes a barrel whose leading edge part is in contact with the skin; a substrate installed in the housing; an LED which is mounted on the substrate and is positioned in an inner space of the barrel when the substrate is installed in the housing; and a lens which is installed in the barrel and matches a focal distance of the skin in contact with the leading edge part of the barrel with an image sensor by locating light emitted from the skin in an incident path to the image sensor.

Description

An Acne Evaluating Apparatus

The present invention relates to diagnosis of acne, and more particularly, to diagnosis of acne by analyzing information on the area where acne is to be generated by photographing skin by irradiating the skin with light of the first wavelength band and then fluorescing light of the second wavelength band The present invention relates to an acne diagnosis apparatus having a module.

According to the current life expectancy, diagnosis and management of health condition is one of the essential items. Skin is a component of the human body facing the external environment, containing a variety of metabolites and constituents, and is sometimes an indicator of health status. As a specific example, when blood color is poor, blood circulation disorder or digestive disorder may be suspected. As another example, if a skin problem occurs, mental stress may be suspected.

In the past, such diagnosis of the skin condition has generally been made through a visual or tactile method. Specifically, the good and bad skin elasticity can be visually discriminated through an optical microscope, and the skin water content of the skin can be discriminated by a tactile sense. However, this method of discrimination is not highly accurate and highly dependent on the subject's experience of discrimination.

On the other hand, skin monitoring for diagnosis of health condition needs to be continuously performed. Accordingly, there is a demand for a skin condition diagnosis apparatus and method that can perform monitoring and diagnosis more easily without causing discomfort to the person to be diagnosed.

Recently, attempts have been made to examine the state of the skin by irradiating light to the skin and analyzing the optical information after the light is irradiated to the skin. However, it is difficult to detect how much light is irradiated, what light should be detected, There is no established method of how to analyze it, and there is a need for urgent development of skin diagnosis method and apparatus using this principle.

In particular, this optical information analysis method is the acne of skin disease that can show the greatest preventive effect when the process and criteria of skin diagnosis are established. Acne is a skin disease that requires constant care. Busy students and modern people can not afford to go to a dermatology clinic every day, and the cost is not that high. In addition, acne has already been treated in the direction of treatment after inflammation has already occurred, and there is no special measure for prevention. Therefore, people with good acne will continue to eat acne prevention drugs. If you continue to take acne prevention drugs, regardless of the cost of various side effects, long-term effects of health can not be ignored.

Therefore, there is a need for a method to diagnose a skin location that is likely to cause acne in a non-contact manner, and a device that can easily diagnose it even in a hospital or a specialized skin care shop.

Disclosure of Invention Technical Problem [8] Accordingly, the present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a method for diagnosing acne, And to provide an acne diagnostic device capable of opening the path.

 It is another object of the present invention to provide an acne diagnosis device that enables such diagnosis to be made at home even without anyone having any difficulty.

In order to solve the above-described problems, the present invention provides a medical instrument comprising: a housing including a barrel having a distal end portion in contact with skin; A substrate disposed within the housing; An LED mounted on the substrate and positioned in an inner space of the barrel when the substrate is installed in the housing; And a lens installed in the lens barrel and positioned in a path along which the light emitted from the skin is incident on the image sensor to adjust the focal length of the skin that contacts the distal end of the lens barrel with the image sensor.

The light emitted from the skin is positioned in a path through which the light emitted from the skin is incident on the image sensor so as to block light of a first wavelength band emitted from the LED and emit light of a second wavelength band that is longer than the light of the first wavelength band, And a long pass filter for transmitting the long pass filter.

The lens may have a function of blocking a light of a first wavelength band emitted from the LED and transmitting a light of a second wavelength band longer than the light of the first wavelength band.

The lens may be made of PMMA and mixed with a pigment that absorbs light of the first wavelength band.

Wherein the substrate is provided with a hole, the hole is disposed in a longitudinal central axis of the lens barrel in the lens barrel, and the LED is mounted around the lens, wherein the LED is radially equidistant with respect to the longitudinal center axis of the lens barrel .

The lens is installed in the lens barrel while being fixed to the lens mount, and the lens mount is fixed to the lens barrel, thereby providing a fixing force for fixing the substrate in the housing.

The lens and the pass filter are installed in the lens barrel while being fixed to the lens barrel, and the lens mount is fixed to the lens barrel to provide a fixing force for fixing the substrate in the housing.

And a battery accommodated in the housing, charged by being supplied with power from the outside, and discharged to supply power to the LED.

The substrate may be provided with a switch 51 for controlling on / off of the diagnostic module.

The substrate may be provided with a Bluetooth module for short-range wireless communication with a portable terminal including an image sensor.

A charging terminal 52 may be provided on the substrate.

The peak wavelength of light of the first wavelength range irradiated by the LED may be between 380 nm and 420 nm.

The light of the second wavelength range may include light of 520 nm and the vicinity thereof.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a skin diagnosis apparatus including the diagnosis module and a portable terminal coupled to the diagnostic module and having the image sensor incorporated therein.

When the diagnostic module and the portable terminal are engaged, the image sensor may be guided to be aligned with the barrel.

The image sensor may include a blue light sensing element, a green light sensing element, and a red light sensing element.

The portable terminal may be provided with a program for controlling the diagnostic module and processing an image photographed by the image sensor.

The program may generate a signal to inform the user of the fact that the skin condition is abnormal as a result of the image processing.

The program may display the photographed image on the display of the portable terminal.

If the abnormal state of the skin condition is detected as a result of the image processing, the program may display such a position on the display together.

If the skin condition of the skin is abnormal due to the image processing, the PDT can be controlled by controlling the LED of the diagnostic module.

According to the present invention, it is possible to diagnose a part where acne is likely to occur in advance, and it is possible to treat it before the onset, thereby preventing skin trouble, erythema, scarring, etc. due to the onset of acne.

Further, according to the present invention, it is possible to provide an apparatus capable of diagnosing acne with a simple constitution, so that anyone can diagnose acne himself or herself.

Further, according to the present invention, diagnosis and treatment are linked and the user convenience is higher.

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

Figure 1 shows the absorption spectrum of coproporphyrin 3.
2 is a flowchart showing a procedure of the acne diagnosis method according to the present invention.
3 is a view showing various optical paths that occur after the light irradiated to the skin reaches the skin.
4 is a diagram showing the sensitivity spectrum of the R, G, and B sensors provided in the CCD.
FIG. 5 is a graph showing the spectrum of light emitted from the skin and the spectrum after filtering by the filter.
6 is a view showing a photographed image displayed after passing through a skin acne diagnosis method.
FIG. 7 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of a diagnostic apparatus to which the acne diagnosis method according to the present invention is applicable.
Figs. 8 and 9 are exploded perspective views of the diagnostic apparatus of Fig. 7 viewed from different directions.
10 is a cross-sectional view of the diagnostic apparatus of Fig.

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

It is to be understood that the present invention is not limited to the disclosed embodiments, but may be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein. Rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, It is provided to inform.

There are various light absorbing compounds in the human body, which is also the case for skin. The term "chromophore" refers to a substance that mainly absorbs a specific wavelength in the spectrum of light. The wavelength of light absorbing compounds differs from one kind to another. All biomaterials exhibit a high absorption rate in at least one wavelength region within the wavelength range of light, and this is related to the physical properties of the atoms or molecules of the substance, so that the physicochemical properties of these atoms or molecules The wavelengths of the light absorbed more than once are different from each other.

For example, in the case of coproporphyrin 3, one of the porphyrins produced in the skin by the causative bacteria of acne vulgaris (Propionibacterium acne; P. acne), as shown in Fig. 1, Lt; / RTI >

On the other hand, fluorescence (Autofluorescence) refers to a phenomenon in which a specific substance absorbs light of a certain wavelength band to which a specific substance reacts and emits light of a specific wavelength band having a longer wavelength. This allows medical information to be distinguished from each other. There are many specific substances that fluoresce in the skin. Therefore, by analyzing the fluorescence of the skin, it becomes possible to grasp how and where the substance is distributed, and also the state of the skin.

For example, when light of the blue light band (400-440 nm) is applied to the skin, Porphrins produced by P. acne among the substances in the skin strongly absorb the energy of light in the blue wavelength band, Thereby fluorescing light of a specific wavelength band. As a result of the experiment, it was confirmed that the hair follicle without sebaceous gland fluoresces light between 520 nm and 600 ~ 630 nm, and fluorescence of a wavelength band around 520 nm is observed in the hair follicle where acne, . Therefore, it is possible to confirm the position, distribution, size, etc. of a part where simple sebum is gathered or a possible part of acne when the fluorescent image of the skin is obtained after irradiating blue light of about 407 nm.

2 is a flowchart showing a procedure of the acne diagnosis method according to the present invention.

Referring to step S100, first, the skin to be diagnosed is irradiated with light. As described above, the light irradiated to the skin is preferably irradiated with blue light having a peak wavelength at 407 nm. In particular, since a half-width of a light-emitting diode (LED) is narrow and a peak wavelength can be adjusted to a desired level, blue light emitted from a light-emitting diode has a peak wavelength at 407 nm and a half width is concentrated close to the peak wavelength. Porphyrins can absorb a considerable amount of energy from such blue light.

3 is a view showing various optical paths that occur after the light irradiated to the skin reaches the skin. When blue light is irradiated to the skin S, some of the blue light L1 reaching the skin is immediately reflected (L2) on the skin surface and some penetrates to some extent into the skin (L3). The blue light that penetrates into the skin is refracted, absorbed and scattered from the inside, and is scattered out of the skin again (L4).

Referring again to step S110 of FIG. 2, the skin irradiated with blue light is photographed to obtain the image. However, as shown in FIG. 3, most of the blue light irradiated to the skin is reflected from the skin surface (L2), and the intensity thereof is significant. Therefore, when the skin is photographed without any treatment, the reflected light L2 directly exceeds the sensitivity of the R, G, and B sensors of the CCD, which senses the light, resulting in whitening. Referring to FIG. 4 showing the sensitivity spectrum of the R, G and B sensors installed in the CCD, a device for sensing green or red also responds to light in the blue region. When the reflected light is strong, It reacts with the maximum value and the whitening phenomenon occurs. Accordingly, in step S110, the skin region to be diagnosed is photographed through a filter through which only the light of a wavelength longer than the reflected light region can pass.

5, when the intensity of the light in the blue wavelength range is excessively high (see " Spectrum Obtained from the Skin After Light Irradiation "in FIG. 5), the R, G and B sensors sense and react to it, The light in the spectral range can not be properly detected. Therefore, when the skin is photographed, the skin is not directly photographed by a sensor such as a CCD, and a filter capable of cut-off the blue light spectrum region is provided in the optical path for photographing, (See "spectrum after passing through the filter" in Fig. 5).

Referring back to FIG. 2, RGB values are extracted for each pixel of the photographed image (step S120).

Then, it is checked whether the RGB value of the corresponding pixel is within the range in which the inflammatory property caused by porphyrin generated by P. acne is reflected through the image process using the extracted R value, G value, and B value (step S130). For example, the image process can be performed in such a manner that the RGB values of the corresponding pixels are numerically expressed by a predetermined expression f (R, G, B), and the thus-quantified value exceeds a threshold value.

At this time, if the RGB value of the pixel is within the range reflecting the irritation characteristic of P. acne, an image process is performed to check whether the area of the pixel within the range is larger than the reference area (step S140).

If the area of the pixel having the RGB value reflecting the P. acne characteristic is larger than the reference area, the corresponding area is recognized as a part where acne may occur or occur (step S150). This process is intended to exclude some pixels from accidentally judging the skin condition when a certain pixel has a value exceeding a threshold value in the image processing process due to the noise generated in the image sensor at the time of photographing. According to the acne diagnosis method of the present invention, the size, the number, and the position information of the acne are dataized while recognizing the acne.

After the diagnosis of acne is finished, the photographed image is displayed on a display means, and a circle or an arrow mark is displayed on the part where the acne is present to provide convenience for the user to easily confirm. For example, as shown in FIG. 6, when the photographed image is displayed in a dotted line so that the portion determined to be acne can be easily identified, the position can be easily confirmed.

In the present invention, rather than merely displaying the data, the size and the number of acne are recognized and data is recognized as described above. Therefore, when the number of acne per unit area exceeds a predetermined number based on such data, An alarm can be given to the user to inform them that skin cleansing or skin care is required.

In addition to visual confirmation of the location where acne will occur, the display also provides information on skin care and prescription of medicines through various messages.

Although the above-described acne diagnosis method of the skin can be diagnosed through a fairly simple process, a certain premise is required in order to enable diagnosis by such a simple process.

First, when the skin is irradiated with light for skin photographing, the light other than the light irradiated from the LED emitting the blue light of about 407 nm described above is not irradiated to the skin. If the above-mentioned photographing is performed in a space in which natural light is brightly illuminated, since the light irradiated to the skin already has a wide spectrum, it is difficult to detect fluorescence phenomenon simply by the simple process as described above. have.

Second, in order to accurately grasp the number of acne per unit area, which is a condition occurring in the skin or a skin area to be generated, it is preferable that the scale of the image of the skin taken by the CCD is all the same. Of course, you can make use of a variety of other metrics to adjust the image to your desired scale, but for this image processing, new processes need to be added. Also, if there is no guarantee that image processing is always done correctly, it can also be a cause of misdiagnosis.

Third, the spectrum of the sensitivity of R, G, B sensor of CCD should be grasped. The acne diagnosis method described above diagnoses acne based on the RGB values of each pixel. Even if the same skin is photographed, if the characteristics of the CCD are different, the RGB values obtained by the imaging are also different. It can be a cause.

Meanwhile, the present invention does not consider a diagnostic device provided in a dermatological hospital which should be diagnosed professionally, but rather a device that enables a general person to diagnose himself / herself at home. Therefore, There is a problem that the economic burden of the system increases.

Hereinafter, an acne diagnostic device that reflects all of the above considerations will be described. FIG. 7 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of a diagnostic apparatus to which the acne diagnosis method according to the present invention is applicable, FIGS. 8 and 9 are exploded perspective views of the diagnostic apparatus of FIG. 7 viewed from different directions, Fig.

The acne diagnosis apparatus of the present invention can be implemented with a minimal configuration by using an image sensor 94 of a smart phone, which is a portable terminal carried by each individual, a CPU, a memory, and the like together. As an example of the image sensor 94, a CCD is exemplified in the present invention. The image sensor 94 installed in the portable terminal may be configured as an array of a B sensor for detecting blue light, a G sensor for detecting green light, and an R sensor for detecting red light.

The acne diagnosis apparatus of the present invention can be realized by such a portable terminal 90 and a diagnostic module 1 to be described later.

The diagnostic module 1 includes a casing 10 having a housing 10 for accommodating various components therein and a barrel 12 connected to the housing 10 and extending forwardly in a hollow cylindrical shape in contact with the skin . The housing 10 and the lens barrel 12 can be integrally made of synthetic resin. The height of the barrel is 24 mm, the outer diameter of the barrel is 29 mm, the height of the housing is 12 mm, and the width of the housing is about 26 mm.

A substrate 30 provided with a control circuit for controlling the operation of various components including LEDs is provided inside the casing. Particularly, the substrate 30 fitted to the cylindrical portion 12 of the casing is formed in a disc-like shape corresponding to the lens barrel, and a circular hole 32 is formed at the center and an annular substrate portion is provided around the hole. Of course, the annular substrate accommodated in the barrel and the rectangular substrate accommodated in the housing are integrally formed. An LED (40) for emitting blue light toward the outside of the opened barrel is provided on the annular substrate portion. The LEDs 40 are mounted at regular intervals around the annular substrate portion, so that no directionality occurs.

The LED 40 irradiates the skin with blue light having a peak wavelength of 407 nm. At this time, the peak wavelength of light emitted from the LED may be blue light to near-ultraviolet light existing in the range of 380 nm to 420 nm. This corresponds to the width of the spectrum corresponding to half of the maximum absorption rate in the absorption spectrum of coproporphyrin 3 shown in Fig. Therefore, if the peak wavelength of the light emitted from the LED is within the range of 380 nm to 420 nm, the light energy absorption efficiency of the porphyrin existing in the skin can be secured to a considerable level.

The substrate 30 is provided with a control circuit for controlling the operation of the LED and a switch 51 for turning the diagnostic module 1 on and off. The substrate 30 is also electrically connected to a battery 53 which is housed in the housing 10. The substrate 30 is also provided with a power control section. The battery 53 is a secondary battery such as a lithium polymer battery. Charging and discharging may occur reversibly. On the substrate 30, a charging terminal 52 for connecting an external power source for charging the battery 53 is provided.

In addition, a Bluetooth chipset is installed on the board, and a control signal can be exchanged with the main body of the portable terminal. The program for using the portable terminal as an acne diagnosis device can be installed in a portable terminal in the form of an application. For example, when a user presses a photographing button after driving a program, a control signal is transmitted to the control circuit of the substrate through the Bluetooth protocol The LED 40 may be turned on. Then, the program may cause the image sensor 94 of the portable terminal 90 to take an image within the time when the LED 40 is turned on.

These control signals do not necessarily have to be transmitted in a Bluetooth manner. For example, the USB terminal on the portable terminal is connected to the charging terminal 52 on the board 30. The charging terminal 52 receives power from the USB terminal and can be used to operate the LED or charge the battery. And can transmit the LED control signal to the LED control circuit. In addition, it is also possible to receive a control signal through an earphone or a headphone connection terminal of a portable terminal. As described above, according to the present invention, a control signal can be exchanged between the portable terminal 90 and the diagnostic module 1 by applying various wired or wireless local area communication protocols.

Alternatively, the drive of the LED 40 may be simply turned on and off by the switch 51 alone. That is, the user can control the LED by turning on the switch and turning off the switch when the user wants to diagnose acne.

Further, the diagnosis module 1 has a structure in which the battery 53 is omitted, and the charging terminal 52 may be used as a power supply terminal. For example, the USB terminal of the portable terminal 90 and the power terminal of the diagnostic module 1 may be connected by wire to supply power to the portable terminal 90. Of course, as described above, the LED control signal may be received from the USB terminal and transmitted to the LED control circuit.

After the substrate 30 is first fitted to the lens barrel 12, the lens mount 60 is fitted and fixed in a forced fit manner. As the lens mounter 60 is fixed to the lens barrel 12, the substrate 30 is also fixed together. The wide-angle lens 62 and the long-pass filter 64 are fixedly secured to the lens mount 60 in this order. The lens mount 60 may be made of a synthetic resin material having elasticity to some extent to facilitate interference fit.

The wide-angle lens 62 is a structure for fitting the focal distance to the image sensor 94 of the portable terminal 90, even at a distance of a short barrel. Therefore, the image of the skin can be focused on the image sensor 94 by the wide-angle lens 62 and the optical lens 92 of the portable terminal 90.

The long-pass filter 64 passes only light having a wavelength of more than 500 nm. That is, the long-pass filter 64 functions to exclude blue light that has been irradiated to the skin, and to transmit green light and light having a wavelength longer than the green light. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the RGB sensor of the image sensor 94 from becoming white due to strong reflected light in the vicinity of 407 nm.

In the present invention, it is exemplified that the wide-angle lens 62 and the long-pass filter 64 are provided separately. But in actual production, it can be built in one. The wide-angle lens 62 is designed with a PMMA resin having excellent light transmittance and is injection-molded so as to produce a lens, and a yellow-based pigment that absorbs the wavelength of the first wavelength band is mixed with the resin before injection so that the function of the long- can do. According to this method, since the number of parts is reduced and the number of parts is reduced, there is an advantage that the volume of the product can be reduced and the manufacturing cost can be lowered. That is, the shape is the shape of the wide-angle lens 62, and the medium of the lens absorbs the light of the first wavelength band, so that the long-pass filter 64 functions simultaneously.

The housing 10 having the above-described various structures can be fixed to the portable terminal 90 by being fixed to the case 80. Of course, the present invention does not exclude other fixed schemes.

When the housing 10 is fixed to the portable terminal 90, the long-pass filter 64 and the image sensor 94 and the optical lens 92 of the portable terminal 90, as shown in Fig. 10, The wide-angle lens 62, and the circular hole 32 of the substrate are aligned. At this time, if the guiding part guiding the portable terminal 90 or the case 80 and the housing 10 of the diagnostic module 1 so as to make such alignment naturally is formed, the above-described alignment can be simplified.

As shown in FIG. 10, the tip of the lens barrel 12 can take a picture of the skin in close contact with the skin S. The focal length of the image sensor 94 is fixed to the distance between the image sensor 94 and the distal end of the lens barrel 12 because the lens barrel 12 is in contact with the skin. In addition, the lens barrel 12 is made of an opaque material, so that light can be prevented from being irradiated to a space inside the barrel from other light sources except for the LED 40. That is, the inside of the barrel satisfies the dark room condition in which there is no light source other than the LED 40. [

Therefore, the skin-contact type barrel 12 of the acne diagnosis apparatus of the present invention satisfies the condition that other light other than the light irradiated from the LED emitting blue light in the vicinity of 407 nm is not irradiated to the skin, And the size of the image of the skin to be photographed can be all the same.

Meanwhile, the diagnostic module 1 can be attached to various portable terminals. However, when the diagnostic module 1 is attached to different devices, the spectrum of the sensitivity of the R, G, and B sensors of the image sensor installed in the corresponding device must be grasped. That is, since the sensitivity of the R, G, and B sensors is different for each device, even if the same skin is photographed, there is a difference in the RGB values processed in the photographed image. Therefore, the formula f (R, G, B) reflecting the sensitivity of different R, G, B sensors is required for each device. However, this can be provided by the manufacturer of the diagnostic module 1 as an application of a smart phone. That is, if an application that implements the image process reflecting the spectral information of the sensitivities of the R, G, and B sensors detected by each device is uploaded to the App Store, and the user downloads and installs the application in the portable terminal, It can actively cope with various image sensors having different tendencies.

Therefore, users can purchase only the diagnostic module 1 according to the present invention, install it in their own smartphone, and install the application to implement the diagnostic device. Since the diagnostic module 1 can be implemented with only the minimum configuration described above, the cost can be reduced. Thus, users can conveniently use themselves at home.

Hereinafter, a method of diagnosing skin acne using such a device will be described.

The user installs a program for conducting diagnosis of acne on his / her portable terminal 90. The diagnostic module 1 is installed in the case 80 of the portable terminal 90 by aligning the lens barrel of the diagnostic module 1 and the optical lens 92 of the portable terminal 90.

The user turns on the switch 51 of the diagnostic module 1 and drives the program of the portable terminal 90 and connects the diagnostic module 1 and the portable terminal 90 via Bluetooth. Then, the program loads the threshold value of the characteristic of the image sensor 94 used for the corresponding model and the threshold value for judging whether acne is caused according to the model of the portable terminal 90 into the memory.

The user touches the tip of the lens barrel 12 against the skin to diagnose acne and presses the photographing button on the portable terminal 90. Then, the control signal is transmitted from the portable terminal 90 to the diagnostic module 1 through the Bluetooth protocol, and the LED control circuit and the power control unit provided on the substrate 30 operate to turn on the LED. The portable terminal 90 photographs the skin through the image sensor 94 while the LED is on. Then, the image photographed by the image sensor 94 detects light having a wavelength of 500 nm or more, and generates RGB values for each pixel.

The RGB values generated for each pixel are stored in the memory of the portable terminal. Then, the CPU of the portable terminal proceeds to the image process with respect to the photographed RGB values to compare the value calculated by the RGB value of each pixel with the reference value to determine whether the pixel portion is related to acne . Then, it is determined whether the area exceeds a predetermined standard.

In the program of the portable terminal, the image of the image picked up by the image sensor 94 is displayed on the display 96 of the portable terminal 90 to indicate the place where the acne has occurred or is likely to occur, do.

Then, the user can see the display of the portable terminal, and the area indicated by the light in the vicinity of 520 nm can be judged to be the part of the acne where inflammation is to occur or occurred. For reference, the sebum in the pores is also expressed in yellow to red, which is also noticeable.

In addition, when the number of incidence (possible) points of acne per unit area as a reference becomes equal to or higher than a predetermined level, the user is informed in a visual manner through sound or vibration, or through a display, We can suggest management method.

This diagnostic module 1 may be used in therapy mode, in addition to simply diagnosing acne. In this case, a method of intensively irradiating the blue light with the LED 40 may be used in a portion determined to be acne. Porphyrin produced by P. acne is toxic when it absorbs light, and in response to PDT (photodynamic therapy) treatment, which causes the toxicity to destroy P. acne and sebaceous glands, the porphyrin is released from light in the spectral range of around 410 nm , It is intended to obtain the therapeutic effect by irradiating the acne area with stronger blue light than when the skin is photographed for skin diagnosis.

As a method of irradiating blue light more strongly, a method of further increasing the power supplied to the LEDs to further increase the amount of blue light irradiation per unit LED, a method of fully lighting a plurality of LEDs provided, or a method of mixing them can be used. That is, when photographing the skin for diagnosis, only a part of the plurality of LEDs is turned on (of course, at this time also, the directionality is minimized by lighting at a position symmetrically radial with respect to the center). When blue light is irradiated in the therapy mode, All the LEDs can be turned on (illuminated) or the power supplied to each LED can be further increased.

In addition, the amount of blue light for therapeutic purposes can be automatically adjusted in the program corresponding to the size and number of acne identified in the diagnostic mode. The method of controlling the irradiation amount includes a method of adjusting the irradiation time, a method of adjusting the irradiation intensity, and a method of mixing all of them.

When the switch is in the first-step position, the blue light is irradiated at an illuminance suitable for skin photographing. When the switch is in the second-step position, the blue light is irradiated at a luminance suitable for the therapy mode. Or the like.

The combination of the portable terminal and the diagnostic module can realize a small device, and can be easily used at home or at home where the skin care is specialized. In particular, it is very easy to use because it can collect and display user data in real time.

While the present invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to exemplary embodiments thereof, it is to be understood that the scope of the invention is not limited to the disclosed exemplary embodiments. It is obvious that a transformation can be made. Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described in detail above, the effects of the present invention are not explicitly described and described, but it is needless to say that the effects that can be predicted by the configurations should also be recognized.

1: Diagnostic module
10: Housing
12: lens barrel
30: substrate
32: Circular hole
40: LED
51: Switch
52: Charging terminal
53: Battery
60: Lens mount
62: Lens (wide angle)
64: Long pass filter
80: Case
90: Portable terminal
92: Optical lens
94: Image sensor
96: Display
S: skin

Claims (21)

A housing including a barrel whose tip contacts the skin;
A substrate disposed within the housing;
An LED mounted on the substrate and positioned in an inner space of the barrel when the substrate is installed in the housing; And
And a lens installed in the lens barrel and positioned in a path along which the light emitted from the skin is incident on the image sensor to adjust the focal distance of the skin that contacts the distal end of the lens barrel to the image sensor.
The method according to claim 1,
The light emitted from the skin is positioned in a path through which the light emitted from the skin is incident on the image sensor so as to block light of a first wavelength band emitted from the LED and emit light of a second wavelength band that is longer than the light of the first wavelength band, And a long pass filter for transmitting the long pass filter.
The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the lens has a function of a long pass filter for blocking light of a first wavelength band emitted from the LED and transmitting light of a second wavelength band having a longer wavelength than the light of the first wavelength band.
The method of claim 3,
Wherein the lens is made of PMMA and is mixed with a pigment absorbing light of a first wavelength band.
The method according to claim 1,
A hole is formed in the substrate,
The hole is disposed in the longitudinal center axis of the barrel in the barrel,
Wherein the LED is mounted around the hole, and is radially disposed at equal intervals with respect to a longitudinal center axis of the lens barrel.
The method according to claim 1 or 3 or 4,
Wherein the lens is mounted in the lens barrel while being fixed to the lens mount,
Wherein the lens mount is secured to the lens barrel to provide a fixing force to fix the substrate within the housing.
The method of claim 2,
Wherein the lens and the pass filter are installed in the lens barrel while being fixed to the lens mount,
Wherein the lens mount is secured to the lens barrel to provide a fixing force to fix the substrate within the housing.
The method according to claim 1,
And a battery accommodated in the housing, charged by being supplied with power from the outside, and discharged to supply power to the LED.
The method of claim 8,
Wherein the substrate is provided with a switch (51) for controlling on / off of the diagnostic module.
The method of claim 8,
And a Bluetooth module for short-range wireless communication with the portable terminal including the image sensor.
The method of claim 8,
And a charging terminal (52) is provided on the substrate.
The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the peak wavelength of the light of the first wavelength range irradiated by the LED is between 380 nm and 420 nm.
The method according to claim 2, 3, or 4,
Wherein the light in the second wavelength band comprises light at and near 520 nm.
A diagnostic module according to any one of claims 1 to 5, claims 7 to 12, and
And a portable terminal coupled to the diagnostic module and including the image sensor.
15. The method of claim 14,
And the image sensor is guided to be aligned with the barrel when the diagnostic module and the portable terminal are fastened together.
15. The method of claim 14,
Wherein the image sensor includes a blue light sensing element, a green light sensing element, and a red light sensing element.
15. The method of claim 14,
Wherein the portable terminal is provided with a program for controlling the diagnostic module and processing an image photographed by the image sensor.
18. The method of claim 17,
Wherein the program generates a signal to inform the user of the fact that the skin condition is abnormal as a result of the image processing.
18. The method of claim 17,
Wherein the program displays the photographed image on a display of the portable terminal.
The method of claim 19,
Wherein the program displays such a position on the display when an abnormal position of the skin condition is detected as a result of image processing.
18. The method of claim 17,
When the state of the skin is abnormal as a result of the image processing,
And the LED of the diagnostic module is controlled to proceed with the PDT.

Images