System for testing and analysing the respiratory functions

The invention relates to a system for testing and analyzing the lung or other respiratory functions of people or animals, in particular preschool children, with one or more measuring devices measuring their breathing and with an output medium acting on their psyche and / or nervous system, which is of a stimulus -, animation or other information sample source is fed.

Breath measurement is a key part of diagnostics for lung diseases. It has proven itself in children aged 6 years and older. However, this places high demands on the patient. He has to learn to breathe in at maximum depth and exhale on command with the highest strength until all the air is exhaled. The respiratory measuring system known for this purpose is tailored to adults, whereby the fear of children is not taken into account.

Preschool children up to 6 years of age are usually unaware that they are breathing. In their instinctive breathing processes, they cannot differentiate between inhalation and exhalation. Preschool children are not expected to breathe in at maximum depth and exhale with maximum force until all possible air is exhaled. In addition, they can hardly be persuaded to voluntarily submit to the respiratory measurement procedures and to undertake a considerable amount of practice because they are too young for this level of active cooperation. In addition, preschool children are afraid of breathing meters.

A partial breath measurement is also known, which is based on the patient's subjective respiratory stimulation or triggering. The patient is flooded with stimuli, which encourage a strong and long exhalation, regardless of the inhalation before and after the stimulated breathing maneuver. However, this inhalation is critical for correct measurements. The animation is based on the patient's instincts, especially in childhood, to breathe deeply before blowing out vigorously, for example to win a game (e.g. blowing out candles, jumping up, etc.). From such breathing activities there can be no certainty that the child has previously inhaled maximum amounts of air.

The invention has for its object to develop breath test and analysis systems so that lung functions and breathing activities of preschool children can be reliably measured and analyzed.

To solve this problem, it is proposed according to the invention in a test and analysis system of the type mentioned at the outset that one or more filters are connected downstream of the measuring device or devices at the outputs thereof, which are coupled on the output side to the pattern source for their control and are designed for further processing of measured variables in control signals that the pattern source feeds information to be output into the output medium depending on the respiration or on the breathing condition.

With this invention, the preschooler can be made to subconsciously inhale deeply before an exhalation to be measured, the inhaled amount or volume of air also being measured. The inventive idea consists in breathing creatures, especially preschoolers or disabled children, through an output medium acting on them, which, for. B. can provide animation graphics to guide correct lung function maneuvers. Breathed air volume, volume flow or flow and respiratory disturbances are registered by the measuring means and influence the output medium via the filter or filters, for example the moving images on a screen, which the preschooler follows during the measurement. The patterns shown by the output medium to the preschooler or other living being, for example moving figures on a screen, can be designed in a manner known per se in such a way that the breathing of the child is positively influenced. The stimuli emanating from the output medium to the child or other living things, for example in the form of moving graphics, are particularly advantageously embedded in a content-related story, which is interactive in its course through the breathing of the child via the measuring means, the filtering and possibly a computer unit being controlled. The stories emanating from the output medium can also have educational effects for the child.

Another advantage achieved by the invention is that a complete breath measurement is achieved, since detection is provided not only of the exhalation but also of the inhalation. This is the basis for analyzing flood breathing and performing bronchial stimulation tests.

A computer unit is expediently connected downstream of the filter output (s) which controls a storage medium which serves as a source for the patterns to be supplied to the output medium. The stored information can contain patterns that form incentives or animations from the children's world. This makes it possible to teach preschool children separate breathing steps that make up all of the breathing or form different stages of a forced exhalation maneuver. The games can have tasks to be solved at different levels of difficulty, with a reward being provided when the task is solved. The stimulus patterns can be in the form of a story that takes into account the child's limited concentration period in terms of interaction with bronchial stimulation.

In order to reduce fear-causing elements in the analysis and test system and to increase the willingness of the affected patients to participate and cooperate, it is advisable in the case of preschool children to adapt the system equipment (mouthpieces, lung tachygraphs, etc.) to the size, strength and mood of preschool children adapt.

Further features, details, advantages and effects based on the invention result from the following description of a preferred embodiment of the invention and from the drawing, which shows a schematic block diagram of an exemplary test and analysis system according to the invention:

The breathing of a test person P, in particular a preschool child, is measured by means of a measuring sensor M for the inhaled and exhaled air volume V, for the bidirectional air flow V / t and for the breathing frequency N._B/ t (number of breaths N_B per unit time t). The corresponding measured values ​​V, V / t, N_B/ t are fed to filters, according to the example shown PID control elements. These filters or control elements carry out an evaluation of the above-mentioned measured variables, which originate from the test person P, who, as it were, forms the controlled system in a closed control loop.

It is expedient to also supply the measurement results in parallel to a display D, where other parameters can also be shown in real time with suitable scaling. In particular, prediction values ​​and values ​​of previous measurements can also be shown on the display D.

The outputs of the filters PID assigned to each type of measurement variable are fed to a common computing unit A. This can be implemented, for example, as a totalizer for the measurement results evaluated by the PID filters. Your output controls a storage medium for stimulus, animation or other information patterns that are particularly suitable for preschool children. The control can take place, for example, via the address inputs of the storage medium if the storage medium is digital. In addition, it is expedient if the storage medium is provided with a further input I, via which information patterns can be supplied from outside or can also be deleted within the storage medium. The content of the storage medium S, namely the information pattern, is fed to an output medium O, for example a screen, which is visually detected by the test person. In addition, the output unit can also have other interfaces of an acoustic type (such as loudspeakers). The patterns transmitted from the storage medium S to the test person P via the output unit O serve to animate and stimulate their psyche and nervous system depending on the diagnostic purpose, so that the type of breathing of the test person and thus the breath measurement results V, V / t, N_B/ t can be influenced in a targeted manner. The output medium O represents to a certain extent the control device of the control loop, while the filters PID with the computing unit A and the storage medium S form the controller. This can be parameterized via the inputs I in the filter PID, computing unit A and the storage medium S before the control process or can be adapted to special, changing circumstances during the control process.

On the output medium O, a picture can be displayed for preschool children that is known to the preschool child from its real environment. The child can interactively change or edit the image by breathing with a mouthpiece or a lung tachygraph. Each breathing maneuver, both inhaling and exhaling, causes a predetermined movement of the picture element. The corresponding image information is previously stored in the storage medium S. From this, the child can do tasks, for example. be presented in the form of computer games, with a reward or recognition given when the goal is achieved or the task is accomplished. Each game stored in the storage medium S has several levels of difficulty. The games are designed to serve the desired lung or breathing tests while taking into account the child's ability to concentrate. With particular advantage, each game is considered one<img file="EP0968680A2_D0001.tif" />Short story "with a surprising ending. The associated software is appropriately written so that it is compatible with common operating systems and hospital databases.