EP0323901A1
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EP
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Method and apparatus for detecting urinary constituents
Assignee: Inax Corp
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Filing: 1989-01-05
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Granted: —
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Expires: 2009-01-05
Abstract
Abstract An apparatus for measuring the concentration of constituents of urine collected in a toilet bowl (1) comprises a conduit (6, 7) extending from the urine-collecting portion (2) of the bowl to a concentration-measuring device (8). A gas injector (4) is mounted beside the conduit to intermittently inject gas into the conduit, for dividing the urine contained in the conduit into aliquots. The concentration values of urinary constituents of each aliquot are measured.
Inventors
- 👤 Shiro Saito
- 👤 Kenji Shirai
- 👤 Ryuichi Kawamoto
- 👤 Shigeru Sakakibara
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
EP
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-10-23 14:22
CPC Classifications
G; G01; G01N; G01N33/00; G01N33/48; A; A61; A61B; A61B5/00; A61B5/145; A61B5/14507; A61B5/20; G01N33/483; G01N33/487; G01N33/493; G01N33/50; G01N33/58; Y; Y10; Y10T; Y10T436/00; Y10T436/11; Y10T436/117497; Y10T436/118339; Y10T436/25
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 26
Claim 1
Independent Claim
75 words
A method of investigating urinary constituents with a measuring device, comprising the steps of: collecting urine by a toilet bowl; forcing the collected urine into a conduit to supply the urine to the measuring device: injecting gas into the urine contained in the conduit to divide the urine into plural aliquots which are separated from each other by intervening gas; and introducing the aliquots successively into the measuring device to investigate constituents of the aliquots.
Claim 2
Independent Claim
75 words
A method of investigating urinary constituents with a measuring device, comprising the steps of: collecting urine by a toilet bowl; forcing the collected urine into a conduit to supply the urine to the measuring device: injecting gas into the urine contained in the conduit to divide the urine into plural aliquots which are separated from each other by intervening gas; and introducing the aliquots successively into the measuring device to investigate constituents of the aliquots.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
49 words
A method of investigating urinary constituents as set forth in claim 1, wherein the step of injecting gas into the urine involves diluting the collected urine at a desired rate of dilution and then intermittently injecting the gas to divide the urine contained in the conduit into the aliquots.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
45 words
A method of investigating urinary constituents as set forth in claim 1, further including the step of diluting each aliquot at a desired rate of dilution after the urine contained in the conduit is divided into the aliquots by intermittently injecting gas into the conduit.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
31 words
A method of investigating urinary constituents as set forth in claim 1, wherein a different reagent is added to each different aliquot of the urine which is separated in the conduit.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
38 words
A method of investigating urinary constituents as set forth in claim 1, wherein reagents of the same kind but having different values of concentration are added to the aliquots of the urine which are separated in the conduit.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
44 words
A method of investigating urinary constituents as set forth in claim 1, further including the steps of mixing together the urine and the reagents to form homogeneous mixtures after the reagents are added to the aliquots of urine which are separated in the conduit.
Claim 8
Independent Claim
59 words
An apparatus for investigating urinary constituents, comprising: a toilet bowl having a urine-collecting portion; a measuring device for detecting constituents of urine; a conduit for forcing urine from the urine-collecting portion into the measuring device; and an injection means for injecting gas into the conduit such that the injected gas divides the urine contained in the conduit into aliquots.
Claim 9
Independent Claim
59 words
An apparatus for investigating urinary constituents, comprising: a toilet bowl having a urine-collecting portion; a measuring device for detecting constituents of urine; a conduit for forcing urine from the urine-collecting portion into the measuring device; and an injection means for injecting gas into the conduit such that the injected gas divides the urine contained in the conduit into aliquots.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
33 words
An apparatus for investigating urinary constituents as set forth in claim 7, wherein a means for diluting urine is mounted either in the urine-collecting portion of the toilet bowl or beside the conduit.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
27 words
An apparatus for investigating urinary constituents as set forth in claim 7, wherein a reagent adder is disposed beside the conduit and downstream of the injection means.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
32 words
An apparatus for investigating urinary constituents as set forth in claim 8 wherein a reagent adder is mounted beside the conduit and downstream of both the injection means and the diluting means.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
43 words
An apparatus for investigating urinary constituents as set forth in claim 9, wherein a means for mixing together urine and the reagent is mounted beside the conduit and between the reagent adder and the measuring device that measures concentration of a urinary constituent.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
22 words
An apparatus for investigating urinary constituents as set forth in claim 11, wherein the mixing means consists of a spirally shaped tube.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
22 words
An apparatus for investigating urinary constituents as set forth in claim 7, wherein the measuring device is a spectrophotometer which measures concentration.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
32 words
An apparatus for investigating urinary constituents as set forth in claim 7, wherein a display device that displays the results of a measurement is connected with the measuring device for measuring concentration.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim
40 words
An apparatus for investigating urinary constituents as set foth in claim 1, further including the step of intermittently injecting a reagent into each aliquot of urine with a reagent adder to measure the concentration of a constituent of each aliquot.
Claim 18
Dependent Claim
46 words
An apparatus for investigating urinary constituents as set forth in claim 7, further including a reagent adder disposed beside the conduit and downstream of the injection means, the reagent adder being capable of intermittently injecting a reagent into each aliquot of urine separated by the gas.
Claim 19
Dependent Claim
72 words
An apparatus for investigating urinary constituents as set forth in claim 7, wherein said measuring device includes a light-transmitting portion through which urine flows, a light source, a light-receiving device disposed on the opposite side of the light-transmitting portion from the light source, and a lens mounted between the light source and the light-transmitting portion for focusing light into the urine, the light-transmitting portion being made from a material that transmits light.
Claim 20
Dependent Claim
62 words
An apparatus for investigating urinary constituents as set forth in claim 7, further including: a urine collector mounted to the toilet bowl so as to be capable of collecting urine, the collector having a diluting means capable of diluting the urine collected in the collector; and a reagent adder mounted beside the conduit and capable of injecting a reagent into the conduit.
Claim 21
Dependent Claim
28 words
An apparatus for investigating urinary constituents as set forth in claim 17, wherein said light source consists of two or more light-emitting means emitting different wavelengths of light.
Claim 22
Dependent Claim
33 words
An apparatus for investigating urinary constituents as set forth in claim 7, wherein a plurality of conduits are provided, and wherein each conduit is equipped with the injection means and the measuring device.
Claim 23
Independent Claim
74 words
An apparatus for measuring urinary constituents, comprising: a toilet bowl having a urine-collecting portion; a constituent analyzer for analyzing the urinary constituents; a conduit for forcing the urine collected in the urine-collecting portion into the constituent analyzer; a processing unit which can store output data from the analyzer, read data stored, and process data in a desired manner; and a display means for displaying the results of data processing delivered from the processing unit.
Claim 24
Independent Claim
74 words
An apparatus for measuring urinary constituents, comprising: a toilet bowl having a urine-collecting portion; a constituent analyzer for analyzing the urinary constituents; a conduit for forcing the urine collected in the urine-collecting portion into the constituent analyzer; a processing unit which can store output data from the analyzer, read data stored, and process data in a desired manner; and a display means for displaying the results of data processing delivered from the processing unit.
Claim 25
Independent Claim
61 words
An apparatus for measuring urinary constituents, comprising: a toilet bowl having a lower portion in which a device for investigating urinary constituents is mounted; a processing unit which can store output data from the device, read data stored, and process data in a desired manner; and a display means for displaying the results of data processing delivered from the processing unit.
Claim 26
Independent Claim
61 words
An apparatus for measuring urinary constituents, comprising: a toilet bowl having a lower portion in which a device for investigating urinary constituents is mounted; a processing unit which can store output data from the device, read data stored, and process data in a desired manner; and a display means for displaying the results of data processing delivered from the processing unit.
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