Biological condition measurement apparatus, biological condition measurement method and biological condition measurement system

1 . A biological condition measurement apparatus comprising:

one or more transmitting sections each configured to transmit a transmission signal in a frequency band equal to or higher than a millimeter wave band at predetermined time intervals;

one or more receiving sections each configured to receive a plurality of reflection signals generated by reflection of the transmission signal on a plurality of persons;

a measuring section that measures a plurality of times of flight from the transmission of the transmission signal by the one or more transmitting sections until the reception of the plurality of reflection signals by the one or more receiving sections; and

an identifying section that classifies a plurality of pieces of time-of-flight data representing the plurality of times of flight into a plurality of pieces of time series data including a plurality of pieces of time-of-flight data representing times of flight that fluctuate in a time range equal to or lower than a first threshold, and identifies a biological condition representing motions of an organ of a first person of the plurality of persons on a basis of a mode of change of times of flight represented by each of the plurality of pieces of time series data, wherein the first threshold is a value that is higher than a maximum value of change amounts of times of flight caused by motions of the organ of the first person, and additionally is smaller than a minimum difference between a time of flight of a reflection signal from the first person and a time of flight of a reflection signal from a second person of the plurality of persons.

2 . The biological condition measurement apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein, in a case where the one or more receiving sections receive a plurality of the reflection signals based on the transmission signal transmitted by the one or more transmitting sections, the identifying section identifies, as the biological condition of the first person, time series data including a plurality of pieces of time-of-flight data representing times of flight that fluctuate in a time range equal to or lower than a second threshold higher than the first threshold and set to detect movement of the first person larger than organ motions, during a cycle in which the times of flight fluctuate.

3 . The biological condition measurement apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein the second threshold is a value that is higher than a maximum value of change amounts of times of flight caused by a movement of the first person, and smaller than a minimum difference between a time of flight of a reflection signal from the first person and a time of flight of a reflection signal from the second person.

4 . The biological condition measurement apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein, by classifying a plurality of the reflection signals generated by reflection of one transmission signal transmitted by the one or more transmitting sections on a plurality of parts of the persons on a basis of a range in which the times of flight measured by the one or more measuring sections are included, the identifying section identifies a plurality of the biological conditions corresponding to the plurality of parts.

5 . The biological condition measurement apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the one or more transmitting sections are each configured to transmit the transmission signal at preset time intervals that are shorter than a half cycle of a minimum value of a cycle during which the biological condition changes.

6 . The biological condition measurement apparatus according to claim 5 , each of the transmission signals is transmitted toward mutually different areas,

and has a length shorter than a length of time which is a quotient of a length of the time intervals by a number of the transmitting sections.

7 . The biological condition measurement apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the one or more transmitting sections are each configured to transmit the transmission signal in a cycle longer than a value which is obtained by multiplying a sum of a time length of the transmission signal and a length of time during which the reflection signal may be received, by a number of the one or more transmitting sections.

8 . The biological condition measurement apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein

the one or more transmitting sections are configured to transmit the transmission signal toward different areas at mutually different timings,

the one or more measuring sections measure, for each of the one or more transmitting sections, at least one of the plurality of time of flights from the transmission of the transmission signal by each of the one or more transmitting sections until the reception of the reflection signal by the one or more receiving sections, and

the identifying section identifies the biological condition of the plurality of the persons present in the different areas.

9 . The biological condition measurement apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein

the one or more receiving sections are configured to receive the plurality of reflection signals coming from mutually different areas,

the measuring section measures, for each of the one or more receiving sections, a time of flight from the transmission of the transmission signal by each of the one or more transmitting sections until the reception of the reflection signals by the one or more receiving sections, and

the identifying section identifies the biological condition of the plurality of the persons present in the mutually different areas from which the one or more receiving sections receive the reflection signals.

10 . The biological condition measurement apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein

the one or more transmitting sections transmit the transmission signal toward different areas at mutually different timings, and the one or more receiving sections receive the reflection signals coming from mutually different areas,

the measuring section measures, for each combination of the one or more transmitting sections and the one or more receiving sections, at least one of the plurality of times of flight from the transmission of the transmission signals by each of the one or more transmitting sections until the reception of the reflection signals by the one or more receiving sections, and

the identifying section identifies the biological condition of the plurality of the persons in areas determined from combinations of the areas toward which the one or more transmitting sections transmit the transmission signal and the areas from which the one or more receiving sections receive the reflection signals, on a basis of the at least one time of flight measured by the measuring section for each combination of the one or more transmitting sections and the one or more receiving sections.

11 . The biological condition measurement apparatus according to claim 10 , further comprising:

an operation accepting section that accepts operation to set a target area of the identification of the biological condition by the identifying section; and

a radio-wave control section that controls the one or more transmitting sections and the one or more receiving sections such that the one or more transmitting sections corresponding to the target area accepted by the operation accepting section in the one or more transmitting sections are caused to transmit the transmission signal, and the one or more receiving sections corresponding to the target area accepted by the operation accepting section in the one or more receiving sections are caused to receive the reflection signals.

12 . The biological condition measurement apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein

the identifying section identifies a position of the first person that generates the reflection signals, on a basis of: an area from which the one or more receiving sections receives the reflection signals; an area toward which the one or more transmitting sections transmits the transmission signal to generate the reflection signals; and a distance to the first person corresponding to at least one of the plurality of times of flight, and

the biological condition measurement apparatus further comprises an output section that outputs, in association with each other, the biological condition and information representing the position of the first person identified by the identifying section.

13 . The biological condition measurement apparatus according to claim 12 , wherein the area from which the receiving section receives the reflection signal and the area toward which the transmitting section transmits the transmission signal are different, and additionally partially overlap.

14 . The biological condition measurement apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising an output section that prioritizes output of the biological condition corresponding to the first person identified as being the closest to the biological condition measurement apparatus on a basis of the plurality of time of flights in a plurality of the biological conditions corresponding to the plurality of the persons identified by the identifying section, over output of the biological condition corresponding to the second person.

15 . The biological condition measurement apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein in a case where it is unknown to which person's time-of-flight data corresponds, and a feature identified by assuming that the time-of-flight data is first time-of flight data of the person matches a feature of a past cycle of the one of the plurality of the persons, the identifying section determines that the assumption is correct, and in a case that the feature does not match the feature of the past cycle of the one of the plurality of the persons, the identifying section determines that the assumption is wrong, and determines that the first time-of-flight data corresponds to another person in the plurality of the persons.

16 . A biological condition measurement apparatus, comprising:

one or more transmitting sections each configured to transmit a transmission signal in a frequency band equal to or higher than a millimeter wave band at predetermined time intervals;

one or more receiving sections each configured to receive a plurality of reflection signals generated by reflection of the transmission signal on a plurality of persons;

a measuring section that measures a plurality of times of flight from the transmission of the transmission signal by the one or more transmitting sections until the reception of the plurality of reflection signals by the one or more receiving sections; and

an identifying section that classifies a plurality of pieces of time-of-flight data representing the plurality of times of flight into a plurality of pieces of time series data including a plurality of pieces of time-of-flight data representing times of flight that fluctuate in a time range equal to or lower than a first threshold, and identifies a biological condition representing motions of an organ of each of the plurality of the persons on a basis of a mode of change of times of flight represented by each of the plurality of pieces of time series data, wherein

the measuring section measures levels of a plurality of reflection signals received by the one or more receiving sections,

in a case where a level of a reflection signal of the plurality of reflection signals with a long time of flight is equal to or lower than a level of a reflection signal of the plurality of reflection signals with a short time of flight, the measuring section causes the times of flight of the plurality of reflection signals to be stored on a storage section, and

in a case where a level of the reflection signal with the long time of flight is higher than the level of the reflection signal with the short time of flight, the measuring section does not cause the times of flight of the plurality of reflection signals to be stored on the storage section.

17 . A biological condition measurement method executed by a computer comprising:

a step of transmitting a transmission signal in a frequency band equal to or higher than a millimeter wave band at predetermined time intervals;

a step of receiving a plurality of reflection signals generated by reflection of the transmission signal on a plurality of persons;

a step of measuring a plurality of times of flight from the transmission of the transmission signal until the reception of the plurality of reflection signals; and

a step of classifying a plurality of pieces of time-of-flight data representing the plurality of times of flight into a plurality of pieces of time series data including a plurality of pieces of time-of-flight data representing times of flight that fluctuate in a time range equal to or lower than a first threshold, and identifying a biological condition representing motions of an organ of a first person of the plurality of the persons on a basis of a mode of change of times of flight represented by each of the plurality of pieces of time series data, wherein the first threshold is a value that is higher than a maximum value of change amounts of times of flight caused by motions of the organ of the first person, and additionally is smaller than a minimum difference between a time of flight of a reflection signal from the first person and a time of flight of a reflection signal from a second person of the plurality of persons.

18 . A biological condition measurement system comprising: a biological condition measurement apparatus; and an information processing apparatus that can communicate with the biological condition measurement apparatus, wherein

the biological condition measurement apparatus comprises:

one or more transmitting sections each configured to transmit a transmission signal in a frequency band equal to or higher than a millimeter wave band at predetermined time intervals; and

one or more receiving sections each configured to receive a plurality of reflection signals generated by reflection of the transmission signal on a plurality of persons, and

either the biological condition measurement apparatus or the information processing apparatus includes:

a measuring section that measures a plurality of times of flight from the transmission of the transmission signal by the transmitting section until the reception of the plurality of reflection signals by the receiving section; and

an identifying section that classifies a plurality of pieces of time-of-flight data representing the plurality of times of flight into a plurality of pieces of time series data including a plurality of pieces of time-of-flight data representing times of flight that fluctuate in a time range equal to or lower than a first threshold, and identifies a biological condition representing motions of an organ of a first person of the plurality of the persons on a basis of a mode of change of times of flight represented by each of the plurality of pieces of time series data, wherein the first threshold is a value that is higher than a maximum value of change amounts of times of flight caused by motions of the organ of the first person, and additionally is smaller than a minimum difference between a time of flight of a reflection signal from the first person and a time of flight of a reflection signal from a second person of the plurality of persons.