Swallowing simulation apparatus and method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9842193-B2
Application number	US-201214127420-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 29, 2012
Priority date	Jun 30, 2011
Publication date	Dec 12, 2017
Grant date	Dec 12, 2017

Abstract

A swallowing simulation apparatus comprises a computer that stores swallowing simulation software that when executed results in an oral cavity model and a pseudo-food product which are analyzed in a swallowing simulation. The analysis is used to evaluate ease of eating and/or drinking.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A swallowing simulation apparatus, comprising;
an input unit;
a display unit;
an evaluation result recording unit;
a storage unit; and
a computer storing, in a non-transitory computer readable medium, a swallowing simulator software including instructions which, when executed by the computer, the computer controls an oral cavity modeling unit, an organ property setting unit, an organ movement setting unit, a food product physical property setting unit, a movement analysis unit, and a physical property determiner, the computer controlling:
the oral cavity modeling unit to form an oral cavity model formed of oral-cavity organs;
the organ property setting unit to set an organ property of each of the oral-cavity organs in the oral cavity model;
the organ movement setting unit to set a movement of each of the oral-cavity organs in the oral cavity model;
the food product physical property setting unit to set a food product, a medicinal product, or a nonmedicinal product (hereinafter referred to as a food product or similar product) as an analysis target, and a physical property of the food product or similar product;
the input unit to input a pseudo-food product to the oral cavity, the pseudo-food product being formed by modeling the food product or similar product;
the movement analysis unit to analyze a movement of each of the oral-cavity organs and a behavior of the pseudo-food product while being swallowed in the oral-cavity model using a particle method; and
the display unit to display an analysis result of the movement of each of the oral-cavity organs and the behavior of the pseudo-food product while being swallowed on a moving screen, the analysis result being analyzed by the movement analysis unit;

wherein, under control of the computer:
the organ property setting unit sets an oral cavity wall as a rigid body and a tongue as an elastic body;
the organ movement setting unit sets a plurality of moving walls embedded in the tongue, the tongue being set so as to move in a peristaltic movement or a wave movement by moving the plurality of moving walls to a direction intersecting with a surface of the tongue with a predetermined period and a predetermined phase difference, and sets a soft palate, an epiglottis, and a gullet wall so as to move together with a predetermined phase difference to the peristaltic movement or the wave movement;
the movement analysis unit treats the tongue and the pseudo-food product as particles;
the oral cavity modeling unit forms a two dimensional oral cavity model; and
the movement analysis unit analyzes the behavior of the pseudo-food product in a two dimensional space;
the evaluation result recording unit records an evaluation result of easiness of eating and/or easiness of drinking of the food product or similar product based on an analysis result of the behavior of the pseudo-food product while being swallowed;
the physical property determiner determines the physical property of the food product or similar product regarded as appropriate based on the evaluation result recorded in the evaluation result recording unit; and
the storage unit stores, in a non-transitory computer readable medium, the oral cavity model, the organ properties, the analysis result, and the evaluation results,

wherein the evaluation result includes whether the accidental swallowing or accidental ingestion risk exists or not,
wherein the swallowing simulator software includes a two-dimensional particle method analysis software that changes dimensionless physical quantities of the physical property value of the fluid and time,
wherein in the oral cavity model, four portions exclusively are set as the movable parts, the four portions being the tongue, the soft palate, the epiglottis, and an entrance of the gullet,
wherein the movement of three or four of the moving walls embedded in the tongue is performed by changing an amplitude of oscillation of the three or four walls at the same period and shifting a phase.

2. The swallowing simulation apparatus according to claim 1 ; wherein
the organ movement setting unit sets a movement of the soft palate and the epiglottis as a movement of a rotator where a rotational center moves.

3. The swallowing simulation apparatus according to claim 1 ; wherein
the food product physical property setting unit sets a plurality of liquid, semisolid, or solid pseudo-food products with different physical property as an analysis target; and
the movement analysis unit determines free surfaces of a plurality of the pseudo-food products and boundaries between the plurality of pseudo-food products, the movement analysis unit analyzing a gearing behavior of the plurality of pseudo-food products.

4. The swallowing simulation apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising;
an evaluation unit configured to evaluate easiness of eating and/or easiness of drinking of the food product or similar product based on the behavior of the pseudo-food product while being swallowed on the moving screen; wherein
the moving screen is a virtual moving screen formed at a virtual space by the swallowing simulation apparatus to simulatively display an analysis result of a movement of each of the oral-cavity organs and a behavior of the pseudo-food product while being swallowed, the analysis result being analyzed by the movement analysis unit; and
the evaluation unit evaluates whether the behavior of the pseudo-food product on the virtual moving screen meets a predetermined condition or not.

5. A swallowing simulation method using the swallowing simulation apparatus according to claim 1 , the method comprising;
an oral cavity modeling step of forming an oral cavity model formed of oral-cavity organs by the oral cavity modeling unit of the swallowing simulation apparatus;
an organ property setting step of setting an organ property of each of the oral-cavity organs in the oral cavity model by the organ property setting unit of the swallowing simulation apparatus;
an organ movement setting step of setting a movement of each of the oral-cavity organs in the oral cavity model by the oral movement setting unit of the swallowing simulation apparatus;
a food product physical property setting step of setting a food product or similar product as an analysis target and a physical property of the food product or similar product by the food product physical property setting unit of the swallowing simulation apparatus;
an input step of inputting, through the input unit of the swallowing simulation apparatus, a pseudo-food product to the oral cavity, the pseudo-food product being formed by modeling the food product or similar product;
a movement analysis step of analyzing a movement of each of the oral-cavity organs and a behavior of the pseudo-food product while being swallowed in the oral cavity model using a particle method by the movement analysis unit of the swallowing simulation apparatus; and
a display step of displaying an analysis result of the movement of each of the oral-cavity organs and the behavior of the pseudo-food product while being swallowed on a moving screen, the analysis result being analyzed in the movement analysis step by the movement analysis unit of the swallowing simulation apparatus;
wherein:
the organ property setting step sets an oral cavity wall as a rigid body and a tongue as an elastic body;
the organ movement setting step sets a plurality of moving walls in the tongue, the tongue being set so as to move in a peristaltic movement or a wave movement by moving the plurality of moving walls to a direction intersecting with a surface of the tongue with a predetermined period and a predetermined phase difference, and sets a soft palate, an epiglottis, and a gullet wall so as to move together with a predetermined phase diff

Assignees

• Kamiya Tetsu
• Toyama Yoshio
• Michiwaki Yukihiro
• Meiji Co Ltd

Inventors

• Kamiya Tetsu
• Toyama Yoshio
• Michiwaki Yukihiro

Classifications

• A61C7/002

  Orthodontic computer assisted systems · CPC title

• G16H50/50

  for simulation or modelling of medical disorders · CPC title

• A61B5/4205

  Evaluating swallowing · CPC title

• A63H13/005

  with self-moving head or facial features (with a choice of features A63H3/365; movable eyes A63H3/40) · CPC title

• A61C13/0004 Primary

  Computer-assisted sizing or machining of dental prostheses · CPC title