小型可攜式舌診系統

蔣依吾
國立中山大學資訊工程系
主持人於衛生署中醫藥委員會90至91年度之中醫舌診標準化整合研究計劃中（CCMP90-RD-017, 90.06.01~ 90.12.31及CCMP91-RD-110, 91.01.01~ 91.12.31），業已發展一可自動分析舌診影像特徵之中醫舌診電腦化系統，研究結果經彙整後，透過中醫藥委員會進行專利申請，並於2008年4月獲准發明專利（"舌診系統及其方法"中華民國專利證書發明第I296110號），現正尋求將發明專利商業化，成為舌診臨床診治之自動化儀器，惟原有舌診系統之配置，於儀器化過程中，計有下列面向之缺失：
1. 影像擷取環境：原為求影像擷取時之外在環境條件一致性，將燈光、相機及頭部固定架均置於黑布包覆之暗房內，佔用較大空間，受檢者必須親至暗房內取像，無法遷就病情較為嚴重患者，移動取像器材，至病床擷取舌頭影像，適用範圍受限。
2. 影像擷取設備：原燈光、相機及頭部固定架之體積較大，不利小型化，無法達到可攜之便利性，且相機之取像解析度高，導致儲存、處理及傳送所擷取舌頭影像之額外負荷，系統成本無法降低，對自動化舌診儀器之推廣造成阻礙。
3. 影像處理設備：原使用分離設置之桌上型電腦及印表機進行舌頭影像之分析與舌診判讀表之列印，體積及重量均大，不利自動化舌診儀器之可攜性。
本計畫針對前述原有舌診系統缺失，提出一小型可攜式舌診系統設置，縮小燈光、相機及頭部固定架之體積及重量，使用頭帶式（head-mounted）取像方式，擷取受檢者舌頭影像，配合加強之校正程序，以補償取像環境放鬆而導致之失真，搭配小型之處理及輸出設備，令自動化舌診儀器達到可攜性及成本降低之功效。
關鍵字：舌診電腦化系統；小型可攜式舌診系統；頭帶式取像

Portable tongue diagnosis system

John Chiang
National Sun-Yat-sen University, Department of Computer Science and Engineering
There are four major ways of diagnosis in Chinese medicine practice, tongue inspection is one of the important roles in inspection diagnosis. It is well known that the different sections of tongue are highly correlated to the human organ structure functions. In this research, a small-scale tongue diagnosis system was established by using image processing technology. This system could be used for analyzing and finding the difference of tongue characters between healthy persons and patients.
This system was set on a moveable consulting chassis, mainly including a personal computer, a frame grabber, color CCD cameras, the light equipment, and a printer. The software combined with image processing programs and application programs of tongue-characteristic database. The analyzed results could be saved to tongue-characteristic database for convenience of the preservation and management of patient’s history. The data from database could be used later.
The principles of traditional Chinese medicine diagnosis were based on four diagnostic processes which were viewing, learning, inquiring, and examining. Our developed small-scale tongue diagnosis system was only provided tongue diagnostic information. It would be practical to help doctors to diagnose illness more accurately.
關鍵字：small-scale tongue diagnosis system；image processing；tongue-characteristic database；