Academic Company Events NI Developer Zone Support Solutions Products & Services Contact NI MyNI

Customer Solutions

A User-Friendly, Intelligent Laser Acupuncture System

Author(s):

Tan Yong Chuan, Nanyang Technological University; Tai Wee Lin, Nanyang Technological University; Shum Ping, Nanyang Technological University

Industry:

University/Education

Product:

Data Acquisition, LabVIEW

The Challenge:

Developing a user-friendly, intelligent laser acupuncture system that can be controlled and monitored remotely over the Internet.

The Solution:

Using National Instruments LabVIEW software, data acquisition, and NI IMAQ Vision to control and monitor laser acupuncture treatment with an automated intelligent system that automatically recognizes the meridian points and compensates for body movement.


image

Creating a Laser Acupuncture System
Traditional acupuncture places needles on meridian points beneath the skin for therapeutic purposes. More recently, laser acupuncture (using therapeutic lasers to stimulate meridian points) has proven effective. It has definite advantages over using needles – it is aseptic, noninvasive, and painless, and if used properly, has no reported side effects.

Developing our automated laser treatment system required two major steps – the first being identifying the meridian points on the human back as part of a pretreatment process. This step required both the image acquisition and database retrieval techniques.

The next step involved positioning two colored marks on the patient’s back after locating the meridian points during treatment and automatically compensating for patient movement. This application required intensive image processing, color pattern learning and matching, and redefining a dynamic coordinate system for meridian point location if the patient moved.

National Instruments products were ideal for our application development because NI products include both the data acquisition and image processing capabilities essential for our laser treatment procedure.

We designed our system based on high-performance low-cost hardware:

  • A Photonik laser system consisting of the laser driver and the diode-pumped, solid-state lasers (532 nm green laser)
  • A Catweazle LC II galvanometer, a laser scanning system designed for use with an external laser source with up to 1W output power in the wavelength range of 400 to 700 nm
  • A Uniblitz LS Series shutter to control the laser beam delivery into the galvanometer via RS232C
  • An NI PCI-6025E low-cost 12-bit PCI data acquisition board
  • A Logitech USB Web camera for acquiring the patient’s video image for processing


Performing the Highly Detailed Treatment Process
To begin the process, the acupuncturist accesses an interface detailing onscreen operating instructions and selects an ailment from the database. If the selected ailment does not meet preloaded user requirements, test cases and warning messages, defined by colored markers and neck region edge detection, stop system progression.

Before treatment starts, the acupuncturist places two colored markers on the patient’s back. One marker is located at a reference point (the bottom of the protrusion near the neck region), while the other marker is positioned along the spine.

For the system to recognize the colored markers by shape and color pattern, the acupuncturist has to draw and assign a region of interest on the colored marker located at the reference point. The system then automatically performs a pattern match with the other marker. The centers of the two matched markers form the reference line for the initial meridian point coordinate system.

IMAQ Vision 7 helps the system achieve the edge detecting, pattern matching, and image overlaying processes. After the system picks up the reference point and initial coordinate system reference line, the system performs image overlay to annotate the video image with predefined meridian points. Each meridian point reference position is determined according to traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) acupuncture and the user-defined reference point.

The basic unit of measurement in acupuncture is known as a “cun.” To define cun, edge detection techniques track the distance across the human neckline on the same image video and the system calculates the measurement in reference to one unit of cun. Because the distances between meridian points are defined in terms of cun, the system can successfully recognize and determine the meridian points of the human back on the image video.

At this stage, the system makes calculations to attain the initial compensation angle for compensation in the later stages.

The NI PCI-6025E data acquisition board sends the selected meridian points to the galvanometer. Using this data string, the galvanometer directs the laser beam to the exact location of the selected meridian points on a human back.

The treatment process is complemented by concurrent body movement compensation. The software uses the pattern-matching and overlay-matching algorithm to briefly detect the location of the two markers and retrieve the latest reference point update. Next, it calculates the angle compensation with the new set of reference points. These two steps help determine a new set of meridian point reference line coordinates.

Thereafter, the galvanometer retrieves these updated data and continues with the treatment process. When the system performs the automatic compensation process, a serial port RS232C triggers the shutter driver to block the laser beam from breaking through and unnecessarily exposing the patient.

During treatment, while the laser controller loops continuously through all selected meridian points, the acupuncturist can vary the duration and length of time the beam is incident on the back to achieve optimized laser therapy. In event of unforeseen circumstances, the acupuncturist can stop the treatment any time.

System Continues to Offer Cutting-Edge Capabilities
Using our system, the acupuncturist can remotely control and monitor the treatment via the Internet. Because of the LabVIEW Web-publishing function, this feature requires minimum programming.

And although the current system has been used for back treatment, the system could target other areas of the body, such as the chest and limbs, in the future. These areas would require new methods for automatically locating meridian points.

Lasers have replaced needles in TCM acupuncture for many years. However, NI helped us automate the meridian-locating process and track the movement of points during treatment. Our system represents a breakthrough in the field of laser acupuncture.

For more information, contact:
Tan Yong Chuan
Nanyang Technological University
Nanyang Avenue
Singapore 639798
Tel: (65) 6791-1744 Fax: (65) 6791-1604
jasontanyc@pmail.ntu.edu.sg