Optical measuring apparatus and method

An optical measuring apparatus for irradiating near infrared light to a desired portion of a living body to be measured, receiving arriving light from the desired portion of the living body and acquiring information about a predetermined biological substance present in the desired portion on the basis of analysis of data related to the received arriving light, said optical measuring apparatus comprises:

• a light irradiation mechanism for irradiating the near infrared light to the desired portion of the living body to be measured;
• a light detection mechanism for detecting the arriving light from the desired portion of the living body;
• a pulse wave detection section for detecting a pulse wave in another portion of the living body separate from the desired portion and thereby generating a signal indicative of the detected pulse wave;
• an arithmetic operation section for subtracting pulse wave data, obtained on the basis of the signal generated by said pulse wave detection section, from measurement data obtained on the basis of the arriving light detected by said light detection mechanism;
• and
• a display section for displaying a result of an arithmetic operation performed by said arithmetic operation section.

An optical measuring method for use with an optical measuring apparatus, said optical measuring method comprising:

• a step of moving, by means of light-irradiation-mechanism control means, a light irradiation mechanism so that a light outputting end of said light irradiation mechanism gets closer to a desired portion of an object to be measured;
• a step of determining, on the basis of a distance value measured by distance measuring means, whether the light outputting end of said light irradiation mechanism has reached a predetermined position near a surface of the desired portion;
• a step of irradiating near infrared light, emitted by a light source, to the desired portion of the object via the light outputting end of said light irradiation mechanism while, by means of a scanning mechanism, causing the light outputting end to make scanning movement relative to the surface of the desired portion;
• a step of removing a pulse wave detection signal representative of a pulse wave detected by pulse wave detection means from a light detection signal representative of scattering reflected light detected by light detection means;
• and
• a step of calculating, on the basis of the light detection signal having the pulse wave detection signal removed therefrom by said step of removing, a concentration of a biological substance present in the desired portion of the object to be measured.

A program for causing a controlling computer of an optical measuring apparatus to perform an optical measuring process, said program comprising:

• a step of moving, by means of light-irradiation-mechanism control means, a light irradiation mechanism so that a light outputting end of said light irradiation mechanism gets closer to a desired portion of an object to be measured;
• a step of determining, on the basis of a distance value measured by distance measuring means, whether the light outputting end of said light irradiation mechanism has reached a predetermined position near a surface of the desired portion;
• a step of irradiating near infrared light, emitted by a light source, to the desired portion of the object via the light outputting end of said light irradiation mechanism while, by means of a scanning mechanism, causing the light outputting end to make scanning movement relative to the surface of the desired portion;
• a step of removing a pulse wave detection signal representative of a pulse wave detected by pulse wave detection means from a light detection signal representative of scattering reflected light detected by light detection means;
• and
• a step of calculating, on the basis of the light detection signal having the pulse wave detection signal removed therefrom by said step of removing, a concentration of a biological substance present in the desired portion of the object to be measured.