• The Journal of the Society of Korean Medicine Diagnostics
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.225-232
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• 2013

Objectives The aim of this study is to design a part in contact with the face of computerized tongue diagnosis system (CTDS), so that external light is effectively shielded even if the facial appearance and degree of protrusion differ when a patient opens or closes his/her jaws. Methods Each of the 4 researchers manually produced clay models of the part in contact with the face of CTDS. Shielding and contact feeling of the clay models were evaluated by 20 assessors. Based on the evaluation, we selected the appropriate model and produced the final silicon model. Then we evaluated the performance of the shielding of the completed silicon model. We took tongue pictures of 60 participants with a CTDS applying the silicon model in condition with external light and without it. The color values in RGB color model and gray scale of the tongue pictures in condition with external light were compared with those without external light. Results There was no significant difference between the color values of the picture taken in condition with external light and those without external light. Conclusions We concluded that the produced part in contact with the face of CTDS can effectively block out the external light.

• Advances in Traditional Medicine
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.112-120
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• 2006

The purpose of this study was to analyze whether quantitative evaluation of the color of the tongue substance using $L^*a^*b^*$ color coordinates system could minimize the problems arising from the different illuminating conditions or not. In controlled 4 different illuminating conditions (by natural light, flashlight, f-number, shutter speed),12 healthy subjects were photographed of their tongue substance through a digital camera (C-2100uz, Olympus Co.), both on the top surface and on the bottom surface of the tongue substance by two examiners, twice at 3 day intervals. Clinician evaluation was also performed grading the redness of the tongue substance in the form of 5-points scale by 6 clinicians. As a result, there was no significant difference in color differences between the color of the tongue substance and the reference red card in the 4 different illuminating conditions. Intra-rater reliability was satisfied and even though limitedly, inter-rater reliability was satisfied. Color differences were significantly correlated with the results by the clinicians, although they were applicable limitedly to specific illuminating conditions. Our results indicate that the application of the color differences in tongue diagnosis could not only evaluate the color information quantitatively, but also minimize the problems arising from the different illuminating conditions and that there was the significant difference in the visual evaluation of the red color of the tongue substance, both between the clinicians and between the illuminating conditions.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine Ophthalmology and Otolaryngology and Dermatology
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.118-126
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• 2007

Tongue diagnosis is a profound and special part of the whole Oriental Medicine. We examined the method, the principle and the meaning of tongue diagnosis according to a literature cited, considered a meaning of tongue diagnosis. As a result, we come to a conclusion like that. 1. Tongue is related with internal organs by meridian system, especially has a direct connection with heart and spleen. 2. The heart, a master of internal organs, has its specific opening in the tongue. The spleen, source of nutrients for growth and development, has its specific body opening in the mouth. So tongue reflects states of internal organs, Qi, blood, the constructive energy and the defensive energy. 3. When doing tongue diagnosis, we must pay attention to the position and the order of inspection of the tongue. We must diagnose by referring to a ray of light, diet, season, age, physical constitution, habit and taste, can make a accurate diagnosis. 4. We can classify constitutions, distinguish syndromes, suppose prognosis, make a prescription by using tongue diagnosis. 5. Reddened tip of the tongue represents flaring-up of the heart fire, and it means psychologic stress. Dental identations on the tongue edges represents deficiency of Qi of the spleen, and it means physiologic fatigue. 6. Through observing humidity of fur of the tongue, we can guess psychologic stress and physiologic fatigue. Through observing thickness of fur of the tongue, we can guess function of spleen and stomach.

• Journal of Sasang Constitutional Medicine
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.156-175
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• 2007

1. Objectives and Methods This study was performed to know the relationship between Sasang Constitution and characteristics of ordinary symptoms, inspection diagnosis of face and tongue. There were 666 participants(280 men and 386 women) who answered Sasang Constitutional Checkup list and were taken pictures of faces and tongues. Sasang Constitution was diagnosed by only PSSC(Phonetic System for Sasang Constitution). Distribution of Sasang Constitution and X2 test, kappa value for agreement were calculated using SPSS 10.0. 2. Results From characteristics of ordinary symptoms' point of view, Taeeumin had loud voices, big body shapes and easily sweated themselves. They felt good after sweating and had warm hands and feet. And their upper back, shoulders and chest were, they thought, well developed. They were apt to have meals quickly and overeat themselves. Soyangin and Soeumin had thin body shapes and were difficult to sweat themselves and felt powerless after sweating. They had cold hands and feet. Especially, Soeumin was apt to have meals slowly and a little amounts. They walked so fast. Soyangin was introvert and had developed their abdomen and waist. 'Looking heavy and steady' was higher in Taeeumin, 'delicate and modest' was higher in Soeumin(42.8%) and Soyangin(36.1 %) in first impression. It was thought to be difficult to discriminate Soyangin from Soeumin in first impression and make a notion of right Soyangin's first impression. Soyangin had pinky tongue color and little tongue fur whereas Soeumin had red tongue color and whitish tongue fur. Taeeumin had whitish tongue fur too. 3. Conclusions To diagnose Sasang Constitution much effectively, PSSC results and comprehensive Sasang Constitutional Checkup list extracted from effective Questionnaire items and Face and Tongue Inspection Diagnosis are thought to be needed.

• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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• v.23 no.5
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• pp.942-949
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• 2009

We in this paper propose the method for diagnosis patients through the reasoning based on the diagnosis ontology in oriental medicine. In prior studies, it is simply diagnosed with the information of main symptoms, optional symptoms, and tongue / pulse. In addition, ontology itself has subjective opinions of oriental medical doctors for patients in form of axioms. There is a problem in latter case that it is difficult for other oriental medical doctors to change knowledge within the ontology. In order to solve these problems, we have constructed the diagnosis ontology and the reasoning algorithm as followings: First, in order to raise the diagnosis accuracy, we constructed the diagnosis ontology with pattern identifications, main symptoms, optional symptoms, and tongue / pulse. We also utilize the diagnosis points described in the pathology textbook, which has been studied in all of domestic oriental medical colleges. This information is represented as OWL instances in ontology, not OWL axioms so that it can be easily updated. Second, we suggest the algorithms for diagnosis reasoning and learning method based on the ontology. We have implemented the reasoning and learning system according to the diagnosis algorithm. In future study, we will construct the diagnosis ontology with all of pattern identifications and symptoms within the pathology textbook.

• The Journal of Pediatrics of Korean Medicine
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.73-87
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• 2011

Objectives: This study is to investigate life style and weight control based on the body mass index, and tongue diagnosis in adolescent girls. Help controling unnecessary weight and establishing proper understanding of desirable body images and healthy life for adolescents are expected. Methods: The questionnaire surveys and physical examinations were conducted to examine the life style, weight-control behaviors, and the health status of 173 adolescent girls in Jeonju. Among the students surveyed, 162 answered seriously and were accepted as subjects for the study. Results: 1. The mean height was 160.4 cm and weight was 54.21 kg. The mean BMI of the girls was 21.1 kg/m2, which is normal. The percentages of the normal weight group (71.6%), overweight group (16.7%), obesity group (9.9%), underweight group (1.9%) were shown respectively. 2. The oriental medicine doctor examined the tongue diagnosis. The thin and white tongue fur was the most common (20.7%). This diagnosis showed no statistical significance to BMI. 3. The ideal height for the girls was 165 cm, and the ideal weight was 49 kg. 4. A considerable number of girls (50.6%) thought that a thin body figure was the most beautiful body shape for the women. 5. Even though the percentages of an actual overweight or obese group were 26.6%, 42.0% of the girls thought that they were plump. 6. 94.83% of the normal weight group concerned about the weight regulation. 7. Many girls were dissatisfied with their own body shape, and 86.9% of girls regarded being in a shape was important. 70.69% of the normal weight group answered that they were under stress of their body shapes. Conclusions: The findings of this study demonstrate that there are serious misconceptions on body shapes of the adolescent girls, and mostly, unnecessary and inadequate weight control behaviors were done. Therefore, establishing adequately education on their desirable body images and healthy life is needed for the adolescent girls. In this study, there is no significant relationship between BMI and tongue diagnosis. For the number of subjects is not enough, further study on the relationship between the two is expected.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.44 no.4
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• pp.242-254
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• 2023

Although upper respiratory tract infections (URTIs) are common diseases, there have been no studies of their relationship with the indices obtained from tongue image analyses. The purpose of this study was to identify a tongue index through an analysis of tongue images (TIs) showing significant changes before and after treatment in patients with URTIs. A computerized tongue image acquisition system was developed to acquire TIs from subjects in the same environment. An image was taken from each of 39 URTI patients and 39 healthy controls. For the patients, images were acquired before and after treatment to identify changes. The tongue area was classified into a tongue body and a tongue coating, and the coating ratio between the two areas, the average value of the colour of each area, and teeth marks were calculated. No significant difference was observed in age or sex between the URTI patients and control participants. Heart rates were slightly different. The analysis of TIs showed that the luminance of the tongue coating and the coating area ratio were decreased, while the reddish value of the tongue body at the centre area increased as the treatment progressed. Tongue coating and body in URTIs had different colour and shape from those in the normal. It is expected that this result will contribute not only to the objectification of traditional Chinese medicine but also to diagnostic methods that do not involve face-to-face physician visit during the pandemic.

• The Journal of the Institute of Internet, Broadcasting and Communication
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.181-188
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• 2012

An effective extraction method for extracting a coated tongue is proposed in this paper, which is used as the diagnostic criteria in the tongue diagnosis. Proposed method uses the fluorescence response characteristics of the coated tongue that is occurred by using the ultraviolet light. Specially, this method can solved the previous problems including the issue in the limits of the diagnosis environment and in the objectivity of the diagnosis results. In our method, original tongue image is acquired by using the ultraviolet light, and binarization is performed by thresholding a valley-points in the histogram that corresponds to the color difference of tongue body and tongue coating. Final view image is presented to the oriental doctor, after applying the canny-edge algorithm to the binary image, and edge image is added to the original image. In order to evaluate the performance of the our proposed method, after building a various tongue image, we compared the true region of coated tongue by the oriental doctor's hand with the extracted region by the our method. As a result, the proposed method showed the average 87.87% extraction ratio. The shape of the extracted coated tongue region showed also significantly higher similarity.

• The Journal of the Society of Korean Medicine Diagnostics
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.67-74
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• 2010

Objectives: Tongue moisture is one of major features in tongue diagnosis of Oriental Medicine. But with regard to the methods to qualify the tongue moisture level, there have been no adequate modalities to satisfy clinicians' needs. So we developed an novel device and method to quantify the tongue moisture level without contact. Methods and Materials: Ratio of saturated area to total tongue area in the image captured with a spot light at various angles was calculated. We regarded that ratio represented the moisture of tongue surface. To evaluate the performance of suggested method, we observed the correlation between conventional contact method and our method with 19 healthy subjects. Results: With comparison to conventional contact method (Schirmer test), the suggested method showed good correlation (R = 0.8602, R2 = 0.7399). Conclusion: This Method could be a convenient and robust method to evaluate tongue moisture.

• The Journal of the Society of Korean Medicine Diagnostics
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.77-89
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• 2013

Objectives Tongue diagnosis is an important diagnostic method in traditional Eastern medicine, and it has a high potential to be used in the future healthcare because of easy, quick, and non-contact measuring features. Recently, research and development efforts on computerized tongue diagnosis systems (CTDS) have been active that led to the technical advancements in the field of photographing techniques, image extraction and classification algorithms. In this study, we analyzed the trends in the CTDS patents. Using the WIPS search engine (www.wipsglobal.com), quantitative and qualitative patent analyses were performed through Korea, China, Japan, U.S.A and Europe. Methods For a systematic search and data analysis, we defined patent categories based on the application area and technical details. By applying thus-obtained categorical key words, we obtained 360 relevant patents on photographing techniques, image extraction and classification algorithms for the purpose of diagnosis or security. Results As a result, companies related to image acquisition, medical imaging and mobile devices and research groups of universities in East Asia were major patent applicants. In all the five countries, the number of patents have been increasing since 1980. In particular, technology related to color correction and image segmentation were most actively patented categories, and expected to continue a high application rate.