Phototherapy Apparatus With Interactive User Interface

Abstract

A phototherapy apparatus with interactive user interface for treating biological tissue of an animal or human target. The user interface comprises intuitive graphic menus which allow the clinicians or practitioners to define the properties of the biological tissue through easily observable physical characteristics such as weight, skin color, and hair color of the patient. The central control unit of the phototherapy apparatus then automatically optimizes the parameters of the light source according to the properties of the biological tissue and generates an appropriate treatment protocol to produce the optimum phototherapy result.

1 . A phototherapy apparatus for treating an animal or human target, said phototherapy apparatus comprising:
 at least one light source for producing therapeutic light;   an interactive user interface allowing a user to define medical conditions and physical characteristics of the animal or human target; and   a central control unit for automatically optimizing parameters of said therapeutic light in accordance to said user defined medical conditions and physical characteristics to generate an optimum treatment protocol for treating the animal or human target.   
     
     
         2 . The phototherapy apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein said interactive user interface comprises at least one of 2-D and 3-D graphics and animations for assisting the user to define said medical conditions and physical characteristics of the animal or human target. 
     
     
         3 . The phototherapy apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein said central control unit estimates at least one of an absorption coefficient, a scattering coefficient, and a penetration depth for said therapeutic light based on said user defined physical characteristics of the animal or human target. 
     
     
         4 . The phototherapy apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein said parameters of said therapeutic light comprise at least one of wavelength, power density, energy fluence, and pulsing parameters. 
     
     
         5 . The phototherapy apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein said medical conditions comprise arthritis, edema/swelling, pain trauma, sprain/strain, wound, or post-surgical incision. 
     
     
         6 . The phototherapy apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein said physical characteristics comprise at least one of weight, body-build, gender, skin color, and body part of the animal or human target. 
     
     
         7 . The phototherapy apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein said physical characteristics comprise at least one of species and hair color of the animal target. 
     
     
         8 . The phototherapy apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein said therapeutic light produces photochemical reaction in the animal or human target. 
     
     
         9 . The phototherapy apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein said at least one light source comprises a plurality of diode lasers. 
     
     
         10 . The phototherapy apparatus of  claim 9 , wherein said plurality of diode lasers have multiple output wavelengths. 
     
     
         11 . The phototherapy apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein said at least one light source comprises a plurality of light emitting diodes (LEDs). 
     
     
         12 . The phototherapy apparatus of  claim 11 , wherein said plurality of LEDs have multiple output wavelengths. 
     
     
         13 . The phototherapy apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein said interactive user interface allows the user to communicate with a remote server though a communication network.