SLEEP MEASUREMENT COMPUTER SYSTEM

• US 20160157780A1
• Filed: 11/06/2015
• Published: 06/09/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 12/05/2014
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Beddit Oy (Apple Inc.)
• Inventors: Rimminen, Henry, Paalasmaa, Joonas, WARIS, Mikko
• Application Number:
  US14/934,472
• Publication Number:
  US 20160157780A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2560/029 adapted for auto-initiation
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2562/0214 Capacitive electrodes
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2562/0223 Magnetic field sensors
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2562/0247 Pressure sensors
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2562/0257 Proximity sensors
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2562/0261 Strain gauges
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2562/0271 Thermal or temperature sensors
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2562/066 in a matrix array
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0002 Remote monitoring of patients using telemetry, e.g. transmission of vital signals via a communication network A61B5/07 takes precedence; transmission systems for measured values G08C; transmission H04B; transmission of digital information H04L; wireless communication networks H04W
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0022 Monitoring a patient using a global network, e.g. telephone networks, internet
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1115 Monitoring leaving of a patient support, e.g. a bed or a wheelchair
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/4809 Sleep detection, i.e. determining whether a subject is asleep or not
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6892 Mats
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7282 Event detection, e.g. detecting unique waveforms indicative of a medical condition A61B5/4094, A61B5/4818, A61B5/349, A61B5/0823 take precedence

Abstract

A system and method that will serve for measuring the sleep of at least one user. The system will provide the measurement by communicating sleep parameters of at least one user to a mobile third party client application 170 from a sensor device 120. The mobile third party client application 170 is capable to automatically deduce the starting time of sleep without the user indicating the start of sleep. The system is configured to measure the sleep of more than one user by detecting the presence of more than one user in the bed using a matrix of sensors 710.

Claims

1. A sleep measurement computer system, comprising at least one sensor device (120) comprising one or more sensors (130), the at least one sensor device (120) arranged to be installed into the bed (110) of at least one user, characterized in that,

said at least one sensor device (120) is adapted to communicate with a mobile third party client application (170), the mobile third party client being configured to measure sleep parameters of said at least one user based on the communication with the at least one sensor device (120);

and,

said mobile third party client application (170) being configured to automatically deduce a starting time of sleep, based on data received from the at least one sensor device (120) and/or from any other peripheral device or incorporated device of a mobile subscriber terminal (180), without said user indicating start of sleep, the data being received at the mobile subscriber (180) terminal on which said mobile third party client application (170) is installed.

2. The sleep measurement computer system as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that, the sleep measurement is arranged to be started when one or more of the following events happen alone or in combination:

it is detected that the user enters the bed (110);

when the user switches lights off;

the mobile subscriber terminal comes into the proximity of the one or more sensors (130).

3. The sleep measurement computer system as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that, the sleep measurement is arranged to be automatically ended when the at least one user exits the bed (110) or mobile subscriber terminal moves away from the proximity of the sensor.

4. The sleep measurement computer system as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that, the one or more sensors (130) are arranged to be piezo thin film sensors and one or more sensors (130) are arranged to be static measurement sensors.

5. The sleep measurement computer system as claimed in claim 4, characterized in that, a strain gauge (210) is integrated into the one or more sensors (130).

6. The sleep measurement computer system as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that, a capacitive proximity sensor film (410, 420) is integrated into the one or more sensors (130).

7. The sleep measurement computer system as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that, one or more thermocouples (510, 520) are integrated into the one or more sensors (130), the one or more sensors (130) enabled to measure temperature differences between the one or more thermocouples, further wherein a temperature difference is arranged to indicate presence of one or more user.

8. The sleep measurement computer system as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that, an inductive proximity sensor (610, 620) is integrated into the one or more sensors (130) to detect presence of at least one person by creating an AC magnetic field around the one or more sensors (130), users and/or bed.

9. The sleep measurement computer system as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that, the at least one sensor device (120) comprises a sensor matrix (710) that is configured to be placed inside the fabric of bed (110) to detect the presence of one or more users in the bed (110).

27. The sleep measurement computer system as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that, the sleep parameters include one or more parameters including the user presence on the bed, sleep time, sound level of snoring, ballistocardio-graphic data, respiration rate, heart rate and skeletal muscle movement of the at least one user.

28. The sleep measurement computer system as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that, at least one piezoelectric sensor is arranged to detect a person going to the bed based on a large signal pulse resulting from the person entering the bed.

10. A sleep recording method to be implemented by a computing device, the method comprising the steps, characterized in that,

detecting (820) occurrence of one or more sleep events of a user, either alone or in combination by one or more sensors and/or by any other peripheral device or incorporated device of said mobile subscriber terminal (180);

initiating (850) a communication channel between the at least one sensor device (120) and a mobile third party client application (170);

communicating (860) sleep parameters from the at least one sensor device (120) to the mobile third party client application (170);

automatically deducing (870) start of sleep time based on the sleep parameters received from the at least one sensor device (120), without said user indicating start of sleep.

11. The sleep recording method by a computing device as claimed in claim 10, characterized in that, the one or more sleep events includes one or more of:

entering of at least one user in the bed (110);

switching of the light by at least one user; and

presence of one or more mobile device in the proximity of the one or more sensor (130).

12. The sleep recording method as claimed in claim 10, characterized in that, the sleep recording is arranged to be automatically ended when the at least one user exits from the bed (110) or mobile subscriber terminal moves away from proximity of the sensor.

13. The sleep recording method as claimed in claim 10, characterized in that, the one or more sensors (130) are piezo thin film sensors and one or more sensors (130) are static measurement sensors.

14. The sleep recording method as claimed in claim 10, characterized in that, a strain gauge (210) is integrated into the one or more sensors (130).

15. The sleep recording method as claimed in claim 10, characterized in that, a capacitive proximity sensor film (410, 420) is integrated into the one or more sensors (130).

16. The sleep recording method as claimed in claim 10, characterized in that, one or more thermocouples (510, 520) are integrated into the one or more sensors (130), the one or more sensors (130) are enabled to measure temperature differences between the one or more thermocouples, further wherein temperature difference indicates presence of one or more user.

17. The sleep recording method as claimed in claim 10, characterized in that, an excited piezo film with alternating voltage 30-60 kHz is integrated into the one or more sensors (130) of sensor device (120) to induce movement in the piezo thin film.

18. The sleep recording method as claimed in claim 10, characterized in that, the at least one sensor device (120) comprises a sensor matrix (710) that is configured to be placed inside the fabric of bed (110) to detect the presence of one or more users in the bed (110).

29. The sleep recording method as claimed in claim 10, characterized in that, at least one piezoelectric sensor in a bed detects a person going to a bed based on a large signal pulse resulting from the person entering the bed.

19. A computer program product for recording sleep of user by a computing device, the computer program product comprising at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having computer-readable program code portions stored therein, said computer-readable program code portions comprising instructions, characterized in that,

occurrence of one or more sleep events of a user is arranged to be detected (820), either alone or in combination by one or more sensors and/or by any other peripheral device or incorporated device of said mobile subscriber terminal (180);

a communication channel between the at least one sensor device (120) and a mobile third party client application (170) is arranged to be initiated (850);

sleep parameters from the at least one sensor device (120) to the mobile third party client application (170) are arranged to be communicated (860);

start of sleep time based on the sleep parameters received from the at least one sensor device (120) is arranged to be automatically deduced (870) without said user indicating start of sleep.

20. The computer program product for recording sleep as claimed in claim 19, characterized in that, the one or more sleep events includes one or more of:

entering of at least one user in the bed (110);

switching of the light by at least one user; and

presence of one or more mobile device in the proximity of the one or more sensors (130).

21. The computer program product for recording sleep as claimed in claim 19, characterized in that, the sleep recording is arranged to be automatically ended when the at least one user exits from the bed (110) or mobile subscriber terminal moves away from proximity of the sensor.

22. The computer program product for recording sleep as claimed in claim 19, characterized in that, the one or more sensors (130) are arranged to be piezo thin film sensors and one or more sensors (130) are arranged to be static measurement sensors.

23. The computer program product for recording sleep as claimed in claim 19, characterized in that, a strain gauge (210) is integrated into the one or more sensors (130).

24. The computer program product for recording sleep as claimed in claim 19, characterized in that, a capacitive proximity sensor film (410, 420) is integrated into the one or more sensors (130).

25. The computer program product for recording sleep as claimed in claim 19, characterized in that, one or more thermocouples (510, 520) are integrated into the one or more sensors (130), the one or more sensors (130) are enabled to measure temperature differences between the one or more thermocouples (310, 320), further wherein a temperature difference indicates the presence of one or more user.

26. The computer program product for recording sleep as claimed in claim 19, characterized in that, the at least one sensor device (120) comprises a sensor matrix (710) that is configured to be placed inside the fabric of bed (110) to detect the presence of one or more users in the bed (110).

30. The computer program product for recording sleep as claimed in claim 19, characterized in that, the computer program is configured to use at least one piezoelectric sensor in a bed to detect a person going to a bed based on a large signal pulse resulting from the person entering the bed.