CONFIRMING SLEEP BASED ON SECONDARY INDICIA OF USER ACTIVITY

• US 20190320972A1
• Filed: 07/03/2019
• Published: 10/24/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 09/30/2015
• Status: Active Application

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Tribble, Guy L., Raymann, Roy J., Dougherty, Wren N., Nag, Divya, Lambert, Deborah M., Greer, Stephanie M., Gruber, Thomas R.
• Application Number:
  US16/502,254
• Publication Number:
  US 20190320972A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2562/0204 Acoustic sensors
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0803 Recording apparatus specially adapted therefor
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1118 Determining activity level
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/4809 Sleep detection, i.e. determining whether a subject is asleep or not
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 7/003 Detecting lung or respiration noise

Abstract

In some implementations, a provisional determination that a user of a first device is awake may be based on data indicating that the first device is being used. Also, sleep sounds associated with a human sleeping may be detected, and sleep sound information corresponding to the user may be obtained. Next, the detected sleep sounds may be compared to the sleep sound information, and a determination may be made as to whether the detected sleep sounds are attributable to the user based on the comparison of the detected sleep sounds and the sleep sound information. In addition, the provisional determination that the user is awake may be revised to indicate that the user is sleeping in response to a determination that the detected sleep sounds are being performed by the user in order to provide a more accurate sleep determination for the user.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

provisionally determining, by a first computing device, that a user of the first computing device is awake based on data indicating that the first computing device is being used to provide a provisional determination that the user is awake;

detecting, by the first computing device, sleep sounds associated with a human sleeping;

obtaining, by the first computing device, sleep sound information corresponding to the user;

comparing, by the first computing device, the detected sleep sounds to the sleep sound information;

determining, by the first computing device, whether the detected sleep sounds are attributable to the user based on the comparison of the detected sleep sounds and the sleep sound information; and

revising, by the first computing device, the provisional determination that the user is awake to indicate that the user is sleeping in response to a determination that the detected sleep sounds are being performed by the user in order to provide a more accurate sleep determination for the user.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, by the first computing device, a communication from a second device indicating that conscious human activity is being performed with respect to the second device that is unrelated to the first computing device, wherein the communication includes an identifier that identifies a user account corresponding to an operator of the second device; and

revising, by the first computing device, the determination that the user is sleeping in response to a determination that the conscious human activity is being performed by the user of the first computing device.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

detecting, by the first computing device, sounds generated by conscious human activity;

determining, by the first computing device, that the detected sounds correspond to the user of the first computing device; and

determining, by the first computing device, that the second conscious human activity is being performed by the user of the first computing device in response to a determination that the detected sounds correspond to the user of the first computing device.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

detecting, by the first computing device, sounds generated by conscious human activity;

determining, by the first computing device, that the detected sounds are inconsistent with sounds associated with the user of the first computing device; and

determining, by the first computing device, that the second conscious human activity is being performed by someone other than the user of the first computing device in response to a determination that the detected sounds are inconsistent with sounds associated with the user of the first computing device.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining, by the first computing device, whether the detected sleep sounds are attributable to another person based on the comparison of the detected sleep sounds and the sleep sound information; and

maintaining, by the first computing device, the provisional determination that the user is awake in response to a determination that the sleep sounds are being performed by another person.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the data indicating that the first computing device is being used comprises positioning of a second device within communications range of the first computing device.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein obtaining the sleep sound information corresponding to the user comprises:

recording, by the first computing device, sleep sounds while the user is sleeping over several nights; and

generating, by the first computing device, sleep samples representative of the user sleeping based on the recorded sleep sounds.

8. A non-transitory computer-readable medium including one or more sequences of instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, causes:

provisionally determining, by the one or more processors, that a user of a first computing device is awake based on data indicating that the first computing device is being used to provide a provisional determination that the user is awake;

detecting, by the one or more processors, sleep sounds associated with a human sleeping;

obtaining, by the one or more processors, sleep sound information corresponding to the user;

comparing, by the one or more processors, the detected sleep sounds to the sleep sound information;

determining, by the one or more processors, whether the detected sleep sounds are attributable to the user based on the comparison of the detected sleep sounds and the sleep sound information; and

revising, by the one or more processors, the provisional determination that the user is awake to indicate that the user is sleeping in response to a determination that the detected sleep sounds are being performed by the user in order to provide a more accurate sleep determination for the user.

9. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 8, wherein the one or more sequences of instructions further cause:

receiving, by the one or more processors, a communication from a second device indicating that conscious human activity is being performed with respect to the second device that is unrelated to the first computing device, wherein the communication includes an identifier that identifies a user account corresponding to an operator of the second device; and

revising, by the one or more processors, the determination that the user is sleeping in response to a determination that the conscious human activity is being performed by the user of the first computing device.

10. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 8, wherein the one or more sequences of instructions further cause:

detecting, by the one or more processors, sounds generated by conscious human activity;

determining, by the one or more processors, that the detected sounds correspond to the user of the first computing device; and

determining, by the one or more processors, that the second conscious human activity is being performed by the user of the first computing device in response to a determination that the detected sounds correspond to the user of the first computing device.

11. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 8, wherein the one or more sequences of instructions further cause:

detecting, by the one or more processors, sounds generated by conscious human activity;

determining, by the one or more processors, that the detected sounds are inconsistent with sounds associated with the user of the first computing device; and

determining, by the one or more processors, that the second conscious human activity is being performed by someone other than the user of the first computing device in response to a determination that the detected sounds are inconsistent with sounds associated with the user of the first computing device.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 8, wherein the one or more sequences of instructions further cause:

determining, by the one or more processors, whether the detected sleep sounds are attributable to another person based on the comparison of the detected sleep sounds and the sleep sound information; and

maintaining, by the one or more processors, the provisional determination that the user is awake in response to a determination that the sleep sounds are being performed by another person.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 8, wherein the data indicating that the first computing device is being used comprises positioning of a second device within communications range of the first computing device.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 8, wherein obtaining the sleep sound information corresponding to the user comprises:

recording, by the one or more processors, sleep sounds while the user is sleeping over several nights; and

generating, by the one or more processors, sleep samples representative of the user sleeping based on the recorded sleep sounds.

15. A system, comprising:

one or more processors; and

a non-transitory computer-readable medium including one or more sequences of instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, causes;

provisionally determining, by the one or more processors, that a user of a first computing device is awake based on data indicating that the first computing device is being used to provide a provisional determination that the user is awake;

detecting, by the one or more processors, sleep sounds associated with a human sleeping;

obtaining, by the one or more processors, sleep sound information corresponding to the user;

comparing, by the one or more processors, the detected sleep sounds to the sleep sound information;

determining, by the one or more processors, whether the detected sleep sounds are attributable to the user based on the comparison of the detected sleep sounds and the sleep sound information; and

revising, by the one or more processors, the provisional determination that the user is awake to indicate that the user is sleeping in response to a determination that the detected sleep sounds are being performed by the user in order to provide a more accurate sleep determination for the user.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the one or more sequences of instructions further cause:

detecting, by the one or more processors, sounds generated by conscious human activity;

determining, by the one or more processors, that the detected sounds correspond to the user of the first computing device; and

determining, by the one or more processors, that the second conscious human activity is being performed by the user of the first computing device in response to a determination that the detected sounds correspond to the user of the first computing device.

17. The system of claim 15, wherein the one or more sequences of instructions further cause:

detecting, by the one or more processors, sounds generated by conscious human activity;

determining, by the one or more processors, that the detected sounds are inconsistent with sounds associated with the user of the first computing device; and

determining, by the one or more processors, that the second conscious human activity is being performed by someone other than the user of the first computing device in response to a determination that the detected sounds are inconsistent with sounds associated with the user of the first computing device.

18. The system of claim 15, wherein the one or more sequences of instructions further cause:

determining, by the one or more processors, whether the detected sleep sounds are attributable to another person based on the comparison of the detected sleep sounds and the sleep sound information; and

maintaining, by the one or more processors, the provisional determination that the user is awake in response to a determination that the sleep sounds are being performed by another person.

19. The system of claim 15, wherein the data indicating that the first computing device is being used comprises positioning of a second device within communications range of the first computing device.

20. The system of claim 15, wherein obtaining the sleep sound information corresponding to the user comprises:

recording, by the one or more processors, sleep sounds while the user is sleeping over several nights; and

generating, by the one or more processors, sleep samples representative of the user sleeping based on the recorded sleep sounds.