Eye actuated sleep prevention devices and other eye controlled devices

• US 5,682,144 A
• Filed: 11/20/1995
• Issued: 10/28/1997
• Est. Priority Date: 11/20/1995
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Mannik, Kallis Hans
• Original Assignee: Mannik, Kallis Hans
• Inventors: Mannik, Kallis Hans
• Primary Examiner(s): Hofsass, Jeffery
• Assistant Examiner(s): Lee, Benjamin C.
• Application Number:
  US08/559,652
• Time in Patent Office: 708 Days
• Field of Search: 340/575, 340/576, 340/825.19, 351/210, 250/221, 128/745, 180/272, 364/569
• US Class Current: 340/575
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/06 indicating a condition of sleep, e.g. anti-dozing alarms

Abstract

This invention is an eyeglass attachable device for automobile and truck drivers for an alertness alarm signal and for related applications, like controlling the steering wheel movements of a vehicle, a car, a truck or a motorized wheelchair, by means of blinking of the the eyes.

This eyeglass attachable alarm signal device prevents automobile and truck drivers from falling asleep, while driving. A beam of a narrow band infrared light or a beam of ultrasound is used for sensing, whether the driver'"'"'s eyelids are closed or are in an open position. A tiny adjustable infrared light emitter carrier, sliding along one of the eyeglasses temples is used for positioning the light emitter on the eyeglasses temple properly for each driver. This positioning can be done also automatically, by means of using a servomotor or electronically, by selecting and switching on continuously just the right beam, which is passing in close proximity of the eyeball.

Claims

1. An eyeglasses attachable device for use by a person including a driver with emitting means for generating beams and with receiving detector means for receiving said emitting means generated beams, where the emitting means are sensing at least one beam across the eye just above the eyeball surface, but below the level of the surface of the eyelid in the direction of the beam receiving detector means, comprising:

(1) emitting means having a plurality of emitters for generating at least one beam;

(2) slide adjustable mounting means for mounting said emitting means on the temple of said eyeglasses, in such a way, that said beam traverses one of the driver'"'"'s eyes just above the surface of the eye and between the upper and lower eyelids, while the driver'"'"'s eyes are open;

(3) beam widening means, consisting of cylindrical or convex lenses in front of the emitter means and in front of the beam receiving detector means, which make the distance variations between the emitted beam and the eyeball less critical in terms of the operation sensitivity of the device,

(4) electronically adjustable selecting means for selecting one of the plurality of emitters on the temple of said eyeglasses, in such a way that the selected beam traverses one of the driver'"'"'s eyes just above the surface of the eye and between the upper and lower eyelids, while the driver'"'"'s eyes are open;

(5) said beam receiving detecting means receiving a full beam when the driver'"'"'s eyes are opened and receiving reduced, scattered beam parts when this driver'"'"'s eyes are closed, for putting out electrical signals, characteristic of the received full beam and scattered beam;

(6) electronic alarm signal generating circuitry for receiving said electrical signals, and detecting input variations and converting said input variations into an alarm signal for alerting the driver, when the driver'"'"'s eyes are closed;

(7) acoustic alarm generator, triggered by said alarm signal, by means of an electrical circuitry, for producing an audible alarm, for waking up the driver;

(8) a power source for powering the beam emitters, the beam receiving detector means, the selecting means, the alarm signal generating circuitry, the electronic circuitry and the acoustic alarm generator.

2. An eyeglasses attachable device according to claim 1, further comprising:

(1) ultrasonic transducers/transmitters as said emitters, each for generating an ultrasonic beam, and ultrasonic transducer/receiving detector means as said beam receiving detector means.

3. An eyeglasses attachable device, according to the claim 2, wherein the electronic circuitry comprises:

(1) an amplifier to amplify the from the ultrasonic transducer/receiver received ultrasonic beam signals;

(2) an RC filtering circuitry to filter out low frequency signals;

(3) a detector and RC circuitry for generating a delay before the onset of the audible alarm;

(4) two NPN transistors in a Darlington coupling;

(5) voltage divider consisting of two resistors for the emitter of the second transistor in the Darlington coupling;

(6) a buzzer as the acoustic alarm generator;

(7) wherein the output of the ultrasonic transducer/receiver is connected via an amplifier, the RC filter circuit and the diode/RC detector circuit to the base of the first NPN transistor;

the voltage divider connected to the emitter of the second NPN transistor for generating approximately a one second time delay by said RC circuit before said buzzer sounds.

4. An eyeglasses attachable device according to claim 1, further comprising:

(1) infrared light emitters as said emitters, each for emitting an infrared beam, and infrared light receiving detector means as said beam receiving detector means;

(2) wherein said beam receiving detector means constitutes a first light detector means; and

further comprising;

(3) second light detector means, consisting of a light detector mounted on the side of the first light detector on the eyeglasses, which second light detector is receiving full amount of said infrared light when the driver'"'"'s eye is open and while at the same time the driver is looking downward, and reduced ambient scattered light, when the driver'"'"'s eye is closed, for putting out said electrical signals;

(4) ambient light influence reducing means, consisting of a photocell for reducing the ambient light influence, which is incorporated into the electronic alarm signal generating circuitry as a negative light-resistance element by means of being coupled parallel with a resistor and in series with the infrared light receiving detector means between plus and minus leads of said power source;

(5) infrared light reflecting means in front of the eyeglasses and behind the temple of the eyeglasses in order to reduce the effect of bright sunshine during daytime driving;

(6) infrared filter means in front, back and on all the sides of individual light receiving detector means;

(7) said power supply source being one of;

a battery mounted on the eyeglasses;

a car battery connected permanently to the device;

a car battery connected to the device via a plug-in connector into the cigarette light of a car; and

solar cells mounted on the temple of the eyeglasses or on a headband of the driver.

5. An eyeglasses attachable device according to claim 4, wherein said photocell is a cadmium sulfide photocell.

6. An eyeglasses attachable device according to claim 4, wherein the electronic alarm circuitry comprises:

(1) an RC circuit for generating delay before the onset of the audible alarm;

(2) two NPN transistors in a Darlington coupling;

(3) a voltage divider consisting of two resistors, which resistors are used also as series resistors for the infrared light emitter, and which voltage divider is connected to the emitter of the second NPN transistor;

(4) a buzzer as the acoustic alarm generator;

(5) wherein the output of the first and second light detector means is connected via an integrating RC circuit to the base of the first NPN transistor for generating approximately a one second time delay by said RC circuit before said buzzer sounds.

7. An eyeglasses attachable device according to claim 4, wherein said power source consists of solar cells mounted on the temple of the eyeglasses and onto the headband, bridging the temples, and which solar cells are receiving infrared radiation from infrared light emitters and from incandescent lamps through infrared filters, mounted onto the ceiling of the car above the left shoulder and above the head of the car driver.

8. An eyeglasses attachable device for use with driver'"'"'s eyeglasses according to claim 4, wherein the emitters are adjacently mounted and are sequentially activated to find an emitter having a relative position with the receiving detector means and eyeball that enables proper sensing operation of the device.

9. An eyeglasses attachable sleep preventing device for automobile drivers, with emitting means for generating of beams and with receiving means for these by emitting means generated beams, where the emitting means are sending at least one beam across the eye just above the eye surface, but below the level of the top surface of the eyelid in direction of the beam receiving means, according to claim 4, said device comprising:

(1) at least one infrared light emitter for emitting infrared light beams;

(2) multiple light detector means mounted on the temple of eyeglasses, which detectors are arranged to detect eye-wetting blinks, for putting out short electrical signals for these blinks, and which detectors are also arranged to detect longer duration eye closings, indicating the drowsiness of the car driver;

(3) electronic circuitry consisting of a series capacitor followed by a resistor, with its other terminal grounded, for differentiating these electrical signals generated by these short eye-wetting blinks, followed by an integrating detector circuitry, consisting of a diode, a capacitor and a resistor, with a very long, over a minute long time constant, which generates a positive voltage, so long the signals from eye-wetting blinks are received, where said positive voltage from the detector circuitry is amplified in an Darlington coupled transistor amplifier, thus generating a voltage in this transistor amplifier'"'"'s load resistor, which voltage is combined with the voltage from driver wake-up signal circuitry'"'"'s transistor amplifier'"'"'s load resistor in an AND circuitry for generating an audio alarm signal, in case the drivers eyes are closed, and not generating any false alarm, in case the infrared light beam is hitting the skin of the face of the driver or it is passing the eye higher up above the eyelid level, thus no eye-wetting signals are detected, no voltage generated in said detector circuitry and thus no false alarm signal generated;

(4) electronic alarm signal generating circuitry, which generates an audible alarm, when the eye-wetting signals circuitry output is positive and simultaneously the driverwake-up signal section of the circuitry indicates that drivers eyes have been closed for one second or longer time.

10. An eyeglasses attachable sleep preventing device for automobile drivers, with emitting means for generating of beams and with receiving means for these by emitting means generated beams, where the emitting means are sending at least one beam across the eye just above the eye surface, but below the level of the top surface of the eyelid in direction of the beam receiving means, according to claim 4, said device comprising:

(1) a device, where the infrared light beam from one or several emitters is passing in close proximity to the eyeball of the driver and when interrupted by eye-wetting blinks, generates in a differentiating circuitry pulses with short time constant decaying time, these pulses are integrated in a very long time constant detector/integrator circuitry consisting of a diode, a capacitor and a resistor, the output of this detector circuitry is fed into a transistor amplifier, resistor of which is across a diode connected to an AND circuitry together with the output from the transistor load resistor of driverwake-up section of the circuitry across a diode, and which, when the driver wake up signal section indicates, that driver'"'"'s eyes have been closed longer than one second, provides an audio alarm, and not giving any false alarm signal, in case the beam is hitting the skin of the face or the beam is passing the eye higher up above the eyelid, and no eye-wetting signals are detected and thus no false alarm is generated;

(2) where the infrared light from one or several emitters hits infrared light detectors of circuit Units A, B, C, D, E and F, and only these of the photodetectors contribute through the common transistor amplifier to the output alarm signal, which are sensing the presence of eye-wetting signals.

11. A device according to claim 4, wherein:

(1) said emitters are mounted onto the eyeglasses temple or onto an eyeglasses lens, close to the bridge of the eyeglasses, and wherein the receiving detector means comprises at least one light detector, mounted on the eyeglasses lens, close to the bridge of the eyeglasses, or onto the temple of the eyeglasses;

said electronic circuitry and electronic alarm generating circuitry are mounted onto the driver-side visor of an automobile in a small container, and connected to the said emitters and detectors with a coiled four-wire cable;

(2) an eyeglass case, attached to said visor with a clamp or mounted onto it permanently;

(3) a two wire connection from the electronics mounted onto the visor, to the car battery, for powering this device;

(4) a two wire connection from said electronic circuitry mounted onto the visor, to the horn of the automobile, to generate a loud audible alertness signal for the driver;

(5) said horn being switched on by means of a relay which is inserted into the alarm generating circuitry.

12. An eyeglasses attachable device according to claim 4, wherein:

said emitters are using pulsed emitter light with pulse duration considerably shorter than the time interval between the pulses.

13. An eyeglasses attachable device according to claim 12, wherein:

the pulses for the emitters are generated by means of an integrated timer circuitry and wherein the receiving infrared light detector means is first connected to a differentiating filter circuitry and then connected to a detector circuitry consisting of a first resistor and a diode in series with a resistor, parallel coupled to the first resistor, and a capacitor connected to the power supply'"'"'s positive terminal, and of two PNP transistors in a Darlington coupling, to activate the buzzer.

14. An eyeglasses attachable device for use with driver'"'"'s eyeglasses according to claim 4, wherein the receiving detector means comprises a plurality of detectors that are adjacently mounted and are sequentially activated to enable finding an initial sensing positioning of the device on the driver for proper sensing operation of the device.

15. An eyeglasses attachable device for use with a pair of driver'"'"'s eyeglasses according to claim 14, where the selection of the right infrared light beam to one of the infrared detectors mounted on the temple of the eyeglasses is done by means of electronically switching the beam from one infrared detector to the next infrared detector, until a beam is found, which is not blocked by the eyeball of the driver and which beam is subsequently used for driver'"'"'s open eye/closed eye analyzis for the driver wake up alarm circuitry, and where this search for the best positioned beam it repeated at certain time intervals.

16. An eyeglasses attachable device according to claim 4, wherein the detector means comprising three detectors and adjustment of the position of the three infrared light detectors carrying on said mounting means is accomplished by means of a servomotor, which adjusts the position of a sliding block on the mounting means to select a detector having a relative position with the emitting emitter and eyeball that enables proper sensing operation of the device.

17. An eyeglasses attachable device for use with driver'"'"'s eyeglasses according to claim 16, where the servomotor is activated by means of the electric motor control circuitry mounted onto the temple of the eyeglasses and connected to a gear reduction box, with a worm gear output shaft for moving the three infrared detectors carrying sliding block forth and back along the temple of the eyeglasses.

18. An eyeglasses attachable device for use with driver'"'"'s eyeglasses according to claim 17, where the selection of the right infrared light beam from one of the emitters mounted on the temple of the eyeglasses to the infrared detector mounted close to the bridge of the eyeglasses is done by means of sequentially switching the beam from one emitter to the next emitter until the beam is found, which is not blocked by the eyeball of the driver and is subsequently used for driver'"'"'s open eye/closed eye analyzis for the driver'"'"'s wake up alarm circuitry, and where this search for the best positioned beam is repeated at certain time intervals.