Jet lag forecaster

• US 7,351,063 B2
• Filed: 08/20/2002
• Issued: 04/01/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 08/20/2002
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Peter T. George
• Original Assignee: Peter T. George
• Inventors: George, Peter T.
• Primary Examiner(s): Fernstrom; Kurt
• Application Number:
  US10/223,466
• Publication Number:
  US 20040038191A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,051 Days
• Field of Search: 434/236, 434/428, 434/430, 600/26, 600/300
• US Class Current: 434/236
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 19/00 Teaching not covered by other main groups of this subclass teaching or practice apparatus for gun-aiming or gun-laying F41G3/26

Abstract

Alertness level is predicted on computers or sliding charts by relationship of sleep drives and wake drives, which are separately moved relative to destination time and time zone differential. Wake drives are moved with home time. Sleep drive is moved with bedtime and sleep debt relative to times and a sleep debt scale, respectively. Resulting displays predict alertness, drowsiness, wake drives in relation to sleep drives, best bedtime, sleep debt and illumination recommendations.

Claims

1. A method of predicting sleep and activity levels, comprising providing a chart, providing lines and shapes representing personal daily wake drives and a sleep drive, providing on the chart indications of time of day at a starting location, providing on the chart indications of time of day at a destination location, displaying on the chart personal daily wake drives and sleep drives related to the time of day at the starting location and the time of day at the destination, wherein the displaying further comprises moving, relative positions of the wake drives and the sleep drives.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the moving further comprises daily readjusting the relative positions.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the daily readjusting further comprises moving the wake drive and the sleep drive lines and shapes in a direction of the time of day at the destination.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the wake drives are represented by undulating lines across the indications of time.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the sleep drive is indicated by a peaking shape across the time of day indications on the chart.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the presenting of lines and shapes further comprises providing curved lines representing circadian wake drive and psycho sensory wake drive.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the presenting of lines and shapes further comprises providing a wave-like shape having a crest and troughs representative of the sleep drive.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the presenting of lines and shapes further comprises providing a transverse line through the crest representing a bedtime indicator.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the presenting of lines and shapes further comprises providing a V-shaped curve preceding a bottom of the trough representing a wake nadir.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the presenting of lines and shapes further comprises providing sloped curves leading toward and away from the V-shaped curve representing photo zone east and photo zone west.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the providing of times of day further comprises presenting dark and light areas in the time of day representing dark and sunlight hours during days.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing an indication on the chart of time zones west and time zones east.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing on the chart a sleep debt scale.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising providing on the chart a sleep debt level.

15. Apparatus predicting sleep and activity levels, comprising a chart, relatively moveable lines and a shape on the chart representing personal daily wake drives and a sleep drive, relatively moveable indications of time of day at a starting location on the chart, indications of time of day at a destination location on the chart for displaying on the chart personal daily wake drives and sleep drives related to the time of day at the starting location and the time of day at the destination and moving relative positions of the wake drives and the sleep drives.

16. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the wake drives are represented by undulating lines across the indications of time.

17. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the sleep drive is indicated by a peaking shape across the time of day indications on the chart.

18. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the lines further comprise curved lines representing respectively circadian wake drive and psycho sensory wake drive.

19. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the shape further comprises a wave-like shape having a crest and troughs representative of the sleep drive.

20. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the lines further comprise a transverse line through the crest representing a bedtime indicator.

21. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the lines further comprise a V-shaped curve preceding a bottom of the trough representing a wake nadir.

22. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the lines further comprise sloped curves leading toward and away from the V-shaped curve and respectively representing photo zone east, and photo zone west.

23. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the providing of times of day further comprises presenting dark and light areas in the time of day indications for representing dark and sunlight hours during twenty-four hour periods.

24. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the lines further comprise an indication on the chart of time zones west and time zones east.

25. The apparatus of claim 15, further comprising a sleep debt scale on the chart and a relatively moveable sleep debt level line on the chart.

26. Apparatus for predicting sleep and activity levels for changing circadian rhythms comprising a chart having a sleep debt scale and having time zone west and east indications and time at destination indications, a first relatively moveable overlay having time at home indications, curved lines respectively representing circadian and psycho-sensory wake drives and a mark for aligning with a selected time zone indications, a second relatively moveable overlay having a wave-like representation of sleep drive with a crest at maximum sleep drive and troughs at minimum sleep drives and having a line through the crest for representing sleep debt level in relation to the sleep debt scale.

27. The apparatus of claim 26, further comprising a second line through the crest at an angle to the line for representing sleep debt level;

the second line intercepting the time of day indications for representing bed time.

28. The apparatus of claim 26, further comprising representations of wake nadirs on the first overlay at lower portions of the wake drive curve.

29. The apparatus of claim 28 further comprising slopes and arrows leading and pointing toward the wake nadirs representing respectively photo zones west and east and overlay movements to be made upon exposure to light during the times of the photo zones.

30. A method for predicting and planning activity levels after rapid changes in time zones comprising moving representations of time of day at home, a time zone selector, and wake drives in relation to representations of time of day at destination and time zones east and west and aligning the time zone selector with a time zone east or west, moving representation of a sleep drive and a bed time indicator with respect to the representations of times of day.

31. The method of claim 30, further comprising moving a representation of sleep debt and the representations of sleep drive with respect to a sleep debt scale.

32. The method of claim 31, further comprising moving the representation of sleep debt to a lesser or greater level on the sleep debt scale after obtaining less or more sleep than usual in twenty four hours.

33. The method of claim 30, further comprising moving the time zone selector one hour toward a middle for each day spent at a destination time.

34. A method for predicting and planning activity levels after rapid changes in time zones comprising providing representations of wake drives in relation to representations of time of day at destination and time zones east and west and providing representations of wake nadirs at lower portions of the wake drive curve, slopes and arrows leading and pointing toward the wake nadirs representing respectively photo zones west and east and effects of exposure to light during times of the photo zones, further comprising moving the representations of wake drives in the directions of the arrows when a user is exposed to light during times of one of the photo zones.

35. The method of claim 34, wherein the providing of slopes and arrows comprises providing curved slopes showing increasing in height toward the nadirs and the sloping sharply downward toward the nadirs on both sides of each nadir and wherein the providing of arrows further comprises providing of upward sloping arrows within the slowly increasing and sharply downward curves on both sides of each nadir.

36. The method of claim 35, further comprising moving the wake drive representations with respect to a time of day indication according to the height and direction of the arrow. at a time of exposure to light near one of the nadirs.

37. Apparatus for predicting sleep and activity levels for changing circadian rhythms comprising a chart having time zone west and east indications and time at destination indications, curved lines respectively representing circadian and psycho-sensory wake drives and a mark for aligning with a selected time zone indications, representations of wake nadirs at lower portions of the wake drive curve, slopes and arrows leading and pointing toward the wake nadirs representing respectively photo zones west and east and effects of exposure to light during times of the photo zones.

38. The apparatus of claim 37, wherein the slopes and arrows comprises curved slopes showing increasing in height toward the nadirs and the sloping sharply downward toward the nadirs on both sides of each nadir and wherein the providing of arrows further comprises providing of upward sloping arrows within the slowly increasing and sharply downward curves on both sides of each nadir.