System, medium, and method to conduce a user's breathing

• US 8,491,489 B2
• Filed: 11/22/2006
• Issued: 07/23/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 01/04/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: Shin, Sang Hoon, Hong, Sun Gi, Kim, Kyung Ho, Han, Wan Taek
• Primary Examiner(s): Mallari, Patricia
• Assistant Examiner(s): BLOCH, MICHAEL RYAN
• Application Number:
  US11/603,015
• Publication Number:
  US 20070167855A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,435 Days
• Field of Search: 600/529
• US Class Current: 600/529
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/08 Detecting, measuring or recording devices for evaluating the respiratory organs A61B5/0205 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0878 using temperature sensing means
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/486 Bio-feedback A61B5/375 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7405 using sound
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/742 using visual displays A61B5/339 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 7/003 Detecting lung or respiration noise

Abstract

A system, medium, and method conducing a user'"'"'s breathing, in which a sound generated during a user'"'"'s exhale and/or an ambient temperature change occurring during the exhale is sensed to measure a respiratory waveform of the user. Respiratory information of the user may then be produced from the respiratory waveform, and when the respiratory information of the user is different from normal respiratory information of the user, breathing information according to the normal respiratory information may be provided to the user so the user can use the same to modify their breathing.

Claims

1. A system for conducing a user'"'"'s breathing, comprising:

a breathing monitoring device to detect a user'"'"'s breathing;

a respiratory information generator to generate current respiratory information of the user based on the user'"'"'s breathing, with the current respiratory information including a current respiratory cycle and/or current respiratory rate of the user; and

a breathing-conducing unit to compare the current respiratory information with predefined respiratory information of the user, and to display and/or represent the predefined respiratory information to the user through a display and/or audio output if the current respiratory information and the predefined respiratory information are different,

wherein, when the current respiratory information and the predefined respiratory information are different, the respiratory information generator continues to review the user'"'"'s breathing while the predefined respiratory information is displayed and/or represented to the user through the display and/or audio output,

wherein the breathing-conducing unit further provides visual and/or audio feedback to the user to indicate a progression of the user'"'"'s breathing in matching the predefined respiratory information, and

wherein the respiratory information generator generates the current respiratory information by comparing a magnitude of the user'"'"'s breathing to a predetermined threshold value and distinguishing a period of the user'"'"'s breathing into an inhale period and an exhale period based on a result of the comparing of the magnitude of the user'"'"'s breathing to the predetermined threshold value, and

a first portion of the period during which the magnitude of the user'"'"'s breathing is greater than the predetermined threshold value is determined to be the exhale period and a second portion of the period during which the magnitude of the user'"'"'s breathing is not greater than the predetermined threshold value is determined to be the inhale period of the user'"'"'s breathing.

2. The system of claim 1, further comprising a memory to store the predefined respiratory information, the predefined respiratory information being one of a normal respiratory cycle of the user, a normal respiratory rate of the user, and both the normal respiratory cycle and the normal respiratory rate of the user, with the normal respiratory cycle and normal respiratory rate representing a breathing state of the user that does not indicate stress.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein any of the normal respiratory cycle and the normal respiratory rate of the one predefined respiratory information are previously generated by the respiratory information generator.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the breathing monitoring device is a microphone to detect a sound generated and/or a temperature sensor to detect an ambient temperature change during an exhale.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the system is a portable device.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the portable device includes at least one of a mobile communication terminal, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a handheld gaming device, an MP3 player, a PMP (Portable Multimedia Player), a digital multimedia broadcasting (DMB) terminal, and a notebook computer.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the predetermined threshold represents a change in a detected ambient temperature and/or a detected sound level.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the respiratory information generator adds the exhale period and the inhale period to calculate the current respiratory cycle, divides the exhale period by the inhale period to calculate the current respiratory rate, and uses the current respiratory cycle and/or the current respiratory rate in the comparison of the current respiratory information with the predefined respiratory information.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the breathing-conducing unit displays and/or represents detected exhale information and/or detected inhale information of the user'"'"'s breathing in the providing of the visual and/or audio feedback to the user through the display and/or the audio output together with predefined exhale information and/or predefined inhale information of the predefined respiratory information.

10. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising an executable program that when executed by at least one processing device controls the at least one processing device to control a performance of a method of conducing a user'"'"'s breathing, the method comprising:

detecting a user'"'"'s breathing;

generating a current respiratory information of the user based on the user'"'"'s breathing, with the current respiratory information including a current respiratory cycle and/or current respiratory rate of the user; and

comparing the current respiratory information with predefined respiratory information of the user, and displaying and/or representing the predefined respiratory information to the user through a display and/or an audio output if the current respiratory information and the predefined respiratory information are different,

wherein, when the current respiratory information and the predefined respiratory information are different, the generating of the current respiratory information continues while the predefined respiratory information is displayed and/or represented to the user through the display and/or audio output,

wherein the comparing of the current respiratory information further comprises providing visual and/or audio feedback to the user to indicate a progression of the user'"'"'s breathing in matching the predefined respiratory information, and

wherein the generating of the current respiratory information comprises generating the current respiratory information by comparing a magnitude of the user'"'"'s breathing to a predetermined threshold value and accordingly distinguishing a period of the user'"'"'s breathing into an inhale period and an exhale period based on a result of the comparing of the magnitude of the user'"'"'s breathing to the predetermined threshold value, and

a first portion of the period during which the magnitude of the user'"'"'s breathing is greater than the predetermined threshold value is determined to be the exhale period and a second portion of the period during which the magnitude of the user'"'"'s breathing is not greater than the predetermined threshold value is determined to be the inhale period of the user'"'"'s breathing.

11. A system for conducing a user'"'"'s breathing, comprising:

a breathing monitoring device to detect a user'"'"'s breathing;

a respiratory information generator to generate current respiratory information of the user based on detected inhale and exhale periods of the user'"'"'s breathing, with the current respiratory information including a calculated current respiratory cycle and/or current respiratory rate of the user, respectively calculated based on both the detected inhale period and the detected exhale period; and

a breathing-conducing unit to compare the current respiratory information with predefined respiratory information of the user, with the predefined respiratory information being one of a predefined respiratory cycle of the user, a predefined respiratory rate of the user, and both the predefined respiratory cycle and the predefined respiratory rate of the user,

wherein the respiratory information generator is configured to display and/or represent to the user the predefined respiratory information, by providing visual and/or audio feedback to the user to indicate a progression of the user'"'"'s breathing in matching the predefined respiratory information based on a result of the comparing of the current respiratory information with the predefined respiratory information,

the respiratory information generator detects the inhale period and the exhale period of the user'"'"'s breathing based on a comparison of a magnitude of the user'"'"'s breathing to a predetermined threshold value, and

a first portion of the period during which the magnitude of the user'"'"'s breathing is greater than the predetermined threshold value is determined to be the exhale period and a second portion of the period during which the magnitude of the user'"'"'s breathing is not greater than the predetermined threshold value is determined to be the inhale period of the user'"'"'s breathing.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the respiratory information generator adds the exhale period and the inhale period to calculate the current respiratory cycle, divides the exhale period by the inhale period to calculate the current respiratory rate, and uses the current respiratory cycle and/or the current respiratory rate in the comparison of the current respiratory information with the predefined respiratory information.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein the predefined respiratory cycle and predefined respiratory rate are respectively predefined based on a previous detected breathing state of the user that does not indicate stress.

14. The system of claim 11, wherein the breathing-conducing unit displays and/or represents the detected exhale period and/or the detected inhale period of the user'"'"'s breathing in the providing of the visual and/or audio feedback to the user through a display and/or an audio output together with predefined exhale information and/or predefined inhale information of the predefined respiratory information.