System including a sleep detection mechanism

• US 9,395,792 B1
• Filed: 06/14/2013
• Issued: 07/19/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 06/14/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. (Huawei Investment & Holding Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: DP Technologies, Inc.
• Inventors: Kahn, Sonia, Kahn, Philippe, Kinsolving, Arthur
• Primary Examiner(s): Brown, Michael J
• Application Number:
  US13/918,856
• Time in Patent Office: 1,131 Days
• Field of Search: 713/300, 713/320, 713/323, 713/324, 713/330
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1694 the I/O peripheral being a single or a set of motion sensors for pointer control or gesture input obtained by sensing movements of the portable computer
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1698 the I/O peripheral being a sending/receiving arrangement to establish a cordless communication link, e.g. radio or infrared link, integrated cellular phone details of antennas disposed inside a computer H01Q1/2266
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3215 Monitoring of peripheral devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3231 Monitoring the presence, absence or movement of users
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3287 by switching off individual functional units in the computer system
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3296 by lowering the supply or operating voltage
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/35 communicating wirelessly
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/43 wireless channels
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/52 during program execution, e.g. stack integrity ; Preventing unwanted data erasure; Buffer overflow
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2101 Auditing as a secondary aspect
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2151 Time stamp
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/011 Arrangements for interaction with the human body, e.g. for user immersion in virtual reality blind teaching G09B21/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2209/80 Wireless
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0811 by checking connectivity
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/80 Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 10/00 Energy efficient computing, e.g. low power processors, power management or thermal management
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/50 in wire-line communication networks, e.g. low power modes or reduced link rate

Abstract

A method and apparatus of using sleep monitoring is described. The method comprises monitoring the user'"'"'s state using a plurality of sensors in a sensor system and detecting when the user is falling asleep. The method further comprises turning off a wireless connection in the mobile device in response to the user falling asleep, such that the system does not synchronize between the mobile device and a display device while the user is asleep.

Claims

1. A method of using sleep monitoring to improve interaction with a media device, the method comprising:

monitoring the user'"'"'s state using a plurality of sensors in a sensor system when the user is consuming media on the media device;

detecting when the user is falling asleep;

turning off a wireless connection in the media device in response to the user falling asleep, thus saving a current location in the media being consumed, and reducing power consumption of the media device, such that the system does not synchronize between a mobile device and the media device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the sensor system is implemented in a mobile device and a wristband, and the media device comprises one of:

a smart phone, an e-reader, a tablet computer, and a computer.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the wireless connection used by the mobile device to communicate with the media display device comprises Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE).

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

turning off a wireless connection between the media display device and a server, in response to the user falling asleep.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining whether the user should be falling asleep, and if so, adjusting a user environment to increase a likelihood of a user sleeping.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein adjusting the user environment comprises lowering a display light intensity on the media device, changing color tones of the display and, changing a sound output.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining whether the user should be awake, and if so, adjusting the user environment to decrease the likelihood of a user sleeping.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining that a current sleep should be a power nap, based on a plurality of factors, comprising one or more of;

time of day, calendar items, and user input, and setting an alarm to awaken the user after a power nap.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

adjusting a user environment comprising one or more of;

room temperature, room lighting, noise levels, upon detecting that the user is falling asleep to enable healthier sleep.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

upon detecting the user waking up, turning on the wireless connection and synchronizing data from a mobile device, such that the display device has up-to-date information available to the user.

11. An e-reader system comprising:

a sensor system including a plurality of sensors to monitor a status of a user interacting with the e-reader system;

a media application enabling a user to consume media;

a user state detection system to determine when a user falls asleep based on data from the sensor system;

a state monitor to track a user'"'"'s sleep, the state monitor to determine sleep phases; and

a user interface to provide sleep data to the user on the e-reader, based on the data from the user state detection system and the state monitor.

12. The e-reader system of claim 11, wherein the sensor system is incorporated into a wearable device, the wearable device coupled to the e-reader system via a wireless connection.

13. The e-reader system of claim 12, wherein the wireless connection is a Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) connection.

14. The e-reader system of claim 12, further comprising:

a sensor sync logic to turn off the wireless connection when the sensor system detects that the user is asleep.

15. The e-reader system of claim 11, wherein the sensor system is incorporated into the e-reader device, and the sensor system functions to detect the user state when:

the user is holding the e-reader device and when the e-reader device is placed on a soft surface in proximity to the user.

16. The e-reader system of claim 11, further comprising:

a user interface adjustment logic to adjust interface features based on the sensor data, to do one or more of;

assist the user in falling asleep, assist the user in falling asleep, and set an appropriate sleep period.

17. A user device for sleep monitoring comprising:

a body-worn device comprising;

a plurality of sensors to monitor the user'"'"'s state;

a user state detection system to detect when the user is falling asleep; and

a sensor sync logic to synchronize sensor data with a display device via a wireless connection, the sensor sync logic to turn off a wireless connection in response to the user falling asleep, such that the system does not synchronize between the body-worn device and a display device.

18. The user device of claim 17, wherein the body-worn device comprises a wristband, and the display device comprises one of:

a smart phone, an e-reader, a tablet computer, and a computer.

19. The user device of claim 17, further comprising:

the user state detection system to determine that the user is waking up; and

the sensor sync logic, in response to the determination that the user is waking up, to turn on the wireless connection and synchronize the sensor data to the display device, such that current state data is available to the user at all times.

20. The user device of claim 17, further comprising:

the display device comprising;

a user interface to interact with the user, the user interface including one or more of display and sound output;

a user interface adjustment logic to adjust the user interface in response to the user state data, the adjustment comprising one or more of;

adjusting a user environment to increase or decrease a likelihood of a user sleeping, wherein adjusting the user environment comprises one or more of;

altering a display intensity on the display device, changing a sound output, and alerting the user.