Method and device for sleep posture correction

• US 9,993,179 B2
• Filed: 05/26/2015
• Issued: 06/12/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 10/29/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Koninklijke Philips N.V.
• Original Assignee: NightBalance B.V. (Koninklijke Philips N.V.)
• Inventors: van Beest, Eline Christiane
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Hung T
• Application Number:
  US14/721,780
• Publication Number:
  US 20160073935A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,113 Days
• Field of Search: 3405737, 3405733, 340575, 34030916, 3403097, 128845, 128848, 128871, 600300, 600301, 600324, 600333
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2562/0219 Inertial sensors, e.g. accelerometers, gyroscopes, tilt switches
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2562/0271 Thermal or temperature sensors
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1116 Determining posture transitions
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1118 Determining activity level
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/369 Electroencephalography [EEG] devices for psychotechnics A61B5/16
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/4809 Sleep detection, i.e. determining whether a subject is asleep or not
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/4812 Detecting sleep stages or cycles
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7282 Event detection, e.g. detecting unique waveforms indicative of a medical condition A61B5/4094, A61B5/4818, A61B5/349, A61B5/0823 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7455 characterised by tactile indication, e.g. vibration or electrical stimulation
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/746 Alarms related to a physiological condition, e.g. details of setting alarm thresholds or avoiding false alarms alarms per se G08B
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 7/003 Detecting lung or respiration noise

Abstract

In a sleep posture alerting method or an apparatus therefor, the sleep posture of a person is detected and the person is automatically alerted by an alerting device when the sleep posture is out of a predetermined body posture range. However, the alerting of the person is provided only in part of the occasions, when his/her body posture is out of the predefined body posture range.

Claims

1. A sleep posture alerting apparatus, comprising:

an electronic control unit;

a body posture detecting sensor operatively connected to the control unit for detecting a posture of a person'"'"'s body; and

an alarming device operatively connected to the control unit,

wherein the sleep posture alerting device has a normal operational mode, in which when the posture of the body detected by the body posture detecting sensor exits a predefined posture range, the control unit sends an alarm signal to the alarm device, and the alarming device generates an alarm based on the signal received from the control unit, to alert said person, wherein the control unit is programmed to send, during the normal operational mode and for a learning period in a new sleep position, an alarm signal to the alarming device only in a predetermined part of occasions where a sleep posture out of the predetermined body posture range is detected.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the control unit is programmed to increase a number of sent alarm signals from a lower limit of the times the sleep posture is out of a predetermined body posture range at a start of use, and increasing to an upper limit of the times at an end of the learning period.

3. The apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the number of given alarms is initially 30% of the times the person turns into a wrong position at the start of use, and increasing to 100% of the time after a certain period of time.

4. The apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the period of time is at least one week.

5. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the apparatus has a sensor connected to the control unit to detect a reaction of the person on a given alert, and wherein the control unit is programmed to determine a reaction level of the person and is programmed to increase the number of sent alarm signals from a lower limit of the times the sleep posture is out of a predetermined body posture range at a start of use, and increasing to an upper limit of the times based on the determined reaction level of the person.

6. The sleep posture alerting apparatus according to claim 1, comprising:

wherein the sleep posture alerting device has the normal operational mode, in which when the posture of the body detected by the body posture detecting sensor exits a predefined posture range, the control unit sends an alarm signal to the alarm device, and the alarming device generates an alarm based on the signal received from the control unit, to alert said person, wherein the control unit is programmed to switch the sleep posture device in said normal operational mode after an initial sleep-in time period.

7. The apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the control unit comprises a timer and the control unit is programmed to switch to the normal operational mode after a predetermined sleep-in time period.

8. The apparatus according to claim 6, further comprising a sleep detecting sensor connected to the control unit adapted to detect whether the person is in a state of sleep.

9. The apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the sleep detecting sensor is a body activity detecting sensor, and wherein the control unit is programmed to determine whether the person is asleep based on a level of body activity per time period detected by said sleep detecting sensor or, wherein the sleep detecting sensor is a sound detecting sensor adapted to detecting respiration or snoring sounds and wherein the control unit is programmed to determine whether the person is asleep based on a sound level and/or frequency produced by the person and detected by said sound detecting sensor.

10. The apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the control unit is programmed to reset the sleep-in time period when the person gets up.

11. The apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the control unit is programmed to deactivate the normal operational mode when a person gets up.

12. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the apparatus comprises a sleep stage detecting sensor connected to the control unit, and wherein the control unit is programmed to determine a specific sleep stage of the person based on a signal of the sleep stage detecting sensor, whereby when the apparatus is in the normal operational mode, the control unit sends an alarm signal to the alarming device, only when it is determined that a sleep stage is a lighter sleep stage.

13. The apparatus according to claim 12, wherein the sleep stage detection sensor comprises a body activity detecting sensor.

14. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the apparatus comprises a sleep stage detecting sensor connected to the control unit, and wherein the control unit is programmed to determine a specific sleep stage of the person based on a signal of the sleep stage detecting sensor, whereby when the apparatus is in the normal operational mode the control unit sends an alarm signal to the alarming device, only when it is determined that the sleep stage is a lighter sleep stage, and wherein the body activity detecting sensor for sleep stage detection and the body activity detecting sensor for determining the sleep state are one and the same sensor.

15. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the control unit is programmed to send an alarm signal to the alarming device only in a predetermined part of the occasions where a sleep posture out of the predetermined body posture range is detected.

16. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the alarming device is a vibrator for providing a vibrotactile stimulation alarm to the person.

17. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the body posture detecting sensor is a gravity activated sensor.

18. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the control unit is programmed to provide an alarm signal to the alarming device which corresponds to an alarm frequency and/or alarm amplitude that increases during a predetermined period of time and/or use.

19. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the control unit is programmed to provide an alarm signal to the alarming device which corresponds to a non-continuous alarm frequency and/or alarm amplitude over time and/or use.

20. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the control unit is programmed to provide an alarm signal to the alarming device only for a predetermined maximum time period.

21. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the control unit is programmed to be switched from the normal operational mode into a storage and diagnosis mode in which measurements from the sensor of the apparatus are stored and diagnosed to analyze the user'"'"'s sleep.

22. A sleep posture alerting method executed by an electronic control unit, wherein a sleep posture of a person is detected by a sensor and wherein the person is automatically alerted by an alerting device when the sleep posture is out of a predetermined body posture range, wherein the electronic control unit is programmed to send an alarm signal during a normal operational mode and for a learning period in a new sleep position, the alerting device is given an alarm signal only in a predetermined part of occasions where a sleep posture out of the predetermined body posture range is detected.

23. The method according to claim 22, wherein a number of given alarms is increased from a lower limit of the times the sleep posture is out of a predetermined body posture range at a start of use, and increasing to an upper limit of the times at an end of the learning period.

24. The method according to claim 22, wherein a reaction level of the person to alerts is determined and wherein a number of given alarms is increased from a lower limit of the times the sleep posture is out of a predetermined body posture range at the start of use, and increasing to an upper limit of the times depending on a reaction level of the person.

25. The method according to claim 24, wherein, the number of given alarms is initially 30% of the times the person turns into a wrong position at the start of use, and increasing to 100% of the time after a certain period of time.

26. The method according to claim 25, wherein the period of time is at least one week.

27. The sleep posture alerting method according to claim 22, wherein the sleep posture of a person is detected and wherein the person is automatically alerted by the alerting device when the sleep posture is out of a predetermined body posture range, wherein the detection of the sleep posture or at least the alerting of the person, when his/her body posture is out of the predefined body posture range, is deactivated during a sleep-in time period.

28. The method according to claim 27, wherein the deactivated sleep-in period is reset when the person gets up.

29. The method according to claim 22, wherein a state of sleep of the person is detected and when it is detected that the person is in a state of sleep, the detection of the sleep posture or the alerting of the person is activated such that, in an event that his/her body posture is out of the predefined body posture range, the person will be alerted.

30. The method according to claim 29, wherein the state of sleep is detected by detecting body activity of the person.

31. The method according to claim 29, wherein the state of sleep is detected by measuring brain activity.

32. The method according to claim 29, wherein the state of sleep is detected by detecting respiration sound produced by the person.

33. The method according to claim 29, wherein a sleep stage of the person is detected and wherein only when it is detected that the person is in a lighter sleep stage the detection of the sleep posture or the alerting of the person is activated such that, in the event that his/her body posture is out of the predefined body posture range, the person is alerted.

34. The method according to claim 33 wherein the lighter sleep stage is determined by detecting an amount of body activity of the person.

35. The method according to claim 29, wherein the detection of the sleep posture or at least the alerting of the person, when his/her body posture is out of the predefined body posture range, is deactivated when the person gets up.

36. The method according to claim 22, wherein a state of sleep of the person is assumed after a predetermined period of time, after which the detection of the sleep posture or the alerting of the person is activated such that, in an event that his/her body posture is out of the predefined body posture range, the person is alerted.

37. A sleep posture alerting method executed by an electronic control unit, wherein a sleep posture of a person is detected by a sensor and wherein the person is automatically alerted by an alerting device when the sleep posture is out of a predetermined body posture range, wherein the electronic control unit is programmed to send an alarm signal as a sleep stage of the person is detected and wherein when it is detected that the person is in a lighter sleep stage the detection of the sleep posture in a new sleep position or the alerting of the person is activated such that, in an event that his/her body posture is out of the predefined body posture range in a new sleep position, the person is alerted.

38. The method according to claim 37, wherein the lighter sleep stage is determined by detecting an amount of body activity of the person.