Vibrating alarm system and operating methods

Abstract

Introduced are methods and systems for: gathering human biological signals, such as heart rate, breathing rate, or temperature; analyzing the gathered human biological signals; and controlling an alarm based on the analysis.

1 . A system for automatically activating a vibrating alarm strip in response to a biological signal associated with a user, said system comprising:
 a sensor strip configured to measure said biological signal associated with said user, wherein said sensor strip comprises a piezo sensor, and a temperature sensor, and further wherein said biological signal comprises a breathing rate associated with said user, a heart rate associated with said user, a motion associated with said user, and a temperature associated with said user;   a database configured to store a history of biological signals associated with said user;   said vibrating alarm strip, attached to a mattress, configured to receive a control signal and to vibrate based on said control signal, said vibrating alarm strip comprising a plurality of zones corresponding to a plurality of users, wherein each zone in said plurality of zones is configured to vibrate independently;   a computer processor communicatively coupled to said sensor strip, said vibrating alarm strip, and said database, said computer processor configured to:
 identify said user based on at least one of: said heart rate associated with said user, said breathing rate associated with said user, said motion associated with said user, or said temperature associated with said user; 
 based on said user identification, obtain a wake-up time associated with said user; 
 based on said history of biological signals and said biological signal, identify a sleep phase associated with said user, said sleep phase comprising a wakefulness phase, a light sleep phase, a deep sleep phase, or a rapid eye movement sleep phase; and 
 when said sleep phase comprises said light sleep phase and a current time is at most one hour before said wake-up time, send said control signal to said vibrating alarm strip, said control signal comprising an instruction to vibrate. 
   
     
     
         2 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein said history of biological signals comprises a normal heart rate range associated with each sleep phase, a normal breathing rate range associated with each sleep phase, a normal motion range associated with each sleep phase, and a normal temperature range associated with each sleep phase. 
     
     
         3 . A system for automatically activating a vibrating alarm in response to a biological signal associated with a user, said system comprising:
 a sensor strip configured to measure said biological signal associated with said user, wherein said sensor strip comprises a piezo sensor, and a temperature sensor, and further wherein said biological signal comprises a breathing rate associated with said user, a heart rate associated with said user, a motion associated with said user, and a temperature associated with said user;   said vibrating alarm, coupled to said user, configured to receive a control signal and to vibrate based on said control signal;   a computer processor communicatively coupled to said sensor strip, and said vibrating alarm, said computer processor configured to:
 identify said user based on at least one of: said heart rate associated with said user, said breathing rate associated with said user, said motion associated with said user, or said temperature associated with said user; 
 based on said user identification, obtain a wake-up time associated with said user; 
 based on said biological signal, detect when said user is in a light sleep phase; and 
 when said user is in said light sleep phase and a current time is at most one hour before said wake-up time, send said control signal to said vibrating alarm, said control signal comprising an instruction to vibrate. 
   
     
     
         4 . The system of  claim 3 , wherein said computer processor is configured to detect when said user is in said light sleep phase by detecting: a slowdown in said heart rate, a drop in said temperature, and a regular breathing rate. 
     
     
         5 . The system of  claim 3 , wherein said computer processor is configured to detect when said user is in said light sleep phase by detecting an end of said rapid eye movement sleep phase. 
     
     
         6 . The system of  claim 3 , said vibrating alarm comprising a vibrating alarm strip, said vibrating alarm strip coupled to said user, and further said vibrating alarm strip comprising a plurality of zones corresponding to a plurality of users, wherein each zone in said plurality of zones is configured to vibrate independently. 
     
     
         7 . The system of  claim 6 , wherein said control signal comprises an identification associated with said zone in said plurality of zones. 
     
     
         8 . The system of  claim 3 , said vibrating alarm comprising a vibrating alarm strip attached to a bed pad. 
     
     
         9 . The system of  claim 3 , said vibrating alarm comprising a vibrating alarm strip attached to a bed cover. 
     
     
         10 . The system of  claim 3 , said vibrating alarm comprising a vibrating alarm strip attached to a bed sheet. 
     
     
         11 . The system of  claim 3 , said vibrating alarm comprising a wearable user device. 
     
     
         12 . The system of  claim 3 , further comprising a database configured to store a history of biological signals associated with said user, wherein said history of biological signals comprises a normal heart rate range associated with each sleep phase, a normal breathing rate range associated with each sleep phase, a normal motion range associated with each sleep phase, and a normal temperature range associated with each sleep phase. 
     
     
         13 . The system of  claim 12 , wherein said computer processor is further configured to:
 based on said user identification, retrieve from said database, said history of biological signals associated with said user; and   based on said biological signal and said history of biological signals, determine said sleep phase associated with said user.   
     
     
         14 . A method for automatically activating a vibrating alarm strip in response to a biological signal associated with a user, said method comprising:
 measuring said biological signal associated with said user with a sensor strip, wherein said sensor strip comprises a piezo sensor, and a temperature sensor, and further wherein said biological signal comprises a breathing rate associated with said user, a heart rate associated with said user, a motion associated with said user, and a temperature associated with said user;   storing a history of biological signals associated with said user in a database;   identifying said user based on at least one of: said heart rate associated with said user, said breathing rate associated with said user, said motion associated with said user, or said temperature associated with said user;   based on said user identification, obtaining a wake-up time associated with said user;   based on said history of biological signals and said biological signal, identifying a sleep phase associated with said user, said sleep phase comprising a wakefulness phase, a light sleep phase, a deep sleep phase, or a rapid eye movement sleep phase; and   when said sleep phase comprises said light sleep phase and a current time is at most one hour before said wake-up time, sending a control signal to said vibrating alarm strip, said control signal comprising an instruction to vibrate.   
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 14 , comprising configuring said vibrating alarm strip to attach to a mattress, to receive said control signal and to vibrate based on said control signal, said vibrating alarm strip comprising a plurality of zones corresponding to a plurality of users, wherein each zone in said plurality of zones is configured to vibrate independently. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 14 , wherein said history of biological signals comprises a normal heart rate range associated with each sleep phase, a normal breathing rate range associated with each sleep phase, a normal motion range associated with each sleep phase, and a normal temperature range associated with each sleep phase. 
     
     
         17 . A method for automatically activating a vibrating alarm in response to a biological signal associated with a user, said method comprising:
 configuring a computer processor to:
 identify said user based on at least one of: a heart rate associated with said user, a breathing rate associated with said user, a motion associated with said user, or a temperature associated with said user, wherein said biological signal comprises said heart rate, said breathing rate, said motion, and said temperature; 
 based on said user identification, obtain a wake-up time associated with said user; 
 based on said biological signal, detect when said user is in a light sleep phase; and 
 when said user is in said light sleep phase and a current time is at most one hour before said wake-up time, send a control signal to said vibrating alarm coupled to said user, said control signal comprising an instruction to vibrate. 
   
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 17 , further comprising:
 configuring a sensor strip to measure said biological signal associated with said user, wherein said sensor strip comprises a piezo sensor, and a temperature sensor.   
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 17 , further comprising:
 configuring said vibrating alarm to receive said control signal and to vibrate based on said control signal.   
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 19 , said vibrating alarm comprising a vibrating alarm strip attached to a bed pad. 
     
     
         21 . The method of  claim 19 , said vibrating alarm comprising a vibrating alarm strip attached to a bed cover. 
     
     
         22 . The method of  claim 19 , said vibrating alarm comprising a vibrating alarm strip attached to a bed sheet. 
     
     
         23 . The method of  claim 19 , said vibrating alarm comprising a wearable user device. 
     
     
         24 . The method of  claim 19 , wherein said vibrating alarm comprises a vibrating alarm strip coupled to said user, and further wherein said vibrating alarm strip comprises a plurality of zones corresponding to a plurality of users, wherein each zone in said plurality of zones is configured to vibrate independently. 
     
     
         25 . The method of  claim 24 , wherein said control signal comprises an identification associated with said zone in said plurality of zones. 
     
     
         26 . The method of  claim 17 , wherein said configuring said computer processor to detect when said user is in said light sleep phase comprises detecting a slowdown in said heart rate, a drop in said temperature, and a regular breathing rate. 
     
     
         27 . The method of  claim 17 , wherein said configuring said computer processor to detect when said user is in said light sleep phase comprises detecting an end of said rapid eye movement sleep phase. 
     
     
         28 . The method of  claim 17 , further comprising configuring a database to store a history of biological signals associated with said user, wherein said history of biological signals comprises a normal heart rate range associated with each sleep phase, a normal breathing rate range associated with each sleep phase, a normal motion range associated with each sleep phase, and a normal temperature range associated with each sleep phase. 
     
     
         29 . The method of  claim 28 , further comprising:
 configuring said computer processor to, based on said user identification, retrieve from said database, said history of biological signals; and   configuring said computer processor to, based on said biological signal and said history of said biological signals, determine said sleep phase associated with said user.