Surgery – Truss – Pad
Patent
1987-06-22
1989-07-18
Howell, Kyle L.
Surgery
Truss
Pad
128419R, 340575, A61B 700
Patent
active
048483605
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
FIELD OF INVENTION AND PRIOR ART
This invention relates to a device for preventing snoring of a sleeping person according to the preamble of the claim 1.
It is well known that when two or more persons are going to sleep in the same room frequently the inconvenience occurs that someone of the persons produces snoring sounds and as a consequence thereof either obstructs the falling asleep of the other or wakes up the other. This problem is probably most common among two persons who are living together and sleeping in the same bed, but can also be rather severe under other circumstances, for example in hospitals. In the latter case it may be impossible for a bedridden patient to bring the snorer to stop the snoring without waking up all the others in the ward. In some cases the problem can be so great that two persons living together choose to sleep in separate rooms, in spite of the several drawbacks this will result in. Therefore it is very desirable to be able to apply a device which prevents snoring of a sleeping person and in doing so preferably does not wake him or other persons sleeping in the same room. A device for this purpose is the object of this application.
A device of this kind is described in the Swedish patent application No. 8204375-3. This device comprises an apparatus in the form of two electrodes intended to be brought in touch with the sleeping and possibly snoring person, e.g. by putting them as a bracelet around his wrist. The electrodes are fed with a voltage, and do accordingly give the person in question a small electrical shock as soon as the sound with a frequency which is characteristic for snores is registered by a microphone included in the device. Through said electrical shock the snoring person is influenced to either change his sleeping position, so that the snoring disappears (the delivering of electrical shocks will not end before this happens), or to wake up.
This device has drawbacks which the present invention strives to reduce considerably. In the first place it is very unfortunate for the sleeping person to get an electrical shock in the same moment that a sound with a frequency similar to that of a snoring sound is propagated in the bedroom. In the second place it is quite possible that this sound does not even derive from him, but is a background sound. But if it nevertheless is originating from said person, it is possible that he has talked in his sleep or produced a single snoring or snuffling or the like. In all the cases it is unnecessary to influence the person to change his sleeping position and/or wake up, since it is not sure at all that he disturbs or can be expected to disturb anyone else in the room. It is true that the snoring of a person in question is prevented by this device, but the probability of unnecessarily disturbing this person is very high.
The object of the present invention is to provide a device of the above-mentioned kind, which influences a sleeping person solely if he snores continously during a rather long time interval and so that he stops snoring, at the same time as the device prevents such an influence when the sounds registered by the microphone are not originating from snores.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In accordance with the invention this object is obtained by providing the device with the characteristics of claim 1.
The advantages of the device according to the invention are achieved through the understanding that snores appear periodically at typical time intervals, and that the device is provided with means, which test if a detected sound has this periodicity and which are arranged to control the arrangement to influence the snorer solely if he has produced a predetermined number of successive snores with said time intervals.
As a result of this, background noises and isolated snores cannot cause unnecessary influences on or disturbences of the sleeping person, but he is only influenced when he is really snoring during a prolonged period of time, e.g. 30 seconds. Not until the snoring is proceeding over a certain period of
REFERENCES:
patent: 3089130 (1963-05-01), Wilson
patent: 3998209 (1976-12-01), Macvaugh
Birgning Torbjorn
Nygren Nils O.
Palsgard Gote
Persson Carl-Eric
Vikterlof Karl-Johan
Citrin Randy
Howell Kyle L.
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