Surgery: kinesitherapy – Kinesitherapy – Vibrator
Reexamination Certificate
1999-01-29
2001-02-06
Yu, Justine R. (Department: 3764)
Surgery: kinesitherapy
Kinesitherapy
Vibrator
C601S067000, C601S069000, C601S070000, C601S072000, C601S139000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06183427
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates to a dozing preventive device and its method which acts on a user's brain by transmitting a vibration through his teeth.
BACKGROUND ART
A known method for dozing prevention during driving or attending a meeting is chewing gum or drinking medicine such as caffeine to keep one's brain awaken.
Another method is for stimulating one's face by washing in cold water.
A dozing preventive device is also known. The device is set to be positioned at one's ear so that when the user inclines his head at more than a predetermined angle, the nodding movement is detected and a beep or buzzing sound is generated. The user is therefore awaken by this sound.
DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION
In the above known methods, however, various problems exist. For example, dozing prevention is not always achieved by chewing gum or drinking medicine. Further, it is not polite to attend a meeting while chewing gum in front of other attendants.
As to washing face in cold water, if one is involved in an operation such as driving, the driver may have to drive his car to a particular place where he can use a water tap. When the driver is driving on a superhighway, he may have to drive to a next parking area. Meanwhile, when the driver is driving on a town road, he has to drive to a park nearby or the like place for a water tap.
As to the above dozing preventive device, since the beep sound is produced after the user's nodding movement is detected, that is to say, the device actuates after the user actually falls into a sleep, the awaking timing acting on the user's brain tends to be delayed. This is serious when the user is involved in a dangerous operation such as driving a vehicle.
In this dozing preventive device, a possible misoperation occurs due to the nodding movement of the user such as when he reads documents in a meeting. The dozing preventive device also has a drawback in that the beep sound to be produced annoys neighboring people.
With the aforementioned drawbacks of the prior art in view, the present invention seeks to provide a dozing preventive device and its method for securely preventing the user from sleeping, in which a vibration is transmitted through the user's teeth to his brain. The inventive device is simple in its construction, and it does not require the user to move to a specific place, and further it does not produce a beep or buzzing sound which annoys neighboring people.
According to the present invention, there is provided a dozing preventive device comprising:
a contacting portion directly contacting with the teeth of a user;
a vibration mechanism for vibrating the contacting portion;
a power supply for driving the vibration mechanism; and
a housing case for accommodating the vibration mechanism and the power supply as well as for supporting the contacting portion.
The vibration mechanism of the above dozing preventive device may be positioned within the housing case adjacent to the contacting portion and an electric power supply connector may be connected between one end of the vibration mechanism and the power supply.
Also, the vibration mechanism may comprise a driven portion having a rotational shaft and a stroke portion provided on the rotational shaft, and a driving portion for driving the driven portion, thereby vibration occurs when the stroke portion continuously or intermittently hits the contacting portion.
The contacting portion and the stroke portion may be provided with protrusions for intermittent contact therebetween so that vibration frequency of the contacting portion is determined by the number of such protrusions.
Further, the front end of the housing case may be deformed to form a contacting portion, and the rear end of the contacting portion may be provided with an accommodation space for said vibration mechanism.
According to the present invention, there is also provided a dozing preventing method using the above dozing preventive device, wherein the contacting portion with a predetermined vibration frequency is brought into contact with the teeth of a user so that the vibration is transmitted to the user's brain.
Further, there is provided a dozing prevention method using the above dozing preventive device, wherein the stroke portion provided on the rotational shaft continuously or intermittently contacts with the contacting portion during the rotational movement of the rotational shaft, and the contacting portion vibrating is brought into contact with the teeth of a user so that the vibration is transmitted to the user's brain.
REFERENCES:
patent: 2422639 (1947-06-01), Wenander
patent: 3033197 (1962-05-01), Barckley
patent: 3363623 (1968-01-01), Atwell
patent: 3563233 (1971-02-01), Bodine
patent: 3623481 (1971-11-01), Curran
patent: 3978852 (1976-09-01), Annoni
patent: 4219619 (1980-08-01), Zarow
patent: 4827551 (1989-05-01), Maser et al.
patent: 5030098 (1991-07-01), Branford
Liniak Berenato Longacre & White
Thinky Corp.
Yu Justine R.
LandOfFree
Dozing preventive device and its method does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Dozing preventive device and its method, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Dozing preventive device and its method will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-2611092