Communications: electrical – Condition responsive indicating system – Specific condition
Reexamination Certificate
1999-07-13
2004-06-01
La, Anh V (Department: 2632)
Communications: electrical
Condition responsive indicating system
Specific condition
C340S575000, C601S049000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06744370
ABSTRACT:
An original compact disc (Copy 1) and a duplicate compact disc (Copy 2) each having a file named “57163.txt” (created on Jan. 25, 2002 and being 154,518 bytes in size) that contains a computer program assembly listing in Samsung Assembly Language (Appendix A)are filed with and as a part of this application and are incorporated by reference herein. The assembly listing in Appendix A is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to the reproduction of Appendix A or the patent disclosure, as it appears in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office files, but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever.
BACKGROUND
The present invention relates to devices for preventing sleeping or dozing of equipment operators such as vehicle drivers, to massaging devices, and to devices for communicating equipment functional conditions to operators thereof.
Sleep prevention devices are known, being disclosed for example in U.S. Pat. No. 3,938,123 to Warner, U.S. Pat. No. 4,023,098 to Muncheryan, U.S. Pat. No. 4,059,830 to Threadgill, U.S. Pat. No. 4,354,179 to Fourcade, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,585,785 to Gwin et al. The Warner patent discloses headgear having a battery-powered buzzer that sounds with increasing intensity until the wearer shakes his head. The Muncheryan patent discloses a dash-mountable circuit unit having a rheostat connected in series with battery power and a pair of output jacks, and a toggle switch for selectively disconnecting the power or connecting an interrupter in series with the power. The Threadgill patent discloses electrical contacts that are worn on adjacent fingers and biased toward contact for closing a circuit when the user relaxes, the circuit activating a buzzer or other stimulator for awakening the user. The Fourcade patent discloses an ear prosthesis having an adjustable mercury switch that closes an alarm circuit when the user's head reaches an abnormal inclination. The Gwin et al. patent discloses a force-sensitive transducer that variably feeds a microprocessor, the microprocessor activating an alarm when the force falls below a low limit that is established in an initial period of operation. Also proposed, but not described, is monitoring of transient behavior in a manner used for monitoring steering wheel oscillations. The above devices are unsatisfactory for a number of reasons. For example:
1. The headgear of Warner requires unnatural repetitive head motion to prevent false alarms;
2. The ear prosthesis of Fourcade is ineffective in that sleep can occur in normal head orientations, and false alarms can result from vehicle accelerations;
3. The device of Muncheryan is ineffective for improving or maintaining a driver's alertness in that uniform vibration and regular interruptions of vibratory action promote habituation, the vibratory action being progressively ignored by the user, and it is believed that relaxation by regular massaging of a limited fixed set of muscle groups only at reduced intensity tends to promote drowsiness;
4. The Threadgill device is awkward to use in that the user must actively and continuously force his fingers apart; and
3. The Gwin et al. system is ineffective in that a driver can set an abnormally low threshold by intentionally using very little force during the first 15 seconds of operation; also, it is believed that there is no enabling disclosure of the use of transients in measured gripping force for detecting drowsiness.
Typical warning systems of the prior art use visual or auditory indications of sensed conditions for initiating appropriate human responses in the nature of corrective action. For example, vehicle fuel gauges are commonly provided with warning lights that are activated when the supply reaches a low threshold, and aircraft have audible warnings of dangerous conditions such as an impending stall at low speed. Visual indications are often ineffective when used alone, in that they might not be noticed. Auditory indications can be ineffective in noisy environments, particularly when the user is hearing-impaired, and they can be objectionable when the indication does not require immediate corrective action.
Recent developments in massaging apparatus have produced a variety of products incorporating plural vibration transducers that operate in multiple modes. However, none is particularly suited for improving or maintaining a driver's alertness as desired for the reasons discussed above.
Thus there is a need for a vibro-tactile alert system that overcomes the disadvantages of the prior art, and that is reliable, easy to operate and inexpensive to produce.
SUMMARY
The present invention provides a tactile alert system having an irregular sequence of alert stimulation cycles that are generated using vibratory transducer motors. The motors are embedded in structure supporting a user, such as a vehicle driver's seat. The seat may also contain an embedded heater to enhance the effectiveness of the vibrations. The system, which can be powered from vehicle battery power, can be activated manually or by various signal indications of drowsiness, and it can be configured for interacting with a vehicle electrical system to provide auxiliary status indications and remote control of vehicle functions. In its fullest implementation, the system provides effective massaging of selected muscle groups of the user, and stimulation in response to alarm conditions such as overheating. As used herein, the term “tactile” is understood to mean vibro-tactile, and the term “tactile stimulation” is understood to mean vibro-tactile cutaneous stimulation.
In one aspect of the invention, a tactile alert system for an occupant support structure includes a plurality of vibratory transducers for location in plural zones of the support structure; a driver circuit for powering each of the transducers in response to a corresponding drive signal; and a controller responsive to external input for selectively activating the drive signals in a predetermined sequence of alert stimulation cycles of sufficient duration, frequency, and intensity for selectively stimulating muscle groups of an occupant of the structure, successive alert stimulation cycles differing in at least one of intensity, frequency, and transducers activated, thereby to improve the occupant's alertness.
The alert stimulation cycles can each have an active portion, and preferably at least some of the alert stimulation cycles also have an idle portion. The active portion durations can be between 1 second and 15 seconds, the idle portion durations being between 5 seconds and 45 seconds. The stimulation cycles can selectively include a pulse stimulation cycle wherein the controller activates the drive signals in spaced interval portions of the active portions. The interval portions can have an interval duration being between 0.1 second and 1.0 seconds, activated ones of the transducers producing a vibration frequency of at least 50 Hz in each of the alert stimulation cycles. Preferably the frequency is greater than 80 HZ in at least some of the alert stimulation cycles. The system can include respective left and right transducers in at least some of the zones the alert stimulation cycles further including at least one stimulation cycle selected from the group consisting of an alternating stimulation cycle wherein the controller alternately activates left and right ones of the transducers, a zigzag stimulation cycle wherein the controller activates alternating left and right ones of the transducers in sequential zones, a wave stimulation cycle wherein the controller activates the transducers in sequential zones, and a random stimulation cycle wherein the controller sequentially activates randomly selected ones of the transducers.
Successive alert stimulation cycles can further differ in at least one of active portion duration and idle portion duration. The active portion duration can be between 1 second and 10 seconds, some of the idle portion durations being between 5 seconds and 15 seconds, others of the idle portion durations being betwe
Chau Taylor
Cutler Stanley
Gerth Gayle B.
Otis, Jr. Alton B.
Sleichter, III Charles G.
Fulwider Patton Lee & Utecht LLP
InSeat Solutions LLC
La Anh V
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