IP Library Granted Patent US 11,471,097
Granted Patent B1
US 11,471,097 · App. 16/601,561 · Granted Oct 18, 2022

Hardware sensor system for improved sleep detection

Inventors: Philippe Richard Kahn (Santa Cruz, CA); Arthur Kinsolving (Santa Cruz, CA); Mark Andrew Christensen (Santa Cruz, CA); Mihai Ionescu (Ben Lomond, CA); Sean Brooks Harre (Santa Cruz, CA); David Vogel (Santa Cruz, CA)
Assignee: DP Technologies, Inc.
A61B5/4815A61B5/4809A61B5/4812A61B5/0205A61G7/05
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 11,471,097
App. No.
16/601,561
Granted
Oct 18, 2022
Kind
B1
Abstract

A hardware sensor system comprising a piezo sensor outputting charge data corresponding to a motion, an insulated cable from the piezo sensor to a receiver, to transmit the charge data, an insulated charge to voltage converter on the receiver, the insulated charge to voltage converter converting the charge data to voltage data, an analog-to-digital converter to convert the voltage data to digital data, and an uploader to upload the data to a server for processing.

Claims (55)

1. A hardware sleep sensor system comprising:

a piezo sensor outputting charge data corresponding to a motion;

an insulated cable from the piezo sensor to a receiver, to transmit the charge data;

a charge to voltage converter on the receiver, the charge to voltage converter for converting the charge data to voltage data;

an analog-to-digital converter to convert the voltage data to digital data;

an uploader to upload the digital data to a server for processing, the server to determine a level of use of the sleep sensor system; and

a downsampler configured to receive a down-sampling rate calculated based on the level of use of the sleep sensor system, wherein the level of use is one of: not in use, limited analysis use, and full use;

the downsampler further configured to down-sample the output of the analog-to-digital converter using the down-sampling rate, and provide the down-sampled data to the uploader.

2. The system of claim 1 , further comprising:

an insulated plug in the receiver to connect the insulated cable to the receiver.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the charge to voltage converter is insulated.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the piezo sensor, a plug in the receiver connected to the insulated cable, and the charge to voltage converter are on an insulated portion of the receiver.

5. The system of claim 4 , wherein the insulated portion of the receiver is insulated with a metal enclosure.

6. The system of claim 1 , further comprising:

an electrostatic discharge protector coupled to the insulated cable.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein the analog-to-digital converter converts analog voltage data to digital voltage data and outputs the digital voltage data to a lossless algorithm to convert the digital voltage data to compressed data.

8. The system of claim 7 , wherein the lossless algorithm is FLAC (Free Lossless Audio Codec), and the analog-to-digital converter is an audio codec.

9. The system of claim 1 , wherein the piezo sensor comprises two piezo sensors outputting charge data; and

wherein the analog-to-digital converter is a two-channel converter to provide concurrent sampling of the charge data from the two piezo sensors.

10. The system of claim 1 , wherein the down-sampling rate is one of a plurality of selectable down-sampling rates and wherein:

the not in use level is defined as no user data being measured;

the limited analysis use level is defined as measuring: sleep state, heart rate and breathing rate; and

the full use level is defined as measuring the sleep state, the heart rate, and the breathing rate, and further measuring one or more of: snore detection, respiratory events, and heart rate variability.

11. The system of claim 10 , wherein: the down-sampling rate is 0.5 Hz to 5 Hz for the not in use level; is 30 Hz to 100 Hz for the limited analysis use level; and is 100 Hz to 500 Hz for the full use level.

12. A hardware sleep sensor system comprising a receiver to upload data to a server for analysis, the receiver comprising:

an insulated plug to receive an insulated cable, the insulated cable carrying charge data from a piezo sensor;

a charge to voltage converter for converting the charge data to voltage data;

an analog-to-digital converter to convert the voltage data to digital data;

a down-sampler configured to receive a down-sampling rate, the down-sampling rate calculated based on a current level of use of the sleep sensor system, the current level of use being one of: not in use level, limited analysis use level, and full use level, the down-sampler further configured to down-sample the digital data using the down-sampling rate; and

an uploader to upload the down-sampled digital data to a server for processing, the server to determine the current level of use of the sleep sensor system, based on the down-sampled digital data.

13. The system of claim 12 , further comprising:

an electrostatic discharge protector coupled to the insulated cable.

14. The system of claim 12 , wherein the analog-to-digital converter comprises a FLAC audio codec that implements lossless compression of the voltage data to digital data.

15. The system of claim 12 , wherein the piezo sensor comprises:

two piezo sensors outputting charge data; and

wherein the analog-to-digital converter is a two-channel converter to provide concurrent sampling of the charge data from the two piezo sensors.

16. The system of claim 15 , wherein:

the not in use level is defined as no user data being measured;

the limited analysis use level is defined as measuring one or more of: sleep state, heart rate, and breathing rate; and

the full use level is defined as measuring the sleep state, the heart rate, and the breathing rate, and further measuring one or more of: snore detection, respiratory events, and heart rate variability.

17. A hardware sleep sensor system comprising:

a piezo sensor outputting charge data corresponding to a motion;

an insulated cable from the piezo sensor to a receiver, to transmit the charge data;

the receiver comprising:

a charge to voltage converter on the receiver, the charge to voltage converter for converting the charge data to voltage data;

an analog-to-digital converter to convert the voltage data to digital data;

an uploader to upload the digital data to a server for processing;

a server to analyze the digital data to determine a user's sleep status, and to send control signals to the receiver; and

a downsampler, to down-sample the output of the analog-to-digital converter and provide the down-sampled data to the server, wherein the down-sampler is configured to receive a down-sampling rate selected from a plurality of selectable down-sampling rates, the received down-sampling rate selected based on a current level of use of the sleep sensor system as determined by the server, the current level of use being one of: not in use level, limited analysis use level, and full use level.

18. The hardware sleep sensor system of claim 1 , wherein the uploader uploads the digital data to the server at an upload time interval specified by the server.

19. The hardware sleep sensor system of claim 1 , wherein the uploader uploads the digital data to the server when a predetermined amount of digital data is accumulated by the uploader.

20. The system of claim 1 , wherein the uploader receives data from the server indicating a current state of the hardware sleep sensor system and the uploader is configured to determine the down-sampling rate in accordance with the current level of use of the hardware sleep sensor system, wherein:

the not in use level is defined as no user data being measured;

the limited analysis use level is defined as measuring: sleep state, heart rate and breathing rate; and

the full use level is defined as measuring the sleep state, the heart rate, and the breathing rate, and further measuring one or more of: snore detection, respiratory events, and heart rate variability.

Assignments (2)
SECURITY INTEREST Recorded Sep 24, 2025
From: DP TECHNOLOGIES, INC.
To: TEMPUR WORLD, LLC
Reel/Frame 072940/0723 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Oct 16, 2019
From: KAHN, PHILIPPE; KINSOLVING, ARTHUR; CHRISTENSEN, MARK ANDREW; IONESCU, MIHAI; HARRE, SEAN BROOKS; VOGEL, DAVID
To: DP TECHNOLOGIES, INC.
Reel/Frame 050740/0269 →