Snore relieving pillow system and snore relieving pillow control method

Abstract

The present invention relates to a snore relieving pillow system and a method for controlling a snore relieving pillow, which ensures the respiratory tract of a user in snoring by adjusting the height of an airbag attached to the pillow, comprising: a pillow, a control device, and a movable device, the pillow comprises a pillow body and an air bag, wherein the pillow body is provided with a head supporting part at the front part and a cervical vertebra supporting part connected with the head supporting part, and the air bag is combined with an air inlet; the control device supplies or discharges air to the air bag through an air pipe connected to the air inlet so as to control the height of the air bag; the movable device is used for collecting sound generated during sleeping of a user through a microphone so as to judge and analyze the snoring state and sending an air supply or exhaust command to the control device; and the air bag is arranged at the vertical lower part of the cervical vertebra supporting part.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to a snoring relief pillow system and a control method of the snoring relief pillow. In particular, the present invention relates to a snoring relief pillow system and a control method of the snoring relief pillow for securing the respiratory tract of a snoring user by adjusting the height of an air bag attached to the pillow. Background Art

[0002] Sleep apnea is a phenomenon in which the airway narrows and air flow speeds up, causing fluttering or blockage in weak spots.

[0003] As one of the most representative sleep breathing disorders, snoring accompanied by sleep apnea can induce brain awakening, causing frequent awakenings, thus disrupting sleep. This can lead to increased blood pressure, oxygen / carbon dioxide imbalance in the body, etc., which have adverse effects on the body. As a result, you will feel tired even if you are asleep.

[0004] Snoring not only prevents the individual from getting high-quality sleep, but also reduces the sleep quality of his or her sleep partners. It can also cause complications such as arrhythmia, hypertension, cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, and diabetes. Therefore, it must be improved through appropriate measures.

[0005] On the other hand, as mentioned above, the root cause of snoring is the obstruction of the airway during sleep. If the user's airway can be guaranteed during sleep, snoring can be alleviated. Summary of the invention

[0006] Problems to be solved by the invention

[0007] The object of the present invention is to provide a snoring relief pillow system and a control method of the snoring relief pillow, which can relieve the snoring of a user during sleep.

[0008] In addition, an object of the present invention is to provide a snoring relief pillow system and a method for controlling the snoring relief pillow that can relieve snoring without disturbing the user's sleep.

[0009] Furthermore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a snoring relief pillow which can be managed hygienically.

[0010] Furthermore, an object of the present invention is to provide a snoring relief pillow system and a control method of the snoring relief pillow, which can intuitively determine the sleep quality improved by alleviating snoring.

[0011] The subjects of the present invention are not limited to the above contents, and other subjects not mentioned will be clearly understood by those skilled in the art from the following description of specific details for implementing the present invention.

[0012] Technical solutions for solving technical problems

[0013] In order to achieve the above-mentioned purpose, an embodiment of the present invention provides a snoring relief pillow system, characterized in that it includes: a pillow, a control device, and a movable device, wherein the pillow includes: a pillow body having a head support portion at a front and a cervical vertebra support portion connected to the head support portion, and an airbag combined with an air inlet; the control device supplies or exhausts air to the airbag through an air pipe connected to the air inlet to control the height of the airbag; and the movable device collects the sound generated by the user during sleep through a microphone to judge and analyze the snoring state, and sends an air supply or exhaust command to the control device; the airbag is arranged at the vertical lower part of the cervical vertebra support portion.

[0014] At this time, the pillow further includes: a pillowcase surrounding the pillow body; and the airbag can be arranged outside the pillowcase.

[0015] The air bag can be detachably combined with the pillowcase.

[0016] The airbag accommodating portion can be combined with the pillowcase, and the airbag accommodating portion has a space inside for accommodating the airbag.

[0017] The front-to-rear width D2 of the airbag may be formed to be less than one-third of the total width D1 of the pillow.

[0018] The control device includes: a driving unit that supplies air through the air inlet or draws air through the air inlet; a control unit that controls the action of the driving unit; and a communication unit that performs wireless communication with the movable device.

[0019] When receiving a command from the movable device, the control unit controls the supply and discharge of air so that the airbag is at a predetermined target pressure, and divides the supply or discharge amount of air required for the target pressure into multiple stages for supply or discharge, and the supply and discharge of air can be stopped for a predetermined period of time between each of the multiple stages.

[0020] Based on the analyzed snoring state of the user during sleep, the mobile device may display information including at least one of the total sleep time, the number of snoring times, the snoring time and the snoring sound level in dB of the user.

[0021] To achieve the above-mentioned purpose, another embodiment of the present invention provides a control method for alleviating snoring of a user during sleep using the pillow according to claim 1, which may include the following steps: a movable device collects sound data generated by the user during sleep and determines whether snoring occurs; and a control device adjusts the height of the airbag by controlling the supply or exhaust of air to the airbag until a predetermined target pressure is reached.

[0022] In the step of adjusting the airbag height, the air supply or discharge amount required for the target pressure is supplied or discharged in multiple stages, and the supply and discharge of air can be stopped for a predetermined time between each of the multiple stages.

[0023] Effects of the Invention

[0024] According to the present invention, if snoring of the user is detected during sleep, the air inlet and outlet of the airbag located at the lower part of the cervical vertebra supporting part is controlled, thereby adjusting the height of the pillow on which the user rests when sleeping, thereby ensuring the user's respiratory tract. Therefore, it has the effect of alleviating the snoring of the user during sleep.

[0025] In addition, according to the present invention, when controlling the air inlet and outlet of the airbag, the air supply and exhaust volume are adjusted through multiple stages until the set target pressure of the airbag is reached, thereby achieving the effect of alleviating snoring without disturbing the user's sleep.

[0026] Furthermore, according to the present invention, since the airbag is detachably provided on the pillow, the pillow can be washed separately, which has the effect of enabling hygienic management of the pillow.

[0027] Furthermore, according to the present invention, since the result of analyzing the snoring state of the user is displayed on the screen of the mobile device, the snoring relief effect before and after using the pillow can be intuitively confirmed.

[0028] The effects of the present invention are not limited thereto, and those skilled in the art will be able to clearly understand other effects not mentioned from the following description of specific details for implementing the present invention. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0029] Figure 1 A conceptual diagram of a snoring relief pillow system according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0030] Figure 2 To be included in Figure 1 Bottom view and front view of the pillow in the system;

[0031] Figure 3 for Figure 1 The block diagram of the system;

[0032] Figure 4 To show that included Figure 1 a diagram of an application screen of a mobile device in a system;

[0033] Figure 5 A diagram for explaining the change in height of the airbag and the change in height of the cervical vertebra supporting portion accordingly in an embodiment of the present invention;

[0034] Figure 6 and Figure 7 A diagram showing a sleeping posture of a user when an embodiment of the present invention is applied;

[0035] Figure 8 A table showing the results of an experiment related to sleep quality according to different positions of air bags provided on a pillow;

[0036] Fig. 9 A table showing the results of an experiment related to sleep quality according to different heights of air bags provided on the pillow;

[0037] Fig.10 FIG. 1 is a flow chart showing a method for controlling a snoring relief pillow according to an embodiment of the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0038] An embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0039] Since the present invention can be variously modified and can have various embodiments, specific embodiments will be shown in the drawings and described in detail in the specification. This is not intended to limit the present invention to specific embodiments, but should be interpreted as including all changes, equivalents or substitutes included in the thought and technical scope of the present invention.

[0040] When describing the present invention, the terms first, second, etc. may be used to describe various components, but the components may not be limited by these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish one component from another component. For example, without departing from the scope of the present invention, the first component may be named as the second component, and similarly, the second component may be named as the first component.

[0041] The term "and / or" may include a combination of a plurality of related stated items or any one of the plurality of related stated items.

[0042] When it is mentioned that a component is "connected" or "accessed" to another component, it can be understood that it is directly connected or accessed to the other component, but other components may exist in between. On the other hand, when it is mentioned that a component is "directly connected" or "directly accessed" to another component, it can be understood that there are no other components in between.

[0043] The terms used in the present application are only used to describe specific embodiments and are not intended to limit the present invention. A singular expression may include a plural expression unless there is an obviously different meaning in the context.

[0044] In the present application, the term "comprising" or "having" is intended to specify the presence of features, numbers, steps, actions, components, parts or a combination thereof described in the specification, and may be understood as not excluding in advance the possibility of the presence or addition of one or more other features, numbers, steps, actions, components, parts or a combination thereof.

[0045] Unless otherwise defined, all terms used herein, including technical or scientific terms, may have the same meaning as commonly understood by a person of ordinary skill in the art to which the present invention belongs. Generally, terms, such as those defined in commonly used dictionaries, may be interpreted as having a meaning consistent with that in the context of the relevant technology, and may not be interpreted as an idealized or overly formal meaning unless explicitly defined in this application.

[0046] In addition, the following embodiments are provided for a more complete explanation to a person having ordinary knowledge in the art, and the shapes and sizes of elements in the drawings may be exaggerated to provide a clearer explanation.

[0047] Figure 1 A conceptual diagram of a snoring relief pillow system according to an embodiment of the present invention is shown in FIG. Figure 2 To be included in Figure 1 Bottom and front views of the pillow in the system, Figure 3 for Figure 1 The block diagram of the system, Figure 4 To show that it is included in Figure 1 FIG. 1 is a diagram of an application screen of a mobile device in a system of FIG.

[0048] refer to Figures 1 to 4 It can be known that the snoring relief pillow system 10 according to the embodiment of the present invention may include a pillow 100 , a control device 200 and a movable device 300 .

[0049] The pillow 100 includes a pillow body 110 and a pillowcase 120 .

[0050] The pillow body 110 includes a cervical vertebra supporting portion 111 where the cervical vertebra of the user is located and a head supporting portion 112 where the head of the user is located, based on the user's lying state. The cervical vertebra supporting portion 111 and the head supporting portion 112 may be defined as areas formed on the upper surface of the pillow body 110 .

[0051] The cervical vertebra supporting part 111 may extend backward in a convex curved surface form from the front end of the pillow body 110 close to the user's shoulder. At this time, the front-to-back direction of the pillow body 110 is defined as the direction connecting the user's head and neck.

[0052] The head support portion 112 is connected to the cervical support portion 111 and can extend in a convex curved surface from the cervical support portion 111 to the rear of the pillow body 110. The head support portion 112 can be further divided into a head center portion 1121 and a head top portion 1122, wherein the head center portion 1121 is an area where the center of the user's head is located, and the head top portion 1122 is an area exposed to the outside of the user's head.

[0053] The pillowcase 120 is set in a manner of surrounding the pillow body 110. In a possible embodiment, the pillow body 110 can be an integrally formed memory foam. In another possible embodiment, the pillow body 110 can be filled with a cushioning member. In this case, the cushioning member can be an aggregate of foamed particles of a styrene polymer, or a fiber material such as cotton. In other words, the pillow body 110 described in the specification of the present invention refers to memory foam, or refers to a structure filled with a cushioning member and surrounded by the pillowcase 120.

[0054] In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the cervical vertebra supporting portion 111, the head center portion 1121 and the top portion 1122 may be composed of regions that divide the pillow body 110 into three equal parts. That is, the cervical vertebra supporting portion 111 may be composed of a region from the front end of the pillow body 110 to one third or less of the width D1 of the pillow body. The head center portion 1121 may be composed of a region from one third to two thirds of the width D1 of the pillow body 110. The top portion 1122 may be composed of a region from two thirds of the width D1 of the pillow body 110 to the rear end of the pillow body 110.

[0055] The pillow 100 may also include an air cell 130 .

[0056] The air inlet 140 may be coupled to the airbag 130 so that air is injected or discharged.

[0057] The airbag 130 is provided in the cervical vertebra supporting portion 111. When air is injected into the airbag 130, the height of the cervical vertebra supporting portion 111 is increased, and when the air existing in the airbag 130 flows out, the height of the cervical vertebra supporting portion 111 is decreased.

[0058] The airbag 130 may have the same width as the cervical vertebra supporting portion 111. For example, as shown in the above preferred embodiment, the front-back width D2 of the airbag 130 may be formed to be less than one-third of the total width D1 of the pillow 100. Therefore, the height change of the airbag 130 causes the height change of the cervical vertebra supporting portion 111.

[0059] In a preferred embodiment of the arrangement of the airbag 130, the airbag 130 is arranged below the cervical vertebra supporting portion 111. In other words, the cervical vertebra supporting portion 111 is arranged between the airbag 130 and the user's cervical vertebra.

[0060] In a more preferred embodiment of the airbag 130, the airbag 130 is disposed outside the bottom surface of the pillowcase 120. More specifically, in this embodiment, the airbag 130 is disposed at the vertical lower part of the cervical vertebra supporting part 111 and can be detachably coupled to the outside of the bottom surface of the pillowcase 120.

[0061] In a possible embodiment, the airbag 130 can be directly detached from the pillowcase 120. For example, the airbag 130 can be detached from the pillowcase 120 through a detachable device such as Velcro.

[0062] The pillowcase 120 may be combined with an airbag receiving portion 150 having a space inside thereof for receiving the airbag 130. More specifically, one side of the airbag receiving portion 150 may be opened, and the airbag 130 may be inserted or withdrawn from the side. (See Figure 2 )

[0063] The airbag receiving portion 150 may be inseparably coupled to the pillowcase 120. The inseparably coupled portion may be achieved by sewing the airbag receiving portion 150 to the pillowcase 120.

[0064] At this time, the airbag 130 can be inserted into the airbag receiving portion 150 or withdrawn from the airbag receiving portion 150 through the unsewn side. To prevent the received airbag 130 from escaping, a closing device can be provided on the opened side of the airbag receiving portion 150. The closing device can be, for example, a zipper, Velcro, etc., but is not limited thereto.

[0065] Different from the above-mentioned embodiment, the airbag accommodating portion 150 can also be detached from the pillowcase 120. For example, Velcro can be used as a detachable device for the airbag accommodating portion 150. In these embodiments, the airbag 130 can be separated from the pillowcase 120 in a state accommodated in the airbag accommodating portion 150.

[0066] Thus, according to at least one embodiment of the present invention, the airbag 130 is detachably coupled to the outside of the pillowcase 120, and the airbag 130 can be easily separated from the pillow body 110 and the pillowcase 120, so that not only the pillowcase 120 but also the pillow body 110 can be freely washed. Therefore, the pillow 100 can be hygienically managed.

[0067] The control device 200 is configured to control the height of the airbag 130 by supplying or exhausting air to the airbag 130 .

[0068] More specifically, the air tube 400 is connected between the air inlet 140 of the air bag 130 and the control device 200. The air tube 400 is preferably more than 1 meter in length so as to keep the control device 200 away from the pillow 100.

[0069] This has the effect of keeping the driving noise of the air pump and the like included in the control device 200 away from the user, so that the user's sleep is not disturbed by the noise.

[0070] The control device 200 may include a driving unit 210 , a control unit 220 , and a communication unit 230 .

[0071] The driving portion 210 may supply air to the airbag 130 through the air inlet 140 or inhale air from the airbag 130. In other words, the driving portion 210 is configured to adjust the amount of air within the airbag 130.

[0072] For example, the driving unit 210 may include an air compressor including a motor, a pump, an air pressure sensor, an air tank, etc. The driving unit 210 may determine the amount of air in the airbag 130 by measuring the air pressure in the airbag 130 using the air pressure sensor. The driving unit 210 may adjust the amount of air injected into or discharged from the airbag 130 according to the control of the control unit 220.

[0073] The control unit 220 can control the operation of the driving unit 210. The control unit 220 is configured to work in conjunction with the driving unit 210 and the communication unit 230 to perform overall control of the control device 200, and can be a processing device that drives the operating system OS, application programs, and various configurations, such as a CPU (Central Processing Unit), an MCU (Micro Controller Unit), or an MPU (Micro Processor Unit).

[0074] The communication unit 230 may perform wireless communication with the mobile device 300. The communication unit 230 is configured to receive a snoring state recognized by the mobile device 300 and / or a control command according to the snoring state through a communication network.

[0075] Between the communication unit 230 of the control device 200 and the communication unit 320 of the mobile device 300, a low-power, low-cost local communication method is preferably used, such as BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy), but not limited to this. Whether it is Wireless Fidelity (WiFi), Wireless Broadband access service (Wibro), World Interoperability for Microwave Access (Wimax), Bluetooth, Ultra Wide Band (UWB), ZigBee, Dedicated Short-Range Communication (DSRC), ultrasound and infrared, etc., any form of local communication network that can be realized in the future is acceptable.

[0076] The movable device 300 may send an air supply or exhaust command to the control device 200 .

[0077] The movable device 300 may be located near the pillow 100 to sense and analyze sounds from the user during sleep.

[0078] The mobile device 300 may be a separate portable terminal manufactured for detecting snoring. It preferably includes all information communication devices such as a smart phone that can exchange information with the control device 200 via a wireless network, and may be a desktop, a tablet PC, a notebook, a netbook, a multimedia terminal, a wired terminal, a fixed terminal, an IP (Internet Protocol) terminal, a mobile phone, a PMP (Portable Multimedia Player), or a MID (Mobile Internet Device). The mobile device 300 may include a microphone 310. The mobile device 300 may collect sounds generated during the user's sleep through the microphone 310.

[0079] The mobile device 300 may further include a communication unit 320. The communication unit 320 of the mobile device 300 is configured to be able to wirelessly communicate with the communication unit 230 of the control device 200, and the mobile device 300 may send an air supply or exhaust command to the control device 200 based on the judgment and analysis results of the user's snoring state.

[0080] The mobile device 300 may further include an application (APP) 330. The application 330 is implemented on the mobile device 300 in the form of an application program to perform the determination and analysis of the snoring state.

[0081] The snoring determination process performed by the application 330 may be performed as follows.

[0082] First, in order to prevent the loss of time information, the sound data collected through the microphone 310 is windowed and a Short-Time Fourier Transform (STFT) is applied according to a predefined time interval unit.

[0083] Applying a Mel filter to the Fourier transformed spectrogram can produce a Mel spectrogram. The Mel spectrogram reflects the characteristics of the human cochlea, which is sensitive to frequency changes in bass and insensitive to frequency changes in treble. The Mel spectrogram is smaller in size than the spectrogram, so it has advantages in terms of learning speed when processed by machine learning or deep learning. Then, the Mel spectrogram is converted to dB (logarithmic) units to reflect the nonlinearity of the sound size.

[0084] After the preprocessing of the sound data is completed, the sound data that was originally continuous data in time series becomes a discrete vector and can be input into machine learning or deep learning.

[0085] Afterwards, by using a large amount of snoring sample data and the learned model, it is possible to determine whether the sound made by the user is snoring. The learning model can be generated by applying a plurality of snoring sample data (such as the pre-processed data described above) to a machine learning method SVM or Gaussian mixture model (GMM). Alternatively, a learning model applied to a convolutional neural network (CNN) can also be used.

[0086] In addition to determining whether snoring occurs, the application 330 can also perform analysis of the snoring state that occurs during sleep. For example, the application 330 can calculate the user's total sleep time, the number of snoring times, the snoring time, and the size (dB) of the snoring sound. Among them, it is well known that the sleep time can be measured by devices such as a PPG sensor and an accelerometer sensor in the mobile device 200.

[0087] At least one of the analysis information can be intuitively displayed on the mobile device 300 through the interface screen of the application 330. The user can view the analysis information after getting up, so as to intuitively confirm the snoring relief effect before and after using the pillow (see Figure 4 ).

[0088] Meanwhile, when receiving a supply or discharge command of air from the movable device 300 , the control part 220 of the control device 200 may control the supply and discharge of air so that the airbag 130 is at a preset target pressure.

[0089] At this time, the supply amount or discharge amount of air required for the target pressure may be controlled to be supplied or discharged in a plurality of stages.

[0090] Figure 5 A diagram for explaining the change in height of the airbag and the change in height of the cervical vertebra supporting portion according to the change in height in the embodiment of the present invention;

[0091] For example, Figure 5 As shown, air can be supplied in three stages to achieve the target pressure. First, one third of the required air supply is supplied to the airbag 130. The cervical vertebra supporting part 111 rises together with the rise of the height of the airbag 130.

[0092] Thereafter, the air supply is stopped for a predetermined period of time.

[0093] When the predetermined time has passed, one third of the air supply is again supplied to the airbag 130. The cervical vertebra supporting part 111 further rises together with the rise in height of the airbag 130.

[0094] Thereafter, the air supply is stopped again for a predetermined period of time.

[0095] When the predetermined time has passed, the remaining one third of the air supply is again supplied to the airbag 130. At this time, the cervical vertebra supporting part 111 also rises as the height of the airbag 130 rises.

[0096] When the air supply amount has been fully supplied and reaches the target pressure, the air supply to the airbag 130 is completed.

[0097] On the other hand, as an example, the supply time and the supply pause time of the air may be 20 seconds respectively.

[0098] When the air is supplied to the airbag 130 uninterruptedly or exhausted uninterruptedly at one time, the user may feel a sharp change in the height of the pillow and wake up during sleep. Although this can achieve the effect of alleviating snoring, it runs counter to the goal of improving sleep quality.

[0099] In an embodiment of the present invention, air is not supplied to the airbag 130 at once to reach the target pressure, but air is supplied to the target pressure through multiple stages so that the cervical vertebra support 111 rises slowly with a time difference.

[0100] Therefore, since the height of the cervical vertebra supporting part 111 is prevented from changing suddenly, snoring can be alleviated without the user feeling it, and the sleeping quality can be prevented from being reduced.

[0101] At the same time, the air discharge stage will also go through the same process as above.

[0102] At this time, when the snoring state ends, that is, when it is determined that the user is no longer snoring and breathing normally, the air is discharged. In a possible embodiment, if the snoring state is detected to be terminated between the above-mentioned stages (during the time when the air supply is stopped), the air can be discharged.

[0103] Figure 6 and Figure 7 The following is a diagram showing a sleeping posture of a user when the embodiment of the present invention is applied.

[0104] If the cervical spine cannot fully form a C-shaped curve, such as Figure 6 As shown in Figure 1, the airway may partially close during sleep. At this time, the airflow through the narrow airway produces a breathing noise, that is, snoring.

[0105] At this time, if Figure 7 As shown, by the expansion of the airbag 130, the cervical vertebra supporting part 111 rises, which can ensure the airway. The narrowed airway expands again, the airflow through the airway, that is, breathing becomes smooth, and snoring can be alleviated.

[0106] Figure 8 4 is a table showing the results of an experiment on sleep quality according to different positions of airbags provided on a pillow.

[0107] Figure 8 The result table in is based on a sleep polysomnography test conducted on 20 subjects (people with snoring symptoms and people who sleep with a sleep partner), and is drawn by collecting data from 4 channels of EEG, 2 channels of EOG, 1 channel of ECG and 1 channel of EMG.

[0108] As experimental results, user satisfaction reflecting subjective sleep quality (questionnaire collected after the test), sleep efficiency (sleeping time / time in bed*100), and sleep partner satisfaction (questionnaire collected after the test) were calculated.

[0109] The experiment was conducted on each subject in a laboratory with an average temperature of 22°C and an average relative humidity of 45% for 8 hours from 10:00 pm to 06:00 am the next day.

[0110] refer to Figure 8It can be seen from the result table in that when the airbag 130 expands to the entire area of ​​the pillow body 110, the value of each result is calculated as a negative number.

[0111] That is, when the airbag 130 is set in the area corresponding to the cervical vertebra supporting part 111 (area D2=1 / 3D1), the head is pressed and the cervical vertebra is lifted, thereby effectively ensuring the airway, so that the user satisfaction, sleep efficiency and sleep partner satisfaction are the highest.

[0112] On the contrary, when the airbag 130 is disposed beyond the cervical vertebra supporting portion 111 and further expands toward the rear of the pillow body 110, not only the cervical vertebra but also the user's head is unnecessarily pulled, and thus the airway cannot be effectively secured and the snoring symptom relief effect is poor. Therefore, in this case, the calculated user satisfaction, sleep efficiency, and satisfaction of the sleeper affected by the sleeper's snoring are all negative results.

[0113] Fig. 9 The table shows the results of an experiment on sleep quality according to different heights of air bags provided on a pillow.

[0114] Experimental conditions were similar to those previously reported. Figure 8 The results of the experiment are the same as those of the related experiments, but this time the experiment was conducted by fixing the position of the airbag 130 on the cervical vertebra supporting part 111 and changing the height of the airbag 130.

[0115] refer to Fig. 9 It can be seen that the value of each result is the highest when the height of the airbag 130 is in the range of 5 to 11 cm, which means that the effect of raising the cervical spine and ensuring the airway is maximized within the above height range.

[0116] This is because, when the height of the airbag 130 is less than 5 cm, the cervical spine cannot be fully lifted, and therefore, the respiratory tract cannot be ensured. When the height of the airbag 130 is greater than 11 cm, the cervical spine will be lifted too high, and therefore, the user will feel uncomfortable with the sleeping position and often wake up from sleep.

[0117] In other words, in a preferred embodiment of the present invention, when snoring is detected, the target pressure (air pressure) of the airbag 130 is preferably set within a range where the height of the airbag 130 is 5 to 11 cm.

[0118] Fig.10 FIG. 1 is a flow chart showing a method for controlling a snoring relief pillow according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0119] Fig.10 Each step of the illustrated flowchart may be performed by the snoring relief pillow system 10 described above.

[0120] refer to Fig.10 It can be seen that in the control method according to the embodiment of the present invention, the user's voice data is first collected through the mobile device 300 and step (a) is performed, and the step (a) determines whether snoring occurs (S100).

[0121] As described above, the sound made by the user during sleep is collected by the microphone 310 provided in the mobile device 300 , and the application 330 as an application program stored in the mobile device 300 can be used to determine whether the sound is snoring.

[0122] Next, a step of adjusting the height of the airbag 130 by controlling the supply and discharge of air by the control device 200 until a predetermined target pressure is reached (S200 to S400) is performed.

[0123] At this time, in this step, the supply or discharge amount of air required for the target pressure is divided into multiple stages for supply or discharge (S200), and between each of the multiple stages, the supply and discharge of air are stopped for a predetermined time (S300).

[0124] Meanwhile, these supply / discharge and stop of air are repeated until the airbag 130 reaches the target pressure (S400).

[0125] As described above, according to the present invention, if snoring of the user is detected during sleep, the air inlet and outlet of the airbag located at the lower part of the cervical vertebra supporting part is controlled, thereby adjusting the height of the pillow on which the user rests during sleep, thereby ensuring the user's respiratory tract. Therefore, it has the effect of alleviating the snoring of the user during sleep.

[0126] In addition, according to the present invention, when controlling the air inlet and outlet of the airbag, the air supply and exhaust amount are adjusted through multiple stages until the set target pressure of the airbag is reached, thereby achieving the effect of alleviating snoring without disturbing the user's sleep.

[0127] Furthermore, according to the present invention, since the airbag is detachably provided on the pillow, the pillow can be washed separately, which has the effect of enabling hygienic management of the pillow.

[0128] Furthermore, according to the present invention, since the result of analyzing the snoring state of the user is displayed on the screen of the mobile device, the snoring relief effect before and after using the pillow can be intuitively confirmed.

[0129] On the other hand, although the present invention is described through limited embodiments and drawings, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments, and ordinary technicians in the field to which the present invention belongs can make various modifications and variations based on these descriptions. Therefore, the technical idea of ​​the present invention should be determined only by the scope of the claims, and all equivalent or equivalent variations thereof belong to the scope of the technical idea of ​​the present invention.

[0130] The steps of the method or algorithm described in conjunction with the embodiments of the present invention may be implemented directly by hardware, or by a software module executed by hardware, or by a combination thereof. The software module may reside in RAM (Random Access Memory), ROM (Read Only Memory), EPROM (Erasable Programmable ROM), EEPROM (Electrically Erasable Programmable ROM), Flash Memory, hard disk, removable disk, CD-ROM, or any form of computer-readable storage medium known in the art to which the present invention belongs.

Claims

1. A snoring relief pillow system, characterized in that: include: A pillow comprising a pillow body and an air bag combined with an air inlet, wherein the pillow body has a head support portion at the front and a cervical vertebra support portion connected to the head support portion; a control device that supplies or exhausts air to the air bag through an air pipe connected to the air inlet to control the height of the air bag; as well as The mobile device collects the sound produced by the user during sleep through a microphone to determine and analyze the snoring state, and sends an air supply or exhaust command to the control device, wherein: The airbag is arranged at the vertical lower part of the cervical vertebra supporting part.

2. The snoring relief pillow system according to claim 1, characterized in that: The pillow further comprises: a pillowcase, wherein the pillowcase wraps the pillow body. The air bag is arranged outside the pillowcase.

3. The snoring relief pillow system according to claim 2, characterized in that: The airbag is detachably connected to the pillowcase.

4. The snoring relief pillow system according to claim 2, characterized in that: The pillowcase is combined with an airbag accommodating portion, and a space for accommodating the airbag is arranged inside the airbag accommodating portion.

5. The snoring relief pillow system according to claim 1, characterized in that: The front-to-back width (D2) of the airbag is formed to be less than one-third of the total width (D1) of the pillow.

6. The snoring relief pillow system according to claim 1, characterized in that: The control device comprises: a driving unit that supplies air through the air inlet or draws air through the air inlet; a control unit that controls the operation of the driving unit; and The communication unit performs wireless communication with the mobile device.

7. The snoring relief pillow system according to claim 6, characterized in that: When receiving a command from the movable device, the control section controls the supply and exhaust of air so that the airbag is at a predetermined target pressure; The control part supplies or discharges the air by dividing the supply amount or discharge amount of the air required for the target pressure into a plurality of stages, and stops the supply and discharge of the air for a predetermined time period between each of the plurality of stages.

8. The snoring relief pillow system according to claim 1, characterized in that: The mobile device displays information including at least one of the total sleeping time, the number of snoring times, the snoring time, and the snoring sound level (dB) of the user based on the analyzed snoring state of the user during sleep.

9. A control method using the pillow according to claim 1, wherein the control method alleviates the snoring of the user during sleep, characterized in that: The following steps are involved: The mobile device collects the sound data generated by the user during sleep and determines whether snoring occurs; and The control device adjusts the height of the airbag by controlling the supply or exhaust of air to the airbag until a predetermined target pressure is reached.

10. The control method of the snoring relief pillow according to claim 9, characterized in that: The step of adjusting the height of the airbag includes: The supply amount or discharge amount of air required for the target pressure is divided into a plurality of stages for supply or discharge, and between each of the plurality of stages, the supply and discharge of air are stopped for a predetermined time period.

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