System and method for determining sleep state using biological activity Doppler signal

Abstract

A system and method for determining a sleep state using a biological activity Doppler signal is provided. The system for determining a sleep state using a biological activity Doppler signal according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a Doppler signal acquisition unit for acquiring a Doppler signal including biological activity information using a radar, an auxiliary signal processing unit for acquiring noises of turning over and snoring as auxiliary signals using a thermal image sensor and a noise sensor, a Doppler signal analysis unit for analyzing the Doppler signal to acquire spectral energy at a pre-set period, determining whether the spectral energy is a periodic acquisition, and classifying the non-periodic spectral energy using the auxiliary signal, and a sleep section definition unit for defining a sleep state for each section in an entire sleep section using a ratio of respiratory spectral energy and heart rate spectral energy in the spectral energy and a combination of the non-periodic spectral energy.

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a sleep state determination system and method using a biological activity Doppler signal, and more particularly to a sleep state determination system and method using a biological activity Doppler signal that can acquire a Doppler signal for a user's biological activity while the user is asleep using a radar and analyze the acquired Doppler signal to analyze the user's sleep state. [Background technology]

[0002] In recent years, the population that needs care or attention has been increasing in Korean society. The population that needs care or attention can be defined as the population that needs help in case of an emergency or has no one living with them, and can include, for example, the elderly, the disabled, and those living alone. According to a recent survey, the elderly population exceeded 9 million, and the population of those living alone and those with disabilities exceeded 6.6 million and 2.6 million, respectively. In addition, the population of people who died alone, where they were found after their death without a cohabitant, has also exceeded 10,000.

[0003] In addition, such furniture for single-person living may cause irregular sleep quality when the person lives an irregular lifestyle, which may cause health problems. In order to measure the quality of sleep, a person must make a reservation at a specialized hospital, visit the hospital at a time appropriate to the schedule, and go through the troublesome process of using specialized equipment while sleeping directly, which makes it difficult to measure the quality of sleep regularly. Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] In order to solve the problems of the conventional technology as described above, one embodiment of the present invention aims to provide a sleep state determination system and method using a biological activity Doppler signal that can acquire biological activity information of a user during sleep using a radar and define the user's sleep state by analyzing the acquired biological activity information. [Means for solving the problem]

[0005] According to one aspect of the present invention for solving the above-mentioned problems, a sleep state determination system using a biological activity Doppler signal is provided. The sleep state determination system using the biological activity Doppler signal includes a Doppler signal acquisition unit that acquires a Doppler signal including biological activity information using a radar; a Doppler signal analysis unit that analyzes the Doppler signal to acquire spectral energy at a preset period and determines whether the spectral energy is acquired periodically; The sleep segment definition unit defines a sleep state for each segment in the entire sleep segment using a ratio of respiratory spectral energy and heart rate spectral energy among the spectral energies and a combination of non-periodic spectral energies.

[0006] The Doppler signals may include a respiratory Doppler signal for obtaining information on the user's breathing, and a heart rate Doppler signal for obtaining information on the user's heartbeat.

[0007] The Doppler signal analysis unit may obtain the spectral energy by performing a fast Fourier transform on the Doppler signal.

[0008] The sleep section definition unit can define a section in which the non-periodic spectral energy does not exist among sections in which the ratio of the respiratory spectral energy to the heart rate spectral energy is 5:5 or more in the entire sleep section as a deep sleep section, and can define a section in which the non-periodic spectral energy does not exist among sections in which the ratio of the respiratory spectral energy to the heart rate spectral energy is less than 5:5 as an apnea section.

[0009] The sleep section definition unit can define a section in which the non-periodic spectral energy exists and appears at a magnitude equal to or greater than a preset magnitude as a tossing section, and can define a section in the apnea section in which the non-periodic spectral energy appears at a magnitude equal to or less than a preset magnitude as a snoring section.

[0010] According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a sleep state determination system using a biological activity Doppler signal, the sleep state determination system using the biological activity Doppler signal including biological activity information includes a Doppler signal acquisition unit that acquires a Doppler signal including biological activity information using a radar, a Doppler signal analysis unit that analyzes the Doppler signal to acquire spectral energy at a pre-set period and determines whether the spectral energy is periodically acquired, and a sleep section definition unit that defines a sleep state for the remaining sleep sections using a pre-set percentage range and non-periodic spectral energy based on an average of the spectral energy of a sleep entry section that satisfies a pre-set criterion among all sleep sections.

[0011] According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a sleep state determination method using a biological activity Doppler signal, the sleep state determination method using the biological activity Doppler signal includes the steps of: acquiring a Doppler signal including biological activity information by a Doppler signal acquisition unit using a radar; A step of analyzing the Doppler signal by a Doppler signal analysis unit to acquire spectral energy at a preset period, and determining whether the spectral energy is acquired periodically to analyze the Doppler signal; The sleep interval definition unit defines a sleep interval that defines a sleep state for each interval in the entire sleep interval using a ratio of respiratory spectral energy and heart rate spectral energy among the spectral energies and a combination of non-periodic spectral energy.

[0012] The Doppler signal may include a respiratory Doppler signal for acquiring information on the user's breathing, and a cardiac Doppler signal for acquiring information on the user's heartbeat.

[0013] The step of analysing the Doppler signal may involve performing a Fast Fourier Transform on the Doppler signal to obtain the spectral energy.

[0014] The step of defining the sleep interval may define an interval in which the ratio of the breathing spectral energy to the heart rate spectral energy in the entire sleep interval is 5:5 or more and in which the non-periodic spectral energy is not present as a deep sleep interval, and may define an interval in which the ratio of the breathing spectral energy to the heart rate spectral energy is less than 5:5 and in which the non-periodic spectral energy is not present as an apnea interval.

[0015] The step of defining the sleep section may define a section in which the non-periodic spectral energy exists and appears at a magnitude equal to or greater than a preset magnitude as a tossing section, and may define a section in the apnea section in which the non-periodic spectral energy appears at a magnitude equal to or less than a preset magnitude as a snoring section.

[0016] According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for determining a sleep state using a Doppler signal of biological activity, the method for determining a sleep state using the Doppler signal of biological activity includes the steps of: acquiring a Doppler signal including biological activity information using a radar in a Doppler signal acquisition unit; analyzing the Doppler signal in a Doppler signal analysis unit to acquire spectral energy at a pre-set period and determining whether the spectral energy is periodically acquired; and defining a sleep state for the remaining sleep periods using a pre-set ratio range and non-periodic spectral energy based on an average of the spectral energy of a sleep entry period that satisfies a pre-set criterion among all sleep periods in a sleep period definition unit. Effect of the Invention

[0017] The sleep state determination system and method using biological activity Doppler signals according to one embodiment of the present invention has the advantage of not affecting the user's body and not disturbing the user's sleep by using radar to obtain biological activity information of the user while he or she is sleeping.

[0018] In addition, the system and method for determining a sleep state using a biological activity Doppler signal according to an embodiment of the present invention has the advantage of being able to accurately determine the sleep state of the user for each sleep period using the user's breathing and heart rate information. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0019] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a sleep state determination system using a life activity Doppler signal according to an embodiment of the present invention. [Diagram 2] FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating a method for determining a sleep state using a life activity Doppler signal according to an embodiment of the present invention. [Diagram 3] FIG. 3 is a graph showing the results of an actual conspiracy experiment using one embodiment of the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0020] Hereinafter, some embodiments of the present disclosure will be described in detail with reference to the exemplary drawings. When the components in each drawing are labeled with the same reference numerals, the same components are labeled with the same reference numerals as much as possible even if they are shown in different drawings. In addition, in describing the present embodiment, if it is determined that a detailed description of related known configurations or functions may obscure the gist of the present technical idea, the detailed description may be omitted. When the terms "include", "have", "consist of", etc. are used in the present specification, other parts may be added as long as the word "only" is not used. When a component is expressed in the singular, it may include a case where a plurality is included unless otherwise expressly stated.

[0021] In addition, when describing components of the present disclosure, terms such as first, second, A, B, (a), (b), etc. are used. These terms are merely used to distinguish the components from other components, and do not limit the nature, order, sequence, number, etc. of the components.

[0022] In a description of the positional relationship of components, when two or more components are described as being "coupled," "coupled," or "connected," it should be understood that the two or more components may be directly "coupled," "coupled," or "connected," but that the two or more components may be "coupled," "coupled," or "connected" through an additional "intervening" component that is different from the two or more components. Here, the other component may be included in one or more of the two or more components that are "coupled," "coupled," or "connected" to each other.

[0023] In describing the relationship of a time flow relating to components, a method of operation, a method of production, etc., when a time sequence or flow sequence is described using, for example, "after," "then," "next to," "before," etc., it is possible to include cases where the sequence is not consecutive, since words such as "straight" or "directly" are not used.

[0024] On the other hand, when a numerical value or its corresponding information (e.g., level, etc.) for a component is mentioned, the numerical value or its corresponding information may be interpreted as including an error range that may occur due to various factors (e.g., process factors, internal or external impact, noise, etc.) unless otherwise explicitly stated.

[0025] FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a sleep state determination system using a biological activity Doppler signal according to an embodiment of the present invention. The sleep state determination system 1 using a biological activity Doppler signal according to an embodiment of the present invention is installed in a space where a user lives and sleeps, for example, a room, and when the user goes to sleep, it can be configured to detect sleep, obtain a Doppler signal for biological activity, and define the user's sleep state by analyzing the obtained Doppler signal. For this purpose, the present invention can use a biological activity measuring device using a radar that has already been installed in the above-mentioned space. The sleep state determination system 1 using a biological activity Doppler signal according to an embodiment of the present invention can be configured to include a Doppler signal acquisition unit 11, an auxiliary signal processing unit 13, a Doppler signal analysis unit 15, and a sleep segment definition unit 17, as shown in FIG. 1.

[0026] The Doppler signal acquisition unit 11 is configured to acquire a Doppler signal including biological activity information from a radar installed in the user's sleep space. The Doppler signal is configured to include a respiratory Doppler signal that is information on the user's breathing, and a heartbeat Doppler signal that is information on the user's heartbeat. The Doppler signal can be defined as a signal that includes a Doppler frequency generated by the movement of the user when the radar transmits radio waves to the user and the transmitted radio waves return. In one embodiment of the present invention, the respiratory Doppler signal and the heartbeat Doppler signal may be Doppler signals for changes in the movement of the body organs that move when breathing and the body organs that move when the heart beats.

[0027] The auxiliary signal processor 13 is configured to acquire an auxiliary signal using an auxiliary biological activity information acquisition device further provided in the user's sleep space, and analyze the acquired auxiliary signal to acquire information on the user's body movements other than breathing or heartbeat movements (turning over in sleep, etc.) and noise, etc. For this purpose, the auxiliary signal processor 13 can acquire measurement results from a thermal image sensor and a noise measurement sensor, which are the auxiliary biological activity information acquisition devices. The thermal image sensor can be provided to measure the user's body movements, and the noise measurement sensor can be provided to measure the user's snoring sounds.

[0028] The auxiliary signal processor 13 can continuously obtain contour information of the user's body using a thermal image sensor. When the thermal image sensor is used to continuously obtain contour information of the user's body, it is possible to obtain changes in the contour information that occur due to movements such as the user turning over in bed.

[0029] Also, the auxiliary signal processor 13 may use a noise measuring sensor to measure noise caused by the user's snoring and check it as an auxiliary indicator for determining whether the user is currently snoring.

[0030] The body contour information and noise information acquired by the auxiliary signal processing unit 13 can be used in the Doppler signal analysis unit 15 described later. As an example, when the Doppler signal analysis unit 15 acquires non-periodic spectral energy using acquisition time information for turning over or snoring movements represented by non-periodic spectral energy, the body contour information and noise information can be used as auxiliary information for determining what biological activity information the energy represents.

[0031] The Doppler signal analysis unit 15 is configured to analyze the Doppler signal acquired by the Doppler signal acquisition unit 11 and acquire spectral energy at a pre-set period. The Doppler signal analysis unit 15 applies a pre-set function to the Doppler signal to acquire spectral energy, and analyzes the acquired spectral energy according to a pre-set criterion to acquire respiratory spectral energy and cardiac spectral energy, which are spectral energies for the respiratory Doppler signal and cardiac Doppler signal.

[0032] In one embodiment of the present invention, the Doppler signal analysis unit 15 may use a fast Fourier transform (FFT) as a pre-set function used to obtain spectral energy from the Doppler signal at a pre-set period. The Fourier transform is a well-known function that means a transformation that resolves a signal sampled in time or space into time frequency or spatial frequency components. By using this, the Doppler signal analysis unit 15 can convert the Doppler signal obtained at a pre-set period into spectral energy of a specific frequency component.

[0033] When the spectral energy of a specific frequency component is acquired, the Doppler signal analysis unit 15 according to an embodiment of the present invention is configured to check whether the acquired spectral energy of the specific frequency component is a periodically occurring spectral energy. The Doppler signal analysis unit 15 may be configured to continuously acquire the spectral energy of a Doppler signal acquired at a previously set period, and determine whether the acquired continuous spectral energy has periodicity. Here, if the spectral energy has periodicity, the spectral energy may be determined to be a spectral energy for respiration or heart rate, and if the spectral energy does not have periodicity, the spectral energy may be determined to not be a spectral energy for respiration or heart rate.

[0034] The Doppler signal analysis unit 15 can be configured to check whether the non-periodic spectral energy has energy greater than a preset value, and if the non-periodic spectral energy has energy greater than a preset value, determine the spectral energy as the spectral energy for the Doppler frequency generated by the user's body movement, or determine the spectral energy as the spectral energy for the Doppler frequency generated by the user's snoring if the non-periodic spectral energy has energy equal to or less than a preset value.

[0035] In addition, the Doppler signal analysis unit 15 according to an embodiment of the present invention may analyze the periodic spectral energy using a pre-set judgment algorithm, and as a result, may separately obtain the respiration spectral energy and the heart rate spectral energy.

[0036] Furthermore, the Doppler signal analysis unit 15 according to an embodiment of the present invention can ascertain the type of non-periodic spectral energy by using the auxiliary signal acquired by the above-mentioned auxiliary signal processing unit 13. Here, the Doppler signal analysis unit 15 can be configured to acquire non-periodic spectral energy corresponding to the user's turning over (body movement) by using thermal image information, for example, and determine the acquired non-periodic spectral energy as a noise signal to remove it from data for analyzing all sleep segments described below.

[0037] In addition, as another embodiment, if a pre-set magnitude of energy capable of distinguishing between body movement and snoring is not defined using non-periodic spectral energy, the Doppler signal unit 15 may define a pre-set magnitude of energy capable of distinguishing between both movements using auxiliary signals acquired using a noise sensor and a thermal image sensor.

[0038] According to an embodiment of the present invention, when the Doppler signal analysis unit 15 continuously acquires the spectral energy of a specific frequency component and determines whether it is a periodic occurrence, the sleep segment definition unit 17 is configured to define a sleep state for each segment in the entire sleep segment using the analysis result.

[0039] The total sleep section may include at least one of a sleep entry section, a deep sleep section, a tossing section, an apnea section, and a snoring section. The sleep entry section refers to a section where a user enters sleep, and is a section that appears statistically in almost all users, and where it is possible to determine whether or not a user has entered sleep. The deep sleep section refers to a sleep section where the user's physical activity is stably maintained, and the tossing section refers to a sleep section where there is movement in the user's physical activity. The apnea section refers to a sleep section where no respiratory activity occurs in the user's physical activity, and the snoring section refers to a sleep section where snoring occurs in the user's physical activity.

[0040] The higher the ratio of deep sleep intervals and the lower the ratio of remaining intervals in a sleep interval, the higher the quality of sleep. Therefore, if the definition of each sleep interval can be performed according to the present invention, not only can information on the sleep quality of the user be obtained, but also a prescription for sleep quality corresponding to each user can be provided later using the information.

[0041] The sleep segment definition unit 17 is configured to define a sleep state for each segment in the entire sleep segment using the analysis result of the Doppler signal analysis unit 15. As described above, each segment in the entire sleep segment includes at least one of a sleep entry segment, a deep sleep segment, a tossing and turning segment, an apnea segment, and a snoring segment. The sleep segment definition unit 17 obtains the analysis result from the Doppler signal analysis unit 15 and confirms which sleep segment the analysis result represents using a state determination criterion that has already been set.

[0042] The previously set state determination criterion may be a previously set value using the ratio of the respiration spectrum energy and the heart rate spectrum energy acquired by the Doppler signal analysis unit 15. As described above, since the magnitude of the physical activity generated by the respiration movement is generally greater than the magnitude of the physical activity generated by the heartbeat movement, the magnitude of the respiration spectrum energy appears greater than the magnitude of the heart rate spectrum energy in the stable sleep section. Also, since high frequency vibrations are captured in the snoring section, additional spectra other than the respiration spectrum energy and the heart rate spectrum energy may appear. Also, since no respiration movement occurs or occurs only weakly in the apnea section, the magnitude of the respiration spectrum energy may be reduced by the magnitude of the heart rate spectrum energy.

[0043] The sleep segment definition unit 17 of one embodiment of the present invention can define a segment in which the spectral ratio, which is the ratio between respiration spectrum energy and heart rate spectrum energy, is 5:5 or more, as a deep sleep segment.

[0044] In addition, the sleep section definition unit 17 can define a section in which the non-periodic spectral energy is acquired at a level equal to or less than a preset level among sections in which the spectral ratio is less than 5:5 as a snoring section, and can define the section as an apnea section if the non-periodic spectral energy is not acquired for a preset time period.

[0045] In another embodiment of the present invention, the sleep segment definition unit 17 may define a sleep segment using a sleep entry segment other than the spectrum ratio. Since tossing and turning, apnea, and snoring do not generally occur in the sleep entry segment, similar to the deep sleep segment, the sleep segment definition unit 17 of the present invention may be configured to first obtain the sleep entry segment and determine the deep sleep segment based on the obtained sleep entry segment.

[0046] Meanwhile, a flow chart of a method for determining a sleep state using a biological activity Doppler signal according to an embodiment of the present invention is shown in Fig. 2. Hereinafter, for convenience of explanation, it will be described that the method for determining a sleep state using a biological activity Doppler signal of the present invention is performed using the system of Fig. 1, but the present invention is not necessarily limited thereto.

[0047] The sleep state determination method 10 using a biological activity Doppler signal according to an embodiment of the present invention may be configured to be installed in a space where a user lives and sleeps, such as a room, and to detect sleep when the user goes to sleep, obtain a Doppler signal for biological activity, and analyze the obtained Doppler signal to define the user's sleep state. For this purpose, the present invention may use a biological activity measuring device using a radar that has already been installed in the above-mentioned space. As shown in FIG. 2, the sleep state determination method 10 using a biological activity Doppler signal according to an embodiment of the present invention may be configured to include a step S11 of obtaining a Doppler signal, a step S13 of processing an auxiliary signal, a step S15 of analyzing the Doppler signal, and a step S17 of defining a sleep section.

[0048] The step S11 of acquiring the Doppler signal is formed so that the Doppler signal acquiring unit acquires a Doppler signal including biological activity information from a radar installed in the user's sleep space. The Doppler signal is formed to include a respiratory Doppler signal which is information on the user's breathing, and a heartbeat Doppler signal which is information on the user's heartbeat. The Doppler signal may be defined as a signal including a Doppler frequency generated by the user's movement when the radar transmits radio waves to the user and the transmitted radio waves return. In one embodiment of the present invention, the respiratory Doppler signal and the heartbeat Doppler signal may be Doppler signals for changes in the movement of the body organs that move when breathing and the body organs that move when the heart beats.

[0049] The step S13 of processing the auxiliary signal is configured to acquire the auxiliary signal using an auxiliary biological activity information acquisition device further provided in the user's sleep space, and to analyze the acquired auxiliary signal to acquire information on the user's body movements other than breathing or heartbeat movements (such as turning over in sleep) and noise. For this purpose, the step S13 of processing the auxiliary signal may acquire measurement results from a thermal image sensor and a noise measurement sensor, which are the auxiliary biological activity information acquisition devices. The thermal image sensor may be provided to measure the user's body movements, and the noise measurement sensor may be provided to measure the user's snoring sounds.

[0050] In step S13 of processing the auxiliary signal, the thermal image sensor can be used to continuously obtain contour information of the user's body. When the thermal image sensor is used to continuously obtain contour information of the user's body, changes in the contour information caused by movements such as the user turning over in bed can be obtained.

[0051] Also, the step S13 of processing the auxiliary signal may measure noise caused by the user's snoring using a noise measuring sensor and confirm the noise as an auxiliary indicator for determining whether the user is currently snoring.

[0052] The body contour information and noise information acquired in step S13 of processing the auxiliary signal can be used in step S15 of analyzing the Doppler signal, which will be described later. As an example, when non-periodic spectral energy is acquired in step S15 of analyzing the Doppler signal using acquisition time information for turning over or snoring, which is represented by non-periodic spectral energy, the body contour information and noise information can be used as auxiliary information for determining what biological activity information the energy represents.

[0053] The step S15 of analyzing the Doppler signal is formed to analyze the Doppler signal acquired by the step S11 of acquiring the Doppler signal in a Doppler signal analyzer to acquire spectral energy at a pre-set period. The step S15 of analyzing the Doppler signal may acquire spectral energy by applying a pre-set function to the Doppler signal, and analyze the acquired spectral energy according to a pre-set criterion to acquire respiratory spectral energy and cardiac spectral energy, which are spectral energies for the respiratory Doppler signal and cardiac Doppler signal.

[0054] In one embodiment of the present invention, the step S15 of analyzing the Doppler signal can utilize a fast Fourier transform (FFT) as a pre-defined function used to obtain spectral energy from the Doppler signal at a pre-defined period. The Fourier transform is a well-known function that means a transformation that decomposes a signal sampled in time or space into time frequency or spatial frequency components. By utilizing this, the step S15 of analyzing the Doppler signal can convert the Doppler signal obtained at a pre-defined period into spectral energy of a specific frequency component.

[0055] When the spectral energy of a specific frequency component is acquired, step S15 of analyzing the Doppler signal according to an embodiment of the present invention is configured to check whether the acquired spectral energy of the specific frequency component is a periodically occurring spectral energy. Step S15 of analyzing the Doppler signal may be configured to continuously acquire the spectral energy of the Doppler signal acquired at a previously set period, and determine whether the acquired continuous spectral energy has periodicity. Here, if the spectral energy has periodicity, it may be determined that the spectral energy is a spectral energy for respiration or heart rate, and if the spectral energy does not have periodicity, it may be determined that the spectral energy is not a spectral energy for respiration or heart rate.

[0056] The step S15 of analyzing the Doppler signal can be configured to check whether the non-periodic spectral energy has energy greater than a preset value, and if the non-periodic spectral energy has energy greater than a preset value, the non-periodic spectral energy can be determined to be a spectral energy for a Doppler frequency generated by the user's body movement, or if the non-periodic spectral energy has energy equal to or less than a preset value, the non-periodic spectral energy can be determined to be a spectral energy for a Doppler frequency generated by the user's snoring.

[0057] In addition, in step S15 of analyzing the Doppler signal according to an embodiment of the present invention, a pre-set judgment algorithm is used to analyze the periodic spectral energy, and as a result, breathing spectral energy and heart rate spectral energy can be obtained separately.

[0058] Also, in step S15 of analyzing the Doppler signal according to an embodiment of the present invention, the type of non-periodic spectral energy can be identified using the auxiliary signal acquired in the above-mentioned auxiliary signal processing step S13. Here, step S15 of analyzing the Doppler signal can be configured to acquire non-periodic spectral energy for the user's turning over (body movement) using thermal image information, for example, and determine the acquired non-periodic spectral energy as a noise signal to remove it from all data for sleep period analysis, which will be described later.

[0059] In addition, in another embodiment, step S15 of analyzing the Doppler signal may be configured to define a pre-defined magnitude of energy capable of distinguishing between body movement and snoring using auxiliary signals acquired using a noise sensor and a thermal image sensor if a pre-defined magnitude of energy capable of distinguishing between both movements is not defined using non-periodic spectral energy.

[0060] In one embodiment of the present invention, in step S15 of analyzing the Doppler signal, the spectral energy of a specific frequency component is continuously obtained, and once it is determined whether or not it is a periodic occurrence, step S17 of defining a sleep section is formed to define a sleep state for each section in the entire sleep section using the analysis results.

[0061] The total sleep section may include at least one of a sleep entry section, a deep sleep section, a tossing section, an apnea section, and a snoring section. The sleep entry section refers to a section where a user enters sleep, and is a section that appears statistically in almost all users, and where it is possible to determine whether or not a user has entered sleep. The deep sleep section refers to a sleep section where the user's physical activity is stably maintained, and the tossing section refers to a sleep section where there is movement in the user's physical activity. The apnea section refers to a sleep section where no respiratory activity occurs in the user's physical activity, and the snoring section refers to a sleep section where snoring occurs in the user's physical activity.

[0062] The higher the ratio of deep sleep segments to the rest of the sleep segment, the higher the quality of sleep. Therefore, if the definition of each sleep segment can be performed according to the present invention, it is possible to obtain information on the sleep quality of the user, and to later provide a prescription for sleep quality for each user using the information.

[0063] The step S17 of defining a sleep section is formed by using the analysis result of the step S15 of analyzing the Doppler signal to define a sleep state for each section in the entire sleep section in a sleep section definition unit. As described above, each section in the entire sleep section includes at least one of a sleep entry section, a deep sleep section, a tossing section, an apnea section, and a snore section. The step S17 of defining a sleep section obtains the analysis result from the step S15 of analyzing the Doppler signal, and checks what kind of sleep section the analysis result represents using a state judgment criterion that has already been set.

[0064] The previously set state determination criterion may be a previously set value using the ratio of the respiration spectrum energy and the heart rate spectrum energy acquired in step S15 of analyzing the Doppler signal. As described above, since the magnitude of the physical activity generated by the respiration movement is generally greater than the magnitude of the physical activity generated by the heartbeat movement, the magnitude of the respiration spectrum energy appears greater than the magnitude of the heart rate spectrum energy in the stable sleep section. Also, in the snoring section, high frequency vibrations are captured, and other spectra other than the respiration spectrum energy and the heart rate spectrum energy may appear. Also, in the apnea section, respiration movement does not occur or occurs weakly, so the magnitude of the respiration spectrum energy may be reduced by the magnitude of the heart rate spectrum energy.

[0065] In step S17 of defining a sleep section according to an embodiment of the present invention, a section in which the ratio of the spectrum between the respiration spectrum energy and the heart rate spectrum energy is 5:5 or more can be defined as a deep sleep section.

[0066] In addition, in step S17 of defining the sleep section, a section in which the non-periodic spectral energy is acquired at or below a preset level among sections in which the spectral ratio is less than 5:5 can be defined as a snoring section, and if the non-periodic spectral energy is not acquired for a preset time period, the section can be defined as an apnea section.

[0067] In another embodiment of the present invention, step S17 of defining a sleep zone may define a sleep zone using a sleep entry zone other than the spectrum ratio. Since tossing and turning, apnea, and snoring do not generally occur in a sleep entry zone, similar to a deep sleep zone, step S17 of defining a sleep zone of the present invention may be configured to first obtain a sleep entry zone and determine a deep sleep zone based on the obtained sleep entry zone.

[0068] Meanwhile, Fig. 3 is a graph showing the results of an actual conspiracy experiment using an embodiment of the present invention. Referring to Fig. 3, the entire sleep period can be represented by A. Period B is a sleep entry period, which occurs when most users statistically enter sleep as described above, and can be a period in which users actually start to sleep, appearing as an average of 20 to 30 minutes out of a 10 to 40 minute period. C is a deep sleep period, which is a stable sleep period, D is a snoring period, E is a tossing and turning period, and F is an apnea period.

[0069] Section C is a stable deep sleep section, in which the magnitude of the respiration spectrum energy a1 appears to be sufficiently greater than the magnitude of the heart rate spectrum energy b1. In addition, looking at the periodicity of the spectrum energy, it can be seen that the spectrum energy does not include irregular peaks and is repeated at a regular cycle. Therefore, in one embodiment of the present invention, such a sleep section can be defined as a deep sleep section. In this case, as described above, in the present invention, a section in which the ratio of the respiration spectrum energy a1 to the heart rate spectrum energy b1 is 5:5 or more can be defined as a deep sleep section, and in another embodiment, a section that has a periodicity greater than or equal to a previously set similarity based on section B, which is a sleep entry section, and at the same time has an energy less than or equal to a previously set magnitude can be defined as a deep sleep section.

[0070] Section D is a snoring section, where the magnitude of the respiration spectrum energy a2 is greater than the magnitude of the heartbeat spectrum b2, but where snoring spectrum energy c2, which does not appear in other sections, is also measured. It can be seen that section D is a section where high frequency spectrum energy, such as c2, which is a frequency higher than the respiration / heartbeat frequency, is measured. Therefore, in the sleep section definition unit and the step of defining the sleep section of the present invention, section D can be defined as a snoring section where the user is snoring.

[0071] Section F is an apnea section, and the magnitude of the breathing spectrum energy a3 appears to be similar to the magnitude of the heart rate spectrum energy b3. More specifically, the ratio of the breathing spectrum energy a3 to the heart rate spectrum energy b3 appears to be less than 5:5, and unlike section D, this is a section in which the snoring spectrum energy c2 is not measured. This is because the magnitude of the acquired breathing spectrum energy a3 is significantly reduced since the breathing activity of the user's body is weak or nonexistent in the process of acquiring a Doppler signal using a radar. Therefore, when the magnitude of the breathing spectrum energy a3 is compared with the magnitude of the heart rate spectrum energy b3 as in the spectrum analysis result for section F in Fig. 3, if the ratio appears to be less than 5:5 when the sleep section definition unit and the step of defining the sleep section according to an embodiment of the present invention are performed, section F can be defined as an apnea section.

[0072] Section E is a section where turning over occurs, and where spectral energy having a higher magnitude than the spectral energy detected in sections B, C, D, F, etc. is acquired. This is a biological activity having a much higher energy than the respiratory spectral energy or the heart rate spectral energy, and the present invention is configured to analyze such biological activity as turning over.

[0073] That is, the device configuration and method of Figures 1 and 2 are configured to obtain and analyze Doppler signals of a user's biological activity using a radar, and define a sleep state for each sleep section using respiration spectrum energy and heart rate spectrum energy therein, and experimental results thereof are shown in Figure 3. By utilizing the present invention described in Figures 1 to 3, it is possible to confirm a user's sleep state, and to respond to an emergency situation or provide content for improving the user's sleep quality using the confirmed sleep state.

[0074] Although one embodiment of the present invention has been described above, the concept of the present invention is not limited to the embodiment presented in this specification, and a person skilled in the art who understands the concept of the present invention can easily propose other embodiments by adding, changing, deleting, or adding components within the scope of the same concept, which can also be said to fall within the scope of the concept of the present invention.

Claims

1. a Doppler signal acquisition unit that acquires a Doppler signal including biological activity information using a radar; an auxiliary signal processing unit that acquires the noise of turning over and snoring as an auxiliary signal using a thermal image sensor and a noise sensor; a Doppler signal analysis unit that analyzes the Doppler signal to acquire spectral energy at a preset period, determines whether the spectral energy is acquired periodically, and classifies the non-periodic spectral energy using the auxiliary signal if the spectral energy is determined to be non-periodic; a sleep segment definition unit that defines a sleep state for each segment in the entire sleep segment by using a ratio of a respiratory spectral energy and a heart rate spectral energy among the spectral energies and a combination of the non-periodic spectral energies; A sleep state determination system using a biological activity Doppler signal, comprising:

2. The sleep state determination system using a biological activity Doppler signal according to claim 1 , wherein the Doppler signal includes a respiratory Doppler signal that acquires information on the user's breathing, and a heart rate Doppler signal that acquires information on the user's heartbeat.

3. The sleep state determination system using a life activity Doppler signal according to claim 2 , wherein the Doppler signal analysis unit obtains the spectral energy by performing a fast Fourier transform on the Doppler signal.

4. 4. The sleep state determination system using a biological activity Doppler signal according to claim 3, wherein the sleep section definition unit defines a section in which the non-periodic spectral energy is not present among sections in which a ratio of the respiratory spectral energy to the heart rate spectral energy is 5:5 or more in the entire sleep section as a deep sleep section, and defines a section in which the non-periodic spectral energy is not present among sections in which a ratio of the respiratory spectral energy to the heart rate spectral energy is less than 5:5 as an apnea section.

5. 5. The sleep state determination system using a biological activity Doppler signal as claimed in claim 4, wherein the sleep section definition unit defines a section in which the non-periodic spectral energy exists and appears at a magnitude equal to or greater than a pre-set magnitude as a tossing section, and defines a section in the apnea section in which the non-periodic spectral energy appears at a magnitude equal to or less than a pre-set magnitude as a snoring section.

6. a Doppler signal acquisition unit that acquires a Doppler signal including biological activity information using a radar; an auxiliary signal processing unit that acquires the noise of turning over and snoring as an auxiliary signal using a thermal image sensor and a noise sensor; a Doppler signal analysis unit that analyzes the Doppler signal to acquire spectral energy at a preset period, determines whether the spectral energy is acquired periodically, and classifies the non-periodic spectral energy using the auxiliary signal if the spectral energy is determined to be non-periodic; a sleep section definition unit for defining a sleep state for the remaining sleep sections using a pre-defined ratio range and aperiodic spectral energy based on an average of the spectral energy of a sleep entry section that satisfies a pre-defined criterion among all sleep sections; A sleep state determination system using a biological activity Doppler signal, comprising:

7. acquiring a Doppler signal including biological activity information by a Doppler signal acquisition unit using a radar; A step of processing an auxiliary signal by acquiring a turning motion and a snoring noise as an auxiliary signal using a thermal image sensor and a noise sensor in an auxiliary signal processing unit; a Doppler signal analysis unit analyzing the Doppler signal to acquire spectral energy at a preset period, determining whether the spectral energy is acquired periodically, and if it is determined that the spectral energy is non-periodic spectral energy, analyzing the Doppler signal by classifying the non-periodic spectral energy using the auxiliary signal; a sleep segment definition unit for defining a sleep segment by using a ratio of a respiratory spectral energy and a heart rate spectral energy among the spectral energies and a combination of non-periodic spectral energies to define a sleep state for each segment in the entire sleep segment; A method for determining a sleep state using a biological activity Doppler signal, comprising:

8. The method for determining a sleep state using a biological activity Doppler signal according to claim 7 , wherein the Doppler signal includes a respiratory Doppler signal that acquires information on the user's breathing, and a cardiac Doppler signal that acquires information on the user's heartbeat.

9. The method for determining a sleep state using a life activity Doppler signal according to claim 8 , wherein the step of analyzing the Doppler signal comprises performing a fast Fourier transform on the Doppler signal to obtain the spectral energy.

10. 10. The method for determining a sleep state using a biological activity Doppler signal according to claim 9, wherein the step of defining the sleep section defines a section in which the non-periodic spectral energy is not present among sections in which the ratio of the respiratory spectral energy to the heart rate spectral energy in the entire sleep section is 5:5 or more as a deep sleep section, and defines a section in which the non-periodic spectral energy is not present among sections in which the ratio of the respiratory spectral energy to the heart rate spectral energy is less than 5:5 as an apnea section.

11. 11. The method for determining a sleep state using a biological activity Doppler signal according to claim 10, wherein the step of defining the sleep section defines a section in which the non-periodic spectral energy exists and appears at a magnitude equal to or greater than a pre-set magnitude as a tossing section, and defines a section in the apnea section in which the non-periodic spectral energy appears at a magnitude equal to or less than a pre-set magnitude as a snoring section.

12. acquiring a Doppler signal including biological activity information using a radar in a Doppler signal acquisition unit; A step of processing an auxiliary signal by acquiring a turning motion and a snoring noise as an auxiliary signal using a thermal image sensor and a noise sensor in an auxiliary signal processing unit; A Doppler signal analysis unit analyzes the Doppler signal to acquire spectral energy at a preset period, and determines whether the spectral energy is acquired periodically. If the spectral energy is determined to be non-periodic, classifying the non-periodic spectral energy using the auxiliary signal; defining a sleep state for the remaining sleep sections using a pre-defined ratio range and aperiodic spectral energy based on the average of the spectral energy of the sleep entry sections that satisfy a pre-defined criterion among all the sleep sections in a sleep section definition unit; A method for determining a sleep state using a biological activity Doppler signal, comprising:

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