Wearable sleep tracker device that senses ambient light.

Abstract

A sleep tracker wearable device that detects and removes ambient light artifacts when worn by a user comprises an optical sensor / emitter assembly, a spacer, and a controller. The optical sensor / emitter assembly includes an optical sensor having a sensor surface configured to receive optical signals, including ambient light. A spacer is positioned between the sensor surface of the optical sensor / emitter assembly and the user's skin surface during operation, and further provides a given contact pressure and / or separation distance between the skin and the sensor surface as a function of the adjustable height of the spacer. A controller controls at least one measurement modality of the sleep tracker wearable device. Furthermore, the controller is coupled to the optical sensor / emitter assembly to (i) detect background illumination conditions based on the optical signal, and (ii) remove artifacts in the optical signal resulting from external interaction with or perturbations of the natural transition of ambient illumination levels.

Claims

1. A sleep tracker wearable device that detects ambient light when worn by a user, wherein the sleep tracker wearable device is An optical unit having an optical sensor with a sensor surface, wherein the sensor surface is configured to receive optical signals including light signals from the user's skin surface and ambient light, During operation, a spacer is configured to be positioned between the sensor surface and the user's skin surface, A controller coupled to the optical unit It has, The controller is configured to control at least one sleep-related measurement modality of the sleep tracker wearable device based on the light signal from the skin surface. The controller is configured to detect background illumination conditions based on the optical signal including the ambient light, and The spacer has an adjustable height that, as a function of the spacer's adjustable height, provides a given contact pressure, separation distance, or combination of the contact pressure and separation distance between the skin surface and the sensor surface. Sleep tracker wearable device.

2. The sleep tracker wearable device according to claim 1, wherein the controller is further configured to apply a low-pass filter to the optical signal including ambient light in combination with an event detector, the event detector being based on a high-pass filter in combination with a threshold for detecting motion spikes in the optical signal including ambient light.

3. The sleep tracker wearable device according to claim 2, wherein the threshold is calibrated or determined as a global setting related to the floor noise level of the optical sensor.

4. The sleep tracker wearable device according to claim 2 or 3, wherein the controller is configured to determine, based on the user's movement, spikes in the optical signal including ambient light, and an increase in the ambient light level, whether the increase in the ambient light level corresponds to daylight data affected by ambient light conditions or to ambient light conditions other than daylight.

5. The controller is configured to adjust the detected ambient light level for continuity, based on motion and spikes in the optical signal including the ambient light, so that the detected level of the ambient light remains continuous, and The sleep tracker wearable device according to claim 4, wherein the controller is configured to determine whether the increase in ambient light level corresponds to daylight data affected by external light conditions, unlike ambient light conditions other than daylight.

6. The adjustable height is adjustable from a first height to a second height greater than the first height, where the contact pressure between the sensor surface and the skin surface decreases and / or the separation distance increases, so that the sensor surface receives more ambient light, and The adjustable height is adjustable from the second height to the first height, where the contact pressure between the sensor surface and the skin surface increases and / or the separation distance decreases, so that the sensor surface receives less ambient light. A sleep tracker wearable device according to any one of claims 1 to 5.

7. The previous spacer is (i) Spring load spacer shape, (ii) Spacer shape for manual operation, and (iii) Spacer shape that is attached to a manual sleep marker A sleep tracker wearable device according to claim 6, having one selected from the set consisting of the following.

8. The sleep tracker wearable device according to claim 6, wherein the spacer has an actuator configured to adjust the thickness of the spacer between a first thickness and a second thickness greater than the first thickness.

9. The sleep tracker wearable device according to any one of claims 1 to 8, further comprising a position sensor configured to provide information regarding the angular direction of the sleep tracker wearable device, wherein the controller is further configured to correct the optical signal, including the ambient light, based on the information regarding the angular direction.

10. The sleep tracker wearable device according to claim 9, wherein the controller is further configured to distinguish between (i) short-term changes in optical signals due to user movement and (ii) rapid changes in external optical signals due to reasons other than user movement, and to improve the quality of ambient light metadata derived from the signal of the optical sensor based on the distinction between the short-term changes in optical signals and the rapid changes in external optical signals.

11. The sleep tracker wearable device according to claim 10, wherein the controller is further configured to implement an artificial intelligence algorithm for outputting targeted user-specific sleep advice based on (i) the sleep-related measurement modality, (ii) personal data coupled to the sleep-related measurement modality, and (iii) ambient light metadata relating to the sleep tracker wearable device based on detected background lighting conditions.

12. A method for detecting ambient light in a sleep tracker wearable device having an optical unit having an optical sensor with a sensor surface, wherein the method is The steps include receiving an optical signal from the user's skin surface and an optical signal including ambient light via the sensor surface, The steps include: placing a spacer between the sensor surface and the user's skin surface; The steps include adjusting the height of the spacer as a function of the adjustable height of the spacer in order to provide a given contact pressure and / or separation distance between the skin surface and the sensor surface, The steps include controlling at least one sleep-related measurement modality of the sleep tracker wearable device based on the light signal from the skin surface using a controller coupled to the optical unit, The steps include detecting background illumination conditions based on the optical signal including the ambient light, and A method having.

13. The step of adjusting the height comprises adjusting the height from a first height to a second height greater than the first height, where the contact pressure between the sensor surface and the skin surface decreases and / or the separation distance increases so that the sensor surface receives more ambient light, and The step of adjusting the height comprises adjusting the height from the second height to the first height, where the contact pressure between the sensor surface and the skin surface increases and / or the separation distance decreases, so that the sensor surface receives less ambient light. The method according to claim 12.

14. The steps include providing information regarding the angular direction of the sleep tracker wearable device, A step of correcting the optical signal including ambient light based on the information regarding the angular direction. The method according to claim 12 or 13, further comprising the above.

15. (i) A step of distinguishing between short-term changes in the optical signal caused by the user's movement and (ii) rapid changes in the external optical signal caused by something other than the user's movement, A step of improving the quality of ambient light metadata derived from the signal of the optical sensor, based on the distinction between the short-term optical signal change and the rapid external optical signal change. The method according to claim 14, having the following characteristics.

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