The present invention relates generally to monitoring sleep apnea. The present invention relates more particularly to a compact, wearable unit that can recognize the occurrence of sleep apnea event and urge the wearer to start breathing again.
Sleep apnea is the condition where people stop breathing for extended periods of time while sleeping. Generally, after a prolonged period of not breathing, the brain sends a stimulus and the person starts breathing again. A person can have multiple instances of sleep apnea during the course of a night's sleep. Several patents have been issued in this area. Some inventions relate to jackets with bumps on the back to prevent the wearer from lying on his/her back. In others, sensors are attached to the patient and the condition monitored in a hospital. This is a diagnostic method which does not help the sufferer in a home setting. In a third variety of solution, air is pumped into the nostril through a face mask. This is not a preferred method since it is inconvenient for the patient and interferes with normal family life.
A few patents are either pending or have been granted where the unit is small enough for the patient to wear it daily at night without it interfering with the normal life of the wearer. U.S. Pat. No. 6,162,183 and application number 2008/0269583 use optical emitter/detector units. In this, either the emitter or the detector moves with the movement of the abdomen during breathing. The constant movement of the emitter or detector makes the unit unreliable. The unit can easily get out of alignment after a brief period of use and so become useless. U.S. Pat. No. 4,494,553 and application number 2008/0183095 use inductance sensors to monitor breathing. In these units, the inductance of a coil is varied by a moving rod that moves with breathing. As paragraph 59 of application 2008/0183095 points out, it uses a “complex programmable logic device 516”. U.S. Pat. No. 5,454,376 and application 2008/0119896 use an elastic fabric with strain gauge. Because of the elasticity of the body, depending on the pressure applied by the belt, the abdominal movement can be pronounced around the belt and minimal under the belt. When the belt is elastic, the stretching of the fabric is distributed around the circumference of the belt and so the detection unit has to be very sensitive. Too sensitive an instrument not only costs more, it can give false readings because of extraneous “noise”. The strain gauges also increase the cost of the unit. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,889,131, 4,909,260 and 6,267,730 and application 2008/0275356 use a piezo electric sensor on an elastic belt, causing the same problems mentioned above.
All the units that use an elastic belt to mount the sensor have another common drawback. In daily use, the elasticity of the belt can weaken and become useless.
Application 2006/0258916 uses a pressure transducer to monitor breathing. Since the initial pressure itself can vary every time the belt is worn, finding acceptable pressure variation to activate the alarms will be complicated. Also the cost of the pressure transducer is relatively high.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,295,490, the unit has a spring going all around the belt that is worn. This will be irritating to the wearer. Also, it uses a lot of mechanical parts. Although the inventor specifies material to be used to reduce friction, there will still be considerable friction that the intended result will not be achieved in reality. The increase in the number of parts also increases the cost of manufacture.
Application 2008/0108903 uses a spring loaded roller that keeps the belt coiled. The unit is complicated and not reliable. Since the belt extends out equally from the casing, the casing will be on the back of the wearer. When a person lies on his back, the casing will cause discomfort. Also, while lying on the back, the weight of the body will pin the belt to the mattress and prevent the belt from coiling and uncoiling. This will set off false alarm that the person has stopped breathing. The signal generators are also not of the simple type, thus adding to the cost and complexity.
The primary objective of the present invention is to come up with a sleep apnea monitor that is light in weight, comfortable to wear at night and does not come in the way of normal family life.
Another objective of the present invention is to increase the reliability of the unit by reducing the number of moving parts.
A third objective of the present invention is to bring down the cost of manufacture through the use of minimal as well as less expensive parts so that the unit is affordable for the vast majority of patients.
The foregoing objectives are attained by having a substantially non-elastic belt with a buckle having a small spring actuated contact and a microcontroller to register the contact output and determine if an apnea event has occurred.
In this respect, before explaining at least one embodiment of the invention in detail, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited in its application to the details of construction and to the arrangements of the components set forth in the following description or illustrated in the drawing(s). The invention is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced and carried out in various ways. Also, it is to be understood that the phraseology and terminology employed herein are for the purpose of description and should not be regarded as limiting.
As such, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the concept, upon which this disclosure is based, may readily be utilized as a basis for the designing of other structures, methods and systems for carrying out the several purposes of the present invention. It is important, therefore, that the claims be regarded as including such equivalent constructions insofar as they do not depart from the spirit and scope of the present invention.
Belt 1 is made from a substantially non-elastic, flexible material. One end of belt 1 that is distal to the buckle assembly has a hook and loop fastener. This end will henceforth be referred to as the ‘distal end’. The hook and loop fastener, more commonly known as ‘Velcro’ is numbered 2. The other end of the belt, numbered 3, that is proximal to the buckle assembly, may be attached securely to the buckle via slot 6 by any of the known fastening means such as a hook and loop fastener, looping the belt through slot 6 and binding end 3 with the belt body 1 by means of rivets, glue, stitching etc. This end will henceforth be referred to as the ‘proximal end’.
Using switch 19, the user first disables the monitoring of sleep apnea occurrences by the evaluator. Then he plugs in the display console 31 into the electrical outlet. He then plugs the belt-sensor unit into the display console using data transfer ports 18 and 36. At this time, the rechargeable battery in the buckle assembly starts getting charged with power from the display console. If necessary, using the appropriate sequence of buttons 33, 34 and 35, the user corrects the time stored on the evaluator and displayed on the display console 31. Similarly, using buttons 33, 34 and 35, the user displays on display console 31, the time of each apnea event stored in the memory of the evaluator.
When the user goes to bed, he removes the belt-sensor unit from the display console and wears it around the abdomen. The belt-sensor unit is worn with just sufficient tightness such that the wearer is comfortable while at the same time, the movable slot 7 is pulled out against the compression force of the spring when the wearer inhales and the abdomen bulges. After fastening the belt-sensor unit properly, the wearer enables the sleep apnea determination function of the evaluator using switch 19. During inhalation, the abdomen bulges, pulling slot 7 out. This breaks the electrical contact between contact pins 12 and 13 by pulling contact plate 9 away from pins 12 and 13. When the wearer exhales, the abdomen moves in, and the spring force pulls slot 7 back. This causes the contact plate to electrically connect contact pins 12 and 13. During breathing, each time the electrical contact between pins 12 and 13 is made or broken, the evaluator unit 14 receives the signal and acknowledges the event by resetting the preset timer and the vibrator counter. If the preset time value is exceeded before the electrical contact is made or broken, the evaluator determines it to be an apnea event and energizes the vibrator motor for a few seconds. It increments the vibrator counter, resets the timer and stores the current time in memory as the apnea event time. The vibration from the vibrator motor stimulates the wearer to start breathing. When the timer expires again, if the wearer has not responded by breathing again, the evaluator energizes the vibrator motor once more. This process is repeated a preset number of times. If the wearer still has not responded to the stimuli, the alarm unit is energized to sound an alarm to notify anyone present in the vicinity to take appropriate medical action.
The user first deactivates switch 19. This information is transmitted by unit 41 to unit 42. Unit 42 passes this signal to the evaluator to stop monitoring the occurrences of sleep apnea events. He then charges the battery by connecting the buckle assembly to the charger unit using power input socket 45. Then he plugs in the display console to the electrical outlet. Using the proper sequence of buttons 33, 34 and 35, the user sets the current time of display on display console 31.
When the user goes to bed, he removes the belt-sensor unit from the charger and wears the unit around the abdomen. The belt-sensor unit is worn with just sufficient tightness such that the wearer is comfortable while at the same time, the movable slot 7 is pulled out against the compression force of the spring when the wearer inhales and the abdomen bulges. After fastening the belt-sensor unit properly, the wearer activates switch 19. This information is transmitted by unit 41 to unit 42. Unit 42 passes this signal to the evaluator to start determination of sleep apnea events. During inhalation, the abdomen bulges, pulling slot 7 out. This breaks the electrical contact between contact pins 12 and 13 by pulling contact plate 9 away from pins 12 and 13. When the wearer exhales, the abdomen moves in, and the spring force pulls slot 7 back. This causes the contact plate to electrically connect contact pins 12 and 13. During breathing, each time the electrical contact between pins 12 and 13 is made or broken, the transmitter/receiver unit 41 sends a signal to the transmitter/receiver unit 42 on the display console. Unit 42 passes on the signal to evaluator 14. On receipt of the signal, evaluator 14 resets the preset timer and the vibrator counter. If the preset time value is exceeded before the signal is received by the evaluator, the evaluator determines it to be an apnea event and sends a signal through unit 42 to unit 41 to energize the vibrator motor for a few seconds. It increments the vibrator counter, resets the preset timer and stores the current time in memory as the apnea event time. The vibration from the vibrator motor stimulates the wearer to start breathing. If the wearer has not responded by breathing again, there will not be any signal arriving from unit to unit 42. When the timer expires again, if there is no signal from unit 41, the evaluator sends a signal through unit 42 to unit 41 to energize the vibrator motor once more. This process is repeated a preset number of times. If the wearer still does not respond to the stimuli, the alarm unit is energized to sound an alarm to notify anyone present in the vicinity to take appropriate medical action.
In the first preferred embodiment as well as the second preferred embodiment, the proximal end of belt 1 can be fixedly attached to moveable slot 7 instead of fixed slot 6 and the distal end of the belt can be fastened using slot 6 instead of slot 7. This does not change the working of the unit.
Since the belt material is substantially non-elastic, the full force from the abdominal expansion during inhalation is used to compress the spring. Since there is only one moving part, friction is greatly reduced. The sensor being a simple but efficient contact switch, the cost of the unit is substantially brought down.
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