JP2005118241A - Snoring prevention apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent occurrence of loud snoring and sleep apnea syndrome where breathing stops periodically due to the loud snoring as the result of narrowing of the respiratory tract during sleeping as the main cause of snoring and lowering of the tongue to close an upper respiratory tract during sleeping mostly while the surface of the face faces up nearly in the direction of a ceiling during sleeping, to use this snoring prevention device without any resistance in daily use by reducing costs, to simply handle the device, to effectively prevent snoring and to be safe. <P>SOLUTION: The snoring prevention apparatus consists of: a bottom plate; a swinging plate installed in the state of being swingable to the right and left on the bottom plate; a voice detection sensor for detecting snoring; a controller for controlling the swinging plate based on a signal from the voice detection sensor; and a driving mechanism for swinging and driving the swinging plate. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a pillow, and more particularly, to a snoring prevention device capable of preventing snoring at bedtime.

  Generally, the upper airway of a sleeping person is narrower than when waking up. This is due to the tension of the jaw muscles being reduced by sleep, the airway narrowing, the tongue sinking during sleep, closing the upper airway, causing severe snoring during sleep, and in severe cases the breathing cycle However, no effective solution has been found.

Conventionally known methods for preventing snoring include commercially available drugs, snoring prevention goods, pillows, mattresses, bed devices, and operations.
JP 2003-190200 A Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2000-253977 JP 2000-023813 A JP 2003-010259 A

  However, many of the goods are difficult to use in daily use, and the effect of pillows cannot be measured due to individual differences. There has been no conventional, effective, and safe product that is problematic, inexpensive, has no resistance in daily use, is very easy to handle, and is very effective in preventing snoring.

  The problem to be solved is that the main cause of snoring is the tension of the jaw muscles that causes the airway to narrow, or the tongue sinks during sleep and the upper airway closes. Many times when you are facing upwards, which is the direction of the ceiling, how to prevent severe snoring at that time, and how to prevent sleep apnea syndrome that causes breathing to stop periodically It is an object of the present invention to keep the reservation.

  Also, in solving the above problems, it is inexpensive, has no resistance in daily use, is very easy to handle, and is effective and safe to prevent snoring very effectively It is also a subject of the present invention.

  In order to achieve the above object, a snoring prevention apparatus according to claim 1 of the present invention includes a bottom plate, a swinging plate installed on the bottom plate so as to be swingable in the left-right direction, and a voice detection sensor for detecting snoring. And a control device that controls the swing plate based on a signal from the voice detection sensor and a drive mechanism that swings and drives the swing plate.

  The major feature of the snoring prevention device of the present invention is that the sleeping face, which is the main cause of snoring, is tilted only in the lateral direction without giving a stimulus to the state where the face while sleeping is almost facing the ceiling. In particular, the idea is that sleeping in the sideways direction can secure the airway, prevent snoring, and prevent sleep apnea syndrome that causes breathing to stop periodically.

  The snoring prevention device of the present invention includes a bottom plate, a swinging plate installed on the bottom plate so as to be swingable in the left-right direction, a voice detection sensor for detecting snoring, and a signal from the voice detection sensor. Consists of a control device that controls the moving plate and a drive mechanism that drives the swing plate to swing, with the head placed on a pillow installed on the swing plate, and the sleeping face is almost in the ceiling direction When you are facing upwards, etc., your muscles of your jaw will relax and your airway will narrow, your tongue will sink during sleep, your upper airway will close, or the airway will be blocked in some way, etc. Then, when the snoring occurs, the voice detection sensor that detects snoring works, the control device that controls the rocking plate based on the signal from the voice detecting sensor works to operate the driving mechanism, and the rocking plate is a sleeper Swings left and right without causing Tilt the sleeping person's head in the lateral transverse direction, it can secure the airway by bed sideways, and the gist to carry out prevention of snoring.

  The operation specifications of the swing plate are determined by the setting of the control device that controls the swing plate, but this may be determined at the time of manufacture or may be set by the user according to the application. It ’s good, or both. For the purpose of the present invention, for example, when the voice detection sensor detects snoring, the rocking plate determines several stop points within the movement range of the rocking plate and moves to the next stop point. If the voice detection sensor does not detect snoring for a certain period of time, it will continue to stop, but if the voice detection sensor still detects snoring after a certain period of time, the rocking plate will operate again. This operation of moving to the next stop point is repeated. Also, for example, when the voice detection sensor detects snoring, the swinging plate is operated at a much slower speed to gently tilt the sleeping person's head in the horizontal and horizontal directions. It may be stopped when the detection sensor stops detecting snoring. It is desirable that other operations can be set freely.

  As described above, the snoring prevention device of the present invention can be provided at low cost because of its simple structure. In daily use, the user's favorite pillow is installed on the rocking plate of the product of the present invention, and the control device is powered on. Just put it in and snoring while sleeping, the voice detection sensor automatically works, the rocking plate on which the pillow is placed operates, and the airway is secured by tilting the sleeping person's head in the horizontal direction This operation automatically repeats to prevent snoring at all times while sleeping, and handling is very simple, and the automatic snoring prevention function can prevent snoring very effectively. It is a summary.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided an electric motor provided on the bottom plate, an arm portion rotated by the electric motor, and a shaft portion provided on the arm portion. A crank mechanism that is movably fitted and installed, or a crank mechanism that is rotatably fitted and installed with a rotatable crank arm provided on the shaft and a rotating shaft provided on the swing plate A snoring prevention device according to claim 1, characterized by comprising a drive mechanism comprising

  The snoring prevention device of the present invention should be configured to be as thin and small as possible when considering that the user's favorite pillow is installed on the swing plate. In addition, it is possible to improve the mass productivity by reducing the number of parts as much as possible, and to provide a product that has few failures, is inexpensive, and is excellent in safety and operability.

  Regarding the operation method and the configuration of the swing plate, the crank mechanism is provided with an elongated hole portion in the swing plate substantially perpendicular to the swing direction, and provided on the inner surface side of the elongated hole portion and an arm portion rotated by an electric motor. When the electric motor rotates, the arm portion rotates and the shaft portion provided on the arm portion moves while contacting the inner surface side of the elongated hole portion. . In other words, if the electric motor continues to rotate even if it is moved while pushing the rocking plate in the left and right rocking direction and moves to the rocking end, it will move in the opposite rocking direction. The gist is that the oscillating plate can be oscillated left and right even in one direction. As another crank mechanism, instead of providing a long hole in the swing plate, a crank arm is provided rotatably in the arm, and a common rotating shaft is provided in the crank arm and the swing plate. The gist is that the oscillating plate can be oscillated left and right by rotating the motor in one direction as described above.

  By such a method, the drive mechanism for swinging and driving the swing plate can be made compact, the number of parts can be reduced, and the electric motor can be rotated only in one direction. The gist is that simplification is possible, and it can be provided inexpensively as a whole. Also, in order to strengthen the driving force for swinging the swing plate or to set the speed, a combination of gears between the electric motor and the rotating arm and other variable speed reducers are installed. There is no problem.

  The invention according to claim 3 is rocked by a feed screw hole provided in the rocking plate, a rotatable feed screw fitted and inserted into the feed screw hole, and an electric motor for rotating the feed screw. The gist of the snoring prevention apparatus according to claim 1, comprising: a drive mechanism that swings and drives the plate.

    The snoring prevention apparatus of the present invention is designed to be as thin and small as possible in the structure of its drive mechanism, considering that the pillows of the user's preference are installed on the swing plate. It is also desirable to have a powerful swing drive force, which also reduces the number of parts as much as possible to improve mass productivity, provide less trouble, be inexpensive, and have excellent safety and operability. Is the gist.

  Regarding the operation method and configuration of the rocking plate, especially when giving a strong rocking drive force to the rocking plate, it is fitted and inserted into the feed screw hole provided in the rocking plate. The driving force for swinging and driving the swinging plate by the electric motor is directly transmitted to the swinging plate by the deceleration force of the pivotable feed screw, and the pillows of various sizes of user's preference installed on the swinging plate The gist is that the swing drive force can be firmly applied. Also, in order to further strengthen the driving force that swings the swing plate and to set the speed, a combination of a gear between the electric motor and the feed screw and other variable speed reducers are installed. There is no problem.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, the remote controller includes a control device for controlling the drive mechanism, and includes a voice detection sensor or a voice detection sensor and a sensitivity adjustment function of the voice detection sensor. The gist of the snoring prevention device according to claim 2 or claim 3.

  The snoring prevention device of the present invention uses a control device for controlling a drive mechanism as a remote controller, a bottom plate, a swing plate installed on the bottom plate so as to be swingable in the left-right direction, and a sound for detecting snoring. Snoring is detected from a snoring prevention device main body comprising a detection sensor, a control device that controls the swing plate based on a signal from the voice detection sensor, and a drive mechanism that swings and drives the swing plate. A voice detection sensor and a control device that controls the rocking plate based on a signal from the voice detection sensor or a part of the control device are taken out separately to improve the sensitivity and operability of the voice detection sensor. By incorporating the sensitivity adjustment function of the voice detection sensor, snoring can be detected with better accuracy than when it is built in the snoring prevention device main unit, and it can be adjusted quickly. It is summarized as Rukoto.

  The sensitivity adjustment function of the voice detection sensor enables the sensitivity adjustment of the voice detection sensor to be adjusted according to the surrounding noise so that it will not be mistaken for snoring due to the ambient noise at bedtime. It can be set freely from when the environment is quiet to when it is not.

  The invention according to claim 5 is characterized by having a detachable pillow loading portion for loading a pillow on the swinging plate, and preventing snoring according to claim 1, 2, 3, and 4. The gist of the device.

  When the user installs a pillow of various sizes on the swinging plate and uses it, a pillow loading part is provided so that the pillow can be firmly placed on the swinging plate. The gist of the invention is that it is configured and provided so as to be detachably fixed to the plate.

  According to the snoring prevention apparatus of the present invention, the sleep that is the main cause of snoring is caused by the tension of the jaw muscles and the airway narrows, or the tongue sinks during sleep and the upper airway is closed. Sleeping to prevent sleep apnea syndrome, which often occurs when snoring is almost ceiling-facing and causes severe snoring, and further breathing stops periodically By slowly tilting the person's head to the left and right and sleeping sideways, the airway is secured and snoring is prevented.

  In addition, the snoring prevention device of the present invention can be provided at low cost because of its simple structure. Even in daily use, the user's favorite pillow is installed in the product of the present invention, and the control device is turned on. If you snore, the voice detection sensor automatically works, the rocking plate on which the pillow is placed operates, tilts the head of the sleeping person to the left and right to secure the airway and prevents snoring. It repeats automatically and always prevents snoring while sleeping, and handling is very easy, and it can effectively prevent snoring by automatically preventing snoring, and snoring is also effective when sleeping. Respiratory syndrome can also be prevented.

  The snoring prevention device of the present invention is a voice detection sensor that detects a snoring when a sleeping person puts out a snore when sleeping with a head placed on the rocking plate of the present invention product at bedtime. The pillow installed on the rocking plate is operated, and the control device that controls the rocking plate based on the signal from the voice detection sensor works to operate the drive mechanism to move the rocking plate in the horizontal direction. Slowly moves left and right and turns the head on the pillow sideways to secure the airway and prevent snoring. When snoring stops, the operation stops, and when snoring, the operation is performed again. The gist of the present invention is to automatically repeat this process to prevent snoring without giving any risk to the sleeping person, and an example thereof is as follows.

  Hereinafter, a snoring prevention device (0) as an example of an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows a three-view diagram of an external view of the embodiment, FIG. 1 (a) shows a plan view, a swing plate (2) installed on the bottom plate (1), a control device (3), and a control device (3 ), A sound detection sensor sensitivity adjuster (18), a power outlet (21), and a power switch (22). FIG. 1 (b) shows a front view, the swing plate (2) provided slightly higher than the bottom plate (1) is in the center, and FIG. 1 (c) shows a side view. A drive mechanism (4) is provided at the center.

  FIG. 2 shows a three-view diagram showing a cross-sectional view of the main part in the external view of the embodiment FIG. 1, FIG. In addition to the device (3), a rotating ring (8) for smoothly swinging on the bottom plate (1) is provided on the swing plate (2) and attached to the electric motor (5). The arm portion (6) and the shaft portion (7) rotatably provided on the arm portion (6) are fitted and installed in the elongated hole portion (9) so as to be rotatable and swingable, and FIG. Shows a cross-sectional view of the main part of the front view, and FIG. 2C shows a cross-sectional view of the main part of the side view.

  In the embodiment of FIGS. 1 and 2, the long hole portion (9) may be provided directly on the swing plate (2) or may be provided at a different position. In addition, a speed reduction mechanism may be provided between the arm portion (6) and the electric motor (5). The rotating ring (8) for smooth movement of the swing plate (2) in the left-right direction can also be slid using a resin plate or the like, and can freely rotate to the arm portion (6). A bearing (10) or the like may be used in the shaft portion (7) provided in.

  1 and 2, the long hole (9) is used as the swinging part, and the arm (6) attached to the electric motor (5) and the arm (6) rotate. The shaft portion (7) provided freely is configured to be fitted and installed in the elongated hole portion (9) so as to be able to rotate and swing. However, the elongated hole portion (9) is used as shown in FIG. As a crank mechanism (13), a crank arm (14) is rotatably provided on the shaft portion (7), a rotation shaft portion (15) is provided on the other end thereof, and the rotation shaft portion (15) is rocked. The moving plate (2) may be configured to be rotatably fitted and attached.

  FIG. 4 shows a three-side view of an external view of another embodiment, FIG. 4 (a) shows a plan view, and a swing plate (2) and a control device (3) installed on the bottom plate (1) can be seen. 4 (b) shows a front view, and FIG. 4 (c) shows a side view, and the drive mechanism (4) can be seen in the center.

  FIG. 5 shows a three-sided view showing a cross-sectional view of the main part in the external view of FIG. 4, FIG. 5 (a) shows a cross-sectional view of the main part of the plan view, and the control installed on the bottom plate (1) In addition to the device (3), a rotating ring (8) for smoothly swinging on the bottom plate (1) is provided on the swing plate (2) and attached to the electric motor (5). A feed screw (11) is rotatably fitted and attached to a feed nut (12) provided on the swing plate (2), and the swing plate (2) is rotated by forward and reverse rotations of the electric motor (5). Swing left and right. FIG. 5B shows a cross-sectional view of the main part of the front view, and FIG. 5C shows a side view.

  In the embodiment of FIGS. 4 and 5, the left and right swing movement of the swing plate (2) using the feed screw (11) and the feed nut (12) requires left and right rotation control of the electric motor (5). However, since the mechanism itself has a speed reduction mechanism, the number of parts required for speed reduction is reduced, and the cost can be reduced as the driving force increases.

  FIG. 6 shows a sketch of the embodiment. The pillow loading part (19) is fixed on the rocking plate (2) of the snoring prevention device (0) which is the product of the present invention, the pillow (20) is loaded thereon, and the power outlet (21) is turned on. When the power switch (22) is turned on, the snoring prevention device (0) is in an operating state.

  FIG. 7 is a usage example in the embodiment of FIG. 6 and shows a state in which a sleeper (24) goes to sleep with the head (23) on the pillow (20). In FIG. 8, when the sleeper (24) starts snoring during sleep, the voice detection sensor (17) that detects snoring works, and the swing plate (2) is moved based on the signal from the voice detection sensor (17). The control device (3) for controlling works to operate the drive mechanism (4), the swing plate (2) swings and moves in either the left or right direction, and a pillow ( 20) slowly moves in one direction, and the head (23) on the pillow (20) rotates in the opposite direction to turn sideways to secure the airway and prevent snoring. Thereafter, if the snoring stops, the operation is stopped, and if the snoring is performed, the swinging operation is performed as shown in FIG. This swinging operation is automatically repeated, so that snoring can be prevented without giving any risk to the sleeping person (24) without causing pain or waking from sleep.

  In order to improve safety, a swing sensor (2) is provided with a load sensor, and if it is detected that the head (23) of the sleeping person (24) is not on the pillow (20), the snoring prevention device (0 ) Always stops its operation, and if it detects that the head (23) of the sleeper (24) is on the pillow (20), the snoring prevention device (0) will continue or resume its operation. Such a configuration may be further incorporated into the control device (3). Thus, safety can be ensured by preventing an inadvertent operation when the head (23) of the sleeper (24) falls off the pillow (20) when turning over during sleep. .

The three-sided figure in the external view of Example 1 of the snoring prevention apparatus. FIG. 3 is a three-view diagram illustrating a cross-sectional view of main parts in the external view of the first embodiment. Example 2 using other crank mechanisms. Three views in the external view of Example 3 FIG. 10 is a three-view drawing illustrating a cross-sectional view of the main part in the external view of the third embodiment. The sketch of Example 4 is shown. The usage example in the Example of FIG. 6 is shown. The usage example in the Example of FIG. 6 is shown. The usage example in the Example of FIG. 6 is shown.

Explanation of symbols

(0) Snoring prevention device (1) Bottom plate (2) Swing plate (3) Control device (4) Drive mechanism (5) Electric motor (6) Arm part (7) Shaft part (8) Rotating ring (9) Long Hole (10) Bearing (11) Feed screw (12) Feed nut (13) Crank mechanism (14) Crank arm (15) Rotating shaft (16) Remote controller (17) Voice detection sensor (18) Voice detection sensor Sensitivity adjuster (19) Pillow load section (20) Pillow (21) Power outlet (22) Power switch (23) Head (24) Sleeper

Claims (5)

  A bottom plate, a swing plate installed on the bottom plate so as to be swingable in the left-right direction, a voice detection sensor for detecting snoring, and a control device for controlling the swing plate based on a signal from the voice detection sensor; And a snoring prevention device comprising a drive mechanism for swinging the swing plate.   An electric motor provided on the bottom plate, an arm portion rotated by the electric motor, and a shaft portion provided on the arm portion are fitted and installed in a long hole portion provided in the swing plate so as to be freely rotatable. A drive mechanism comprising a crank mechanism formed by, or a crank mechanism formed by rotatably fitting and installing a rotatable crank arm provided on the shaft portion and a rotation shaft portion provided on the swing plate. The snoring prevention apparatus of Claim 1 characterized by the above-mentioned.   Drive that swings and drives the swing plate by a feed screw hole provided in the swing plate, a rotatable feed screw fitted and inserted into the feed screw hole, and an electric motor that rotates the feed screw The snoring prevention device according to claim 1, further comprising: a mechanism.   The remote controller is provided with a control device for controlling the drive mechanism, and includes a voice detection sensor or a voice detection sensor and a sensitivity adjustment function of the voice detection sensor. Snoring prevention device as described in 5. The snoring prevention device according to claim 1, further comprising a detachable pillow loading portion for loading a pillow on the swinging plate.

Images