JP7699071B2 - Terminal device, program and control method - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a terminal device, a program, a control method, etc.

There are various known methods for supporting the sleep of users. For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a method for adjusting the bottom angle of an electric bed when snoring by a user is detected.

US Patent Application Publication No. 2018/0184811

Raising the back to secure the airway is an effective way to prevent snoring. However, the angle at which the airway can be secured varies depending on the user's body type, making it difficult to determine the optimal angle.

According to some aspects of the present disclosure, it is possible to provide a terminal device, a program, a control method, etc. that appropriately supports a user's sleep.

One aspect of the present disclosure relates to a terminal device that includes an acquisition unit that acquires snoring information related to a user's snoring, and a control unit that controls the bottom of a bed used by the user to sleep on the basis of the snoring information, and the control unit controls the angle of the bed to be changed again if the snoring is continuously detected on the basis of the snoring information even after the angle of the bed is changed, and controls the direction of the change in the angle to be switched on the basis of the angle of the bed.

Another aspect of the present disclosure relates to a program that causes a computer to function as an acquisition unit that acquires snoring information related to a user's snoring, and a control unit that controls the bottom of a bed used by the user to sleep on the basis of the snoring information, and the control unit controls the angle of the bed to be changed again if snoring is continuously detected on the basis of the snoring information even after the angle of the bed is changed, and controls the direction of the change in the angle to be switched on the basis of the angle of the bed.

Yet another aspect of the present disclosure relates to a control method including a step of acquiring snoring information related to a user's snoring, and a step of controlling the bottom of a bed used by the user to sleep, and if the snoring is continuously detected based on the snoring information even after the angle of the bottom is changed, control is performed to change the angle of the bottom again, and in the control of the bottom, control is performed to switch the direction of the change in the angle based on the angle of the bottom.

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of the configuration of a control system. 5 is an example of an operation screen displayed on a display unit of a terminal device. 5 is an example of an operation screen displayed on a display unit of a terminal device. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of the arrangement of a detection device. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of the configuration of a terminal device. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of the configuration of a terminal device. 11 is a flowchart illustrating a process of searching for a snore suppression angle (first control); 13 is an example of association information in which users are associated with snoring prevention angles. 10 is a flowchart illustrating a process for determining whether the first control is set to ON or OFF. 13A and 13B are diagrams illustrating the relationship between sleeping posture and snoring acquired by the third control. FIG. 13 is a diagram showing the relationship between the back angle and snoring obtained by the first control. 13 is an example of a screen displaying information acquired during sleep. 5 is an example of an operation screen displayed on a display unit of a terminal device. 5 is an example of an operation screen displayed on a display unit of a terminal device. 13 is an example of second correspondence information in which courses (modes) are associated with controls.

The present embodiment will be described below with reference to the drawings. In the drawings, identical or equivalent elements are given the same reference numerals, and duplicated explanations will be omitted. Note that the present embodiment described below does not unduly limit the contents described in the claims. Furthermore, not all of the configurations described in the present embodiment are necessarily essential components of the present disclosure.

1. System Configuration Example FIG. 1 is a diagram for explaining an overview of a control system 10 according to this embodiment. The control system 10 may include a terminal device 100, a detection device 200, and a bed 300. However, the control system 10 is not limited to the example of FIG. 1, and modifications such as omitting some components or adding other components are possible. For example, the detection device 200 may be omitted, or other devices may be added. The fact that components can be omitted or added is also true in other drawings such as FIG. 4A.

The bed 300 is an electric bed including a control unit 310 and a movable unit 70 as a controlled unit controlled by the control unit 310. The movable unit 70 includes a bottom 71. A mattress 76 (described later with reference to FIG. 3) is placed on the bottom 71. A user 81 lies on the mattress 76. As described above, the bottom 71 here is a floor board on which the mattress 76 etc. are placed, and may include multiple plate-shaped members as shown in FIG. 1.

As a bed in which a controlled unit is controlled, for example, the method described in PCT/JP2018/044703 (Name of invention: Electric furniture, International filing date: December 5, 2018) can be used. This patent application is incorporated by reference in its entirety.

The movable section 70 includes, for example, a back section 70a, a knee section 70b, a leg section 70c, and a height change section 70h. The height change section 70h is, for example, a bed elevator. As shown in the example of FIG. 1, the movable section 70 may further include a head section 70d. The angles of the multiple sections included in the bottom 71 (the back section 70a, the knee section 70b, the leg section 70c, and the head section 70d) can be changed. As shown in FIG. 1, the bed 300 may include a lighting section 73a and a temperature control section 73b as controlled units.

For example, the angle of the user's back can be changed by moving the back bottom 70a. The angle of the knees can be changed by moving the knee bottom 70b and leg bottom 70c. The angle or height of the user's head can be changed by moving the head bottom 70d. These angles may change in conjunction with each other. These angles are angles based on the frame 75 of the bed. For example, the frame 75 is set substantially parallel to the floor surface. The angle of the bottom 71 described above may be an angle based on the floor surface. In this example, casters 70g are provided under the frame 75. The casters 70g may be omitted and changed to "legs".

The height change unit 70h can change, for example, the distance (height) between the floor surface and the bed surface. The height change unit 70h may be able to change the height of the head side of the bed 300 and the height of the foot side of the bed 300 independently. This allows the overall inclination of the bed surface to be changed.

These movable parts 70 may be actuators, for example. The operation of the movable parts 70 allows for at least one of "back lifting," "knee lifting," "height adjustment," and "tilting." "Tilting" includes at least one of rolling and tilting.

The bed 300 of this embodiment is connected to a terminal device 100, and the controlled units including the movable unit 70 are controlled based on a signal from the terminal device 100. For example, the terminal device 100 transmits a control signal to a control unit 310 of the bed 300, and the control unit 310 operates the movable unit 70 based on the control signal. The terminal device 100 is, for example, a mobile terminal device such as a smartphone or a tablet terminal. However, the terminal device 100 may be another device such as a PC (Personal Computer).

For example, the terminal device 100 operates according to the control application software to display an arbitrary operation screen on the display unit 160. As a method for controlling a bed linked to a terminal device, etc., the method described in Japanese Patent Application No. 2018-228590 (Name of invention: Bed device, Filing date: December 5, 2018) can be used. This patent application is incorporated in its entirety by reference.

Figure 2A shows screen 42A, which is an example of an operation screen. Screen 42A is, for example, a TOP screen, and displays, for example, an icon for transitioning to a screen related to the menu of control system 10 ("Menu"), an icon for transitioning to a screen related to settings for automatic operation of control system 10 ("Automatic operation"), and an icon for switching to a screen related to operation of bed 300 ("Screen switch").

When it is determined that the "Screen Switch" icon on screen 42A has been selected by the user, a transition to screen 42B shown in FIG. 2B is performed. Screen 42B is a screen related to the operation of bed 300, and displays area 42B1 showing information on the positions of each bottom of bed 300 and the position of frame 75, area 42B2 displaying multiple icons for selecting an operation mode of bed 300, and an icon ("START") for executing the mode selected in area 42B2. The movable part 70 of bed 300 is driven according to each operation mode. Note that the operation modes are disclosed in Japanese Patent Application No. 2018-228590, and therefore detailed description will be omitted. Terminal device 100 may also display a screen for manually adjusting the angles of each of multiple parts included in bottom 71.

Figure 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of the arrangement of the detection device 200. In Figure 3, components are drawn separated from each other to make the drawing easier to see. As shown in Figure 3, in a bed 300, a bottom 71 is provided on top of the bed leg portion 74 of the bed section 70B. A mattress 76 is provided on top of the bottom 71. A user 81 lies on the mattress 76. The detection device 200 is provided, for example, between the bottom 71 and the mattress 76. For example, the detection device 200 is a sheet-like or plate-like device.

The detection device 200 determines the state of the user 81. Specifically, when the user 81 goes to bed, the detection device 200 detects the body vibrations (body movement, vibrations) of the user 81 through the mattress 76. Based on the body vibrations detected by the detection device 200, bioinformation indicating the state of biological activity of the user 81 is calculated. For example, the bioinformation includes information on breathing rate, heart rate, activity level, posture, awake/asleep, and getting out/being in bed. Furthermore, the determination of sleep may include determining whether the sleep is non-REM sleep or REM sleep, and determining the depth of sleep.

Below, an example will be described in which the terminal device 100 and the detection device 200 are connected for communication and the biometric information is obtained in the terminal device 100. However, the calculation of the biometric information may be performed in the detection device 200 or in another device (for example, the control unit 310 of the bed 300 or a server connected to the terminal device 100).

For example, the periodicity of body movement may be analyzed, and the respiration rate and heart rate may be calculated from the peak frequency. The periodicity may be analyzed, for example, by Fourier transform. The respiration rate is the number of breaths per unit time. The heart rate is the number of heartbeats per unit time. The unit time may be, for example, one minute. Furthermore, body vibrations may be detected per sampling unit time, and the number of detected body vibrations may be calculated as the amount of activity.

Methods for detecting whether the user 81 is in or out of bed, their position, posture, etc., include the method of detecting entry and exit described in Japanese Patent Application No. 2002-327624 (Name of invention: Bed entry and exit detection device, filing date: November 11, 2002), the detection method described in Japanese Patent Application No. 2002-327632 (Name of invention: Bed position shift detection device, filing date: November 11, 2002), and the detection method described in Japanese Patent Application No. 2002-327633 (Name of invention: Bed position detection device, filing date: November 11, 2002). These patent applications are incorporated in their entirety by reference.

The method of this embodiment is not limited to using body vibrations as long as it can detect biometric information of the user 81. For example, the biometric information may be calculated using an infrared sensor, a camera, an actuator with a strain gauge, an acceleration sensor, a load sensor, a radar that detects the displacement of the body surface or bedding, etc.

Figures 4A and 4B are diagrams showing an example of the configuration of a terminal device 100 according to this embodiment. As shown in Figure 4A, the terminal device 100 may include an acquisition unit 110 and a control unit 120.

The acquisition unit 110 acquires snoring information related to the snoring of the user 81. The snoring information here may be information about the snoring sound obtained based on the output sound of a microphone placed near the user, for example.

Based on the snoring information, the control unit 120 controls the bottom 71 of the bed 300 used by the user 81 to sleep. Here, the bottom 71 may include the back bottom 70a, the knee bottom 70b, the leg bottom 70c, the head bottom 70d, etc., as described above.

The control unit 120 is configured by the following hardware. The hardware may include at least one of a circuit for processing digital signals and a circuit for processing analog signals. For example, the hardware may be configured by one or more circuit devices or one or more circuit elements mounted on a circuit board. The one or more circuit devices may be, for example, an IC (Integrated Circuit), an FPGA (Field-programmable gate array), etc. The one or more circuit elements may be, for example, a resistor, a capacitor, etc.

The control unit 120 may also be realized by the following processor. The terminal device 100 of this embodiment includes a memory that stores information and a processor that operates based on the information stored in the memory. The information is, for example, a program and various data. The processor includes hardware. The processor can be various processors such as a CPU (Central Processing Unit), a GPU (Graphics Processing Unit), or a DSP (Digital Signal Processor). The memory may be a semiconductor memory such as an SRAM (Static Random Access Memory), a DRAM (Dynamic Random Access Memory), or a flash memory, or may be a register, or may be a magnetic storage device such as a hard disk drive (HDD), or may be an optical storage device such as an optical disk device. For example, the memory stores instructions that can be read by a computer, and the function of the control unit 120 is realized as a process by the processor executing the instructions. The instructions here may be instructions of an instruction set that constitutes a program, or may be instructions that instruct the hardware circuit of the processor to operate.

In the present embodiment, even if the angle of the bottom 71 is changed, if snoring is continuously detected based on the snoring information, the control unit 120 performs control to change the angle of the bottom 71 again. In the control of the bottom 71, control to switch the angle change direction based on the current angle of the bottom 71 may be performed. For example, while the snoring of the user 81 is detected, the control unit 120 repeats control to increase the angle of the back bottom 70a by a predetermined angle at a predetermined interval. In this way, since the angle of the back bottom 70a changes, an angle that can suppress the snoring of the target user 81 can be appropriately obtained. At that time, the direction of change is not fixed to an increase, and control to decrease the angle of the back bottom 70a may be performed. For example, if the angle of the back bottom 70a reaches the upper limit of the movable range as a result of increasing the angle of the back bottom 70a, the control unit 120 may switch to control to decrease the angle of the back bottom 70a by a predetermined angle. Similarly, if the angle of the back bottom 70a is decreased and the current angle reaches the lower limit of the movable range, the control unit 120 may switch to control to increase the angle of the back bottom 70a by a predetermined angle. However, the change direction is not limited to when the end point of the movable range is reached, and the change direction may be changed at a point other than the end point of the movable range. By changing the change direction at a point other than the end point, it is possible to increase the priority of a part of the movable range and decrease the priority of other parts of the movable range. A high priority for a given angle means that the angle is likely to be set. For example, the conditions for changing the change direction may be different for each user 81.

When snoring is detected based on the snoring information, the control unit 120 of this embodiment performs control to search for a snore suppression angle, which is an angle that is determined to suppress snoring, based on the angle of the bottom 71 and the snoring information. Specific processing details will be described later using FIG. 5 etc.

According to the method of the present embodiment, it is possible to control the angle of the bottom 71 while checking the actual snoring situation. Therefore, while the back angle at which the airway can be secured may differ for each user, it is possible to determine a back angle suitable for each user. The back angle here is the angle of the back of the user 81, and is synonymous with the angle of the back bottom 70a with respect to the floor surface on which the frame 75 or the bed 300 is placed, for example. In other words, according to the method of the present embodiment, it is possible to appropriately determine the angle of the back bottom 70a that is effective in suppressing snoring, and to control the back bottom 70a to be at that angle. Note that the control unit 120 is not prevented from controlling parts of the bottom 71 other than the back bottom 70a.

Furthermore, even for the same user 81, the back angle suitable for suppressing snoring may change depending on the situation. In the method of this embodiment, the snoring suppression angle is searched for within a given search range, so it is also possible to respond to changes in the user's 81 situation. As a result, the generation of snoring sounds by the target user 81 is suppressed, making it possible to improve the sleep of the user 81 himself and those around him (family members, etc.) and avoid disrupting sleep.

FIG. 4B is a diagram showing a detailed configuration example of the terminal device 100 according to this embodiment. As shown in FIG. 4A, the terminal device 100 may include a processing unit 130, a microphone 140, a storage unit 150, a display unit 160, and a communication unit 170.

The processing unit 130 here can use various processors such as a CPU, a GPU, a DSP, etc. The processing unit 130 may include a snoring information acquisition unit 111, a biological information acquisition unit 113, an angle adjustment unit 121, and an on/off determination unit 123. The snoring information acquisition unit 111 and the biological information acquisition unit 113 correspond to, for example, the acquisition unit 110 in FIG. 4A. The angle adjustment unit 121 and the on/off determination unit 123 correspond to, for example, the control unit 120 in FIG. 4A.

The snore information acquisition unit 111 acquires an audio signal from the microphone 140, and performs processing to obtain snore information representing the user's snoring based on the audio signal. For example, the snore information acquisition unit 111 may extract a component corresponding to snoring from the audio signal, and obtain information representing the duration of snoring as snore information. In this way, the snore information acquisition unit 111 can determine whether or not snoring has been detected, and, if snoring has been detected, the length of the duration of snoring. The component corresponding to snoring may be, for example, a component in a specified frequency band. Furthermore, known audio signal processing can be widely applied in the calculation of snoring information.

The biometric information acquisition unit 113 obtains biometric information of the user 81 based on information representing body vibrations from the detection device 200. Specifically, as described above, the biometric information acquisition unit 113 obtains information regarding respiration rate, heart rate, activity level, posture, awake/asleep, and getting out of bed/being in bed as biometric information. Note that although the connection relationship is omitted in FIG. 4B, acquisition of body vibrations from the detection device 200 is performed via the communication unit 170.

When snoring is detected based on the snoring information, the angle adjustment unit 121 transmits a signal to the control unit 310 of the bed 300 to control the bottom 71 of the bed 300 (or, more specifically, the back bottom 70a). Note that although the connection relationship is omitted in FIG. 4B, the transmission of the control signal to the bed 300 is performed via the communication unit 170.

The on/off determination unit 123 determines whether the first control, which raises the back to suppress snoring, is on or off based on at least one of the snoring information and the biological information. The first control is a control that searches for a snore suppression angle, and more specifically, is a control that executes each step described later using FIG. 5. For example, the angle adjustment unit 121 may execute the process described later using FIG. 5 on the condition that the first control is set to on in the on/off determination unit.

The microphone 140 is a microphone built into the terminal device 100 and is an element that converts sound into an electrical signal. Note that, although an example in which the terminal device 100 includes the microphone 140 has been shown here, the snoring information acquisition unit 111 may acquire an audio signal from a microphone provided outside the terminal device 100.

The storage unit 150 is a work area of the processing unit 130, and is realized by various memories such as SRAM, DRAM, and ROM (Read Only Memory). The storage unit 150 may store snoring information and biological information. The storage unit 150 may also store recording results (e.g., recording data for a period during which snoring is occurring) using the output signal of the microphone 140. By outputting the recording data, it is possible to present the snoring situation to the user 81. The storage unit 150 may also store recording data for a predetermined period after the control of the bottom 71 by the angle adjustment unit 121 is performed. By outputting the recording data, it is possible to present the effect of the snoring stopping operation by the angle adjustment unit 121 to the user 81. The storage unit 150 may also store various information, which will be described later using Figures 6, 8A, 8B, 11, etc.

The display unit 160 is an interface that displays various information, and may be a liquid crystal display, an organic EL display, or another type of display. The display unit 160 displays the operation screen described above using Figures 2A and 2B, and the operation screen described later using Figures 10A and 10B.

The communication unit 170 is an interface for communicating via a network, and includes, for example, an antenna, an RF (radio frequency) circuit, and a baseband circuit. The communication unit 170 may operate according to the control of the control unit 120 (processing unit 130), or may include a processor for communication control different from the control unit 120. For example, the communication unit 170 communicates with the detection device 200 and the bed 300 using Bluetooth (registered trademark). However, the communication unit 170 may communicate using a wireless LAN (Local Area Network), or may communicate using another method. Furthermore, the communication method used for communication with the detection device 200 and the communication method used for communication with the bed 300 may be the same or different.

Note that some or all of the processing performed by the terminal device 100 of this embodiment may be realized by a program. The processing performed by the terminal device 100 is, for example, processing performed by the processing unit 130 (the acquisition unit 110 and the control unit 120). The program here may be, for example, application software that runs on a smartphone or the like.

The program according to this embodiment can be stored in a non-transitory information storage device (information storage medium), which is, for example, a medium readable by a computer. The information storage device can be realized, for example, by an optical disk, a memory card, a HDD, or a semiconductor memory. The semiconductor memory is, for example, a ROM. The processing unit 130 and the like perform various processes of this embodiment based on the programs stored in the information storage device. That is, the information storage device stores programs for causing a computer to function as the processing unit 130 and the like. A computer is a device that includes an input device, a processing unit, a storage unit, and an output unit. Specifically, the program according to this embodiment is a program for causing a computer to execute each step described later using FIG. 5 and the like.

The technique of this embodiment can also be applied to a control method including the following steps. The control method includes a step of acquiring snoring information related to the user's snoring, and a step of controlling the bottom 71 of the bed used by the user to sleep, and when snoring is detected based on the snoring information, control is performed to search for a snore suppression angle, which is an angle that is determined to suppress snoring, based on the angle of the bottom 71 and the snoring information.

2. Snoring Suppression Processing Next, a specific process for suppressing snoring will be described.

2.1 Processing Flow Fig. 5 is a flowchart for explaining the processing flow in the control unit 120 of the terminal device 100, specifically, in the angle adjustment unit 121. The processing in Fig. 5 may be executed periodically at a predetermined interval, for example, when the user 81 is determined to be in a sleeping state based on biological information. As will be described later, the processing in Fig. 5 may be executed on the condition that the first control is turned on.

First, in step S101, the angle adjustment unit 121 acquires snore information from the snore information acquisition unit 111. Specifically, the snore information acquisition unit 111 acquires an output signal from the microphone 140, and obtains snore information from the output signal. The angle adjustment unit 121 determines whether or not a snore has been detected based on the snore information. For example, the angle adjustment unit 121 may determine that a snore has been detected when the duration of the snore is longer than a predetermined threshold. The threshold here may be 0 or a value greater than 0.

If it is determined that snoring has been detected (Yes in step S101), in step S102, the angle adjustment unit 121 outputs a control signal via the communication unit 170 to the bed 300 to instruct the bed 300 to change the angle of the back bottom 70a. For example, the angle adjustment unit 121 may transmit a control signal to increase the angle of the back bottom 70a by a predetermined angle. Below, an example in which the predetermined angle is 2 degrees is described, but the specific amount of change can be varied in various ways.

Based on the processing of step S102, the control unit 310 of the bed 300 performs control to increase the angle of the back bottom 70a by 2 degrees by driving an actuator or the like. For example, if the angle of the back bottom 70a before the change was 0 degrees, which is a horizontal state, control is performed to change the angle of the back bottom 70a to 2 degrees. Note that the horizontal state here is not limited to a completely horizontal state, but includes an approximately horizontal state in which the angle difference with the horizontal plane is less than a predetermined value. When the driving of the back bottom 70a is completed, the bed 300 transmits this fact and the changed angle to the terminal device 100.

In step S103, the angle adjustment unit 121 acquires information indicating completion of the angle change and the changed angle via the communication unit 170. In the above example, the angle adjustment unit 121 acquires information from the bed 300 indicating that the angle of the back bottom 70a has been changed to 2 degrees.

After the processing of step S103, the process returns to step S101 and continues. That is, the microphone 140 outputs an output signal representing the sound around the user after the angle is changed. The snore information acquisition unit 111 acquires the output signal of the microphone 140 and obtains snore information from the output signal. That is, the snore information here is information representing snoring when the back bottom 70a is in a state of 2 degrees. The angle adjustment unit 121 determines whether or not snoring has been detected based on the snore information. In this way, after changing the angle of the bottom 71, it can be appropriately determined based on the snore information whether or not the change has stopped snoring. For example, the snore information acquisition unit 111 may obtain the snore information based on the audio signal during the period from when the notification from the bed 300 in step S103 is received until a predetermined period (for example, about 30 seconds) has elapsed.

If snoring continues to be detected even after the angle is changed (Yes in step S101), steps S102 and S103 are executed again. For example, if snoring is detected even when the back bottom 70a is at 2 degrees, the angle adjustment unit 121 issues an instruction to increase the angle by another 2 degrees, and the control unit 310 of the bed 300 changes the angle of the back bottom 70a to 4 degrees. After the processing of step S103, the process returns to step S101 and continues. That is, the angle adjustment unit 121 determines whether snoring is occurring at 4 degrees.

In this way, by repeating the processes of steps S101 to S103, it becomes possible to appropriately search for an angle at which snoring can be suppressed while actually sensing the snoring state. Therefore, it is possible to appropriately determine the snore suppression angle according to the target user 81.

When the angle of the back bottom 70a reaches the upper limit of the search range, the angle adjustment unit 121 may control the angle of the back bottom 70a to be changed to the lower limit of the search range, or may control the angle of the back bottom 70a to be decreased by a predetermined angle. For example, if the search range is 0 degrees to 10 degrees and snoring is detected at 10 degrees (Yes in step S101), the angle adjustment unit 121 may set the angle of the back bottom 70a to 0 degrees and continue searching from there at 2 degrees, 4 degrees, etc. Alternatively, if snoring is detected at 10 degrees, the angle adjustment unit 121 may search in the reverse direction in the order of 8 degrees, 6 degrees, etc., and when 0 degrees is reached, the angle adjustment unit 121 may control the angle to be increased by 2 degrees again. In addition, the angle adjustment unit 121 may search for a snore suppression angle within the search range in the loop processing of steps S101 to S103, and the specific search procedure may be modified in various ways.

If snoring is not detected (No in step S101), in step S104, the angle adjustment unit 121 ends the angle adjustment of the bottom 71. Then, in step S105, the angle adjustment unit 121 stores the angle of the back bottom 70a at that time as the snore suppression angle in the memory unit 150 in association with the user 81.

In a situation where the user 81 is not snoring in the first place, it is determined that snoring has not been detected in the first step S101 after the processing of FIG. 5 is started (No in step S101). In this case, since there is no need to search for the snore suppression angle, the angle adjustment unit 121 maintains the current angle in step S104. In step S105, the angle adjustment unit 121 may store the current angle as the snore suppression angle in the storage unit 150. Alternatively, in this embodiment, the angle at which it is determined that snoring that has been occurring has stopped may be set as the snore suppression angle, and if the loop processing of steps S101 to S103 is not being executed, the processing of step S105 may be omitted.

Figure 6 is an example of correspondence information stored in the storage unit 150 by the processing of step S105 in Figure 5. The correspondence information is information in which users and snore suppression angles are associated with each other, and may be table data as shown in Figure 6. In the example of Figure 6, the snore suppression angle for user A is 2 degrees, and the snore suppression angle for user B is 10 degrees. In this way, it becomes possible to appropriately manage the snore suppression angle according to the user.

In addition, when snoring is detected after the corresponding information is stored, the control unit 120 (angle adjustment unit 121) may control the angle of the bottom 71 using the snore suppression angle associated with the user 81 as the initial value of the search. For example, consider a case where the process of FIG. 5 is executed for user A after the data of FIG. 6 is acquired. In this case, in step S102, the angle adjustment unit 121 instructs the bed 300 to preferentially select the snore suppression angle of 2 degrees compared to other angles. For example, the angle adjustment unit 121 may transmit an instruction to set the angle of the back bottom 70a to 2 degrees, regardless of the current angle of the back bottom 70a. In this way, the angle that has a track record of suppressing snoring in the past is preferentially set, making it possible to efficiently suppress snoring of the user 81.

However, whether the user 81 will snore or not depends on the user's condition. For example, the degree to which the airway is blocked changes depending on the weight of the user 81. Therefore, just because an angle has previously suppressed snoring, it does not necessarily mean that snoring will be suppressed. In this case, the angle adjustment unit 121 may repeat the processing of steps S101 to S103 in FIG. 5 to search for a new snore suppression angle targeting angles other than the existing snore suppression angles. In this way, it becomes possible to determine multiple snore suppression angles for one user 81.

For example, even if information that 2 degrees is required as the snore suppression angle for user A is required, a search for a snore suppression angle other than 2 degrees may be performed. In the example of FIG. 6, 8 degrees is searched for as the new snore suppression angle for user A, so two snore suppression angles, 2 degrees and 8 degrees, are associated with user A. In the example of FIG. 6, two snore suppression angles, 10 degrees and 6 degrees, are associated with user B. In this case, the angle adjustment unit 121 performs the angle change in step S102 so that, for example, in the process of FIG. 5 targeting user A, 2 degrees and 8 degrees are set preferentially over other angles.

Note that, in the above, an example has been described in which the loop process of steps S101 to S103 immediately ends when snoring is no longer detected (Yes in step S101), but the specific process is not limited to this. For example, even if snoring is no longer detected at a given angle, the angle adjustment unit 121 may repeat the process of steps S101 to S103 until the search of the specified angle range is completed. The specified angle range here may be the entire search range or a part of it. In this way, the probability that multiple angles will be found as the snore suppression angle increases, making it possible to suppress snoring more efficiently.

In addition, the snore suppression angle in this embodiment is not limited to being determined during one sleep session, but may be determined statistically based on long-term measurement results. For example, as described later with reference to FIG. 8B, the angle adjustment unit 121 may determine the relationship between each angle and the snoring duration, and determine the angle at which the snoring duration is short as the snore suppression angle. For example, the relationship between the angle and the snoring duration may be measured during a period (e.g., one month) in which a predetermined number of sleeps or more are expected to occur, and the snore suppression angle may be determined based on the statistical results. For example, the angle adjustment unit 121 may determine a statistic (average value, median value, etc.) of the snoring duration for each angle, and determine the angle at which the statistic is small as the snore suppression angle. For example, while data on the target user 81 has not yet been accumulated, the angle adjustment unit 121 may adjust the angle in a relatively wide range and accumulate data indicating the relationship between the angle and the snoring duration. On the other hand, when the accumulation of data on the user 81 has progressed, the angle adjustment unit 121 may execute a search process limited to the vicinity of the snore suppression angle determined by the data.

2.2 Automatic ON/OFF Setting As described above, the first control for raising the back to suppress snoring includes a process for detecting snoring based on snoring information (step S101) and a process for changing the angle of the bottom 71 of the bed 300 (step S102). Although not shown in Fig. 5, a recording process of the output signal from the microphone 140 may be performed to inform the user 81 and related parties (family members, caregivers, etc.) of the specific state of snoring after waking up.

The first control is not prevented from being manually set to on/off. However, in this embodiment, the on/off determination may be performed automatically.

Figure 7 is a flowchart explaining the process of determining whether the first control is on or off. First, in step S201, the on/off determination unit 123 calculates an evaluation value based on the snoring information, or the biological information, or both. The evaluation value here may be the snoring information itself, or may be information calculated from the snoring information. For example, the evaluation value is the duration of snoring within a specified period of time.

That is, the control unit 120 (on/off determination unit 123) may determine whether or not to control the bottom 71 based on the degree of snoring determined based on the snoring information. In this way, it becomes possible to appropriately switch the first control on/off based on whether or not there is a high need to suppress snoring.

The evaluation value may be the biometric information itself, or may be information calculated from the biometric information. For example, the evaluation value may be a respiratory event index. The respiratory event index is information calculated based on the respiratory state, and indicates, for example, the number of occurrences per unit time of an event that is determined to be a cessation of breathing.

That is, the acquisition unit 110 (biometric information acquisition unit 113) acquires biometric information of the user 81 from the detection device 200 placed on the bottom 71 of the bed 300. The control unit 120 (on/off determination unit 123) then determines whether or not to execute control of the bottom 71 based on the biometric information. In this way, it becomes possible to appropriately switch the first control on/off based on the biometric information. For example, since the above-mentioned respiratory event index is information that indicates the degree of apnea, by using the respiratory event index, it becomes possible to appropriately switch the first control on/off based on whether or not sleep is disturbed.

The evaluation value may also be calculated by combining snoring information and biological information, or by combining multiple pieces of biological information.

In step S202, the on/off determination unit 123 determines whether the evaluation value is greater than a predetermined threshold value. Note that the evaluation value here is information indicating that the greater the value, the higher the probability that sleep is disturbed. The on/off determination unit 123 may determine whether the value of the snoring duration is greater than a first threshold value, may determine whether the respiratory event index is greater than a second threshold value, or may perform a determination using another evaluation value and threshold value.

If the evaluation value is greater than the threshold value (Yes in step S202), in step S203, the on/off determination unit 123 sets the first control to on. That is, when it is determined that sleep is disturbed and there is a high probability of snoring, it becomes possible to appropriately suppress snoring. For example, by recording the microphone sound and changing the angle of the back bottom 70a, it is possible to suppress snoring from being overlooked.

On the other hand, if the evaluation value is equal to or less than the threshold value (No in step S202), in step S204, the on/off determination unit 123 sets the first control to off. That is, when it is determined that the situation is highly likely to result in good sleep, recording of microphone voice and changing of the angle of the back bottom 70a can be suppressed. This can prevent the area of the memory unit 150 from being consumed by recording voices other than snoring, and the back bottom 70a from being erroneously activated based on noises other than snoring.

Whether or not snoring sounds occur varies from day to day, and even for the same user, there are days when snoring sounds occur and days when they do not. According to the method of this embodiment, it is possible to appropriately switch the first control on/off based on the specific situation of the user. Therefore, the user 81 does not need to manually control on/off, and convenience can be improved.

2.3 Modified Examples of Snoring Suppression Modified examples of snoring suppression will now be described.

2.3.1 Snoring suppression by factors other than back angle The above describes the first control for raising the back to suppress snoring. This is a method for suppressing snoring by making the user assume a posture with a higher back angle than the horizontal state (0 degrees), thereby securing the airway and suppressing snoring. In other words, this is a method for stabilizing the angle of the back bottom 70a at a value appropriate for the user 81.

However, a method other than the first control may be used to suppress snoring. For example, the control unit 120 may suppress snoring by changing the angle of the back bottom 70a to vibrate the body of the user 81 (provide stimulation to the body) and promote momentary awakening. In an awake state, the user 81's muscles are no longer relaxed, so it is possible to suppress snoring by promoting momentary awakening. Hereinafter, the control that promotes momentary awakening by operating the back bottom 70a will be referred to as the second control.

The second control can be realized by the angle adjustment unit 121. In this case, since the purpose is to provide a stimulus, the specific angle of the back bottom 70a can be set arbitrarily. For example, the angle adjustment unit 121 may perform control to increase the angle of the back bottom 70a by a predetermined angle and then decrease the angle by the predetermined angle. In this case, the angle of the back bottom 70a after the control returns to the original angle, so the posture of the user 81, including the back angle, does not change significantly, but the user 81 is given a sufficient stimulus, so it is possible to encourage awakening. However, the specific control to encourage the user 81 to instantly wake up is not limited to this, and various modifications are possible. In addition, it is not prevented that the change in the back angle (first control) to allow the user to assume a posture that makes it easier to secure the airway also serves as the second control.

The degree of snoring is also related to the posture of the user 81 when sleeping (hereinafter also referred to as the sleeping posture). Therefore, the acquisition unit 110 (biometric information acquisition unit 113) may acquire biometric information including posture information representing the posture of the user 81 when sleeping from the detection device 200 placed on the bottom 71 of the bed 300. The control unit 120 determines the relationship between the user's sleeping posture and snoring based on the posture information and the snoring information. The posture information here is, for example, information that specifies whether the sleeping posture is supine, left lateral, right lateral, or prone. In this way, it is possible to determine a sleeping posture suitable for suppressing snoring for each user 81. Hereinafter, the control for determining a sleeping posture suitable for the user 81 is referred to as the third control.

For example, as the third control, the control unit 120 may perform a process of determining the relationship between sleeping posture and snoring based on posture information and snoring information. FIG. 8A is an example of information determined by the third control. Specifically, in the information shown in FIG. 8A, each of a plurality of sleeping postures is associated with the snoring duration per unit time when the sleeping posture is taken. For example, the snoring duration in FIG. 8A is a value that represents a value per hour (unit: minutes).

In the example of FIG. 8A, the snoring duration per hour in the supine position is 3.8 minutes. The snoring duration per hour in the right lateral position is 2.5 minutes. The snoring duration per hour in the left lateral position is 1.2 minutes. Furthermore, since the target user 81 has no time determined to be in the prone position during the measurement period (or the time is shorter than a predetermined value), the snoring duration is not calculated for the prone position. Therefore, in this case, it can be determined that the recommended sleeping position for the target user 81 is the left lateral position.

The third control may include control to drive the bottom 71, pillow, etc. to achieve the recommended sleeping position. For example, a method is known in which the height of the bottom 71 or pillow in the left-right direction (toward the side of the bed 300) is changed to encourage transition to a lateral position, and this method can be applied in this embodiment.

As described above, factors that can be considered to suppress snoring include lifting the back, back movement (instantaneous awakening), and sleeping posture. Therefore, the control unit 120 may perform a first control of searching for a snore suppression angle based on the snoring information, a second control of rocking the body of the user 81 by driving the bottom 71 based on the snoring information, and a third control of determining a sleeping posture suitable for the user 81 based on the snoring information and posture information. In this way, snoring can be suppressed by taking various factors into consideration.

2.3.2 Presentation Process In this embodiment, various pieces of information acquired by the first to third controls may be presented to the user 81, etc. The presentation here is, for example, a display using the display unit 160 of the terminal device 100, but other methods may be used. In addition, it is not necessary for all of the various presentations described below to be performed, and some may be omitted.

For example, the control unit 120 may present information on the snore suppression angle obtained based on the first control to the user 81, etc. For example, the control unit 120 may obtain information on the angle of the back bottom 70a that corresponds to the snoring duration per unit time at that angle, as shown in FIG. 8B, based on the first control. For example, the information shown in FIG. 8B may be obtained by repeating the process of searching for the snore suppression angle.

In the example shown in FIG. 8B, when the angle of the back bottom 70a is 8 degrees, the snoring duration per unit time is shortest. In this case, the control unit 120 may present that the back angle effective for suppressing snoring for the target user 81, i.e., the snore suppression angle, is 8 degrees. For example, the control unit 120 may display the table shown in FIG. 8B, or may display a screen including text, images, etc., recommending that the back bottom 70a be set to 8 degrees. In this way, by encouraging the user to sleep at the recommended back angle, it is possible to suppress snoring.

The control unit 120 may also present information indicating the sleeping position determined to suppress snoring of the target user 81 based on the third control. For example, the control unit 120 may display the table shown in FIG. 8A, or may display a screen including text, images, etc., recommending the left lateral position. In this way, snoring can be suppressed by encouraging the user to sleep in the recommended sleeping position.

Figure 9 is an example of a screen that displays data acquired from one night's sleep using a graph. For example, the control unit 120 displays the screen shown in Figure 9 on the display unit 160, etc., based on the snoring information, biological information, control history of the back bottom 70a, etc., stored in the memory unit 150.

9, the horizontal axis represents time, and the vertical axis represents the value of each parameter. A1 in FIG. 9 represents the duration of snoring at each timing. A2 represents the respiratory rate at each timing. A3 represents the angle of the back bottom 70a at each timing. A4 represents the heart rate at each timing. A5 represents the execution timing of the action that promotes momentary awakening, with one triangle representing one action. By displaying the information shown in FIG. 9, the sleep state can be presented to the user 81 in an easy-to-understand manner. More specifically, by presenting the information shown in A1, A3, and A5, the snoring state, the adjustment status of the back angle (execution status of the first control), and the timing and frequency of promoting momentary awakening (execution status of the second control) can be presented.

2.3.3 Determination of Effectiveness of Each Element As described above, there are three elements related to snoring suppression: back angle, momentary awakening, and sleeping posture. Therefore, the control unit 120 may use all of these to perform control to suppress snoring, or may use some of these to perform control to suppress snoring. For example, the user 81 may be able to set each of the first to third controls described above to on/off. However, there is a large individual difference in how effective the first to third controls are in suppressing snoring, and it may be difficult for the user 81 to know which control (which function provided by the application software) to turn on.

The control unit 120 may therefore present the degree of association between snoring and each of the back angle, momentary awakening, and sleeping posture. In this way, it becomes possible for the user 81 to recognize the extent to which each of the above-mentioned factors affects the snoring of the target user 81. As a result, the user 81 can properly recognize the factors that are effective in suppressing his or her own snoring, and it becomes possible to easily realize the on/off setting of the first to third controls.

For example, the control unit 120 may present the information shown in FIG. 8B based on the results of the first control. The control unit 120 may also compare the snoring durations included in the table of FIG. 8B with a threshold value, and present snoring durations smaller than the threshold value in an identifiable manner. For example, if all snoring durations are larger than the threshold value, it is considered that adjusting the back angle does not sufficiently suppress the occurrence of snoring. Conversely, if there is an angle at which the snore duration value is smaller than the threshold value, that angle has a high effect of suppressing snoring. In this way, by presenting the information shown in FIG. 8B or similar information, the degree of association between the back angle and snoring, i.e., the effectiveness of the first control, can be appropriately presented.

The control unit 120 may also present the information shown in A1 and A5 in FIG. 9 based on the results of the second control. For example, in the example of FIG. 9, snoring is continuously detected even after the second control (driving the back bottom 70a) is performed, and as a result, the second control is repeatedly performed during one sleep session. In this case, the second control is considered to be not very effective in suppressing snoring of the target user 81. On the other hand, if the duration of snoring decreases after the second control is performed, the second control is considered to be effective in suppressing snoring. In this way, by presenting the information shown in FIG. 9 or similar information, the degree of association between momentary awakening and snoring, i.e., the effectiveness of the second control, can be appropriately presented.

The control unit 120 may also present the information shown in FIG. 8A based on the results of the third control. The control unit 120 may also compare the snoring duration included in the table of FIG. 8A with a threshold value, and present snoring durations shorter than the threshold value in an identifiable manner. As with the example of the first control, a sleeping position in which the snoring duration is shorter than the threshold value is considered to be effective in suppressing snoring. Therefore, by presenting the information shown in FIG. 8A or similar information, the degree of association between sleeping position and snoring, i.e., the effectiveness of the third control, can be appropriately presented.

As described above, the control unit 120 can determine the effectiveness of the first to third controls based on the above-mentioned information. Therefore, the control unit 120 may perform control to present to the user one or more of the first, second, and third controls that are determined to be effective in suppressing snoring. In this way, it is possible to clearly present to the user 81 which of the multiple controls related to suppressing snoring that should be set to on. Note that the control unit 120 is not prevented from automatically switching each control on/off based on the above-mentioned determination results.

2.3.4 User Input The control unit 120 may also perform a display that prompts the user 81 to input information about his/her condition. For example, the control unit 120 may prompt the user to input information by displaying a question such as "Did you drink alcohol before going to bed?" and answer options ("Yes"/"No") to the question. The control unit 120 may also display a question such as "How are you feeling now?" and options such as "Good/Average/Bad." The control unit 120 may also display a question such as "Did you sleep well last night?" and options such as "Yes"/"No." In this way, it becomes possible to obtain information that is difficult to detect from the microphone 140 or the detection device 200, or information that indicates the subjective condition of the user 81.

It is known that drinking alcohol makes snoring more likely due to muscle relaxation, etc. Therefore, if drinking alcohol, it is possible that snoring will not be suppressed even if the snore suppression angle obtained from past results is set. In this case, the occurrence of snoring is caused by drinking alcohol, and it may not be appropriate to determine that the snore suppression angle is ineffective. Therefore, when a user inputs that the user has drunk alcohol, the control unit 120 may perform a process of excluding the corresponding data from the calculation target of the snore suppression angle. For example, even when the angle adjustment unit 121 executes the processes of steps S101 to S104 shown in FIG. 5, the process of step S105 may be omitted. Alternatively, the control unit 120 may exclude data at the time of drinking alcohol from the data used to calculate the information shown in FIG. 8A and FIG. 8B. In this way, the influence of irregular data on the snore suppression angle, etc. can be suppressed.

Similarly, when the user 81 is not feeling well, this is also considered to be an irregular state for the user 81. Therefore, when the user inputs that he or she is not feeling well, the control unit 120 may perform a process such as excluding the corresponding data from the calculation of the snoring suppression angle.

The control unit 120 can also determine the level of sleep based on snoring information, respiratory rate, heart rate, etc. Therefore, when a user inputs a question such as "Did you sleep well last night?", the control unit 120 may perform a process of comparing the sleep determination result based on the information acquired by the acquisition unit 110 with the subjective judgment of the user 81.

Furthermore, the user input in this embodiment is not limited to the items listed above, and various modifications are possible.

3. Sleep Support Other Than Snoring Suppression The above describes the control for suppressing snoring of the target user 81. The control here may be the first control described above, or may include the second control and/or the third control.

However, the controls executed by the control unit 120 of this embodiment are not limited to this. For example, the control unit 120 may execute multiple controls including a first control for searching for a snore suppression angle, a fourth control for supporting the user 81 in falling asleep by adjusting the bottom 71, and a fifth control for supporting the user in waking up by adjusting the bottom 71. The multiple controls may also include a second control and a third control. In this way, it becomes possible to support the sleep of the user 81 in various situations.

For example, it is known that the user 81 is more likely to fall asleep when the back bottom 70a is gently inclined, and that the user is more likely to turn over when the top surface of the bottom 71 is nearly flat. Therefore, as the fourth control described above, the angle adjustment unit 121 may perform control to raise the back before falling asleep to encourage the user to fall asleep, and to lower the back after sleep onset is detected to make it easier to turn over.

The angle adjustment unit 121 may also perform the fifth control by raising the back to promote awakening. For example, the angle adjustment unit 121 may perform the fifth control by determining whether the sleeper is in REM sleep or non-REM sleep based on biological information and increasing the angle of the back bottom 70a at the timing of REM sleep closest to the scheduled wake-up time.

PCT/JP2018/044703 also discloses a control for changing the angle of the back bottom 70a in response to a variation ΔS in a signal SS corresponding to a biological signal. For example, the angle adjustment unit 121 may determine that the user 81 is sleeping deeply when ΔS is decreasing, and may perform control to promote deep sleep by increasing the angle of the back bottom 70a, and to make it easier to turn over in sleep by decreasing the angle of the back bottom 70a when ΔS is increasing. Hereinafter, this control is also referred to as the sixth control. In addition, the control unit 120 of this embodiment may perform various controls disclosed in PCT/JP2018/044703 and the like.

As described above, in this embodiment, by performing the first control to the sixth control, etc., it is possible to support the user 81 in various situations while sleeping. However, these controls are not limited to being executed in their entirety, and the on/off of the automatic driving may be customized according to the user 81.

FIGS. 10A and 10B are examples of operation screens that are displayed, for example, on the display unit 160 of the terminal device 100. For example, when the "Autonomous driving" selection operation in FIG. 4A is performed, screen 42C shown in FIG. 10A is displayed. Screen 42C includes an object for switching autonomous driving on/off, and when an operation is performed to turn on the object, screen 42D in FIG. 10B is displayed.

Screen 42D is a screen for making more specific settings. In this embodiment, multiple modes (courses) are set, and automatic operation may be set to on/off for each mode. The courses here include, for example, a sleep improvement course, a sleep onset improvement course, a wake-up improvement course, an anti-snoring course, a good dream course, a dream erasure/memory reduction course, etc.

The sleep improvement course is a course that improves the overall sleep situation. The sleep onset improvement course is a course that improves the situation related to falling asleep. The wake-up improvement course is a course that improves the situation related to waking up. The snoring prevention course is a course that suppresses the occurrence of snoring. The good dream course is a course that allows the user 81 to have dreams that are pleasant to the user. The dream elimination/memory reduction course is a course that causes the user to forget that they had a dream and reduces their memory and impressions. Since it is known that many dreams are bad dreams, and that dreaming is one factor that makes one feel that one is sleeping shallowly and reduces the subjective feeling of sleep, using the dream elimination/memory reduction course is effective as support for the user 81 regarding their sleep. In this way, by enabling the user to input on a course-by-course basis, the user 81 can easily input their own requests.

For example, the storage unit 150 may store second correspondence information in which one or more of a plurality of controls (a plurality of functions) are associated with each of a plurality of modes (courses). The control unit 120 may then determine whether or not to execute each of the plurality of controls based on a user input selecting one of the plurality of modes and the second correspondence information.

Figure 11 is a diagram showing an example of the second correspondence information that indicates the correspondence between courses and controls. The controls here correspond to the first to sixth controls described above. As shown in Figure 11, the sleep improvement course is associated with all six controls. Therefore, when the automatic operation of the sleep improvement course is set to on, the corresponding six controls are automatically executed.

Similarly, the sleep onset improvement course is associated with the fourth control, which raises and lowers the back when falling asleep. The wake-up improvement course is associated with the fifth control, which raises the back when waking up. The snoring prevention course is associated with the first control, which raises the back using a snore suppression angle, the second control, which encourages instantaneous awakening, and the third control, which recommends the optimal sleeping position. The good dream course is associated with the sixth control, which raises and lowers the back according to ΔS. The dream elimination/memory reduction course is associated with the sixth control. However, FIG. 11 is an example of the association between the courses and the controls, and various modifications can be made to the specific courses and controls, and the association between them.

As shown in FIG. 11, the good dream course and the dream erasure/memory reduction course are each associated with the same sixth control, but the timing for changing the angle of the back bottom 70a may differ depending on the course. For example, since whether or not one remembers the content of a dream depends on whether or not one wakes up after having a dream, it is known that if one continues to sleep after having a dream, the memory of the dream is erased, and one only remembers the dream just before waking up. Therefore, in the good dream course, for example, in order to avoid midway awakening due to nightmares, the angle of the back bottom 70a is changed during REM sleep (a period when dreams are often remembered) that is not the scheduled time to wake up, so that the memory of the dream becomes milder, and as a result, it is possible to make it easier to interpret the dream as a good dream. On the other hand, in the dream erasure/memory reduction course, for example, when REM sleep has continued for a predetermined time or more since the timing of switching from REM sleep to non-REM sleep and the time difference from the scheduled time to wake up is equal to or less than a threshold, the fifth control may be performed to increase the angle of the back bottom 70a. In this way, it is possible to encourage waking up in a state in which the memory of the dream has been erased or reduced. As a result, it is possible to forget the dream and weaken memories and impressions.

In this way, it becomes possible to appropriately set automatic operation of the necessary controls to on in response to the desires of the user 81. This reduces the operational burden on the user 81 compared to when each function is set individually. Also, while six controls, the first through sixth controls, are given here as examples, there is a possibility that the number of executable controls will increase if functions are added to the control system 10, for example. Even in such cases, it is possible to easily realize settings that meet the desires of the user 81 by allowing the user to select a course that is easy to understand intuitively.

Although the present embodiment has been described in detail above, it will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art that many modifications are possible that do not substantially deviate from the novelties and effects of the present embodiment. Therefore, all such modifications are intended to be included within the scope of the present disclosure. For example, a term described at least once in the specification or drawings together with a different term having a broader or similar meaning may be replaced with that different term anywhere in the specification or drawings. All combinations of the present embodiment and modifications are also included within the scope of the present disclosure. Furthermore, the configurations and operations of the terminal device, detection device, bed, etc. are not limited to those described in the present embodiment, and various modifications are possible.

10...control system, 42A, 42B, 42C, 42D...screen, 42B1, 42B2...area, 70...moving part, 70B...bed part, 70a...back bottom, 70b...knee bottom, 70c...leg bottom, 70d...head bottom, 70g...caster, 70h...height change part, 71...bottom, 73a...lighting part, 73b...temperature control part, 74...bed leg part, 75...frame, 76...mattress, 81...user, 100...terminal device, 110...acquisition part, 111...snoring information acquisition part, 113...biometric information acquisition part, 120...control part, 121...angle adjustment part, 123...on/off determination part, 130...processing part, 140...microphone, 150...storage part, 160...display part, 170...communication part, 200...detection device, 300...bed, 310...control part

Claims (11)

An acquisition unit that acquires snoring information related to a user's snoring;
a control unit that controls a bottom of a bed used by the user to sleep based on the snoring information;
Including,
The control unit is
If the snoring is continuously detected based on the snoring information even after the angle of the bottom is changed, control is performed to change the angle of the bottom again.
In the control of the bottom, a control is performed to switch a direction of the change in the angle based on the angle of the bottom;
The control unit is
When the snore is detected based on the snore information, a control is performed to search for a snore suppression angle, which is the angle determined to suppress the snore, based on the angle of the bottom and the snore information;
The acquisition unit is
Acquire biological information including posture information representing the user's posture while sleeping from a detection device placed on the bottom of the bed;
The control unit is
The terminal device determines a relationship between the posture and the snoring of the user based on the posture information and the snoring information . In claim 1 ,
a storage unit that stores correspondence information that associates the user with the snoring suppression angle,
The control unit is
When the snoring is detected after the correspondence information is stored, the terminal device controls the angle of the bottom using the snore suppression angle associated with the user as an initial value for a search. In claim 1 ,
The control unit is
A terminal device that performs control to present at least one of information regarding the snoring suppression angle and information regarding the sleeping posture that is determined to suppress snoring. In claim 1 or 2 ,
The control unit is
A terminal device that performs a first control of searching for the snore suppression angle based on the snoring information, a second control of rocking the user's body by driving the bottom based on the snoring information, and a third control of determining the posture suitable for the user based on the snoring information and the posture information. In claim 4 ,
The control unit is
A terminal device that presents one or more of the first control, the second control, and the third control that are determined to be effective in suppressing the user's snoring. In any one of claims 1 to 3 ,
The control unit is
A terminal device that executes multiple controls including a first control that searches for the snore suppression angle based on the snoring information, a fourth control that supports the user in falling asleep by adjusting the bottom, and a fifth control that supports the user in waking up by adjusting the bottom. In claim 6 ,
a storage unit that stores second correspondence information, the second correspondence information being information in which one or more of the plurality of controls are associated with each of a plurality of modes;
The control unit is
a terminal device that determines whether or not to execute each of the plurality of controls based on a user input that selects one of the plurality of modes and the second correspondence information; In any one of claims 1 to 7 ,
The control unit is
A terminal device that determines whether or not to control the bottom when snoring is detected, based on the degree of snoring determined based on the snoring information. In any one of claims 1 to 8 ,
The control unit is
A terminal device that determines whether or not to control the bottom when the snoring is detected based on the biological information. An acquisition unit that acquires snoring information related to a user's snoring;
A control unit that controls a bottom of a bed used by the user to sleep based on the snoring information,
Make your computer work
The control unit is
If the snoring is continuously detected based on the snoring information even after the angle of the bottom is changed, control is performed to change the angle of the bottom again.
In the control of the bottom, a control is performed to switch a direction of the change in the angle based on the angle of the bottom;
When the snore is detected based on the snore information, a control is performed to search for a snore suppression angle, which is the angle determined to suppress the snore, based on the angle of the bottom and the snore information;
A program that determines the relationship between the user's posture and snoring based on posture information representing the user's posture while sleeping contained in biometric information obtained from a detection device placed on the bottom of the bed and the snoring information . obtaining snoring information relating to a user's snoring;
controlling a bottom of a bed used by the user to sleep;
Including,
If the snoring is continuously detected based on the snoring information even after the angle of the bottom is changed, control is performed to change the angle of the bottom again.
In the control of the bottom, a control is performed to switch a direction of the change in the angle based on the angle of the bottom;
When the snore is detected based on the snore information, a control is performed to search for a snore suppression angle, which is the angle determined to suppress the snore, based on the angle of the bottom and the snore information;
A control method for determining the relationship between the user's posture and snoring based on posture information representing the user's posture while sleeping contained in biometric information obtained from a detection device placed on the bottom of the bed and the snoring information .

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