US 2,011,015,495 · Filed 2010-07-16
Sharp's Sleep-Tracking System That Monitors Your Brain While You Rest
Imagine a system that watches how well you sleep at night—measuring things like movement and breathing—then tests your memory and reaction speed the next day to figure out if you actually got good rest. Sharp's patent covers a setup that connects your bed sensors to your phone to build a complete picture of your sleep quality.
The plain-English version
What it protects
The claim covers a method that monitors objective sleep parameters while a user is in bed (like movement, heart rate, or breathing patterns) and then collects feedback data on cognitive and psychomotor performance via a portable device like a mobile phone during waking hours. What's protected here is the specific combination of real-time sleep measurement linked to next-day performance testing to assess and manage overall sleep quality.
Why it matters
This patent represents an early approach to quantified sleep—connecting hardware sensors in or around a bed with software that evaluates whether sleep actually restored cognitive function. At a time when consumer sleep tech was mostly basic alarm clocks, Sharp was building a closed-loop system to diagnose sleep problems and track improvement over time. The integration of bed-based monitoring with smartphone feedback creates a marketable health platform.
Real-world use
A user would go to bed with sensors active, and the next morning check their phone to see a report showing last night's sleep patterns alongside a quick mental alertness quiz to confirm whether they woke up sharp or foggy.
Original USPTO abstract
A sleep management method and system for improving the quality of sleep of a user which monitors one or more objective parameters relevant to sleep quality of the user when in bed and receives from the user in waking hours via a portable device such as a mobile phone feedback from objective test data on cognitive and/or psychomotor performance.
Patent details
- Publication number
- US 2,011,015,495
- Filing date
- 2010-07-16
- Grant date
- Application — not yet granted
- Assignee
- Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha
- Inventor(s)
- DOTHIE PAMELA ANN, FORD THOMAS ALEXANDER
- CPC class
- A61B5/11
Want to file your own patent?
If you're designing bedroom technology or a health app that syncs with home devices, search IsItPatented to see what sleep-monitoring and bed-adjacent patents already exist in your space.
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