Automatic sleep monitoring system for home healthcare

In this paper, we present an automatic and real-time sleep monitoring system for home healthcare. The basic system consists of sensor boards, bedside boxes and a group of servers with various functions for analyzing sleep data and reporting sleep qualities of users. The sensor board is installed beneath a pillow to measure pressure change signal during sleep. The bedside box digitizes and transmits the signal to the servers. The system is different from conventional sleep monitoring devices used in a hospital, whose sensor is non-intrusive and easy-to-use that any person can use it at home. Furthermore, it provides a web-based interactive platform for users to analyze, manage and visualize their sleep data. These functions are evaluated by dozens of persons at different age groups over three months, and they are confirmed useful not only for a doctor who is responsible for checking his/her patient's daily sleep pattern, but also useful for self-care. It is of great application potential in home healthcare.