MoviBed - sleep analysis using capacitive sensors

Sleep disorders are a wide-spread phenomenon that can gravely affect personal health and well-being. An individual sleep analysis is a first step in identifying unusual sleeping patterns and providing suitable means for further therapy and preventing escalation of symptoms. Typically such an analysis is an intrusive method and requires the user to stay in a sleep laboratory. In this work we present a method for detecting sleep patterns based on invisibly installed capacitive proximity sensors integrated into the bed frame. These sensors work with weak electric fields and do not disturb sleep. Using the movements of the sleeping person we are able to provide a continuous analysis of different sleep phases. The method was tested in a prototypical setup over multiple nights.