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Systems and methods for sleep management

1. 0024 As indicated above the sleep management applica tion 115 enables configuration of various sleep management settings and functions such as clock settings alarm settings and functions radio settings audio settings network settings user profile settings and various other configuration param eters and settings and storage of configuration settings for various peripheral devices 105 and computing devices 120 130 To that end the sleep management application 115 main tains a user account database that contains one or more accounts for various users of the application 115 that contain information pertaining to the user the computing device 120 130 the sleep management application 115 and or the peripheral device 105 FIG 3A illustrates one example embodiment of a user account database 300 containing user accounts 310 Each account 310 may include user identifying information 320 including a user s name as well as applica tion login name and password The account 310 may also include user preferences 330 including e mail address per sonal web site social network information such as login name and password user preferences with respect to alerts and advertisements as well as a user s buddy list The user account 310 may also include user activity information 340 including current location current activity such as sleeping awake listening to radio etc and planned activity such as waking up at 7 30 AM etc for exam
2. 0043 FIG 13 depicts an exemplary system 20 on which the sleep management application 115 may be executed In one aspect the system 20 may represent a personal computer 130 or the like In another aspect the system 20 may represent a consumer electronic device 120 or the like In either aspect the system 20 may include some of the components depicted in FIG 12 For example the system 20 may include a pro cessing unit 21 a system memory 22 and asystem bus 23 that couples various system components including the system memory 22 to the processing unit 21 The system bus 23 may be any of several types of bus structures including a memory bus or memory controller a peripheral bus and a local bus using any of a variety of bus architectures The system memory includes a read only memory ROM 24 and random access memory RAM 25 A basic input output system 26 BIOS containing the basic routines that help to transfer information between the elements within the computer sys tem 20 such as during start up is stored in ROM 24 0044 The system 20 may further include a hard disk drive 27 for reading from and writing to a hard disk not shown a magnetic disk drive 28 forreading from or writing to a remov able magnetic disk 29 andan optical disk drive 30 for reading from or writing to a removable optical disk 31 such asa CD ROM DVD ROM or other optical media The hard disk drive 27 magnetic disk drive 28 and optical disk drive 30 are con
3. or an audio CD The user typically has the ability to manually preselect which type of sound is played and sometimes has the option of first playing one type of sound then playing another type of sound after a predetermined time period The user can also preselect the radio station or CD that is to be played In the case of a radio station the user may preselect a radio station that plays a certain type of audio content such as a light jazz radio station or the like However the recent proliferation of consumer electronic and computing devices having various software applications and extensive interop erability has significantly expanded user s sleep management options For example a consumer electronic device may be configured to function as an alarm clock The device may also be connected to the traditional alarm clock and be used by the user to configure alarm settings and to select audio content to be reproduced on the alarm clock 0004 In addition various consumer electronic and com puting devices have frequent ifnot constant network connec tivity These devices are capable of receiving a vast amount of information from remote data servers through the Internet For example it is common for users of capable devices to receive traffic and or weather updates for a specific location In many instances various elements within this received information result in additional considerations for a user For instance if a weather forecas
4. tings in response to control signals generated based upon received external data 0052 In the interest of clarity not all of the routine fea tures of the implementations described herein are shown and described It will be appreciated that in the development of any such actual implementation numerous implementation specific decisions must be made in order to achieve the devel oper s specific goals such as compliance with application related constraints and that these specific goals will vary from one implementation to another and from one developer to another Moreover it will be appreciated that such a devel opment effort might be complex and time consuming but would nevertheless be a routine undertaking of engineering for those of ordinary skill in the art having the benefit of this disclosure 0053 Furthermore it is to be understood that the phrase ology or terminology used herein is for the purpose of description and not of limitation such that the terminology or phraseology of the present specification is to be interpreted by the skilled in the art in light of the teachings and guidance presented herein in combination with the knowledge of the skilled in the relevant art s Moreover it is not intended for any term in the specification or claims to be ascribed an uncommon or special meaning unless explicitly set forth as such The various embodiments disclosed herein encompass present and future known equivalents to th
5. 310 and at step 1140 search on the Internet for information about local businesses and services At step 1140 the sleep management application 115 presents information about local businesses and services to the user as well as advertisement and promo tional data At step 1150 the user may place orders for local businesses and services thorough the application 115 0035 The sleep management application 115 also includes software modules that enable the application to adjust or modify one or more settings and or configurations associated with the computing device 120 130 the peripheral device 105 and or the sleep management application as illustrated in FIG 12 In one exemplary arrangement 1200 at step 1202 the sleep management application 115 initiates and establishes a communications link with one or more server s 140 170 190 Preferably the server s 140 170 190 main tain data pertaining to the computing device 120 130 a peripheral device 105 and or the user user account At step 1204 the sleep management application then receives exter nal data that is data that is presently external to the sleep management application 115 and or the computing device 120 130 from the server s 140 170 190 In doing so the sleep management application 115 and or the computing Jul 7 2011 device 120 130 can transmit a specific query such as a query regarding current traffic conditions in a specific area and or a standing quer
6. be described in greater detail below In one example a user may create sleep profiles for different days of the week thus for example a weekday may have one sleep profile and a weekend may have a different sleep profile In addition the user may create different sleep profiles for dif ferent locations thus for example the user may have one sleep profile at home and a different sleep profile when trav eling on business Moreover sleep profiles 360 may differ based on the functionality of the computing devices 120 130 and or the peripheral device 105 with which the sleep man agement application 115 is operating For example if device 105 has a radio tuner a sleep profile may indicate radio stations to which the device 105 must tune to If the device 105 does not have a radio tuner the sleep profile would indicate another audio source such as a CD track MP3 file or a network address to be used by the device 105 By way of further example if device 105 has video display means such as an LCD screen a sleep profile can indicate i e identify images or videos to be displayed by the device The sleep profiles 360 can be easily created and stored by the user on the application 115 When the consumer electronic device 120 or personal computer 130 on which the application 115 runs is connected to the peripheral device 105 the user may launch the sleep management application 115 and select a sleep profile 360 to be executed by the applic
7. initiate a communica tions link with a remote server the remote server having external data pertaining to a computing device or to a user US 2011 0163859 Al The software modules in cooperation with the processor further cause the sleep management system to receive the external data from the remote server and analyze the external data to identify elements that pertain to the sleep management application Then the software modules cause the sleep man agement system to generate a control signal based on the identified elements and modify a setting governing an opera tion of an alarm function in accordance with the control signal BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 0012 FIG 1 illustrates a schematic block diagram of a sleep management system in accordance with one example embodiment 0013 FIG 2 illustrates a schematic block diagram of a peripheral device such as an alarm clock in accordance with one example embodiment 0014 FIGS 3 4 illustrate schematic block diagrams of databases maintained by the sleep management system in accordance with one example embodiment 0015 FIGS 5 12 illustrate flow diagrams of the methods of operation of the sleep management system in accordance with one example embodiment and 0016 FIG 13 illustrates a schematic block diagram of a computer system in accordance with one example embodi ment DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF CERTAIN EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION 0017 Example embodiments a
8. the user with the underlying information that is used by the sleep manage ment application 115 to derive the control signal for example the pertinent traffic weather data and enable the user to either approve or deny the implementation of the control signal Alternatively the user can edit the parameters of the control signal for example the user can modify the control signal to have the alarm sound 15 minutes earlier as opposed to the originally proposed 25 minutes or within a limit such as no more than 15 minutes earlier than any previ ously set time The user can further select which settings functions and or operations can be modified by generated control signals without user prompting and which settings functions and or operations require user acceptance prior to implementation 0040 It should be further noted that while the foregoing examples have illustrated the operation of the sleep manage ment application 115 with respect to modifying an alarm function the sleep management application 115 can modify nearly any function setting and or operation pertaining to the computing device 120 130 the peripheral device 105 and or the sleep management application 115 By way of example as described in detail above using any of a variety of means the sleep management application 115 can detect the location of the computing device 120 130 Utilizing this information together with received external information as described abo
9. 0Hd l NOILVONddvV SATNCON 6 VIVO NYHO0Yd NYHOOYd HIHLO s sayndwiog QJOLUSY SOCI SALI SIA pieH soeHaju HOd enag oel lul eAuq Ieondo o eji lul sala 3Sla oyoubelN SOeLO U IOMION sng uu ls s Mez yun Bulssso0ld g4 19 dopy OSPIA Jeydepy JSOH 8r LE A SE Mv ZE BE sasad SNYYDOYd S ANILSAS NOILVONddy ONILVU3dO BE VIVO NVYOOYd ge SFINCON NVHOOYd YIHLO TE SINVUDOYd NOLLVOMddY WALSAS aus GE WALSAS ONILVHIdO US 2011 0163859 Al SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR SLEEP MANAGEMENT CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 0001 The present application claims the benefit of U S patent application Ser No 61 292 103 filed Jan 4 2010 which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION 0002 This disclosure relates generally to the field of con sumer electronic devices and in particular to systems and methods in support of enhanced consumer electronic devices for sleep management BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 0003 Alarm clocks have traditionally been used as a pri mary means for sleep management These devices usually provide limited alarm settings options including what sounds are played when the alarm is triggered In traditional alarm clocks sound options are usually limited to an alarm a radio
10. 130 At step 520 the user may install the sleep management application 115 on the consumer electronic device 120 or the personal computer 130 At step 530 the sleep management application creates one or more user accounts 310 for appli cation users At this point the user may provide user identi fying information and select a login name and password At step 540 the application 115 collects updates user prefer ences personal data and user activity information and stores this information in a user account 310 At step 550 the appli cation may collect update information about the consumer electronic device 120 or the personal computer 130 on which it is executed such as device model identifier and the like and store this information in the user account 310 This informa tion may be used to search for device or computer specific application updates and or other device or computer specific functions At step 560 the user may create various sleep profiles 360 using predefined sleep profile templates The templates may include predefined data entry fields for entry of the necessary information Notably the templates may be device specific For example the application may use the model number identifier of the peripheral device 105 and or the computing devices 120 130 to determine functionality of the device such as a radio tuner CD player etc and provide sleep profile templates that reflect features of the peripheral device 105 and o
11. US 20110163859A1 19 United States a2 Patent Application Publication o Pub No US 2011 0163859 A1 Chraime et al 43 Pub Date Jul 7 2011 54 75 73 21 22 60 SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR SLEEP MANAGEMENT Inventors Sean Chraime Brooklyn NY US Micah Collins Brooklyn NY US Andrew Skurdal Jersey City NJ US Ezra Ashkenazi Rahway NJ US Assignee SDI Technologies Inc Rahway NJ US Appl No 12 984 398 Filed Jan 4 2011 Related U S Application Data Provisional application No 61 292 103 filed on Jan 4 2010 120 Computing Device Consumer Electronic Device Sleep Management icati I ae EREL T 180 Hotel Database Peripheral Device User Account Database Publication Classification 51 Int CI G08B 1 00 2006 01 52 US retata 340 309 16 57 ABSTRACT A sleep management application on a computing device hav ing a processor and a storage medium executes code that establishes to a server that maintains data pertaining to the computing device or to a user retrieves data from the remote server and generates a custom interface to configure a feature of the computing device The custom interface is used to program a sleep management setting In one implementation a method uses the sleep management application to provide an alarm function using external data from a remote server The sleep management applicati
12. abular form At step 860 the user may request additional activity information to be retrieved and presented For example user activity infor mation for a shorter or longer period of time may be requested by the user As another example certain information that has been gathered from other users e g buddies of the user on a given social network can be presented to the user In this regard the sleep management application 115 can retrieve information concerning the song radio station or other pro gram that a buddy has selected as a wake up alarm and cause that selection to be used at the computing device 120 130 or peripheral device 105 At step 870 the user may instruct the sleep management application 115 to send a portion of the user activity information to a particular email address or be posted on the user s social network web page such as a Facebook or the like 0032 FIG 9 illustrates an example methodology 900 for operation of the remote server 140 of the sleep management system 100 At step 910 the sleep management application 115 may request the remote server 140 to create a user account 310 in the database 160 for each new user of the system 100 At step 920 the remote server 140 receives and updates information about various peripheral devices 105 and stores this information in the database 150 At step 930 the remote server 140 receives 115 user preferences information from the sleep management application and
13. al data to identify ele ments that pertain to the sleep management application Then the sleep management application generates a control signal based on the identified elements and modifies a setting governing an operation of the alarm function of the comput ing device in accordance with the control signal 0010 According to yet another aspect a computer imple mented method for enhancing a sleep management applica tion operating on a computing device is provided The com puting device has a processor and a storage medium and the sleep management application has one or more software modules stored on the storage medium and executed upon the processor to cooperate therewith and implement enhanced sleep management functionality The sleep management application collects data that is perceptible to or usable by the computing device and analyzes the data to identify ele ments that pertain to the sleep management application The sleep management application then generates a control signal based on the identified elements and modifies the operation of the sleep management application in accordance with the control signal 0011 According to yet another aspect a sleep manage ment system is provided including a processor a storage medium accessible by the processor and one or more soft ware modules encoded on the storage medium which execute in the processor and which when executed by the processor cause the sleep management system to
14. an LCD display for displaying time date and other infor mation anda control panel 230 which may include a plurality of programmable buttons for controlling operation of the audio reproduction device 200 In one example the display 225 may be a touchscreen display and the control panel 230 may at least in part include a graphical user interface GUI The device 200 may also include one or more radio tuners 235 such as AM FM or satellite radio tuners The device 200 may also include a plurality of digital analog data connectors such as infrared IR receiver 240 for receiving commands Jul 7 2011 from a remote control 280 a docking connector 245 for docking the consumer electronic device 120 in either a wired or wireless manner an analog I O connector 250 for con necting to the external speakers or a microphone a digital I O connector 255 such as a USB connector for connecting to the personal computer 130 and or the consumer electronic device 120 and a network connector 260 such as wired or wireless local area network LAN card or a Bluetooth card The device 200 may also include a remote control 280 which may communicate using RF or IR signals to control various func tions of the device 200 and or functions of the sleep manage ment application 115 residing on the consumer electronic device 120 and or the personal computer 130 The device 200 may also include a CD player not shown or other internal audio source devices
15. application 115 may be written and distributed by the manufacturer of the peripheral device 105 such as the manufacturer of an alarm clock radio In another example the manufacturer of the audio reproduction device 105 may pro vide Application Programming Interfaces APIs to the peripheral devices 105 so that third party software developers can create their own sleep management applications 115 using the provided APIs The application 115 may be executed by the operating system OS or the Internet browser of the consumer electronic device 120 and or personal com puter 130 The sleep management application 115 may be written using C C Perl Java Visual Basic XML HTML and other known programming languages 0020 The system 100 may further include various local and remote servers 140 170 190 that operate in conjunction with the sleep management application 115 to provide vari ous information and services to the sleep management appli cation 115 consumer electronic device 120 personal com puter 130 peripheral device 105 and or application users In one example embodiment the system 100 may include a remote server 140 hosted by the manufacturer of the periph eral device 105 or a third party In one embodiment server 140 may maintain and provide to the sleep management application 115 information about various peripheral devices 105 which may be stored in a database 150 and serve as a backup for the user account information wh
16. ation Alternatively the application 115 may automatically select and execute a profile that suits user preferences In like manner by way of example the sleep profiles can indicate how the computing devices 120 130 are to respond in the absence ofa connection with a peripheral device 105 0026 FIG 3B illustrates one example embodiment of a user sleep profile 360 for a specific sleep management sce nario The profile 360 may include wake up options 365 including but not limited to the alarm time alarm duration alarm sound such as volume the source of sound such as a preset radio station a CD track or a MP3 file from the user s personal data 350 and snooze options such as enable disable snooze button on the audio reproduction device 105 The wake up options 365 may also include a list of actions to be taken by the sleep management application 115 when the alarm is activated For example the actions may include updating the user s Facebook page and sending an instant message to the user s buddy list indicating that the user is awake and listening to a certain radio station The sleep pro file 360 may also include bedtime options 375 including the time when user is going to bed the sound to be activated when the user is going to bed the sound source and duration as well as the list of actions to be taken when the user is going to bed The sleep profile 360 may also include various miscellaneous options 385 including various mis
17. cellaneous alarm settings and action listings 0027 Inone example embodiment the user account data base 300 or a back up thereof may be stored on the remote server 140 in a database 160 In addition the remote server 140 may include a database of peripheral devices 105 and or computing devices 120 130 FIG 4 illustrates one example embodiment of the peripheral device database 400 The data base 400 includes records 410 for each manufactured periph eral device 105 and or computing device 120 130 A record 410 includes device model identifier 420 device configura tion data 430 device user manual 450 in electronic format device software update information 460 and various APIs 470 that allow sleep management applications 115 to com municate with the peripheral devices 105 and or the comput Jul 7 2011 ing devices 120 130 The sleep management application 115 may request device specific information from the database 400 in order to communicate with various peripheral devices 105 and or computing devices 120 130 In one example embodiment a part of the information of the database 400 may be maintained by the sleep management application 115 0028 FIG 5 illustrates an example methodology 500 for activation of a sleep management application 115 on a con sumer electronic device 120 or a personal computer 130 At step 510 a user may download the application 115 onto the consumer electronic device 120 or the personal computer
18. e known compo nents referred to herein by way of illustration Moreover while embodiments and applications have been shown and described it would be apparent to those skilled in the art having the benefit of this disclosure that many more modifi cations than mentioned above are possible without departing from the inventive concepts disclosed herein US 2011 0163859 Al What is claimed is 1 A sleep management system comprising a computing device having a processor and a storage medium accessible by the processor a communication link to a remote server having external data pertaining to the computing device or to a user of the computing device one or more software modules encoded on the storage medium i which execute a sleep management applica tion in the processor of the computing device and an output device responsive to the execution of the sleep management application wherein the sleep management application when executed by the processor causes the sleep management system to initiate communications over the communication link between the sleep management application and the remote server receive the external data from the remote server analyze the external data to identify elements that per tain to the sleep management application generate a control signal based on the identified ele ments modify a setting governing an operation of an alarm function in accordance with the control signal and activate the outp
19. ement Application Configures Peripheral Device using Custom 680 User Interface and Sleep Profile s FIG 6 Patent Application Publication Jul 7 2011 Sheet 8 of 14 US 2011 0163859 A1 Co Sleep Management Application Connects 710 to and Authenticates Peripheral Device Sleep Management Application Collects 720 User Location Information Based on the Authentication Information Sleep Management Application Sends 730 User Location Information to Remote Server s Based on User Preferences Sleep Management Application Collects User 740 Activity Information Based on Configuration of the Peripheral Device Sleep Management Application Sends 750 User Activity Information to Remote Server s based on User Preferences Application Detects Activation of Control 760 Button s on the Peripheral Device Sleep Management Application Sends User Activity Updates Message to Remote Server s based on User Preferences 770 FIG 7 Patent Application Publication Jul 7 2011 Sheet 9 of 14 US 2011 0163859 A1 800 810 Sleep Management Application Connects to the Remote Server Sleep Management Application 820 Retrieves User Activity Information 830 Sleep Management Application Analyses User Activity Information Sleep Management Application 840 Presents Activity Information in a Graphical or Statistical Form Sleep Management Application in Response 850 to the User Command Reorganizes the User Activity Info
20. ents of the external data that pertain to the com puting device 120 130 the sleep management application 115 and or to the user user account By way of example the sleep management application 115 can further analyze received local traffic weather information to determine whether traffic and or weather conditions may affect a user s commute or trip Such determinations are made in regard to the received local traffic weather information and optionally in regard to stored data concerning the travel patterns of the user say on a weekday morning 0037 Atstep 1208 the sleep management application 115 then generates a control signal based upon the pertinent data elements The control signal is preferably a set of one or more instructions and or parameters that direct the operation of the computing device 120 130 the peripheral device 105 and or the sleep management application 115 By way of example based upon an identified data element that indicates that traf fic and or weather problems are occurring or are projected to occur that will add 25 minutes to a user s daily commute a control signal can be generated that modifies the alarm set tings of the sleep management application 115 to sound an alarm 25 minutes earlier than it was originally set for As such the data received from a remote server can dynamically trans form or otherwise alter the user s or the device s settings regardless of whether the user is sleeping or not
21. evice authentication information For example the application 115 may compare the current device model iden tifier with the home device model identifier stored in the user account 310 If these identifiers are different the appli cation 115 may request that remote server 140 which has information about all manufactured peripheral devices deter mine where the current peripheral device is located In an alternate arrangement wherein the sleep management appli cation 115 executes on a computing device 120 130 without connecting to a peripheral device 105 user location is deter mined using other location determining methods By way of example the sleep management application 115 may approximate the location of the computing device 120 130 by requesting the location information associated with the com puting device s 120 130 assigned IP address By way of further example ifthe computing device 120 130 is equipped with a GPS receiver the sleep management application 115 may utilize the receiver to determine the device s location By way of yet further example if the computing device 120 130 is equipped with the capacity for cellular communication the sleep management application 115 may utilize triangulation or other such location determining techniques in order to determine the device s 120 130 location All of the foregoing can be accomplished in one embodiment of the invention by execution of code or a portion of code
22. ich may be stored in a database 160 In another example embodiment the peripheral device 105 may be located in a hotel in which case the system 100 may include a local hotel server 170 and hotel database 180 The sleep management application 115 may communicate with the hotel server 170 via network 110 to provide and or receive information about various hotel services In yet another example embodiment the system 100 may include various social networking and or messaging servers 190 The sleep management application 115 may provide and or receive status update notifications about activities of the application user or other users to from the social networking servers 190 such as Twitter or Face book or send email or instant messages with the user activ ity information using messaging servers 190 Operation of these and other servers will be described in greater detail herein below 0021 In an alternate arrangement sleep management application 115 can be configured to receive information from one or more servers 140 170 190 and to further utilize the received information to enhance and or modify the opera tion of the sleep management application 114 including an US 2011 0163859 Al alarm function By way of example sleep management appli cation 115 can utilize the computing device s 120 130 exist ing Internet connection to initiate a connection between the sleep management application 115 and one or more local or remote se
23. ment application 115 may then connect to the local hotel server 170 through the peripheral device 105 At step 1030 the sleep management application 115 may retrieve information about services provided by the hotel from the local hotel server 170 At step 1040 the application 115 receives user requests for specific hotel services such as ordering in room meals or other hotel services and at step 1050 forwards these requests to the hotel server 170 At step 1060 the application 115 may receive service request confir mation messages from the hotel server 170 and at step 1070 present such confirmations in form of audio visual alerts 0034 FIG 11 illustrates an example methodology 1100 for collecting and utilizing user location information by the sleep management application 115 At step 1110 the appli cation 115 connects to and authenticates the peripheral device 105 At step 1120 the application 115 determines user loca tion based on the device authentication information For example the application 115 may compare the current device model identifier with the home device model identifier stored in the user account 310 If these identifiers are differ ent the application 115 may request that remote server 140 which has information about all manufactured peripheral devices determine where the current peripheral device is located At step 1130 the sleep management application 115 may check user preferences in the user account
24. n took place at 9 PM the message may indicate that the user stopped listening to the broadcast of the football game and instead is listening to music on New York dance music station 103 5 KTU for example 0031 FIG 8 illustrates an example methodology 800 for displaying user activity information by the sleep management application 115 At step 810 the application 115 connects to the remote server 140 and at step 820 retrieves user activity information that was collected by the application for a period of time At step 830 the sleep management application 115 analyzes the user activity data using various statistical and or probabilistic models known in the art At step 840 the sleep management application 115 may present user activity infor mation in a graphical or statistical form For example the application 115 may generate a graph of the user s average sleep time per day for the past month versus a recommended amount of sleep or versus the amount of sleep of users of similar demographics or similar locale In another example the application may show what radio stations the user had listen to most during the course ofa year compare popularity rating of these radio stations and suggest other similar radio stations At step 850 the sleep management application 115 may reorganize the user activity information in different for mat or other criteria For example the information may be presented in a form of a pie or bar chart or in t
25. nected to the system bus 23 by a hard disk drive interface 32 a magnetic disk drive interface 33 and an optical drive interface 34 respectively The drives and their associated computer readable media provide non volatile storage of computer readable instructions data structures program modules subroutines where each of the steps described above can be a separate module or several steps can be aggregated into a single module and other data for the system 20 Although the exemplary environment described herein employs a hard disk a removable magnetic disk 29 and a removable optical disk 31 it should be appreciated by those skilled in the art that other types of computer readable media that can store data accessible by a computer such as flash memory cards digital video disks RAMs ROMs EPROMs and the like may also be used in the exemplary operating environment 0045 A number of program modules may be stored on the hard disk magnetic disk 29 optical disk 31 ROM 24 or RAM 25 including an operating system 35 The system 20 includes a file system 36 associated with or included within the oper ating system 35 one or more application programs 37 including the sleep management application 115 other pro gram modules 38 and program data 39 A user may enter commands and information into the system 20 through input devices such as a keyboard 40 and pointing device 42 Other input devices may include a microphone joystick touch pad
26. nformation 15 The computer implemented method of claim 10 wherein the computing device is operatively connected to a peripheral device 16 The computer implemented method of claim 10 fur ther comprising the step of prior to the modifying step presenting the control signal to the user 17 The computer implemented method of claim 16 fur ther comprising the step of after the presenting step receiving an input from the user approving or denying a modification in accordance with the control signal 18 A computer implemented method for enhancing a sleep management application operating on a computing device the computing device having a processor and a storage medium and the sleep management application having one or more software modules stored on the storage medium and executed upon the processor the method comprising collecting data that is perceptible to the computing device analyzing the data to identify elements that pertain to the sleep management application generating a control signal based on the elements and modifying the operation of the sleep management applica tion in accordance with the control signal x x
27. nges 0008 According to one aspect the sleep management application cooperates with a computing device having a processor and a storage medium The sleep management application utilizes one or more software modules that are stored on the storage medium and executed in the processor The sleep management application operates by establishing a communications link with a server that maintains data per taining to the computing device or to a user The sleep man agement application retrieves data from the remote server and generates a custom tailored interface based on the data in order to configure a feature of the computing device Then the sleep management application is programmed with a sleep management setting using the custom tailored interface to implement the feature so configured 0009 According to another aspect a computer imple mented method for enhancing a sleep management applica tion operating on a computing device and having an alarm function is provided The computing device has a processor and a storage medium and the sleep management application has one or more software modules stored on the storage medium and executed in the processor A communications link between the sleep management application and a remote server is initiated the remote server having external data pertaining to the computing device or to a user The sleep management application receives the external data from the remote server and analyzes the extern
28. nt application Receives 1060 Confirmation from the Local Hotel Server Sleep Management Application Presents 1070 Confirmation in a form of an Alert FIG 10 Patent Application Publication Jul 7 2011 Sheet 12 of 14 1100 s Sleep management Application Connects to and Authenticates Peripheral Device US 2011 0163859 A1 Sleep Management Application Determines User Location Information Based on Authentication Information Sleep Management Application Checks User Preferences Information Sleep Management Application Searches for Information about Local Businesses and Services Based on User Preferences Sleep Management Application Presents Information about Local Businesses and Services to the User in form of Alerts 1150 Sleep Management application Presents Advertisements from Local Businesses and Services 1160 Sleep Management Application Places Orders for Local Businesses and Services FIG 11 1170 Patent Application Publication Jul 7 2011 Sheet 13 of 14 US 2011 0163859 A1 1200 Yy 1202 INITIATE ESTABLISH COMMUNICATIONS LINK WITH SERVER S 1204 RECEIVE EXTERNAL DATA 1206 ANALYZE EXTERNAL DATA GENERATE CONTROL SIGNAL BASED ON PERTINENT DATA ELEMENTS MODIFY SETTINGS OPERATIONS FUNCTIONS IN ACCORDANCE WITH CONTROL SIGNAL FIG 12 US 2011 0163859 A1 Jul 7 2011 Sheet 14 of 14 Patent Application Publication el Old TE SINVHO
29. nvironment the system 20 typically includes amodem 54 or other means for establishing communications over the wide area network 52 such as the Internet The modem 54 which may be internal or external is connected to the system bus 23 via the serial port connector 46 In a networked environment program modules depicted relative to the system 20 or por tions thereof may be stored in the remote memory storage device It will be appreciated that the network connections shown are exemplary and other means of establishing a com munications link between system 20 and other computer sys tems may be used 0048 As used in this application the terms component module system and the like are intended to include a computer related entity such as but not limited to hardware firmware a combination of hardware and software software or software in execution For example a component may be but is not limited to being a process running on a processor a processor an object an executable a thread of execution a program and or a computer By way of illustration both an application running on a computing device and the comput ing device can be a component One or more components can reside within a process and or thread of execution and a component may be localized on one computer and or distrib uted between two or more computers In addition these com ponents can execute from various computer readable media having variou
30. od of claim 6 wherein the user account includes a user sleep profile 9 The method of claim 6 further comprising the step of analyzing the user account to identify behavioral trends 10 A computer implemented method for enhancing a sleep management application operating on a computing device and having an alarm function the computing device having a processor and a storage medium and the sleep management application having one or more software modules stored on the storage medium and executed in the processor the method comprising initiating a communications link between the sleep man agement application and a remote server the remote server having external data pertaining to the computing device or to a user receiving the external data from the remote server analyzing the external data to identify elements that pertain to the sleep management application generating a control signal based on the elements and modifying a setting governing an operation of the alarm function in accordance with the control signal 11 The computer implemented method of claim 10 wherein the external data comprises location information 12 The computer implemented method of claim 10 wherein the external data comprises weather information 13 The computer implemented method of claim 10 wherein the external data comprises traffic information 14 The computer implemented method of claim 10 wherein the external data comprises scheduling i
31. ol i IR Tuner s Panel Di I Receiver I I l I 240 285 i I I FIG 2 Patent Application Publication Jul 7 2011 Sheet 3 of 14 US 2011 0163859 A1 300 User Account Database TENE 320 User Identification Information login name and password User Preference Information e e mail address es personal web site s e social network s info e alerts and advertisements e user s buddy list User Activity Information e current location e current activity e planned activities 350 User Personal Data e audio video files User Sleep Profiles 360 profile 1 profile 2 370 Sleep Management Application e software version ID 380 Peripheral Device manufacturer and model FIG 3A Patent Application Publication Jul 7 2011 Sheet 4 of 14 US 2011 0163859 A1 360 User Sleep Profile Wake Up Options e alarm time e alarm duration e alarm sound e sound source e snooze option e action list Bedtime Options e bedtime e bedtime sound e sound source e sound duration e action list Miscellaneous Options e alarm time e alarm duration e alarm sound e sound source e snooze option e action list FIG 3B Patent Application Publication Jul 7 2011 Sheet 5 of 14 US 2011 0163859 A1 Peripheral Device Computing Device Database E 400 410 Device Model Identifier Device Configuration Data Device User Man
32. on can receive the external data from the remote server and analyze the external data to identify elements that pertain to the sleep management appli cation Then the sleep management application can generate a control signal based on the elements and modify a setting governing an operation of the alarm function in accordance with the control signal 100 105 130 Computing Device Personal Computer I Management Application 190 Social Network Server s Audio Device Database Patent Application Publication Jul 7 2011 Sheet 1 of 14 US 2011 0163859 A1 100 105 Peripheral Device 120 130 Computing Computing Device Device Consumer Personal Computer Electronic Device I I Management I Management de Application I Application 170 190 cial Hotel Seed Network Server 140 Server s Remote Server 180 150 Hotel Database 160 Audio Device CT Database User Account Database FIG 1 Patent Application Publication Jul 7 2011 Sheet 2 of 14 US 2011 0163859 A1 200 ae a A ta Rg di e PROS e bee a gr Ws Ee e r gi I 260 210 215 i Connector s Memory Power I Amplifier I I J 295 Digital I O 220 Connector s _ _ I 225 l I l I I ot N Analog Vo f f Connector s Microcontroller Display I I l l I I I 245 Docking Connector 205 230 ial l i I i Radio I Contr
33. pecific area and or in response to a standing query such as weather in the user s hometown 0022 It should be noted that while the foregoing descrip tion of an arrangement of sleep management system 100 incorporates numerous components in other arrangements fewer or additional components can be present Thus for example in one particular arrangement a computing device 120 130 can communicate with and receive data from various external servers 140 170 190 through network 110 free of communication with or reliance upon the peripheral device 105 In such an arrangement a speaker on board the device 120 130 can be the output device that provides an alert to the user as the alarm function 0023 FIG 2 illustrates a schematic block diagram of the peripheral device 105 in accordance with one example embodiment The device 200 may be a digital alarm clock or other such device having additional functionality such as audio reproduction The device 200 may include a microcon troller 205 such as a simple 8 bit microcontroller or a more complex ARM based microprocessor for controlling opera tion of the device 200 and a memory 210 such as read only memory ROM or random access memory RAM for stor ing program instructions and user settings for operating the device 200 The device 200 may also include an internal power amplifier 215 and speaker 220 for reproducing audio sounds The device 200 may also include a display 225 such as
34. ple As will be described in greater detail below the sleep management application 115 can analyze user activity information 340 in order to generate one or more control signals that can modify the operation of the computing device 120 130 the sleep management appli cation 115 and or the peripheral device 105 The account 310 may also include user personal data 350 including audio video files that may be reproduced on the peripheral device 105 or on the computing device itself The account 310 may also include one or more user sleep profiles 360 which include data structures containing specific sleep management scenarios for various computing devices 120 130 and or peripheral devices 105 User sleep profiles 360 will be dis cussed in greater detail herein below The account 310 may also include application version information 370 and infor mation 380 about computing devices 120 130 and or periph eral devices 105 with which the sleep management applica tion 115 is configured to operate 0025 As noted above sleep profiles 360 contain specific sleep management scenarios for various computing devices 120 130 and or peripheral devices 105 These sleep profiles 360 can also be analyzed by the sleep management applica tion 115 in order to generate one or more control signals that can modify the operation of the computing device 120 130 the sleep management application 115 and or the peripheral US 2011 0163859 Al device 105 as will
35. present to change any settings 0038 Once the control signal has been generated at step 1210 the sleep management application 115 can modify one or more settings associated with the operation of the comput ing device 120 130 the peripheral device 105 and or the sleep management application 115 in accordance with the control signal In doing so the sleep management application 115 implements the control signal s instructions By way of example the sleep management application 115 can modify an existing setting that governs the operation of the sleep management application s 115 alarm function i e the alarm is presently set to ring at 7 30 AM by implementing the US 2011 0163859 Al control signal i e an instruction to sound the alarm 25 min utes earlier thereby resulting in an alarm setting i e 7 05 AM as opposed to 7 30 AM which is tailored to the specific circumstances relevant to the user 0039 It should be noted that while in one arrangement the generated control signals are applied in an automated fashion that is they are applied without the need for user input and or interaction in other arrangements the user can be prompted to review and approve deny the implementation of one or more control signals By way of example the sleep manage ment application 115 can display to a user a proposed control signal i e set alarm clock 25 minutes earlier Alternatively the sleep management application can provide
36. r digital subscriber line DSL or wireless technologies suchas infrared radio and microwave then the coaxial cable fiber optic cable twisted pair DSL or wireless technologies such as infrared radio and microwave are included in the defini tion of medium Disk and disc as used herein includes com pact disc CD laser disc optical disc digital versatile disc DVD floppy disk and Blu ray disc where disks usually reproduce data magnetically while discs usually reproduce data optically with lasers Combinations of the above should also be included within the scope of computer readable media 0050 The methods described herein have been provided in connection with flow diagrams that facilitate a description of the principal processes however certain blocks can be invoked in an arbitrary order such as when the events drive the program flow such as in an object oriented program Accordingly the flow diagram is to be understood as an example flow and that the blocks can be invoked in a different order than as illustrated 0051 It should be noted that while much of the forgoing description has related to a system and method for sleep management the systems and methods disclosed herein can be applied in a broad range of settings beyond sleep manage ment By way of example the systems and methods described herein can be modified to provide scheduling updates and or notifications and to adjust scheduling preferences and set
37. r the computing devices 120 130 At step 570 the sleep management application 115 may connect to the remote server 140 through the network 110 and at step 580 send all collected user account information to the remote server 140 for back up on the user account database 160 0029 FIG 6 illustrates an example methodology 600 for configuring a peripheral device 105 using sleep management application 115 At step 610 the consumer electronic device 120 or personal computer 130 is docked or connected wired or wirelessly to the peripheral device 105 At step 620 the sleep management application 115 auto starts or is manually launched by the user At step 630 the sleep management application 115 and the consumer electronic device 120 authenticate each other by exchanging for example one or more device model identifier s and or software version iden tifier s At step 640 the sleep management application may connect to the remote server 140 and retrieve at step 650 configuration information about the peripheral device 105 from the remote server 140 Alternatively this device con figuration information may be already known to the applica tion 115 and it does not need to retrieve it from the remote server 140 At step 660 the sleep management application 115 generates based on the device configuration information a custom user interface for configuring specific features of peripheral device 105 For example the user interface dis play
38. re described herein in the context of systems methods and computer program products for sleep management Those of ordinary skill in the art will realize that the following description is illustrative only and is not intended to be in any way limiting Other embodiments will readily suggest themselves to such skilled persons having the benefit of this disclosure Reference will now be made in detail to implementations of the example embodiments as illustrated in the accompanying drawings 0018 FIG 1 illustrates a schematic block diagram of a sleep management system 100 in accordance with one example embodiment The system 100 includes one or more peripheral devices 105 such as an audio reproduction device for example an alarm clock radio or a similar device having audio reproduction functionality such as a speaker as one example of an output device for providing an alert to a user as part of the alarm function The system 100 further includes a computing device such as a consumer electronic device 120 for example a smart phone portable audio video player personal digital assistant PDA digital reader or any other type of electronic device having data processing storage capabilities and or a personal computer 130 for example a desktop laptop tablet or notebook computer Device 120 and PC 130 may be connected to the peripheral device 105 via dedicated analog digital connectors 125 and 135 respec tively and or via a wired or wi
39. reless network 110 such as Ethernet 802 11b g n and Bluetooth In one example the consumer electronic device 120 may be docked with the peripheral device 105 in which case the connector 125 may be a generic or custom docking connector having digital and or analog input output ports In one example embodi ment the connector 125 may be a Universal Serial Bus USB connector or other types of serial data connectors In one example embodiment the connector 125 may include acable Jul 7 2011 The personal computer 130 may be connected to the periph eral device 105 via the connector 135 which may also be a USB connector or other types of serial or parallel data con nectors 0019 The system 100 further includes a sleep manage ment application 115 which may reside on the consumer electronic device 120 and or on the personal computer 130 In general the sleep management application 115 includes one or more software modules that provide configuration and storage of various sleep management settings for the periph eral device 105 including but not limited to clock settings alarm settings radio settings audio settings network set tings user profile settings and various other configuration parameters and settings The sleep management application 115 may be provided by the manufacturer of the peripheral device 105 the manufacturer of the computing device 120 130 or a third party In one example embodiment the sleep management
40. rmation in Different Formats Sleep Management Application in Response to the User Command Retrieves Additional Information About User Activities 860 Sleep Management Application in Response 870 to the User Command Transmits the User Activity Information to Remote Server s FIG 8 Patent Application Publication Jul 7 2011 Sheet 10 of 14 US 2011 0163859 A1 900 E Remote Server Creates a User Account Remote Server Receives Updates Information about Peripheral Devices Remote Server Receives Updates User Preferences Information Remote Server Receives Updates User Location Information Remote Server Receives Updates User Activity Information Remote Server Updates User s Personal Web Site and Social Networks with the User Activity and Location Information Based on User Preferences FIG 9 Remote Server Sends Messages to the Buddy List Based on User Preferences 910 920 930 940 950 960 970 Patent Application Publication Jul 7 2011 Sheet 11 of 14 US 2011 0163859 A1 1000 Sleep management Application Connects 1010 to and Authenticates Peripheral Device Sleep Management Application 1020 Connects to the Local Hotel Server Sleep Management Application Retrieves 1030 Information About Hotel Services 1040 Sleep Management Application Receives User Request s for Hotel Services Sleep Management Application Sends User 1050 Request s to the Hotel Server Sleep Manageme
41. rvers 140 170 190 The sleep management appli cation 115 can then receive external data i e data that is present on the server 140 170 190 but not on the computing device 120 130 from the server s 140 170 190 Preferably the data received from the server s pertains to the computing device 120 130 such as data relating to the computing device s 120 130 location the user such as personal sched uling information and or personal favorites interests and or the sleep management application 115 though in principle the sleep management application 115 can receive any form of data By way of example in one arrangement the sleep management application 115 receives traffic and or weather data from one or more traffic weather related websites serv ers This data can then be used to generate control signals that configure and control various settings and functions of the sleep management application 115 in a manner that trans forms or changes user device settings i e existing values that are set in the device that may have been input manually by the user through the sleep management application inter face the computing device 120 130 and or the audio repro duction device 105 as will be described in greater detail below Additionally the data can be received in response to a specific query by the sleep management application 115 and or the computing device 120 130 such as a query regarding current traffic conditions in a s
42. s data structures stored thereon The compo nents may communicate by way of local and or remote pro cesses such as in accordance with a signal having one or more data packets such as data from one component interacting with another component in a local system and or across a network such as the Internet with other systems by way of the signal 0049 In one or more aspects the functions described herein may be implemented in hardware software firmware or any combination thereof If implemented in software the functions may be stored or transmitted as one or more instruc tions or code on a computer readable medium Computer readable media includes both computer storage media and communication media including any medium that facilitates transfer of a computer program from one place to another A storage medium may be any available media that can be accessed by a computer By way of example and not limita tion such computer readable media can comprise RAM ROM EEPROM CD ROM or other optical disk storage magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices or any other medium that can be used to carry or store desired program code in the form of instructions or data structures and that can be accessed by a computer Also any connection Jul 7 2011 may be termed a computer readable medium For example if software is transmitted from a website server or other remote source using a coaxial cable fiber optic cable twisted pai
43. s only control buttons available on the specific peripheral device to which the sleep management application 115 is currently communicating At step 670 the sleep management application 115 also retrieves from the local or remote user US 2011 0163859 Al account database a user s personal data and sleep profiles At step 670 the user may configure operation of the peripheral device using the custom interface For example the user may program preset buttons of the audio reproduction device to play specific audio files stored on the consumer electronic device 120 or personal computer 130 on which the sleep management application 115 runs or to stream Internet radio from network addresses specified in the user preferences fields of the user account 310 In addition using the custom interface of the sleep management application 115 the user may select one of the sleep profiles associated with the peripheral device 105 to be executed by the sleep manage ment application 115 0030 FIG 7 illustrates an example methodology 700 for collection and distribution of user information by the sleep management application 115 At step 710 the sleep manage ment application 115 connects to and authenticates the peripheral device 105 In an alternate arrangement the sleep management application executes on a computing device 120 130 without connecting to a peripheral device 105 At step 720 the application 115 determines user location based on the d
44. screen satellite dish scanner or the like These and other input devices may be connected to the processing unit 21 through a serial port connector 46 coupled to the system bus and can be connected by other means such as a parallel port game port or universal serial bus USB A monitor 47 or some other type of display device may be connected to the system bus 23 via a video adapter 48 In addition to the monitor 47 the system 20 may include other peripheral out put devices not shown such as speakers and printers US 2011 0163859 Al 0046 The system 20 may operate in a networked environ ment using wired or wireless connections 51 and 52 to one or more remote computers 49 or other networked devices including peripheral device 105 The remote computer or computers 49 may be represented by another computer sys tem a server a router a network PC a peer device or other common network node and typically includes many or all of the elements described above relative to the system 20 although only a memory storage device 50 has been illus trated The wired or wireless connections may include a local area network LAN 51 or a wide area network WAN 52 Such networking environments are common in offices enter prise wide computer networks Intranets and the Internet 0047 When used in a LAN networking environment the system 20 is connected to the local network 51 through a network card or adapter 53 When in a WAN networking e
45. t predicts inclement weather and or a traffic report indicates delays on a certain road a user may wish to account for these current future events by wak ing up at a time other than that which he she is otherwise accustomed However there is presently no system or method that enables such accounting and or considerations to be effectively implemented 0005 It is with respect to these considerations and others that the disclosure made herein is presented SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 0006 Technologies are presented herein for a system and method for enhancing a sleep management application 0007 In accordance with a broad aspect of the invention a computing device executes code that implements a sleep management application which can in certain implementa tions provide control over a peripheral device and more particularly control that executes either a user s settings or Jul 7 2011 settings that are received dynamically from an external source that may transform or otherwise alter the user s or the device s settings As such changes in local weather or traffic can influence the settings in the peripheral device and so can changes based on other information received from a remote source all according to the operation of the sleep manage ment application As a result for example an alarm function of a peripheral device or the computing device itself can be adjusted even while the user sleeps to account for such cha
46. that comprises the sleep management application At step 730 the application 115 checks user preferences in the user account 310 and based on user preferences may send user location update notifications to various messaging or social network servers 190 At step 740 the sleep management application 115 collects user activity information from the configuration settings of the peripheral device 105 and or the computing device 120 130 For example the user may program an alarm setting of the peripheral device 105 such as an audio reproduction device and or the computing device 120 130 to allow the alarm to go off at 8 30 PM and to begin streaming a broadcast of football game from an Internet radio station At step 750 the applica tion 115 checks user preferences in the user account 310 and based on user preferences may send user activity update notifications to various messaging or social network servers 190 At step 760 the application 115 may detect that the user activated one of the control buttons of the peripheral device 105 such as a radio preset button of an audio reproduction Jul 7 2011 device such as an alarm clock radio that tunes FM tuner to frequency 103 5 MHz In response the application 115 may check at step 770 user preferences in the user account 310 and based on user preferences may send user activity update notifications to various messaging or social network servers 190 For example if the detected user actio
47. ual Device Software Update Application Program Interfaces FIG 4 Patent Application Publication Jul 7 2011 Sheet 6 of 14 US 2011 0163859 A1 On Download Sleep Management Application 510 on Consumer Electronic Device or PC Install Sleep Management Application on 520 the Consumer Electronic Device or PC Sleep Management Application 530 Creates User Account s Application Collects Updates User s40 Preferences and User Activity Information Application Collects Updates Information 550 about Consumer Electronic Device or PC 560 User Creates Sleep Profiles Sleep Management Application Connects 570 to the Remote Server using Internet Application Sends Collected Updated 580 Information to the Remote Server FIG 5 Patent Application Publication Jul 7 2011 Sheet 7 of 14 US 2011 0163859 A1 600 Sa Consumer Electronic Device is Docked 610 with the Peripheral Device Sleep Management Application Starts 620 on the Consumer Electronic Device Application and Consumer Electronic 630 Device Authenticate Each Other Sleep Management Application 949 Connects to the Remote Server Sleep Management Application Retrieves 650 Configuration Information for the Peripheral Device Application Generates a Custom Graphic User Interface for the Peripheral Device based on Configuration Information 660 Sleep Management Application Retrieves 670 User Personal Data and Sleep Profile s Sleep Manag
48. updates this information in the user account 310 At step 940 the remote server 140 receives user location information from the sleep management application 115 and updates this information in the user account 310 At step 950 the remote server 140 receives user activity information from the sleep management application 115 and updates this information in the user account 310 At step 960 the remote server 140 may be configured to update based on user preferences the user s US 2011 0163859 Al personal web site and or social network web sites with the user activity information At step 970 the remote server 140 may be further configured to send based on user preferences e mail or instant messages to individuals on the user s buddy list 0033 FIG 10 illustrates an example methodology 1000 for operation of the sleep management application 115 in a hotel environment Peripheral devices 105 such as alarm clocks and the like can be often found in hotel rooms The sleep management application 115 may be configured to operate with such peripheral devices 105 and with other hotel systems to provide hotel guests and application 115 users with advanced service options At step 1010 when a con sumer electronic device 120 or a personal computer 130 are connected to the peripheral device 105 located in a hotel room the sleep management application 115 connects to and authenticates the peripheral device 105 At step 1020 the sleep manage
49. ut device in accordance with the modi fied setting 2 A computer implemented method for enhancing a sleep management application the sleep management application residing on a computing device the computing device having a processor and a storage medium and the sleep management application having one or more software modules stored on the storage medium and executed in the processor the method comprising establishing a communications link between the sleep management application and a server the server main taining data pertaining to the computing device or to a user retrieving the data from the remote server generating a custom interface based on the data for config uring a feature of the computing device and programming the sleep management application with a sleep management setting using the custom interface 3 The method of claim 2 wherein the computing device is operatively connected to a peripheral device 4 The method of claim 3 further comprising the step of controlling the operation of the peripheral device using the sleep management application 5 The method of claim 3 wherein the custom interface reflects functionality of the peripheral device 6 The method of claim 2 further comprising the step of updating a user account in response to an operation of the sleep management application 7 The method of claim 6 wherein the user account includes user activity information Jul 7 2011 8 The meth
50. ve the sleep management application 115 can determine that the user is at a stadium during a sporting event Accord ingly a control signal can be generated which increases the volume of the computing device s 120 130 ringer thereby enabling the user to hear audible notifications despite noisy surroundings 0041 In addition while the foregoing description has referred periodically to interaction and or communications between the computing device 120 130 and or the peripheral device 105 with one or more servers 140 170 190 it should be noted that in other arrangements the sleep management application 115 and other aspects and features disclosed herein are fully operable without communication with and or connection to such servers In such embodiments data and or information that is received from and or sent to the server s 140 170 190 can instead be obtained from transmitted to internal and or local memory storage accessible by comput ing device 120 130 and or peripheral device s 140 170 190 Additionally various elements referenced above such as user activity information 340 and sleep profiles 360 can be ana lyzed and control signals can be generated based upon these items 0042 All of the functionalities described herein whether by modules or otherwise can be accomplished in one Jul 7 2011 embodiment of the invention by execution of code or a por tion of code that comprises the sleep management applica tion
51. y such as weather in the user s hometown to one or more of the server s 140 170 190 By way of example based on the user account the sleep management application 115 can identify the computing device s 120 130 present location obtained via GPS etc as referenced above as well as the user s place of employment As such the sleep management application 115 can retrieve external data pertaining to these locations such as traffic and or weather conditions in the user s home and or work location In an alternate arrangement the server s may push pertinent external data to the sleep management application 115 and or the computing device 120 130 without a prior query In either case data is being provided from a remote source to influence the operation of the sleep management application and the computing device with which it cooperates and this arrangement results in the modification of the application s configuration at least within any limits established by the user as described below 0036 Upon receiving the external data the sleep manage ment application 115 proceeds to analyze the external data at step 1206 in order to identify elements that pertain to the sleep management application 115 the computing device 120 130 and or the user user profile In doing so the sleep manage ment application 115 uses one or more software modules to parse and or analyze the received external data to further identify elem

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