Alertness maintenance apparatus

An alertness maintenance apparatus comprising:

• a stimulation controller that is configured to cause a stimulation device to generate multiple types of temperature stimuli maintaining an alert state of a subject person, the temperature stimuli including a temperature stimulus to a hand of the subject person and also including a temperature stimulus to a face of the subject person or a temperature stimulus to a torso of the subject person via a seat on which the subject person sits;
• and
• a trigger detector that is configured to detect a trigger in a situation where the stimulation controller generates the temperature stimuli, the trigger being at least one of a level of drowsiness of the subject person detected using a drowsiness detection device used for detecting the level of drowsiness reaching or exceeding a predetermined threshold or an elapse of a prescribed time after the stimulation device starts generating the temperature stimuli,
• wherein:
• the stimulation controller includes a rotation controller that is configured to change intensities of the multiple types of temperature stimuli generated to sequentially increase the intensities of the temperature stimuli in rotation;
• the rotation controller changes a mode of generation of the temperature stimuli generated, in response to that the trigger detector detects the trigger;
• and
• in response to that the level of drowsiness detected by the drowsiness detection device falls below the threshold, the rotation controller returns the mode of the generation of the temperature stimuli changed due to detection of the trigger by the trigger detector back to the mode of generation before the detection of the trigger.

An alertness maintenance apparatus comprising:

• a stimulation controller that is configured to cause a stimulation device to generate multiple types of temperature stimuli maintaining an alert state of a subject person, the temperature stimuli including a temperature stimulus to a hand of the subject person, a temperature stimulus to a face of the subject person, and a temperature stimulus to a torso of the subject person via a seat on which the subject person sits;
• and
• a trigger detector that is configured to detect a trigger in a situation where the stimulation controller generates the temperature stimuli, the trigger being at least one of a level of drowsiness of the subject person detected using a drowsiness detection device used for detecting the level of drowsiness reaching or exceeding a predetermined threshold or an elapse of a prescribed time after the stimulation device starts generating the temperature stimuli,
• wherein:
• the stimulation controller includes a rotation controller that is configured to change intensities of the multiple types of temperature stimuli generated to sequentially increase the intensities of the temperature stimuli in rotation;
• the stimulation controller causes the stimulation device to generate the multiple types of temperature stimuli;
• the rotation controller changes a mode of generation of the temperature stimuli generated, in response to that the trigger detector detects the trigger;
• in response to that the trigger detector detects the trigger, the rotation controller changes the intensity of the temperature stimulus to the torso of the subject person, of the multiple types of the temperature stimuli, to be constantly high, and also changes the intensities of the temperature stimuli other than the temperature stimulus to the torso of the subject person in rotation.

An alertness maintenance apparatus comprising:

• a stimulation controller that is configured to cause a stimulation device to generate multiple types of temperature stimuli maintaining an alert state of a subject person, the temperature stimuli including a temperature stimulus to a hand of the subject person and also including a temperature stimulus to a face of the subject person or a temperature stimulus to a torso of the subject person via a seat on which the subject person sits;
• and
• a trigger detector that is configured to detect a trigger in a situation where the stimulation controller generates the temperature stimuli, the trigger being at least one of a level of drowsiness of the subject person detected using a drowsiness detection device used for detecting the level of drowsiness reaching or exceeding a predetermined threshold or an elapse of a prescribed time after the stimulation device starts generating the temperature stimuli,
• wherein:
• the stimulation controller includes a rotation controller that is configured to change intensities of the multiple types of temperature stimuli generated to sequentially increase the intensities of the temperature stimuli in rotation;
• the stimulation controller includes a fluctuation controller that changes intensities of the temperature stimuli to generate fluctuations in each of the intensities of the multiple types of the temperature stimuli generated by the stimulation device;
• the rotation controller changes a mode of generation of the temperature stimuli generated, in response to that the trigger detector detects the trigger;
• the fluctuation controller changes a mode of generation of the temperature stimuli generated by the stimulation device in response to that the trigger detector detects the trigger;
• and
• in response to that the level of drowsiness detected by the drowsiness detection device falls below the threshold, the fluctuation controller returns the mode of the generation of the temperature stimuli changed due to detection of the trigger by the trigger detector back to the mode of the generation before the detection of the trigger.