Video Baby Monitor System with On-Screen Display

• US 20070285570A1
• Filed: 04/05/2007
• Published: 12/13/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 04/05/2006
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Graco Children's Products, Inc. (Newell Brands Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Graco Children's Products, Inc. (Newell Brands Inc.)
• Inventors: Desrosiers, Craig, Swan, Jeffrey
• Application Number:
  US11/697,272
• Publication Number:
  US 20070285570A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 348/565
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/19621 Portable camera
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/19684 Portable terminal, e.g. mobile phone, used for viewing video remotely
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/0208 Combination with audio or video communication, e.g. combination with "baby phone" function
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/0476 Cameras to detect unsafe condition, e.g. video cameras
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/62 Control of parameters via user interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/183 for receiving images from a single remote source

Abstract

A parent unit of a video baby monitor system has a housing and a receiver for receiving video signals from a transmitter of the system'"'"'s child unit. The parent unit also has a microprocessor programmed to control operational parameters of the monitor system. A video screen on the housing is configured to operate in a monitoring mode and an information mode The video screen displays video images representative of the video signals during the monitoring mode and displays at least functional information related to characteristics of the operational parameters during the information mode. At least one functional information display in the information mode provides a selectable on-screen option that, when selected, affects an operational parameter. A control device on the housing is actuable for choosing the selectable option to affect the operational parameter.

Claims

1. A parent unit for a video baby monitor system having a child unit with a transmitter, the parent unit comprising:

a housing;

a receiver for receiving video signals from the child unit transmitter;

a microprocessor programmed to control operational parameters of the monitor system;

a video screen on the housing configured to operate in a monitoring mode and an information mode, the video screen displaying video images representative of the video signals during the monitoring mode and displaying at least functional information related to characteristics of the operational parameters during the information mode, at least one functional information display in the information mode providing a selectable on-screen option that, when selected, affects an operational parameter; and

a control device on the housing actuable for choosing the selectable option to affect the operational parameter

2. A parent unit according to claim 1, wherein the video screen is an LCD screen.

3. A parent unit according to claim 1, further comprising:

a plurality of the selectable options that each, when selected, affect a different one of the operational parameters

4. A parent unit according to claim 1, wherein the control device is a multi-function button arrangement having one or more scroll buttons for choosing the selectable option displayed on the video screen and a select button for selecting the chosen selectable option.

5. A parent unit according to claim 1, wherein one of the operational parameters is a selectable image zoom option that can be selected to zoom in and zoom out on the video images displayed on the video screen.

6. A parent unit according to claim 1, wherein one of the operational parameters is a selectable image pan option that can be selected to pan left and right of a view center of the video images displayed on the video screen.

7. A parent unit according to claim 6, wherein one of the operational parameters is a selectable image zoom option that can be selected to zoom in and zoom out on the video images displayed on the video screen.

8. A parent unit according to claim 1, further comprising:

a speaker within the housing for emitting sound representative of audio signals received by the receiver from the child unit transmitter, wherein one of the operational parameters is a selectable speaker volume option that can be selected to change the volume of the sound emitted.

9. A parent unit according to claim 8, wherein the video screen displays a sound volume bar when the selectable speaker volume option is selected.

10. A parent unit according to claim 1, wherein the functional information can be overlaid on the video screen with the video images.

11. A video baby monitor system comprising:

a child unit having a video camera and a transmitter configured to transmit video signals representing video images received from the camera; and

a parent unit having a receiver for receiving the video signals from the child unit transmitter, a microprocessor programmed to control operational parameters of the monitor system, a video screen configured to operate in a monitoring mode and an on-screen display mode, the video screen displaying the video images in the monitoring mode and displaying at least system information related to the operational parameters in the on-screen display mode, wherein a plurality of selectable on-screen options that can be displayed in the on-screen mode can each, when selected, affect an operational parameter.

12. A video baby monitor system according to claim 11, wherein the parent unit includes a control device configured to scroll among and highlight a chosen one of the plurality of selectable on-screen options and configured to select the chosen option.

13. A video baby monitor system according to claim 11, wherein the child unit has a microphone and the transmitter is configured to transmit audio signals representing sound received from the microphone, wherein the parent unit has a speaker that emits sound representative of the audio signals received by the receiver, and wherein one of the plurality of selectable on-screen options is a speaker volume adjustment option.

14. A video baby monitor system according to claim 11, wherein the video screen is an LCD screen.

15. A video baby monitor system according to claim 11, wherein one of the plurality of selectable on-screen options is an image zoom option that can be selected to zoom in and zoom out on the video images displayed on the video screen.

16. A video baby monitor system according to claim 11, wherein one of the plurality of selectable on-screen options is an image pan option that can be selected to pan left and right of a view center of the video images displayed on the video screen.

17. A video baby monitor system according to claim 16, wherein one of the plurality of selectable on-screen options is an image zoom option that can be selected to zoom in and zoom out on the video images displayed on the video screen.

18. A video baby monitor system according to claim 11, wherein the functional information can be overlaid on the video screen with the video images.