Infant SID Monitor Based On Accelerometer

• US 20080262381A1
• Filed: 04/14/2008
• Published: 10/23/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 04/12/2007
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Magneto Inertial Sensing Technology, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Magneto Inertial Sensing Technology, Inc.
• Inventors: Kolen, Paul T.
• Application Number:
  US12/102,825
• Publication Number:
  US 20080262381A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 600/549
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2503/04 Babies, e.g. for SIDS detection
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2562/0219 Inertial sensors, e.g. accelerometers, gyroscopes, tilt switches
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0008 Temperature signals
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0816 Measuring devices for examining respiratory frequency measuring frequency of electric signals G01R23/00
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/11 Measuring movement of the entire body or parts thereof, e.g. head or hand tremor, mobility of a limb for measuring pulse A61B5/02 ;A61B5/1038 takes precedence; motion detection to correct for motion artifacts in physiological signals A61B5/721
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/113 occurring during breathing
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/4818 Sleep apnoea
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/0211 Combination with medical sensor, e.g. for measuring heart rate, temperature
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/63 for local operation
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/67 for remote operation

Abstract

Techniques, devices and systems that monitor the orientation and breathing of an infant and wirelessly communicate the orientation/breathing data to a caregiver through a wireless interface to request intervention if an unsafe situation is detected.

Claims

1. An infant monitor system, comprising:

a infant sensor module; and

a control module in wireless communication with the infant sensor module,

wherein the infant sensor module comprises;

a base attachable to an infant;

three accelerometers on the base to measure accelerations along three different directions, respectively;

a signal processor on the base to receive outputs from the three accelerometers and to produce a sensor signal based on the outputs; and

a sensor RF transceiver on the base in communication with the signal processor to wirelessly transmit the sensor signal to the control module, and

wherein the control module comprises;

a controller RF transceiver in wireless communication with the sensor RF transceiver;

a controller processor operable to process the sensor signal to measure an orientation and a motion of the infant sensor module and to generate an alert when the measured orientation matches a pre-determined orientation for triggering the alert or when the measured motion matches a pre-determined motion profile for triggering the alert; and

a communication interface to communicate the alert from the controller processor to a destination outside the control module.

2. The system as in claim 1, wherein the three accelerometers in the infant sensor module are MEMS devices.

3. The system as in claim 1, wherein the communication interface in the controller module includes at least one of

a radio transceiver interface with a cell phone network,

a modem connected to a land line,

an Ethernet card with a computer network such as the Internet, and

an RF transceiver module to wirelessly communicate with a local RF network.

4. The system as in claim 1, wherein the controller processor performs signal filtering on digital data of the sensor signal and fast Fourier transform on the filtered digital data in generating the alert.

5. The system as in claim 1, wherein the controller processor computes a root mean square value of the sensor signal and compares the root mean square value of the sensor signal to a pre-determined threshold value in generating the alert.

6. The system as in claim 1, comprising a temperature sensor in contact with the infant to measure a skin temperature, wherein the controller processor is connected to receive the temperature measurement from the temperature sensor and to produce a temperature alert signal when the temperature is below a low temperature threshold or above a high temperature threshold.

7. A method for monitoring an infant, comprising:

attaching a sensor module to the infant to monitor an orientation and a motion of the infant sensor module by using three accelerometers in the sensor module to measure accelerations along three different directions, respectively;

processing the outputs from the three accelerometers to produce a sensor signal;

wirelessly transmitting the sensor signal to a control module;

operating the control module to process the sensor signal to measure to generate an alert when the measured orientation matches a pre-determined orientation for triggering the alert or when the measured motion matches a pre-determined motion profile for triggering the alert; and

sending the alert to a destination outside the control module.

8. The method as in claim 7, comprising:

attaching a temperature sensor in contact with the infant to measure a skin temperature; and

producing a temperature alert signal when the temperature is below a low temperature threshold or above a high temperature threshold.