SYSTEMS, METHODS, AND APPARATUS FOR MONITORING INFANTS

• US 20130107029A1
• Filed: 10/26/2012
• Published: 05/02/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 10/26/2011
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Mysnapcam LLC
• Original Assignee: Mysnapcam LLC
• Inventors: Knasel, Donald Lee, Donges, William Henry
• Application Number:
  US13/662,054
• Publication Number:
  US 20130107029A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 348/77
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/0208 Combination with audio or video communication, e.g. combination with "baby phone" function
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/181 for receiving images from a plurality of remote sources
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/188 Capturing isolated or intermittent images triggered by the occurrence of a predetermined event, e.g. an object reaching a predetermined position signal generation from motion picture films H04N5/253

Abstract

Systems, methods, and apparatus for infant monitoring, including video and/or audio monitoring are described. In certain embodiments, a camera may be provided for monitoring an infant. The camera may be configured to communicate with a user device. The camera may be configured to operate in either a local communications sessions, such as peer-to-peer mode over a local network or in a remote mode over a wide area network. While operating in a peer-to-peer mode, a relatively high bandwidth local area connection may be utilized to communicate video and/or audio information to a user device. While operating in a remote or network hosting mode, one or more lower quality signals may be communicated to a user device. For example, a lower resolution video signal may be communicated to a user device and/or a voice over Internet protocol (“VoIP”) audio signal may be communicated to the user device.

Claims

1. A monitoring system comprising:

at least one sensor configured to collect monitoring data associated with an infant;

at least one communications interface configured to establish a communications session with a user device; and

at least one processor configured to;

identify a type of communications session established with the user device;

generate, at least one data stream for communication to the user device, based upon, at least in part, the type of communications session, the at least one data stream comprising at least a portion of the collected monitoring data; and

direct the communication of the generated at least one data stream to the user device.

2. The monitoring system of claim 1, wherein the at least one sensor further comprises at least one of a camera, a motion detector, or a microphone.

3. The monitoring system of claim 1, wherein the user device further comprises at least one of a mobile device, a tablet computer, an audio device, or a personal computer.

4. The monitoring system of claim 1, wherein the at least one communications interface is further configured to receive audio data from the user device;

and

wherein the at least one processor is further configured to direct the output of at least a portion of the received audio data.

5. The monitoring system of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to authenticate the user device based upon, at least in part, at least one of login information or a digital certificate.

6. The monitoring system of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to identify the type of communication session established with the user device based upon, at least in part, at least one of an IP address of the user device, identification of a cellular network used to communicate with the user device, a mesh fingerprint of the user device, or an evaluation of a network latency associated the user device.

7. The monitoring system of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:

identify a change in a type of network connection established with the user device;

determine a current type of network connection available to connect with the user device; and

establish a new communications session with the user device based upon, at least in part, the current type of network connection.

8. The monitoring system of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor if further configured to:

identify a docking station associated with the user device;

receive one or more parameters of the docking station;

transmit monitoring data based upon, at least in part, the received parameters of the docking station.

9. A computer program product residing on a computer readable medium having a plurality of instructions stored thereon which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:

establishing a communications session with a monitoring device, the communications session comprising one of a local communications session or a remote communications session;

receiving, via the established communications session, at least one data stream comprising monitoring data, wherein a resolution of at least one data stream is based at least in part upon a type of established communications session; and

directing output of the at least one data stream.

10. The computer program product of claim 9, further comprising:

identifying a change in a type of network connection used to establish the communication session with the monitoring device;

determining a current type of network connection available to connect with the monitoring device; and

establishing a new communications session with the user device based upon, at least in part, the current type of network connection, wherein the communications session is one of a location communications session or a remote communications session.

11. The computer program product of claim 9, wherein if the type of established communications session is the local communications session, the resolution of the at least one data stream is high;

and

wherein if the type of established communications session is the remote communications session, the resolution of the at least one data stream is low.

12. The computer program product of claim 9, further comprising:

establishing a connection with a docking station; and

transmitting one or more parameters associated with the docking station to the monitoring device.

13. The computer program product of claim 9, further comprising

identifying audio data to be transmitted to the monitoring device;

and

transmitting the audio data to the monitoring device.

14. A method comprising:

identifying, by one or more processors of a monitoring device, a user device;

determining, by the one or more processors of the monitoring device, a type of network connection established with the user device;

establishing, by the one or more processors of the monitoring device, a communications session with the user device; and

transmitting, by the one or more processors of the monitoring device, monitoring data.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

receiving, by the one or more processors of the monitoring device, audio data from the user device; and

outputting, by the one or more processors of the monitoring device, at least a portion of the received audio data from the user device.

16. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

determining, by the one or more processors of the monitoring device, if the user device is connected locally, based upon, at least in part, a type of network connection with the user device;

in response to determining the user device is connected locally, establishing, by the one or more processors of the monitoring device, a local communications session; and

in response to determining the user device is not connected locally, establishing, by the one or more processors of the monitoring device, a remote communications session.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein

if the communications session is the local communications session, transmitting the monitoring data associated with the infant further comprises transmitting high resolution monitoring data associated with the infant;

and

if the communications session is the remote communications session, transmitting the monitoring data associated with the infant further comprises transmitting low resolution monitoring data or audio only monitoring data associated with the infant.

18. The method of claim 14, further comprising determining that the user device is in standby mode;

determining that an alert has been identified;

transmitting a wake-up message to the user device; and

transmitting the monitoring data to the user device.

19. The method of claim 14, further comprising

identifying a change in the type of network connection established with the user device;

determining a current type of network connection available to connect with the user device; and

establishing a new communications session with the user device based upon, at least in part, the current type of network connection.

20. The method of claim 14, further comprising

identifying a docking station connected to the user device;

receiving one or more parameters of the docking station;

transmitting monitoring data based upon, at least in part, the received parameters of the docking station.