Monitoring Device and System for Providing an Alert When an Infant is Unresponsive to Stimulus

• US 20160345914A1
• Filed: 06/01/2015
• Published: 12/01/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 06/01/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Empowerment Technologies Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Circus World Displays Limited
• Inventors: Jain, Rajesh
• Granted Patent: US 9,974,489 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2503/04 Babies, e.g. for SIDS detection
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2560/0242 adapted to measure environmental factors, e.g. temperature, pollution
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2562/0204 Acoustic sensors
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2562/0219 Inertial sensors, e.g. accelerometers, gyroscopes, tilt switches
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0002 Remote monitoring of patients using telemetry, e.g. transmission of vital signals via a communication network A61B5/07 takes precedence; transmission systems for measured values G08C; transmission H04B; transmission of digital information H04L; wireless communication networks H04W
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/002 Monitoring the patient using a local or closed circuit, e.g. in a room or building A61B5/0017 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0022 Monitoring a patient using a global network, e.g. telephone networks, internet
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0077 Devices for viewing the surface of the body, e.g. camera, magnifying lens
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0205 Simultaneously evaluating both cardiovascular conditions and different types of body conditions, e.g. heart and respiratory condition
• 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 5/1118 Determining activity level
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1123 Discriminating type of movement, e.g. walking or running A61B5/1116, A61B5/112 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/4809 Sleep detection, i.e. determining whether a subject is asleep or not
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/4884 inducing physiological or psychological stress, e.g. applications for stress testing
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6802 Sensor mounted on worn items
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6804 Garments; Clothes
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6808 Diapers
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7282 Event detection, e.g. detecting unique waveforms indicative of a medical condition A61B5/4094, A61B5/4818, A61B5/349, A61B5/0823 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7405 using sound
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/742 using visual displays A61B5/339 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7455 : characterised by tactile indication, e.g. vibration or electrical stimulation
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/746 : Alarms related to a physiological condition, e.g. details of setting alarm thresholds or avoiding false alarms alarms per se G08B
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/747 : in case of emergency, i.e. alerting emergency services
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 7/00 : Instruments for auscultation
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 80/00 : ICT specially adapted for facilitating communication between medical practitioners or patients, e.g. for collaborative diagnosis, therapy or health monitoring

Abstract

Described is an infant monitoring and alerting system capable of determining an absence of movement by an infant. When an absence of movement is detected the monitor attempts to stimulate movement using stimuli that may include a vibration, an audible alert, or a visual alert. If no movement is detected in response to the stimuli, the monitor may provide another instance of stimuli which may include stimuli at an elevated intensity or additional and/or different stimuli. The additional instance of stimuli may further attempt to stimulate movement by the infant and may also function as an alert to the caregiver that their attention may be required.

Claims

1. A monitoring device attachable to an infant, comprising:

an accelerometer configured to detect movement information of the infant;

one or more stimulus generating components configured to generate stimuli, the stimuli including at least one of a vibration stimulus, an audible stimulus, and a visual stimulus; and

a controller configured to;

determine, based on the movement information, an absence of movement by the infant for a predetermined period of time;

initiate, in response to the determined absence of movement, a first instance of the stimuli to stimulate a responsive movement by the infant;

determine, based on the movement information following the first instance of the stimuli, a continued absence of movement by the infant; and

initiate, in response to the determined continued absence of movement, a second instance of the stimuli to further stimulate the responsive movement by the infant and to alert a caregiver that the infant is unresponsive.

2. The monitoring device of claim 1, wherein the second instance of the stimuli elevates an intensity of one or more stimuli included in the first instance of the stimuli.

3. The monitoring device of claim 1, wherein the second instance of the stimuli includes at least one additional stimulus not included in the first instance of the stimuli.

4. The monitoring device of claim 1, wherein the first instance of the stimuli includes the vibration stimulus and the second instance of the stimuli includes the vibration stimulus and at least one of the audible stimulus and the visual stimulus.

5. The monitoring device of claim 1, the controller further configured to cease the first or second instance of the stimuli upon detection of a movement by the infant.

6. The monitoring device of claim 1, wherein the movement information is associated with abdominal movements of the infant.

7. The monitoring device of claim 1, wherein the monitoring device is attachable to an article of clothing worn by the infant.

8. A monitoring device attachable to an infant, comprising:

an accelerometer configured to detect movement information of the infant;

one or more stimulus generating components configured to generate stimuli, the stimuli including at least one of a vibration stimulus, an audible stimulus, and a visual stimulus; and

a controller configured to;

determine, based on the movement information, an absence of movement by the infant for a predetermined period of time;

initiate, in response to the determined absence of movement, a first instance of the stimuli to stimulate a responsive movement by the infant;

determine, based on the movement information following the first instance of the stimuli, a continued absence of movement by the infant; and

initiate, in response to the determined continued absence of movement, a second instance of the stimuli that elevates an intensity of one or more stimuli included in the first instance of the stimuli.

9. The monitoring device of claim 8, the controller further configured to alert a caregiver that the infant is unresponsive.

10. The monitoring device of claim 9, wherein the controller configured to alert the caregiver includes providing the alert as part of the second instance of the stimuli.

11. The monitoring device of claim 10, wherein the alert as part of the second instance of the stimuli includes at least one of the audible stimulus and the visual stimulus.

12. The monitoring device of claim 9, further comprising a transmitter and the controller further configured to transmit, to a remote device using the transmitter, a notification of the alert that the infant is unresponsive.

13. The monitoring device of claim 8, wherein the first instance and the second instance of the stimuli includes the vibration stimulus and at least one of the audible stimulus and the visual stimulus, and wherein the intensity of the at least one of the audible stimulus and the visual stimulus is elevated in the second instance.

14. The monitoring device of claim 8, wherein the second instance of the stimuli elevates the intensity of the one or more stimuli progressively until a predefined maximum intensity is reached or until movement by the infant is detected.

15. An infant monitoring system, comprising:

a monitoring device attachable to the infant, comprising;

an accelerometer configured to detect movement information of the infant;

one or more stimulus generating components configured to generate stimuli, the stimuli including at least one of a vibration stimulus, an audible stimulus, and a visual stimulus; and

a controller configured to;

determine, based on the movement information, an absence of movement by the infant for a predetermined period of time;

initiate, in response to the determined absence of movement, a first instance of the stimuli to stimulate a responsive movement by the infant;

determine, based on the movement information following the first instance of the stimuli, a continued absence of movement by the infant; and

initiate, in response to the determined continued absence of movement, a second instance of the stimuli to further stimulate the responsive movement by the infant and to alert a caregiver that the infant is unresponsive;

a transmitting device to be placed within a vicinity of the monitoring device, comprising;

a microphone configured to capture audio; and

a transmitter configured to transmit information to a receiving device, wherein the transmitted information includes information based on the captured audio; and

a receiving device to be placed within a vicinity of the caregiver, comprising;

a receiver configured to receive the transmitted information from the transmitting device; and

one or more output components configured to produce output based on the received information.

16. The infant monitoring system of claim 15, wherein the one or more output components of the receiving device include a speaker configured to reproduce the audio captured by the transmitting device, and wherein the audio captured by the transmitting device includes sounds produced by the infant and the monitoring device.

17. The infant monitoring system of claim 15, wherein the one or more output components of the receiving device include at least one of a vibration component, a sound component, and a lighting component to generate, based on the received information, a local alert to the caregiver that the infant is unresponsive.

18. The infant monitoring system of claim 17, the receiving device further comprising a microphone configured to detect an ambient noise level, wherein the one or more output components include at least the vibration component configured to generate a vibration as the local alert when the detected ambient noise level exceeds a predefined threshold.

19. The infant monitoring system of claim 15, the transmitting device further comprising a camera configured to capture video, wherein the transmitted information further includes information based on the captured video, and wherein the one or more output components include a display configured to output the captured video based on the received information.

20. A method of monitoring an infant with a monitoring device attachable to an infant and comprising an accelerometer, one or more stimulus generating components, and a controller, the method comprising:

detecting, by the accelerometer, movement information of the infant;

determining, based on the detected movement information, an absence of movement by the infant for a predetermined period of time;

generating, with the one or more stimulus generating components and in response to the determined absence of movement, a first instance of stimuli to stimulate a responsive movement by the infant;

determining, based on the detected movement information following the first instance of stimuli, a continued absence of movement by the infant; and

generating, with the one or more stimulus generating components and in response to the determined continued absence of movement, a second instance of stimuli to further stimulate the responsive movement by the infant and to alert a caregiver that the infant is unresponsive.