Portable environment monitoring and early warning system for babies

• US 9,666,052 B1
• Filed: 01/12/2015
• Issued: 05/30/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 01/12/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Elliot John Smith
• Original Assignee: Elliot John Smith
• Inventors: Smith, Elliot John
• Primary Examiner(s): Lieu, Julie
• Application Number:
  US14/595,198
• Time in Patent Office: 869 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2503/04 Babies, e.g. for SIDS detection
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2560/0204 of power management
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2560/0252 using ambient temperature
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2562/029 Humidity sensors
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2562/04 Arrangements of multiple sensors of the same type
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0008 Temperature signals
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/01 Measuring temperature of body parts ; Diagnostic temperature sensing, e.g. for malignant or inflamed tissue clinical contact thermometers G01K13/20
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/4266 sweat secretion
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/445 Evaluating skin irritation or skin trauma, e.g. rash, eczema, wound, bed sore
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6804 Garments; Clothes
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6824 Arm or wrist
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6829 Foot or ankle
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6898 Portable consumer electronic devices, e.g. music players, telephones, tablet computers
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7278 Artificial waveform generation or derivation, e.g. synthesising signals from measured signals A61B5/327 takes precedence
• 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: G01K 13/20 Clinical contact thermometers for use with humans or animals
• CPC Class Codes: G01W 1/17 Catathermometers for measuring "cooling value" related either to weather conditions or to comfort of other human environment
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/0205 Specific application combined with child monitoring using a transmitter-receiver system

Abstract

The present disclosure describes an apparatus and method for monitoring the environment of a baby, i.e. the outside environment and the direct environment in direct contact with the baby. Environment elements which can be monitored include the temperature, humidity, sunlight intensity and whether or not the environment is damp. Using the temperature and humidity data, the heat index can also be calculated. The child'"'"'s direct environment is a weighted value which considers the environment elements relating directly to the child and the direct ambient surroundings of the child. This weighted value, for instance, takes into account the skin temperature of the child as well as the ambient temperature, humidity, dampness of the direct surroundings of the child.

Claims

1. An apparatus for monitoring a multilayered baby environment surrounding a baby where the multilayered environment includes core environmental elements in direct contact with the body of the baby, ambient environmental elements within a layer of garments providing an ambient environment between the baby and outside environmental elements outside the layer of garments, said apparatus comprising:

a sensor module with multiple sensors distributed in the multilayered environment for sensing environmental elements in each layer;

an ambient analysis module for combining the sensor data from sensors in the core layer and in the ambient layer to produce combined ambient environmental data;

a display module for displaying said combined ambient and core environmental data indicative of a complete ambient environment surrounding the baby in the multilayered environment and thereby provide proactive information for care of the baby;

a transmitting module for sending said combined ambient environmental data from the sensor module to a main module;

an outside environment module in the main module having one or more outside environment sensors for sensing the outside environmental elements, and having a detect module for detecting at least one changing of the outside environmental elements;

the display module being in the main module, and adapted to be responsive to the at least one changing of the outside environmental elements, and for providing proactive information for care of the baby;

wherein the outside environment sensors are for sensing the one or more outside environmental elements selected from the group consisting of temperature, humidity, moisture/dampness, ultraviolet light intensity levels, and visible light intensity levels of an outside environment of the baby; and

wherein said ambient analysis module further comprises an ambient environmental weighted combination module for;

combining ambient environmental data from the one or more ambient environmental elements of an ambient environment of the baby with core environmental data from one or more of the baby'"'"'s core environmental elements;

wherein the combining ambient environmental data and core environmental data includes weighting the ambient environmental data with a first weighting factor and weighting the core environmental data with a second weighting factor.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said display module comprises:

a warning module displaying ranges of combined environmental data indicating when the environmental conditions are normal and hazardous for the baby; and

an alert module responsive to hazardous environmental conditions generating one or more alarms selected from the group consisting of;

visual, audible and vibratory.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said multiple sensors distributed in the multilayered environment in the sensor module comprise one or more sensors for sensing one or more environmental elements selected from the group consisting of:

temperature, humidity, moisture/dampness, ultraviolet light intensity levels, and visible light intensity levels of said ambient environment of the baby.