Master-Slave Audio Network for Infant Monitoring
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Solution Overview
Problem
Parent-infant monitoring systems face challenges such as limited mobility, power dissipation issues, and difficulty in locating individuals without electronic locating units, particularly in environments where noise levels need to be managed and privacy maintained.
Innovation Solution
A sound reinforcement system that uses multiple microphones and speakers to triangulate the position of sounds, such as a crying baby or moving toddler, within a home environment, allowing for real-time audio delivery and voice command control to manage network configurations and power usage.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If the receiver is kept in one room for monitoring, then the system structure is simple, but the parent cannot monitor the infant when moving to other rooms
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple receiver units into a distributed network where each room has its own receiver node. These nodes work together as a unified system, allowing the parent to monitor from any location while maintaining individual node simplicity.
Solution Approach 2:
The system dynamically reconfigures monitoring relationships based on parent and infant locations. The master-slave roles between transceiver and receiver nodes can switch automatically, allowing adaptive monitoring coverage as users move through different rooms.
2Reliability
If all monitors are fully enabled to ensure monitoring coverage, then monitoring reliability is high, but power dissipation increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system dynamically adjusts the operational state of each receiver node based on real-time monitoring needs. When no infant sounds are detected in a particular room, that receiver enters sleep mode to conserve energy. When infant cries are detected, the system activates only the necessary receivers to maintain monitoring coverage.
Solution Approach 2:
The receiver nodes periodically check for infant sounds and switch between active and sleep states accordingly. This periodic monitoring approach ensures reliable detection while minimizing power consumption during quiet periods.
3Object-affected harmful factors
If the transmitter is disabled for privacy, then noise disturbance is reduced, but all monitors must be manually visited and disabled
Solution Approach 1:
The system provides dynamic control where the parent can remotely enable or disable individual receiver nodes through wireless communication. This eliminates the need to physically visit each monitor while maintaining privacy when needed, as the parent can selectively activate only the necessary monitoring points.
4Area of stationary object
If multiple receivers are distributed across rooms, then monitoring coverage is improved, but the system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system automatically discovers and configures the network topology when receiver nodes are powered on. Nodes dynamically establish master-slave relationships based on their positions and detected infant sounds, eliminating manual network configuration while achieving comprehensive coverage.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Enables continuous monitoring of infants and toddlers across multiple rooms, reduces power consumption, and allows for precise location tracking and audio reinforcement, improving parental awareness and privacy management.
Implementation Method 1
an analyzer that correlates a time difference of arrival of the plurality of first digital bit streams
Implementation Method 2
said plurality of second digital bit stream is coupled to a speaker to generate a reinforced sound of said source
Data Source
AI summary
An apparatus is described that can monitor the sounds and voices of infants and children in a house by judicially placing nodes in key locations of the home. The network has intelligence and uses voice recognition to enable, disable, reroute, or alter the network. The network uses voice recognition to follow a child from node to node, monitors the children according to activity and uses memory to delay the voices so the adult can hear the individual conversations. An adult that has been assigned privilege can disable all nodes from any node in the network. Another apparatus can locate an individual by voice recognition or sounds they emit including walking, breathing and even a heartbeat. The sound is detected at several microphones that have a specific positional relationship to a room or an enclosement. Triangulations of the time differences of the audio signal detected by the microphones are used to determine the location or position of the audio source in the room. This information can be used to provide an improved audio delivery system to the individual.