Parent Physiological Data Transmission to Infant via Wearable Sensor
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Solution Overview
Problem
In intensive care scenarios, particularly in neonatal intensive care units, infants are isolated from their parents due to infection risks, leading to restricted parental interaction and communication, which can negatively impact both the infant's development and the parent's mental health.
Innovation Solution
A system that allows for the recording and transmission of parent physiological data, such as heartbeat, voice, and breathing sounds, to infants, using wearable devices and servers that modify and filter the data to ensure it falls within safe ranges, simulating a womb environment and maintaining communication standards, even in stringent care facilities.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If parents are isolated from infants in intensive care units to prevent infection, then infant safety is improved, but parental-infant communication and bonding are worsened
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a communication system as an intermediary that transmits parental physiological data (heart rate, breathing, voice) to the infant through the incubator environment. This mediator enables indirect communication while maintaining physical isolation, thus preserving infant safety while reducing communication loss between parent and child.
2Object-affected harmful factors
If strict communication standards are enforced in care facilities to maintain hygiene, then infection risk is reduced, but parental connection to infant is limited
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces direct mechanical/physical interaction between parent and infant with an electronic communication system. Physiological signals are captured, transmitted, and played back through the incubator environment, substituting physical contact with electronic-mediated communication that adheres to hygiene protocols while maintaining connection.
3Reliability
If parental access to infant is restricted in NICU settings, then infant health protection is improved, but parental mental health deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The system provides feedback to the infant about parental physiological states, allowing the infant to sense parental presence and condition. This feedback loop maintains emotional connection despite physical separation, protecting infant health while preserving parental-infant bonding and reducing parental psychological distress.
Data Source
AI summary
Communication of parent physiological data to an infant may include a first interface device which includes a sensor to record physiological data associated with a heartbeat of a parent, a processor to receive the physiological data from the sensor, and a transceiver; a server which receives the physiological data from the transceiver, accesses an instance of the physiological data from a replay storage location during a loss of communication, assigns a unique identifier, processes the physiological data, modifies the physiological data to be within an allowable threshold or accesses physiological data within the allowable threshold when the physiological data is outside an allowable threshold, filters the physiological data to apply an effect, and transmits the physiological data based on the unique identifier; and a second interface device which includes a transceiver to receive the physiological data and a communication element to communicate the physiological data to the infant.