User-defined stimulation patterns for juvenile products
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing juvenile products, such as swings and bouncers, offer limited preprogrammed motion and vibration patterns, restricting caregivers' ability to personalize the stimulation experience for infants.
Innovation Solution
A mobile application on a smartphone or tablet allows users to define customized motion and vibration patterns for juvenile products like swings and bouncers, using touchscreen input, motion sensing, or audio translation, with control signals generated by the device or a remote server to actuate motors.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If preprogrammed motion patterns are used, then device complexity is reduced, but adaptability deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a mobile device as an intermediary between the user and the juvenile product. The mobile device executes a mobile application that recognizes user-defined stimulation patterns through touchscreen input, motion sensing, or audio translation, and transmits control signals to the juvenile product's actuators. This intermediary approach enables high adaptability without increasing the complexity of the juvenile product itself, as the pattern recognition and processing functions are offloaded to the external mobile device.
2Adaptability or versatility
If user-defined stimulation patterns are implemented, then adaptability improves, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system is segmented into distinct functional components: the juvenile product contains only the actuator and basic control hardware, while the mobile device handles pattern recognition, processing, and user interface functions. This segmentation allows the juvenile product to remain simple and safe for infant use, while the mobile device provides advanced adaptability through various input methods (touchscreen drawing, motion sensing with accelerometers and gyroscopes, audio waveform translation).
Solution Approach 2:
The mobile device serves as an intermediary that offloads complex processing functions from the juvenile product. The mobile application recognizes user-defined patterns, generates control signals, and transmits them to the juvenile product via wireless communication. This approach enables sophisticated adaptability while keeping the juvenile product's hardware simple and focused on its primary function of providing gentle motion stimulation.
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 caregivers to create personalized stimulation patterns for infants, enhancing user experience and adaptability beyond preprogrammed options.
Implementation Method 1
the user moving the mobile device in free space with the movements captured by motion-sensing elements of the mobile device, such as accelerometers, magnetometers, and gyroscopes
Data Source
AI summary
Systems and methods define a stimulation pattern for a juvenile product utilizing a mobile device that executes a mobile application that is linked to the juvenile product. The method comprises the step of recognizing, by the mobile device when executing the mobile app, the user-defined stimulation pattern for the juvenile product. The stimulation pattern can be a vibration pattern or a motion pattern, and can be detected in a number of different ways by the mobile device. The method further comprises the step of determining control signals for the actuator(s) of the juvenile product based on the user-defined stimulation pattern that is recognized by the mobile device. The method further comprises the step of, in response to receiving a command to execute the user-defined stimulation pattern, controlling the actuator(s) of the juvenile product based on the stored control signals for the user-defined stimulation pattern.