This invention relates generally to infant warming devices and infant vital signs monitors, and more particularly to a novel infant warming and sensor mat for keeping a baby warm and monitoring the baby's hemoglobin oxygen saturation level (SaO2) and heart rate.
As shown in
Warm air from a heated air supply (not shown) is injected into the air layer 14 via an air hose 26 and is allowed to exit through the openings 20 in the cover 12 in order to keep the baby warm.
Sensor layer 16 preferably comprises a plurality of light sources 32 and light detectors 34 woven into a suitable fabric material. The light sources 32 and light detectors 34 may be arranged in groups, for example circular groups 30, but any desired shape is possible for such sensor groupings. As shown in
When no baby is on the mat 10, the air layer 14 disperses the light sufficiently so that the amount of light emerging through the openings 20 in the cover 12 is not bothersome to medical personnel in the vicinity. When a baby is placed on the mat 10, the weight of the baby presses the cover 12 down toward the light sources 32 (i.e., the air layer gap 14 is substantially closed at the locations where the baby is lying), and the detectors 34 at those locations measure the amount of light that is reflected back from the baby through the openings 20 in the cover 12. As is known in the art, the amount of light reflected back from the baby is indicative of the baby's SaO2 level. Additionally, because the baby's blood is pulsing through its blood vessels at a certain frequency, the signal received by the detectors 34 will be periodic, and the period of that signal is indicative of the baby's heart rate. The SaO2 and heart rate calculations are preferably made by a computer processor (not shown) and the results displayed on a monitor (not shown) according to methods known in the art. Computer software known may preferably be employed to validate, cross-validate, accept and reject signals from multiple sensors for enhanced accuracy of the calculations and results to be displayed, as is familiar to those of skill in the art.
Although the foregoing specific details describe a preferred embodiment of this invention, persons reasonably skilled in the art will recognize that various changes may be made in the details of this invention without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims. Therefore, it should be understood that this invention is not to be limited to the specific details shown and described herein.
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
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PCT/US2004/029551 | 9/9/2004 | WO | 00 | 1/29/2007 |
Publishing Document | Publishing Date | Country | Kind |
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WO2005/025406 | 3/24/2005 | WO | A |
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4825488 | Bedford | May 1989 | A |
5285783 | Secker | Feb 1994 | A |
5675852 | Watkins | Oct 1997 | A |
5887304 | von der Heyde | Mar 1999 | A |
6336237 | Schmid | Jan 2002 | B1 |
6596016 | Vreman et al. | Jul 2003 | B1 |
Number | Date | Country | |
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20070270670 A1 | Nov 2007 | US |