Patent Application
20180318146
The present invention relates to nursing of infants, and more particularly to a method for indicating and alarming about wet level of a diapers.
When having their infants using diaper pants or diapers, parents tend to touch the diaper with hands frequently in order to determine whether the diaper is too wet and needs to be replaced. Disadvantages related to this practice are many. First, manual test is time consuming and not accurate. Secondly, manual test is impossible to be conducted in a continuous manner, and late knowing about wetness can lead to a baby's diaper rash. Thirdly, frequent testing touches may upset the infant.
One method for indicating wetness of diapers available in the market needs parents' frequent check. This method wastes time and may cause babies' skin allergy or inflammation if parents fail to detect wetness timely. Another approach to this involves placing a test probe on a diaper's stay-dry layer (the inner surface of a diaper). However, the test probe contacting human skin directly may make infants uncomfortable and needs frequent cleaning. Still another existing scheme uses a humidity sensor to detect a diaper's relative humidity. Nevertheless, most parents are awkward with intuitively recognizing diapers' wet level from values of relative humidity. Once the diaper is overused without timely alarm, the infant may develop a diaper rash.
In view of this, the objective of the present invention is to address the shortcomings of the prior art by providing a method for indicating and alarming about wet level of a diaper, wherein values of relative humidity not familiar to general users are converted into understandable wet level of diapers, making the use of diapers more convenient to users.
For achieving the foregoing objective, the present invention adopts the following technical scheme:
A method for indicating and alarming about wet level of a diaper uses a humidity sensor to test the humidity in the diaper. When it is detected that the relative humidity is below 50% rh˜60% rh, the diaper's wet level is shown as 0% rh. When the detected relative humidity is 85% rh˜95% rh or more, the diaper's wet level is shown as 100% rh. Functional conversion is performed to convert the relative humidity ranging between 60% rh and 85% rh˜95% rh proportionally into the diaper's wet level between 0% rh and 100% rh. When a first urination is detected, the collected humidity is converted into the diaper's wet level and displayed through a mobile end. A threshold for triggering an alarm that asks for diaper change is set by a user. When the diaper's wet level reaches or exceeds this threshold, the mobile end alarms the user for diaper change.
As a preferred scheme, the method for detecting the first urination comprises:
(1) determining that Condition 1 is satisfied if a humidity value collected by the humidity sensor lastly is greater than humidity values of previous N times and is 1% rh˜3% rh greater than a minimum among the humidity values of the previous N times;
(2) determining that Condition 2 is satisfied and the first urination has happened if humidity values collected in continuous M times satisfy Condition 1, and the humidity value collected in the Mth time is 3% rh˜6% rh greater than a minimum among the humidity values of the previous N+M times; and
(3) starting to detect a second urination when variation of the humidity values becomes steady.
As a preferred scheme, the N and M are both 7.
As a preferred scheme, the mobile end is a smartphone, a smartwatch or a tablet computer.
The present invention has significant advantages and beneficial effects over the prior art. Particularly, it is learned from the foregoing technical scheme that:
the disclosed indication method converts values of relative humidity that are unfamiliar to users into understandable wet level of diapers, so that users can easily know diaper's wet level, and the mobile end set with the threshold can trigger alarm for diaper change, so as to protect infants from a diaper rash and to save costs for diapers, making use of diapers more convenient.
The invention as well as a preferred mode of use, further objectives and advantages thereof will be best understood by reference to the following detailed description of illustrative embodiments when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
The present invention discloses a method for indicating and alarming about wet level of a diaper. It involves uses a humidity sensor to perform relative humidity detection on the diaper. When the detected relative humidity is below 50% rh˜60% rh, the diaper's wet level is shown as 0% rh. When the detected relative humidity is 85% rh˜95% rh or more, the diaper's wet level is shown as 100% rh. Functional conversion is performed to convert the relative humidity ranging between 60% rh and 85% rh˜95% rh proportionally into the diaper's wet level between 0% rh and 100% rh. The disclosed method for indicating a diaper's wet level first detects a first urination. If the infant has not urinated, the diaper's wet level is shown as 0% rh. Where urination is confirmed, if the humidity is below 60% rh, it is determined that the diaper's wet level is low and to be shown as a low value (1% rh˜10% rh).
When the first urination is detected, the collected humidity value is converted into the diaper's wet level and displayed through a mobile end. The user sets a threshold where an alarm for diaper change is triggered. When diaper's wet level reaches or exceeds this threshold, the mobile end alarms the user for diaper change. The mobile end is a smartphone, a smartwatch or a tablet computer. This alarm method is beneficial because parents can set and change the threshold according to the infant's current skin conditions. When the infant's skin is too weak to tolerate high wet level, the threshold can be lowered.
In the present embodiment, the method for detecting the first urination has the following steps:
As Step (1), the method determines that Condition 1 is satisfied if a humidity value collected by the humidity sensor lastly is greater than humidity values of previous N times and is 1% rh˜3% rh greater than a minimum among the humidity values of the previous N times. in the present embodiment, N is 7, so as shown in
As Step (2), the method determines that Condition 2 is satisfied and the first urination has happened if humidity values collected in continuous M times satisfy Condition 1, and the humidity value collected in the Mth time is 3% rh˜6% rh greater than a minimum among the humidity values of the previous N+M times; Condition 2 is satisfied and the first urination has happened when the humidity values collected in continuous 7 times satisfy Condition 1, and the humidity value collected in the 7th time is 3% rh˜6% rh greater than a minimum among the humidity values of the previous 7 times.
As Step (3), when variation of the humidity values becomes steady, the method starts to detect a second urination. The term “becomes steady” refers to that the time for humidity to increase every 0.1% rh is more than 20 seconds. The interval for collecting humidity is 0.5˜3 seconds.
The disclosed indication method is designed with the feature of converting values of relative humidity that are unfamiliar to users into understandable wet level of diapers, so that users can easily know diaper's wet level. Besides, the mobile end set with the threshold can trigger alarm for diaper change, so as to protect infants from a diaper rash and to save costs for diapers, making use of diapers more convenient.
The present invention has been described with reference to the preferred embodiments and it is understood that the embodiments are not intended to limit the scope of the present invention. Moreover, as the contents disclosed herein should be readily understood and can be implemented by a person skilled in the art, all equivalent changes or modifications which do not depart from the concept of the present invention should be encompassed by the appended claims.
