Abstract:
A baby monitoring system including a baby unit for receiving audio signals, and a parent unit for reproducing an audio signal received at the baby unit. At least one of the baby and parent units includes audio signal recording capability, e.g. using a digital voice recorder. Preferably, at least one of the units includes a port capable of outputting data representing a stored audio signal, such that the data can be stored in a memory of a PC or other device. Thus, a baby&#39;s sounds/words may be monitored and recorded/stored in the memory of the baby monitoring system, downloaded to a separate device with long term storage capability, and the memory of the baby monitoring system may be reused to record new sounds, causing deletion of previously recorded sounds from the baby monitoring system&#39;s memory while permitting long term retention of a record of such sounds in the separate device.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION 
   This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/655,992, filed Feb. 24, 2005, the entire disclosure of which is hereby incorporated herein by reference. 

   FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
   The present invention relates generally to baby monitors and more particularly to a baby monitoring system of a type generally used by parents to monitor from a remote location a baby in a baby&#39;s room. 
   BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
   The present invention relates generally to baby monitors and more particularly to a baby monitoring system that includes a parent unit and a baby unit that have a one-way or two-way radio frequency communications link established therebetween. Baby monitor systems of this type, such as the Fisher-Price® Sweet Dreams Monitor™ manufactured and/or sold by Mattel, Inc. of El Segundo, Calif., are well known in the art. 
   Some baby monitors include certain limited recording functionality. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,043,747 to Altenhofen discloses a baby monitor system that includes a message storage mechanism. More specifically, the parent unit, which is carried by the parent, includes a microphone that allows a care giver to record and store in a digital message memory at the parent unit a soothing message for playback to the baby via the baby unit, which remains in the baby&#39;s room. In response to activation of a play switch on the parent unit, the message is reproduced by a speaker on the baby unit. The entire disclosure of U.S. Pat. No. 6,043,747 is hereby incorporated herein by reference. 
   U.S. Pat. No. 6,766,145 discloses a child monitor system that is similar to conventional nursery room baby monitors in that includes a local unit (carried by the parent) and a remote unit (located in the child&#39;s room) that are capable of wirelessly communicating with each other. Each unit has the capability of receiving and outputting acoustic audio signals as well as the capability of transmitting and receiving the signals to and from the units. In one embodiment, the local unit includes a memory in which input signals from either unit may be stored prior to being output. For example, the memory may be implemented by a common digital recording integrated circuit such as a commercially available Winbond Electronics Corp. voice recorder with SRAM. This allows a user to save and later playback sounds made by infant near the remote unit. Accordingly, the system receives, at the remote (baby) unit, sounds made by an infant and transmits the sounds to the local (parent) unit. The system then stores the sounds in the memory of the local (parent) unit. In order to output these recorded sounds, the system retrieves the infant sounds from the memory and outputs the sounds at a speaker of the local unit. In operation, the end-user pushes a record button to record and the system records sounds over sounds previously recorded and stored in memory. The entire disclosure of U.S. Pat. No. 6,766,145 is hereby incorporated herein by reference. 
   SUMMARY 
   Conventional baby monitors seek to monitor a baby&#39;s well being, etc. The inventor hereof has determined that baby monitors are inadequate for recording and storing a baby&#39;s speech/sounds, and for creating a record of such speech/sounds that may be maintained in long term storage and subsequently accessed therefrom, e.g. for archival and/or nostalgic purposes. It has been determined that it would be desirable to combine such recording and storage functionality with conventional and/or existing baby monitoring functionality. 
   The present invention provides such a baby monitoring system. In particular, at least one of the baby unit and parent unit of the baby monitoring system includes a data output port capable of outputting data representing an audio signal stored in a memory of the units to and external long-term data storage device. Preferably the data output port is capable of outputting a data signal in digital or other form in a conventional format for plug—and—play interconnection with PC compatible electronic devices, such as a memory key/jump drive (collectively “memory key”) with a USB connector. 
   In this manner, new sounds may be recorded in memory of the baby monitoring system, causing old sounds to be deleted from the memory, and yet a permanent/long-term record of the sounds may be retained in an external memory for later reference and/or reproduction, e.g. to retain a record of your child&#39;s first words that will allow for audio reproduction of those words using conventional PC hardware and/or software, or the like. 

   
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     The present invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the following drawings in which: 
       FIG. 1  is a diagram of an exemplary baby monitoring system including an exemplary baby unit and an exemplary parent unit in accordance with the present invention; 
       FIG. 2  is a schematic diagram showing the principal logical components of an exemplary embodiment of the baby and parent units of  FIG. 1 ; 
       FIG. 3  is a schematic diagram showing the principal logical components of an alternative exemplary embodiment of baby and parent units of  FIG. 1 ; 
       FIG. 4  is a schematic diagram showing the principal logical components of another alternative exemplary embodiment of baby and parent units of  FIG. 1 ; 
       FIG. 5  is a schematic diagram showing the principal logical components of yet another alternative exemplary embodiment of baby and parent units of  FIG. 1 ; 
       FIG. 6  is a schematic diagram showing the principal logical components of yet another alternative exemplary embodiment of baby and parent units of  FIG. 1 ; and 
       FIG. 7  is a schematic diagram showing the principal logical components of yet another alternative exemplary embodiment of baby and parent units of  FIG. 1 . 
   

   DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
   The present invention allows for recording and storing a baby&#39;s speech/sounds, and for creating a record of such speech/sounds that may be maintained in long term storage and subsequently accessed therefrom, e.g. for archival and/or nostalgic purposes. 
     FIG. 1  shows an exemplary embodiment of a baby monitoring system  100  in accordance with the present invention. As shown in  FIG. 1 , the system  100  includes a baby unit  10  for placement in a baby&#39;s room to monitor the baby&#39;s speech/sounds, and a parent unit  30  for use by parents to remotely monitor the baby&#39;s speech/sounds by reproducing at its speaker, sounds picked up by a microphone of the baby unit  10 . 
   In this embodiment, the parent unit  30  includes a molded plastic parent unit housing  32  which includes a speaker cover  34 , and provides for receipt of a screw fastened battery compartment cover  36 , an on/off switch  38 ; a volume control switch  40 , and a parent unit antenna  42 . With reference to  FIGS. 2 ,  3 ,  4  and  5 , the parent unit  30  also includes processing circuitry  48 , an audio output transducer (speaker)  44 , and a wireless receiver  46 . Optionally, the parent unit&#39;s housing may include a conventional belt clip for attaching the parent unit to a user&#39;s belt. 
   Further, as shown in  FIG. 1 , in this exemplary embodiment, the baby unit  10  includes a molded plastic baby unit housing  12  which includes a microphone cover  14 , and provides for receipt of a battery and/or an AC power adapter (not shown), an optional on/off switch  18 , and a baby unit antenna  20 . With reference to  FIGS. 2 ,  3 ,  4  and  5 , the baby unit  10  also includes processing circuitry  22 , an audio input transducer (such as a condenser microphone)  24 , and a wireless transmitter  26 . 
   These components are well known in the art and function largely in a conventional manner, as described in greater detail in U.S. Pat. No. 6,766,145, the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. By way of summary, the audio input transducer  24  of the baby unit  18  converts an incident acoustic input into a first input signal. Acoustic input can include speech, crying, breathing, and other sounds etc., from an infant or child (collectively, “baby”). The processing circuitry  22  of the baby unit converts the input signals into an output signal that is received by the wireless transmitter  26  for wireless transmission to the wireless receiver  46  of the parent unit  30 . 
   Generally, the present invention operates as a baby monitor as follows. The audio input transducer  24  of the baby unit  10  receives a first acoustic input (baby speech/sounds) and converts it to a first input signal that is passed through to the transmitter  26  of the baby unit  10  via processing circuitry  22  (which may be incorporated into transmitter  26 ). The transmitter  26  of the baby unit  10  transmits this signal to the receiver  46  of the parent unit  30  by wireless transmission. The parent unit&#39;s receiver  46  passes the received signal on to its processing circuitry  48 . The processing circuitry  48  of the parent unit converts the first output signal into a second output signal, which the output transducer (speaker)  44  converts into an audio (acoustic) output (reproduced speech/sounds). 
   Hardware for providing such functions is well known in the art and described in greater detail in U.S. Pat. No. 6,766,145. By way of summary, it is noted that power to the electronic components of the parent unit  30  is supplied by a main power supply which, in this exemplary embodiment, consists of a 9V battery housed in a battery compartment in housing  32 . The baby unit  10  includes may include a similar power supply but preferably includes as an alternative an AC power adapter (not shown) for connection to a power supply. The audio input transducer  24  of baby unit  10  is implemented as an omnidirectional condenser microphone mounted on the housing  12 . The transmitter and receiver circuitry used in the baby and parent units may be any suitable standard circuitry, as will be appreciated by those of ordinary skill in the art. By way of example, one suitable implementation is a 49 MHz system available from Excel Engineering, Ltd of Japan. Many other systems (including, for example, 900 MHz systems) are available from various suppliers. Similarly, any suitable system may be used for the conversion circuitry in the baby and parent units, by which the inputs from either baby unit microphone or parent unit receiver are converted to output signals for the baby unit transmitter or parent unit audio output transducer, respectively. 
   In accordance with the present invention, either the baby unit, or the parent unit, or both are provided with a memory, recording capability for storing in the memory recorded data for reproducing audio signals, and data output capability for transferring the recorded data from the memory to an external data storage device, such as external data memory. For example, a data output port is provided for connection of an external data memory device, such as a personal computer, which may include a writable CD or DVD drive, a computers hard disk drive, etc., or a USB or other port for connection of a stand alone hard drive, floppy disk drive, CD or DVD drive, tape drive, flash memory drive/key, or any other device capable of storing the data, and retaining the data apart from any memory of the baby unit or parent unit. In this manner, the memory of the baby unit or parent unit may be erased, and additional sounds may be recorded in the memory, while the parent may retain a record of the previously recorded sounds on the PC, etc. 
   The memory  50  may be implemented in any of a number of ways that will be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art. By way of example, a commercially available digital recording integrated circuit such as a Winbond Electronics Corp. voice recorder with SRAM memory may be employed for this purpose. 
   Similarly, the Data Output Port  54  may be implemented in any of a number of ways that will be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art, provided that the Data Output Port  54  is capable of transmitting data to a conventional electronic data storage device such as a PC, memory key, hard disk drive, I/O board of a PC, floppy disk drive, CD drive, DVD drive, etc. By way of example, a conventional USB port or cable may be employed for this purpose. 
   In the exemplary embodiment of  FIG. 2 , the baby unit  10  includes the memory  50  and the Data Output Port  54 . The memory  50  is in communication with the audio input transducer  24  in order to store an audio signal received therefrom. In this exemplary embodiment the connection is made via processing circuitry  22  which processes the input audio signal and prepares it for storage in the memory and/or for output via the Data Output Port in a format compatible with commercially available computer software for reproducing audio signals, such as a *.mpg, *.wav, *.avi, *.wma, *.snd, *.au, *.mid, *.asf, or the like. 
   In this embodiment, in which the memory is in the baby unit, recording begins when the baby unit is switched on via the on/off switch  18 . Alternatively, recording to the memory begins when an on/off recording button  19  on the baby unit is pressed. Recording to the memory stops when the memory is full, or when a predetermined amount of time has elapsed, or when the baby unit is switched off, or when the on/off recording switch  19  is pressed. In operation, the system records sounds over sounds previously recorded and stored in the memory. However, before recording over such sounds, such sounds may be copied from the memory via the data output port. By way of example, this may occur automatically upon connection of such a device, or the memory may be configured to act like a memory key, such that conventional PC software may be used to retrieve data from the memory and copy it to another storage device, such as the PC&#39;s hard disk drive. Accordingly, this configuration allows the user to record and later download for storage on an external storage device sounds made by a baby near the baby unit. 
   In the exemplary embodiment of  FIG. 3 , the baby unit  10  similarly includes the processing circuitry  22 , memory  50 , the Data Output Port  54 . However, in this embodiment, the baby unit  10  also includes a Voice Activated Recorder (VAR)  56 , which may be implemented by conventional circuitry or otherwise as will be appreciated by those skilled in the art. The VAR  56  senses when the baby is making sounds by monitoring the signal received from the audio input transducer  24 , and initiating recording to the memory  50  only when it senses that such sounds are being made, and to stop/pause recording when it senses that such sounds are not being made. For example, the VAR  56  may include circuitry for determining when the audio signal includes more than mere background noise. Such VAR circuitry is commercially available and well known in the art. Accordingly, in this embodiment, the on/off recording button  19  is used to simply turn on or off the VAR  56 . Other operation is similar to that described above. 
     FIGS. 4 and 5  are somewhat similar to  FIGS. 2 and 3  respectively, except that the memory  50 ′, Data Output Port  54 ′ and optional VAR  56 ′ are provided in the parent unit  30 . These components function in a manner corresponding to the manners described above. As discussed above, recording to the memory and/or turning on of the VAR  56 ′ may be initiated by turning the parent unit  30  on via its on/off switch  38 . Alternatively, and additional on/off recording button may be provided on the parent unit  30  similar to button  19  of the baby unit  10 , for use as described above. It should be noted that in the embodiment of  FIG. 5 , the VAR  56 ′ monitors signals received from the parent units receiver  46  and/or processing circuitry  48  to determine whether the baby is making sounds near the baby unit  10 . 
     FIG. 6  shows an alternative embodiment of a parent unit or baby unit that includes a similar Data Output Port  54 , but includes memory that is physically removable from the unit. For example, the memory may be provided in the form of a conventional memory key/flash drive/jump drive having a USB connector. In this manner, the memory may be physically removed from the unit and connected to a conventional PC or the like. 
     FIG. 7  shows an alternative embodiment similar to that of  FIG. 6 , but also including a VAR. 
   It should be understood that the embodiments shown are exemplary only and that other embodiments are within the scope of the present intention. By way of example, the memory, Data Output Port, and/or VAR need not be provided in the same unit. Instead some of these components may be provided in one of the baby unit and parent unit, and the other(s) of these components may be provided in the other of the baby unit and parent unit. For example, the VAR and memory may be provided in the baby unit, and the Data Output Port may be provided in the parent unit, data from the memory in the baby unit being transmitted from the baby unit  10  to the parent unit  30  and its Data Output Port via the transmitter and receiver of the units. In other embodiments, both of the baby unit and the parent unit may be provided with a VAR, memory and/or Data Output Port. 
   With general reference to  FIGS. 1-7 , the parent unit and baby unit collectively include a conventional radio frequency transmitter and receiver circuit, a conventional analog to digital microphone amplification circuit, a conventional digital to analog converter and a conventional speaker drive circuit. The radio frequency transmitter and receiver circuits of the parent unit and baby unit are complementarily tuned to establish a two way radio frequency communications link between the parent unit  30  and baby unit  10 . 
   In use, baby unit  10  is used to monitor the sounds within the baby&#39;s environment and transmit those sounds for reproduction on parent unit speaker  44  of parent unit  30 . Sounds from within the baby&#39;s environment are automatically recorded and stored as data for subsequent retrieval in the memory of one of the baby unit  10  and parent unit  30 . The stored data is subsequently selectively downloadable from one of the baby unit  10  and parent unit  30  to a conventional electronic data storage device such as a memory key/jump drive, personal computer&#39;s hard drive, CD drive, or the like for long-term storage. In this manner, new sounds may be recorded in the memory, causing old sounds to be deleted from the memory, and yet a permanent/long-term record of the sounds may be retained for later reference and/or reproduction, e.g. to retain a record of your child&#39;s first words that will allow for audio reproduction of those words using conventional PC hardware and/or software, or the like. 
   It is noted that the embodiment of the baby monitor system described herein in detail for exemplary purposes is of course subject to many different variations in structure, design, application and methodology. Because many varying and different embodiments may be made within the scope of the inventive concept(s) herein taught, and because many modifications may be made in the embodiment herein detailed in accordance with the descriptive requirements of the law, it is to be understood that the details herein are to be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.