Sudden infant death syndrome monitor

DETAILED DESCRIPTION The present invention provides a SIDS monitor with substantially reduced false alarm difficulties in which a video monitor displays the infant in real time to the parents when oxygen desaturation is detected and produces a SIDS alarm if the infant is not then moving and a lower level of alarm if the infant is then moving.
In a first aspect, the present invention provides a SIDS monitor having an oxygen desaturation detector applied to an infant to be monitored, a movement detector for detecting movement of the infant, a video camera for monitoring the infant, a video display responsive to the video camera for displaying real time video images of the infant to a parent or other caregiver, and alarm processing circuitry for activating the video display when oxygen desaturation and movement are detected, and for activating the video display and producing a first level of alarm when oxygen desaturation is detected and movement is not detected.
In another aspect, the present invention provides a method of monitoring an infant for SIDS by detecting oxygen desaturation of an infant to be monitored, detecting movement of the infant, displaying real time video images of the infant to a parent or caregiver when oxygen desaturation is detected, and alerting the parent or caregiver with a first alarm when oxygen desaturation is detected if movement is not detected.
These and other features and advantages of this invention will become further apparent from the detailed description and accompanying figures that follow.
In the figures and description, numerals indicate the various features of the invention, like numerals referring to like features throughout both the drawings and the description.