User Control System and Method for Infant Care Apparatus
AssigneeGeneral Electric Company
InventorsArkadiy Tsitlik, Steven Falk
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An infant care system comprises a platform configured to support an infant and to receive an applied force on the platform. The infant care system also comprises at least two load cells connected to the platform, each of the two load cells configured to receive at least a portion of the applied force on the platform and generate a signal indicative of the portion of applied force received. The infant care system also comprises a processor configured to receive and analyze the signals from the load cells and perform a function based on the analyzed signals.
Claims21
1-25. (canceled)
An infant care system, comprising:
- an infant support platform for supporting an infant, the infant support platform configured to receive an applied force from a caregiver as a user control input while the infant is on the infant support platform;
- at least two load cells connected to the infant support platform, each of the two load cells configured to receive at least a portion of the applied force on the infant support platform while the infant is on the infant support platform, and to generate a signal indicative of the portion of applied force received;
- and
- a processor configured to:
- determine based on the signals from each of the load cells that a predefined condition is met indicating that the applied force is from the caregiver, wherein the predefined condition includes one or more of a force magnitude, a force duration, a force location, and a force pattern;
- identify a user control input based on the signals;
- and
- perform a function based on the user control input.
A user interface for an infant care apparatus, comprising:
- an infant support platform comprising a plurality of zones, the infant support platform configured to receive an applied force from a caregiver as a user control input while the infant is on the infant support platform;
- a plurality of load cells connected to the infant support platform, the load cells configured to each receive a portion of the applied force and generate a signal indicative of the portion of applied force received;
- and
- a processor configured to:
- determine based on the signals from the plurality of load cells that the signals meet a predefined condition indicating that the applied force is from the caregiver, wherein the predefined condition includes one or more of a force magnitude, a force duration, a force location, and a force pattern;
- determine which zone of the plurality of zones the force was applied;
- identify a user control input based on the zone;
- and
- perform a function in response to the user control input.
A method of controlling an infant care apparatus comprising:
- providing an infant support platform, the infant support platform connected to a plurality of load cells;
- receiving a force from a caregiver on the infant support platform as a user control input while an infant is on the infant support platform, wherein each of the plurality of load cells receives a portion of the force and generates a signal indicative thereof;
- determining with a processor that one or more of the signals meet a predefined condition indicating that the applied force is from the caregiver;
- determining with a processor a location of the force with respect to the infant support platform based on the signals from the plurality of load cells;
- identify a user control input based on the location of the force;
- and
- performing with a processor a function based on the user control input.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.