Electronic baby remote viewer

{
  "publication_number": "US2009091617A1",
  "country": "US",
  "kind": "A1",
  "title": "Electronic baby remote viewer",
  "abstract": "The invention is an electronic remote baby viewer for placement near a baby or child, so that a person interested in monitoring the baby can view the baby from another room of a house, or from outside the house. The unit includes a zoom function which zooms to the lower center, to the right, left, lower left, or lower right of the screen in order to give the user a view of those regions in order to better see a baby. The unit can be mounted crib side, or in a position to view a baby in a car seat in an automobile.",
  "claims": [
    "1. An electronic remote baby viewer, comprising: a digital camera lens unit for mounting in a position adjacent to a region to be viewed, with said region to be viewed being a location where monitoring a child is desirable, with said region to be viewed remote from a user of said electronic remote baby viewer; a digital viewing screen unit for mounting in a position at a selected distance from said digital camera lens unit, operationally connected to said digital camera lens unit, for convenient viewing of said region to be viewed by said user for the purpose of monitoring a child, with said digital viewing screen unit configured for use by a user in a room remote from the digital camera lens unit; an off center zoom feature in which a selected region of view is magnified, in which the region magnified is a region other than the center of the image of said region to be viewed; an off center zoom activation button; wherein an image viewed in the digital viewing screen is magnified when said off center zoom activation button is depressed, and said image is magnified to show greater detail of a part of the image which is not the center of the image, for use in monitoring a child. 2. The electronic remote baby viewer of claim 1 in which said zoom feature is configured to magnify a region of said image located in the lower center of said image. 3. The electronic remote baby viewer of claim 1 in which said zoom feature is based on software magnification of said image. 4. The electronic remote baby viewer of claim 1 in which said zoom feature is configured to magnify a region of said image located in the lower right of said image. 5. The electronic remote baby viewer of claim 1 in which said zoom feature is configured to magnify a region of said image located in the lower left of said image. 6. The electronic remote baby viewer of claim 1 in which said zoom feature is configured to magnify one of a plurality of regions of said image, in which the region to be magnified is not the center of the image. 7. The electronic remote baby viewer of claim 6 in which said electronic remote baby viewer further comprises a zone selection button, for selecting a region of said image to magnify. 8. The electronic remote baby viewer of claim 6 in which said electronic remote baby viewer further comprises a zone selection button in the form of a touch screen, for selecting a region of said image to magnify. 9. The electronic remote baby viewer of claim 7 which further comprises a magnification button to change magnification to different levels of magnification. 10. The electronic remote baby viewer of claim 1 which further comprises a brightness button to change brightness of said image to different levels of brightness. 11. The electronic remote baby viewer of claim 1 which further includes a voice transmittal feature. 12. The electronic remote baby viewer of claim 1 which further includes a plurality of digital camera lens units placed at various locations around a residence, with said digital display unit further comprising a camera selection button or means to select which camera to display an image from on said monitor. 13. The electronic remote baby viewer of claim 12 which further comprises a selection means to select a region on each image of each camera for viewing, and a magnification means for magnification of the selected region of the selected image. 14. The electronic remote baby viewer of claim 12 which further comprises a magnification selection means for selecting different levels of magnification for the image selected from the various cameras. 15. The electronic remote baby viewer of claim 1 in which said digital camera lens unit is configured for placement in an automobile adjacent a baby in a rear facing car seat, for viewing said baby in said car seat, with said off center zoom function configured to magnify an image of said infant. 16. The electronic remote baby viewer of claim 1 which further includes a light source for illuminating a child being monitored. 17. The electronic remote baby viewer of claim 11 which further comprises a microphone attached to said digital camera lens unit, and a speaker with said digital display screen for transmitting sound from said baby to the display unit so that said user may listen to said baby."
  ],
  "description_excerpt": "The invention generally relates to an apparatus for viewing a child or baby and more particularly an electronic monitor for viewing a baby remotely.\n\nThere are many times when a parent would like to be able to visually monitor a baby from a remote location. This could be when the baby is in a crib taking a nap and the parent wants to be in the kitchen, or another room of the house, or outside of the house. Ideally the parent would like to be able to be reassured that the baby is fine by being able to see and hear the baby. There are remote monitors which allow a parent to hear a baby, but there are no monitors which allow a parent to view a baby while a parent is another room of the house. Preferably such a device would have a viewing screen which is portable and could be carried to any location so that the parent could view the child from outside the house, from the garage, or from any location within range of the device. Another situation in which a parent would like to see a baby in which it is difficult to see the baby is when the baby is in an infant car seat in the back seat of a car with the car seat facing backwards. In such a case the parent cannot see the baby's face, but many times would like to. In either of these situations and in other child monitoring situations, a digital viewer which can be seen from a location remote from the digital camera would be a benefit to parents.\n\nThe invention is a baby remote viewer which includes a digital camera lens, a digital viewing screen, a zoom feature, a zoom activation button.",
  "cpc": [
    "H04N 7/183",
    "B60R 1/26",
    "B60R 1/28",
    "B60R 2300/103",
    "B60R 2300/306",
    "B60R 2300/406",
    "B60R 2300/808",
    "H04N 23/66",
    "H04N 5/2628"
  ],
  "ipc": [
    "H04N 5/262",
    "H04N 7/18"
  ],
  "inventors": [
    "Leroy E. Anderson"
  ],
  "filing_date": "2008-10-06",
  "publication_date": "2009-04-09",
  "priority_date": "2007-10-05",
  "application_number": "US-24593308-A",
  "family_id": "40522784",
  "cited_by_count": 30,
  "citations": [
    "US6812822B1",
    "US20100134612A1",
    "US7446650B2",
    "US20060114987A1",
    "US6396403B1",
    "US20050151844A1",
    "US7696888B2"
  ]
}