PALO ALTO, Calif. – Is Nest preparing to bring to market a high-tech baby crib chockablock with sensors? Maybe so. According to a pending patent application filed in 2014 and published for the first time on Thursday, the proposed device includes a thermal-imaging camera, pressure sensors, speakers, microphones, projectors and air-quality instruments.
The filing titled “Crib With Embedded Smart Sensors” cites the inventor as Maxime Veron, Nest’s director of product management and hardware marketing. The Alphabet subsidiary envisions plugging the device into a smart home system that would make for data-rich nap times.
The crib’s design includes sensors built into the frame and mattress to keep a vigil on a child’s condition. Parents would receive notifications on their smartphones whenever the baby does, well, most anything, according to techtimes.com.
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For example, the motion and pressure sensors would notify parents when a baby is awake. A built-in microphone would allow parents to hear when the baby is crying in the crib. There’s even an accelerometer to tell parents when the infant is shaking the crib around or if it may have tipped over at any point.
“A dirty diaper (e.g., based on air sensor), an illness (e.g., vomit detected by air sensor), heart palpitations detected (e.g., by pressure sensor), unusual lack of movement (e.g., based on a motion sensor), an unusual by temperature (e.g., by a temperature sensor and/or a thermal imaging camera), coughing or sneezing (e.g., by motion capture camera and/or a microphone), etc.,” according to the patent application.
The patent was filed in late 2014, before Google was restructured as Alphabet. Although it remains unclear what’s new and what’s old in the patent application published on Thursday, the fact that it has been updated could mean the smart crib will be either tweaked or brought to market soon.
