SPO Medical, a developer of biosensor and microprocessor technologies for use in portable monitoring devices, has been granted a new baby monitoring patent relating to a non-invasive device or system for monitoring and measuring the heart rate of a baby to activate an alarm when the level falls outside a predetermined range.

The issuance by the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) with patent number 7,650,176 brings the company’s intellectual property (IP) portfolio to a total of 12 patents. The patent specifically addresses the concern by providing a pro-active solution through a real-time baby monitoring application, and recognise respiratory distress of the baby.

The new patent focuses on commercial applications relating to the implementation of reflectance pulse oximetry for monitoring babies and infants particularly for ages up to 12 months. Many types of consumer baby monitors are currently available but most do not give the advance warning necessary for the caregivers to administer aid.

Michael Braunold, president and chief executive officer of SPO Medical, said: “The granting of this innovative patent could have a major impact on the baby monitoring market it enables the commercialization of a pro-active monitoring device that can help safeguard a baby during those first-year critical months especially when parental or caregiver anxiety is potentially high.

“With over 8 million births annually in the US and Western Europe alone, our objective is to make available this unique technology to client corporations who have an interest in commercializing and distributing a product which delivers parental reassurance attributes with real-time monitoring of babies particularly while they are sleeping.”