Proposal of System to Prevent Sudden Infant Death Syndrome Caused by Sleeping in a Prone Position

Abstract

The sudden, unexplained death of an infant is a tragic family event. Unaccustomed tummy sleeping increases the risk of SIDS. Babies who are used to sleeping on their backs and are placed to sleep on their tummies are 18 times more likely to die from SIDS. In order to prevent SIDS, Babysense and Snuza Hero are commercially available. They are useful products that can be detected at an early stage in the accident baby. However, it may become too late after the accident has occurred. Preventing before the accident occurs in the baby is desirable. In this study, we propose a new system to prevent sudden infant death syndrome caused by sleeping in a prone position using Kinect. This system can detect baby sleeping in a prone position from depth information and image of Kinect. First, this system recognizes the presence of a person from depth. Next, this system recognizes that the person is sleeping in supine or prone position by using the difference in depth with the other. Finally, this system recognizes that a person is sleeping in prone position by face recognition. By preventing baby sleeping in a prone position, the incidence of SIDS is greatly reduced.