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US 10,245,728 B2Granted
Monitoring system
AssigneePmdtechnologies AG
InventorsJavier Massanell, Thomas May, Manfred Strobel
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A monitoring system includes at least one three-dimensional (3D) time-of-flight (TOF) camera configured to monitor a safety-critical area. An evaluation unit is configured to activate a safety function upon an entrance of at least one of an object and a person into the monitored area and to suppress the activation of the safety function where at least one clearance element is recognized as being present on the at least one of the object and the person.
Claims9
A monitoring system, comprising:
- at least one three-dimensional (3D) time-of-flight (TOF) camera configured to monitor a safety-critical area;
- an evaluation unit configured to activate a safety function upon an entrance of at least one of an object and a person into the monitored area and to suppress the activation of the safety function where at least one clearance element is recognized as being present on the at least one of the object and the person, the at least one clearance element including a marking that is detectable by the at least one 3D TOF camera and identifies the at least one clearance element based on at least one of a specified optical property and a specified geometrical property of the marking.
A method for operating an area monitoring system comprising:
- monitoring an area using a three-dimensional (3D) time-of-flight (TOF) camera;
- using the 3D TOF camera, detecting when at least one of a person and an object enters the area;
- using an evaluation unit, recognizing whether at least one clearance element is present on the at least one of the person and the object, the at least one clearance element being recognized by a marking thereof which identifies the at least one clearance element based on at least one of a specified optical property and a specified geometrical property of the marking;
- and
- activating a safety function when the at least one of the person and the object enters the area only in a case where the recognizing results in a determination that the at least one clearance element is not present.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.