Apparatus and system for detecting equipment occupancy

A system for detecting an occupancy of a plurality of equipment by people, comprising:

• at least one apparatus each mountable to a corresponding equipment, comprising:
• a memory having stored therein a status of said equipment as either occupied or unoccupied by a person, and a predetermined acceleration limit value;
• an accelerometer unit in operation measuring an acceleration value of said equipment at each of a plurality of discrete time intervals, the accelerometer unit accessing the acceleration limit value from the memory and comparing each acceleration value thereto, the accelerometer unit continuously measuring acceleration and generating a movement signal indicative of a movement of said equipment upon a consecutive number N of the acceleration values being greater than or equal to the acceleration limit value;
• a processor in communication with the accelerometer unit and with the memory, the processor operable between an active mode upon receiving the movement signal from the accelerometer unit and an inactive mode, the processor in the active mode accessing the status of said equipment from the memory and emitting an occupied signal if the status of said equipment is unoccupied;
• and
• a power source supplying electrical power to the accelerometer unit and to the processor;
• a system memory having stored therein the status of each of the equipment as either occupied or unoccupied by a corresponding person;
• a system processor in communication with each apparatus to receive the occupied signal and an unoccupied signal therefrom;
• and
• at least one application stored in the system memory, and executable by the system processor to:
• receive the occupied and unoccupied signals from each apparatus;
• modify the system memory to change the status of each of the equipment as a result of the occupied or unoccupied signal received from a corresponding apparatus;
• and
• output equipment occupancy data indicative of the changed status of each of the equipment stored in the modified system memory.

A method for detecting an occupancy of an equipment by a person, comprising:

• measuring an acceleration of at least a part of the equipment at each of a plurality of discrete time intervals with an accelerometer unit;
• comparing in the accelerometer unit the measured accelerations to a predetermined acceleration limit value;
• emitting a movement signal with the accelerometer unit to a processor upon a consecutive number N of the measured accelerations being greater than or equal to the acceleration limit value;
• and
• exiting the processor from an inactive mode upon receiving the movement signal and emitting an occupied signal with the processor if a current status of the equipment is unoccupied.