Automatic door installation and method of determining the presence of an obstacle
AssigneeEnsota (Guangzhou) Technologies Ltd.
InventorsPeter Collins, John Curzon
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
There is disclosed an automatic door installation 10 comprising: a door opening 16; and an optical door sensor comprising: a plurality of transmitters 30 arranged in a transmitter array 22, each transmitter 30 being configured to transmit an optical beam across the door opening along a respective beam path; a plurality of receivers 32 arranged in a receiver array 24, each receiver 32 being configured to generate a receiver output signal based on an intensity of light received. The plurality of receivers 32 are arranged in at least one set of receivers, the receivers of the or each set being linked so that the respective sensor output signals are combined into a compound signal for the respective set.
Claims22
An automatic door installation comprising:
- a door opening;
- and
- an optical door sensor comprising:
- a plurality of transmitters arranged in a transmitter array, each transmitter being configured to transmit an optical beam across the door opening along a respective beam path;
- a plurality of receivers arranged in a receiver array, each receiver being configured to generate a receiver output signal based on an intensity of light received, the plurality of receivers being coupled to the processor unit via a non-spatially resolving common link without multiplexing;
- wherein the plurality of receivers are arranged in at least one set of receivers, the receivers being linked so that the respective sensor output signals are combined into a compound signal for the respective set relating to cumulative light intensity received on a plurality of receivers;
- and
- a processor unit configured to receive the compound signal from the at least one set of receivers;
- wherein each transmitter is arranged so that at least two receivers belonging to the same set of receivers lie on the respective beam path in at least one operational configuration of the automatic door installation;
- and
- wherein the processor unit is configured to determine whether an obstacle is present based on the at least one compound signal.
A method of determining the presence of an obstacle in a door gap of an automatic door installation, the automatic door installation comprising:
- the door opening;
- and
- an optical door sensor comprising:
- a plurality of transmitters arranged in a transmitter array, each transmitter being configured to transmit an optical beam across the door opening along a respective beam path;
- a plurality of receivers arranged in a receiver array, each receiver being configured to generate a receiver output signal based on an intensity of light received, the plurality of receivers being coupled to the processor unit via a common link without switching or multiplexing;
- wherein the plurality of receivers are arranged in at least one set of the receivers, the receivers being linked so that the respective sensor output signals are combined into a compound signal for the respective set relating to cumulative light intensity received on the plurality of receivers;
- and
- wherein each transmitter is arranged so that at least two receivers belonging to the same set of receivers lie on the respective beam path in at least one operational configuration of the automatic door installation;
- the method comprising:
- causing the transmitters to transmit respective optical beams across the door opening so that the receivers generate corresponding receiver output signals and the compound signal;
- determining the presence of an obstacle in the door gap based on the at least one compound signal.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.