Sensing system for sensing stationary objects
AssigneeHoneywell International Inc.
InventorsFrancois-Christophe Moens, Sean McGuire
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Sensing systems and methods for sensing a stationary individual. A sensing system may use a first sensor to determine whether a detected thermal signature is associated with a human presence within a space. When the detected thermal signature is not associated with a human presence, the sensing system may repeat the determining whether a detected thermal signature is associated with a human presence. When the detected thermal signature is associated with a human presence, the sensing system may determine whether motion has been detected using a second sensor. In some cases, the first sensor may be a thermal sensor that can detect a human whether the moving or not, and the second sensor may be a motion sensor that only detects motion.
Claims20
A sensing system comprising:
- a first sensor configured to sense a measure of a surface temperature of an object and provide an output related to the surface temperature of the object even when the object is not moving;
- a second sensor configured to detect motion of the object and to output a signal indicating movement and/or non-movement of the object;
- and
- a controller operatively coupled to the first sensor and the second sensor, wherein the controller is configured to:
- determine whether an object is present based on the output related to the surface temperature of the object from the first sensor;
- when the object is determined to be present, determine when the object has been stationary for at least a predetermined period of time based on the output indicating movement and/or non-movement of the object from the second sensor;
- and
- output an alarm condition when the object is determined to be present and when it is determined that the object has been stationary for at least a predetermined period of time.
A method of detecting a stationary human in a defined space, the method comprising:
- determining whether a detected thermal signature in a field of view is associated with a human presence in the defined space;
- when the detected thermal signature in the field of view is not associated with a human presence, repeating the determining whether a detected thermal signature in a field of view is associated with a human presence in the defined space;
- when the detected thermal signature in the field of view is associated with a human presence, determining whether motion has been detected in the field of view;
- and
- when motion has not been detected in the field of view for at least a predetermined amount of time, outputting an alarm condition.
A system for sensing a motionless human in a defined space, the system comprising:
- a thermal sensor having an array of sensor pixels, where each sensor pixel is configured to sense surface temperature of objects in a field of view associated with the sensor pixel;
- a motion sensor configured to sense motion of objects within the defined space;
- a controller in communication with the thermal sensor and the motion sensor, wherein the controller is configured to:
- determine when a human is in the defined space based on an output from the thermal sensor;
- when a human is determined to be in the defined space, determine when the human moves in the defined space based on an output from the motion sensor;
- determine when a human is present in the defined space and has not moved in the defined space for at least a predetermined amount of time;
- and
- output an alarm condition after it is determined that a human is present in the defined space and has not moved in the defined space for at least a predetermined amount of time.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.