Moveable infrared curtain
AssigneeBea SA
InventorsEmmanuel Eubelen, Joseph M. Mulcahy, Adrien Van Damme, Tom Yantek
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An infrared (IR) sensor for use in a door sensor. The IR sensor may include one or more rows of emitters configured to generate an emission beam. The emission beam may have a width that is at least a width of an opening below the door sensor. The IR sensor may also include one or more rows of receptors configured to receive an evaluation beam. The receptor beam may have a maximum width that is at least the width of the opening. At least a portion of the receptors may be further configured to be one or more of deactivated and ignored, such that the width of the evaluation beam is reduced to correspond with a reduced width of the opening during a closing of a door.
Claims20
A method for use in a door sensor, the method comprising:
- emitting, by each emitter of a plurality of emitters arranged in multiple emitter rows, an emission beam comprising infrared (“IR”) light;
- forming, by one or more lenses comprising refractive elements, an IR pattern having a width that is at least a width of an opening below the door sensor on a surface by:
- duplicating the emission beam of each emitter to form a first duplicated beam and a second duplicated beam,
- directing the first duplicated beam to a first reception area of a plurality of reception areas on the surface, and
- directing the second duplicated beam to a second reception area of the plurality of reception areas on the surface;
- receiving, by one or more receptors of a plurality of receptors arranged in multiple receptor rows, an evaluation beam from a corresponding reception area of the plurality of reception areas on the surface, the evaluation beam having a maximum width that is at least the width of the opening;
- and
- one or more of deactivating and ignoring an output of at least a portion of the one or more receptors, thereby reducing the width of the evaluation beam to correspond with a reduced width of the opening during a closing of a door.
An infrared (IR) sensor for use in a door sensor, the IR sensor comprising:
- a plurality of emitters arranged in multiple emitter rows, each emitter of the plurality of emitters configured to generate an emission beam comprising infrared (“IR”) light;
- one or more lenses comprising refractive elements, the one or more lenses configured to form an IR pattern having a width that is at least a width of an opening below the door sensor on a surface by:
- duplicating the emission beam of each emitter to form a first duplicated beam and a second duplicated beam,
- directing the first duplicated beam to a first reception area of a plurality of reception areas on the surface, and
- directing the second duplicated beam to a second reception area of the plurality of reception areas on the surface;
- one or more receptors of a plurality of receptors arranged in multiple receptor rows configured to receive an evaluation beam from a corresponding reception area of the plurality of reception areas on the surface, the evaluation beam having a maximum width that is at least the width of the opening;
- and
- at least a portion of the one or more receptors further configured to be one or more of deactivated and ignored, such that the width of the evaluation beam is reduced to correspond with a reduced width of the opening during a closing of a door.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.