System and method for social distancing during device usage
AssigneeToshiba Tec Kabushiki Kaisha
InventorWilliam SU
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A system and method for maintaining safe social distancing during device operation comprises a multifunction peripheral configured to scan or print a tangible document. A camera captures electronic images of two or more people proximate to the multifunction peripheral. A processor determines a relative distance between the people in accordance with captured electronic images and generates an alarm when a determined relative distance is less than a predetermined alarm threshold distance. The processor disables operation of the multifunction peripheral when the determined relative distance is less than the predetermined alarm threshold distance.
Claims20
A multifunction peripheral comprising:
- a document processing engine configured to scan or print a tangible document;
- a camera configured to capture one or more electronic images of two people proximate to the multifunction peripheral;
- memory;
- and
- a processor,
- the processor configured to determine a relative distance between the people in accordance with the captured electronic images,
- the processor further configured to generate an alarm when a determined relative distance is less than a predetermined alarm threshold distance, and
- the processor further configured to disable operation of the multifunction peripheral when the determined relative distance is less than the predetermined alarm threshold distance.
A method comprising:
- scanning or printing a tangible document;
- capturing one or more electronic images of two people proximate to a multifunction peripheral;
- determining a relative distance between the people in accordance with captured electronic images;
- generating an alarm when a determined relative distance is less than a predetermined alarm threshold distance;
- and
- disabling operation of the multifunction peripheral when the determined relative distance is less than the predetermined alarm threshold distance.
A system comprising:
- a memory storing threshold data indicative of a preselected social distancing threshold;
- a camera configured to capture digital images comprising a plurality of persons;
- and
- a processor,
- the processor configured to identify one of the plurality of persons as a user of a device in accordance with facial recognition performed on a captured digital image,
- the processor further configured to, in real time, determine relative distances between the user and one or more other persons of the plurality,
- the processor further configured to generate a prompt to the user when any relative distance between the user and any other person exceeds the preselected social distancing threshold, and
- the processor further configured to disable use of the system until such time as no other person exceeds the preselected social distancing threshold.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.