Advanced touchless plumbing systems

A system for controlling a plumbing fixture, comprising:

• at least two sensors, each sensor including a receiver, wherein one of the at least two sensors includes a transmission line coupled to receive pulses from a pulse generator and coupled to a detector to detect pulses reflected within the transmission line, a portion of the transmission line having an impedance value variable in response to an effective environmental dielectric constant;
• a controller coupled to receive detection signals from the sensors and to generate a control signal in response to the received signals;
• and
• an actuator coupled to receive the control signal from the controller and couplable to the plumbing fixture to act on the plumbing fixture.

A method of controlling plumbing fixtures, comprising

• detecting background signals from stationary objects within detection zones of a plurality of sensors;
• receiving detection signals from the plurality of sensors in a central controller;
• subtracting the background signals from the received detection signals to form object signals;
• determining a position of a detected object from the object signals;
• selecting, in the central controller, which of a plurality of actuators attachable to the plumbing fixtures to operate;
• and
• directing control signals to the selected actuator to operate the selected actuator.

A method of controlling plumbing fixtures, comprising

• receiving, in a central controller, detection signals from a plurality of sensors of a multi-sensor array;
• detecting presence of a user within a detection zone of one of the sensors of the multi-sensor array;
• determining a position of the user in response to a temporal sequence of detection signals received from the multi-sensor array;
• selecting, in the central controller, which of a plurality of actuators attachable to the plumbing fixtures to operate;
• and
• directing control signals to the selected actuator to operate the selected actuator.

A system for controlling plumbing fixtures, comprising:

• means for receiving detection signals from a plurality of sensors of a multi-sensor array;
• means for detecting presence of a user within a detection zone of one of the sensors of the multi-sensor array;
• means for determining a position of the user in response to a temporal sequence of detection signals received from the multi-sensor array;
• means for selecting which of a plurality of actuators attachable to the plumbing fixtures to operate;
• and
• means for directing control signals to the selected actuator to operate the selected actuator.