Wearable alarm system incorporating phased-array radar water sensing

• US 10,036,808 B2
• Filed: 04/05/2017
• Issued: 07/31/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 04/06/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Charlotte Ann Watkins, Paul Lockwood
• Original Assignee: Charlotte Ann Watkins, Paul Lockwood
• Inventors: Watkins, Charlotte Ann, Lockwood, Paul
• Primary Examiner(s): Beckley, Jonathan R
• Application Number:
  US15/479,989
• Publication Number:
  US 20170294094A1
• Time in Patent Office: 482 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/886 for alarm systems alarms with electrical actuation G08B13/22
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 2013/0245 Radar with phased array antenna
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 7/003 Transmission of data between radar, sonar or lidar systems and remote stations
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/0222 Message structure or message content, e.g. message protocol
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/0225 Monitoring making use of different thresholds, e.g. for different alarm levels
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/0227 System arrangements with a plurality of child units
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/0236 Threshold setting
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/0238 adding new units to the system
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/0247 System arrangements wherein the alarm criteria uses signal strength
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/0294 Display details on parent unit
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/088 by monitoring a device worn by the person, e.g. a bracelet attached to the swimmer
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 27/2272 using phase locked loops H04L27/2273 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/16 Half-duplex systems; Simplex/duplex switching; Transmission of break signals non-automatically inverting the direction of transmission
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 56/0015 one node acting as a reference for the others

Abstract

A safety system comprised of safety devices each worn by a caretaker and up to three people requiring minding, that alerts using color coded LED lights and audible tones when a monitored person is in danger. The device alerts if the person is beyond a preset distance, is close to or is in a body of water, or signals they are in trouble, using phased-array radar coupled with image processing.

The phased-array radar allows the remote sensing of water in either daylight or night. The phased-array radar comprises multiple antenna elements including an independent antenna element phase shifter allowing beamsteering. The device scans an object using a preset beamsteering algorithm independent of movement. The multiple antenna elements and beamsteering improve image data accuracy which is then interpreted and correlated with a body of water characteristics. The phased-array radar is also used for caretaker-monitored person communications.

Claims

1. A wearable monitoring alarm system comprising:

a first safety device worn by a supervising parent; and

an identical second safety device that is worn by a monitored child, that alerts the parent when said child is beyond a selected distance, or is close to a body of water, or is in a body of water, or said child signals they are in trouble, or said parent wishes to contact said child;

wherein the first safety device is capable of monitoring two additional children, each with their own said safety device, the system additionally comprising;

a) a method to transmit to and receive data between each safety device;

b) a method to designate and synchronize the first safety device as the parent safety device and the second safety device as the child;

c) a method for a data stream to be transmitted from the parent safety device to the child safety device and to be visually displayed on the child safety device;

d) a method for a data stream to be transmitted from the child safety device to the parent safety device to be visually displayed on the parent safety device;

e) a method to determine and alert the parent safety device that the child safety device is in the close proximity of a body of water;

f) a method to detect and alert the parent safety device that the child safety device is in a body of water;

g) a method to determine when a child safety device is beyond a selected distance from the parent safety device;

h) a method to send a panic signal from the child safety device to the parent safety device;

i) a method to communicate and synchronize with a second child and a third child wearing an identical safety device as the first child;

wherein a set of antenna elements in the parent safety device and a set of antenna elements in the child safety device are used to facilitate radio frequency transmit and receive data;

wherein a phased-array radar system in each of the safety devices remotely senses the near proximity of a large body of water thereby causing a condition sequence code to be sent from the child safety device to the parent safety device causing the parent safety device to produce an audible and a visual alert;

wherein a series of water sensors detect when the child safety device becomes submersed in a body of water thereby causing a condition sequence code to be sent from the child safety device to the parent safety device causing the parent safety device to produce an audible and a visual alert; and

wherein a power detector in the parent safety device determines when the second safety device is beyond the selected distance thereby causing a condition sequence code to be sent from the child safety device to the parent safety device causing the parent safety device to produce an audible and a visual alert.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein each safety device is comprised of:

a) a housing assembly with a front piece and a back piece of identical size and of a rectangular shape, wherein the front and the back pieces are separated and connected by a set of four sides, each of which have an equal height to separate an exterior space outside of the housing from an interior space inside of the housing assembly comprising;

i. a visual display assembly embedded in the front housing piece;

ii. a set of water sensors embedded in a left side piece, a top side piece and a right side piece of the housing assembly;

iii. a set of phased-array radar and antenna elements in the interior space of the housing assembly;

iv. a frequency converter, a set of transmission circuits comprised of RF switches, amplifiers, phase shifters and optimized power dividers in the interior space of the housing assembly;

v. a set of intermediate frequency circuits comprised of filters, amplifiers, transformers, and data converters in the interior space of the housing assembly;

wherein said housing is of a waterproof material;

wherein said housing is designed to rest on a top side of said child'"'"'s arm or said parent'"'"'s arm;

b) a wristband assembly comprised of;

a first waterproof strap having a first end and a second end attached to the exterior of the housing assembly at a midpoint on one side of said safety device housing;

wherein said wristband has a second waterproof strap having a first end and a second end attached at a midpoint on the exterior of the safety device housing on a side opposite from the first waterproof strap; and

wherein said first end of the second waterproof strap is connected to the first end of the first waterproof strap such that the strap is adjustable to fit different wrist sizes.

3. The system according to claim 2, wherein the visual display assembly on the front of said housing assembly comprising:

a) a first electronic module of an LED data array matrix comprised of two rows and three columns;

wherein each column of a first row in the matrix contains a button comprised of a waterproof material that is backlit by an LED light;

wherein the first and second columns of a second row in the matrix each contains a button comprised of a waterproof material that is backlit by an LED light and the third column of the second row contains a speaker;

wherein the LEDs light up and the speaker alerts corresponding to the condition sequence code transmitted from the second safety device;

wherein said first data array matrix is located in the top left corner of the visual display assembly;

wherein the LED in the first row and first column is green, the LED in the first row and second column is yellow, and the LED in the first row and the third column is red;

wherein said red LED in the first row and third column can be flashed off and on;

wherein the second row the LED light in the first column is green, the second row the LED light in the second column is red, and the second row a speaker is in the third column of the data array matrix;

b) a second data array matrix that corresponds to the third safety device condition sequence code transmissions;

wherein the second data array matrix is identical to the first and is located to the right of the first data array matrix in the top center of the visual display assembly;

c) a third data array matrix that corresponds to the fourth safety device condition sequence code transmissions;

wherein the third data array matrix is identical to the first and is located to the right of the second data array matrix;

d) a set of five control buttons where each a button comprised of a waterproof material;

wherein the buttons are arranged in a matrix comprised of two rows and three columns and are located below the three data array matrices on the front the housing assembly;

wherein a first row of buttons, a button in a first column designates the safety device as a Parent device;

wherein the first row of buttons, a button in a second column is a Notify button;

wherein the first row of buttons a button in a third column is a Range button;

wherein a second row of buttons a button in the first column is a SYNCH button; and

wherein the second row of buttons a button in the third column is an ON/OFF power button.

4. The system according to claim 2, wherein a multi-element phased-array radar in said child safety device continually steers the beam according to a pre-defined digital image processing algorithm, which is independent of the monitored child'"'"'s movement, to interpret the radar reflections to identify a nearby body of water of said child safety device and send an alert communications to said parent safety device;

wherein said phased-array radar allows the remote sensing of water to occur either in daylight or at night since the electromagnetic transmission from a child safety device to the surroundings and the reflection from the surrounding is independent of daylight;

wherein said phased-array radar is integrated with a transceiver and operates in the same frequency band;

wherein the multiple antenna elements and beamsteering improves the accuracy of the image data generated which is then interpreted and correlated with a body of water characteristics;

wherein a firmware application controls the settings of a set of phase shifters in a transmit/receive module of a phased-array antenna element;

wherein the phased-array radar is active until it detects water and sends an alert, or receives a bit sequence from the parent safety device to transmit its status, or the Notify button on the child safety device is pressed, or a Notify signal is received from the parent safety device.

5. The system according to claim 4, wherein said phased-array radar shares a transceiver and operates in the 5 GHz and 2.4 GHz ISM bands;

wherein the phased array radar comprises a multiple of radar elements arranged in a square or circular pattern wherein each radar element comprises a transmit/receive module connected to a patch antenna.

6. The system according to claim 2, wherein the phased-array radar further comprises:

the transmission circuits operating in an unlicensed V-Band or a lower frequency band; and

wherein the power dividers are optimized for 57/57.05 GHz.

7. The system according to claim 1, wherein the method to transmit and receive data between each safety device is half-duplex such that each safety device can transmit and receive at the same set of frequencies without the transmit circuits interfering with the receive circuits without the receive circuits interfering with the transmit circuits;

wherein the safety devices can switch between a 2.4 GHz band and a 5 GHz ISM band;

wherein a power detector is used to sample the power levels in the 2.4 GHz ISM band and the 5 GHz ISM band to determine which band to use based on which one has the lowest interference level;

wherein said child safety device will transmit alternatively between the 2.4 GHz ISM band and the 5 GHz ISM band on a regular basis;

wherein demodulation will occur using a digital phase-locked loop and a correlator implemented in the microcontroller.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the condition sequence code is comprised of:

a) a 4-bit network ID data which is provided by said parent safety device when setting up and first synching with said child safety device;

b) a 2-bit Device ID data which is provided by said parent safety device when setting up and first synching with said child safety device to identify a data source when said child safety device sends data;

c) a 1-bit frequency band data set by the child safety device;

d) a 3-bit condition code which is generated by the sending child safety device and contains status information on whether the safety device is beyond a set distance, is near water, is in water or said monitored child has requested help;

e) a 1-bit stop bit.

9. The system according to claim 1, wherein setting up the designated parent safety device with a child safety device is comprised of the following steps:

a) powering on the parent safety device and the child safety device by pressing the ON/OFF button on each device, which when pressed again will power off the safety device;

b) pressing the parent button on the designated parent safety device to set it up to receive and process data from the child safety device;

c) pressing the SYNCH button on the parent safety device to generate a transmission of the stored network identification ID to the child safety device joining the network that then receives and stores the network ID;

d) generating a child safety device ID by the parent safety device which is sent to the child safety device;

e) selecting an out-of-range distance by pressing the range button designated as R1/R2 on the parent safety device for a longer out-of-range distance generating a transmission to the child safety device which then receives and sets the new distance, or doing nothing to use the default short out-of-range distance;

wherein the distance of the child safety device from the parent safety device is determined by a power detector in the parent device.

10. The system according to claim 9,

wherein the second child safety device and the third child safety device is set up in the same manner as the first child safety device when they are added to the network;

wherein the first child safety device is assigned to the leftmost LED data array matrix on the parent safety device, and if there is a second child, it is assigned the middle LED data array matrix and if a third child, the safety device is assigned the last and right most LED data array matrix.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the method for detecting submersion in water and alerting the parent safety device is comprised of:

sensing an electrical short from any two of said water sensors the child safety device interprets it to be contact with water;

sending a condition sequence code to the parent safety device;

receiving the condition sequence code and triggering an audible and a visual alert;

wherein said water sensors are comprised of copper that is coated with a thin film to prevent corrosion.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein the method for sending a panic signal from the child safety device to the parent safety device comprises:

pressing the Notify button on the child safety device thereby causing a condition sequence code to be sent from the child safety device to the parent safety device;

receiving the condition sequence code on the child safety device resulting in the lighting of all red LEDs and issuing an audible alarm on the parent safety device.

13. The system of claim 1, wherein the method for a data stream to be transmitted from the parent safety device to the child safety device is comprised of:

pressing the Notify button on the parent safety device thereby causing a condition sequence code to be sent from the parent safety device to the child safety device;

receiving the condition sequence code on the child safety device resulting in the lighting of all red LEDs and issuing an audible alarm on the child safety device.