Fire detection apparatus utilizing a camera
First Claim
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1. A fire detection device, comprising:
- a camera that captures a reference image and a measured image, the measured image and the reference image each comprising a plurality of pixels, wherein each pixel in the reference image has a corresponding pixel in the measured image; and
a processor configured to;
determine an intensity of the reference image defined as a digital numerical quantity indicative of the number of photons of light detected in the reference image;
(ii) determine an intensity of the measured image defined as a digital numerical quantity indicative of the number of photons of light detected in the measured image;
(iii) determine the difference between the intensity of the measured image and the intensity of the reference image;
(iv) determine whether the difference between the intensity of the measured image and the intensity of the reference image exceeds a preselected intensity threshold;
(v) determine a pixel intensity of each individual pixel in the measure image and the reference image when the difference between the intensity of the measured image and the intensity of the reference image exceeds the preselected intensity threshold, wherein the pixel intensity is defined as a digital numerical quantity indicative of the number of photons of light detected in an individual pixel;
(vi) determine whether a preselected threshold percentage of pixels in the measured image have an increased pixel intensity compared to the pixel intensity of the corresponding pixel in the reference image;
(vii) determine the number of contiguous pixels having an increased pixel intensity in the measured image when said preselected threshold percentage of pixels is met;
(viii) when preselected threshold percentage of pixels is not met, repeat steps (ii)-(vii);
(ix) when the number of continuous pixels having an increased pixel intensity in the measured image exceeds a preselected number of pixels, indicate the presence of smoke.
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Abstract
A fire detection device is provided that has a camera that captures a reference image and a measured image. A processor compares intensity of the measured image to intensity of the reference image and uses this comparison to determine if an alarm is generated to indicate the presence of fire. The intensity of the measured image may be the total number of photons of the measured image, and the intensity of the reference image may be the total number of photons of the reference image. In other arrangements, the intensity may be measured between individual corresponding pixels of the reference and measured images.
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18 Claims
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1. A fire detection device, comprising:
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a camera that captures a reference image and a measured image, the measured image and the reference image each comprising a plurality of pixels, wherein each pixel in the reference image has a corresponding pixel in the measured image; and a processor configured to; determine an intensity of the reference image defined as a digital numerical quantity indicative of the number of photons of light detected in the reference image; (ii) determine an intensity of the measured image defined as a digital numerical quantity indicative of the number of photons of light detected in the measured image; (iii) determine the difference between the intensity of the measured image and the intensity of the reference image; (iv) determine whether the difference between the intensity of the measured image and the intensity of the reference image exceeds a preselected intensity threshold; (v) determine a pixel intensity of each individual pixel in the measure image and the reference image when the difference between the intensity of the measured image and the intensity of the reference image exceeds the preselected intensity threshold, wherein the pixel intensity is defined as a digital numerical quantity indicative of the number of photons of light detected in an individual pixel; (vi) determine whether a preselected threshold percentage of pixels in the measured image have an increased pixel intensity compared to the pixel intensity of the corresponding pixel in the reference image; (vii) determine the number of contiguous pixels having an increased pixel intensity in the measured image when said preselected threshold percentage of pixels is met; (viii) when preselected threshold percentage of pixels is not met, repeat steps (ii)-(vii); (ix) when the number of continuous pixels having an increased pixel intensity in the measured image exceeds a preselected number of pixels, indicate the presence of smoke. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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Specification