Passive monitoring of sensor calibration status
First Claim
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1. A system comprising:
- a plurality of sensors for sensing the presence of a chemical and a control for analyzing a signal from said sensors, said sensors being operable to send an occurrence signal indicative of a presence of a particular chemical to said control, and said sensors also sending a background signal to said control even without the presence of the particular chemical; and
said control evaluating said occurrence signal to identify the presence of the particular chemical, and evaluating said background signal to identify a need for calibrationwherein a change in said background signal is monitored to identify the need for calibration and wherein said control monitors noise in said background signal and a change in said noise to identify said need for calibration.
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Abstract
A system has at least one sensor and a control for analyzing a signal from the sensor. The sensor is operable to send a signal indicative of a presence of a particular occurrence to the control. The sensor also sends a background signal even without the presence of the particular occurrence. The control evaluates the background signal to identify a need for calibration. A method is also disclosed.
8 Citations
15 Claims
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1. A system comprising:
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a plurality of sensors for sensing the presence of a chemical and a control for analyzing a signal from said sensors, said sensors being operable to send an occurrence signal indicative of a presence of a particular chemical to said control, and said sensors also sending a background signal to said control even without the presence of the particular chemical; and said control evaluating said occurrence signal to identify the presence of the particular chemical, and evaluating said background signal to identify a need for calibration wherein a change in said background signal is monitored to identify the need for calibration and wherein said control monitors noise in said background signal and a change in said noise to identify said need for calibration. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. A system comprising:
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a plurality of sensors for sensing the presence of a chemical and a control for analyzing a signal from said sensors, said sensors being operable to send an occurrence signal indicative of a presence of a particular chemical to said control, and said sensors also sending a background signal to said control even without the presence of the particular chemical; and said control evaluating said occurrence signal to identify the presence of the particular chemical, and evaluating said background signal to identify a need for calibration wherein a change in said background signal is monitored to identify the need for calibration and wherein said control looks to a number of noise spikes in said background signal to identify the need for calibration.
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10. A method of monitoring a system comprising the steps of:
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sensing for the presence of a particular chemical at a sensor and sending an occurrence signal should the presence of the chemical be detected, and monitoring the signals at a control, and also sending a background signal from the sensor even without the presence of the particular chemical, and evaluating said background signal to identify a need for calibration, and calibrating the sensor should a need be identified; monitoring a change in said background signal to identify the need for calibration; and monitoring noise in said background signal and using a change in said noise to identify said need for calibration. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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Specification