APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR MONITORING SOUND IN A PROCESS SYSTEM

• US 20090196431A1
• Filed: 02/01/2008
• Published: 08/06/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 02/01/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
• Original Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
• Inventors: Gregg, Jack T.
• Granted Patent: US 8,824,691 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 381/56
• CPC Class Codes: B01J 19/0006 Controlling or regulating processes controlling or regulating in general G05
• CPC Class Codes: B01J 2219/00268 Detecting faulty operations
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2227/003 Digital PA systems using, e.g. LAN or internet
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2420/07 Applications of wireless loudspeakers or wireless microphones
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 27/00 Public address systems circuits for preventing acoustic reaction H04R3/02; circuits for distributing signals to loudspeakers H04R3/12; monitoring or testing arrangements for public address systems H04R29/007; amplifiers H03F
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 29/00 Monitoring arrangements; Testing arrangements for hearing aids H04R25/30; detection of loudspeaker connection H04R5/04; sound-field adaptation dependent on speaker detection H04S7/308

Abstract

A method for monitoring sound in a process system is provided that includes sensing sound at a specified location, capturing the sensed sound as sound data, and forwarding the sound data from the specified location to a process control system. The sound data is analyzed at the process control system and a determination is made regarding whether or not to issue a warning based on the analysis of the sound data. For a particular embodiment, the analysis of the sound data includes comparing the sound data to at least one stored sound, and the determination regarding whether or not to issue a warning based on the analysis of the sound data is made based on a level of similarity between the sound data and the stored sound.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

sensing sound at a specified location;

capturing the sensed sound as sound data;

forwarding the sound data from the specified location to a process control system;

analyzing the sound data at the process control system; and

determining whether to issue a warning based on the analysis of the sound data.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein analyzing the sound data at the process control system comprises comparing the sound data to at least one stored sound.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein determining whether to issue a warning based on the analysis of the sound data comprises determining a level of similarity between the sound data and the stored sound.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein forwarding the sound data to the process control system comprises forwarding the sound data to a controller within the process control system.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the specified location is remote from the process control system, and wherein forwarding the sound data from the specified location comprises transmitting the sound data over a wireless network from a wireless sound sensor at the specified location.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein forwarding the sound data to the process control system comprises forwarding the sound data to an operator station within the process control system.

7. The method of claim 6, the method further comprising sending the sound data from the operator station to a speaker.

8. An apparatus comprising:

a sound sensor operable to sense sound at a specified location, to capture the sensed sound as sound data, and to forward the sound data from the specified location to a process control system; and

a sound data analyzer within the process control system, the sound data analyzer operable to analyze the sound data and to determine whether to issue a warning based on the analysis of the sound data.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the sound sensor comprises a wireless sound sensor.

10. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the sound sensor comprises a wired sound sensor.

11. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the sound data analyzer is operable to analyze the sound data by comparing the sound data to at least one stored sound.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the sound data analyzer is operable to determine whether to issue a warning based on the analysis of the sound data by determining a level of similarity between the sound data and the stored sound.

13. The apparatus of claim 8, further comprising a sound data provider within the process control system, the sound data provider operable to send the sound data to a speaker.

14. The apparatus of claim 8, further comprising:

a plurality of sound sensors, each of the sound sensors operable to sense sound at a specified location, to capture the sensed sound as sound data, and to forward the sound data from the specified location to the process control system; and

wherein the sound data analyzer is further operable to analyze the sound data from each of the sound sensors and, for each of the sound sensors, to determine whether to issue a warning based on the analysis of the sound data from the sound sensor.

15. A computer program embodied on a computer readable medium, the computer program comprising computer readable program code for:

analyzing sound data received at a process control system from a sound sensor; and

determining whether to issue a warning based on the analysis of the sound data.

16. The computer program of claim 15, the computer readable program code for analyzing the sound data comprising computer readable program code for comparing the sound data to at least one stored sound.

17. The computer program of claim 16, the computer readable program code for determining whether to issue a warning based on the analysis of the sound data comprising computer readable program code for determining a level of similarity between the sound data and the stored sound.

18. The computer program of claim 17, the computer readable program code for determining a level of similarity between the sound data and the stored sound comprising computer readable program code for determining whether the level of similarity is above a first threshold, below a second threshold, or between the first and second thresholds.

19. The computer program of claim 18, the computer readable program code for determining whether to issue a warning based on the analysis of the sound data comprising computer readable program code for determining to issue an alarm when the level of similarity is above the first threshold, to issue an alert when the level of similarity is between the first and second thresholds, and to issue no warning when the level of similarity is less below the second threshold.

20. The computer program of claim 15, the computer readable program code for analyzing the sound data comprising computer readable program code for comparing the sound data to a plurality of stored sounds, and the computer readable program code for determining whether to issue a warning based on the analysis of the sound data comprising computer readable program code for determining, for each of the plurality of stored sounds, a level of similarity between the sound data and the stored sound.