EXPOSURE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM, DOSIMETER, AND WIRELESS RELAY DEVICE

• US 20110063127A1
• Filed: 01/29/2009
• Published: 03/17/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 02/26/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Fuji Electric Company Limited (Fuji Electric Systems Company Limited)
• Original Assignee: Fuji Electric Systems Company Limited
• Inventors: Matsumoto, Eiji, Shibata, Tetsuo, Imai, Minoru
• Granted Patent: US 9,063,233 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/870.03
• CPC Class Codes: G01T 7/00 Details of radiation-measuring instruments
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/155 Ground-based stations H04B7/204 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/2606 Arrangements for base station coverage control, e.g. by using relays in tunnels
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 74/08 Non-scheduled access, e.g. ALOHA hybrid access H04W74/02
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/047 using dedicated repeater stations

Abstract

An exposure management system includes dosimeters, wireless relay devices that wirelessly communicate with the dosimeters, and a monitoring device. The dosimeters are carried by workers for measuring exposure doses in a radiation management facility. The wireless relay devices transmit a monitor indication message that requests the dosimeters to provide respective responses that include information of measured exposure doses. The wireless relay devices receive the responses from the dosimeters by using allocated respective communication channels that are different from each other. Each dosimeter receives the monitoring indication message and generates a designated number of response times for providing a response to the monitor indication message, and determines a communication channel corresponding to each of the generated response times. The monitoring device is connected to the wireless relay devices for monitoring an exposure state of each of the workers through the wireless relay devices and dosimeters.

Claims

1-7. -7. (canceled)

8. An exposure management system comprising:

a plurality of dosimeters, which are carried by workers for measuring exposure doses in a radiation management facility, each dosimeter comprising;

means for receiving a monitor indication message that requests said each dosimeter to provide a response to the message, said response including the amount of a measured exposure dose,

means for generating a designated number of response times for providing said response and determining a communication channel, selected from a group of communication channels, corresponding to each of the generated response times, the generated response times being later than a time that the reception of the message ends, and

means for transmitting said response at each of the generated response times by using the determined communication channel corresponding to said each of the generated response times;

a plurality of wireless relay devices that wirelessly communicate with the dosimeters and are allocated with respective communication channels that are different from each other, the allocated communication channels being selected from among the communication channels of said group on a one-to-one basis, the wireless relay devices being configured to transmit the message to the allocated communication channels and receive from the dosimeters respective responses to the message; and

a monitoring device connected to the wireless relay devices, for monitoring an exposure state of each of the workers through the wireless relay devices and dosimeters.

9. The exposure management system according to claim 8, wherein each wireless relay device comprises means for designating a number of response times to be generated by the dosimeters by including information designating the number of response times in the message.

10. The exposure management system according to claim 8, wherein

each wireless relay device comprises means for transmitting to one of the dosimeters an acknowledgment signal, upon reception of one of the responses from said one of the dosimeters, for providing notification of normal reception of said one of the responses, and

said each dosimeter further comprises means for stopping subsequent transmissions of said response when an acknowledgment signal is received from a wireless relay device.

11. The exposure management system according to claim 8, wherein said each dosimeter further comprises means for retransmitting said response, when a collision occurs between said response and another response that have been transmitted at a same time by using a same communication channel.

12. The exposure management system according to claim 8, wherein the wireless relay devices and the monitor device communicate by radio wave.

13. The exposure management system according to claim 8, wherein the wireless relay devices and the monitor device communicate by cable.

14. The exposure management system according to claim 8, wherein

the monitoring device comprises means for providing to a dosimeter information of abnormality of the dosimeter;

and

said each dosimeter further comprises means for providing notification of an abnormality when abnormality information is provided from the monitoring device to said each dosimeter.

15. The exposure management system according to claim 14, wherein the notification provided by the abnormality notification means is an audio or visual notification.

16. A dosimeter, which is carried by a worker for measuring an exposure dose in a radiation management facility and wirelessly communicates with a plurality of wireless relay devices by using respective communication channels allocated to the wireless relay devices, the allocated communication channels being selected from among a group of communication channels on a one-to-one basis, comprising:

means for receiving a monitor indication message that requests the dosimeter to provide a response to the message, said response including information of the amount of a measured exposure dose;

means for generating a designated number of response times for providing said response, and determining a communication channel, selected from said group of communication channels, corresponding to each of the generated response times, the generated response times being later than a time that the reception of the message ends; and

means for transmitting said response at each of the generated response times by using the determined communication channel corresponding to said each of the generated response times.

17. The dosimeter according to claim 16, further comprising means for stopping subsequent transmissions of said response to the message when an acknowledgment signal is received from a wireless relay device.

18. The dosimeter according to claim 16, further comprising means for retransmitting said response when a collision occurs between said response and another response that have been transmitted at a same time by using a same communication channel.

19. A wireless relay device that wirelessly communicates with a plurality of dosimeters by using a communication channel, the dosimeters being carried by workers for measuring exposure doses in a radiation management facility, the wireless relay device comprising:

means for transmitting to the dosimeters a monitor indication message that requests the dosimeters to provide respective responses to the message, each response including the amount of a measured exposure dose;

means for receiving from a dosimeter a response by using the communication channel;

means for transmitting to the dosimeter an acknowledgment signal for stopping subsequent transmissions of said response when said response is received from the dosimeter; and

means for designating a number of response times to be generated by the dosimeters by including information designating the number of response times in the message.