ENERGY EFFICIENT CASCADE OF SENSORS FOR AUTOMATIC PRESENCE DETECTION
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
The present invention relates to a method and a system for detecting presence in a predefined space. The system comprises cascade connected sensors (s1, s2, . . . , sn), an output device (1), a control unit (2) and a processing unit (3). The method comprises the steps of activating a first sensor (s1) in the cascade and waiting until the first sensor detects presence. When presence is detected, a successive sensor (s2, . . . , sn) in the cascade is activated, and when the successive sensor (s2, . . . , sn) also detects presence the step of activating the successive sensor is repeated until all sensors in the cascade have been activated. If the successive sensor (s2, . . . , sn) does not detect presence the method returns to the waiting step of the first sensor. When the ultimate sensor in the cascade (sn) detects presence, a confirmation message is sent to the output device (1).
-
Citations
27 Claims
-
1-14. -14. (canceled)
-
15. A system for detecting an object in a predefined space, comprising:
-
a first sensor for detecting the object in the predefined space; and a second sensor for detecting the object in the predefined space, wherein the second sensor is deactivated such that a deactivated second sensor consumes less energy that an activated second sensor; and a control unit for activating the second sensor in response to the first sensor detecting the object. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
-
-
22. A system for detecting an object in a predefined space, comprising:
-
a cascade of sensors including at least one active sensor and at least one inactive sensor, each sensor, when activated, configured for detecting the object in the predefined space and when activated consumes more energy than when deactivated, wherein the sensors are ordered according to respective consumption of the energy, such that a previous sensor consumes less energy then a subsequent sensor and an ultimate sensor in the cascade consumes more energy when activated than any other sensor; a control unit for activating the subsequent sensor and deactivating the previous sensor upon the previous sensor detects the object; and an output device for sending a message in response to the ultimate sensor detects the object. - View Dependent Claims (23, 24)
-
-
25. A method for detecting an object in a predefined space by a cascade of sensors including an active sensor and inactive sensor, comprising:
-
detecting the object in the predefined space by a previous sensor; and activating, in response to the detecting, a subsequent sensor for detecting the object, wherein the subsequent sensor consumes more energy for the detection than the previous sensor, wherein steps of the method are performed by a control unit. - View Dependent Claims (26, 27)
-
Specification