Occupancy Sensor with Stored Occupancy Schedule

• US 20120299728A1
• Filed: 05/23/2011
• Published: 11/29/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 05/23/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Crestron Electronics Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Crestron Electronics Incorporated
• Inventors: Kumar, Russikesh, Kirkpatrick, Philip
• Granted Patent: US 8,797,159 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/541
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/109 Time management, e.g. calendars, reminders, meetings or time accounting
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/189 using passive radiation detection systems

Abstract

An occupancy sensor detects expected and unexpected occupancies in a monitored area with an expected occupancy schedule. The occupancy sensor includes a real time clock, a memory, a sensor element, a processor, indicator lights and a network interface. The occupancy sensor transmits an occupancy correction signal to a network if the actual occupancy of the monitored area does not match the expected occupancy state of the monitored area.

Claims

1. An occupancy sensor configured for detecting expected and unexpected occupancies within a monitored area, said occupancy sensor comprising:

(a) a real time clock configured for providing the current time;

(b) a memory configured for storing an expected occupancy schedule;

(c) a sensor element configured for detecting the actual occupancy of the monitored area; and

(d) a processor configured for

(i) accepting signals from the sensor element and the real time clock,

(ii) comparing the actual occupancy of the monitored area to the expected occupancy of the monitored area, and

(iii) generating a first signal and a second signal wherein said first signal provides the actual occupancy of the monitored area and the second signal provides whether said actual occupancy matches the expected occupancy.

2. The occupancy sensor of claim 1 further comprising a first indicator light and a second indicator light, said first indicator light being active when the monitored area is expectedly occupied and said second indicator light being active when the monitored area is unexpectedly occupied.

3. The occupancy sensor of claim 1 further comprising:

(a) a first indicator light, said first indicator light being continuously active when the monitored area is expectedly occupied and being blinkingly active when the monitored area is unexpectedly occupied; and

(b) a second indicator light, said second indicator light being continuously active when the monitored area is expectedly vacant and being blinkingly active when the occupancy of the monitored area is unexpectedly vacant.

4. The occupancy sensor of claim 1 further comprising a first indicator light, a second indicator light and a third indicator light, wherein said first indicator light is active when the monitored area is occupied, said second indicator is active when the monitored area is vacant and said third indicator is active when the actual occupancy does not match the expected occupancy.

5. The occupancy sensor of claim 1 further comprising a network interface configured for communicating on a network.

6. The occupancy sensor of claim 5 wherein the expected occupancy schedule is received from the network.

7. The occupancy sensor of claim 5 wherein the occupancy sensor is configured for transmitting an occupancy correction signal to the network.

8. The occupancy sensor of claim 7 wherein the occupancy sensor transmits the occupancy correction signal when the actual occupancy of the monitored area does not match the expected occupancy of the monitored area.

9. The occupancy sensor of claim 7 wherein the occupancy correction signal is a digital signal corresponding to an occupancy state of the monitored area.

10. The occupancy sensor of claim 5 wherein the network interface is a Power over Ethernet (PoE) interface.

11. The occupancy sensor of claim 5 wherein the network interface is a radio frequency (RF) transceiver.

12. The occupancy sensor of claim 1 wherein the sensor element comprises a passive infrared (PIR) receiver, an ultrasonic transducer and an audio microphone.

13. The occupancy sensor of claim 1 further comprising a load switching device configured for controlling electric power to a load based on the actual occupancy of the monitored area.

14. The occupancy sensor of claim 1 wherein:

(a) the expected occupancy schedule further comprises an expected number of occupants;

(b) the sensor element is configured for determining the actual number of occupants; and

(c) the processor is configured for calculating a difference between said actual number of occupants and the expected number of occupants.

15. The occupancy sensor of claim 5 further comprising an IR transceiver configured for communicating with a remote control, wherein said occupancy sensor is further configured for passing information received from said remote control to the network via the network interface.

16. An occupancy sensor configured for detecting expected and unexpected occupancies within a monitored area, said occupancy sensor comprising:

(a) a real time clock configured for providing the current time;

(b) a memory configured for storing an expected occupancy schedule;

(c) a sensor element configured for detecting the actual occupancy of the monitored area;

(d) a processor configured for

(i) accepting signals from the sensor element and the real time clock,

(ii) comparing the actual occupancy of the monitored area to the expected occupancy of the monitored area, and

(iii) generating an occupancy correction signal;

(e) a first indicator light, said first indicator light being continuously active when the monitored area is expectedly occupied and being blinkingly active when the monitored area is unexpectedly occupied; and

(f) a second indicator light, said second indicator light being continuously active when the monitored area is expectedly vacant and being blinkingly active when the occupancy of the monitored area is unexpectedly vacant; and

(g) a PoE interface configured for transmitting the occupancy correction signal to a network.

17. A system for detecting expected and unexpected occupancies within a monitored area, said system comprising:

(a) an occupancy sensor, said occupancy sensor further comprising

(i) a real time clock configured for providing the current time,

(ii) a memory for storing an expected occupancy schedule,

(iii) a sensor element for detecting the actual occupancy of the monitored area, and

(iv) a processor for accepting signals from the sensor element and the real time clock, comparing the actual occupancy of the monitored area to the expected occupancy of the monitored area and generating a first signal and a second signal; and

(b) a touchpanel, said touchpanel further comprising

(i) an occupancy sensor interface for electrically coupling to the occupancy sensor and receiving the first signal and the second signal from said occupancy sensor,

(ii) a button configured for being backlit according to the occupancy state of the monitored area, and

(iii) a network interface configured for communicating the occupancy state of the monitored area to a network.

18. The system of claim 17 wherein the touchpanel is configured for generating the expected occupancy schedule.

19. The system of claim 18 wherein the touchpanel generates the expected occupancy schedule by executing a calendaring application.