SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR MONITORING USAGE AND PREDICTING FAILURE OF VISUAL NOTIFICATION APPLIANCES
First Claim
1. A visual notification appliance, comprising:
- a strobe light;
a counter for storing a value indicative of a number of times said strobe light has flashed; and
a display for providing occurred visual indication based on the stored value and a predetermined threshold.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A system and method for monitoring usage and predicting failure of visual notification appliances are disclosed. The visual notification appliances may be strobe lights, which can be provided with an internal counter circuit that obtains a cumulative tally of the number of times the strobe has flashed. Since strobe service life is directly proportional to the number of flashes, monitoring the number of flashes enables proactive repair or replacement of the strobe prior to failure. Flash counts can be stored in the appliance and periodically transmitted to a remote location such as a fire panel or remote monitoring center. Flash counts can also be locally displayed, or can be readable by a user with a handheld device. Alarms or other indications may automatically be generated to alert building or service personnel when an end of life condition is approaching for one or more strobes. Other embodiments are disclosed and claimed.
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Citations
25 Claims
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1. A visual notification appliance, comprising:
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a strobe light; a counter for storing a value indicative of a number of times said strobe light has flashed; and a display for providing occurred visual indication based on the stored value and a predetermined threshold. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A visual notification appliance, comprising:
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a light source; an interface for receiving a command to flash the light source; an electronic counter for storing a value indicative of a number of times the light source has flashed during a time interval; and means for reporting a message representative of the stored number of times the light source has flashed. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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19. A method for monitoring usage of a visual notification appliance, comprising:
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registering a count each time an associated light source flashes; obtaining cumulative count information for said light source based on said registered counts; comparing said cumulative count information to a predetermined count limit; and providing an alert when said cumulative count information exceeds the predetermined count limit. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21, 22)
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23. A system for monitoring usage of a visual notification appliance, comprising:
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a visual notification appliance configured to register a count each time an associated light source flashes, and to obtain cumulative count information based on said registered counts; and a receiver configured to compare said cumulative count information to a predetermined count limit and provide an alert when said cumulative count information exceeds the predetermined count limit. - View Dependent Claims (24, 25)
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Specification