Personal alarm system
First Claim
1. A motion sensor to be worn by a user and comprising:
- a housing having a hollow chamber therein;
a rotatable disk mounted for free rotation in the hollow chamber about an axis;
a plurality of spaced arcuately arranged orifices in the rotatable disk;
a weight within the housing coupled to the freely rotatable disk such that movement of the housing causes the weight to rotate the disk about said axis; and
a light source on one side of the disk in alignment with the arcuate path formed by the orifices in the disk and a light detector on the other side of the disk such that the light from the light source to the light detector through an orifice is interrupted by rotation of the disk when the housing is moved thereby causing the light detector to generate an output electrical signal.
4 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A motion responsive alarm system including a motion sensor having a housing with a rotatable disk therein, a slot in the disk and a ball bearing in the slot and being loosely confined within an annular chamber in the housing surrounding the disk. The disk contains a plurality of orifices which pass between an LED on one side of the disk and a phototransistor on the other. A signal from the phototransistor is sent to a triggering circuit by interrupting light transfer between the LED and the phototransistor. The circuit includes a novel oscillator having a duty cycle of 10% which drives the LED in the sensor. An alternate state device is coupled to the sensor and the oscillator for generating alternate state outputs only during sensing of motion. A one-shot circuit generates a motion pulse each time motion is sensed. A pulse interval timer and gate determine if the pulses are to be gated to a timer or blocked. The timer is reset by these pulses and does not generate an alarm unless a predetermined period of time passes. The device may be coupled to a self-contained breathing apparatus and is energized only when the breathing apparatus mask is being worn by the user.
49 Citations
29 Claims
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1. A motion sensor to be worn by a user and comprising:
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a housing having a hollow chamber therein; a rotatable disk mounted for free rotation in the hollow chamber about an axis; a plurality of spaced arcuately arranged orifices in the rotatable disk; a weight within the housing coupled to the freely rotatable disk such that movement of the housing causes the weight to rotate the disk about said axis; and a light source on one side of the disk in alignment with the arcuate path formed by the orifices in the disk and a light detector on the other side of the disk such that the light from the light source to the light detector through an orifice is interrupted by rotation of the disk when the housing is moved thereby causing the light detector to generate an output electrical signal. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. A motion responsive alarm system to be worn by a user comprising:
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a motion sensor for generating a signal responsive to motional disturbances; an alternate state output signal device coupled to the motion sensor for receiving the generated signal and alternately switching its output between a first state and a second state only when motion is occurring; an output device coupled to the alternate state device for generating a motion pulse each time the alternate state device switches from the first state to the second state; a pulse interval timer coupled to the output device for blocking the first motion pulse generated and allowing succeeding pulses to be gated only if they occur at least at a prescribed rate, thus reducing sensitivity of the alarm system to vibratory movement not associated with movement of the user; and a reset timer for receiving the gated motion pulses and being reset by the gated pulses to preclude an alarm so long as motion pulses are generated. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24)
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25. A motion responsive sensor alarm system comprising:
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a motion sensor housing having a rotatable disk therein mounted for free rotation about an axis such that movement of the housing rotates the disk about said axis; a plurality of spaced arcuately arranged orifices in the rotatable disk; a light source on one side of the disk in alignment with the arcuate path formed by the orifices in the disk and a light detector on the other side of the disk such that light from the light source to the light detector through an orifice is interrupted by rotation of the disk when the housing is moved thereby causing the light detector to generate an output electrical signal; a self-contained breathing apparatus for a user including an oxygen source, a face mask and a conduit coupling the oxygen source to the mask; and the motion sensor housing being attached to the self-contained breathing apparatus such that lack of motion by the user of the self-contained breathing apparatus causes the motion responsive sensor alarm system to generate an alarm. - View Dependent Claims (26, 27, 28, 29)
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Specification