Occupancy sensor and method of operating same
DCFirst Claim
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1. An occupancy based load controller, comprising:
- a plurality of occupancy sensors for producing a respective plurality of occupancy estimator signals, each indicative of motion within a space;
a programmable microprocessor, connected to said plurality of occupancy sensors, for calculating a composite occupancy estimator from said plurality of occupancy estimator signals, and for comparing said composite occupancy estimator to a programmable composite activation threshold, said programmable microprocessor being operable to adaptively adjust a sensitivity of at least one of said plurality of occupancy sensors;
a controllable load energizing device responsive to said programmable microprocessor, operable to automatically energize an electrical load when said microprocessor determines that said composite occupancy estimator is greater than said composite activation threshold; and
wherein said sensitivity of said at least one of said plurality of occupancy sensors is adjusted by said programmable microprocessor as a function of an energization state of said electrical load, said programmable microprocessor calculating an average time between determinations by said programmable microprocessor that said composite occupancy estimator is greater than said composite activation threshold, wherein said sensitivity of said at least one of said plurality of occupancy sensors is adjusted by said programmable microprocessor as a function of said average time.
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Abstract
A multiple sensing technology-based occupancy sensor. Ultrasonic and infrared sensors are used to produce first and second occupancy estimator signals that are combined using a fusion based detection algorithm to produce a combined estimator signal. The combined estimator is then used to switch electrical loads when the combined estimator signal is above a predetermined threshold. The result is an occupancy sensor that has a very high probability of occupancy detection and a low probability of false tripping.
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Citations
25 Claims
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1. An occupancy based load controller, comprising:
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a plurality of occupancy sensors for producing a respective plurality of occupancy estimator signals, each indicative of motion within a space;
a programmable microprocessor, connected to said plurality of occupancy sensors, for calculating a composite occupancy estimator from said plurality of occupancy estimator signals, and for comparing said composite occupancy estimator to a programmable composite activation threshold, said programmable microprocessor being operable to adaptively adjust a sensitivity of at least one of said plurality of occupancy sensors;
a controllable load energizing device responsive to said programmable microprocessor, operable to automatically energize an electrical load when said microprocessor determines that said composite occupancy estimator is greater than said composite activation threshold; and
wherein said sensitivity of said at least one of said plurality of occupancy sensors is adjusted by said programmable microprocessor as a function of an energization state of said electrical load, said programmable microprocessor calculating an average time between determinations by said programmable microprocessor that said composite occupancy estimator is greater than said composite activation threshold, wherein said sensitivity of said at least one of said plurality of occupancy sensors is adjusted by said programmable microprocessor as a function of said average time.
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2. An occupancy based load controller, comprising:
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a plurality of occupancy sensors for producing a respective plurality of occupancy estimator signals, each indicative of motion within a space;
a programmable microprocessor, connected to said plurality of occupancy sensors, for calculating a composite occupancy estimator from said plurality of occupancy estimator signals, and for comparing said composite occupancy estimator to a programmable composite activation threshold, said programmable microprocessor being operable to adaptively adjust a sensitivity of at least one of said plurality of occupancy sensors;
a controllable load energizing device responsive to said programmable microprocessor, operable to automatically energize an electrical load when said microprocessor determines that said composite occupancy estimator is greater than said composite activation threshold; and
wherein said sensitivity of said at least one of said plurality of occupancy sensors is adjusted by said programmable microprocessor as a function of an energization state of said electrical load, said programmable microprocessor further acting to stretch at least one of said occupancy estimator signals by detecting a peak value of said at least one occupancy estimator signal, and holding said peak value for a predetermined time.
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3. An occupancy based load controller, comprising:
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a plurality of occupancy sensors for producing a respective plurality of occupancy estimator signals, each indicative of motion within a space;
a programmable microprocessor, connected to said plurality of occupancy sensors, for calculating a composite occupancy estimator from said plurality of occupancy estimator signals, and for comparing said composite occupancy estimator to a programmable composite activation threshold, said programmable microprocessor being operable to adaptively adjust a sensitivity of at least one of said plurality of occupancy sensors;
a controllable load energizing device responsive to said programmable microprocessor, operable to automatically energize an electrical load when said microprocessor determines that said composite occupancy estimator is greater than said composite activation threshold; and
wherein said sensitivity of said at least one of said plurality of occupancy sensors is adjusted by said programmable microprocessor as a function of an energization state of said electrical load, said programmable microprocessor storing occupancy times of day for an area sensed by said plurality of occupancy sensors and adjusting said sensitivity of said at least one occupancy sensor based on said stored occupancy times of day.
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4. An occupancy based load controller, comprising:
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at least one occupancy sensor for producing at least one respective occupancy estimator signal indicative of motion within a space;
a programmable microprocessor, connected to said at least one occupancy sensor, for comparing said at least one occupancy estimator signal to an activation threshold, said programmable microprocessor being operable to adaptively adjust a sensitivity of said at least one occupancy sensor as a function of detected false-on-stay-on events; and
a controllable load energizing device responsive to said programmable microprocessor;
operable to automatically energize an electrical load when said microprocessor determines that said occupancy estimator is greater than said activation threshold.- View Dependent Claims (5)
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6. An occupancy based load controller, comprising:
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at least one occupancy sensor for producing at least one respective occupancy estimator signal indicative of motion within a space;
a programmable microprocessor, connected to said at least one occupancy sensor, for comparing said at least one occupancy estimator signal to an activation threshold, said programmable microprocessor being operable to adaptively adjust a sensitivity of said at least one occupancy sensor as a function of detected lights-stay-on-no-activation events; and
a controllable load energizing device responsive to said programmable microprocessor, operable to automatically energize an electrical load when said microprocessor determines that said occupancy estimator signal is greater than said activation threshold.
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7. An occupancy based load controller, comprising:
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at least one occupancy sensor for producing at least one respective occupancy estimator signal indicative of motion within a space;
a programmable microprocessor, connected to said at least one occupancy sensor, for comparing said at least one occupancy estimator signal to an activation threshold, said programmable microprocessor being operable to adaptively adjust a sensitivity of said at least one occupancy sensor as a function of detected lights-stay-on-with major occupancy events; and
a controllable load energizing device responsive to said programmable microprocessor, operable to automatically energize an electrical load when said microprocessor determines that said occupancy estimator signal is greater than said activation threshold.
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8. An occupancy based load controller, comprising:
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at least one occupancy sensor for producing at least one respective occupancy estimator signal indicative of motion within a space;
a programmable microprocessor, connected to said at least one occupancy sensor, for comparing said at least one occupancy estimator signal to an activation threshold, said programmable microprocessor being operable to adaptively adjust a sensitivity of said at least one occupancy sensor as a function of detected false-on events; and
a controllable load energizing device responsive to said programmable microprocessor, operable to automatically energize an electrical load when said microprocessor determines that said occupancy estimator signal is greater than said activation threshold.
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9. An occupancy based load controller, comprising:
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at least one occupancy sensor for producing at least one respective occupancy estimator signal indicative of motion within a space;
a programmable microprocessor, connected to said at least one occupancy sensor, for comparing said at least one occupancy estimator signal to an activation threshold, said programmable microprocessor being operable to adaptively adjust a sensitivity of said at least one occupancy sensor as a function of detected false-off events; and
a controllable load energizing device responsive to said programmable microprocessor, operable to automatically energize an electrical load when said microprocessor determines that said occupancy estimator signal is greater than said activation threshold.
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10. An occupancy based load controller, comprising:
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at least one occupancy sensor for producing at least one respective occupancy estimator signal indicative of motion within a space;
a programmable microprocessor, connected to said at least one occupancy sensor, for comparing said at least one occupancy estimator signal to an activation threshold, said programmable microprocessor being operable to adaptively adjust a sensitivity of said at least one occupancy sensor as a function of detected false-off events;
a controllable load energizing device responsive to said programmable microprocessor, operable to automatically energize an electrical load when said microprocessor determines that said occupancy estimator signal is greater than said activation threshold; and
to de-energize said electrical load after a predetermined time.- View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13)
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14. An occupancy based load controller, comprising:
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at least one occupancy sensor for producing at least one respective occupancy estimator signal indicative of motion within a space;
a programmable microprocessor, connected to said at least one occupancy sensor, for comparing said at least one occupancy estimator signal to an activation threshold, said programmable microprocessor being operable to adaptively adjust a sensitivity of said at least one occupancy sensor as a function of a learning curve whereby sensitivity adjustments are reduced in magnitude as time advances; and
a controllable load energizing device responsive to said programmable microprocessor, operable to automatically energize an electrical load when said microprocessor determines that said occupancy estimator signal is greater than said activation threshold.
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15. An occupancy based load controller, comprising:
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a plurality of occupancy sensors for producing a respective plurality of occupancy estimator signals, each indicative of motion within a space;
an acoustic sensor for producing a signal indicative of sound within said space;
a programmable microprocessor, connected to said plurality of occupancy sensors, for calculating a composite occupancy estimator from said plurality of occupancy estimator signals, for producing a load energization signal as a function of said composite occupancy estimator and said signal indicative of sound within said space, a controllable load energizing device responsive to said programmable microprocessor, operable to automatically energize and de-energize an electrical load in response said load energization signal;
said programmable microprocessor analyzing said a signal indicative of sound within said space only for a specified time both before and after de-energization of said electrical load. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19)
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20. An occupancy based load controller, comprising:
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a plurality of occupancy sensors for producing a respective plurality of occupancy estimator signals, each indicative of motion within a space;
a programmable microprocessor, connected to said plurality of occupancy sensors, for calculating a composite occupancy estimator from said plurality of occupancy estimator signals, and for comparing said composite occupancy estimator to a programmable composite activation threshold; and
a controllable load energizing device responsive to said programmable microprocessor, operable to automatically energize an electrical load when said microprocessor determines that said occupancy estimator signal is greater than said activation threshold; and
to de-energize said electrical load after a predetermined time, said predetermined time being set upon power on of said load based occupancy controller according to a position of a manual user control, said manual user control having a test mode position and positions corresponding to a range of values for said predetermined time, wherein, if said manual user control is not in said test mode position, said predetermined time is adjustable by adaptive sensor algorithms in said programmable microprocessor.- View Dependent Claims (21, 22)
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23. An occupancy based load controller, comprising:
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at least one occupancy sensor for producing at least one respective occupancy estimator signal indicative of motion within a space;
a programmable microprocessor, connected to said at least one occupancy sensor, for comparing said at least one occupancy estimator signal to a programmable activation threshold; and
a controllable load energizing device responsive to said programmable microprocessor, operable to automatically energize an electrical load when said microprocessor determines that said occupancy estimator signal is greater than said activation threshold; and
to de-energize said electrical load after a predetermined time, said predetermined time being set upon power on of said load based occupancy controller according to a position of a manual user control, said manual user control having a test mode position and positions corresponding to a range of values for said predetermined time; and
wherein if said manual user control is not in said test mode position, said predetermined time is adjustable by adaptive sensor algorithms in said programmable microprocessor. - View Dependent Claims (24, 25)
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Specification