Automatic water feed method in lavatory using artificial retina sensor and automatic water feed mechanism in lavatory using artificial retina sensor
First Claim
1. A system for providing automatic control of water to a lavatory appliance upon sensing a user, comprising:
- a lavatory appliance for delivering water to a user;
a control valve for controlling the flow of water through the lavatory appliance;
a sensor for acquiring two dimensional images of the region of discharge of the lavatory appliance, the sensor including a two dimensional array of pixels, the two dimensional images being composed of the output of the pixels;
an optimizing unit for receiving the two dimensional images from the sensor and generating acquired images, the acquired images being composed of the output of the pixels, the output of the pixels being optimized to one of two values based on a binary processing;
a first memory unit for storing a first acquired image from the optimizing unit;
a second memory unit for storing a second acquired image from the optimizing unit, the second acquired image being acquired after the first acquired image is acquired; and
a comparison unit for comparing the first acquired image in the first memory unit with the second acquired image in the second memory unit to determine a number of pixel value changes for corresponding pixels of the first and second acquired images indicating movement of the user, whereby the control valve is activated when the number of pixel value changes is within a predetermined range.
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Abstract
An automatic water feed system and method for providing control of water to lavatory appliances upon sensing a user. The system having a control valve for controlling the flow of water, an artificial retina sensor for acquiring two dimensional images of a user adjacent the lavatory appliance, a memory for storing a predetermined characteristic of the acquired two dimensional images, and a comparison unit for comparing a subsequently acquired two dimensional image characteristic with the previously stored two dimensional image characteristic, whereby the control valve is activated when the differences between the previously and subsequently acquired two dimensional image characteristics satisfy a predetermined condition.
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Citations
8 Claims
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1. A system for providing automatic control of water to a lavatory appliance upon sensing a user, comprising:
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a lavatory appliance for delivering water to a user;
a control valve for controlling the flow of water through the lavatory appliance;
a sensor for acquiring two dimensional images of the region of discharge of the lavatory appliance, the sensor including a two dimensional array of pixels, the two dimensional images being composed of the output of the pixels;
an optimizing unit for receiving the two dimensional images from the sensor and generating acquired images, the acquired images being composed of the output of the pixels, the output of the pixels being optimized to one of two values based on a binary processing;
a first memory unit for storing a first acquired image from the optimizing unit;
a second memory unit for storing a second acquired image from the optimizing unit, the second acquired image being acquired after the first acquired image is acquired; and
a comparison unit for comparing the first acquired image in the first memory unit with the second acquired image in the second memory unit to determine a number of pixel value changes for corresponding pixels of the first and second acquired images indicating movement of the user, whereby the control valve is activated when the number of pixel value changes is within a predetermined range. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4)
wherein the predetermined range of pixel value changes is defined to include sensor output changes caused by the movement of one or more human hands within the discharge region of the lavatory appliance, and wherein the predetermined range of pixel value changes is defined to exclude sensor output changes due to a rapid change in brightness in the environment of use of the lavatory appliance. -
3. The system of claim 1,
wherein the predetermined range of pixel value changes is between about 12% to about 94% of the total number of pixels. -
4. The system of claim 1,
wherein the total number of pixels in each sensor is 1024, and the predetermined range of pixel value changes is between 128 and 960.
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5. A method for providing automatic control of water to a lavatory appliance upon sensing a user, the lavatory appliance including a control valve for controlling the flow of water through the lavatory appliance, the method comprising the steps of:
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acquiring a first image from a sensor in the region of discharge of a lavatory appliance, the first image being composed of the output of pixels;
processing the first acquired image to determine a first acquired image characteristic, the first acquired image characteristic being composed of the output of the pixels, the output of the pixels being assigned to one of two pixel values based on a binary processing;
storing the first acquired image characteristic in a first memory unit;
acquiring a second image from the sensor in the region of discharge of the lavatory appliance, the second image being composed of the output of pixels, the second image being acquired after the first image is acquired;
processing the second acquired image to determine a second acquired image characteristic, the second acquired image characteristic being composed of the output of the pixels, the output of the pixels being assigned to one of two pixel values based on a binary processing;
storing the second acquired image characteristic in a second memory unit;
comparing the first acquired image characteristic in the first memory unit to the second acquired image characteristic in the second memory unit to determine the number of pixel value changes for corresponding pixels of the first and second acquired images indicating movement of the user; and
activating a control valve controlling the flow of water when the number of pixel value changes is within a predetermined range. - View Dependent Claims (6, 7, 8)
wherein the predetermined range of pixel value changes is defined to include sensor output changes caused by the movement of one or more human hands within the discharge region of the lavatory appliance, and wherein the predetermined range of pixel value changes is defined to exclude sensor output changes due to a rapid change in brightness in the environment of use of the lavatory appliance. -
7. The method of claim 5,
wherein the predetermined range of pixel value changes is between about 12% to about 94% of the total number of pixels. -
8. The method of claim 5,
wherein the total number of pixels in each sensor is 1024, and the predetermined range of pixel changes is between 128 and 960.
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Specification