Microprocessor-based combination smoke and carbon monoxide detector having intelligent hush feature
First Claim
1. A hazardous condition detector, comprising:
- a smoke chamber positioned to sense an atmospheric condition, the smoke chamber generating an output indicative of an amount of smoke sensed therein;
a user-actuated switch;
an alarm circuit;
a microcontroller coupled to receive the output of the smoke chamber and the switch, and further operably coupled to the alarm circuit for controlling generation of an alarm therefrom, the microcontroller having an alarm threshold and a hush threshold stored therein, and being operable to place the detector in an alarm mode when the output from the smoke chamber drops below the alarm threshold, in a hush mode upon sensing actuation of the switch when in the alarm mode and when the output of the smoke chamber is above the hush threshold, and in a test mode upon sensing actuation of the switch when not in the alarm mode and not in the hush mode.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A microcontroller-based hazardous condition detector having an intelligent hush feature is presented. The microcontroller controls the operational mode of the detector by monitoring a single user-actuated switch, the inputs from a smoke chamber and a carbon monoxide detector circuit, and the current operating mode of the detector. When in a normal or no-alarm mode, actuation of the switch will cause the microcontroller to place the detector in a test mode of operation. If the detector is in a carbon monoxide alarm mode, actuation of the switch will act to reset the accumulator function of the microprocessor for the carbon monoxide alarm sensing. If the detector is in a smoke alarm mode, actuation of the switch may place the detector in a hush mode if the level of smoke is sufficiently low, or will have no effect if the level of smoke is too high. Once in the hush mode, actuation of the switch will place the detector into the smoke alarm mode. The microcontroller will also place the detector in the smoke alarm mode if the level of smoke increases beyond a certain limit, and after the expiration of a hush mode time limit. To coordinate this operation, the sensitivity of the detector is not changed in any mode of operation, and the microcontroller monitors both an alarm and a hush threshold.
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Citations
36 Claims
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1. A hazardous condition detector, comprising:
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a smoke chamber positioned to sense an atmospheric condition, the smoke chamber generating an output indicative of an amount of smoke sensed therein;
a user-actuated switch;
an alarm circuit;
a microcontroller coupled to receive the output of the smoke chamber and the switch, and further operably coupled to the alarm circuit for controlling generation of an alarm therefrom, the microcontroller having an alarm threshold and a hush threshold stored therein, and being operable to place the detector in an alarm mode when the output from the smoke chamber drops below the alarm threshold, in a hush mode upon sensing actuation of the switch when in the alarm mode and when the output of the smoke chamber is above the hush threshold, and in a test mode upon sensing actuation of the switch when not in the alarm mode and not in the hush mode. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. A hazardous condition detector, comprising:
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a carbon monoxide detector circuit positioned to sense an atmospheric condition, the carbon monoxide detector circuit operable to produce an output indicative of the amount of carbon monoxide detected thereby;
a smoke chamber positioned to sense an atmospheric condition, the smoke chamber operable to generate an output indicative of an amount of smoke sensed therein;
an alarm circuit;
a microcontroller coupled to receive the output of the carbon monoxide detector circuit and the output of the smoke chamber, and operably coupled to the alarm circuit, the microcontroller having an alarm threshold and a hush threshold stored therein, and being operable to place the detector in a smoke alarm mode commanding the alarm circuit to generate an alarm when the output of the smoke chamber descends below the alarm threshold stored therein, and in a carbon monoxide alarm mode when an accumulation of the output of the carbon monoxide detector circuit exceeds an accumulation threshold stored within the microcontroller. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30)
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31. A smoke detector, comprising:
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a smoke chamber positioned to sense an atmospheric condition, the smoke chamber generating an output indicative of an amount of smoke sensed therein;
an alarm circuit;
a microcontroller coupled to receive the output of the smoke chamber, and further operably coupled to the alarm circuit for controlling generation of an alarm therefrom, the microcontroller having an alarm threshold stored therein, and being operable to place the detector in an alarm mode when the output from the smoke chamber drops below the alarm threshold, said microcontroller further having an alarm off threshold stored therein, and being operable to place the detector in a no alarm mode when the output from the smoke chamber rises above the alarm off threshold when in the alarm mode. - View Dependent Claims (32, 33, 34)
a user actuatable switch having an output coupled to the microcontroller; and
wherein said microcontroller contains a hush threshold stored therein, said microcontroller operable to place the detector in a hush mode upon sensing actuation of the switch when in the alarm mode and when the output of the smoke chamber is above the hush threshold.
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33. The smoke detector of claim 31, further comprising:
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a user actuatable switch having an output coupled to the microcontroller; and
wherein said microcontroller places the detector in a test mode upon sensing actuation of the switch when not in the alarm mode.
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34. The smoke detector of claim 31, further comprising:
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a user actuatable device having an output coupled to the microcontroller; and
wherein said microcontroller contains a hush threshold stored therein, said microcontroller operable to place the detector in a hush mode upon sensing actuation of the switch when in the alarm mode and when the output of the smoke chamber is above the hush threshold, the microcontroller further operable to place the detector in a test mode upon sensing actuation of the switch when not in the alarm mode and not in the hush mode.
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35. A hazardous condition detector, comprising:
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a detector circuit positioned to sense an atmospheric condition, the detector circuit generating an output indicative of the condition sensed;
a user-actuated switch;
an alarm circuit; and
a microcontroller coupled to receive the output of the detector circuit and the switch, and further operably coupled to the alarm circuit for controlling generation of an alarm therefrom, the microcontroller having a first value and a second value stored therein;
wherein the microcontroller is operable to place the detector in an alarm mode when the output from the detector circuit drops below the first value, and in a hush mode upon sensing actuation of the switch when in alarm mode and when the output of the detector circuit is above the second value. - View Dependent Claims (36)
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Specification