Construction hard hat having electronic circuitry

• US 7,298,258 B1
• Filed: 05/08/2007
• Issued: 11/20/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 12/12/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Accu-Spatial LLC
• Original Assignee: Accu-Spatial LLC
• Inventors: McDermott, John, Hudgens, David W.
• Primary Examiner(s): Lee; Benjamin C.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Mehmood; Jennifer
• Application Number:
  US11/745,794
• Time in Patent Office: 196 Days
• Field of Search: 3405681-5729, 340/573.4, 340/539.13, 340/3.1, 382/115
• US Class Current: 340/539.13
• CPC Class Codes: F16P 3/147 using electro-magnetic technology, e.g. tags or radar
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 9/28 the pass enabling tracking or indicating presence
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/22 responsive to presence or absence of persons

Abstract

Personnel activity at a construction site is tracked using electronic circuitry included in hard hats worn by personnel at the site. According to one embodiment, activity at a construction site is monitored by processing personal information directly or indirectly received from electronic circuitry formed as part of one or more hard hats worn by personnel located at the construction site. The personal information is uniquely associated with individual ones of the personnel. One or more messages are generated based on the personal information received from the electronic circuitry and personnel location. For example, the messages may warn particular personnel that they have entered an unauthorized area at the construction site. Optionally, personnel activity may be periodically monitored and reported.

Claims

1. A method of monitoring the activities of workers on a construction site, comprising:

placing a plurality of spaced sensors on the construction site and dividing the construction site into a plurality of sectors and monitoring each sector of the construction site with at least one sensor;

issuing each worker a construction hard hat having electronic circuitry formed as a part of the hard hat and storing personal information in the electronic circuitry that uniquely identifies a worker;

when one or more workers are on the construction site, establishing a wireless communication link between a respective sensor and the electronic circuitry of a respective construction hard hat worn by a worker;

after a communication link has been established between a sensor and an electronic circuitry of a particular construction hard hat, reporting to a monitoring station;

a. personal information uniquely associated with the electronic circuitry of the construction hard hat, and

b. location information that identifies the sector of the construction site where the construction hard hat is located;

associating the reported personal information with the reported location information;

generating a virtual map of the construction site and associating each sector of the construction site with a corresponding zone of the virtual map;

associating each zone of the virtual map with sector specific information stored in a database where the sector specific information includes sector authorization information associated with each sector;

accessing the virtual map and identifying the zone of the virtual map corresponding to the associated personal information and location information reported to the monitoring station; and

retrieving the sector authorization information associated with the identified zone of the virtual map and comparing the reported personal information with the retrieved sector authorization information and based on that comparison, determining whether the worker wearing the construction hard hat from which the reported personal information was received is authorized to be in a corresponding sector of the construction site.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the sector specific information includes sensor location records stored in the database that uniquely identify each sensor and associate each sensor with a sector of the construction site;

the method including associating each sector location record with a zone of the virtual map; and

in response to a sensor reporting to the monitoring station, searching the virtual map for the sensor location record corresponding to the reporting sensor.

3. The method of claim 1 including transmitting location coordinates from the electronic circuitry of respective construction hard hats to a sensor which in turn reports the location coordinates to the monitoring station, and based on the location coordinates determining the location of the electronic circuitry and hence the location of the construction hard hat associated with the electronic circuitry.

4. The method of claim 1 including tracking the movement of construction hard hats over the construction site over a period of time and recording the movement of the construction hard hats over the period of time, and generating a composite report showing the movement of the construction hard hats, and hence the movement of the workers wearing the construction hard hat, over a period of time, wherein the composite report reveals both the movement of the workers and the identity of the workers over the period of time.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the electronic circuitry is embedded into the construction hard hat.

6. The method of claim 1 including sending a message to the construction hard hats worn by the workers whose location and reported personal information indicate that the workers have entered an unauthorized area of the construction site.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the sensors are RF sensors, and detecting the presence of a worker in response to the electronic circuitry of the worker'"'"'s construction hard hat coming in range of an RF sensor;

and reporting the detection of the in-range electronic circuitry to the monitoring system.

8. The method of claim 3 including storing the location coordinates in a memory associated with the electronic circuitry of the construction hard hats.

9. The method of claim 1 including establishing and recording the location of each sensor on the construction site and wherein the electronic circuitry of each construction hard hat indicates the location of a sensor in response to the electronic circuitry establishing the wireless communication link with the sensor.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein the personal information stored in the electronic circuitry of the hard hats is stored in a right once memory, rewriteable memory, or a combination of right once memory or rewriteable memory, and wherein the method includes from time-to-time updating the personal information stored in the electronic circuitry of the construction hard hats.

11. The method of claim 1 including providing each construction hard hat with a sensor that senses whether the construction hard hat is being worn, and wherein the method includes determining if a detected hard hat located on the construction site is actually being worn.

12. The method of claim 11 further including determining whether the person wearing the construction hard hat is assigned the construction hard hat.

13. The method of claim 4 including generating a composite report that reports construction activities on the construction site on a per sector basis or on a per worker basis.

14. The method of claim 1 including establishing a wireless communication link with a sensor in range of electronic circuitry forming a part of a construction hard hat worn by a person located on the construction site;

and estimating the location of the construction hard hat by identifying a sector of the construction site including the sensor.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein establishing the wireless communication link comprises establishing a communication link with a radio frequency identification (RFID) transponder included in or associate with the electronic circuitry.

16. A method of monitoring the activities of workers on a construction site, comprising:

placing a plurality of spaced sensors on the construction site and dividing the construction site into a plurality of sectors and monitoring each sector of the construction site with at least one sensor;

issuing each worker a construction hard hat having electronic circuitry formed as a part of the hard hat and storing personal information in the electronic circuitry that uniquely identifies a worker, the personal information including the worker'"'"'s trade or qualifications;

when one or more workers are on the construction site, establishing a wireless communication link between a respective sensor and the electronic circuitry of a respective construction hard hat worn by a worker;

after a communication link has been established between a sensor and an electronic circuitry of a particular construction hard hat, reporting to a monitoring station;

a. personal information including the worker'"'"'s trade or qualifications stored in the electronic circuitry of the construction hard hat, and

b. location information that identifies the sector of the construction site where the construction hard hat is located;

associating the reported personal information with the reported location information;

generating a virtual map of the construction site and associating each sector of the construction site with a corresponding zone of the virtual map;

associating each zone of the virtual map with sector specific information stored in a database where the sector specific information includes sector authorization information associated with each sector;

accessing the virtual map and identifying the zone of the virtual map corresponding to the associated personal information and location information reported to the monitoring station;

retrieving the sector authorization information associated with the identified zone of the virtual map and comparing the reported personal information with the retrieved sector authorization information and based on that comparison, determining whether the worker wearing the construction hard had from which the reported personal information was received is authorized to be in a corresponding sector of the construction site;

wherein each construction hard hat includes a sensor for determining if the hard hat is being worn by a worker, and the method includes sensing whether the hard hat is being worn, and in cases where the hard hat is not being worn, issuing a warning;

tracking the movement of construction hard hats over the construction site over a period of time; and

generating a composite report showing the movement of the construction hats, and hence the movement of workers wearing the construction hard hat over a period of time.

17. A method of monitoring activity at a construction site, comprising:

retrieving, from electronic circuitry formed as part of a construction hard hat worn by a worker located at the construction site, at least one of trade or qualifications information associated with the worker;

reporting the retrieved trade or qualifications information to wireless sensors located in multiple sectors throughout the construction site when the hard hat electronic circuitry comes within signal range of one of the sensors as the worker moves about the construction site;

determining whether the worker accesses an unauthorized area at the construction site based on the reported trade or qualifications information and the location of the sensors that receive the reported trade or qualifications information from the hard hat electronic circuitry; and

sending a message to the construction hard hat if the worker accesses an unauthorized area;

generating a virtual map of the construction site and associating each sensor with a zone of the virtual map;

associating each zone of the virtual map with sector specific information stored in a database where the sector specific information includes sector authorization information associated with each sector;

accessing the virtual map and identifying the zones of the virtual map corresponding to each sensor that receives the reported trade or qualifications information from the hard hat electronic circuitry; and

retrieving the sector authorization information associated with the identified zones of the virtual map and comparing the reported trade or qualifications information with the retrieved sector authorization information and based on that comparison, determining whether the worker wearing the construction hard hat is authorized to be in the corresponding sector of the construction site.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising tracking the movement of the hard hat electronic circuitry over the construction site over a period of time.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising generating a composite report showing the movement of the hard hat electronic circuitry, and hence the movement of the worker wearing the construction hard hat over a period of time.