Proxemics sensor

• US 7,535,354 B2
• Filed: 01/17/2006
• Issued: 05/19/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 01/17/2006
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
• Original Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
• Inventors: Haridas, Manoj
• Primary Examiner(s): Lee; Benjamin C
• Assistant Examiner(s): Fan; Hongmin
• Application Number:
  US11/332,236
• Publication Number:
  US 20070163364A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,218 Days
• Field of Search: 340/566, 340/683, 340551-554, 340/557, 340/686.6, 73/18.2, 735/70, 735/79, 738/624.1, 702/141
• US Class Current: 340/551
• CPC Class Codes: G01H 11/08 using piezoelectric devices

Abstract

A sensor having a crystal having a first face and a second face, the first face comprising a prong, wherein the sensor is adapted to track movement of an object in a medium other than vacuum and the prong has a frequency of vibration that substantially matched a frequency of vibration of the crystal is disclosed. A method to track movement of an object a method of manufacturing a system to track movement of the object is also disclosed. The method of tracking includes creating a sensor adapted to track movement of the object in medium other than vacuum and providing a spatial tracking map. The method of manufacturing the system to track movement of the object includes fabricating a plurality if sensors, arranging the plurality of sensors in a three-dimensional space and feeding data from the plurality of sensors into a mapping algorithm.

Claims

1. A sensor comprising a quartz crystal having a first face and a second face, said first face comprising a prong, said prong being metallized to said first face of said crystal, wherein said prong has a frequency of vibration that substantially matches at least one frequency of vibration of said crystal and said sensor is adapted to track movements of an object in a medium other than vacuum by correlating a shift in a natural frequency of vibration of said crystal to an event of significance.

2. The sensor of claim 1, wherein the first face further comprises a band surrounding at least a portion of the prong.

3. The sensor of claim 2, wherein the prong and the band comprise a metal.

4. The sensor of claim 3, wherein the metal is a noble metal selected from the group consisting of gold, silver, tantalum, platinum, palladium and combinations thereof.

5. The sensor of claim 1, further comprising a support pad to connect the crystal to an external device and a holder to hold the crystal, and wherein the second face comprises a metal-containing layer.

6. The sensor of claim 5, wherein the noble metal is gold and the metal-containing layer comprises chrome.

7. A method to track movement of an object comprising providing a sensor adapted to track movement of the object in a medium other than vacuum and creating a spatial tracking map, said sensor is adapted to track movements of an object in a medium other than vacuum by correlating a shift in a natural frequency of vibration of a crystal to an event of significance.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the sensor comprises a crystal having a first face and a second face, the first face comprising a prong.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising vibrating the crystal at a natural frequency of n₁.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising monitoring the start of an event resulting from a movement of the object.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising monitoring an attenuation of the natural frequency of the crystal from n₁ to n_f through a range of intermediate frequencies n_i.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising correlating n1 and n_f to the event.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising simultaneous mapping of data from a plurality of sensors.

14. A method of manufacturing a system to track movement of an object comprising;

fabricating a sensor comprising a quartz crystal having a first face and a second face, said first face comprising a prong, said prong being metallized to said first face of said crystal, wherein said prong has a frequency of vibration that substantially matches at least one frequency of vibration of said crystal and said sensor is adapted to track movements of an object in a medium other than vacuum by correlating a shift in a natural frequency of vibration of said crystal to an event of significance;

arranging a plurality of sensors in a three-dimensional space; and

feeding data from the plurality of sensors into a mapping algorithm.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the sensor comprises a crystal having a first face and a second face.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising cutting the crystal substantially along a crystallographic axis of the crystal.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising metallizing the first face to produce a prong on the first face.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising connecting the plurality of the sensors to a data logger.

19. The method of claim 17, further comprising calibrating a response and spacing of the plurality of the sensors, and wherein the data logger comprises the mapping algorithm.