System and method of monitoring personal protective equipment
First Claim
1. A system comprising:
- a plurality of personal protective elements where each member of the plurality carries a radio-frequency identifier-type tag;
a user communication unit in wireless communication with the members of the plurality where the user communication unit includes at least one computer readable storage unit for storing therein a plurality of indicia indicative of expected members of the plurality and includes a timer for recording how long each member of the plurality of personal protective elements is in use.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A multi-level equipment configuration monitoring system can include a plurality of RFID tags associated with respective user protective elements such as respirators, eye protectors, gloves boots, helmets and hearing protectors. A user communication unit can activate the tags and determine which elements are present. The determined elements can be compared to a pre-stored, approved list of elements to establish the state of a user'"'"'s complement of protective equipment. Missing equipment can be immediately identified and brought to the user'"'"'s attention. Information can be collected as to duration of use of the elements as well as duration of exposure of those elements to one or more predetermined hazardous conditions to schedule maintenance and replacement.
58 Citations
19 Claims
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1. A system comprising:
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a plurality of personal protective elements where each member of the plurality carries a radio-frequency identifier-type tag; a user communication unit in wireless communication with the members of the plurality where the user communication unit includes at least one computer readable storage unit for storing therein a plurality of indicia indicative of expected members of the plurality and includes a timer for recording how long each member of the plurality of personal protective elements is in use. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A monitoring apparatus comprising:
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at least one supervisory monitoring device which includes a programmable processor and at least one computer readable storage unit which includes control software executable by the processor along with at least one of, selected, pre-stored combinations of personal protective equipment, duration of use of each member of a plurality of personal protective equipment and duration of exposure to predetermined environments; a wireless transceiver coupled to the monitoring device; and a multi-dimensional display device and associated graphical user software implemented, at least in part, by the processor where the interface presents visual information as to protective equipment configurations of selected individuals, wherein the monitoring device, via the transceiver, communicates with members of a plurality of user communication units, each of which is associated with a different user, and provides at least one approved user equipment combination to at least some members of the plurality, and wherein at least one of the communication units includes a timer for recording how long each piece of personal protective equipment is in use. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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18. A multi-level equipment configuration monitoring system comprising:
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a plurality of RFID tags associated with respective user protective gear selected from a class which includes at least respiration equipment, eye protection equipment, gloves, boots, helmets and hearing protection equipment; at least one user carriable communication unit which can activate at least some of the tags and determine which of the members of the class are responding, where the unit includes a pre-stored approved combination of class members, circuitry, responsive to the responding class members and the stored class members for determining if the responding class members are the same as the members of the stored combination of class members, and a timer for recording how long each member of the class is in use; and a display device, coupled to the communication unit wherein the unit can activate the display device to emit indicia indicative of differences between the responding class members and the pre-stored class members. - View Dependent Claims (19)
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Specification