System and method for protective eyewear

• US 10,373,449 B2
• Filed: 01/19/2016
• Issued: 08/06/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 01/19/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: The Boeing Co.
• Original Assignee: The Boeing Co.
• Inventors: Pflug, William, Tillotson, Brian
• Primary Examiner(s): Pham, Quang
• Application Number:
  US15/000,584
• Publication Number:
  US 20170206753A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,295 Days
• CPC Class Codes: A61F 9/022 Use of special optical filters, e.g. multiple layers, filters for protection against laser light or light from nuclear explosions, screens with different filter properties on different parts of the screen; Rotating slit-discs optical filters per se G02B5/20

Abstract

This disclosure is directed to increasing the use of protective eyewear in safety-critical environments. Systems and methods disclosed herein include lighting devices that emit ambient lighting and safety lighting for an environment. The safety lighting includes visible characteristics different from the ambient lighting. Additionally, the systems and methods include protective eyewear having a lens that filters out substantially the visible characteristics of the safety lighting striking the lens and pass components of the ambient light safety lighting striking the lens.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a plurality of lighting devices configured to emit ambient lighting and safety lighting for an environment, the safety lighting comprising one or more visible characteristics different from the ambient lighting;

a processor; and

a memory device storing program instructions that, when executed by the processor, causes the system to perform operations comprising;

detecting a face of an individual in the environment;

determining that the face of the individual lacks protective eyewear;

determining a first location of the individual in the environment;

selectively activating a first lighting device of the plurality of lighting devices corresponding to the first location of the individual to emit the safety lighting at a first intensity;

selectively increasing the safety lighting produced by the first lighting device over time such that effects of the safety lighting on the individual are progressively increased in response to the determining that the individual lacks of the protective eyewear during emitting of the safety lighting;

determining that the individual is wearing the protective eyewear during emitting of the safety lighting; and

minimizing or terminating the safety lighting produced by the plurality of lighting devices in response to determining whether the individual is wearing the protective eyewear during emitting of the safety lighting.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more visible characteristics of the safety lighting emitted by the plurality of lighting devices comprises flashing.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the flashing of the safety lighting occurs in a range from about 1 Hertz (Hz) to about 12 Hz.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more visible characteristics of the safety lighting emitted by the plurality of lighting devices comprises a intensity of the safety lighting substantially greater than an intensity of the ambient light.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein a size of an optical aperture of the safety lighting provides an irradiance below a maximum permissible exposure at any distance.

6. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

protective eyewear including a lens configured to filter out substantially all of the one or more visible characteristics of the safety lighting striking the lens and pass components of the ambient lighting striking the lens,

wherein;

the safety lighting emitted by the plurality of lighting devices consists essentially of polarized light;

and

the lens of the protective eyewear comprises a polarized optical filter configured to remove the polarized light.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein:

the safety lighting emitted by the plurality of lighting devices consists essentially of a narrow spectrum range of light; and

the lens of the protective eyewear comprises an optical color filter that removes the narrow spectrum range of light.

8. The system of claim 6, wherein:

the safety lighting emitted by the plurality of lighting devices comprises a flashing light; and

the lens of the protective eyewear comprises an active shutter system configured to filter the flashing light based on information communicated to the protective eyewear.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of lighting devices are configured to flood the environment with the ambient light and direct the safety lighting to a particular portion of the environment.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise:

determining a second location of the individual in the environment;

determining that the face of the individual lacks the protective eyewear; and

selectively activating a second lighting device of the plurality of lighting devices corresponding to the second location of the individual to emit the safety lighting at a second intensity.

11. A system comprising:

a plurality of lighting devices configured to emit ambient lighting and safety lighting for an environment; and

a processor and a memory device storing program instructions that, when executed by the processor, causes the system to perform operations comprising;

detecting a face of an individual in the environment;

determining that the face of the individual lacks protective eyewear;

controlling, based on the determining, one or more of the plurality of lighting devices to emit the safety lighting;

iteratively determining whether the face of the individual is wearing protective eyewear during emitting of the safety lighting;

based on determining that the individual is not wearing the protective eyewear during emitting of the safety lighting, increasing the safety lighting produced by the plurality of lighting devices over time such that effects of the safety lighting on the individual are progressively increased; and

based on the determining that the individual is wearing the protective eyewear during the emitting of the safety lighting, minimizing or terminating the safety lighting produced by the plurality of lighting devices.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the operations further comprise:

determining that a predetermined amount of time has passed since causing the one or more of the plurality of light devices to emit the safety lighting; and

modifying the safety lighting emitted one or more of the plurality of lighting devices.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein modifying the safety lighting comprises increasing an intensity of the safety lighting.

14. The system of claim 12, wherein modifying the safety lighting comprises increasing a rate of flashing of the safety lighting.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the operations further comprise transmitting synchronization information describing the rate of flashing of the safety lighting to protective eyewear.

16. The system of claim 11, wherein the operations further comprise:

detecting the individual comprises determining a location of the individual in the environment; and

causing one or more of the plurality of lighting devices to emit the safety lighting comprises activating the one or more of the plurality of lighting devices at or near the location of the individual.

17. A method for increasing a use of protective eyewear in an environment, the method comprising:

illuminating, by a computing device, the environment with ambient light using a plurality of lighting devices;

obtaining, by the computing device, images of the environment captured by one or more cameras monitoring the environment;

detecting, by the computing device, a face of an individual in one or more of the images;

determining, by the computing device, that the individual lacks protective eyewear;

controlling, by the computing, device, one or more of the plurality of lighting devices to emit safety lighting based on the determining;

iteratively determining, by the computing device, whether the face of the individual is wearing the protective eyewear during emitting of the safety lighting;

based on determining that the individual is not wearing the protective eyewear during emitting of the safety lighting, increasing the safety lighting produced by the plurality of lighting devices over time such that effects of the safety lighting on the individual are progressively increased;

iteratively determining, by the computing device, that the face of the individual is wearing protective eyewear during emitting of the safety lighting; and

minimizing or terminating, by the computing device, the safety lighting produced by the plurality of devices based on the determining that the individual is wearing the protective eyewear during the emitting of the safety lighting.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising

determining, by the computing device, that a predetermined amount of time has passed since causing the one or more of the plurality of lighting devices to emit the safety lighting;

determining, by the computing device, that the individual lacks the protective eyewear; and

increasing, by the computing device, the safety lighting emitted by the one or more of the plurality of lighting devices.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein increasing the safety lighting emitted by the one or more of the plurality of lighting devices comprises increasing an intensity of the safety lighting.

20. The method of claim 18, wherein:

increasing the safety lighting emitted by the one or more of the plurality of lighting devices comprises increasing a rate of flashing of the safety lighting; and

the method further comprises transmitting synchronization information describing the rate of the flashing to protective eyewear via a communication channel.

21. The method of claim 17 further comprising:

detecting, by the computing device, the individual comprises determining a location of the individual in the environment; and

causing, by the computing device, one or more of the plurality of lighting devices to emit the safety lighting comprises activating a first light of the one or more of the plurality of lighting devices at or near the location of the individual.