Method and device for monitoring equipment
First Claim
1. Method of controlling an appliance, which cooperates with a human operator, characterized by the steps:
- (a) making an enabling element, which is provided with memory means and associated with a particular, authorized human operator, (b) storing an invariable body characteristic in the memory of the enabling element, (c) releasing the appliance for operation by using the enabling element by the authorized human operator, (d) during this use, carrying out a comparison of the body characteristic of the human operator with the stored body characteristic, (e) preventing the release, when the body characteristics deviate from each other.
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Accused Products
Abstract
The invention relates to a device for controlling an appliance, which cooperates with a human operator, wherein the appliance comprises an appliance-side safety device (10), which can interact with an enabling element (12) provided with memory means (80,82,84) and associated with a particular, authorized human operator, the appliance being operable only after interaction with the enabling element (12). In one application the occurrences to be watched can be stored in the memory means (80,82,84) of the enabling element, for example for watching motor vehicles with regard to unacceptably long driving times of a particular driver. In another application, the control means of aircraft are watched to ensure that the aircraft can be flown only by an authorized pilot. Invariable body characteristics of the driver or pilot, for example a finger print, are stored in the enabling element. The real body characteristics are detected by sensors and are compared with the stored ones. The vehicle or aircraft can only be used, if detected and stored body characteristics are identical.
33 Citations
39 Claims
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1. Method of controlling an appliance, which cooperates with a human operator, characterized by the steps:
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(a) making an enabling element, which is provided with memory means and associated with a particular, authorized human operator, (b) storing an invariable body characteristic in the memory of the enabling element, (c) releasing the appliance for operation by using the enabling element by the authorized human operator, (d) during this use, carrying out a comparison of the body characteristic of the human operator with the stored body characteristic, (e) preventing the release, when the body characteristics deviate from each other. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. Device for controlling an appliance, which cooperates with a human operator, wherein the appliance contains an appliance-side safety device (10,142), on which an enabling element (12;
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138) provided with memory means (80,82,84) and associated with a particular, authorized human operator is used, the appliance being operable only after the use of the enabling element (12;
138), characterized by means for storing an invariable body characteristic of the authorized human operator, means (76) for recognizing this body characteristic of the human operator using the enabling element (12;
138) on the safety device (10;
142), and means for comparing the recognized body characteristic with the body characteristic stored in the enabling element (12;
138), allowing operation of the appliance only after use of the enabling element (12;
138) and only then when the recognized and stored body characteristics are identical. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32)
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138) provided with memory means (80,82,84) and associated with a particular, authorized human operator is used, the appliance being operable only after the use of the enabling element (12;
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25. Device for Monitoring the pilot of an aircraft steerable by the pilot through control means, characterized in that
(a) a safety device (142) is provided, which cooperates with navigation means (128) for determining the position of the aircraft, (b) the safety device (142), furthermore, comprises memory means for storing exclusion areas, and (c) the control means, upon entering an exclusion area, are automatically switched over to a forced autopilot operation which can no longer be influenced by the pilot.
- 33. Enabling element which permits a human operator to cooperate with an appliance, characterized by means for storing an invariable body characteristic of an authorized human operator, means for recognizing these body characteristic of the human operator, means for comparing the stored and recognized body characteristics, and means for generating a release signal only when the recognized and the stored body characteristics are identical.
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39. Device for controlling the control means of aircraft to ensure that the aircraft can be flown by an authorized pilot, characterized in that control means can be de-activated upon an attempt of a terrorist take-over of the aircraft, and can be changed over, upon such forced de-activation, to a forced autopilot operation which can no longer be influenced from inside the aircraft.
Specification