Image processing occupancy sensor

• US 9,456,183 B2
• Filed: 11/16/2010
• Issued: 09/27/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 11/16/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Alliance For Sustainable Energy LLC
• Original Assignee: Alliance For Sustainable Energy LLC
• Inventors: Brackney, Larry J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Czekaj, Dave
• Assistant Examiner(s): KALAPODAS, DRAMOS
• Application Number:
  US12/947,045
• Publication Number:
  US 20110115910A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,142 Days
• Field of Search: 348/143, 348/E07.085, 382/103
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/52 Surveillance or monitoring of activities, e.g. for recognising suspicious objects recognising microscopic objects G06V20/69
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/183 for receiving images from a single remote source
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 47/115 by determining the presence or movement of objects or living beings
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 47/125 by using cameras
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 47/175 by remote control
• CPC Class Codes: Y02B 20/40 Control techniques providing energy savings, e.g. smart controller or presence detection

Abstract

A system and method of detecting occupants in a building automation system environment using image based occupancy detection and position determinations. In one example, the system includes an image processing occupancy sensor that detects the number and position of occupants within a space that has controllable building elements such as lighting and ventilation diffusers. Based on the position and location of the occupants, the system can finely control the elements to optimize conditions for the occupants, optimize energy usage, among other advantages.

Claims

1. A method of controlling building equipment comprising:

receiving an image from an image sensor placed in a space associated with the building, the image including information representative of one or more occupants in the space;

at a first processor coupled with a memory storing the image, determining, from the image, a presence of one or more occupants within the space;

associating the image with a matrix that defines a dimensional representation of the space, wherein the matrix subdivides the space into a plurality of regions each with one or more cells within each region; and

assigning an occupant value for each of the one or more cells based on a determination of a relative position of any detected occupants within the space with respect to a position of a registered feature appearing within the image; and

providing a control signal to one or more controllable building elements within a first cell of a first region based on the occupant value assigned to the first cell.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

at the first processor coupled with the memory storing the image, determining a position of the one or more occupants in the space.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

from a second processor in communication with the first processor,

providing the control signal to the one or more controllable building elements based on the relative position of a detected occupant in the space.

4. The method of claim 3 further comprising:

providing the control signal to the one or more controllable building elements based on at least one of a presence of the one or more occupants in the space or the position of the one or more occupants in the space, and at least one luminance value associated with the space.

5. The method of claim 3 wherein the controllable building elements include one or more of a dimmable lighting element, a variable ventilation element, a heating element or a cooling element;

the method further comprising one or more of;

providing a first control signal to the dimmable lighting element to illuminate the lighting element based on the occupant value for each of the one or more cells;

providing a second control signal to the variable ventilation element to provide ventilation to the space based on the occupant value for each of the one or more cells;

providing a third control signal to the heating element to provide heating to the space based on the occupant value for each of the one or more cells;

or

providing a fourth control signal to the cooling element to provide cooling to the space based on the occupant value for each of the one or more cells.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

in the memory, storing digital image data from the space associated with the building, the digital image data including information representative of one or more occupants in the space;

at the first processor coupled with the memory storing the digital image data, processing the digital image data using a Canny edge detection method, the processed digital image data providing image data representative of the one or more occupants in the space; and

at the first processor, comparing the processed digital image data to at least one reference data set to identify the relative position of the one or more occupants in the space.

7. The method of claim 6 further comprising:

associating the one or more controllable building elements with the one or more cells, and providing the control signal to the one or more controllable building elements based on the occupant value for the one or more cells associated with the one or more controllable building elements.

8. The method of claim 6 further comprising, at the processor coupled with the memory storing the digital image data:

applying a smoothing function to the occupant values for each cell to provide smoothed occupancy values for each cell;

applying an offset to each smoothed occupancy value to provide offset occupancy values for each cell;

normalizing the offset occupancy values on a region basis to provide normalized values for each cell;

determining a mean value for each region to yield occupancy control values; and

providing the control signal to the one or more controllable building elements in each region based on the yielded occupancy control values.

9. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

providing a control signal to one or more controllable building elements within a second cell based at least in part on the occupant value assigned to the first cell.

10. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

at the first processor coupled with the memory storing the image, determining a position of one or more occupants in the space;

at the first processor coupled with the memory storing the image, calculating a centroid of occupancy of the one or more occupants in the space based on the position data; and

providing the control signal to the one or more controllable building elements based on the calculated centroid of occupancy.

11. A building management system comprising:

an image processing occupancy sensor comprising;

at least one image sensor; and

at least one first microprocessor coupled with at least one memory, the microprocessor and memory configured to receive and store an image from the image sensor, the at least one memory including computer executable instructions comprising;

a first set of instructions to identify an occupant within the image;

a second set of instructions to determine the position of an occupant in a space associated with the image processing occupancy sensor and provide data indicative of the position of the occupant in the space;

herein the second set of instructions further causes the at least one first microprocessor to;

associate the image with a matrix that defines a dimensional representation of the space, wherein the matrix subdivides the space into a plurality of regions with one or more cells within each region; and

assign an occupant value for at least one of the one or more cells based on a determination of a relative position of the occupant with respect to a position of a registered feature appearing within the image; and

wherein the data indicative of the position of the occupant in the space is determine from the relative position.

12. The building management system of claim 11 further comprising:

at least one second microprocessor in communication with the at least one first microprocessor, the at least one second microprocessor coupled with at least one second memory, the at least one second microprocessor and second memory including computer executable instructions comprising a third set of instructions to control one more controllable elements in the space based on the position of the occupant in the space.

13. The building management system of claim 12 wherein:

the controllable building elements include one or more of a dimmable lighting elements, a variable ventilation element, a heating element or a cooling element;

the at least one second microprocessor coupled with the at least one second memory including one or more computer executable instructions comprising;

at least one fourth set of instructions to provide a first control signal to the dimmable lighting element to illuminate the lighting element based on the position of the occupant in the space;

at least one fifth set of instructions to provide a second control signal to the variable ventilation element to provide ventilation to the space based on position of the occupant in the space;

at least one sixth set of instructions to provide a third control signal to the heating element to provide heating to the space based on the position of occupant in the space;

or

at least one seventh set of instructions to provide a fourth control signal to the cooling element to provide cooling to the space based on the position of the occupant in the space.

14. The building management system of claim 12, the third set of instructions to provide the control signal to the one or more controllable building elements based on at least one of the presence of the one or more occupants in the space or the position of the one or more occupants in the space, and at least one luminance value associated with the space.

15. The building management system of claim 12, wherein the second set of instructions is stored in the second memory and further causes the second processor to determine the relative position of the occupant with respect to a position of the registered feature appearing within the image.

16. The building management system of claim 15, the at least one second microprocessor and second memory including computer executable instructions comprising:

a sixth set of instructions to associate the one or more controllable building elements with one or more cells;

the third set of instructions to provide the control signal to the one or more controllable building elements based on the occupant value for the one or more cells associated with the one or more controllable building elements.