Sanitary, user activated, water saving, motion sensing flushing method and device

A flushing system with a sensing module, having at least one sensor and a controller circuit having a sensor detection and trigger sub-circuit operatively coupled to the at least one sensor, and a flushing mechanism operatively coupled to the motion sensing module.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to plumbing actuation devices and methods such as automatic toilet and urinal flushing systems and, more particularly, but not by way of limitation, to a motion sensing device to activate a toilet, urinal, or other plumbing device adapted for sanitary waste disposal such as flushing in a manner facilitated by a non-touching, deliberate interaction of the user in a manner adapted to maintain minimal human contact while saving water.

BACKGROUND

There is a degree of confusion about when the first flushable toilet was invented. Some historians trace the origin of the first flushable toilet to King Minos of Crete who lived some 2800 years ago. It is said that the flushable toilet then disappeared for thousands of years until 1594 when Sir John Harrington built a flushable toilet known as the “prive in perfection’ for his godmother, the Queen of England. The flushable toilet, however, again went on hiatus for several hundred years until a British plumber by the name of Thomas Crapper developed a flushable toilet in 1872. It was Thomas Crapper's development of the toilet that helped establish the toilet as a fixture of everyday life. The first flushable toilets were actually considered to be status symbols in Victorian England, often having ornate designs including elaborate hand-painted decorations and complex carvings such as swans and lions that held the water basins on their backs. Today, the flushable toilet is an inherent part of our everyday lives. It has undergone constant modification and improvement, resulting in many innovations, including toilets that flush automatically. The invention described herein below pertains to such a device.

A system for the automatic flushing of a toilet is set forth and shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,603,127 wherein a tank-type toilet having one or more infrared transmitters is utilized to provide a sensed target area of approximately four feet in front of the toilet tank. The device allows for the automatic flushing of a toilet by detecting when a user has entered the sensed target area, and then flushing the toilet when the user has vacated the sensed target area.

Systems for the automatic flushing of toilets also providing sanitary flushing are generally known, and several such systems are currently in use today. One such system is set forth and shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,482,250 (the '250 patent) wherein a device contains two sensing areas, one for the sensing of a body in front of the toilet and a second for the sensing of a body part to the side of the toilet. The second sensor is provided as a way to flush a toilet without physically making contact with the toilet, providing a sanitary method for the user to flush the toilet.

Another example of a sanitary flushing system is set forth and shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,455,971 which discloses an automatic toilet flushing system which detects when a user sits on the toilet for use and, instead of operating a flush handle for flushing, performs flushing in association with the user's action of standing up to leave the toilet. Each of the foregoing inventions disadvantageously can be triggered inadvertently thus resulting in wastage of water.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a sanitary, user-activated, water-saving, motion-sensing flushing method and device for plumbing systems. More particularly, one aspect of the invention utilizes a sensor positioned to sense an area directly to a side of a toilet so that a user can enter the sensing area, for example with user's hand, to activate the automatic, sanitary flushing of the toilet whenever the user so desires. An infrared sensor is discussed as the sensor of choice in this application, but it should be understood that other sensors commonly known in the art could be used instead.

One feature of the invention is that it provides a sanitary means of flushing a toilet. It is desirable to provide a means that does not involve touching a portion of the toilet because public lavatories are often not kept as clean as required. Providing a touch free means for flushing the toilet protects users from bacteria or other undesirable contaminants that may exist on the flushing lever or button.

Another feature of the invention is the ability to limit the number of flushes to conserve water. The invention is oriented in such a way that a flush of a toilet is only initiated upon the direct interaction with the sensing area, limiting the number of flushes to an amount needed or desired by a user. As noted above, the above referenced devices sense a user's initial presence and subsequent absence to flush the toilet. This wastes water because flushes tend to occur more frequently than the user actually desires.

The device may be powered by any conventional means including, but not limited to, commercial electricity, battery, and solar. In one embodiment, the device is used in conjunction with a standard toilet. A standard toilet may be any tank-type toilet where water is stored in the tank, or water is accessed from a central plumbing system. In another embodiment, the device is used in conjunction with a standup urinal. A standup urinal may be any toilet system that is fixed to a wall that allows a user to utilize the toilet system while standing. It should be noted that the device may be used in conjunction with other types of toilet applications, and is not limited to the ones listed above. Furthermore, the device may be adapted for use with toilet systems already in place, or may be included in new toilet systems.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Various embodiment(s) of the invention will now be described more fully with reference to the accompanying Drawings. The invention may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiment(s) set forth herein.

Referring toFIG. 1, an embodiment of the sanitary, user-activated, water-saving, motion-sensing flushing device100for use with a conventional toilet101is shown. The device100includes a sensor housing102, which includes: sensors103A and103B; and backup push button104. Sensors103A and103B observe defined sensing areas105A and105B, respectively. The sensor housing102is situated on top of the flushing valve of a flushing mechanism for the control of the flushing valve.

Still referring toFIG. 1, when a user so desires, a flush of the toilet101may be accomplished through an interaction with the sensing area105A or105B. This interaction may be accomplished, for example, by reaching back with either of the user's hands to interrupt either of the sensing areas105A or105B.

Referring now toFIG. 2, an embodiment of the sanitary, user-activated, water-saving, motion-sensing flushing device200for use with a standup urinal201is shown. The device200includes a sensor housing202, which includes: sensors203A and203B, and backup push button204. Sensors203A and203B observe defined sensing areas205A and205B, respectively. The sensor housing202is situated on top of the flushing valve of a flushing mechanism for the control of the flushing valve.

Still referring toFIG. 2, when a user so desires, a flush of the standup urinal201may be accomplished through an interaction with the sensing area205A or205B. This interaction may be accomplished, for example, by a wave with either of the user's hands to interrupt either of the sensing areas205A or205B.

Referring now toFIG. 3, a block diagram of a sensing module301coupled to a flushing mechanism302according to one embodiment of the invention is shown. As seen therein, sensing module301includes a plurality of sensors303A,303B coupled to a controller circuit304. The controller circuit304is, for example, a low current circuit, having a microprocessor circuit304A adapted to execute code, such as firmware, microcode or software (collectively, referred to as “code”). Such code is used, e.g., to implement methods of the present invention. The controller circuit304further includes an oscillator circuit304B adapted to provide timing and clock signals to the controller circuit304. Each of the sensors303A,303B is coupled to a detection and trigger sub-circuit303C within controller circuit304, each of which is triggered upon an appropriate sensing of, e.g., electrical or magnetic impulses, heat, motion, light or sound, by sensors303A,303B. A relay305may be used to bridge the low current requirements of the sensing module301to the higher current requirements of the flushing mechanism302. The flushing mechanism302may include an inlet valve, outlet valve, flush diaphragm assembly and associated assemblies and drivers, adapted to cause water and effluent to be discharged from a toilet bowl or urinal and clean water to be introduced into the toilet bowl or urinal. Power for the invention can be, for example, provided from a power source (not shown) to a transformer306that has a plurality of taps and regulators to provide low power to sensing module301and higher power to flush mechanism302.

Depending on the code executed by microprocessor circuit304A, a variety of different triggering mechanisms can be used to activate flush mechanism302. For example, sensors303A and303B may be infrared sensors and a flush may be activated if either sensor senses a wave of a hand within the detection area of the sensor. Alternatively, sensors303A and303B may be infrared sensors and a flush may be activated only if one wave of a hand is sensed on sensor303A and then sensed by sensor303B within a predetermined time period, such as 5 seconds. This type of specific requirement will greatly reduce the number of inadvertent flushes, thus saving water. Alternatively, sensor303A may be a light sensor and sensor303B may be an infrared sensor, such that both must be toggled to the TRUE position for the flush mechanism302to be activated. Hence, if the light in the restroom is off, no flush can occur, regardless of what is sensed at sensor303B. Alternatively, the sensor may comprise a single audio sensor adapted to receive voice commands. The code can include voice recognition software executable by a voice recognition engine such that only a certain word such as “flush” can be used to activate the flush mechanism302. In such embodiment, microprocessor circuit304A includes a memory adapted to hold a look-up table of word sounds. When the audio sensor senses a word, the speech recognition engine compares the word to specific words in the look-up table and if a match is found, flush mechanism302is activated. As is known in the speech recognition art, there are a number of techniques available for comparison and matching. Most involve comparing a current window with known samples. Such methods may use Hidden Markov Models (HMM), frequency analysis, differential analysis, linear algebra techniques/shortcuts, spectral distortion, and time distortion methods. All these methods are used to generate a probability and accuracy match.

FIG. 4is a flow chart400of a first embodiment of a method of the present invention.FIG. 5is a flow chart500of a second embodiment of a method of the present invention.FIG. 6is a flow chart600of a third embodiment of a method of the present invention, andFIG. 7is a flow chart700of a fourth embodiment of a method of the present invention. InFIG. 4, the sensors are infrared sensors and if either sensor senses, in steps401A,401B, a wave of a hand, for example, within the detection area of the sensor, the flush mechanism is activated in step402. This logic can be implemented using an OR gate. InFIG. 5, it is necessary to have each sensor toggled to TRUE, in steps501A,501B, within a certain time frame to activate the flush mechanism in step502. This logic can be implemented using a latch, a variety of logic gates and a timer. As seen inFIG. 5, two AND gates implement the functionality. InFIG. 6, both sensors in steps601A,601B must be toggled to TRUE to activate the flush mechanism in step602, without regard to a time requirement. This logic can be implemented using an AND gate. For example, in this method, a light sensor can be coupled to a first branch of a detection and trigger sub-circuit and the infrared sensor can be coupled to a second branch of the detection and trigger sub-circuit. The light sensor is adapted to detect light and, thereupon cause the first branch of the sensor detection and trigger sub-circuit to be toggled TRUE. The infrared sensor will have a defined volume of free space wherein a second branch of the detection and trigger sub-circuit is toggled TRUE if an object is detected within the defined volume of the infrared sensor. The controller circuit is then adapted to activate the flushing mechanism if both branches of the detection and trigger sub-circuit are toggled TRUE. InFIG. 7, a voice recognition circuit is used to activate the flush mechanism. In step701, an audio sensor senses a word. In step702, a digitized representation of the word is saved in a memory. In step703, the digitized word is compared to words stored in a look-up table database. In step704, if a match is found, then the flush mechanism is activated in step705. If a match is not found, the method returns to step701.

The embodiments shown and described above are only exemplary. Even though numerous characteristics and advantages of the present invention have been set forth in the foregoing description together with details of the invention, the disclosure is illustrative only and changes may be made within the principles of the invention to the full extent indicated by the broad general meaning of the terms used in the attached claims.