Abstract:
A carwash includes an emergency stop triggered by a car horn. A controller with a microphone listens to various sounds generated during the carwash process and performs a simple spectrum analyses to identify sounds characteristic of car horns. Rather than knowing beforehand a plethora of different car horns, the controller recognizes any number of unknown car horns because virtually all car horn tones are each comprised of multiple prominent frequencies, as opposed to a single frequency note such as the electronic “beeeeep” of a microwave oven. Steady, multiple prominent frequency tones of car horns are readily distinguishable from the noise of carwash spray, which might explain why humans can readily distinguish a car horn from carwash noises, regardless of whether the horn is louder or quieter than the surrounding carwash sounds. In some examples, the horn-activated emergency stop automatically sends a text/video message to a remote carwash owner or manager.

Description:
FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE 
       [0001]    The subject invention generally pertains to carwashes and more specifically to means for improving their safety and minimizing their liability to carwash owners and operators. 
       BACKGROUND 
       [0002]    Carwashes for automatically washing cars, trucks, trailers and other vehicles typically comprise a carwash apparatus with one or more sprayers for spraying water, soap, wax and various chemical treatments on the vehicle. The sprayer might be part of a spray wand dedicated for spraying, or the sprayer might be incorporated with brushes or other cleaning equipment. Carwash apparatuses are usually powered and controlled to provide relative movement between the sprayer and the vehicle. The sprayer, for example, might travel along the vehicle&#39;s outer perimeter, or the vehicle might travel while the sprayer is stationary, or both the sprayer and the vehicle move. 
         [0003]    Carwashes typically generate a broad range of spray noise including various other carwash sounds. Liquid sprayed against various parts of the vehicle generates noise, and the liquid exiting a spray nozzle itself generates noise. In addition, the operation of motors, pumps and trolleys also generate various sounds. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0004]      FIG. 1  is a cross-sectional side view of an example carwash system prior to actuation of an emergency stop. 
           [0005]      FIG. 2  is a cross-sectional side view similar to  FIG. 1  but showing a car horn having triggered an emergency stop. 
           [0006]      FIG. 3  is a cross-sectional side view similar to  FIGS. 1 and 2  but showing the carwash after the emergency stop. 
           [0007]      FIG. 4  is a graph of an audio signal generated by a combination of a horn sound and a spray noise. 
           [0008]      FIG. 5  is a graph of the audio signal in a magnitude versus frequency domain. 
           [0009]      FIG. 6  is a graph similar to  FIG. 5  but after applying an averaging function to the signal. 
           [0010]      FIG. 7  is a block diagram illustrating various example methods associated with the carwash system. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0011]    Various unexpected emergencies can happen at a carwash. Examples of such emergencies include, but are not limited to, a sprayer striking or scraping against the car, a window of the car being stuck open, a child suddenly opening a car door or window and exposing the child to high pressure spray, the customer suddenly recalling that cargo is on the vehicle&#39;s exterior, the customer realizing the vehicle&#39;s side mirrors or antenna are not retracted, the customer noticing that the vehicle&#39;s gas cap is missing, the sprayer failing to ever stop, etc. 
         [0012]    To improve carwash safety; to avoid various carwash incidents such as personal injury, damage to a vehicle and damage to the carwash itself, and to provide a carwash owner or manager with the convenience of remote access to the carwash, an example carwash system  10  provides its patrons with an emergency stop actuated by the user simply honking a car horn  12 . In some examples, horn  12  triggers an emergency stop, and a text and/or video message notifies the carwash owner of the event. The carwash owner, in some examples, can send a text message reply that selectively affirms the emergency stop condition or resets the carwash to normal operation. 
         [0013]      FIGS. 1-7  illustrate example carwash system  10  and method that uses horn  12  of a vehicle  14  to actuate an emergency stop.  FIGS. 1-3  show vehicle  14  in a carwash bay  16 ,  FIGS. 4-6  illustrate various raw and processed sound signals, and  FIG. 7  shows various method steps of system  10 . The term, “carwash bay” means any area designated for washing vehicle  14 . The term, “vehicle” means any apparatus with wheels for traveling. Examples of vehicle  14  include, but are not limited to, a car, truck, bus, van, trailer, etc. The terms, “horn” and “car horn,” mean any audible alert of a vehicle, thus a car horn can actually be for a truck. 
         [0014]    In some examples, system  10  comprises a structure  18  (e.g., building and/or framework) defining carwash bay  16 , one or more carwash doors  20  (e.g., rollup door, segmented garage door, etc.) for entering or leaving bay  16 , a sprayer  22  for emitting a spray  24  (e.g., spraying water, foam, steam, soap, wax, etc.), a carwash apparatus  26  within bay  16 , and a controller  28  for controlling at least some operations of carwash apparatus  26 . In some examples, controller  28  also controls some aspects of additional items, such as door  20  and/or a message sign  30 . Carwash apparatus  26  is schematically illustrated to represent any apparatus for driving relative movement between vehicle  14  and sprayer  22 . 
         [0015]    One example of carwash apparatus  26  includes, but is not limited to, a gantry or bridge supported trolley  32  horizontally movable within bay  16 , wherein trolley  32  carries a spray wand  34  that in some examples is rotatable about a vertical axis relative to trolley  32 . In such an example, controller  28  commands carwash apparatus  26  to move spray wand  34  and its one or more sprayers  22  along the outer perimeter of vehicle  14 . In other examples, carwash apparatus  26  includes a conveyor that moves vehicle  14  through bay  16  such that vehicle  14  is sprayed as it travels past sprayer  22 , wherein sprayer  22  is also part of carwash apparatus  26 . In the various examples, the movement of carwash apparatus  26  is powered by any suitable means, e.g., powered by one or more conventional motors, hydraulic cylinders, chains, cogged belt, sheaves, sprockets, and various combinations thereof, etc. 
         [0016]    The operation of carwash apparatus  26  is controlled by controller  28  alone or, in some examples, in combination with a main controller  28 ′. For instance, in some examples, main controller  28 ′ controls the positioning of trolley  26  and sprayer  22  while controller  28  determines whether carwash apparatus  26  functions in a normal operating mode or an emergency shut-down mode. In some examples, controller  28  and main controller  28 ′ are individual items wired or wireless connected in communication with each other. In some examples, controller  28  is a retrofit added to an already existing main controller  28 ′. In some examples, controllers  28  and  28 ′ are incorporated as a single unit. Examples of controller  28 , main controller  28 ′, and a combination of controllers  28  and  28 ′ include, but are not limited to, a computer, a microprocessor, an electrical circuit, one or more motor drive units, a programmable logic controller, and various combinations thereof. 
         [0017]    Controller  28 , in some examples, provides various output signals to control the operation and positioning of carwash apparatus  26 .  FIG. 1  shows controller  28  during a first period providing a normal operating signal  36  that controls carwash apparatus  26  in a conventional, non-emergency manner, e.g., a normal cleaning mode.  FIG. 2  shows controller  28  during a second period providing an emergency shut-down signal  38  that commands carwash apparatus  26  to shut down (emergency mode).  FIG. 3  shows carwash apparatus  26  after being shut down. Controller  28  automatically shifts carwash apparatus  26  from the cleaning mode to the emergency mode in response to a horn-triggered emergency stop. 
         [0018]    To provide system  10  with a horn-triggered emergency stop, controller  28  is connected in communication with a microphone  40  that listens to the surrounding sound, such as a spray noise  42  from sprayer  22 , a horn sound  44  from horn  12 , and various other sounds from carwash apparatus  26 . In some examples, microphone  40  is an integral part of controller  28 . In some examples, microphone  40  is installed within bay  16  at a location remote to the remaining portion of controller  28  but still wired or wirelessly connected to it. 
         [0019]    Since a human can readily distinguish a car horn from carwash noises and do so regardless of whether the car horn is louder or quieter than the carwash noises and regardless of which tone a particular car horn emits, it would seem possible that a computerized sound analyzer could recognize a horn as well, particularly since computers have been programmed to recognize speech comprised of many subtly different sounds and tones. Examples of voice recognition software include, but are not limited to, Dragon Naturally Speaking, CMU Sphinx, Julius, simon, iATROS, RWTH ASR, SHoUT, and VoxForge. In some examples, controller  28  employs some elements of speech recognition software to distinguish horn sound  42  from ambient spray noise  42  (including other carwash sounds). In some examples, as illustrated in  FIGS. 4-6 , controller  28  receives and processes an audio signal  46  comprising a spray component  46   a  reflective of spray noise  42  and a horn component  46   b  reflective of horn sound  44 . 
         [0020]    Specifically,  FIG. 4  shows audio signal  46  as an amplitude versus time domain signal. The term, “signal” means any physical indicator (e.g., voltage, current, etc.) or numerical indicator (e.g., data, binary, function, etc.). In such a representation, as shown in  FIG. 4 , it can be difficult although not impossible to distinguish horn sound  44  from spray noise  42 . Thus, controller  28  performs a spectrum analysis (e.g., Fourier transform and/or other known means) to convert the audio signal&#39;s amplitude versus time domain signal of  FIG. 4  to a magnitude versus frequency domain signal  46 ′ shown in  FIG. 5 . One example of spectrum analysis software includes, but is not limited to, “Visual Analyzer” of www.sillanumsoft.org. In the magnitude versus frequency domain signal  46 ′ of  FIG. 5 , horn component  46   b  appears as being comprised of a plurality of prominent notes  48  (e.g., notes  48   a,    48   b  and  48   c ) distributed over a plurality of discrete, steady, spaced-apart frequencies  50   a,    50   b  and  50   c,  respectively. Such multiple discrete notes  48  provide a tone characteristic of conventional car horns. In some examples, notes  48  each being at a substantially constant frequency, makes notes  48  prominent in that they do not fluctuate in frequency nearly as much as spray noise  42  (spray component  46   a ), which is very erratic. In some examples, notes  48  are prominent in that they are of volume that fluctuates less than other sounds in wash bay  16 . In some examples, notes are prominent in that they are of greater volume than other sounds within bay  16  (as sensed by microphone  40 ). 
         [0021]    To see notes  48  more clearly and thus make it easier to distinguish horn sound  42  from spray noise  42 , controller  28  applies an averaging function to the magnitude versus frequency domain signal  46 ′ of  FIG. 5  to create the average magnitude versus frequency domain signal  46 ″ shown in  FIG. 6 . While  FIG. 5  shows a snapshot taken generally at an instant of time,  FIG. 6  shows an average of several such snapshots taken over a short span of time. In some examples,  FIG. 6  represents the average of three separate snapshots spanning a period of one second. Since spray noise  42  (spray component  46   a ) is erratic, changing in magnitude and frequency, its average value  46   a ′ is smoothened out or flatter. Horn sound  44 , however, is comprised of notes  48  that are substantially constant in magnitude and frequency, thus the average of each note  48  sampled repeatedly over a span of time is substantially the same as a snapshot at a single instant of time. As a result,  FIG. 6  shows the magnitude of notes  48  being the same as their magnitude in  FIG. 5 , while the average magnitude of noise is  46   a ′ is considerably smaller than signal  46   a.  This makes it easy to see and distinguish horn component  46   b  from spray component  46   a′.    
         [0022]    Although spray noise  42  can be quite erratic, other sounds of carwash apparatus  26  might be at a more constant magnitude and frequency. A water pump, for instance, might emit a constant hum or whirr. Nonetheless, there are various ways to prevent such a non-horn sound from being interpreted as a car horn. In some examples, with reference to  FIG. 6 , controller  28  counts the prominent notes or spikes exceeding a predetermined magnitude  52  and compares the count to a predetermined number. For the illustrated example, a spike  54  represents the whirr of a motor driven pump. So, in this example, the count would only be one for spike  54  if no horn is sounded. If horn  12  is sounded, notes  48   a,    48   b  and  48   c  would be added to spike  54  for a total count of four. If the predetermined reference number is chosen to be three, then a single spike  54  without horn  12  would result in a count of one, which is less than three, so controller  28  would determine that no horn sound is triggering an emergency stop. If, however, horn  12  is sounded, then notes  48  plus spike  54  would provide a total count of four, which is greater than the predetermined number of three, so controller  28  would determine that horn  12  has been activated to initiate an emergency stop. 
         [0023]    In some examples, the predetermined number is chosen to be one or two greater than the number of spikes  54  expected during normal car washing. In some examples, the predetermined number varies over time depending on the wash cycle. For instance, in some examples, the predetermined number is lower during the initial presoak period of the wash cycle, and the predetermined number is higher as additional pumps are activated later in the cycle. 
         [0024]    In addition or alternatively, other means are employed to help distinguish horn sound  44  from spray noise  42 , wherein the term, “spray noise” broadly encompasses all non-horn sounds sensed by microphone  40 . Examples of spray noise  42  include, but are not limited to, liquid discharging from sprayer  22 , liquid spray striking vehicle  14 , engine noise from vehicle  14 , and motor and pump noises of carwash apparatus  26 , etc. To prevent such non-horn sounds from triggering a false emergency stop, in some examples, microphone  40  is a directional microphone focused on the area where horn  12  is most likely to be located. In some examples, controller  28  filters out higher frequency noise, e.g., filters out sounds above 7,000 hertz. In some examples, to avoid loud stereos from triggering a false alarm, controller  28  only responds to continuous horn sounds that last longer than a predetermined duration, e.g., the horn sounds longer than three continuous seconds. In some examples, controller  28  disregards sounds of less than a predetermined threshold volume to prevent distant horns beyond carwash bay  16  from falsely triggering an emergency stop. In examples where there are multiple bays  16 , each carwash bay has its own microphone and the volume of the sounds they sense are compared so that if multiple microphones hear a horn, the controller having the microphone that hears it the loudest responds while the controllers of the other microphones hearing it the least disregard it. 
         [0025]    In some examples, a horn-triggered shut-down or emergency stop simply results in de-energizing carwash apparatus  26 . In some examples, carwash apparatus  26  first moves to a home or parked position before being de-energized. Arrow  56  of  FIG. 2 , for example, represents spray wand  34  of apparatus  26  moving from a cleaning position ( FIG. 1 ) to an example parked position ( FIG. 3 ). Such movement or a similar movement  110 , in some examples, is spring powered or otherwise non-electrically powered to ensure at least some safe clearance between vehicle  14  and spray wand  34  without having to rely on continued electrical power control. For instance, in some examples, a spring  104  connected to a spray wand knuckle  102  automatically pivots spray wand  34  about knuckle to a retracted or parked position in response to an emergency stop. In some examples, a solenoid  106  when energized resists spring  104  from pivoting spray wand  34  about knuckle  102 . When de-energized, however, solenoid  106  releases spring  104  to allow spring  104  to pivot spray wand  34  away from vehicle  14  to a parked position. The term, “parked position” means a location or an orientation of spray wand  34  where spray wand  34  is spaced apart from vehicle  14 . 
         [0026]    In some examples, a shut-down further includes outputting signals  58  to open one or more doors  20  leading to wash bay  16 . In some examples, a shut-down further includes outputting signal  60  to provide a message  62  in a textual and/or audible format, wherein message  62  relates to the actuation of horn  12  (i.e., message  62  was triggered by horn  12 ). For example, message  62  might tell the driver of vehicle  14  that an emergency stop has occurred and that the driver may depart and/or notify someone in charge of the carwash. In some examples, message  62  explains how to resume normal carwash operation, for instance, by sounding horn  12  in a particular pattern, e.g., three short beeps. In some examples, vehicle  14  departing bay  16  automatically clears the emergency shut-down mode and resets carwash system  10  for normal washing operation of the next vehicle entering carwash bay  16 . In some examples, controller  28  includes a counter that tallies the number of horn-actuated emergency stops. 
         [0027]    In some examples, the horn-triggered emergency stop is also communicated to a carwash owner or manager  88  at a location remote relative to carwash bay  16 . In some examples, in response to a horn-triggered emergency stop, controller  28  transmits via a wireless communication link  98  and wireless transmitter  90  (antenna, modem, combinations thereof, etc.) a message  92  (e.g., a text message—SMS short message service) to a remote electronic device  94  (e.g., cell phone, smartphone, mobile device, laptop computer, IPad, Android touchpad tablet, etc.) thereby notifying a carwash owner or manager  88  of the emergency stop. In some examples, message  92  includes GPS coordinates of the carwash and/or other information identifying which carwash is experiencing the emergency stop. Examples of message  92  include, but are not limited to, a cell phone text message, an email message, a tweet (Twitter, Inc. of San Francisco, Calif.), video message, etc. In the example of message  92  including a video message, a known video camera is installed in carwash bay  16 . In some examples, after an emergency stop, manager  88  resets carwash apparatus  26  remotely by sending a resume-to-normal-operation signal  96  from device  94  to controller  28 . 
         [0028]      FIG. 7  illustrates various method steps of performing a horn-triggered emergency stop of carwash system  10 . Block  64  represents washing vehicle  14  by way of carwash apparatus  10 . Block  66  represents controller  28  controlling the operation of carwash apparatus  26 . Block  68  represents hearing horn  12  while carwash apparatus  26  is washing vehicle  14 , wherein the hearing is performed by microphone  40  connected in communication with controller  28 . Block  70  represents controller  28  performing a spectrum analysis of audio signal  46  to convert amplitude versus time domain signal  46  to magnitude versus frequency domain signal  46 ′. Block  72  represents controller  28  applying an averaging function to magnitude versus frequency domain signal  46 ′. Block  74  represents controller  28  counting the plurality of prominent notes  48  to acquire a count. Block  76  represents controller  28  comparing the count to a predetermined reference number. Block  78  represents controller  28  distinguishing horn sound  44  from spray noise  42 . Block  80  represents discontinuing washing vehicle  14  and stopping sprayer  22  in response to microphone  40  hearing horn  12 . Block  82  represents moving sprayer  22  to a parked position. Block  84  represents opening carwash door  20 . Block  86  represents providing message  62  indicating a course of action to follow after discontinuing washing vehicle  14  in response to microphone  40  hearing horn  12 . Block  100  represents transmitting text message  92  to portable electronic device  94  in response to microphone  40  hearing horn  12 . Block  88  represents microphone hearing spray noise  42 , and block  90  represents filtering out higher frequencies. 
         [0029]    Although certain example methods, apparatus and articles of manufacture have been described herein, the scope of the coverage of this patent is not limited thereto. On the contrary, this patent covers all methods, apparatus and articles of manufacture fairly falling within the scope of the appended claims either literally or under the doctrine of equivalents.