Patent Publication Number: US-11644186-B1

Title: Directional guidance device

Description:
This application claims priority from Provisional application No. 63/198,063, filed Sep. 26, 2020, the entire contents of which are herewith incorporated by reference. 
    
    
     BACKGROUND 
     During interior firefighting operations inside a structure, visibility is often very limited due to smoke and steam trapped inside the structure. Firefighting crews perform what is known as Primary and Secondary searches, to find victims trapped inside the structure. Since visibility is low or zero, firefighters rely on their sense of touch to find their way through the structure, using walls as a point of reference, and as guidance to their direction of travel. 
     The firefighter crew assigned to perform the search typically uses either a right handed search or a left handed search, indicating which hand is to maintain physical contact on the wall that is to be followed through the building. For example, for a right handed search, the wall will stay on the firefighter&#39;s right side as they pass ingress through the structure. 
     Once the search is complete, the crew may then exit the building using the opposite hand to follow the same wall to the exit. That is, if the firefighter is following the wall with their right hand on the way in, they exit the structure following the same wall with their left hand on the opposite direction of travel. 
     While performing searches under these stressful and high demand situations, firefighters can become lost or disoriented and lose their sense of direction and/or physical contact with the wall they followed into the building. With limited air in their SCBA in an environment filled with toxic smoke, the firefighters priority shifts to finding a means of egress before they run out of air. If unsuccessful, the results can include severe respiratory injury and/or death of the firefighter. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     An embodiment describes a device that provides visual directional guidance, usable in any situation that poses a risk of becoming lost or disoriented. A particularly preferred embodiment describes use by a firefighter for use in interior firefighting. 
     The present application describes a portable, battery-powered and handheld tool used for visual directional guidance by using sequential illumination of different lighting elements, for the guidance. 
     In an embodiment, the device is secured onto a flat surface by the user, bound using an adhesive plate. The device provides directional guidance using a sequential lighting strip that creates light that travels in a single direction. The direction in which the light moves depends on the user&#39;s placement of the device. The tool has mechanisms, as described herein, that assist the user in mounting the device correctly to ensure that the sequential lighting runs in the desired direction. 
     Once the firefighting activity is completed, the device is detached from the adhesive plate and can be reused by attaching a new adhesive plate. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       In the Drawings: 
       the figures show aspects of the invention and specifically: 
         FIG.  1    shows an overall diagram of the device; 
         FIGS.  2 A,  2 B and  2 C  show the attachment between the main housing of the device and the adhesive back plate; 
         FIG.  3    shows a pull tab which can be used to remove the adhesive protection; 
         FIG.  4    shows a light sequence direction operation; 
         FIGS.  5 A and  5 B  show additional aspects of the light sequence operation; and 
         FIG.  6    shows how the batteries sit inside the housing of the device. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     In operation, the “breadcrumb” device  100  is placed on a wall, and turned on, while performing a search for victims. Firefighters can strategically mount the device  100  on the wall that is followed into the building. The firefighter mounting the device, preferably mounts the device low on the wall, approximately 12 inches from the ground and turns the device on, to start the sequential light display described herein. 
     If a firefighter becomes lost and/or separated from their crew members, they can locate the device by getting low to the ground, under the smoke column, and searching for the illumination given out by the device. 
     Once located, the device will provide the firefighter with (A) a point of reference identifying the actual wall they followed into the structure and (B) directional guidance by the sequential light display that will point them in the direction of egress. The firefighter may then follow the wall in the direction of the sequential lights to the either the next mounted BreadCrumb, or all the way out of the structure if no other Breadcrumbs were placed. 
     The amount of BreadCrumbs placed by firefighters can determined by the size and complexity of the interior area being searched and also the amount of BreadCrumbs held by personnel. 
     The device can also be used during Rescue Intervention Crew (RIC) operations. When a Firefighter becomes trapped, lost or injured, the procedure for that firefighter is to call a “Mayday” over the radio communications channel that is assigned to the incident. Each structure fire has a RIC on stand by, typically a crew of 3-5 firefighters dedicated to locating and extricating the firefighter in need. When activated, the RIC carries with them a bag with specialized rescue tools. BreadCrumbs can be added to this tool bag and used by the RIC to ensure an expeditious exit for the crew once the down Firefighter has been located and is ready for extrication. It can also be utilized to mark the furthest point of ingress by the first in RIC in case they have to exit before finding the down firefighter, providing the next in RIC with a point of reference as to how far the first crew made it in. 
     The device  100 , referred to herein as the breadcrumb device, is shown in  FIG.  1   . A housing  102 , is attached to an adhesive backplate  105  which is coated with adhesive, covered with an adhesive protection film  110 . 
     The housing extends along an axis, the axis from a first edge to a second edge. The half loop device  115  is located at the first edge, and is used in orienting the device, as described herein.** 
     An on/off switch  111  turns on the sequential lighting effect. A light strip area  120  is located under a lensing area  125 . The lights in the light strip are connected to batteries  130  in a battery compartment, as described herein. 
     The main body housing  102  is a hollow structure constructed from a rugged plastic or rubber material. In an embodiment, the housing can be approximately 5″L×2″W at the base×1.5″H. The LED or Infrared lighting, electronic components and the battery pack are mounted inside the housing. A lens  125  is mounted on top of the housing, to facilitate viewing the sequential illumination of the elements located inside the housing. The housing extends along an axis, from one end of the housing to the other end of the housing. The lens and the sequential illumination can preferably run the length of the housing along that axis also, as described herein. 
     The device is mounted onto a flat surface, such as a wall, by adhesion.  FIG.  3    illustrates the bottom surface of the housing. An adhesive protection film  315  covers the adhesive layer  105  on the bottom surface of the housing. A pull tab  320  can be pulled by the user to remove the adhesive protection film thus exposing the adhesive. The exposed adhesive is then attached to the wall. 
     Once the device has been attached to the wall, and the firefighting operation is over, the device can be removed from the wall, while leaving the adhesive plate permanently attached. 
     In an embodiment, the attachment part forms a bottom surface of the device that is actually removable from the housing holding the electronics illumination and batteries. 
     This connection is illustrated in  FIGS.  2 A,  2 B and  2 C . The housing  100  is formed with a groove area  200  on its outer perimeter. The groove fits into a tongue assembly  205  on an adhesive plate assembly  210 . The bottom surface of the adhesive plate is the surface  300  which includes the adhesive and the adhesive protection film thereon.  FIG.  2 C  shows how the groove  200  in the housing  100  fits into the tongue  205  in the adhesive plate. 
     Once the user is finished using the device, the housing  100  may be detached from the adhesive plate  210  by sliding it off the tongue  205  from the groove. A new adhesive plate  210  is then used the next time that the tool will be reused. 
     The half loop  115  is designed for multiple purposes as described below: 
     Function 1: 
     During expeditious operations in environments with limited or zero visibility, it is crucial that the device is placed in the correct direction to ensure that the sequence of the sequential lights is traveling in the direction of egress. As shown in  FIG.  4   , the lights in the light strip illuminate in a sequence direction starting at light  400 , advancing to light  402 , and continuing and so on until reaching the end light shown as  410 . This is referred to as the light sequence direction,  411 . This light sequence direction will always start at and travel away from the end where the half loop  105  is located. Thus, with proper training on the device, the user can mount the device with the half loop pointing in the direction of ingress while never having to directly visualize the tool, making placement faster and more intuitive. 
     Function 2: 
     During expeditious operations in environments with limited or zero visibility, the half loop  115  facilitates the user to locate the adhesive exposure film pull tab which is mounted on the back of the device. The pull tab  320 , which is used to remove the film and expose the adhesive membrane for mounting, is located on the back side of the Half Loop  115  as shown in  FIG.  3   . Thus, the user can simply place their gloved finger through the open area  350  of the half loop and the pull tab  320  will be readily removed. 
     Function 3: 
     During expeditious operations in environments with limited or zero visibility, the user can quickly locate the Push On/Off Button  111 , as shown in  FIG.  1   , by orienting themselves with the Half Loop  115 . The Push Button  111  is located at the base of the Half Loop  115 . The user can activate the device by using the Push On/Off Button  111  and then with the same finger, push through the half loop  115  to locate the pull tab  320  also located in the half loop  105 . The button is wired into the electronic components to activate or deactivate battery power to the electronics. 
     Function 4: 
     The Half Loop  115  is also used to assist the user in dismounting the tool from the Adhesive Back Plate once the user is done with the tool. The Back Plate can remain on the wall OR be removed. 
     The Light Strip is constructed with programmable LED lights that are mounted on a top part of the Housing underneath the protective Lens, as shown in  FIGS.  5 A and  5 B . The light strip is controlled by a pre-programmed microchip mounted with the Electronics Components inside the housing. Upon depressing the on off switch  111 , a microcontroller  500  begins operating to first light the first LED  700  that is closest to the loop end. At the end of a time period, for example between ⅛-¼ second, the first LED  700  is extinguished, and the second LED  702  is illuminated. In a similar way, the sequence travels down between LED  702 ,  704 ,  706 ,  708 ,  710 ,  712 ,  714  until reaching the end at LED  716 . This has the effect of causing the illumination to “run” in a single direction along the axis of the housing from the first end of the housing adjacent the half loop to the second end of the housing. The entire sequence takes approximately 1 second. Once the sequence is finished, after a 1 second pause, the next sequence begins starting back at the original lighting elements  700 . This illumination sequence is repeated until the device is shut off by the user. 
     The Light Strip can also or alternately be constructed with lighting that can not be seen by the naked eye, requiring special optical imaging eyewear, such as infrared. 
     The lens  125  is mounted onto the top of the housing to provide protection for the lighting mechanism (LED, Infrared, etc). The Lens is constructed from a rugged material, such as epoxy, and is transparent to expose the illumination of the lighting. The Lens  125  runs the length of the housing. 
       FIG.  6    shows the batteries  900  are held in a battery mount  902  inside the housing. Any kind of batteries can be used, including rechargeable or disposable batteries. In one embodiment, replaceable batteries are used, and the housing adhesive back plate can be removed to replace the batteries. In this embodiment, the housing has a battery access built on the back side where the adhesive back plate is mounted. When the adhesive back plate is removed, by sliding the tongue and groove connection to remove that adhesive back plate, this exposes the battery area. 
     In one embodiment, the batteries are sized to provide enough power for 6 hours of continuous use at minimum. In an embodiment, the device has a low battery indicator light on the outside of the housing. 
     The Light Strip and the On/Off Push Button are powered and controlled by the microcontroller that controls the direction and lighting of the individual lighting elements. This chip and wiring are held inside the housing along with the batteries. 
     In another embodiment, an audio alarm, e.g., a brief audio alarm, e.g, a beep, sounds for ¼-½ second, at intervals, e.g., of every 15 seconds. This way, if the device is in a location where it can&#39;t be seen, it can be located from the periodic beeping. 
     BreadCrumbs are not limited to use in Firefighting operations. The device is designed to be used by anyone who is in need of a reusable Visual Directional Indicator. It can also be manufactured with lighting that is undetectable to the naked eye, if desired, for military use, requiring special glasses to see the undetectable 
     The previous description of the disclosed exemplary embodiments is provided to enable any person skilled in the art to make or use the present invention. Various modifications to these exemplary embodiments will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and the generic principles defined herein may be applied to other embodiments without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention. Thus, the present invention is not intended to be limited to the embodiments shown herein but is to be accorded the widest scope consistent with the principles and novel features disclosed herein.