Patent Abstract:
A system for accurately detecting the presence of a person in a shower by combining presence detection technology, such as an infrared sensor in the showerhead, with a mechanical height adjustment of the showerhead, so that the optimal distance between the sensor and showering person can be maintained for persons of different heights. Alternative embodiments include an electronic control unit to provide power consumption management and safety features. When the electronic control unit is combined with presence detection to predict the identity of a showering person, personal services customized for the identified person are provided. An alternate embodiment teaches a process for intelligently conserving water by intelligently blocking water flow at appropriate times, based on predictable behavior of a contemplated showering person.

Full Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0001]    This invention relates to water saving shower technology using presence detection. 
         [0002]    The use of presence detection technology for shower related flow control is well known in that art. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,829,072 describes generally the use of a motion sensor near the faucet handles of a shower to automatically start and stop water flow based on the presence of a person in the shower. U.S. Pat. No. 4,998,673 (the &#39;673 patent) describes a system for controlling the flow of water from a showerhead by placing a sensor directly within the showerhead. These early sensor schemes, particularly the scheme disclosed in the &#39;673 patent, suffer from a limitation, namely, that because the sensors are particularly sensitive to the distance between the showering person and the showerhead, the detection scheme performs poorly for people not of the optimal height. 
         [0003]    This limitation of the &#39;673 patent has been addressed extensively in the art by providing more elaborate and more sophisticated sensing schemes to accommodate variations in height. Unfortunately, these improvements, although effective, are significantly more expensive. 
         [0004]    What is needed is a way to improve the performance of cost-effective showerhead sensors without dramatically increasing the overall cost. 
       BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0005]    The present invention overcomes the limitation of the prior art as represented by the &#39;673 patent. Like the &#39;673 patent, the preferred embodiment of the present invention teaches placing a sensor within the showerhead. Unlike the &#39;673 patent, one embodiment of the present invention improves the detection of the sensor in the showerhead by combining it with a mechanical adjustment of the height of the showerhead. While mechanical adjustment of showerhead for comfort is not new, the combination of using height adjustment carefully implemented according to the teachings of the claimed invention to improve the accuracy of a showerhead sensor is novel and overcomes limitations and provides new and unobvious benefits over the prior art. 
         [0006]    Other embodiments teach the deployment of an electronic control unit in conjunction with the showerhead to provide new benefits. In one embodiment, presence detection is used to measure the distance between the showerhead and the person showering to predict the identity of the showering person, and then to provide personal services, such as turning on a radio to pre-selected station to suit the preferences of the identified showering person. Another embodiment describes interfacing sensors capable of detecting an environmental condition of interest with the electronic control unit such that when a certain environment condition is detected, the electronic control unit can be put into a power saving mode to save battery life. For example, such a sensor might detect ambient light in the room, to conserve power when the room is dark. Yet another embodiment teaches the use of a temperature sensor in conjunction with an electronic control unit controlling a valve so that the water flow can be shutoff whenever the water temperature falls outside of a specified interval, as a safety feature to avoid exposing a showering person to freezing and scalding water temperatures. 
         [0007]    Another embodiment teaches a method for conserving water usage teaching very specific steps and by deploying a water valve to stop the water flow, until certain activation conditions are met, then maintaining water flow only when a shower person is detected, and terminating water flow during specified terminating conditions such as a “short shower” timer expiring. 
     
    
     
       DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE INVENTION 
         [0008]      FIG. 1  shows generally the preferred embodiment of the invention, a showerhead having an embedded presence detector and a height adjustor that can be used to maximize the accuracy of the presence detector. 
           [0009]      FIG. 2  illustrates another embodiment of the invention where presence detection is used to identify a showering person and provide service customized for the identified person. 
           [0010]      FIG. 3  illustrates a power-saving embodiment of the invention where room sensors are used to detect conditions that make it appropriate to put the electronic control unit into a low power mode. 
           [0011]      FIG. 4  illustrates yet another embodiment where a sensor measures the water temperature, and this information is used to shut off the water flow to the showerhead under possibly unsafe conditions. 
           [0012]      FIG. 5  illustrates a flowchart yet another embodiment where water is conserved by using sensors and buttons to detect appropriate conditions in which to start or stop the water flow. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
       [0013]    The present invention is useful in any showering environment. Showering environments are well known in the art, and the present invention is not limited to a specific showing environment. A typical showering environment might include a shower wall, a shower floor, a showerhead attached to the shower wall (or elsewhere), typically using some kind of support arm. A typical showering environment might also include a supply hose that delivers water to a showerhead and some kind of water controls to turn the showering water supply off and on and to manually set the water temperature by mixing incoming hot and cold water to achieve a desirable showering temperature. 
         [0014]      FIG. 1  shows generally the preferred embodiment of the invention.  FIG. 1  illustrates a showing environment having a shower floor  90 , a vertical shower wall  70 , a showerhead  10  that receives water from a supply line  80 .  FIG. 1  also shows the showerhead  10  having an embedded presence detector  20 . In the embodiment of  FIG. 1 , the showerhead  10  is attached to a support arm  30  substantially perpendicular so that the showerhead is pointed down toward the floor. Also illustrated is a vertical support  40  attached to the shower wall  70  with supports  50  and  50 ′. A support arm  30  is attached to the vertical support  40  such that the support arm  30  and be adjusted to a higher or lower height to accommodate users of varying heights. Although this embodiment illustrates the use of a vertical pole to aid in the adjustment of the head, the invention is useful with other showerhead height adjustment mechanisms. In this embodiment, an adjustor  60  is generally illustrated to show generally a means to fix the height of the support arm  30  at a fixed position. The dotted lines illustrate a showerhead  10 ′ with the presence detector  20 ′, attached to the support arm  30 ′ having been lowered. 
         [0015]      FIG. 2  illustrates another embodiment of the invention where presence detection is used to identify a showering person and provide service customized for the identified person. Referring to  FIG. 2 , an electronic control unit  110  is introduced, that is interfaced to the presence detector  20  and a personal service device such as a radio  130  with an interface  140 . The term “personal service devices” is contemplated to be generally construed herein to include any consumer device capable of providing a customizable useful or entertaining purpose in a shower environment. Consumer electronic devices such as radios, televisions, and media players such as mp3 music players are particularly contemplated. The interface between the electronic control unit  110  and the device  130  could be hard-wired, but the preferred interface is a wireless communication means such as infrared or radio technologies. In this embodiment, the presence detector  20  is configured to detect not only the presence of a showering person, but also to detect the height of the showering person as represent by the “X”  120  of  FIG. 2 . The electronic control unit  110  has an associated table that maps height ranges to likely showering persons and identifies the showering person based on the detected height. After identifying the showering person, a pre-selected personal service customized for the identified person is deployed. In  FIG. 2 , upon the detection of a particular person, the electronic control unit  110  would turn on the “personal services” device, which is illustrated in  FIG. 2  as a radio  130 , and tune it to a station specifically customized for the identified showering person. The electronic control unit  110  needs to have some kind of control interface  140  with the personal services device such as the illustrated radio  130 . The interface  140  could be implemented hardwired, or using a wireless technology. 
         [0016]    In one embodiment, the presence detector is implemented using infrared or related technologies. Infrared and related technologies typically have an “optimal focal direction”, which herein means the direction and distance of the presence detector to its intended target that produces the most accurate detection results. A key benefit of this embodiment is that the “optimal focal direction” can be maintained by adjusting the sensor in the showerhead downward when a smaller person is showering. This differs from prior art systems having a fixed showerhead position, which would result in less accurate distance measurement for a smaller showering person because, for infrared, for example, the accuracy of the infrared would decrease as the distance between the fixed shower head and the head of the showering person increases. 
         [0017]    This embodiment contemplates the introduction of a generic “distance estimator” that estimates the height of the showering person, and that height is used to predict the identity of the showering person so that personalized services can be provided based on the identity of the showering person. In the preferred embodiment, the “distance estimator” is implemented using the infrared based presence detector  20  coupled with the electronic control unit  110 , but other distance estimator implementations are contemplated as well. 
         [0018]      FIG. 2  shows a simplified example of one embodiment of the invention. Although the electronic control unit  110  is shown as a box above the shower head  10  in  FIG. 2 , the invention is not so limited. For example, the electronic control unit could be implemented as electronics within the showerhead, or alternatively, could be situated somewhere else within or without the showering environment. Likewise, the personal service device is illustrated as a radio  130  in  FIG. 2 , but the invention is not so limited. For example, the personal service device could be any appropriate consumer-friendly device including, but not limited devices playing music, video, or any kind of media presentation. The personal service device could also set the water temperature to a temperature preferred by the showering person. 
         [0019]      FIG. 3  shows another embodiment where one or more room sensors  210 , forming a sensor group, are deployed and interfaced to the electronic control unit  110 . (The interface is not illustrated in  FIG. 3 ). Sensor here is used in a general sense to include any sensor capable of detecting something of interest in the environment by performing a measurement and comparing that measurement to a pre-defined threshold. For example, a temperature sensor could measure the temperature of the room and measure the room temperature against a temperature set point, where the temperature set point would be serving as the threshold. The purpose of the sensors is to detect an environment condition of interest, and then to put the electronic control unit  110  into a low power mode when its higher powered functionality is likely not needed, thus saving battery life for systems powered by batteries. For example, the sensor  210  could be used to determined ambient light, and the electronic control unit  110  could then power down the presence detector when the room was dark under the theory that people do not generally shower in the dark. A different sensor  210  could be used to measure water temperature and/or water flow to signal the electronic control unit  110  to stay in low power mode until water is flowing and has reached a predetermined temperature. 
         [0020]    Another variation of the sensor  210  is a button where a showering person, upon arrival, presses the button to bring the system out of low power mode. The system could return to low power mode under a number of possible circumstances, including a time delay, or detection of an appropriate environmental condition. 
         [0021]      FIG. 4  illustrates a specific use of a temperature sensor  220 . Here, the sensor is not used to signal power down mode, but rather is used for safety purposes to detect unsafe or unpleasant water temperatures, to allow the electronic control unit  110  to shut off the water supply whenever an inappropriate water temperature is detected. 
         [0022]      FIG. 5  is a flowchart illustrating a method to deploy the claimed technology to conserve water in a showering environment. The method generally works as follows: First, the system begins in a “sleep” mode, and it remains there until is activated by an activation event. An activation event is contemplated to be anything measurable parameter that indicates that a person has arrived at the shower. For example, a button could be installed, and the showering user would push the button to alert the system of his or her presence. Alternatively the water temperature could be measured, and an activation event could be when the water temperature reaches a particular activation set point to reflect that a user has arrived and has manually turned on the water. 
         [0023]    Once an activation event is detected, the system enters an “auto” mode, and turns on the water valve to enable water flow. The water flow typically stays on while the system waits for the water to warm up to a preset “warm enough” set point. The person then enters the shower and perhaps adjusts the height of the showerhead if such an adjustment is present. The system then uses presence detection—or a “person detector”—typically implemented with infrared sensing technology, to predict the presence of a person. Various schemes for predicting the person of a person can be deployed by making various adjustments to the sensitivity of the sensors. For example, it is often desirable to allow the detection of a hand to qualify as a person prediction, so that a showering person can start the flow and test the water temperature before stepping into the shower. Because of earlier steps, the water should be at least at the “warm enough” temperature threshold. The system conserves water by shutting off the water valve when the person detector predicts the absence of a showering person and resumes water flow when the presence of a showering person is predicted. Optionally, the shower could terminate due to the detection of a terminating event. A terminating event is contemplated to be anything that reasonable would provide a basis for terminating a shower. For example, providing a “long enough” timeout to encourage short showers (that could then be extended by pushing the button) is one example of a terminating event. Another category of terminating events might be safety considerations, for example, a terminating event could be the temperature of the shower approaching a scalding temperature, or perhaps a “too cold” temperature. 
         [0024]    The main idea of this embodiment is to reduce the amount of wasted water by intelligently trying to determine situations where shower water is likely to be going straight down the drain, and not onto a showering person, and closing the water valve in those situations and resuming water flow, when a showering person is likely to be present. The sensing at the first provides for the case when water flow is enabled so that the water will warm up at which times the shower may be elsewhere waiting. The system intelligently will shut off the water when the “warm enough” temperature is reached. 
         [0025]    The descriptions above and the associated drawing are provided for illustration, not limitation. As one skilled in the art will appreciate, there are other embodiments of the present invention not illustrated deploying slight modifications that nonetheless are consistent with claimed invention. Accordingly, the invention should only be limited by the claims as set forth below:

Technology Classification (CPC): 4