Patent Description:
Specifically, the invention describes a tool that, by virtue of the system and method also described, allows the time of effective use of a hand tool to be recorded in an easy, safe and reliable way, as well as to avoid its incorrect use, either because it is used by an unauthorized person or because the tool is used improperly.

Hand tools are usually used to perform tasks on an object with one or both hands, making it possible to perform such tasks properly, simply, efficiently and safely. In some cases, carrying out such tasks without a tool or with an inappropriate tool is not possible and, in others, it may imply a fault in the tool itself, a much lower quality in the result on the object, a much greater effort to the user or even a risk that the user may suffer an accident.

Hand tools can be, for example, fixing tools, such as screwdrivers or wrenches, drilling tools, such as drills or punches, measuring tools, such as calipers, percussive tools, such as hammers, cutting tools, such as saws or knives, etc. Hand tools can be mechanized, such as power drills or screwdrivers.

Although this applies in any environment, including the domestic one, it is in the industrial or professional environment where the use that is given to hand tools, both in quantity and quality, is especially relevant. Thus, it is in these areas where it is necessary to establish protocols in order to guarantee safety and the proper use thereof in an effective and efficient way.

For example, it may happen that a tool is not returned to its storage site after the corresponding task has been performed and that it is left behind in the task place, lost or even stolen. It is therefore necessary to ensure that all the tools available at the beginning of the task are available again at the end of the task, not only because of the cost of replacing them, but also because they may suffer deterioration that results in poor execution of work or even may cause an accident to the operator who handles them.

On the other hand, on certain occasions it is especially necessary to monitor the degree of wear of hand tools, for example, when these are cutting tools such as knives, saws, etc. and thus carry out maintenance tasks, in that case sharpening. However, due to the fact that at an industrial or professional level the fleet of cutting tools is usually very high, it is difficult to follow the degree of wear of each one, so what is usually done is to send all the cutting tools to have them sharpened at the same time. This, of course, in addition to a high cost, means that some or many of these tools will be sharpened without actually needing it.

In addition, in such an environment, it is usually necessary to monitor the use that is given to the hand tool, that is, it is not enough to know if said tool is present or not in its workplace or storage, but if it is being used correctly or by the right person. This can be done by visual inspection and with the help of verification or check lists, labels, forms, etc., but it is expensive or difficult to apply in case the tool has to be used by multiple users, there are multiple tools or when multiple toolkits must be used simultaneously.

Therefore, when the number of hand tools to be monitored is high, checking the condition of all of them and maintaining or replacing only those tools that are not in a selectively suitable condition can be costly. This cost can be even higher than the cost of maintaining or restocking all tools after a while, regardless of whether some are in good or bad condition or whether some have been used more than others. This can especially occur in industrial or commercial applications where cutting tools, such as knives, are used, for example, in butchers, slaughterhouses, large fish markets, restaurants, etc..

Thus, in order to monitor the use of hand tools automatically, monitoring systems are now known in which there is a transponder device of the RFID type or radio frequency identification that is set to the tool and identifies it. The system has a detection device with a transponder reading device that reads said identification of the tool in communication with the transponder device. This makes it possible to detect the tool, that is to say, to determine its presence, when the identification of the tool is read by the reading device. This detection device is attached to the tool storage location where the tool should be housed or stored when not in use, and a signaling device signals the presence or absence of the appropriate hand tool uniquely assigned to the storage location. In this way, it is possible to monitor hand tools since each tool can be uniquely detected.

However, these systems only fulfill the function of monitoring the entry of tools into a given room or space, but they are not able of analyzing the real time during which said tools have been performing tasks themselves, in other words, screwing, cutting, punching, etc..

Thus, as an example, we can cite <CIT>, which describes a system that aims to improve detection or efficiency in the readings of tools (in this case, knives) that enter the room or workplace. For this, it is based on a high-frequency RFID system, that is, low wavelength, and therefore allows a greater detection range. This also has the drawback of high power consumption and complexity, which is greater the higher the set of tools to be monitored is, because each place or work or storage area requires its own power supply so that the respective detection device can continuously scan the presence or absence of transponder devices of the corresponding tools. In addition, another drawback derived from the high frequency use is the fact that, both the material of the handle and the user's own hand, attenuate the radio frequency signal and, therefore, the knife blade itself needs to act as an antenna, making the assembly process of the passive transponder element or RFID inserted in the handle difficult and expensive.

Another example is the one described in <CIT> which, even using the detection in the near field and therefore the low frequency, which leads to lower consumption since it is not necessary to use the knife blade as an antenna, requires that the user brings the tool close to touching the detection system so that it can be detected. In any case, again the monitoring of these tools only involves knowing that they enter or leave the room, warehouse or space in which the system is installed, not giving more information. The document <CIT> discloses a generic system for monitoring the use of hand tools wherein the hand tool comprises at least one passive transponder.

That is why, in order to monitor and record the use of a tool in a complete way, it is necessary in the state of the art a system that not only unequivocally detects when said tool is held by a user, but also that the user has permission to do so, do it correctly and, in addition, be able to calculate the real time that said tool is being used for the function for which it is intended. In other words, a system that allows full traceability of tools when they are in the operational phase is necessary in the state of the art.

Claims <NUM>, <NUM> disclose the present invention. Preferred embodiments are disclosed in claims <NUM>-<NUM>, <NUM>-<NUM>.

The present invention solves all the problems of the aforementioned state of the art since it constitutes a system for monitoring hand tools that facilitates the real monitoring thereof while they are in the operational phase and, in short, their total traceability reliably, efficiently and economically, also offering a series of additional advantages not contemplated in the state of the art until now.

Specifically, the present invention includes a system that allows the collection of data from a hand cutting tool in order to know the actual use thereof, both in terms of wear hours and users who have used them. To do this, a new system is created that allows users and knives to be identified and to establish relationships of use between them. By means of this new system it is also possible to know the number of hours of use of a certain knife. This allows maintenance actions such as sharpening to be properly planned, which will improve the efficiency of the hand tool and its useful life. On the other hand, knowing who is using a certain knife in a given time helps to know the use that has been given to said knife or, what is the same, the number of hours that the operator assigned to that hand tool has used it. The system is even capable of storing training algorithms that allow the user to be notified when the maneuvers or movements carried out with the hand tool are not adequate, helping or guiding them to learn how to use it correctly.

In general, the proposed system comprises several components that interact with each other in an intelligent way:.

Also in general, the method of the invention will start from a first phase in which the data relating to the hand tools, users and wearable electronic devices will be recorded in the computer equipment, as well as the relationship between them. For example, use permissions may be assigned for each of the hand tools so that not all users can use them, information that will be transferred to each of the wearable electronic devices.

Thus, at the beginning of a day or a specific operation, a user will choose any wearable electronic device and, through his/her passive user transponder, he/she will identify himself/herself so that while wearing it the information that is collected when using a hand tool is linked or assigned to him/her and not to another person when the transfer is made in the database of the computer equipment.

Once the user and the wearable electronic device have been linked, the user or operator will choose the most suitable hand tool, grasping it with the hand in which the wearable electronic device is carried, thus establishing the link between said device and the hand tool.

However, given that the information related to use permits has been previously transferred from the computer equipment to the wearable electronic device, when the user who is wearing it takes a hand tool for which he/she is not authorized, said device does not make the link and, on the contrary, it emits a signal or warning that may be visual, audible, vibrating or several of them at the same time and that forces said user to leave that hand tool and select the correct one.

This warning may also occur not only because the user takes a hand tool for which he/she does not have permission, but also, for example, because the system has detected that it needs maintenance because it has exceeded a previously set number of hours of use, for example, sharpening is necessary if the hand tool is a hand cutting tool.

This system also allows that, as long as permission is granted and there is no other restriction previously set by the system administrator, any operator can take any hand tool and any wearable electronic device, thus multiplying the possibilities of use. In other words, neither hand tools nor wearable electronic devices are assigned to any particular person in a way that only they can use them, but anyone can start using them simply by pairing them with their passive user transponder. Subsequently, as has been seen, the wearable electronic device itself will allow or not that the user who wears it can use a specific hand tool based on the data with which it has been loaded.

This form of operation has the clear advantage that any operator will be able to work with any wearable electronic device and any hand tool that is available, while if these were personal and non-transferable, their loss or failure would prevent the operator from working until another was assigned. In addition, it would force all operators to have their own, so, for example, in industries where there are several work shifts, it would force to multiply the number of hand tools and devices available, which would make the system extremely expensive.

In order to help a better understanding of the features of the invention, according to a preferred example of a practical embodiment thereof, a series of drawings is provided as an integral part of said description wherein the following has been represented with an illustrative and non-limiting nature:.

Next, a possible embodiment of the invention is described, shown in the figures. Specifically, as already said above, the system of the invention comprises:.

In the case shown in the figures, the hand tool (<NUM>) is a hand cutting tool and, more specifically, a knife, in such a way that the passive transponder (<NUM>), which according to the example is an RFID chip, is located inside the handle or grip (<NUM>) thereof.

According to an embodiment, this RFID chip can either be incorporated into the handle (<NUM>) once it has already been manufactured, or said handle (<NUM>) can be manufactured in such a way that it includes the corresponding holes to house it.

Thus, for example, in the first case, once the tool (<NUM>) has been manufactured, for example, the knife, a hole (<NUM>) can be made in the handle (<NUM>) by drilling, inserting the RFID chip and subsequently sealing them by any known system.

In the second case, for example, if the handle (<NUM>) is made of plastic material and its manufacturing mode is injection, the way to integrate said RFID chip during the manufacturing process itself would be to use an injection mold that includes the hole or holes (<NUM>) to house the RFID chip. Once the injection is finished, the RFID chip would be placed in the corresponding hole (<NUM>) and, finally, a second injection or overmolding would be carried out to seal the assembly so that it would remain watertight.

In any case, whatever the way to integrate the RFID chip or chips in the handle (<NUM>) of the tool (<NUM>), it will work at low frequency.

More specifically, as it is known, RFID radio frequency identification technology is classified by its working frequency, there being <NUM> different types of technologies:.

For the system of the invention, RFID is used in its low frequency band or LF (<NUM> or <NUM>). In this case, since they are very low frequencies, the wavelengths (A) associated with these frequencies will be very high values, specifically: <MAT> wherein:.

Therefore, the antennas used in the solution are working in their near field zone (near field region).

When working in the near field zone, the near field signals generated by the antennas are attenuated based on the following expression: <MAT> wherein:
r represents the distance between the reading antenna (wearable electronic device) and the receiving antenna (passive RFID transponder inside the handle of the tool, in this case the knife).

Therefore, their amplitude decreases very quickly and only knives that are very close can be identified, that is, knives that the user grasps with the same hand in which the wearable electronic device is worn. In this way, possible interferences or linkages of knives that were also very close, for example, on the same work table, or those carried by another person passing by are eliminated.

For the case shown in the figures, said wearable electronic device (<NUM>) is a bracelet, but it could also be a watch or similar device, a wrist strap or a glove incorporating the necessary elements described below.

Specifically, the wearable electronic device (<NUM>), in this case the bracelet shown in the figures, comprises a housing (<NUM>) within which it in turn comprises:.

As mentioned above, the user will choose any wearable electronic device (<NUM>) and, through his/her passive user transponder (<NUM>), he/she will identify himself/herself so that while wearing it the information that is collected when using a hand tool (<NUM>) is linked or assigned to him/her and not to another person when the transfer is made in the database of the computer equipment.

Likewise, said link will also allow the system, through the signaling and/or warning means (<NUM>) of the wearable electronic device (<NUM>), to warn by means of a sound, vibrating signal or both at the same time in the event that the user is not authorized to use this hand tool (<NUM>) or it requires maintenance.

In any case, as has already been said, the system and method of the invention base their functionality and usefulness on the fact that they are capable of detecting the effective use of the hand tool (<NUM>), that is, the time during which the operation is carried out, cutting operation in the case of the knife in the exemplary embodiment, not the time during which the operator simply holds or transports it.

To this end, it is necessary that the wearable electronic device (<NUM>) interact with the RFID chip or chips integrated in the handle (<NUM>) of the hand tool (<NUM>) effectively depending on the type of movement or operation to be monitored.

In other words, in order to achieve this effective monitoring of the use of the hand tool (<NUM>), the arrangement of the antenna (<NUM>) of the wearable electronic device will adopt with respect to the antenna of the passive transponder (<NUM>), for example, the RFID chip, a position such that the reading electromagnetic waves are maximum and therefore the polarization of both radiating elements or antennas is optimal.

More specifically, as can be seen in <FIG>, this will be possible when the axis (<NUM>') that passes through the center of the loop formed by the antenna (<NUM>) of the wearable electronic device (<NUM>) and the axis (<NUM>) that passes through the center of the loop formed by the antenna of the passive transponder (<NUM>), the RFID chip, are parallel, substantially parallel or, at least, as parallel as possible.

The shape adopted by the wearable electronic device could be any, such as a prismatic body, for example, a rectangular prism, an elliptical cylinder, a wedge or non-wedge portion thereof, etc. However, to illustrate a possible concrete embodiment of the invention, <FIG> show different configurations or arrangements for the antenna (<NUM>) of the wearable electronic device (<NUM>) for the particular case that it is an orthohedron, that is, an orthogonal rectangular prism or "shoe or match box" that has <NUM> faces, equal two by two, in which said equal faces are opposite each other.

Thus, in the embodiment shown in <FIG>, the antenna would be formed by a loop located on the perimeter of one of the two smaller faces. In <FIG> the antenna would be formed by a loop located on the perimeter of one of the two medium-sized faces and, finally, in <FIG> the antenna would be formed by a loop located on the perimeter of one of the two larger faces.

It should be noted that, when speaking of the loop formed by the antenna, the present invention also refers to the so-called "loop antennas", which have a certain number of windings or numbers of turns of copper wire, said number of turns determining the electromagnetic field generated in such a way that the greater the number, the greater the field. Thus, when speaking of the axis that passes through the center of the loop, the present invention refers to the axis that passes through the center of the loop formed by the antenna, regardless of the number of turns or windings it has.

Specifically, <FIG> shows the position of the passive transponder (<NUM>), that is, the RFID chip for this embodiment, inside the handle (<NUM>) of the hand tool (<NUM>), in this case a hand cutting tool such as a knife, If what you want to detect are the usual cutting operations in which the knife is handled as shown in said figure and the antenna (<NUM>) of the wearable electronic device (<NUM>) is located on the perimeter of one of the two smaller faces.

More specifically, the position of said RFID chip will be such that it is arranged longitudinally with respect to the handle (<NUM>), that is, along it or, in other words, parallel and longitudinal with respect to the active or useful part of the hand tool (<NUM>), in this case the knife blade.

Thus, as can be seen in said <FIG>, during this specific operation, the user's hand grasps the handle (<NUM>) of the knife so that the axis (<NUM>') of the loop of the antenna (<NUM>) of the wearable electronic device ( <NUM>) is arranged parallel or substantially parallel with respect to the axis (<NUM>) of the loop formed by the antenna of the RFID chip integrated in the handle (<NUM>), thus achieving that for that position of grip of the knife by the user the reading electromagnetic waves are maximum and therefore the polarization of both radiating elements is optimal.

On the other hand, <FIG> shows the position of the passive transponder (<NUM>), that is, the RFID chip for this embodiment, in the handle (<NUM>) of the hand tool (<NUM>), in this case a knife, If what you want to detect are the cutting-up operations, which, as can be seen in said <FIG>, require that it be held or grasped in a completely different way than if it is used for cutting and the antenna (<NUM>) of the wearable electronic device (<NUM>) is located on the perimeter of one of the two smaller faces.

More specifically, the position of said RFID chip in this case will be such that it is arranged transversely with respect to the handle (<NUM>), that is, across it or, in other words, parallel and transversely with respect to the knife blade.

Thus, as can be seen in <FIG>, during this specific operation, the user's hand grasps the handle (<NUM>) of the knife so that the axis (<NUM>') of the loop of the antenna (<NUM>) of the wearable electronic device ( <NUM>) is arranged parallel or substantially parallel with respect to the axis (<NUM>) of the loop formed by the antenna of the RFID chip, thus achieving that for that position of grip of the knife by the user the reading electromagnetic waves are maximum and therefore the polarization of both radiating elements is optimal.

On the other hand, <FIG> shows the position of the passive transponder (<NUM>) in the handle (<NUM>) of the hand tool (<NUM>) if what you want to detect are the usual cutting operations in which the knife is handled as shown in said figure and the antenna (<NUM>) of the wearable electronic device (<NUM>) is located on the perimeter of one of the two intermediate faces.

More specifically, the position of said RFID chip will be such that it is arranged transversely with respect to the handle (<NUM>), that is, across it or, in other words, parallel and transversely with respect to the active useful part of the hand tool (<NUM>), in this case the knife blade.

Thus, as can be seen in said <FIG>, during this specific operation, the user's hand grips the handle (<NUM>) of the knife so that the axis (<NUM>') of the loop of the antenna (<NUM>) of the wearable electronic device (<NUM>) is arranged parallel or substantially parallel with respect to the axis (<NUM>) of the loop formed by the antenna of the RFID chip integrated in the handle (<NUM>), thus achieving that for that position of grip of the knife by the user the reading waves electromagnetic are maximum and therefore the polarization of both radiating elements is optimal.

On the other hand, <FIG> shows the position of the passive transponder (<NUM>) in the handle (<NUM>) of the hand tool (<NUM>) if what you want to detect are the cutting-up operations, in which the knife is handled as shown in said figure, and the antenna (<NUM>) of the wearable electronic device (<NUM>) is located on the perimeter of one of the two intermediate faces.

Thus, as can be seen in said <FIG>, during this specific operation, the user's hand grasps the handle (<NUM>) of the knife so that the axis (<NUM>') of the loop of the antenna (<NUM>) of the wearable electronic device ( <NUM>) is arranged parallel or substantially parallel with respect to the axis (<NUM>) of the loop formed by the antenna of the RFID chip integrated in the handle (<NUM>), thus achieving that for that position of grip of the knife by the user the reading waves electromagnetic are maximum and therefore the polarization of both radiating elements is optimal.

Finally, <FIG> show the position of the passive transponder (<NUM>) in the handle (<NUM>) of the hand tool (<NUM>) to detect both the usual cutting operations and the cutting-up ones and the antenna (<NUM>) of the wearable electronic device (<NUM>) is located on the perimeter of one of the two larger faces.

More specifically, the position of said RFID chip will be such that it is arranged so that it passes through the handle (<NUM>) in the same way as a screw that would hold the two halves thereof or, in other words, orthogonally with respect to the active or useful part of the hand tool (<NUM>), in this case the knife blade.

Thus, whether the user's hand grasps the handle (<NUM>) to carry out a usual cutting operation as in <FIG> or if the user does so to carry out a cutting-up operation as in <FIG>, the axis (<NUM>') of the loop of the antenna (<NUM>) of the wearable electronic device (<NUM>) is arranged parallel or substantially parallel with respect to the axis (<NUM>) of the loop formed by the antenna of the RFID chip integrated in the handle (<NUM>), thus achieving that for both situations of grip of the knife by the user the reading electromagnetic waves are maximum and therefore the polarization of both radiating elements is optimal.

On the other hand, <FIG> shows an example of embodiment of the invention in which it is possible, indistinctly, both the detection of the use of a knife for the usual or traditional cutting and for its use for the cutting-up operation when the antenna (<NUM>) of the wearable electronic device (<NUM>) is on any of the smaller or intermediate faces.

To this end, the handle (<NUM>) of the hand tool (<NUM>) will comprise two passive transponders (<NUM>), for the case of the example two RFID chips, one of them arranged across the width, that is, transversely to the handle ( <NUM>) and another arranged along, that is, longitudinally with respect to the handle (<NUM>) as shown in said figure.

Thus, whether the knife is used in the usual way for cutting or cutting-up, the axis (<NUM>) of the loop of one of the two RFID chips, the one located longitudinally or the one located transversely with respect to the handle (<NUM>), the one that is placed in parallel with respect to the axis (<NUM>') of the loop of the antenna (<NUM>) of the wearable electronic device (<NUM>), only this type of movement is monitored and the other RFID chip does not have any effect because the axis (<NUM>) of the loop formed by its antenna positioned perpendicular to the axis (<NUM>') of the loop of the antenna (<NUM>) of the wearable electronic device (<NUM>), which will not be electromagnetically excited.

Finally, there would still be another possible embodiment, not represented, in which it would be possible to detect the use of the knife either for the usual cut or for the cutting-up, no matter on which faces (smaller, intermediate or larger) the antenna (<NUM>) of the wearable electronic device (<NUM>) was located.

Specifically, such an embodiment would be possible if a third RFID chip placed orthogonally with respect to the handle (<NUM>) of the knife were added to the embodiment shown in <FIG>. Thus, by means of this embodiment, regardless of the position of the antenna (<NUM>) in the wearable electronic device (<NUM>) and how the user handled the knife, there would always be some axis (<NUM>) of one of the three RFID chips integrated in the handle that would be parallel or substantially parallel to the axis (<NUM>') of said antenna (<NUM>) and the movement could be monitored.

Claim 1:
System for monitoring the use of hand tools (<NUM>) comprising:
- At least one hand tool (<NUM>) which in turn comprises at least one passive transponder (<NUM>) integrated inside its handle (<NUM>);
- A passive user transponder (<NUM>) to link each user with said passive user transponder (<NUM>);
- A wearable electronic device (<NUM>) adaptable to the hand and/or wrist of the user who is going to handle the hand tool (<NUM>) and which includes a reader for reading the passive transponder (<NUM>) of the hand tool (<NUM>) and the passive user transponder (<NUM>); and
- A computer equipment to store and process the information collected by the wearable electronic device (<NUM>);
and wherein the passive transponder (<NUM>) of the hand tool (<NUM>), the passive user transponder (<NUM>) and the reader of said passive transponders that comprises the wearable electronic device (<NUM>) are of the type that use radio frequency identification technology (RFID) and work at the low frequency of <NUM> or <NUM> and in the near field.