Patent Description:
International Patent Application <CIT> discloses a smoke detector. US Patent Application <CIT> discloses a hazardous condition detection system and method and thermostat for use therewith. US Patent Application <CIT> discloses a method for initiating a remote hazardous condition detector self test and for testing the interconnection of remote hazardous condition detectors.

Many municipalities, states and countries may require smoke alarms through building codes, e.g., <NUM> International Residential Code (IRC), in each sleeping room, outside each separate sleeping area in the immediate vicinity of the bedrooms, and on each additional story of the dwelling, including basements (IRC <NUM>). Smoke detectors may be powered from the AC line and may have a battery backup. A single backup battery may be provided for a plurality of smoke detectors, e.g., in industrial installations where the one main battery backup may be used instead of a backup battery at each smoke alarm.

Where more than one smoke alarm is required to be installed within an individual dwelling unit in accordance with IRC Section R314. <NUM>, the smoke alarm devices shall be interconnected in such a manner that the actuation of one smoke alarm will activate all of the smoke alarms in the individual unit (IRC <NUM>). The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) recommends that smoke alarms be tested one a month. Even better to test once a week. However, testing of smoke alarms requires activating a test button on the smoke alarm device that, generally, is mounted on a ceiling of a room and well out of reach of a person unless a ladder or chair is used by the person to reach the smoke alarm test button. Even if the smoke alarm test button is easily reachable, the audible alarm signal is uncomfortable to the ears at close range.

Therefore, what is needed is a way to conveniently test smoke alarms without having to climb a ladder, chair, table, etc., or being too close to the smoke alarm during audible alarm testing thereof. This and other objects can be achieved by an apparatus as defined in the independent claim. Further enhancements are characterized in the dependent claims.

A more complete understanding of the present disclosure may be acquired by referring to the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings wherein:.

While the present disclosure is susceptible to various modifications and alternative forms, specific example embodiments thereof have been shown in the drawings and are herein described in detail. It should be understood, however, that the description herein of specific example embodiments is not intended to limit the disclosure to the particular forms disclosed herein, but on the contrary, this disclosure is to cover all modifications and equivalents as defined by the appended claims.

According to various embodiments, an apparatus comprises smoke detection capabilities that may be easily tested using image recognition and/or facial gesturing without having to climb a ladder or chair to initiate the test, or be uncomfortably close to the smoke detection apparatus during initiation of the testing thereof. This smoke detection apparatus may replace existing smoke detector devices and/or be used in new construction for added safety and convenience of the occupants. It is contemplated and within the scope of this disclosure that carbon monoxide (CO), carbon dioxide (CO<NUM>), explosive gas, hazardous gas and heat monitoring and alarm may also be provided and controlled according the teachings of this disclosure. Audio features may be provided in the smoke detector apparatus such as, but are not limited to, networked speakers for distribution of music, intercom, telephone, and/or doorbell annunciation. According to the building codes, smoke detector outlets must provide electrical power and a networked connection for simultaneous smoke alarm actuation in a building if the smoke alarm devices are not approved for wireless actuation. Having electrical power at the smoke detector outlet allows continuous use of electronic circuits in the smoke alarm device without having to frequently replace batteries and allows high power demand audio amplifiers to be used with a speaker(s) integral with or remote from the smoke detector device.

In addition, facial gesturing recognition may also be used to control other systems in a building, e.g., change temperature settings for heating ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems, activating fresh air ventilation for improved indoor air quality (IAQ), arming and disarming entry alarms, answering a door bell and/or locking or unlocking a door, etc. Facial gesturing recognition may also be used to activate a silent alarm, e.g., <NUM> auto dial with live audio feed from the location of the smoke detector, in the event of home invasion and/or a hostage situation.

Referring now to the drawing, the details of specific example embodiments are schematically illustrated. Like elements in the drawings will be represented by like numbers, and similar elements will be represented by like numbers with a different lower case letter suffix.

Referring to <FIG>, depicted is a schematic elevational diagram of smoke detectors in a dwelling having image and/or facial gesturing recognition capabilities, according to specific example embodiments of this disclosure. A dwelling, generally represented by the numeral <NUM>, has a smoke detector <NUM> with image and/or facial gesturing recognition capabilities in each room thereof as required by building codes. Electrical power (not shown) is supplied to each smoke detector <NUM> and either a wired communications bus <NUM>, e.g., Ethernet local area network (LAN) cabling, etc., or a code approved wireless communications link, e.g., WLAN, WiFi, Zigbee, etc., may be used to communicate smoke alarm actuation, as required by the building code, and couple audio, e.g., music, intercom voice paging, doorbell annunciation, etc., to an audio transducer, e.g., speaker, portion of the smoke detector <NUM>.

The smoke detector <NUM> comprises an image sensor <NUM> and may comprise an image acquisition indicator <NUM>. The smoke detector 102a is adapted to recognize facial expressions, e.g., facial gesturing, that initiate testing of the smoke alarm in the smoke detector <NUM>. In addition, facial gesturing recognition may also be used for other purposes such as answering a door bell, a telephone, paging to other annunciation devices, e.g., other smoke detectors <NUM> and/or speakers throughout the dwelling, etc. A further use of facial gesturing may be actuation of a silent alarm during a robbery, home invasion and/or hostage situation. Different facial gestures (expressions) may be used to control activation of different functions. These facial gestures may be preprogrammed or learned by each of the smoke detectors <NUM>, and may further be adapted for facial recognition of specific people before activation of an intended function. Facial recognition is more fully described in <CIT>, and <CIT>.

A person <NUM> may stand or sit under a smoke detector 102a and look up, exposing his or her face <NUM> to the image sensor <NUM>. When the image sensor <NUM> with its associated electronics (not shown) acquires an image of the face <NUM>, the image acquisition indicator <NUM> may illuminate. Changes in facial expression (facial gesturing), e.g., blinking eyes, opening and closing mouth, moving face back and forth, smiling, frowning, having one eye open and the other eye closed, etc., may then be used to actuate respective specific functions of the smoke detector 102a, e.g., initiate alarm test, answer door, answer telephone, general page, activate silent emergency <NUM> dial-up and audio telephone connection, etc. The person <NUM> may also be offset from being directly under the smoke detector 102a by aiming the image sensor in a particular direction and/or having an automatic area scan for acquiring an image of the face <NUM>. Either way whenever the image acquisition indicator <NUM> illuminates, facial gesturing may then initiate a desired function activation.

The following example regarding the recognition of specific images and/or patterns on a card is considered to not be covered by the claims. The smoke detector 102c may be adapted to recognize specific images and/or patterns on a card <NUM> that may be used to initiate testing of the smoke alarm in the smoke detector <NUM>. In addition, different images and/or patterns may be used for other purposes such as answering a door bell, a telephone, paging to other annunciation devices, e.g., other smoke detectors <NUM> and/or speakers throughout the dwelling, etc. These images and/or patterns may be preprogrammed or learned by each of the smoke detectors <NUM>, and may further be adapted to recognize a coded unique image and/or pattern before activation of an intended function, e.g., unlocking a door or turning off a burglar alarm, etc. These images may be, for example but are not limited to, standard Universal Product Code (UPC) bar codes used on merchandise packages or Aztec Code images used on magazine pages or cell phone screens, etc. The image sensor 246a may be a standard UPC bar code or Aztec Code reader.

A person 107a may stand or sit under a smoke detector 102c and hold the card <NUM> with the pattern or image thereon facing the image sensor 246a. When the image sensor 246a with its associated electronics (not shown) acquires pattern or image on a face of the card <NUM>, an acquisition indicator <NUM> may illuminate. Different patterns or images may be used to actuate respective specific functions of the smoke detector 102a, e.g., initiate alarm test, answer door, answer telephone, general page, activate silent emergency <NUM> dial-up and audio telephone connection, etc. The person 107a may also be offset from being directly under the smoke detector 102c by aiming the image sensor 246a in a particular direction and/or having an automatic area scan for acquiring the image or pattern on the face of the card <NUM>. Either way whenever the acquisition indicator 248a illuminates, the image or pattern on the card <NUM> may then be used to initiated a desired function.

Referring to <FIG>, depicted is a schematic block diagram of a smoke detector having image and/or facial gesturing recognition capabilities, according to specific example embodiments of this disclosure. A smoke detector having image and/or facial gesturing recognition capabilities, generally represented by the numeral <NUM>, comprises a smoke sensor <NUM>, a carbon monoxide and/or carbon dioxide sensor(s) <NUM>. The smoke detector further comprises a logic device <NUM> which may have a memory. The smoke detector may further comprise a wireless transceiver <NUM> coupled to an antenna and/or a wired transceiver <NUM> coupled to a wired local area network (LAN), an audio interface <NUM>, a microphone <NUM>. The smoke detector further comprises an audible alarm generator, e.g., audio amplifier <NUM> and speaker(s) <NUM>, an image sensor <NUM>, and a power supply and battery <NUM>. The smoke detector may further comprise an acquisition indicator <NUM>. The logic device <NUM> may be, for example but is not limited to, a microcontroller, a microprocessor, a digital signal processor (DSP), an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmable gate array (FPGA), etc., and may have both digital and analog capabilities.

The smoke sensor <NUM> may be an ionization and/or optical smoke sensor, and the like. The sensor <NUM> may be a carbon monoxide and/or carbon dioxide sensor(s). The audio interface may allow for either half or full duplex operation with the microphone <NUM> and the audio amplifier <NUM>/speaker <NUM>. The image sensor <NUM> may be, for example but is not limited to, a charge-coupled device (CCD), a complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) image sensor, etc. The acquisition indicator <NUM> may be a light emitting diode (LED). The power supply <NUM> with battery backup may be powered from the house alternating current (AC) power electrical branch circuits. The logic device <NUM> may comprise mixed signal (analog and digital) capabilities along with image processing and recognition, a program and storage memory (not shown). The wireless transceiver <NUM> and/or wired transceiver <NUM> may be part of or separate from the logic device <NUM>. It is contemplated and within the scope of this disclosure that substitution for the logic device <NUM> may be an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a programmable logic array, a microprocessor, a digital signal processor (DSP), an image signal processor (ISP), etc. One having ordinary skill in integrated circuit design and having the benefit of this disclosure could come up with an effective design using mixed signal integrated circuit devices.

Testing of the smoke detector <NUM> may be initiated by the image sensor <NUM> in combination with an image processor, e.g., microprocessor <NUM>, recognizing a facial gesture, image or pattern. Optionally the image acquisition indicator <NUM> may turn on steady upon proper positioning of the facial gesture, image or pattern; flash at a first rate upon recognition of the facial gesture, image or pattern; and flash at a second rate upon actuation of the associated function. After the function has completed then the image acquisition indicator <NUM> may turn off.

Activation of a smoke and/or carbon monoxide/dioxide alarm may be initiated by the logic device <NUM> sensing the outputs from the smoke sensor <NUM> and/or CO/CO<NUM> sensor <NUM>. The logic device <NUM> may further signal other smoke detectors <NUM> of the detected smoke alarm to meet building code requirements via the wired transceiver <NUM> over a code approved wired communications line <NUM>, e.g., Ethernet LAN, etc., and/or the wireless transceiver <NUM> over a code approved WLAN, WiFi, etc., signal. In addition, prerecorded evacuation messages may be stored in the memory of the logic device <NUM>.

Claim 1:
An apparatus for detecting smoke and having facial gesturing recognition capabilities, comprising:
a logic device (<NUM>);
a smoke sensor (<NUM>) coupled to the logic device (<NUM>);
an image sensor (<NUM>) coupled to the logic device (<NUM>);
a communications interface (<NUM>, <NUM>) coupled to the logic device (<NUM>);
an audible alarm generator (<NUM>, <NUM>) coupled to the logic device (<NUM>); and
a power supply (<NUM>) coupled to and powering the logic device (<NUM>), communications interface (<NUM>, <NUM>) and the audible alarm generator (<NUM>, <NUM>);
wherein when the smoke sensor (<NUM>) detects smoke the logic device (<NUM>) generates at least one smoke alarm tone through the audible alarm generator (<NUM>, <NUM>), and a smoke alarm signal through the communications interface (<NUM>, <NUM>); and
wherein recognition of a predefined facial gesture initiates smoke alarm testing.