Classifications

• • G—PHYSICS
  • G08—SIGNALLING
  • G08B—SIGNALLING OR CALLING SYSTEMS; ORDER TELEGRAPHS; ALARM SYSTEMS
  • G08B21/00—Alarms responsive to a single specified undesired or abnormal condition and not otherwise provided for
  • G08B21/02—Alarms for ensuring the safety of persons
  • G08B21/0202—Child monitoring systems using a transmitter-receiver system carried by the parent and the child
  • G08B21/0205—Specific application combined with child monitoring using a transmitter-receiver system
  • G08B21/0213—System disabling if a separation threshold is exceeded
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G08—SIGNALLING
  • G08B—SIGNALLING OR CALLING SYSTEMS; ORDER TELEGRAPHS; ALARM SYSTEMS
  • G08B13/00—Burglar, theft or intruder alarms
  • G08B13/02—Mechanical actuation
  • G08B13/14—Mechanical actuation by lifting or attempted removal of hand-portable articles
  • G08B13/1427—Mechanical actuation by lifting or attempted removal of hand-portable articles with transmitter-receiver for distance detection
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G08—SIGNALLING
  • G08B—SIGNALLING OR CALLING SYSTEMS; ORDER TELEGRAPHS; ALARM SYSTEMS
  • G08B21/00—Alarms responsive to a single specified undesired or abnormal condition and not otherwise provided for
  • G08B21/02—Alarms for ensuring the safety of persons
  • G08B21/0202—Child monitoring systems using a transmitter-receiver system carried by the parent and the child
  • G08B21/0227—System arrangements with a plurality of child units
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G08—SIGNALLING
  • G08B—SIGNALLING OR CALLING SYSTEMS; ORDER TELEGRAPHS; ALARM SYSTEMS
  • G08B21/00—Alarms responsive to a single specified undesired or abnormal condition and not otherwise provided for
  • G08B21/02—Alarms for ensuring the safety of persons
  • G08B21/0202—Child monitoring systems using a transmitter-receiver system carried by the parent and the child
  • G08B21/023—Power management, e.g. system sleep and wake up provisions
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G08—SIGNALLING
  • G08B—SIGNALLING OR CALLING SYSTEMS; ORDER TELEGRAPHS; ALARM SYSTEMS
  • G08B21/00—Alarms responsive to a single specified undesired or abnormal condition and not otherwise provided for
  • G08B21/02—Alarms for ensuring the safety of persons
  • G08B21/0202—Child monitoring systems using a transmitter-receiver system carried by the parent and the child
  • G08B21/0241—Data exchange details, e.g. data protocol
  • G08B21/0247—System arrangements wherein the alarm criteria uses signal strength

Definitions

• Electronic device for continuous, or discontinuous, connection betweeen persons and objects The invention concerns alarm and safety devices for persons and mobile objects.
• a well-known feature of society today is the increasing frequency of thefts committed with dexterity, and the ease with which people lose wallets, bags, keys and doc ⁇ uments . Elderly people and children get lost in the streets, in gardens, in public places.
• Purpose of the present invention is to provide an inex ⁇ pensive and easily carried device able to eliminate or reduce the seriousness of the above accidents by main ⁇ taining connections, which may even be continuous, by means of electromagnetic waves between the user and other persons and objects placed under the protection or at least under the control of the user making it easy to raise an alarm, operate means of security and various types of equipment.
• Subject of the invention is an electronic unit able to establish continuous, or intermittent, connection among persons or between persons and objects, said unit com ⁇ prising two devices, the first that here will be called a receiver, and the second formed of one or more bodies that will here be . ' caL-led a transmitter.
• the receiver and each of the transmitters are connected by electromagnetic waves, to be employed respectively by the user and by the persons or objects who are under the projection or control of said user.
• the electromagnetic waves are, as the case may be, radio waves, microwaves, sound waves, supersonic waves, infra ⁇ red waves and others.
• the receiving and transmitting devices have independent electric feed by batteries and the like or photoelectric panels .
• the devices are preferably pocket-size and miniaturized.
• the signals sent out by the electromagne ic waves can be coded to prevent interference among transmitters.
• the receiver comprises one or more compartments each carrying one transmitter.
• each transmitter When each transmitter is physically separated from the receiver, there are special devices and circuits to acti ⁇ vate the separated receiver and transmitter. When each transmitter is physically reunited with the re- DCver, said transmitter becomes deactivated.
• the automatic devices for activation and deactivation may be microswitches worked when the transmitter is con ⁇ nected with or disconnected from the receiver.
• the means for attraction and disactivation may be mag- netic attracting means that simultaneously retain the transmitter in the receiver and activate a magnetic micro- switch within the transmitter that deactivates it. At the moment of deactivation, as there is no magnetic field the microswitch reactivates the transmitter.
• Transmission by electromagnetic waves is made by using a double , or -multiple , ..carrier technique to improve recep ⁇ tion in closed environments or to overcome any blind spots that may be caused by obstacles or reflection of the signal.
• the transmitter sends out signals on one or more different frequencies, which are fixed or dynamically variable over time .
• the receiver uses the alternative frequency instead of one which may have been weakened by obstacles or reflection.
• the transmitters can comprise a circuit which, due to ac- tivation of a special control device on said transmitter or due to emission of a vocal sound, produces a signal towards the receiver which then sends out an alarm signal useful for checking on the safety of children or of any person in need of help. Said vocal sound could be a baby crying.
• the transmitters can comprise a circuit containing an acous ⁇ tic warning which sounds when the transmitter receives from the receiver a certain signal; in this way the transmitter is relocalised when, for example, persons or objects have been found .
• a special circuit constantly evaluates the distance between transmitters and the receiver. Said distance is compared with an electronic threshold which the user modifies by means of a special selecting device.
• This alarm is acoustic or visual, or of both kinds.
• the chosen function is operated by a push button from among those available corresponding to that function.
• the device gives rise to an operative function if the threshold value is exceeded because a distance has been reached either greater than that corresponding to the threshold value, or lesser.
• the purpose of this is to permit, for example, automatic remote activation of an anti-theft device for an automo- bile, for a home or some enclosed space, of an automatic closing device on a gate and a door or for deactivating a system, such as lighting or heating, when the user with the transmitter goes away from, for example, the automo ⁇ bile in which the receiver is installed, or else to permit the opposite functions when the user is approaching.
• a special circuit and means of control such as a two-way selector on the receiver, will set off the alarm - either when the distance between transmitter and recei ⁇ ver is increasing, - or when the variation of said distance is diminishing the first being useful when for example, persons or ob ⁇ jects should not move too far away, and the second when, for example, a search must be made for a lost person or object .
• the distance varying between a transmitter and a receiver is visualised numerically on the receiver. The distance can be found by measuring the delay in the echo signal compared with the signal sent out by the device called a receiver to a transmitter.
• the distance can be found by measuring the time taken by a signal emitted by a transmittor or by the receiver when ordered to emit it by the other.
• a special circuit constantly evaluates the direction be ⁇ tween the receiver and one or more of the transmitters visualising said direction .on:, a. ' dial on the receiver.
• the direction may be analogically visualised on a linear or circular bar-graph or with pointers or with digits on a numerical display.
• the direction may be measured by triangulation techniques.
• the direction of each transmitter in relation to the re ⁇ ceiver can be found by manual or automatic rotation of an antenna on the receiver and measuring the variation in amplitude of the echo signal in relation to that sent out by the device called a receiver, to a transmitter.
• the receiving and transmitting devices have independent electric feed by batteries and the like or by photoelec- trie panels .
• Receiver and transmitters can be equipped with already known devices, operating on radio frequencies or with su ⁇ personic or infrared waves or by other means and can be completed with acoustic transducers, microphones and loud speakers and with devices suited to transmission and re ⁇ ception of Morse signals and be fitted with suitably power ⁇ ful batteries to permit use of the device in searching for persons or objects in difficult environmental conditions. Communication can thus be maintained between underwater divers and their boats on the surface, between emergency aid services and people lost in the snow, in fog or hid ⁇ den under avalanches.
• the invention offers evident advantages.
• the receiver By keeping the receiver in an inside pocket or in some similar position or in any case close at hand, the user can be immediately informed if some person or object, to whom or to which a transmitter has been associated, goes away or is removed beyond the distance set by the receiver. The user can therefore be warned if a thief steals his wallet in some crowded means of public transport, or if he forgets his umbrella or to supervise his baggage.
• the advantages are also clear from the possible concrete examples of how the invention can be used. Entering a caffe, the user places his umbrella, to which one of the invented transmitters is attached, in an um ⁇ brella stand. On leaving he forgets to collect it. After walking away for a certain distance (the distance is that which said user has set on the device) the inven ⁇ ted receiver, in the user's coat pocket, sounds a warning signal .
• a parent does not want his little boy, playing in a park, to get too far away, for example not more than 40 m. Using the knob of the potentiometer he sets this distance on the receiver and puts a transmitter into the child's clothing. If the child disobeys and goes off to far, the warning will sound and the parent be told.
• the thief brings the transmitter clo ⁇ ser to the receiver, on the occupier's bedside table for example, thus setting off the warning signal.
• a shortsighted person does not remember where he has put down his glasses or the remote control to which the in ⁇ vented transmitters are applied, or else he wants to find his cat who likes to hide away and who has a transmitter on him.
• the user sets a low value (e.g. 50-100 cm) on the receiver and then searches every corner in the house until a warn ⁇ ing informs; ' him ⁇ that he is close to his glasses, his remote control device or to his cat.
• a low value e.g. 50-100 cm
• the electronic unit described is extremely simple in its structure, is inexpensive and practical to use, thus per- mitting universal diffusion.
• Fig.1 The receiver of the electronic unit subject of the invention.
• Fig.2 One of the transmitters.
• Fig.3 Receiver with four ransmitters.
• Fig.4 Layout of the receiver
• Fig.6 Layout of the receiver with alternating logic of the carriers, for measuring distance.
• Fig.7 Layout of the receiver with alternating logic of the carriers for detection of direction.
• Fig.8 Layout of receiver-transmitter for two-way commu ⁇ nication by voice and Morse.
• Fig.9 Layout of receiver-transmi ter for relocalizing a transmitter .
• the receiver 10 of electromagnetic waves shaped like a flat box, has a compartment 11 to house the transmitter 30 of electromagnetic waves, this too shaped like a small flat box.
• the receiver 10 comprises a battery 12 for electricity, a microswitch 13 for connection to this electric feed, an antenna 14, an AF demodulator filter 15, a preampli ⁇ bomb 16, a decoder amplifier 17, a comparator 18, a po ⁇ tentiometer 19 with graded scale 20, a slide selector 21, an output stage 22 for a visual or acoustic alarm signal, an analogico-digital converter 23, a 3-figure display 24, an electric ringer 25.
• the transmitter 30 comprises a battery -31 for electric feed, a microswitch 32, an oscillator 33, a variable con ⁇ denser 34, an amplifier 35, a modulator 36, an antenna 37, a LED 38.
• the receiver 40 possesses the essential features of the receiver 10 but instead has four compartments 41-44 sub- stantially the same as the compartment 11 of the recei ⁇ ver 10 housing the transmitter 30 and the transmitters 52-54 substantially the same as the transmitter 30. When idle the transmitter 30 is put in the housing 11 of the receiver 10.
• a carrier is generated at the previously established frequency, by means of the variable condenser 34.
• Said carrier suitably amplified in the amplifier 35 and modulater in the AF mod ⁇ lator 36, is sent to the antenna 37 for transmission of the signal.
• the receiving antenna 14 picks up the signals transmit- ted by the transmitter 30 and these are sent to the AF demodulator filter 15.
• This filter eliminates the carrier and extracts the mo ⁇ dulator superimposed over it, on condition that the trans ⁇ mitter 30 has been tuned in, through the variable conden- ser 34, to the frequency of the receiver 10.
• the AF demodulator filter 15 generates at its output a signal that is suitably preamplified in the preamplifier 16 and sent to the amplifier-decoder 17. Recognition of the code of modulation and amplifica ion takes place here. Said signal is compared in the compa ⁇ rator block 18, with a threshold, set by the user by means of the potentiometer 19 w.ith a rotating shaft.
• an output warn ⁇ ing signal will then be generated in one of the following cases : if the signal sent out by the transmitter goes beyond the established threshold because the distance between the transmitter that is moving away and the receiver exceeds a certain value ; if the signal sent out by the transmitter goes beyond said threshold . because the distance between the approach ⁇ ing transmitter and the receiver is less than said value.
• the alarm signal is sent to the output stage 22 of the receiver 10 for a visual signal, by means of a LED 38, or an acoustic signal. Said alarm will therefore mean that the distance between the transmitter and the receiver is lesser or greater than a previously established value.
• the signal sent out by the transmitter is sent to an A/D converter 23 and ' there changed into a nu- merical signal that appears on a display 24 to show the actual distance in metres between transmitter and receiver.
• Fig. 6 diagrammatically shows the use of a double carrier technique to find the distance between the receiving de- vice 59 and the transmitter 30.
• the receiver 60 at A frequency alternates with the receiver 61 at B frequency by means of the carrier alternating logic 62.
• the circuit 63 finds the amplitude variations on the ba ⁇ sis of which said distance is visualised in the circuit 64.
• Figure 7 shows in diagrammatic form how the double car ⁇ rier technique is used to detect the angular position between the receiving' ' device 69 and the transmitter 30.
• the receiver 70 at A frequency alternates with the recei ⁇ ver 17 at B frequency by means of the carrier alternating logic 72.
• circuit 73 finds the amplitude variations in accordance with which the angular position between the receiver 69 and the transmitter 30 is visualised in the circuit 76. Indication of this position facilitates continuity of con- nection between the user who has the receiver and the per ⁇ son or object to be protected in possession of the trans ⁇ mitter.
• Figure 8 shows in diagrammatic form an improvement to the electronic unit described by addition of receiver-transmitters for communication by voice as well, useful in the presence of snow, fog and the like, and also of the Morse system for communication under water.
• the receiver device 80 comprises the receivers 81 and 82 which by two-way radio control 93 are connected alterna- tively to transmitters 91 and 92 of the transmitter 90.
• the microphone 86 and loudspreaker 87 can be seen.
• Morse type announcement or reply can be made with pushbutton 88.
• Transmitters 84 and 85 in the receiver 80 are alter ⁇ nately connected to the receivers 94 and 95 in the transmitter 90 by the two-way radio control 83.
• the microphone 96 and loudspeaker 97 can be seen. Morse type announcement and reply can be made with the pushbuttons 88 and 98.
• FIG 9 shows diagrammatically an electronic unit with receiver and transmitter in sealed shockproof containers provided with circuits for relocalizing the transmitter and therefore persons or objects to be controlled and protected in the event of contact having been lost.
• the receiver 100 comprises the receiver circuits 101 and 102 which are connected, at normal power, with the trans ⁇ mitter circuits 101.and 102 of the transmitter 100. If the circuit 113 shows an interruption in the signal, by means of the pushbutton 118 a maximum power signal can be sent to the receiving circuits 104 and 105 in the transmitter 100 by the transmitting circuits 114 and 115, and diffused by the loud speaker 106. This acoustic signal assists in finding the object or per ⁇ son connected to the transmitter, by the user connected to the receiver.
• Said acoustic signal can function authomatically if the connection has gone too far away or is lost.
• the transmitter will in any case emit the maximum power in making the acoustic signal increasing the power of emission of its own localizing signal so as to remake the lost connection.

Landscapes

• Child & Adolescent Psychology (AREA)
• General Health & Medical Sciences (AREA)
• Health & Medical Sciences (AREA)
• Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
• General Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
• Business, Economics & Management (AREA)
• Emergency Management (AREA)
• Emergency Alarm Devices (AREA)
• Burglar Alarm Systems (AREA)
• Coupling Device And Connection With Printed Circuit (AREA)
• Alarm Systems (AREA)
• Adornments (AREA)
• Information Transfer Systems (AREA)
• Telephone Function (AREA)

Applications Claiming Priority (5)

Publications (2)

Family

ID=26331022

Family Applications (1)

Country Status (8)

Families Citing this family (10)

Family Cites Families (9)

• 1994
  • 1994-07-07 JP JP7504450A patent/JPH09500226A/ja active Pending
  • 1994-07-07 BR BR9407196A patent/BR9407196A/pt not_active Application Discontinuation
  • 1994-07-07 DE DE69402320T patent/DE69402320D1/de not_active Expired - Lifetime
  • 1994-07-07 AU AU72740/94A patent/AU7274094A/en not_active Abandoned
  • 1994-07-07 WO PCT/IT1994/000105 patent/WO1995002874A1/fr active IP Right Grant
  • 1994-07-07 CA CA002166961A patent/CA2166961A1/fr not_active Abandoned
  • 1994-07-07 AT AT94923033T patent/ATE150886T1/de active
  • 1994-07-07 EP EP94923033A patent/EP0708952B1/fr not_active Expired - Lifetime

Non-Patent Citations (1)

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