WO2010131963A1

WO2010131963A1 - Floor-tile and floor-system comprising a plurality of such floor-tiles

Info

Publication number: WO2010131963A1
Application number: PCT/NL2010/050278
Authority: WO
Inventors: Arjen Bozelie; Erwin A. Meijer; Matijs Behrens
Original assignee: Mea Smart B.V.
Priority date: 2009-05-15
Filing date: 2010-05-12
Publication date: 2010-11-18
Also published as: NL2002897C2

Abstract

The invention relates to the floor-tile for a flooring system comprising at least one sensor for sensing the presence of an object, wherein the at least one sensor is an electrode pair for providing an electrical field that is usable to detect the presence of an object, - and wherein it comprises: a) bus-lines for feeding the at least one electrode pair b) switches for connecting or disconnecting the at least one electrode pair to the bus-lines c) digital selection means comprising selection-lines for operating the switches - and wherein both the bus-lines and the selection- lines extend in the tile from a first end to a second end of a previous tile provides uninterrupted bus-lines and selection- lines extending in both adjacent tiles.

Description

Floor-tile and floor-system comprising a plurality of such floor-tiles

The invention relates to a floor-tile for a flooring system comprising at least one sensor for sensing the presence of an object, such as a human body-part, an animal, or a nonliving object. Such a floor-tile is known from WO 90/10920.

The known floor-tile is part of a floor-system having a matrix of pressure sensitive sensors, means to determine the position of anyone of said sensors, means to determine a change of state of anyone of said sensors, clock means, and detection means to detect a change in state of anyone of said sensors within a time period determined by said clock means.

A disadvantage of the known floor-tile and floor-system is that it is rather complicated and therefore prone to malfunctioning. Furthermore, the known floor-tile and floor-system gen- erate heavy data traffic for reading out the sensor or sensors of this system.

It is an object of the invention to provide a reliable floor-tile and floor-system which is less prone to malfunctioning and which is easily extendible without need to employ com- plicated read-out electronics and without need to adapt same to the number of tiles that make up the floor-system.

A further objective is to provide a floor-tile and a floor-system in which the sensing of the presence of an object requires little energy. In order to at least in part meet the objectives as mentioned above the floor-tile and floor-system of the invention are characterized by one or more of the appended claims. It is expressly pointed out that the term floor-tile as used in this application does not restrict the scope of the floor-tiles to specific dimensions. On the contrary, a single floor-tile of the invention may cover an area as large as a ballroom.

The floor-tile of the invention is embodied with the features that the at least one sensor is an electrode pair for providing an electrical field that is usable to detect the pres- ence of a human body-part,

- and that it comprises : a) bus-lines for feeding the at least one electrode pair, b) switches for connecting or disconnecting the at least one electrode pair to the bus-lines, c) digital selection means comprising selection-lines (9, 10) for operating the switches,

- and that both the bus-lines and the selection-lines extend in the tile from a first end to a second end that is opposite to the first end, so as to arrange that placing a next tile's first end adjacent to the second end of a previous tile provides uninterrupted bus-lines and selection-lines extending in the adjacent tiles.

Particularly, the above-mentioned features make possible that a floor-system that is made up of such floor-tiles can be easily extended with the number of tiles that are required for making a complete floor without thereby necessitating the use of complicated electronics for read-out and control of the electrode-pairs that make up the sensors.

A further aspect of the floor-tile of the invention is that the digital selection means comprises a clock-line and a data-line, and a flip-flop having an input and an output that are connected to the data-line, and which flip-flop is further connected to the clock-line so as to cause that upon each clock- pulse, data present on the data-line connection with the flip- flop's input transfers to the data-line connection with the flip-flop's output, and that the flip-flop's output operates the switches for connecting or disconnecting the at least one electrode-pair to or from the bus-lines. In this manner it is arranged that for instance with a number of adjacent floor-tiles a selective read out of the sensors can be accomplished due to the fact that the flip-flops of the concerning floor-tiles operate as a distributed shift-register. This shift-register provides the selection in a cyclical manner of only a single electrode- pair from a particular row of electrode pairs that make up the sensors, for detecting whether an object, such as a human body part is present near the sensor formed by the selected electrode pair .

The invention is also embodied in a floor-system comprising a plurality of floor-tiles as discussed above. The floor-system of the invention is further embodied such that it comprises at least one selection controller to which the selec- tion-lines are connected, and at least one measurement-unit connected to the bus lines to measure an electrical parameter that pertains to the electrode-pair that due to the operation of the selection controller is switched to the bus-lines. Further it will be appreciated by the person skilled in the art from the foregoing description of the separate floor- tiles, that in the floor-system of the invention for each row of floor-tiles there is only a single selection controller necessary . The invention will hereinafter be further elucidated with reference to the drawing. In the drawing:

- Fig. 1 shows schematically a single sensor that may form part of a floor-tile according to the invention; - Fig. 2 shows an image of three adjacent floor-tiles together with the sensor electronics forming part of these floor-tiles, and

- Fig. 3 shows a schematic drawing of an electronic control system that applies to the floor-system of the inven- tion.

Wherever in the figures the same reference numerals are applied, these numerals refer to the same parts.

With reference first to Fig. 2 three adjacent floor- tiles are shown, indicated with reference numerals 1, 1', and 1".

Each of the floor-tiles 1, 1' , 1" comprises at least one sensor 2 for sensing the presence of an object. In the shown embodiment each of the tiles 1, 1', 1" has four sensors 2. The operation of said sensors 2 is best explained with reference to Fig. 1.

Fig. 1 shows a single sensor 2, which is embodied as an electrode pair 3, 4, which together provide an electrical field that is usable for detecting the presence of a an object.

Fig. 1 further shows that in each floor-tile 1 there are bus-lines 5, 6 for feeding the electrode pair 3, 4 and switches 7, 8 for connecting or disconnecting the electrode pair 3, 4 to or from the bus-lines 5, 6.

The sensor 2 of the invention is further provided with digital selection means comprising said switches 7,8 and selec- tion lines 9, 10 for operating said switches 7, 8. As Fig. 1 schematically shows but which is clearly apparent from what is shown in Fig. 2, both the bus-lines 5, 6 and the selection lines 9, 10 extend in for instance tile 1 from a first end 11 to a second end 12 that is opposite to the first end 11. This arranges that placing a first end 11' of a neighbouring tile 1' next to the second end 12 of a previous tile 1, provides uninterrupted bus-lines 5, 6 and selection lines 9, 10, respectively, extending in both adjacent tiles 1, 1'. For clarity purposes the ends 11, 12 and 11', 12' of the ad- jacent tiles 1 and 1' are shown with reference to the electrical lines that are comprised in the respective tiles 1 and 1' .

With reference again to Fig. 1 it is shown that the tiles 1, 1' , 1" also comprise digital selection means in the form of a clock-line 10 and a data-line 9, and further a flip- flop 13 having an input 14 and an output 15 that are connected to the data-line 9 such that the flip-flop 13 forms part of the data-line 9 extending from the first end 11 to the second end 12 of the tile.

The flip-flop 13 is further connected to the clock-line 10 and responds to the clock pulses that are provided on the clock-line 10 such that data present on the data line connection with the flip-flop's input 14 transfers to the data-line connection with the flip-flop's output 15 upon each clock pulse. Further the flip-flop's output 15 connects to the switches 7, 8 for connecting or disconnecting the electrode pair 3, 4 to or from the bus-lines 5, 6.

With reference again to Fig. 2 the flip-flop's 13 of a tile 1 and the flip-flops 13' of a neighbouring tile 1' embody in the manner explained in the previous paragraph the function of a shift register in which data entering a most left one of the flip-flops is moved through the series of flip-flops 12, 13, embodying as it were a shift register provided in the adjacent tiles 1 and 1' . The clock pulses on the clock-lines 10 in this manner arrange that the respective switches 7, 8 of adjacent sensors 2 and 2' are seguentially activated. In this way a sequential read-out of said sensors 2 and 2' is carried out.

The invention is also embodied in a floor-system comprising a plurality of floor-tiles 1, 1' , 1" in accordance with the invention and which comprises at least one selection controller to which the selection lines 9, 10 are connected. Such selection controllers are indicated in Fig. 3 with reference numeral 19. Any such selection controller 19 operates on a row of floor-tiles 1, 1', 1" and in this particular case as shown in Fig. 3 each floor-tile 1, 1', 1" comprises a single line of sensors 2. The selection controller 19 in this manner controls the selection of a particular sensor 2. All floor-tiles with their individual selection controllers 19 thus form the floor-system of the invention. It is again expressly pointed out that this is only a preferred embodiment and that also other arrangements are possible. When a tile 1, 1', 1'', has more strings of sensors - as is the case in the embodiment of Fig. 2 - the strings of sensors of a tile may for instance share one selection control- ler.

The respective selection controllers 19 are all connected to a central processor 15, which is preferably also embodied with at least one measurement unit 16. Said measurement unit 16 is connected to the bus-lines 5, 6 for measuring an electrical parameter that pertains to (see Fig. 1) the electrode-pair 3, 4 that at a particular time is switched to the bus-lines 5, 6 due to the operation of the cyclical operation of the selection controller 19.

The central processor unit 15 may have a connection, for instance through the internet 17 with a monitoring facility 18 to detect any predefined situation with respect to the floor- system that requires appropriate action in response thereto.

The applicant expressly points out that the description with reference to the drawing of a preferred embodiment of the floor-tile and floor-system of the invention is to be understood as intended for strictly illustrative purposes without intent to restrict the claims to anything less than accords to the contribution that the invention provides to the pertinent prior art. The scope of protection is therefore to be understood strictly in accordance with the appended claims without said claims being deemed restrictive to the provided example of a preferred embodiment .

Claims

1. Floor-tile (1, 1', 1") for a flooring system comprising at least one sensor for sensing the presence of an object, characterized in that the at least one sensor (2) is an electrode pair (3, 4) for providing an electrical field that is usable to detect the presence of an object,

- and that it comprises: a) bus-lines (5, 6) for feeding the at least one electrode pair (3, 4), b) switches (7, 8) for connecting or disconnecting the at least one electrode pair (3, 4) to or from the bus-lines

(5, 6), c) digital selection means comprising selection-lines (9, 10) for operating the switches (7, 8),

- and that both the bus-lines (5, 6) and the selection- lines (9, 10) extend in the tile (1, 1', 1") from a first end

(11) to a second end (12) that is opposite to the first end (11), so as to arrange that placing a next tile's (1') first end (H') adjacent to the second end (12) of a previous tile (1) provides uninterrupted bus-lines (5, 6) and selection-lines (9, 10) extending in the adjacent tiles (1, 1', 1").

2. Floor-tile according to claim 1, characterized in that the digital selection means comprises a clock-line (10) and a data-line (9), and a flip-flop (13) having an input (14) and an output (15) that are connected to the data-line (9), and which flip-flop (13) is further connected to the clock-line (10) so as to cause that upon each clock-pulse, data present on the data-line connection with the flip-flop's input (14) transfers to the data-line connection with the flip-flop's output (15), and that the flip-flop's output (15) operates the switches (7, 8) for connecting or disconnecting the at least one electrode pair (3, 4) to or from the bus-lines (5, 6) .

3. Floor-system comprising a plurality of floor-tiles (1, 1') in accordance with claim 1 or 2, characterized in that it comprises at least one selection controller (19) to which the selection-lines (9, 10) are connected, and at least one measurement-unit (16) connected to the bus lines (5, 6) to measure an electrical parameter that pertains to the electrode-pair (3, 4) that due to the operation of the selection controller (19) is switched to the bus-lines (5, 6) .

4. Floor-system according to claim 3, characterized in that for each row of floor-tiles there is at least one selection controller (19).