U.S. patents available from 1976 to present.
U.S. patent applications available from 2005 to present.

Icon_funbox Bizarre Patents

Patent No. 5787895

Kissing Shield

A kissing shield comprised of a thin, flexible membrane and a frame or holder.

Newsletter  PatentStorm News

Make the Most of PatentStorm

See this month's Top Inventors and Most Cited Patents.

Stay on top of the latest patents by subscribing to an RSS feed.

Got questions? Ask a Patent Expert!

Registered users: Manage your profile, comments and alerts.

 

US Patent 6184792 - Early fire detection method and apparatus

US Patent Issued on February 6, 2001
Estimated Patent Expiration Date: Icon_subject April 19, 2020Estimated Expiration Date is calculated based on simple USPTO term provisions. It does not account for terminal disclaimers, term adjustments, failure to pay maintenance fees, or other factors which might affect the term of a patent.
loading...


View Patent Images (PDF)
(Registered users only)

Abstract

The present invention provides a method and apparatus for detecting fire in a monitored area. In a preferred embodiment, this method is seen to comprise the steps of: (1) capturing video images of the monitored area in the form of two-dimensional bitmaps whose spatial resolution is determined by the number of pixels comprising the bitmaps, (2) cyclically accumulating a sequential set of these captured bitmaps for analysis of the temporal variations being experienced in the pixel brightness values, (3) examining these sets of bitmaps to identify clusters of contiguous pixels having either a specified static component or a specified dynamic component of their temporally varying brightness values, (4) comparing the patterns of the shapes of these identified, static and dynamic clusters to identify those exhibiting patterns which are similar to those exhibited by the comparable bright static core and the dynamic crown regions of flickering open flames, and (5) signaling the detection of a fire in the monitored area when the degree of match between these identified, static and dynamic clusters and the comparable regions of flickering open flames exceeds a prescribed matching threshold value.

Inventors

Application

No. 552688 filed on 04/19/2000

US Classes:

340/578, By radiant energy250/336.1, INVISIBLE RADIANT ENERGY RESPONSIVE ELECTRIC SIGNALLING250/339.15, Sensing flame or explosion340/577, Flame348/82, Hazardous or inaccessible382/100, APPLICATIONS382/195, Local or regional features382/203, Shape and form analysis382/225, Cluster analysis700/274Control of combustion or heating apparatus (e.g., kiln, furnace, autoclave, burner, combusion system)

Field of Search

340/578, By radiant energy340/577, Flame431/14, Correlated with action of condition responsive burner control431/76, Combustion product composition sensor431/75, By combustion or combustion zone sensor250/554, Flame light source250/336.1, INVISIBLE RADIANT ENERGY RESPONSIVE ELECTRIC SIGNALLING250/339.15, Sensing flame or explosion700/274, Control of combustion or heating apparatus (e.g., kiln, furnace, autoclave, burner, combusion system)348/82, Hazardous or inaccessible348/61, SPECIAL APPLICATIONS382/100, APPLICATIONS382/191, Multispectral features (e.g., frequency, phase)382/203, Shape and form analysis382/181, PATTERN RECOGNITION382/195, Local or regional features382/225Cluster analysis

Examiners

Primary: Lee, Benjamin C.

Attorney, Agent or Firm

US Patent References

5153722, Fire detection system
Issued on: 10/06/1992
Inventor: Goedeke, et al.
5191220, Flame monitoring apparatus and method having a second signal processing means for detecting a frequency higher in range than the previously detected frequencies
Issued on: 03/02/1993
Inventor: Innes
5202759, Surveillance system
Issued on: 04/13/1993
Inventor: Laycock
5249954, Integrated imaging sensor/neural network controller for combustion systems
Issued on: 10/05/1993
Inventor: Allen, et al.
5289275, Surveillance monitor system using image processing for monitoring fires and thefts
Issued on: 02/22/1994
Inventor: Ishii, et al.
5510772, Flame detection method and apparatus
Issued on: 04/23/1996
Inventor: Lasenby
5594421, Method and detector for detecting a flame
Issued on: 01/14/1997
Inventor: Thuillard
5625342, Plural-wavelength flame detector that discriminates between direct and reflected radiation
Issued on: 04/29/1997
Inventor: Hall, et al.
5726632, Flame imaging system
Issued on: 03/10/1998
Inventor: Barnes, et al.
5751209, System for the early detection of fires
Issued on: 05/12/1998
Inventor: Werner, et al.
5777548, Fire monitoring apparatus and computer readable medium recorded with fire monitoring program
Issued on: 07/07/1998
Inventor: Murakami, et al.
5796342, Diagnosing flame characteristics in the time domain
Issued on: 08/18/1998
Inventor: Panov
5798946, Signal processing system for combustion diagnostics
Issued on: 08/25/1998
Inventor: Khesin
5832187, Fire detection systems and methods
Issued on: 11/03/1998
Inventor: Pedersen, et al.
5838242, Fire detection system using modulation ratiometrics
Issued on: 11/17/1998
Inventor: Marsden
5850182, Dual wavelength fire detection method and apparatus
Issued on: 12/15/1998
Inventor: Schuler
5926280, Fire detection system utilizing relationship of correspondence with regard to image overlap
Issued on: 07/20/1999
Inventor: Yamagishi, et al.
5937077, Imaging flame detection system
Issued on: 08/10/1999
Inventor: Chan, et al.
5971747, Automatically optimized combustion control
Issued on: 10/26/1999
Inventor: Lemelson, et al.
5995008, Fire detection method and apparatus using overlapping spectral bands
Issued on: 11/30/1999
Inventor: King, et al.
6011464, Method for analyzing the signals of a danger alarm system and danger alarm system for implementing said method
Issued on: 01/04/2000
Inventor: Thuillard
6111511Flame and smoke detector
Issued on: 08/29/2000
Inventor: Sivathanu, et al.

International Class

G08B 017/12

Comments

No comments for this page
 
 
Forgot password?
Register here