Patent Application
20080022596
Although system 10 is shown applied to a door having a flexible vertically operating door panel 22, system 10 can be used for any type of door. For the illustrated example, door 12 opens and closes by a motor drive unit 24 rotating a take-up roller that draws in and pays out panel 22 to respectively open and close the door. Tracks 26 on either side of doorway 14 help guide the movement of panel 22.
In one example, the warning provided by door signaling system 10 is an elongate light system 28 extending along at least a portion of a perimeter of doorway 14. Light system 28, for instance, may include one or more elongate lights 30 installed on either side of doorway 14, above doorway 14, along a lower edge of doorway 14, and/or on door 12, itself Elongate light 30 can be mounted to any convenient structure including, but not limited to, track 26, a wall 32 surrounding doorway 14, or a housing 34 that supports the flexible door panel's take-up roller. The elongation or length of light 30 may run generally parallel to the nearest edge of doorway 14 (i.e., lying generally vertical when installed along a lateral edge of the doorway and running generally horizontal when disposed along an upper edge of the doorway). Additionally, elongate lights 30, singularly or as a group, may be centrally distributed from left-to-right relative to doorway 14. In other words, in the illustrated examples, lights 30 are not biased off to one side of the doorway more than the other, as a person's attention is likely directed toward the center of the door that is about to open. In cases where only one light 30 is used, that light is may be mounted centrally above the doorway.
Logically, light system 28 may be particularly effective when it extends along all or most of the doorway's perimeter. For example, when mounted along the sides of doorway 14, elongate light 30 may desirably extend at least a third the height of the doorway, or better yet, at least half the doorway's height. When mounted along the top of the doorway, elongate light 30 may desirably extend at least half or at least a third the width of the doorway. For the greatest visual impact, light system 28 extends along most of the doorway's upper and lateral periphery.
While the aforementioned light mounting configurations may offer an easy, convenient, and effective solution, it may also be desirable to mount elongate light 30 in other locations along a portion of the door's perimeter. For example, elongate light 30 may be mounted on or in the floor at the door's threshold. A floor-mounted light may be desirable because a person's attention is typically directed toward the center of the doorway and often near the floor, because that is where they intend to travel. It may be desirable to have light system 30 be biased, such that it provides an indication of which side of the doorway a potential hazard lies.
Furthermore, it may also be desirable to mount elongate light 30 on door 12 itself. As noted above, a person who is moving toward or through a doorway typically directs his attention near the center of that doorway. When a door is closed or partially closed, as shown in
The actual structure of light 30 may vary. In some examples, light 30 is an elongate fixture containing a series of discrete lights 36, such as a series of LEDs typically found in conventional rope lights. Each light 30 may have its own electrical input 38, or lights 30 may share a common input, wherein a signal 40 conveyed to electrical input 38 is what actuates the lights.
In some examples, a controller 42 provides signal 40 in response to one or more input signals 44 and 46 from one or more sensors 48 and/or 50. Sensors 48 and 50 represent any device that can detect a certain door-related event at doorway 14. The term, “door-related event” represents any predefined occurrence within a certain vicinity of doorway 14. Sensor 48 may be a proximity sensor that can detect whether a first body 52 (e.g., pedestrian 90) is within a certain area 54 at a first side 56 of door 12, and sensor 50 can be a similar proximity sensor that can detect whether a second body 58 (e.g., vehicle 18) is within a certain area 60 at a second side 62 of door 12.
The actual design of sensors 48 and 50 may vary, as there are a wide variety of available sensors for detecting the presence and/or movement of a body, near a doorway. Examples of such sensors include, but are not limited to photoelectric eyes, proximity sensors, floor mat sensors, and motion detectors, which operate under various principles including, but not limited to, ultrasonics; active and passive detection of infrared radiation; lasers; detection of electromagnetic radiation (for example—sensing radio waves or sensing changes in capacitance or inductance or sensing the presence of RFID devices); and detecting a Doppler shift in microwaves. Thus, sensors 48 and 50 broadly represent any such sensor.
In some examples, sensors 48 and 50 can determine whether or not a sensed body is a vehicle. In other examples, however, sensors 48 and 50 just determine whether some body (vehicle, pedestrian, or otherwise) is at the doorway.
For the other examples, the door-related event can be defined as first body 52 being within area 54 at side 56 of the door. Upon detecting such a door-related event, sensor 48 provides signal 44 that activates light system 28 to present an illuminated warning 64. The illuminated warning can caution others on side 62 of the door that someone or something may be on the other side (side 56) of door 12. In this manner, door signaling system 10 communicates to a source of a hazard (e.g., a moving vehicle) near doorway 14 about a potential collision, rather than warning the object that may soon be in the greatest danger of bodily harm (e.g., a pedestrian). In some instances, it may be desirable to warn both parties. Toward that end, a similar elongate light system can be installed on side 56 of door 12 to warn those on that side of the door that a body 58 detected by sensor 50 may be on side 62 of the door.
In other examples, system 28 is considered to be in a WARNING-state when system 28 is projecting the illuminated warning 64 but is otherwise in a CLEAR-state. In the CLEAR-state, system 28 may be de-activated or may continue to be activated, projecting light of a different color. If light system 28 includes two different series of colored lights that can be independently activated, system 28 can be controlled to project red light during the WARNING-state and green light during the CLEAR-state. Alternatively, light system 28 might flash on and off while in the WARNING-state and do something else during the CLEAR-state. If light system 28 includes a series of discrete lights, die flashing of the light system referred to herein includes each of a series of lights individually flashing, all of them flashing simultaneously, or a series of them flashing in a predefined pattern. There are unlimited possible variations of using the lights to convey WARNING-states and CLEAR-states.
As used herein, activation of system 28 encompasses any change to the system's operating state, including the activation/de-activation of system 28, the illumination/de-illumination of the system, the changing of the colors illuminated/projected, the energization/de-energization of the system, the flashing of the system, the projection of an image, and other comparable changes the system's operational condition.
To avoid excessive activation of light system 28, such as when body 52 is at side 56 with no one at side 62 to see the illuminated warning, in some cases, the door-related event can be defined as both bodies 52 and 58 having to be present at opposite sides of door 12 in order to activate light system 28.
For examples that can distinguish vehicle 18 from other types of bodies, toe door-related event can be a combination of pedestrian 20 being at side 56 of the door and vehicle 18 being at side 6, wherein light system 28 is at side 62 of tie door.
In order to distinguish vehicle 18 from other types of bodies, sensors 48 and 50 might include a conventional inductive loop that is more sensitive to the presence of a body having a high metal content, as is typically the case with vehicles. Each sensor 48 and 50 can actually be a two-part sensor system, wherein one part detects pedestrians and the other part detects vehicles, or the first part detects a body and the second part determines whether it is a vehicle. Alternatively, sensors 48 and 50 may include an RFID receiver that can detect the presence of an RFID tag carried by vehicle 18. Of course, it could also be a pedestrian, rather than vehicle 18 that carries the RFID tag.
Another example well within the scope of the invention is sensor 50 being a motion sensor that provides activation signal 46 in response to detecting that vehicle 18 is not only in the vicinity of door 12 but is also approaching the door. In this case, the door-related event is pedestrian 20 being at side 56 of the door while vehicle 18 is at side 62 and is approaching the door, wherein light system 28 is at side 62 of door 12. A similar setup could be applied to sensor 48 on side 56.
In other examples, the door-related event can be a decision to close door 12, whereby activation of illuminated warning 64 could caution those in the area that the door is about to close. Such a door-related event could occur by pedestrian 20 or driver 16 actuating a conventional door-closing switch. Or, such a door-related event could take place automatically in response to pedestrian 20 or vehicle 18 passing through the doorway, or in response to a tinier.
An alternative to, or an addition to, activating elongate light system 28 in response to a door-related event is to provide a light system that can project a light beam 66 (e.g., flood light, spot light, laser, white light, colored light, or flashing light) when activated in response to a door-related event. System 28 could be activated, thereby projecting beam 66 onto door panel 22, as indicated by pattern 68 in
Another alternative or addition to system 28 would be to activate a horn 72 carried by vehicle 18. Horn 72 could provide an audible warning signal 74 when activated in response to sensing a door-related event. To communicate a signal 40′ (comparable to signal 40) to horn 72, controller 42 can include a signal transmitter 76 and vehicle 18 can include a signal receiver 78 to create a wireless communication link 80 between the two.
Although the invention is described with respect to various examples, modifications thereto will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art. The control schemes described with reference to elongate light system 28, for instance, can be readily applied to light beam 66 and horn 72. Furthermore, while the door signaling system has been discussed primarily for use when a pedestrian is on one side of a doorway and a vehicle is on the other side, it would also find utility when a vehicle (or even pedestrian) is on each side of the doorway. Door signaling system 10 would also be useful mounted on either a “pedestrian side” or a “vehicle side” of doorway 14, or both. The scope of the invention, therefore, is to be determined by reference to the following claims:
