Systems and methods for functional adjustments of personal protective equipment

1 . A personal protective equipment (PPE) device comprising:

a microphone configured to capture an ambient sound stream;

a sound analyzer that receives the ambient sound stream and characterizes a sound fingerprint around the device based on the ambient sound stream;

a function preset selector that, based on the characterized sound fingerprint, selects a function preset that specifies a functional change for the device; and

a function preset implementor that implements the function preset in response to an event trigger, wherein implementing the function preset comprises adjusting a functional setting of a device from a first setting to a second setting; setting wherein

the sound fingerprint is characterized as a known hot location by matching the sound fingerprint to an environmental fingerprint labeled as the known hot location in a fingerprint database, the environmental fingerprint including a sound indicative of equipment known to be in the hot location; wherein

the function preset is a higher volume of airflow through a blower unit of a powered air purifying respirator (PAPR), and the function preset implementor adjusts a blower setting from the first setting to the second setting, the second setting being a higher airflow setting; and wherein

the event trigger comprises the PPE device entering the hot location identified by the sound fingerprint.

2 . The device of claim 1 , wherein the device is a welding helmet, the sound fingerprint is characterized as comprising an arc welding task, and wherein the function preset comprises adjusting a functional setting of the welding helmet from a first setting to a second setting.

3 . The device of claim 1 , wherein the identified sound fingerprint represents a first identified environment, location or task identified in the ambient sound stream.

4 . The device of claim 1 , and further comprising:

a fingerprint database comprising a plurality of environment fingerprints, location fingerprints and task fingerprints; and

a function preset database comprising a plurality of function presets, each function preset being correlated with one of the plurality of environment fingerprints, location fingerprints or task fingerprints.

5 . The device of claim 4 , wherein the function preset selector compares the sound fingerprint with the plurality of environmental, location and task fingerprints in the fingerprint database and if the sound fingerprint is within a match threshold to one of the plurality of fingerprints in the database, selects a corresponding function preset.

6 . The device of claim 1 , wherein the ambient sound is a first ambient sound captured at a first time, and wherein the device captures a second ambient sound at a second time, and wherein:

the sound analyzer characterizes a second sound fingerprint based on the second ambient sound;

the function preset selector, based on the second sound fingerprint, selects a second function preset, and

the function implementor, based on the second function preset, a current function state and an event trigger, adjusts a second functional setting of a device.

7 . The device of claim 1 , wherein the function preset database is communicably coupled to a remote database comprising a plurality of downloadable function presets.

8 . The device of claim 1 , wherein the function preset comprise an alert activation.

9 . The device of claim 8 , wherein the sound fingerprint comprises an indication of injury, and wherein the event trigger is immediately.

10 . A method of adjusting a function setting of a personal protective equipment (PPE) device, the method comprising:

receiving, using a sound receiver, a first ambient sound stream;

characterizing, using a sound analyzer, based on the first ambient sound stream, a first sound fingerprint around the PPE device; device based on the ambient sound stream;

identifying the first sound fingerprint as a known hot location by matching the first sound fingerprint to an environmental fingerprint labeled as the known hot location in a fingerprint database, the environmental fingerprint including a sound indicative of equipment known to be in the hot location;

retrieving, using a function preset selector, a first functional setting from a database based on the characterized first sound fingerprint, the functional setting being a higher volume of airflow through a blower unit of a powered air purifying respirator (PAPR);

and fingerprint;

adjusting, using a PPE function preset implementor, the functional setting of the PPE device to the from a first functional setting, wherein the functional airflow setting specifies to a functional change for the PPE device, wherein the functional second airflow setting that is adjusted higher than the first airflow setting, in response to an event trigger comprising the PPE device entering the hot location identified by the first sound fingerprint, trigger.

11 . The method of claim 10 , and further comprising:

receiving a second ambient sound stream;

characterizing, based on the second ambient sound stream, a second sound fingerprint around the PPE device based on the ambient sound stream;

retrieving, using the function preset selector, a second functional setting from the database based on the characterized sound fingerprint;

adjusting, using a PPE function modifier, the functional setting of the PPE device to the second function setting, wherein the functional setting is adjusted in response to a second event trigger.

12 . The method of claim 10 , wherein the first and second ambient sound streams are received through a microphone positioned on an exterior or an interior of the personal protection device.

13 . The method of claim 10 , wherein the first and second ambient sound streams are received through a solid-borne sound collection system.

14 . The method of claim 10 , wherein the steps of identifying, retrieving and applying are done automatically when a new ambient sound stream is received.

15 . A method of changing equipment settings on a device, the method comprising:

operating a function of the device at a first function setting;

receiving an ambient sound stream from a microphone in an area of a worksite;

characterizing a sound fingerprint of the ambient sound stream, stream using a sound analyzer;

matching the sound fingerprint to an environmental fingerprint, fingerprint using a matching module, module by comparing the sound fingerprint to a database of environmental fingerprints;

identifying the environmental fingerprint as a known hot location by matching the sound fingerprint to an environmental fingerprint that includes a sound indicative of equipment known to be in the hot location;

retrieving a functional change for the device, retrieving, using a function model retriever, wherein a functional change associated with the hot location, the functional change being a second function fan-airflow setting for the function of the device, a powered air purifying respirator (PAPR) blower unit, and wherein the functional change is retrieved based on being a match of the sound fingerprint to an environmental fingerprint associated with higher airflow setting than the first function setting; and functional change;

applying the functional change by sending control signals to functional components of the device such that the device changes from the first function setting to the second function setting in response to the device entering the hot location identified by the sound fingerprint, setting.

16 . The method of claim 15 , wherein the device is a personal protective equipment device.

17 . The method of claim 15 , wherein applying the functional change comprises the device automatically adjusting the function to the second functional setting.

18 . The method of claim 15 , and further comprising:

communicating an indication of area position of the device to a second device.