System and method for detecting room occupancy with beamforming microphone arrays
A building automation system generates occupancy information for occupants of spaces of a building (e.g. quantity, identity and/or location of the occupants) based on occupancy sensors in the spaces. The occupancy sensors capture speech sounds originating from one or more occupants of the spaces and/or ultrasonic emissions originating from one or more user devices of the occupants are via microphone arrays. Audio data based on the captured sound is then generated. Position information for the sources of the sound is determined based on the audio data, and the audio data is enhanced based on the position information via a beamforming process. Occupancy information for the spaces is generated based on the audio data. Environmental conditions of the spaces are controlled based on the presence, absence, position, orientation, distribution and/or preferences of the occupants in the space.
1. A method of operation of a building automation system of a building, the method comprising:
capturing sound in spaces of the building and generating audio data based on the captured sound;
generating occupancy information for the spaces based on the audio data; and
controlling environmental conditions of the spaces based on the occupancy information,
wherein the captured sound includes ultrasonic emissions originating from one or more user devices of occupants of the spaces, and the ultrasonic emissions are produced by the user devices at different frequencies for different occupants of the spaces.
2. The method as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising capturing the sound via microphone arrays.
3. The method as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising determining position information for sources of the sound based on the audio data.
4. The method as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising capturing speech sounds originating from one or more occupants of the spaces.
5. The method as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising enhancing the audio data based on position information for sources of the sound via a beamforming process.
6. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the occupancy information includes quantity, identity and/or location information for occupants of the space.
7. The method as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising generating identification information for occupants of the spaces based on the audio data, wherein the occupancy information is generated based on the identification information.
8. The method as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising controlling the environmental conditions of the spaces based on position, orientation and/or distribution information for occupants of the spaces.
9. The method as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising controlling the environmental conditions of the spaces based on preference information for occupants of the spaces.
10. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the occupancy information for the spaces includes how many occupants are in each of the spaces.
11. The method as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising generating position information for occupants of the spaces based on the audio data and controlling the environmental conditions of the spaces based on the position information for the occupants and layout information associated with the spaces.
12. The method as claimed in claim 11 , further comprising controlling the environmental conditions by brightening lights in areas where the occupants are located and dimming lights in areas where no occupants are located based on the position information and the layout information.
13. The method as claimed in claim 11 , further comprising controlling the environmental conditions by raising shades in areas where shades are facing away from windows of the spaces based on the position information and the layout information.
14. The method as claimed in claim 11 , further comprising controlling the environmental conditions by controlling temperatures of the spaces based on the occupancy information and/or occupant preferences.
15. The method as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising storing for each occupant ultrasonic frequency information indicating the different frequencies for the occupant.
16. The method as claimed in claim 15 , further comprising identifying the occupants based on the ultrasonic emissions depicted in the audio data and the stored ultrasonic frequency information.
17. The method as claimed in claim 16 , wherein identifying the occupants comprises isolating ultrasonic emissions at different frequencies based on the audio data, generating frequency information for the isolated ultrasonic emissions, comparing the frequency information for the isolated ultrasonic emissions to the stored frequency information for the occupants and returning identification information for each distinct source of the ultrasonic emissions.
18. A building automation system of a building, the building automation system comprising:
occupancy sensors for capturing sounds in spaces of the building, generating audio data based on the captured sound;
an occupancy module for generating occupancy information for the spaces based on the audio data generated by the occupancy sensors; and
a space automation module for controlling environmental conditions of the spaces based on the occupancy information generated by the occupancy module,
wherein the captured sound includes ultrasonic emissions originating from one or more user devices of occupants of the spaces, and the ultrasonic emissions are produced by the user devices at different frequencies for different occupants of the spaces.
19. The system as claimed in claim 18 , further comprising microphone arrays of the occupancy sensors for capturing the sound.
20. The system as claimed in claim 18 , wherein the occupancy sensors determine position information for sources of the sound based on the audio data.
21. The system as claimed in claim 18 , wherein the sounds include speech sounds originating from one or more occupants of the spaces.
22. The system as claimed in claim 18 , further comprising a beamforming process executing on controllers of the occupancy sensors for enhancing the audio data based on position information for sources of the sound.
23. The system as claimed in claim 18 , wherein the occupancy information includes quantity, identity and/or location information for occupants of the space.
24. The system as claimed in claim 18 , further comprising a recognition module for generating identification information for occupants of the spaces based on the audio data, wherein the occupancy information is generated based on the identification information.
25. The system as claimed in claim 18 , wherein the space automation module controls the environmental conditions of the spaces based on position, orientation and/or distribution information for occupants of the spaces.
26. The system as claimed in claim 18 , wherein the space automation module controls the environmental conditions of the spaces based on preference information for occupants of the spaces.
27. A system for detecting occupancy in spaces of a building, the system comprising:
occupancy sensors for capturing sounds in the spaces and generating audio data based on the captured sound; and
an occupancy module for generating occupancy information for the spaces based on the audio data generated by the occupancy sensors,
wherein the captured sound includes ultrasonic emissions originating from one or more user devices of occupants of the spaces, and the ultrasonic emissions are produced by the user devices at different frequencies for different occupants of the spaces.