Granted Patent B2

US 12,249,083 · App. 18/437,891 · Granted Mar 11, 2025

Inventor: James P. Steiner (Royersford, PA)

Assignee: Lutron Technology Company LLC

G06T7/277G01S5/0294G01S13/867G06T7/136G06T7/215

Abstract

Claims (27)

1. A device configured to detect an occupant entering or exiting a space, the device comprising:

a detection circuit configured to detect the occupant in a coverage area of the space and generate one or more signals indicating a location of the occupant in the coverage area; and

a control circuit configured to:

receive the one or more signals from the detection circuit;

determine movements of the occupant through a plurality of zones of the coverage area based on the one or more signals, wherein the plurality of zones comprises a first zone, a second zone, and a third zone, the first zone comprising an area outside of the space and adjacent to an entry location of the space, the second zone comprising an area at the entry location, and the third zone comprising an area inside of the space and adjacent to the entry location;

determine that the occupant has entered the space in response to determining that the occupant has moved from the first zone to the third zone through the second zone; and

determine that the occupant has exited the space in response to determining that the occupant has moved from the third zone to the first zone through the second zone.

2. The device of claim 1 , wherein the detection circuit is configured to generate an occupant map that indicates the location of the occupant relative to the plurality of zones.

3. The device of claim 2 , wherein the control circuit is configured to determine the location of the occupant relative to the plurality of zones based on coordinates of the occupant in the occupant map.

4. The device of claim 3 , wherein the control circuit comprises a Kalman tracking filter, the control circuit configured to determine the coordinates of the occupant using the Kalman tracking filter.

5. The device of claim 4 , wherein the control circuit is configured to determine preliminary coordinates of the occupant in the occupant map based on the one or more signals received from the detection circuit, and to adjust the preliminary coordinates using the Kalman tracking filter.

6. The device of claim 1 , wherein the detection circuit comprises a thermopile array having a plurality of heat-sensitive elements.

7. The device of claim 6 , wherein the one or more signals generated by the detection circuit comprise a two-dimensional (2D) thermal image of the coverage area and wherein the location of the occupant in the coverage area is indicated in the thermal image.

8. The device of claim 1 , wherein the detection circuit comprises a visible light sensing circuit having a camera.

9. The device of claim 8 , wherein the one or more signals generated by the detection circuit comprise a two-dimensional (2D) image of the coverage area and wherein the location of the occupant in the coverage area is indicated in the image.

10. The device of claim 1 , wherein the detection circuit comprises a radar sensing circuit.

11. The device of claim 10 , wherein the one or more signals generated by the detection circuit comprise a two-dimensional (2D) occupant map of the coverage area and wherein the location of the occupant in the coverage area relative to the plurality of zones is indicated in the occupant map.

12. The device of claim 1 , wherein the control circuit is further configured to determine that the occupant has entered an idle state based on a lack of movements of the occupant or in response to a loss of detection of the occupant.

13. The device of claim 12 , wherein the control circuit is configured to determine that the occupant has entered the idle state based on a lack of movements of the occupant during a preconfigured time period.

14. The device of claim 13 , wherein the control circuit is configured to assign an identifier to the occupant in response to detecting that the occupant has entered one of the plurality of zones from the idle state, the control circuit further configured to use the identifier to track the movements of the occupant through the plurality of zones.

15. The device of claim 14 , wherein the control circuit is configured to disassociate the occupant with the identifier in response to detecting that the occupant has moved from one of the plurality of zones into the idle state.

16. The device of claim 1 , wherein the control circuit is further configured to maintain an occupant count for the space, the control circuit configured to increase the occupant count in response to determining that the occupant has entered the space, and to decrease the occupant count in response to determining that the occupant has exited the space.

17. The device of claim 16 , further comprising a communication circuit, wherein the control circuit is configured to transmit a message indicating the occupant count via the communication circuit.

18. The device of claim 17 , wherein the control circuit is further configured to reset the occupant count to zero after the message is transmitted.

19. The device of claim 16 , further comprising a communication circuit configured to receive a signal from an occupancy sensor indicating an occupancy condition of the space; and

wherein the control circuit is further configured to set the occupant count to zero when the signal received from the occupancy sensor indicates that the space is unoccupied.

20. The device of claim 16 , wherein the control circuit is further configured to maintain historical data indicating respective occupant counts of the space during various time periods.

Assignments (1)

Continuity (6)

References Cited (104)