Safety apparatus
An apparatus, method and computer program is described including: a driver for driving a membrane of a gas-retaining chamber to induce vibrations in the membrane in a first mode of operation, wherein said membrane is configured to surround at least part of a device; and an activator for activating a rapid expander in a second mode of operation, wherein the expander comprises an expandable foam that is configured to inflate said chamber in response to an activation signal.
1 . An apparatus, comprising:
a gas-retaining chamber having a membrane, said chamber configured to surround at least part of a device in use;
an expander comprising an expandable foam that is configured to inflate said chamber in response to an activation signal;
a driver for driving the membrane to induce vibrations in the membrane in a first mode of operation; and
an activator for activating said expander in a second mode of operation.
2 . An apparatus as claimed in claim 1 , wherein said expandable foam is configured to trigger an air pressure burst within said chamber in order to inflate said chamber in said second mode of operation.
3 . An apparatus as claimed in claim 1 , wherein said foam is within said chamber or is in fluid communication with the chamber.
4 . An apparatus as claimed in claim 1 , wherein said driver for driving said membrane is configured to induce vibrations at audible frequencies in said first mode of operation.
5 . An apparatus as claimed in claim 1 , wherein said driver for driving said membrane is configured to provide haptic feedback to a user in the first mode of operation.
6 . An apparatus as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising:
a receiver for receiving the activation signal from said device.
7 . An apparatus as claimed in claim 6 , further comprising a wired or wireless connection for receiving the activation signal from said device.
8 . An apparatus as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising:
a generator for generating said activation signal.
9 . An apparatus as claimed in claim 8 , wherein said generator for generating said activation signal comprises at least one of an inertial measurement unit, an accelerometer, a gyroscope, or an imaging device.
10 . An apparatus as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the expandable foam is one of a graphene enabled electric foam or a graphene flake enriched conductive foam.
11 . An apparatus as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the expander is configured to deflate said chamber in response to a removal of said activation signal.
12 . A system comprising the apparatus as claimed in claim 1 and further comprising said device.
13 . A method, comprising:
driving a membrane of a gas-retaining chamber to induce vibrations in the membrane in a first mode of operation, wherein said membrane is configured to surround at least part of a device; and
activating an expander in a second mode of operation, wherein the expander comprises an expandable foam that is configured to inflate said chamber in response to an activation signal.
14 . A method as claimed in claim 13 , wherein activating said expander comprises driving said expandable foam.
15 . A non-transitory computer program storage device readable with an apparatus, tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable with the apparatus to perform at least the following:
driving a membrane of a gas-retaining chamber to induce vibrations in the membrane in a first mode of operation, wherein said membrane is configured to surround at least part of a device; and
activating an expander in a second mode of operation, wherein the expander comprises an expandable foam that is configured to inflate said chamber in response to an activation signal.