Aroma based temporal event tracking system

Abstract

Disclosed is a system to track temporal events by analyzing volatile organic compounds (VOCs) using a sensor array of polymer composite sensing elements. Electrical signals generated from VOC interactions are processed by a machine learning model, trained to detect time-series changes and correlate them to VOC concentration variations. A lookup table, stored in memory, links specific events to corresponding VOC profiles. The system identifies event changes by analyzing concentration shifts and matching them to the lookup table.

Description

AROMA BASED TEMPORAL EVENT TRACKING SYSTEMFIELD OF THE INVENTION

[0001] This disclosure relates a system for tracking an event by analyzing the aroma emanating from the eventBACKGROUND

[0002] Event tracking using sensors is a common activity that is carried out in hospitals, industries, and other applications. However, this event tracking is restricted to the type of parameters that can be sensed accurately. Detection of aroma, which is characterized as a group of volatile organic compounds present in different concentrations, has been developed over the past years. As most of the events that are encountered on a day to day level, such as a fault in a machine, a person suffering from a disease, HVAC failure, also emit a distinct aroma, therefore its aroma and specifically volatile organic compounds tracking becomes a viable option to track an event.SUMMARY

[0003] A system for tracking temporal events using volatile organic compounds (VOCs) is disclosed. The system includes a sensor with polymer composite sensing elements that generate electrical signals in response to VOC interactions. A memory unit stores a lookup table correlating events with VOC concentrations. A processing unit executes a machine learning model to detect changes in the time series of electrical signals and correlate them to changes in VOC concentrations, thereby identifying specific events. This system enables real-time tracking of dynamic events based on VOC profiles, with applications in human volatilome monitoring, environmental monitoring, and various fields requiring precise temporal event identification.BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0004] FIG. 1 Illustrates a lookup table that correlates an event with the volatile organic compounds specific to the event.DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0005] The present invention introduces an Aroma-Based Intelligent System designed for continuous user guidance and intelligent decision-making in applications such as cooking, Industry 4.0, Smart Cities, human monitoring, disease condition monitoring and robotic system movement through polluted air areas. Employing an array of advanced sensors, including polymeric sensors with embedded electrodes, the system utilizes the chemoelectric effect to detect and analyze environmental analytes, facilitating real-time decision-making through a combination of sensory data and intelligent processing.

[0006] Some embodiments of this invention fall within the realm of sensory technology, environmental monitoring, and intelligent decision-making systems. It finds extensive applications in cooking, Industry 4.0, Smart Cities, and various industrial processes requiring precise control and automation.

[0007] Traditional systems often lack the ability to provide continuous and dynamic user guidance based on environmental conditions. This Aroma-Based Intelligent System, incorporating advanced sensors and decision-making capabilities, addresses this limitation, offering a versatile solution across diverse domains.

[0008] The system employs an array of sensors, including polymeric sensors with embedded electrodes, to detect analytes in the environment. The chemoelectric effect, specifically chemoresistance, is utilized to detect changes in electrical resistance corresponding to alterations in chemical or physical characteristics of the polymeric thin film. Parameters such as value, gradient, and rate of observation change are harnessed to detect temporal events and create a temporal plot, commonly referred to as a fingerprint or manifold.

[0009] The system intelligently combines sensed data with additional environmental parameters, including temperature, humidity, pressure, and air velocity, to create a plurality of states. Utilizing sequential state change detection, the system identifies new states or events, such as combustion, and assigns confidence levels to these detections. An on-device or cloud-based processor processes these observations using time-series-based artificial intelligence models, such as Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) or other deep learning methods.

[0010] The Aroma-Based Intelligent System presented in this patent application is a transformative solution in the realm of sensory technology and intelligent decision-making. By harnessing the chemoelectric effect and integrating various environmental parameters, the systemoffers continuous user guidance and facilitates informed decision-making across a myriad of applications. Its adaptability and precision make it a valuable asset in achieving automation, safety, and efficiency in cooking, Industry 4.0, Smart Cities, and industrial processes. This innovation heralds a new era of intelligent systems capable of enhancing user experiences and operational efficiency.

[0011] Disclosed aroma detection system, is used for identifying aroma emitted from a human, system or process and generating information about the system or process based on the detected aroma. The detected aroma may relate to a state or condition of a system or a process and hence the generated information from the aroma detection system may be used to identify the condition or the state in which the system or the process exist.

[0012] The aroma detection system uses an enose based system, to detect the aroma and hence the state and condition of the system or the process. The enose based system comprises a sensor array, comprising a plurality of sensors present on a substrate. In some embodiments, the sensing elements of the sensor array may be a chemical detection sensor, that are used to detect the presence of a chemical in the environment in which the sensor is placed. Further, the enose based system comprises a processor, that takes in the information provided from the plurality of sensors of the enose and determines the state and condition of at least one of the system and process based on processing of information obtained from the processing of the sensor data.

[0013] In some embodiments of the invention, plurality of supplementary sensors may be present with the system that may be used to detect the temperature, pressure and air flow conditions. Further, a location detection system may also be present with the system, wherein the location detection system may be a GPS module.

[0014] The enose based aroma detection system may be used for cooking application, wherein the state of the food that is being cooked is detected by the system. Further, the aroma detection system may be employed in an industrial setup wherein the system may comprise a sensing unit or sensor, that records a change in the environmental state pertaining to a process change, wherein the process changes change the aroma in the environment. The change in aroma is then detected by the system, which directly corresponds to the change in process. Because of the ability of the system to detect the change in process, the sensing system may be implemented in the feedback loop of any of the systems / processes that the system is used for monitoring and then the process / system may be controlled, based on the monitoring. For example, for the implementation of Industry 4.0, a processcontrol may be implemented using the system, wherein the parameter or a system or process may be changed based on the state of the process / system, that is detected through the aroma detection system.

[0015] The enose based aroma detection system feeds into an intelligent decision-making system, wherein the decisions pertain to the operation of the system. As the state change pertaining to the system is reflected in the environmental change, and hence the chemical and physical change in the surrounding of the system, the enose based system may be used to track the process performed by the system, through the temporal detection of the aroma change that is created during the operation The operation may then be tweaked / modified, based on the temporal state detection.

[0016] The system may comprise a sensor array that is used for analyzing the volatile organic compounds emitted during an event. The sensor array comprises a plurality of sensors that may be arranged in a plurality of rows. In an embodiment of the invention, the plurality of sensors may be placed in any spatial configuration, such as circular, varying distance between two consecutive sensors, varying height level of the plurality of sensors, from the base printed circuit board according to the sensitivity and functionality of the sensor.

[0017] The sensing elements of the sensor array are made from polymeric thin films. The polymeric thin films are embedded with electrodes. The polymeric thin films may be provided with a plurality of fillers. The polymeric thin film undergoes at least one of physical change or chemical change when it is exposed to compounds. In an embodiment of the invention, the polymeric thin films expand and the resistivity of the polymeric thin film is decreased due to exposure to a reactive compound. The electrodes embedded in the polymeric thin films are used to detect the change in at least one of physical or chemical properties across the polymeric thin film and communicate with the processing unit, to provide at least one of changes in physical and chemical properties to the processing unit.

[0018] In an embodiment of the invention, the electrodes detect and communicate at least one of change in electrical resistance between the electrodes, change in capacitance between the electrodes, change in voltage across the electrodes, heat generated across the polymeric thin film and luminescence of the polymeric thin film, to the processing unit.

[0019] In an embodiment of the invention, the processing unit stores at least one of change in physical and chemical properties of the polymeric thin films in a memory unit. The memory unit may be one of static memory units and dynamic memory units. The processing unit stores at leastone of change in physical and chemical properties of the polymeric thin film, when the film is exposed to volatile organic compounds, in the memory unit.

[0020] In an embodiment of the invention, the processing unit stores at least one of change in physical and chemical properties of the polymeric thin films in a memory unit. The memory unit may be one of static memory units and dynamic memory units. The processing unit stores at least one of change in physical and chemical properties of the polymeric thin film, when the film is exposed to volatile organic compounds, in the memory unit.

[0021] In another embodiment of the invention, the at least one of change in physical and chemical property of the polymeric thin film is stored along with the time stamp of recording the at least of change in physical and chemical property of the thin film. According to the embodiment, at least one of change in physical and chemical properties of the polymeric thin film is regularly detected and stored after a certain interval of time. The interval of time for recording and storing the at least one of change in physical and chemical property may be one of 1 second, 0.1 second, 0.01 second, 0.001 second. Further, a different interval may be chosen for regularly detecting and storing at least one of the changes in physical and chemical properties of the polymeric thin film.

[0022] After each of the time intervals, the at least one of change in physical and chemical property is detected and stored in the memory unit along with the time stamp at which the at least one of chemical and physical change was detected. The detection of at least one of change in physical and chemical properties along with the time stand is stored as a temporal event, wherein plurality of temporal events is stored in the memory unit after each of the time intervals.

[0023] In an embodiment of the invention, the processing unit stores the detected change in at least one of the physical and chemical properties of the polymeric thin film, when the film is exposed to volatile organic compounds. The change in one of the properties mentioned above is stored along with the time stamp at which the change was detected.

[0024] In another embodiment of the invention, for each of the plurality of sensing elements of the sensor array, the change in at least one of physical and chemical properties of the polymeric thin film is detected and stored along with the respective time stamp, when the film is exposed to volatile organic compounds. For each of the plurality of sensing elements of the sensor array, the change in at least one of physical and chemical properties along with the time stamp is stored as a temporal event for the respective sensor element.

[0025] The processing unit of the system creates a temporal plot of the detected and stored temporal event from each of the plurality of sensing elements of the senor array. The temporal plot for each of the plurality of sensors may be created, with the same origin point in different directions, according to the plurality of sensing elements of the sensor array, wherein the number of sensing elements define the dimension of the temporal plot.

[0026] In an embodiment of the invention, the temporal plot of the change in at least one of chemical and physical properties of the polymeric thin film at the same time interval gives the fingerprint or manifold of the presence, type and concentration of volatile organic compound at that time interval. In yet another embodiment of the invention, the change in at least one of the chemical and physical properties of the polymeric thin film at the same time instance gives the fingerprint or manifold of the presence and type and concentration of volatile organic compounds.

[0027] The system is provided with a temperature recording unit or a temperature sensor that continuously records the temperature of operation of the system. The temperature recording unit records the temperature of the environment in which the system is operating, after an interval of time, wherein the inter of time is the same as the one after which the at least one of change in physical and chemical properties of the polymeric thin films is detected and stored by the electrodes and processing unit of the system. The temporal record of the temperature of the environment is stored by the processor in the memory unit.

[0028] The processor combines the temporal temperature event with the temporal change in at least one of the physical and chemical properties of the polymeric thin film for the plurality of sensing elements of the sensor array. The processing unit of the system creates a temporal plot of the detected and stored temporal event from each of the plurality of sensors of the senor

[0029] array and the temperature recording unit.

[0030] The temporal plot for each of the plurality of sensors and temperature recording unit may be created, with same origin point in different directions, according to number of plurality of sensing elements of the sensor array and the temperature recording unit, wherein the number of sensors and temperature define the dimension of the temporal plot.

[0031] In an embodiment of the invention, the temporal plot of the change in at least one of the chemical and physical properties of the polymeric thin film and the change in temperature at the same time interval gives the fingerprint or manifold of the presence, type and concentration of volatile organic compound at that time interval. In yet another embodiment of the invention, thechange in at least one of the chemical and physical properties of the polymeric thin film and the change in temperature at the same time instance gives the fingerprint or manifold of the presence and type and concentration of volatile organic compounds.

[0032] The system is provided with a humidity recording unit that continuously records the humidity of operation of the system. The humidity recording unit records the temperature of the environment in which the system is operating, after an interval of time, wherein the inter of time is the same as the one after which the at least one of change in physical and chemical properties of the polymeric thin films is detected and stored by the electrodes and processing unit of the system. The temporal record of the humidity of the environment is stored by the processor in the memory unit.

[0033] The processor combines the temporal humidity event with the temporal change in at least one of physical and chemical properties of the polymeric thin film for the plurality of sensing elements of the sensor array. The processing unit of the system creates a temporal plot of the detected and stored temporal event from each of the plurality of sensing elements of the sensor array and the humidity recording unit.

[0034] The temporal plot for each of the plurality of sensors and humidity recording unit may be created, with same origin point in different directions, according to number of plurality of sensing elements of the sensor array and the humidity recording unit, wherein the number of sensors and humidity define the dimension of the temporal plot.

[0035] In an embodiment of the invention, the temporal plot of the change in at least one of the chemical and physical properties of the polymeric thin film and the change in humidity at the same time interval gives the fingerprint or manifold of the presence, type and concentration of volatile organic compound at that time interval. In yet another embodiment of the invention, the change in at least one of chemical and physical properties of the polymeric thin film and the change in humidity at the same time instance gives the fingerprint or manifold of the presence and type and concentration of volatile organic compounds.

[0036] The system is provided with a pressure recording unit that continuously records the pressure of operation of the system. The pressure recording unit records the temperature of the environment in which the system is operating, after an interval of time, wherein the inter of time is the same as the one after which the at least one of change in physical and chemical properties of the polymeric thin films is detected and stored by the electrodes and processing unit of the system.The temporal record of the pressure of the environment is stored by the processor in the memory unit.

[0037] The processor combines the temporal pressure event with the temporal change in at least one of physical and chemical properties of the polymeric thin film for the plurality of sensing elements of the sensor array. The processing unit of the system creates a temporal plot of the detected and stored temporal event from each of the plurality of sensing elements of the sensor array and the pressure recording unit.

[0038] The temporal plot for each of the plurality of sensors and pressure recording unit may be created, with same origin point in different directions, according to number of plurality of sensing elements of the sensor array and the pressure recording unit, wherein the number of sensors and pressure define the dimension of the temporal plot.

[0039] In an embodiment of the invention, the temporal plot of the change in at least one of chemical and physical properties of the polymeric thin film and the change in pressure at the same time interval gives the fingerprint or manifold of the presence, type and concentration of volatile organic compound at that time interval. In yet another embodiment of the invention, the change in at least one of the chemical and physical properties of the polymeric thin film and the change in pressure at the same time instance gives the fingerprint or manifold of the presence and type and concentration of volatile organic compounds.

[0040] The system is provided with an air velocity recording unit that continuously records the air velocity of operation of the system. The air velocity recording unit records the temperature of the environment in which the system is operating, after an interval of time, wherein the inter of time is the same as the one after which the at least one of change in physical and chemical properties of the polymeric thin films is detected and stored by the electrodes and processing unit of the system. The temporal record of the air velocity of the environment is stored by the processor in the memory unit.

[0041] The processor combines the temporal air velocity event with the temporal change in at least one of physical and chemical properties of the polymeric thin film for the plurality of sensing elements of the sensor array. The processing unit of the system creates a temporal plot of the detected and stored temporal event from each of the plurality of sensing elements of the sensor array and the air velocity recording unit.

[0042] The temporal plot for each of the plurality of sensors and air velocity recording unit may be created, with same origin point in different directions, according to number of plurality of sensing elements of the sensor array and the air velocity recording unit, wherein the number of sensors and air velocity define the dimension of the temporal plot.

[0043] In an embodiment of the invention, the temporal plot of the change in at least one of chemical and physical properties of the polymeric thin film and the change in pressure at the same time interval gives the fingerprint or manifold of the presence, type and concentration of volatile organic compound at that time interval. In yet another embodiment of the invention, the change in at least one of the chemical and physical properties of the polymeric thin film and the change in air velocity at the same time instance gives the fingerprint or manifold of the presence and type and concentration of volatile organic compounds.

[0044] In yet another embodiment of the invention, the temporal plot of the change in at least one of chemical and physical property of the polymeric thin film, pressure, temperature, humidity and air velocity at the same time interval gives the fingerprint or manifold of the presence, type and concentration of volatile organic compound at that time interval. In yet another embodiment of the invention, the change in at least one of chemical and physical properties of the polymeric thin film, pressure, temperature, humidity and air velocity at the same time instance gives the fingerprint or manifold of the presence and type and concentration of volatile organic compounds.

[0045] The fingerprint or manifold created by the processing unit is used to identify the presence of volatile organic compounds. The processing unit compares plurality the finger prints generated at different time intervals to determine the change in the concentration of volatile organic compounds. In an embodiment of the invention, the processing unit compares the finger prints generated during different time instances. The difference between the finger prints in one of two intervals or two instances are associated with increase in concentration of specific volatile organic compounds.

[0046] In an embodiment of the invention, the gradient of the change of fingerprint or manifolds in one of two intervals or two instances is associated with increase in concentration of specific volatile organic compounds. In yet another embodiment of the invention, the spatial orientation of the fingerprint or manifolds at one of two intervals and two instances is associated with increase in concentration of specific volatile organic compounds.

[0047] In yet another embodiment of the invention, the processor may change the interval of recording the fingerprint or manifold or the instance of recording the fingerprint or manifold to improve the functionalization and sensitization of the system.

[0048] The change in at least one of fingerprint or manifold, gradient of change in finger prints and orientation is associated with a label by the processing unit. The label is pre-specified with changes in at least one of fingerprint or manifolds, gradients and orientations, to label an event as pre combustion, based on the type of increase in volatile organic compounds detected from the plurality of fingerprint or manifolds at the plurality of instances and intervals.

[0049] The processing unit may be pre fed with plurality of finger prints, their spatial orientations, rate of change of fingerprint or manifolds and the recorded fingerprint or manifold may be compared with the pre-fed finger print to identify the change in concentration of the volatile organic compound. Further, a lookup table, as depicted in figure 1 may be provided in a memory unit, that links specific events to their corresponding VOC profiles. This table is generated by analyzing VOC data collected during known events.

[0050] The processing unit assigns a confidence level to the detection and determination of properties changes and their association with volatile organic compound’s concentration and based on the confidence level, generates an alarm or notification regarding occurrence of pre combustion event.

[0051] In some embodiments of the invention, machine learning models such as LSTM may be used for, wherein the model itself has an intrinsic memory that may be used for temporal event tracking. In another embodiment, the model may be based on a neural network model, such as a recurrent neural network model. Further, variation of the implementation of the neural network model may also be used in the system, such as, LSTM with a forget gate, a convolutional LSTM or similar convolutional neural network.

[0052] These machine learning models are trained to detect a change in time series of the electrical signal interaction between at least one volatile organic compound and the sensing elements and correlate it to a change concentration of at least one of volatile organic compounds of the group of volatile organic compounds. Further, the processing unit may be configured to determine a change in event by identifying the change in concentration of at least one volatile organic compound from the group of volatile organic compounds and use the lookup table to determine the event using the lookup table from the memory unit.

[0053] As an application of the temporal event tracking system, the system may be implemented in cooking application, wherein the system may be used to detect the aroma

[0054] change corresponding to state of cooking, where in the state of cooking may correspond

[0055] to the temperature change, ingredient change, ingredient transformation, pressure buildup and change, etc. The system may be placed at a certain distance from the cooking apparatus, based on the type of detection that a user may want to detect. In some embodiment, a user only wants to detect the aroma (whole VOCs combination) change and hence the system is placed at a distance, wherein the temperature and pressure difference originating from the cooking apparatus completely dies down and the only thing that may reach the system is the VOC or the combination of VOCs, hereinafter referred to as aroma.

[0056] In some embodiments of the invention, the VOCs representative of the state change of an ingredient may be observed and reported for example, the VOCs that emanate from an oil when it reaches a certain temperature may be detected by the system, that then gives the indication to the user that the temperature has reached of the oil has reached a critical point, that would be optimal to a certain post operation, such as, adding other ingredients for cooking.

[0057] In some embodiments of the invention, the cooking state of other ingredients may be detected from the aroma change, or specific VOC change. Based on the detected aroma change, other ingredients may be added or suggestions may be provided to add other ingredients. In some embodiments of the invention, the system may be integrated in an automatic cooking machine, wherein the machine can make changes in cooking parameters, to optimize the cooking process, based on the VOC and or aroma change detected by the system.

[0058] In some embodiments of the invention, the system may give indication about optimal cooking wherein the object being cooked needs to be cooked from multiple sides and hence the system may indicate about optimal cooking of the object from one side and hence time of flipping the object may be indicated. In other embodiments of the invention,

[0059] the system may give input to the heating unit, wherein a controller may be provided in the heating unit, that controls the temperature of the heating unit, thereby controlling the cooking. In some embodiments, the rate of aroma generation may be detected by the system, wherein the rate may be representative of the cooking / heating rate, basis which the cooking appliance may change / control cooking temperature, thereby controlling the cooking rate.

[0060] In some embodiments of the invention, the system may be configured to be installed in an HVAC system wherein the system may detect the change in or development of the aroma / voc in an environment / confined space and the output from the system may be used to provide inputs to the controller of the HVAC system, to increase / decrease or change in the flow of fluids through and inside the HVAC system.

[0061] Without deviating from the scope of the invention, the aroma based temporal event tracking system may be implemented in industries, to realize the many control parameters used for the implementation of industry 4.0. The system may be implemented in a robotic arm or a system traversing through a gas filled path, wherein the system may be used to detect gas leakage, corrosion levels or similar operational parameters of a factory / industrial unit. The system may be used for detecting and triangulating leakage, detecting the level of leakage or repairing leakage by being implemented in a maintenance system. The system may also be implemented to identify industrial processes, optimal processing temperatures, gas flows, material transfer rates, operation currents / voltages, machine operation controls etc. Without deviating from the scope of the invention, the system may be implemented in process controls, wherein a process may emit a characteristic aroma pertaining to a method of the process, and wherein the process may have a plurality of the constituting methods. A controller may be provided wherein the aroma tracking may represent the method states and the control may control the plurality of methods of the process, based on the detected aroma state.

Claims

CLAIMS1. A system for tracking a temporal event using volatile organic compounds emitted from a group of volatile organic compounds comprising one or more of volatile organic compounds, the system comprising; a sensor comprising a plurality of polymer composite based sensing elements, each of the sensing elements being configured to generate an electrical signal in response to an interaction with at least one of the volatile organic compounds of the group of volatile organic compound; a memory unit configured to store a lookup table, wherein the lookup table comprises a plurality of events and a concentration of each of the volatile organic compound from the group of volatile organic compounds against each of the events; and a processing unit configured to execute a machine learning model trained to detect a change in time series of the electrical signal interaction between at least one volatile organic compound and the sensing elements and correlate it to a change concentration of at least one of volatile organic compounds of the group of volatile organic compounds.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the processing unit is configured to determine a change in event by identifying the change in concentration of at least one volatile organic compound from the group of volatile organic compounds and use the lookup table to determine the event using the lookup table from the memory unit.

3. The system of claim 1 wherein the time series of electrical signal generated by the sensor creates a multi dimensional manifold and the machine learning model is trained to detect the change in the manifold and correlating the change to a change concentration of at least one of volatile organic compounds of the group of volatile organic compounds.

4. The system of claim 1 wherein the volatile organic compounds interacting with the plurality of sensing elements of the sensor originate from an aroma source, wherein the aroma source is a human volatilome.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the volatile organic compounds interacting with the plurality of sensing elements of the sensor originate from an aroma source, wherein the aroma source are an emission from human skin.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the volatile organic compounds interacting with the plurality of sensing elements of the sensor originate from an aroma source, wherein the aroma source is exhaled human breath.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the lookup table comprises states of a human and correspondingly the concentration of a plurality of volatile organic compounds associated with the state of a human.

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