Articulated Motion Sensors for False Trigger Reduction
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing electronic monitoring systems with wide-angle PIR detectors often experience false triggering due to background motion, leading to nuisance triggers, as they lack the ability to flexibly define activity zones within the camera's field of view.
Innovation Solution
The system employs articulated motion sensors with limited fields of view, attached to a camera via adjustable joints, allowing for intuitive and flexible definition of activity zones, independent of the camera's field of view, to prevent unnecessary triggering.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Area of stationary object
If a wide-angle PIR detector is used to monitor a large area, then the coverage area is improved, but false triggering due to background motion increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the monitoring system into multiple motion detectors with limited fields of view rather than using a single wide-angle detector. Each detector covers a specific sector, and their fields of view are positioned to collectively cover the desired area while excluding background regions. This segmentation allows the system to maintain large coverage while reducing false triggers from unwanted areas.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies different detection characteristics to different spatial regions by using multiple detectors with customized field-of-view orientations. Each detector is configured with specific elevation and azimuth angles to monitor particular zones of interest while ignoring areas with problematic background motion. This local customization of detection quality resolves the contradiction between coverage and reliability.
2Reliability
If the activity zone is made smaller to exclude background motion, then false triggering is reduced, but the coverage area decreases
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of reducing the activity zone within a single detector, the patent segments the monitoring task across multiple detectors. Each detector has a limited field of view that excludes background areas, but the collective coverage of multiple detectors maintains or even expands the total monitored area. This segmentation resolves the contradiction by achieving both reduced false triggers and maintained coverage.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent resolves the area reduction problem by adding spatial distribution as another dimension. Rather than shrinking the activity zone in a single detector's field of view, the system distributes multiple detectors across different spatial positions and orientations. This dimensional expansion allows the system to cover the same or larger total area while each individual detector maintains a focused, low false-trigger zone.
3Reliability
If multiple motion detectors are used to define activity zones, then false triggering is reduced, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple motion detectors and cameras into an integrated monitoring system with unified control logic. The detectors are mounted on common housings or escutcheons, and their field-of-view adjustments are coordinated to work together. This merging approach manages the complexity of multiple detectors by integrating them into a cohesive system rather than treating them as separate units.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs adjustable articulated joints that allow dynamic positioning of detector fields of view. This dynamic capability enables flexible configuration of activity zones to match specific installation requirements and background conditions. The adjustability provides adaptability that simplifies deployment by allowing the system to be tuned to various environments without requiring completely different detector arrangements.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This solution effectively reduces false triggers by enabling precise definition and adjustment of activity zones, ensuring that the camera is activated only when necessary, thereby conserving power and improving the accuracy of motion detection.
Implementation Method 1
a wide-angle passive infrared detector (PIR) is attached to the camera providing a field-of-view (FOV) approximating that of the camera. When the PIR is triggered by motion within an 'activity zone' defined by the PIR FOV, the camera may be activated to capture and record video
Data Source
AI summary
An area monitoring system is provided that allows flexible definitions of activity zones for activating a camera by using articulated motion detectors defining fields-of-view as subsets of the camera field-of-view. First and second motion detectors may be mounted on an escutcheon on opposite sides of the camera such that the first and second motion detectors may swivel independently of one another and of the camera.