Touchless Thermal Access Readers for Infectious Disease Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
Infectious diseases can spread through person-to-person contact and contact with contaminated surfaces, necessitating systems and methods to limit their spread within buildings.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a health monitoring system that includes a touchless thermal sensor and controller to detect elevated temperatures, a thermal camera for temperature extraction, and a video camera for behavior analysis, along with a controller to activate alarms and deny access when temperatures exceed thresholds, and a system for contact tracing to identify and alert exposed individuals.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Object-affected harmful factors
If traditional contact-based access control systems are used, then access management is simple, but disease transmission risk increases due to surface contact
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces mechanical contact-based access control with a touchless thermal sensing system. The thermal sensor detects body temperature through infrared radiation without physical contact, substituting the mechanical card-swiping or key-turning action with optical/thermal field detection. This eliminates the harmful surface contact while maintaining access control functionality.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces thermal radiation as an intermediary between the user and the access control system. Instead of direct contact between the user's hand and the access control surface, the thermal sensor detects infrared radiation emitted by the user's body, using this thermal energy as a mediator to trigger access control actions without physical contact.
2Measurement precision
If health monitoring is added to access control systems, then disease detection capability improves, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent makes the access control system multi-functional by integrating both access authentication and health monitoring capabilities into a single system. The thermal sensor serves dual purposes: it can detect temperature for health screening and can also serve as part of the access control verification process. This universal approach adds measurement precision without proportionally increasing system complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent combines the access control function and health monitoring function into a unified system. The controller integrates both access control logic and temperature monitoring logic, merging what would traditionally be separate systems into one coordinated unit that performs both authentication and health screening simultaneously.
3Ease of operation
If touchless thermal sensing is implemented, then contactless operation is achieved, but measurement precision of body temperature may be affected by distance
Solution Approach 1:
The patent performs preliminary actions by guiding users to proper positioning before temperature measurement. The system includes visual or audio cues that instruct users to stand at the correct distance and angle relative to the thermal sensor, ensuring optimal measurement conditions are established before the actual temperature detection occurs. This preliminary positioning action compensates for the distance-related precision challenges.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements feedback mechanisms that monitor the quality of temperature measurements in real-time. If the measurement is suboptimal due to distance or positioning issues, the system provides feedback to the user to adjust their position, or it flags the measurement for review. This feedback loop ensures measurement precision is maintained despite the touchless operation requirement.
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
Effectively limits the spread of infectious diseases by identifying infected individuals and tracing their contacts, reducing transmission within buildings.
Implementation Method 1
a touchless thermal sensor for sensing a skin temperature of the user
Implementation Method 2
the touchless thermal sensor comprises an infrared temperature sensor for capturing a temperature of at least a hand region of the user
Data Source
AI summary
Methods and systems for maintaining a healthy building. In one example, an access card reader for controlling access to a secure area may comprise a card reader for reading an access card identifier from an access card presented by a user, a touchless thermal sensor for sensing a skin temperature of the user, a memory, and a controller operatively coupled to the card reader, the touchless thermal sensor and the memory. In response to a user presenting an access card to the card reader, the controller may be configured to store in the memory the access card identifier read by the card reader along with a corresponding skin temperature of the user. In another example, a system may be configured to perform contact tracing when an occupant has been identified as displaying signs of an illness.