Communications: electrical – Condition responsive indicating system – Specific condition
Reexamination Certificate
2001-01-25
2003-04-08
Wu, Daniel J. (Department: 2632)
Communications: electrical
Condition responsive indicating system
Specific condition
C340S870030, C340S870030, C340S539230, C340S989000, C340S993000, C340S636210
Reexamination Certificate
active
06545606
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention pertains to alerting for search and recovery. In particular, a preferred embodiment is a system that uniquely and rapidly identifies a person or object that has gone overboard and aids in locating that person or object in real time.
BACKGROUND
Conventional approaches used to locate individuals in the water are based on visual and audio methods, or both. These obvious first order approaches are effective for many “man overboard” scenarios. There are occasions, however, when an individual may go overboard unnoticed. A good example of a scenario where this is not only possible, but also likely, is the operations deck of a modern U.S. Navy aircraft carrier. The noise environment, coupled with operations at night or in bad weather, including fog and rough seas, sets the scene for an unnoticed “man overboard.” The occurrence is further exacerbated when one considers that a modern carrier has a small city of personnel onboard and considerable time may pass before one of its “citizens” is recognized as missing.
Only on rare occasions does an individual go overboard while wearing a radiating emergency locator device that has the necessary power and “robustness” to alert an existing emergency net using the monitored approved RF emergency frequencies. An inherent shortcoming of these systems, in addition to the cost of acquiring and maintaining them, is the high transmit power needed to operate the integral transmitter. For these transmitters to be powered for reliable use, the associated battery(ies) must be in good working order when needed and capable of operation over an extended period. Since these devices must be capable of relatively high-power transmission, they are large and therefore inconvenient to have on one's person at all times. Further, the batteries needed to power these devices are necessarily large and may not have sufficient operating life to insure location should a rescue effort require more than a few hours to effect, especially at low ambient temperatures. Generally, these devices are associated with small boats or inflatable life rafts carried on larger watercraft in case of an emergency. For this reason, size, weight, portability, and “wearability” or comfort, are not of prime consideration in their design. Finally, given the variety of conditions that may initiate a “man overboard” scenario, one includes an event also rendering an individual unconscious. In this case, even were the larger device available, initiation of operation would have to be via an automated process, e.g., as provided via a sensor that initiates a signal to activate the device automatically upon immersion in water after a few seconds. Devices exist which address some but not all of requirements for a rugged, small, light weight, reliable, low power, emergency alerting device capable of transmitting an encoded signal, all constituent parts of which are unobtrusively incorporated in a lifejacket or flotation device suitable for comfortable daily wear while performing work.
Examples of emergency beacon devices for personnel rescue at sea that are provided as separate units from a flotation device not worn continuously while shipboard include that described in:
U.S. Pat. No. 4,702,715, Automatic Emergency Rescue Apparatus, issued to Winick, Oct. 27, 1987, in which only a transmitter is located on a person who goes overboard;
U.S. Pat. No. 4,813,025, Safely Alert and Locating System, issued to Rowland et al., Mar. 14, 1989, employing a system using ultrasonics aboard a watercraft to query a device carried on a person who goes overboard in order to determine who has gone overboard and the distance and direction to that person;
U.S. Pat. No. 4,903,243, Marine Transponder Systemn, issued to Turner, Feb. 20, 1990; in which a transponder may be carried by a person onboard a watercraft and, in the event that person goes overboard, the transponder may be interrogated by a system onboard the watercraft at which time the transponder will respond with a coded signal, thus identifying the person and saving transponder system power by responding (light/sound/RF) only when queried by a system available to a possible rescue team;
U.S. Pat. No. 4,932,910, Emergency Location Marker System, issued to Hayday, Jun. 12, 1990, in which an onboard marker system, containing a flotation device and including an RF beacon and other audio-visual location indicators located on a self-erecting tower, is thrown overboard upon the occurrence of a man overboard event;
U.S. Pat. No. 5,006,831, Device Providing for the Safety of a Man Overboard, issued to de Solminihac, Apr. 9, 1991, in which an alarm pack worn about the neck of a watercraft's passenger provides an acoustic sensing of the event, detects an acoustic beacon onboard the watercraft and jettisons the “position-fixing” beacon from the watercraft into the general vicinity of the victim in the water whereupon the beacon provides location input to a receiver carried onboard the watercraft or other possible rescue vehicle;
U.S. Pat. No. 5,408,238, Location of Overboard Person or Object or of Water-Chemical Interface, issued to Smith, Terry J., Apr. 18, 1995, in which a somewhat bulky floating object, having an activatable satellite positioning system receiver and a transmitter and antenna to serve as a beacon, is tossed into the water near where a person has fallen overboard, and serves as a locating device;
U.S. Pat. No. 5,710,989, Water-Activated Emergency Radio Beacon, issued to Flood, Jan. 20, 1998, describing an emergency position indicating radio beacon operating at RF on guard channel, of conventional appearance, incorporating a water-activated switch, and sized for mounting on a life vest:
U.S. Pat. No. 5,748,080, Overboard Safety Device, issued to Clay, May 5, 1998, describing a safety signaling device containing both an RF beacon and a light signaling source with rechargeable battery, to be safety-pinned to a person's clothing and activated upon falling overboard;
U.S. Pat. No. 5,852,401, Distress Message Signal Sending Device, issued to Kita, Dec. 22, 1998, embodied in a wristwatch type device that, upon occurrence of an emergency condition as detected by at least two sensors integral to the device, uses an integral signal generator to send distress signals based on GPS-provided location information from a GPS receiver also integral to the device;
U.S. Pat. No. 5,929,777, Radio Activated Personal Infrared Distress Beacon, issued to Reynolds, Jul. 27, 1999, provides a personal infrared beacon, suitable for carrying on the body, that may be part of a communications network and may be interrogated by the network or activated separately by the user as an emergency signal capable of providing a unique user code and location of the user;
U.S. Pat. No. 5,945,912, Ocean Safe, issued to Guldbrand, Aug. 31, 1999, details a rescue system for attachment to a person, the system incorporating numerous aids such as a strobe light, flashlight, and mirror, and also including a transmitter for emitting an emergency signal to be received by an associated shipboard direction finding receiver upon initiation of the signal, initiation most probably occurring via input from a moisture sensor that detects immersion of the device in water; and
U.S. Pat. No. 6,011,510, GPS Based Search and Rescue Transceiver, issued to Yee et al., Jan. 4, 2000, detailing a survival radio for carry by individuals in the event an emergency should arise, the radio providing GPS-positioning to rescue units via an integral GPS receiver, a microcontroller, and a transceiver for responding to coded interrogation signals from rescue personnel.
An example of an emergency device for personnel rescue that is incorporated in a flotation device that may be worn continuously while near deep water include that described in:
U.S. Pat. No. 4,662,850, Life Preserving Device with Pressure Responsive Switch, issued to Bostic, May 5, 1987, describing an inflatable device capable of use by two persons and incorporating a switch and sensor, a membrane in a preferre
Nash Charles T.
Piri John L.
Skatvold Arthur R.
Baugher Jr. Earl H.
Foster Laura R.
Previl Daniel
Serventi Anthony J.
The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of
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