Self-check for personal protective equipment

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10741052-B2
Application number	US-201916714870-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 16, 2019
Priority date	Oct 14, 2016
Publication date	Aug 11, 2020
Grant date	Aug 11, 2020

Abstract

In some examples, a system includes a plurality of articles of personal protected equipment (PPE) that are each assigned to a particular worker. The system may also include a data hub that detects an input that initiates a broadcast of diagnostic self-check messages; identifies, in response to the input, each article of PPE of the plurality of articles of PPE; broadcasts, based on identifying each article of PPE, the diagnostic self-check messages to the respective articles of PPE, wherein each article of PPE receives its respective self-check message at its communication component; in response to receiving a set of diagnostic acknowledgement messages from one or more of the plurality of articles of PPE that have performed a diagnostic self-check, determines whether the set of diagnostic acknowledge messages satisfy one or more self-check criteria; and performs one or more operations based on whether the self-check criteria are satisfied.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system comprising:
a set of personal protective equipment (PPE), wherein at least one article of PPE in the set of PPE includes a respective communication component; and
a data hub comprising a second communication unit, one or more computer processors, and a memory comprising instructions that when executed by the one or more computer processors cause the one or more computer processors to:
initiate, via the communication unit, a broadcast of one or more diagnostic self-check messages to the set of PPE, wherein the at least one article of PPE receives its respective self-check message at the respective communication component;
receive, via the communication unit, a set of diagnostic acknowledge messages from the set of PPE that have each performed a respective diagnostic self-check;
determine whether the set of diagnostic acknowledge messages satisfy one or more self-check criteria corresponding to proper operation of the set of PPE; and
perform one or more operations based at least in part on whether the one or more self-check criteria are satisfied.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein to perform the one or more operations based at least in part on whether the one or more self-check criteria are satisfied, the memory of the data hub comprises the instructions that when executed by the one or more computer processors cause the one or more computer processors to generate an alert at the data hub, wherein the alert is at least one of an audible, a haptic, or a visual alert.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein to perform the one or more operations based at least in part on whether the one or more self-check criteria are satisfied, the memory of the data hub comprises the instructions that when executed by the one or more computer processors cause the one or more computer processors to initiate, via the communication unit, sending of a message to a remote computing device that indicates whether the set of diagnostic acknowledge messages satisfy the one or more self-check criteria.

4. The system of claim 3 , further comprising the remote computing device, wherein the remote computing device, in response to receiving the message that indicates whether the set of diagnostic acknowledge messages satisfy the one or more self-check criteria, sends an indication to a computing device of a safety manager of a particular worker that indicates whether the set of diagnostic acknowledge messages satisfy one or more self-check criteria, the particular worker being associated with the at least one article of PPE.

5. The system of claim 3 , further comprising the remote computing device,
wherein the remote computing device determines an anomaly based at least in part the message from the data hub and a plurality of previously received messages that indicate whether diagnostic acknowledge messages satisfy the one or more self-check criteria, and
wherein the indication sent to a computing device of a safety manager of a particular worker is sent in response to the determining of the anomaly, the particular worker being associated with the at least one article of PPE.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein an input that initiates the broadcast of the one or more diagnostic self-check messages comprises a user input by a particular worker associated with the at least one article of PPE, a message received from a remote computing device, or an event generated by the data hub in response to at least one of a fall of the particular worker detected by the data hub, a physiological condition of the particular worker, a characteristic of the work environment, a time, or a location.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein the memory of the data hub comprises the instructions that, when executed by the one or more computer processors, cause the one or more computer processors to determine a correlation between one or more of the set of diagnostic acknowledge messages and one or more other diagnostic acknowledge messages associated with one or more workers other than a particular worker associated with the at least one article of PPE.

8. The system of claim 1 , further comprising a remote computing device, wherein the remote computing device, in response to receiving the set of diagnostic acknowledge messages, sends a message to the data hub that causes a change in an operation of the at least one article of PPE.

9. The system of claim 1 , wherein an input that initiates the broadcast of the one or more diagnostic self-check messages is received from a remote computing device.

10. The system of claim 1 , wherein an input that initiates the broadcast of the one or more diagnostic self-check messages comprises a physiological or a biometric condition of a particular worker associated with the at least one article of PPE, or a characteristic of a work environment of the particular worker.

11. A computing device comprising:
a communication unit;
one or more computer processors; and
a memory comprising instructions that when executed by the one or more computer processors cause the one or more computer processors to:
initiate, via the communication unit, a broadcast of one or more diagnostic self-check messages to a set of personal protective equipment (PPE), wherein at least one article of PPE in the set of PPE receives its respective self-check message at a respective communication component;
receive, via the communication unit, a set of diagnostic acknowledge messages from the set of PPE that have each performed a respective diagnostic self-check;
determine whether the set of diagnostic acknowledge messages satisfy one or more self-check criteria; and
perform one or more operations based at least in part on whether the one or more self-check criteria are satisfied.

12. The computing device of claim 11 , wherein to perform the one or more operations based at least in part on whether the one or more self-check criteria are satisfied, the memory comprises the instructions that when executed by the one or more computer processors cause the one or more computer processors to generate an alert at a data hub, wherein the alert is at least one of an audible, a haptic, or a visual alert.

13. The computing device claim 11 , wherein to perform the one or more operations based at least in part on whether the one or more self-check criteria are satisfied, the memory comprises the instructions that when executed by the one or more computer processors cause the one or more computer processors to initiate, via the communication unit, sending of a message to a remote computing device that indicates whether the set of diagnostic acknowledge messages satisfy the one or more self-check criteria.

14. The computing device of claim 13 , wherein the memory comprises the instructions that when executed by the one or more computer processors cause the one or more computer processors to, in response to receiving the message that indicates whether the set of diagnostic acknowledge messages satisfy the one or more self-check criteria, send an indication to a computing device of a safety manager of a particular worker that indicates whether the set of diagnostic acknowledge messages satisfy one or more self-check criteria, the particular worker being associated with the at least one article of PPE.

15. The computing device of claim 13 ,
wherein the remote computing device determines an anomaly based at least in part the message from the data hub and a plurality of previously received messages that indicate whether diagnostic acknowledge messages satisfy the one or more self-check criteria, and
wherein the indication sent to a computing device of a safety man

Assignees

• 3M Innovative Properties Co

Inventors

• Kanukurthy Kiran S
• Awiszus Steven T
• Lobner Eric C
• Wurm Michael G

Classifications

• G06Q50/265

  Personal security, identity or safety · CPC title

• G08B25/10

  using wireless transmission systems {(G08B25/009 takes precedence)} · CPC title

• G16H40/67

  for remote operation · CPC title

• G08B21/182 Primary

  Level alarms, e.g. alarms responsive to variables exceeding a threshold · CPC title

• G08B25/016

  Personal emergency signalling and security systems (emergency non-personal manually actuated alarm activators G08B25/12) · CPC title