Personal protective equipment (PPE) with analytical stream processing for safety event detection

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12368984-B2
Application number	US-202418649188-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 29, 2024
Priority date	Jun 23, 2016
Publication date	Jul 22, 2025
Grant date	Jul 22, 2025

Abstract

In some examples, a system includes an article of personal protective equipment (PPE) having at least one sensor configured to generate a stream of usage data; and an analytical stream processing component comprising: a communication component that receives the stream of usage data; a memory configured to store at least a portion of the stream of usage data and at least one model for detecting a safety event signature, wherein the at least one model is trained based as least in part on a set of usage data generated by one or more other articles of PPE of a same type as the article of PPE; and one or more computer processors configured to: detect the safety event signature in the stream of usage data based on processing the stream of usage data with the model, and generate an output in response to detecting the safety event signature.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system comprising:
a respirator including at least a self-contained breathing apparatus and having at least one sensor configured to generate usage data, the at least one sensor being of a type selected from the following group of sensors: extension sensor, tension sensor, accelerometer, location sensor, position sensor, and altimeter;
a communication component that receives the usage data from the at least one sensor of the respirator;
a memory configured to store at least a portion of the usage data and at least one model for detecting a safety event signature indicative of an occurrence of a safety event, wherein the at least one model is based at least in part on a set of usage data generated, prior to receiving the usage data from the at least one sensor, by one or more other respirators of a same type as the respirator; and
one or more computer processors configured to:
detect the safety event signature indicative of the occurrence of the safety event in the usage data based on processing the usage data with the model, and
perform at least one operation in response to detecting the safety event signature.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more computer processors: select a training set comprising a set of training instances, each training instance
comprising an association between respective usage data over a defined time duration and a respective safety event, wherein the respective usage data comprise one or more metrics that characterize at least one of a user, a work environment, or one or more respirators; and
for each training instance in the training set, modify, based on particular usage data over the defined time duration and a particular safety event of the training instance, the model to change a likelihood predicted by the model for the particular safety event signature associated with the particular safety event in response to subsequent usage data over the defined time duration applied to the model.

3. The system of claim 2 , wherein one or more training instances of the set of training instances are generated from use of one or more respirators after the one or more computer processors detect the safety event signature.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the safety event signature comprises at least one of an anomaly in the usage data from the at least one sensor, a pattern in the usage data from the at least one sensor, a particular set of occurrences of particular events over a defined period of time, a particular set of types of particular events over a defined period of time, a particular set of magnitudes of particular events over a defined period of time, or a value that satisfies a threshold.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein to perform the at least one operation, the one or more computer processors send a notification to at least one of the article of PPE, a hub associated with a user and configured to communicate with the article of PPE, or a remote computing device.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein to perform the at least one operation, the one or more computer processors are configured to output, for display, a user interface that indicates the safety event in association with at least one of a user, work environment, or the respirator.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more computer processors are included in the respirator.

8. A computing device comprising:
one or more computer processors that receive usage data from at least one sensor of a respirator including a self-contained breathing apparatus, the at least one sensor being configured to generate the stream of usage data, the at least one sensor being of a type selected from the following group of sensors: extension sensor, tension sensor, accelerometer, location sensor, position sensor, and altimeter;
a memory configured to store at least a portion of the usage data and at least one model for detecting a safety event signature indicative of an occurrence of a safety event, wherein the at least one model is based at least in part on a set of usage data generated,
prior to receiving the usage data from the at least one sensor, by one or more other respirators of a same type as the respirator; and
one or more computer processors configured to:
detect the safety event signature indicative of the occurrence of the safety event in the usage data based on processing the usage data with the model, and
perform at least one operation in response to detecting the safety event signature.

9. The computing device of claim 8 , wherein the one or more computer processors are configured to:
select a training set comprising a set of training instances, each training instance comprising an association between respective usage data over a defined time duration and a respective safety event, wherein the respective usage data comprise one or more metrics that characterize at least one of a user, a work environment, or one or more respirators; and
for each training instance in the training set, modify, based on particular usage data over the defined time duration and a particular safety event of the training instance, the model to change a likelihood predicted by the model for the particular safety event signature associated with the particular safety event in response to subsequent usage data over the defined time duration applied to the model.

10. The computing device of claim 9 , wherein one or more training instances of the set of training instances are generated from use of one or more respirators after the one or more computer processors detect the safety event signature.

11. The computing device of claim 8 , wherein the safety event signature comprises at least one of an anomaly in the usage data from the at least one sensor, a pattern in the usage data from the at least one sensor, a particular set of occurrences of particular events over a defined period of time, a particular set of types of particular events over a defined period of time, a particular set of magnitudes of particular events over a defined period of time, or a value that satisfies a threshold.

12. The computing device of claim 8 , wherein to perform the at least one operation, the one or more computer processors send a notification to at least one of the respirator, a hub associated with a user and configured to communicate with the respirator, or a remote computing device.

13. The computing device of claim 8 , wherein to perform the at least one operation, the one or more computer processors output for display a user interface that indicates the safety event in association with at least one of a user, work environment, or the respirator.

14. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium encoded with instructions that, when executed, cause at least one processor of a computing device to:
receive usage data from at least one sensor of a respirator that at least includes a self-contained breathing apparatus, the at least one sensor being configured to generate the stream of usage data, the at least one sensor being of a type selected from the following group of sensors: extension sensor, tension sensor, accelerometer, location sensor, position sensor, and altimeter;
store at least a portion of the usage data and at least one model for detecting a safety event signature indicative of an occurrence of a safety event, wherein the at least one model is based at least in part on a set of usage data generated, prior to receiving the usage data from the at least one sensor, by one or more other respirators of a same type as the respirator; and
detect the safety event signature indicative of the occurrence of the safety event in the usage

Assignees

• 3M Innovative Properties Company

Inventors

• Awiszus Steven T
• Lobner Eric C
• Wurm Michael G
• Kanukurthy Kiran S
• Hu Jia
• Blackford Matthew J
• Mattson Keith G
• Jesme Ronald D
• Anderson Nathan J

Classifications

• A62B27/00

  Methods or devices for testing respiratory or breathing apparatus {for high altitudes}(apparatus for testing gastightness in general G01M) · CPC title

• A62B18/00

  Breathing masks or helmets, e.g. affording protection against chemical agents or for use at high altitudes {or incorporating a pump or compressor for reducing the inhalation effort}(A62B17/00 takes precedence; anaesthetic masks A61M16/06) · CPC title

• A62B9/00

  Component parts for respiratory or breathing apparatus (A62B19/00, A62B21/00, A62B23/00 take precedence) · CPC title

• A62B99/00

  Subject matter not provided for in other groups of this subclass · CPC title

• A61F9/06 Primary

  Masks, shields or hoods for welders · CPC title