System for detecting opening of a door in a pressurized hospital room by analyzing disturbance in the air pressure of the room

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2023358629-A1
Application number	US-202318160031-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jan 26, 2023
Priority date	May 3, 2022
Publication date	Nov 9, 2023
Grant date	—

Abstract

A system for detecting the opening of a door to a pressurized room, such as a hospital operating room. A pressure sensor within the room produces a historical record of barometric pressures at the sensor=s location. The opening of the door produces a characteristic variation in the barometric pressure. The invention searches through the record, looking for the characteristic variation. When it is found, the invention issues a door-open signal.

First claim

what is claimed is:

1 . A method to track door openings comprising the steps of:
using a barometric pressure sensor; performing electronic data collection of pressure readings as a function of time; processing and analyzing the data to ascertain door opening events; applying an equation to transform the data to facilitate identification of door opening events; and applying a program to automatically count a number of door openings based on the transformed data.

2 . The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein said method further comprises the step of:
using a barometric pressure sensor, including a MEMs-based barometric pressure sensor, to monitor door openings.

3 . The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein said method further comprises the step of:
interfacing technology with an air cleaning and disinfecting device.

4 . The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein said method further comprises the step of:
using a barometric pressure sensor to monitor door openings in an operating room setting.

5 . The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein said method further comprises the step of:
locating a door monitoring system in a position that is not in contact with a door in the room or placed between the door and door frame.

6 . The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein said method further comprises the step of:
using a pressure sensor in the periphery of a room, including an operating room, to monitor door openings via detected changes in pressure upon opening the door.

7 . The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein said method further comprises the step of:
mathematically transforming barometric pressure data to facilitate the identification of door opening events.

8 . The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein said method further comprises the steps of:
calculating barometric pressure changes over time; and comparing with the standard deviation of the barometric pressure over time to identify door opening events.

9 . The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein said method further comprises the step of:
analyzing barometric pressure data several seconds before and several seconds after a specific time parameter in order to identify whether or not a door opening event occurred within the time-frame of the time parameter including 10 seconds before or after the time parameter.

10 . The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein if barometric pressure, n, is detected and recorded every second, said method further comprises the step of:
using the following equation to analyze a series of sequentially recorded data,
x t = √ n 10 − n 11 + n 10 − n 12 − σ n 1 … n 10 − n 11 − n 12 + σ n 12 … n 21 − 0.105
where nt is the barometric pressure at time, t, σ is the standard deviation of the specified range and x is a real number or an imaginary number (square root of a negative number) and indicates whether or not a door opening event has occurred or has likely occurred within the time range of t to t + 1 s, and up to a range of t to t + 10 s; when x is a positive number, a door opening event has occurred; when x is a positive number, a door opening event is likely to have occurred; when x is an imaginary number a door opening did not occur or very likely did not occur; said equation also being written as
x t = √ J − K + J − L − σ A … J − K − L + σ L … U − 0.105
where A...U are the barometric pressure values at time t.

11 . The method as recited in claim 10 , wherein said method further comprises the step of:
using a programming function to count door openings based on output derived from the equation, including counting the number of data points in a data set where outputs are values greater than zero as derived from the equation.

12 . The method as recited in claim 10 , wherein said method further comprises the step of:
incorporating the application of the equation and automated counting in a pressure sensing device.

13 . The method as recited in claim 10 , wherein said method further comprises the step of:
incorporating a pressure sensor, the application of the equation and automated counting in an air monitoring device.

14 . The method as recited in claim 10 , wherein said method further comprises the step of:
incorporating a pressure sensor, the application of the equation and automated counting in an air cleaning device.

15 . The method as recited in claim 10 , wherein said method further comprises the step of:
transforming barometric pressure data into an output that counts door opening events.

16 . The method as recited in claim 10 , wherein said method further comprises the step of:
isolating relatively large pressure changes induced by door openings from natural variations in barometric pressure so that door opening events can be distinguished.

17 . The method as recited in claim 10 , wherein said method further comprises the step of:
monitoring door openings by analyzing barometric pressure changes in operating rooms under positive pressure.

18 . The method as recited in claim 10 wherein automated electronic output of door openings is based on the equation.

19 . The method as recited in claim 10 , wherein in said equation the last term (0.105) is varied between 0.1 and 0.12.

20 . The method as recited in claim 10 , wherein in said equation the last term is computed based on room specific parameters which can include, and are not limited to, size, positive pressure, number of doors and ventilation level.

21 . The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein said method may be applied to any enclosed space under positive pressure.

22 . The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein said method may be applied to any enclosed space with a door attached to a hinge.

23 . The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein said method further comprises the step of:
transforming a set of pressure loss data associated with a door opening event into a single point associated with said event.

24 . A door opening tracking system for positive pressure rooms comprising:
a continuous barometric pressure sensor; an electronic data processing system comprising a noise reduction means; calculation of a temporally based data packet comprising a moving pressure data baseline and a discrete pressure event or spike, a spike threshold determination, and a data storage and retrieval means.

25 . The door opening tracking system of claim 24 wherein the barometric pressure sensor comprises a sensor that detects atmospheres pressure via piezo-resistive, capacitance, deposition, wire, mechanical or equivalent means to generate an electrical signal on a continuous basis.

26 . The door opening tracking system of claim 25 wherein transmitting and/or recording pressure data occurs every 10 seconds or less.

27 . The door opening tracking system of claim 26 wherein said electronic data processing system comprises data input from said pressure sensor, processing of said data, output of said data to a data storage and retrieval system.

Assignees

• Kirschman David Louis
• Carroll Gregory
• Aerobiotix Llc

Inventors

• Kirschman David Louis
• Carroll Gregory

Classifications

• G01L23/08 Primary

  operated electrically {(G01L23/22 takes precedence)} · CPC title

• H04W4/38 Primary

  for collecting sensor information · CPC title

• H04L67/12

  specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks · CPC title