Clean-room monitoring device and method for monitoring clean-room

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9704367-B2
Application number	US-201514590401-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 6, 2015
Priority date	Jul 9, 2012
Publication date	Jul 11, 2017
Grant date	Jul 11, 2017

Abstract

A clean-room monitoring device for monitoring the interior of a clean-room having a floor in which a removable cover such as a grating or a non-porous cover is disposed, includes: a monitoring camera which captures an image of the removable cover; a monitor which detects the existence of an opening exposed when the removable cover is removed, based on an image signal obtained from the monitoring camera, detects the presence of a workman approaching the opening if it is detected that the opening exists, and outputs a warning signal if the workman is detected; and a warning generator which receives the warning signal from monitor and issues a warning.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A clean-room monitoring device for monitoring the interior of a clean-room having a floor in which a removable cover is disposed, comprising:
a monitoring camera which captures an image of the removable cover of the floor in a passage in which a workman can pass through;
a monitor which detects whether there exists an opening exposed when the removable cover is removed, based on an image signal obtained from the monitoring camera, detects the presence of the workman approaching the opening if it is detected that the opening exists based on an image signal obtained from the monitoring camera, and outputs a warning signal if the workman is detected; and
a warning generator which receives the warning signal from the monitor and issues a warning.

2. The clean-room monitoring device of claim 1 , wherein a plurality of monitoring cameras is arranged with semiconductor manufacturing apparatuses installed in the clean-room.

3. The clean-room monitoring device of claim 1 , wherein the warning generator issues a warning by a light and sound.

4. The clean-room monitoring device of claim 1 , wherein a plurality of warning generators is arranged with semiconductor manufacturing apparatuses installed in the clean-room.

5. The clean-room monitoring device of claim 1 , wherein the removable cover is a grating, a porous cover or a non-porous cover.

6. A clean-room monitoring method for monitoring the interior of a clean-room having a floor in which a removable cover is disposed, comprising:
capturing an image of the removable cover of the floor in a passage in which a workman can pass through using a monitoring camera;
detecting whether there exists an opening exposed when the removable cover is removed, based on the captured image obtained from the monitoring camera;
detecting the presence of workman approaching the opening if it is detected that the opening exists in detecting whether there exists the opening, based on an image signal obtained from the monitoring camera; and
issuing a warning if the workman is detected approaching the opening in detecting the presence of the workman.

7. The clean-room monitoring method of claim 6 , wherein the removable cover is a grating, a porous cover or a non-porous cover.

Assignees

• Tokyo Electron Ltd

Inventors

• Suzuki Atsushi
• Uoyama Kazuya
• Konishi Yoshitaka
• Oku Daisuke
• Honda Yoshitada

Classifications

• G08B21/22

  responsive to presence or absence of persons · CPC title

• G08B7/06

  using electric transmission {, e.g. involving audible and visible signalling through the use of sound and light sources} · CPC title

• H04N7/183

  for receiving images from a single remote source · CPC title

• G08B21/02 Primary

  Alarms for ensuring the safety of persons · CPC title

• G08B21/0476 Primary

  Cameras to detect unsafe condition, e.g. video cameras · CPC title