Component interfacing in hazard safety systems

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9851699-B2
Application number	US-201414334159-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 17, 2014
Priority date	Jul 18, 2013
Publication date	Dec 26, 2017
Grant date	Dec 26, 2017

Abstract

Systems and methods for interfacing a hazard detection device with a control panel system via a dongle are provided. The dongle may be configured to alternate between drawing first and second amounts of power from the control panel system in response to the hazard detection device alternating between operating in a normal mode when no hazard is detected and an alarm mode when a hazard is detected. The hazard detection device may operate independently of any characteristics of the control panel system. For example, the hazard detection device may operate without drawing any power from the control panel system. Therefore, the dongle may allow for various types of hazard detection devices to interface with a common two-line power control system.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A dongle for interfacing a control panel system with a hazard detection device, the control panel system comprising a control panel and at least one wired detection string, wherein the control panel monitors a current level provided to each wired detection string to determine whether an alarm condition exists on the at least one wired detection string, and wherein the hazard detection device would cause a false alarm condition to exist for the wired detection string if it were directly electrically coupled to that wired detection string, the dongle comprising:
a first connector configured to be electrically coupled to a wired detection string of the control panel system;
a second connector configured to be electrically coupled to the hazard detection device; and
a first module configured to:
receive a control signal from the hazard detection device via the second connector;
pull a first amount of current from the control panel system via the first connector when the received control signal is a first value, the first amount of current having a current level that does not indicate an alarm condition exists on the wired detection string; and
pull a second amount of current from the control panel system via the first connector when the received control signal is a second value, the second amount of current having a current level that does indicate an alarm condition exists on the wired detection string.

2. The dongle of claim 1 , wherein the first module comprises variable resistance circuitry.

3. The dongle of claim 1 , wherein the first module comprises a constant current sink.

4. The dongle of claim 1 , wherein:
the first connector is configured to be electrically coupled to at least a first wire of the wired detection string; and
regardless of the value of an electric potential at the first wire, the first module is configured to pull the same second amount of current from the first wire when the received control signal is the second value.

5. The dongle of claim 1 , wherein:
the first connector is configured to be electrically coupled to a plurality of wires of the wired detection string; and
the dongle further comprises a second module that is configured to enable the first connector to be coupled to the plurality of wires in a plurality of ways while still enabling proper function of the first module.

6. The dongle of claim 5 , wherein the second module is a full diode bridge.

7. The dongle of claim 1 , wherein:
the first connector is configured to be electrically coupled to a plurality of wires of the wired detection string;
the plurality of wires comprises a first wire and a second wire;
the first wire comprises a first electric potential;
the second wire comprises a second electric potential that is less than the first electric potential;
the first connector comprises a first pin and a second pin;
the dongle further comprises a second module;
the second module comprises a first node electrically coupled to the first pin, a second node electrically coupled to the second pin, and a third node; and
the second module is configured to provide at the third node the difference between the electric potential of the first node and the electric potential of the second node with a constant polarity regardless of which one of the following is true:
the first wire is electrically coupled to the first pin and the second wire is electrically coupled to the second pin; and
the first wire is electrically coupled to the second pin and the second wire is electrically coupled to the first pin.

8. The dongle of claim 7 , wherein the third node is electrically coupled to the first module.

9. The dongle of claim 1 , wherein the first connector is configured to close a circuit path within the wired detection string when it is connected to the wired detection string.

10. The dongle of claim 1 , wherein the first connector is configured to be electrically coupled to a plurality of wire segments of the wired detection string, and wherein the first connector is configured to short circuit at least one pair of the wire segments together.

11. The dongle of claim 1 , wherein:
the first module is configured to receive the control signal from the hazard detection device via a first pin of the second connector;
the first connector is configured to be electrically coupled to at least a first wire of the control panel system; and
the dongle is configured to provide a value related to the electric potential of the first wire to the hazard detection device via a second pin of the second connector.

12. The dongle of claim 11 , wherein the provided value does not power the hazard detection device.

13. A hazard detection device for interfacing with a dongle, the hazard detection device comprising:
a sensor configured to detect a characteristic of an environment;
a processor configured to process the detected characteristic;
a power supply configured to power at least one of the sensor and the processor; and
a device connector configured to be electrically coupled to a dongle connector of the dongle, wherein:
the device connector comprises a first device pin configured to be electrically coupled to a first dongle pin of the dongle connector;
the processor is further configured to transmit a first control signal to the first device pin when the processor determines that the detected characteristic satisfies a first requirement; and
the processor is further configured to transmit a second control signal to the first device pin when the processor determines that the detected characteristic does not satisfy the first requirement.

14. The hazard detection device of claim 13 , wherein:
the dongle is configured to interface with a control panel system;
the first control signal is configured to enable the dongle via the first dongle pin to pull a first amount of power from the control panel system; and
the second control signal is configured to enable the dongle via the first dongle pin to pull a second amount of power from the control panel system.

15. The hazard detection device of claim 13 , wherein:
the dongle is configured to interface with a control panel system;
the device connector comprises a second device pin configured to be electrically coupled to a second dongle pin of the dongle connector; and
the second device pin is configured to receive a value related to an electric potential of the control panel system via the second dongle pin.

16. The hazard detection device of claim 15 , wherein the received value does not power any component of the hazard detection device.

17. The hazard detection device of claim 15 , further comprising communications circuitry configured to communicate with a remote device, wherein the processor is further configured to instruct the communications circuitry to communicate with the remote device when the received value falls below a threshold.

18. A hazard safety system comprising:
a control panel system comprising:
a control panel; and
a plurality of wires electrically coupled to the control panel;

a first hazard detection device, wherein the first hazard detection device is not powered by the control panel system; and
a dongle comprising:
a first dongle connector electrically coupled to at least a first wire of the plurality of wires;
a second dongle connector electrically coupled to at least a first pin of the first hazard detection device; and
a dongle module configured to:
receive a control signal from the first hazard detection device via the second dongle connect

Assignees

• Google Llc

Inventors

• Fadell Anthony Michael
• Mullins Scott
• Conner Brian Jonathan
• Smith Ian C

Classifications

• G05B11/01 Primary

  electric · CPC title

• G08B25/04 Primary

  using a single signalling line, e.g. in a closed loop · CPC title

• G08B29/06

  Monitoring of the line circuits, e.g. signalling of line faults · CPC title