US5146208A
Expired / Lapsed
US
⏱️ 0.0 years remaining
Method and apparatus for detecting intrusion into a body of water
Assignee: Seaway Technologies Inc
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Filing: 1991-03-26
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Granted: 1992-09-08
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Expires: 2011-03-26
Abstract
Abstract Noises made by the flow of blood in the human cardiovascular system, respiratory and skeletal noises made in the joints of a skeletal animal provide a wide variety of sounds which, when the human body is partially or completely immersed in a body of acoustically transmissive liquid, are directly coupled to the acoustically transmitted liquid and thus launched into acoustically transmitted liquid. The cardiovascular system has a unique acoustic signature. Joints, for example, which are injured or diseased have unique acoustic signatures e.g., sound they make, which are launched into the water and thus each individual's skeletal system make or produce a unique pattern of noise or sounds which are normally inaudible, but when immersed in a body of water can be detected by hydrophones or underwater microphones. The invention has use in locating missing or lost divers, surveillance of bodies of water for serepititous entry thereto for safe-guarding swimming pools, etc.
Inventors
- 👤 Jorge M. Parra
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
US
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-11-03 10:36
CPC Classifications
G; G08; G08B; G08B21/00; G08B21/02; G08B21/08; G08B21/082; A; A61; A61B; A61B7/00; A61B7/006; A61B7/02; A61B7/04; B; B63; B63C; B63C11/00; B63C11/02; B63C11/26; G01; G01V; G01V1/00; G01V1/001
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 12
Claim 1
Independent Claim
96 words
A method of providing surveillance of a body of water to detect surreptitious intrusion thereto by humans comprising: immersing a sonic transducer in said body of water to convert sonic energy received thereby to electrical signals, passing said electrical signals through a bandpass filter having its passband in the infrasonic range to produce bandpass filtered signals in the infrasonic range, and passing electrical signals from said bandpass filter through a discriminator having a phase lock loop which is programmed to pass a discrete pattern of electrical signals constituting a sonic profile of the human cardiovascular system.
Claim 2
Independent Claim
96 words
A method of providing surveillance of a body of water to detect surreptitious intrusion thereto by humans comprising: immersing a sonic transducer in said body of water to convert sonic energy received thereby to electrical signals, passing said electrical signals through a bandpass filter having its passband in the infrasonic range to produce bandpass filtered signals in the infrasonic range, and passing electrical signals from said bandpass filter through a discriminator having a phase lock loop which is programmed to pass a discrete pattern of electrical signals constituting a sonic profile of the human cardiovascular system.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
139 words
Apparatus for detecting the presence of one or more human or animal in a predetermined body of water, comprising: transducer means for converting sonic energy in said body of water to electrical signals, bandpass filter means tuned to pass electrical signals corresponding to sonic energy generated by blood flow in the cardiovascular system and launched into said predetermined body of water and connected to said transducer means, programmable discriminator means connected to said bandpass filter means and programmed to detect the electrical signals corresponding to sonic energy produced by blood flow in cardiovascular systems of said human or animal, and producing a presence signal upon detection of a human or animal, and alarm means for indicating the presence or absence of human or animal in said predetermined body of water by the presence or absence of said presence signal.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
139 words
Apparatus for detecting the presence of one or more human or animal in a predetermined body of water, comprising: transducer means for converting sonic energy in said body of water to electrical signals, bandpass filter means tuned to pass electrical signals corresponding to sonic energy generated by blood flow in the cardiovascular system and launched into said predetermined body of water and connected to said transducer means, programmable discriminator means connected to said bandpass filter means and programmed to detect the electrical signals corresponding to sonic energy produced by blood flow in cardiovascular systems of said human or animal, and producing a presence signal upon detection of a human or animal, and alarm means for indicating the presence or absence of human or animal in said predetermined body of water by the presence or absence of said presence signal.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
41 words
Apparatus as defined in claim 2 wherein said transducer means includes a plurality of transducers arranged in a pattern and including means for scanning said plurality of transducers to determine the direction, relative to said transducers of said human or animal.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
27 words
Apparatus as defined in claim 3 including means to determine range to said human or animal solely from the sonic energy emitted by said human or animal.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
27 words
Apparatus as defined in claim 2 including means for determining range to said human or animal solely from the sonic energy emitted by said human or animal.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
31 words
Apparatus as defined in claim 2 including means to determine the depth of said human or animal in the water solely from the sonic energy emitted by said human or animal.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
173 words
Apparatus for detecting the presence of one or more human or animal in a predetermined body of water, comprising: transducer means for converting sonic energy in said body of water to electrical signals, bandpass filter means tuned to pass sonic energy generated by a cardiovascular system and launched into said predetermined body of water and connected to said transducer means, programmable discriminator means connected to said bandpass filter means and programmed to detect the cardiovascular sonic systems of said human or animal, and producing a presence signal upon detection of a human or animal, and alarm means for indicating the presence or absence of human or animal in said predetermined body of water by the presence or absence of said presence signal and wherein said discriminator means includes means for converting signals from said bandpass filter means to digital signals, a comparator, a read-only memory having stored therein a sonic profile of sonic energy generated by cardiovascular systems of said humans or animals, and means for connecting said read-only memory to said comparator.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
173 words
Apparatus for detecting the presence of one or more human or animal in a predetermined body of water, comprising: transducer means for converting sonic energy in said body of water to electrical signals, bandpass filter means tuned to pass sonic energy generated by a cardiovascular system and launched into said predetermined body of water and connected to said transducer means, programmable discriminator means connected to said bandpass filter means and programmed to detect the cardiovascular sonic systems of said human or animal, and producing a presence signal upon detection of a human or animal, and alarm means for indicating the presence or absence of human or animal in said predetermined body of water by the presence or absence of said presence signal and wherein said discriminator means includes means for converting signals from said bandpass filter means to digital signals, a comparator, a read-only memory having stored therein a sonic profile of sonic energy generated by cardiovascular systems of said humans or animals, and means for connecting said read-only memory to said comparator.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
215 words
Apparatus for providing surveillance to a body of water, comprising: transducer means for converting sonic energy in said body of water to electrical signals, first channel means connected to said transducer for receiving said electrical signals and having a bandpass filter therein for overpassing signals in the range of human cardiovascular sonic signals, second channel means connected to said transducer for receiving said electrical signals and having a bandpass filter therein for only passing sonic signals in the range of human musculo-skeletal sonic signals, third channel means connected to said transducer for receiving said electrical signals and having a bandpass filter therein for only passing sonic signals in the range of human respiratory system sonic signals, means for storing sonic profiles of said human cardiovascular, musculo-skeletal and said respiratory system sonic signals, respectively, comparator means in each of said channels, means connecting said means for storing to each of said comparator means, respectively, weighting means connected to receive the outputs of each of said comparators, with the output of the comparator in said first channel being accorded the highest weight in determining the presence or absence of a human in said body of water, and means connected to said weighting means for indicating the presence or absence of a human in said body of water.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
215 words
Apparatus for providing surveillance to a body of water, comprising: transducer means for converting sonic energy in said body of water to electrical signals, first channel means connected to said transducer for receiving said electrical signals and having a bandpass filter therein for overpassing signals in the range of human cardiovascular sonic signals, second channel means connected to said transducer for receiving said electrical signals and having a bandpass filter therein for only passing sonic signals in the range of human musculo-skeletal sonic signals, third channel means connected to said transducer for receiving said electrical signals and having a bandpass filter therein for only passing sonic signals in the range of human respiratory system sonic signals, means for storing sonic profiles of said human cardiovascular, musculo-skeletal and said respiratory system sonic signals, respectively, comparator means in each of said channels, means connecting said means for storing to each of said comparator means, respectively, weighting means connected to receive the outputs of each of said comparators, with the output of the comparator in said first channel being accorded the highest weight in determining the presence or absence of a human in said body of water, and means connected to said weighting means for indicating the presence or absence of a human in said body of water.
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USPTO Annuity & Maintenance Windows
| Annuity Stage | Window Opens | Payment Deadline | Surcharge Period Until | Estimated Fee | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3.5 Years (Year 4) | 1995-09-08 | 1996-03-09 | 1996-09-08 | $2000.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 7.5 Years (Year 8) | 1999-09-08 | 2000-03-09 | 2000-09-08 | $3760.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 11.5 Years (Year 12) | 2003-09-08 | 2004-03-09 | 2004-09-08 | $7700.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |