JPH02134593A - Infrared area sensor - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To judge the position of an object to be detected within a region by respectively discriminating the outputs obtained from a plurality of infrared ray detection means whose detection areas are partially overlapped with each other on the same threshold value level and applying operational processing thereto. CONSTITUTION:Infrared ray sensors 2, 3 are arranged so that the respective detection areas A, B are partially overlapped (region C) and the outputs thereof are respectively amplified by amplifiers 4, 5 to be applied to comparators 6, 7. The same threshold value level Vref is set to the respective comparators 6, 7 and, when the outputs of the amplifiers 4, 5 exceed said level, H-level output is applied to an operational processing part 8 and, when said outputs do not exceed said level, L-level output is applied to said operational processing part 8. The processing part 8 is constituted of an AND circuit 9a(9b) receiving the output (reversal output) of the comparator 6 and the reversal output (output) of the comparator 7 and an AND circuit 9c receiving the outputs of the comparators 6, 7 as they are and decodes the outputs of the comparators 6, 7 to make it possible to judge the place which region among regions A-C an object to be detected is positioned.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of the Invention] The present invention relates to an infrared area sensor adapted to detect objects that generate infrared light sources in a plurality of areas.

[Conventional technology]

2. Description of the Related Art Infrared sensors using infrared detection elements such as pyroelectric elements, thermomobiles, and PBS are conventionally known as sensors for detecting human bodies, heat sources, and the like without contact.

Such an infrared sensor detects infrared rays of an object to be detected and outputs a signal. In the case of an infrared sensor using a pyroelectric element, as shown in FIG. An infrared sensor has been proposed that detects the amount of change in .

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

However, such conventional infrared area sensors have the disadvantage that it is not possible to determine whether a person is stationary within the detection area or where the person is located within the detection area.

The present invention has been made in view of the problems of conventional infrared area sensors, and has an object to make it possible to determine where an object to be detected is located in a detection area divided into a plurality of regions. is a technical issue.

[Means to solve the problem]

The invention of claim 1 of the present application is an infrared area sensor configured to detect an object that generates an infrared source in a plurality of areas, which includes a plurality of infrared detection means whose detection areas partially overlap each other, and each infrared detection means. A plurality of comparison means detect objects to be detected that generate infrared rays in respective detection regions by discriminating the outputs obtained from the means at the same threshold level, and The apparatus is characterized in that it has a determining means for determining the position.

The invention of claim 2 of the present application is an infrared area sensor configured to detect an object that generates infrared rays in a plurality of areas, comprising a plurality of infrared detection means whose detection areas partially overlap each other, and each infrared ray detection means. a first comparison means for comparing the outputs of the detection means; a second comparison means for discriminating the outputs of the respective infrared detection means at the same threshold level;
The apparatus is characterized in that it has a determining means for detecting the position of the detected object based on the output of the second comparing means.

Furthermore, the invention of claim 3 of the present application is an infrared area sensor configured to detect objects that generate infrared sources in a plurality of areas, the infrared area sensor comprising two infrared detection means whose detection areas partially overlap each other, a division circuit that divides the output of the means; a comparison means that is given the output of the division circuit and discriminates at multiple levels; and a division circuit that divides the output of the division circuit;
The present invention is characterized in that it has a discriminating means for discriminating the position of the detected object in a plurality of regions obtained by dividing all the detection regions of the two infrared detecting means.

[Effect]

According to the invention of claim 1 of the present application having such characteristics, infrared detection means whose detection areas only partially overlap each other are used, and it is determined by the comparison means whether or not a detected object exists in each detection area. It is determined. Based on the output of the comparing means, the determining means determines in which of the overlapping and non-overlapping areas of all the detection areas the detected object is located.

Further, in the invention of claim 2 of the present application, in addition to the effect of claim 1, the output itself of the infrared detection means is compared by the first comparison means. The overlapping detection areas are also divided into two, and the determining means determines in which area the detected object is located.

Further, in the invention of claim 3 of the present application, two infrared detection means whose two detection areas partially overlap are used, and after dividing the output of each by a division circuit, the position of the detected object is determined based on the output level. That's what I do.

〔Effect of the invention〕

Therefore, according to the invention of claim 1 of the present application, it is possible to determine in which position the detected object is located in the overlapping area among the detection areas of the infrared detection means and the non-overlapping area of the respective detection means. Therefore, when the object to be detected is a human body, the present invention can be applied to a cooler or a fan heater to detect the position of the person and can be used for purposes such as blowing air in that direction.

Further, according to the invention of claim 2 of the present application, in addition to the effect of claim 1, it is possible to determine in which of the two regions of the detection region the object to be detected is located, and the resolution can be further improved. .

Furthermore, according to the invention of claim 3 of the present application, by appropriately setting the threshold level for discrimination by the comparison means, the resolution of the detection area can be arbitrarily subdivided and the position of the detected object can be discriminated, which is an excellent effect. is obtained.

[Explanation of Examples]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the configuration of an infrared area sensor according to an embodiment of the present invention. In this figure, the sensor section 1 is provided with a pair of infrared detection means, that is, an infrared sensor 2.3, such as a detection element such as a thermomobile. As shown in FIG. 1, these infrared sensors 2 and 3 are arranged so that their detection areas partially overlap. Here, the detection area is divided into three areas: A is the detection area of only the infrared sensor 2, B is the detection area of only the infrared sensor 3, and C is the area where these detection areas overlap.

The outputs of the infrared sensors 2.3 are applied to amplifiers 4 and 5, respectively. Amplifiers 4 and 5 amplify these outputs, and the amplified outputs are given to comparators 6 and 7, respectively. Comparators 6 and 7 each have the same low threshold level Vre.
f is set, and when the outputs of the amplifiers 4 and 5 exceed a predetermined level, the comparison means detects the presence of an object to be detected in the detection area A, C or B, C and provides an output. Here, comparators 6 and 7 set the rHJ level when an object exists in each detection area, and "L" when no object exists.
level output shall be given. Now comparators 6 and 7
The output is given to the arithmetic processing section 8.

The arithmetic processing unit 8 includes, for example, an AND circuit 9a that receives the output of the comparator 6 and the inverted output of the comparator 7, an AND circuit 9C that receives the outputs of the comparators 6 and 7 as input, and a comparison with the inverted output of the comparator 6. AND circuit 9b that uses the output of device 7 as human power
It constitutes a determining means for determining in which region the detected object is located by decoding the outputs of the comparators 6 and 7.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be explained in detail with reference to FIG. For example, an object to be detected such as a human body that emits infrared rays is in area A.
If it is located in Figure 2(a).

(As shown in C1, an infrared detection signal is obtained from the infrared sensor 2 and is applied to the comparator 6 via the amplifier 4. Therefore, an object detection signal is output via the AND circuit 9a. Even if it exists, it is shown in Figure 2 (bl
, As shown in (d), a detection signal is obtained from the infrared sensor 3, and an output is given from the comparator 7 via the amplifier 5. Therefore, an object detection signal is outputted via the AND circuit 9b. Furthermore, if the object to be detected is located in area C, detection signals can be obtained from both infrared sensors 2.3.
As shown in FIG. 2 (114), an output is given from the AND circuit 9C. In this way, by arranging the detection areas of the two infrared sensors 2.3 so as to partially overlap and processing the signals, the position of the detected object can be determined.

Moreover, as shown in FIG. 3, three infrared sensors 2a to 2C
By configuring the respective regions so that they partially overlap, the position of the object to be detected can be determined in the same manner for the five regions A to E. In addition, instead of using two infrared sensors, as shown in FIG. 4, an infrared sensor 2d having a plurality of infrared detection areas is used, and a lens section provided on the front surface thereof is provided corresponding to each sensor. Area sensors can be constructed with overlapping sensing areas.

Alternatively, a pyroelectric infrared sensor module 10 may be used as the infrared sensor. FIG. 5 is an assembled configuration diagram of a pyroelectric infrared sensor module according to the second embodiment, FIG. 6 is a front view thereof, and FIG. 7 is a side view thereof. As shown in these figures, the infrared sensor has a cylindrical rotor 11 that includes permanent magnets magnetized to form magnetic rods S and N on both sides, and this rotor 11 is mounted on a rotating shaft 12. A fixed bearing provided on the upper part of the fixed base 13 is rotatably held in a rotor bearing 14 formed in a U-shape with a groove.

The fixed base 13 has a shallow circular recess on the rotor 11 side, and a groove for a bearing is provided in the center thereof, and a notch is provided on the side. Further, a circular through hole is provided below it at a position apart from the rotation axis. And this rotor 11
A pair of stators 15 and 16 formed in a U-shape from both sides of the
is attached from the side of the fixed base 13. Stator 15゜1
6 is provided with a notch at the center of the position facing the rotor 11. These stators 15 and 16 are connected by a core 17, and a coil 18 serving as an electromagnet is wound between them. One end of a substantially oval blade plate 19 is attached to the rotating shaft 12 of the rotor 11. As shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, a pyroelectric infrared element 20 is fixed to an opening 13a provided on the left side of the rotating shaft 12 at the bottom of the fixed base 13. By driving the infrared sensor module 10 configured in this manner using an AC power source, the polarity of the stators 15 and 16 changes periodically. Therefore rotor 1
1 rotates and the blade plate 19 makes a pendulum movement,
Infrared rays from the object to be detected can be blocked. Therefore, by using a plurality of such sensor modules and arranging them so that their detection areas overlap as described above, it is possible to detect the position of a detected object, for example, a human body.

Further, FIG. 8 is a block diagram of a third embodiment embodying the invention of claim 2 of the present application. In this figure, the same parts as in the first embodiment described above are indicated by the same reference numerals, and detailed explanations will be omitted. In this embodiment as well, two infrared sensors 2 and 3 with different detection areas are used, and their respective outputs are sent to an amplifier 4.
, 5, and the output of amplifier 4 is applied to comparators 31 and 33, respectively.
, the output of amplifier 5 is given to comparators 33 and 32. Comparators 31, 32 are second comparing means, which compare the outputs of amplifiers 4 and 5 with the same threshold value Vref set at a low level.
It makes a comparison and provides a comparison output. Further, the comparator 33 is a first comparing means, and compares the outputs of the amplifiers 4 and 5 and supplies the result to the determining means 34. Here comparator 3
1.32 assumes that the output is "H" when an input signal exceeding the threshold level Vref is given, and the comparator 33 outputs rHJ level when the output power of the amplifier 4 is greater than the output of the amplifier 5. Here, in FIG. 8, if the area C where the detection areas of the two infrared sensors 2 and 3 overlap is divided at the center into C1 and C2, all areas including areas A and B and areas C1 and C2 will be covered. When a detection object is present, the following outputs are obtained from each of the comparators 31 to 33.

Table 1 Therefore, the outputs of these comparators 31 to 33 are determined by the discriminating means 34.
By decoding the output as shown in Table 1, it is possible to obtain a determination output for determining in which position of the four areas the detected object is present.

Next, a fourth embodiment embodying the invention of claim 3 of the present application will be described. FIG. 9 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the fourth embodiment. In this figure, the same parts as in the first embodiment described above are given the same reference numerals, and the explanation will be omitted. In this embodiment, the outputs V, , V, of the amplifiers 4 and 5 are first given to the divider circuit 41. The division circuit 41 obtains these output ratios vz/vt, and the division output is sent to the comparator 4 which is a comparison means.
2 to 44. Threshold values V ref 1 to Vref3 are set to the comparators 42 to 44, respectively. Here, Vrefl to Vref3 are determined, for example, as shown in the following equation.

0 < Vrefl < Vref2= 1 < Vre
f3 and each comparator 42 to 44 has a threshold value Vrefl-
It is assumed that the rHJ level is output when there is an input signal exceeding Vref3. In this way, when the output of the comparator 43 is in the region A or cl in FIG. 9, a signal of the rHJ level is obtained, and when it is in the region B or C2, a signal of the rLJ level is obtained. Here, the boundary surface between 01 and 02 is assumed to be Ll. Further, the comparator 42 divides the region consisting of regions A and 01 into two parts, and can determine in which region the object to be detected is located. That is, by changing the threshold value Vref1, an output can be obtained that divides the area including 01 and A by an arbitrary curved surface L2 and determines which area it is in. Similarly, the comparator 44 determines in which region the object is located, using an arbitrary curved surface L3 intermediate between the detection regions C2 and B as a boundary surface by appropriately setting the threshold value Vref3. can do. The outputs of these comparators 42 to 44 are then given to determination means 45.

The determining means 45 decodes these outputs to determine in which of the detection areas divided by the curved surfaces L1 to L3 the object to be detected is located.

In this embodiment, the output of the divider 41 is divided into three comparators 42 to 4.
4 is used to divide the detection area into four areas, but the detection area can be further divided into an arbitrary number of areas using comparators having a large number of different threshold levels. Therefore, it is possible to obtain object position information for a plurality of divided positions.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an infrared area sensor according to an embodiment of the present invention, Fig. 2 is a time chart showing its operation, and Fig. 3 is a diagram showing the detection area when three infrared sensors are used. , FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an embodiment using an element in which two parts of one infrared sensor are used as detection areas, and FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an infrared ray according to a second embodiment of the present application using a pyroelectric infrared sensor. Assembly configuration diagram of sensor module, No. 6
The figure is a front view thereof, FIG. 7 is a side view thereof, FIG. 8 is a block diagram of an infrared area sensor according to a third embodiment of the present application, and FIG. 9 is a block diagram of an infrared area sensor according to a fourth embodiment of the present application. FIG. 10 is a diagram showing the detection area of a conventional infrared area sensor. 1, - Infrared sensor section 2, 3 - - Infrared sensor
4.5--Amplifier 6,7.31~33°+2~
44--Comparator 8--Arithmetic processing unit 10--
-Infrared sensor module 34.45 Discrimination means
41-...-Dividing circuit patent applicant Tateishi Electric Co., Ltd. agent Patent attorney Yoshiki Okamoto (and one other person) Figure 1 No. 3 Figure 2.3 -------1 Utatato Miho sensor 8 --- ---
--: Tribute'! L (1 part 1!, 2 Figures 1 and 4 Figures) 3 One Figure Figure 10 Procedures Amendment (Voluntary) 1989
April 14th 1, Display of the case Patent Application No. 288551 of 1988 2, Name of the invention Infrared area sensor 3, Person making the amendment Relationship to the case Patent applicant Address 10, Hanazono Tsuchido-cho, Ukyo-ku, Kyoto-shi, Kyoto Prefecture Address Name (294) Tateishi Ti Co., Ltd. Representative Yoshio Tateishi 4, Agent Address 1-5-2 Kitahorie, Nishi-ku, Osaka-shi, Osaka Prefecture 8550
No. Yotsubashi Shinkosan Building 5, Detailed description of the invention column and Drawing 6 of the specification subject to amendment, Contents of the amendment (1) Page 3 of the specification, lines 12-13 Correct the statement "The object being detected" to "The object being detected." (2) The statement "shall be output. Here" on page 12, line 20 of the specification shall be changed to "shall be output." Infrared sensors generally have distance dependence. "Here," I corrected. (3) On page 14, line 16 of the specification, the statement "The area consisting of areas A and C1 is made into two parts," is corrected to "The area C1 is made into two parts." (4) The description of ``Area containing rcl and A'' on page 14, line 18 of the specification is corrected to ``Area CIJ.'' (5) The description of "area including detection areas C2 and B" on page 15, line 2 of the specification is corrected to [detection area C2J]. (6) Figure 9 of the drawing will be corrected as shown in the attached sheet. that's all

Claims (3)

[Claims] (1) A plurality of infrared detection means whose detection areas partially overlap with each other; and a detection target that generates infrared rays in each detection area by discriminating the outputs obtained from each of the infrared detection means at the same threshold level. An infrared area sensor comprising: a plurality of comparing means for detecting a body; and a determining means for determining the position of the detected object based on the outputs of the respective comparing means. (2) a plurality of infrared detection means whose detection areas partially overlap with each other; a first comparison means for comparing the outputs of each of the infrared detection means; and a discrimination between the outputs of each of the infrared detection means at the same threshold level. An infrared area sensor comprising: a second comparing means for detecting the position of the object to be detected based on the outputs of the first and second comparing means. (3) two infrared detection means whose detection areas partially overlap with each other; a division circuit that divides the output of the infrared detection means; and a comparison means that receives the output of the division circuit and discriminates at a plurality of levels; An infrared area sensor comprising: a determining means for determining the position of an object to be detected in a plurality of areas obtained by dividing all the detection areas of the two infrared detecting means based on the output of the comparing means.