EP4089655A1 - Interface acoustique pour un dispositif d'alarme - Google Patents

Interface acoustique pour un dispositif d'alarme Download PDF

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Publication number
EP4089655A1
EP4089655A1 EP22169570.3A EP22169570A EP4089655A1 EP 4089655 A1 EP4089655 A1 EP 4089655A1 EP 22169570 A EP22169570 A EP 22169570A EP 4089655 A1 EP4089655 A1 EP 4089655A1
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EP
European Patent Office
Prior art keywords
frequency
processor
control signals
acoustic interface
acoustic
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Granted
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EP22169570.3A
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German (de)
English (en)
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EP4089655B1 (fr
EP4089655C0 (fr
Inventor
Shane LINNANE
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EI Technology Ltd
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EI Technology Ltd
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    • G—PHYSICS
    • G10—MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS; ACOUSTICS
    • G10K—SOUND-PRODUCING DEVICES; METHODS OR DEVICES FOR PROTECTING AGAINST, OR FOR DAMPING, NOISE OR OTHER ACOUSTIC WAVES IN GENERAL; ACOUSTICS NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • G10K9/00—Devices in which sound is produced by vibrating a diaphragm or analogous element, e.g. fog horns, vehicle hooters or buzzers
    • G10K9/12—Devices in which sound is produced by vibrating a diaphragm or analogous element, e.g. fog horns, vehicle hooters or buzzers electrically operated
    • G10K9/122—Devices in which sound is produced by vibrating a diaphragm or analogous element, e.g. fog horns, vehicle hooters or buzzers electrically operated using piezoelectric driving means
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G08—SIGNALLING
    • G08B—SIGNALLING SYSTEMS, e.g. PERSONAL CALLING SYSTEMS; ORDER TELEGRAPHS; ALARM SYSTEMS
    • G08B3/00—Audible signalling systems, e.g. audible personal calling systems
    • G08B3/10—Audible signalling systems, e.g. audible personal calling systems using electric transmission; using electromagnetic transmission
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G10—MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS; ACOUSTICS
    • G10K—SOUND-PRODUCING DEVICES; METHODS OR DEVICES FOR PROTECTING AGAINST, OR FOR DAMPING, NOISE OR OTHER ACOUSTIC WAVES IN GENERAL; ACOUSTICS NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • G10K9/00—Devices in which sound is produced by vibrating a diaphragm or analogous element, e.g. fog horns, vehicle hooters or buzzers
    • G10K9/18—Details, e.g. bulbs, pumps, pistons, switches or casings
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B06—GENERATING OR TRANSMITTING MECHANICAL VIBRATIONS IN GENERAL
    • B06B—METHODS OR APPARATUS FOR GENERATING OR TRANSMITTING MECHANICAL VIBRATIONS OF INFRASONIC, SONIC, OR ULTRASONIC FREQUENCY, e.g. FOR PERFORMING MECHANICAL WORK IN GENERAL
    • B06B1/00—Methods or apparatus for generating mechanical vibrations of infrasonic, sonic, or ultrasonic frequency
    • B06B1/02—Methods or apparatus for generating mechanical vibrations of infrasonic, sonic, or ultrasonic frequency making use of electrical energy
    • B06B1/0207—Driving circuits
    • B06B1/0215—Driving circuits for generating pulses, e.g. bursts of oscillations, envelopes

Definitions

  • the present invention relates to acoustic communication of information by an alarm device or other device for which status information in coded form can be advantageously communicated for pick-up and decoding by a digital processor.
  • a piezoelectric sounder or horn disc oscillation takes a certain time to build up to maximum resonance, typically more than 10 periods of the natural frequency. For a disc having a natural frequency of 3kHz, the period is 330 ⁇ s, and so it may take more than 3ms before the output sound reaches a maximum. If driving the disc at resonance the disc will continue to ring even after the circuit has de-energized. This 'ring-down' time can be significant and limits the data rate since the audio output must decrease sufficiently before the next data bit can be sent. If the data rate is pushed too high it becomes difficult to discriminate where one bit ends and the next one starts, leading to decoding errors. This may limit the useful data rate to less than 25 bits per second.
  • the present invention is directed towards providing an improved acoustic transmitter with a lower sound intensity requirement and higher data rate.
  • the invention provides an acoustic interface as set out in claim 1, an alarm device as set out in claim 10, and a system as set out in claim 13.
  • an acoustic interface for a device such as an alarm device, the acoustic interface comprising a vibratory element, and a drive circuit with a processor for delivering drive electrical control signals to the element to cause it to vibrate and generate a sound signal with encoded binary data, wherein the vibrating element has a natural frequency and the control signals are frequency encoded with pulses having pulse widths t p which are shorter than the vibrating element natural frequency period 1/f N and a frequency which is greater than said natural frequency.
  • the processor provides the control signals via a feedback transistor and a voltage oscillator, the vibratory element having at least three electrical contacts of which two are for power and a third is for feedback to the feedback transistor, in which mechanical oscillation of the vibratory element generates an electrical feedback signal used to amplify this control signal.
  • the processor (8) is configured to generate the control signals according to a Frequency Shift Keying scheme.
  • the processor is configured to generate the control signals according to a Binary Frequency Shift Keying scheme, in which one frequency is used to represent a binary '0' and a different frequency is used to represent a '1'.
  • a Binary Frequency Shift Keying scheme in which one frequency is used to represent a binary '0' and a different frequency is used to represent a '1'.
  • the processor is configured to generate the control signals with a frequency difference between binary 0 and 1 representations of at least 1kHz.
  • the processor is configured to generate the control signals having a pulse width t p less than 8% of said natural frequency period.
  • the processor is configured to generate the control signals having a frequency which is greater than said natural frequency by at least 40%.
  • the processor is configured to generate the control signals having a frequency which causes at least one additional vibratory element harmonic of double or treble the drive control signal frequency for encoding a binary value a said at least one harmonic.
  • an alarm device comprising a condition sensor and a controller, and a sound emitter with a vibrating element, and an acoustic interface of any example described herein, in which the controller is configured to encode alarm status data in the acoustic output of the interface.
  • the acoustic interface vibrating element is also the alarm sound emitter.
  • a system comprising an interface of any example described herein or an alarm device of any example described herein, and a decoding device having an acoustic pickup and a decoding processor configured to decode acoustic signals and provide a user data output.
  • the encoding processor is configured to provide the control signals to generate a strong second harmonic
  • the decoding processor is configured to decode at double or treble the drive control frequency
  • the second harmonic decoding is used for only one of a binary 0 or 1 decoding.
  • an acoustic interface 1 suitable for an alarm device or any other device for which acoustic encoded information is required to be outputted is shown in block diagram form in Fig. 1(a) and in Fig. 1(b) with a plan view of a piezoelectric disc sounder 2.
  • the acoustic signals are generated by a vibratory element, in this case a piezoelectric disc 2 having a main element 3 and a feedback element 4.
  • the feedback element 4 is linked to the transistor 5, which drives an oscillator circuit 6 according to a control signal 7 from an encoding processor 8.
  • the encoding processor 8 is in one example that of a smoke alarm device, and it is programmed to drive the interface 1 to provide data concerning the alarm device.
  • the feedback component 4 provides a signal which is used as a simple means of maintaining the drive frequency at a desired level.
  • the microcontroller (MCU) 8 is in this example an 8-bit processor capable of generating minimum timing pulses in the range of 4 ⁇ s to 25 ⁇ s and it provides control signals to the high voltage oscillator circuit 6 having either an inductor-capacitor type oscillator or a dedicated IC for generating high voltage pulses from a lower voltage input, necessary to drive the sounder at high audio output.
  • the feedback component 4 is linked to a transistor switch 5, which is activated/deactivated via the control signal 7 from the MCU 8, and when the transistor 5 is active it allows the higher voltage from the oscillator to drive the main element 3 of the piezo disc 2. This in turn generates a small feedback signal which is used to control the voltage (or current) to the oscillator 6. In this way, the feedback helps maintain the oscillator frequency so that the disc 2 is driven at its designed frequency (natural frequency) for optimum output.
  • This fixed feedback circuit is very advantageous for alarm devices, which must maintain high sound output even under changing ambient conditions which could potentially alter the piezo resonance frequency. The feedback ensures that it is always driven at its optimum for the given conditions.
  • the microcontroller MCU 8 is programmed to provide a higher data rate and a lower audio level than is known.
  • the acoustic interface 1 is part of a smoke alarm device in this example, the microcontroller being part of the alarm device, and is preferably the main controller. However, the interface may be part of a different device such as a domestic appliance.
  • the piezo disc vibratory element 3 has a natural frequency and the control signals provided by the microcontroller MCU 8 are pulses with pulse widths which are significantly smaller than the period corresponding to the piezoelectric disc's natural frequency.
  • the natural frequency is 3kHz, and in general it is preferred that the piezo disc has a natural frequency in the range of 2 kHz to 4 kHz.
  • the microcontroller 8 is programmed to generate a test output record including various items of data such as the device's serial number, the battery level, a contamination level if it is an optical alarm, an event log, and an installation date. This information is encoded by control of the high voltage oscillator linked to the piezoelectric disc horn, which is an item required by the alarm device anyway for generating an audible alarm output.
  • the data is decoded by any electronic device having a microphone and a processing capability, such as a PDA, a laptop computer, or a smartphone. If the device has a camera, then it could both capture the acoustic signal and take an image of the alarm device to provide a more comprehensive record.
  • a mobile phone downloads over a mobile network an application to do this processing.
  • a test button (not shown) upon which the microprocessor 8 generates a control signal encoding the audit data.
  • the resulting sound generated by the horn is captured by the user device. It may be decoded locally by the device, and the decoded data may be uploaded to a remote host. Alternatively, a representation of the acoustic signal may be uploaded to a central host for decoding and further processing and storage. Whenever the test button is pressed the horn will send out a coded signal with test response information. This could be done immediately, or 5 seconds after the horn has reached full volume.
  • the data which is conveyed may include any one or more of: preamble bits, a device identification number, a device status flag, battery status, contamination status, alarm events, faulty smoke sensor, installation date, location, whether the device is in standby, hush, or alarm modes.
  • the testing device has an acoustic pick-up and a decoding processor which provides an output for display of the received data on a display and/or transmission it to a remote host server. It may provide an instruction for an action such as battery replacement, device replacement, or device, cleaning.
  • Having a unique serial number greatly helps with the tracking of smoke alarm devices - the devices can be sent back to the manufacturer for analysis and the subsequent report will clearly identify the unit and allow the maintenance company to relate it to the apartment from which it was removed. For example, if the unit was heavily contaminated or damaged, and it was clear that this was caused by a tenant, then the tenant (or landlord) could be billed for the replacement costs of fitting a new unit.
  • the three-wire piezo disc 2 two of the wires are for power while the third is for the feedback.
  • the main element of the piezo disc When the main element of the piezo disc is energized with an electrical oscillation, it causes the disc to deform and mechanically oscillate. This mechanical oscillation of the disc 2 generates an electrical signal from the piezo material. A portion of this signal is generated from the feedback element of the disc and is used as part of the feedback circuit which amplifies this signal and uses it to drive the main element of the disc.
  • the microcontroller 8 ensures that the disc 2 is always driven at its optimum frequency for optimum sound and data output.
  • a digital control signal is fed to the base of the transistor to turn the oscillation ON/OFF.
  • a sufficiently long ON duration will cause the disc to oscillate at full power at its natural frequency, usually around 3kHz.
  • the microcontroller 8 is configured to drive the disc to avoid the prior art problem of the oscillation taking a significant time to build up to maximum resonance and subsequently, a significant ring-down time. In particular, it modulates the control signal with pulses significantly shorter in time than the disc's natural period (1/natural frequency), and hence the circuit-disc resonance behavior can be interrupted, and this reduces the audio output at the fundamental.
  • Frequency Shift-Keying encodes data in the frequency of the control signal.
  • a minimum of two controllable frequencies is required. One frequency is used to represent the binary '0's, while the other is used for '1's. This is more efficient than single frequency encoding, which relies on time delays or transitions to determine whether the bit is a '1' or '0'.
  • Manchester encoding for example is only 50% efficient because its data rate is only half the clock rate since it must generate transitions from low-to-high or high-to-low, in order to be decoded successfully.
  • FSK does not have this issue and can be much faster. Many modern wireless systems, such as Wi-Fi TM , use some version of FSK.
  • the control pulses are significantly shorter than the period of the disc's natural frequency, in order to prevent (or reduce) resonance at the fundamental.
  • the processor 8 is programmed to provide the control signals 7 so that the control signal frequency f d does not approach f N , or so that the control signal pulse width t p does not approach 1/f N .
  • the fundamental frequency will not dominate the response and other useful frequencies are produced.
  • f d is greater than f N by a value in the range of 40% to 250%.
  • the control signal pulse width t p is much less than the disc's natural frequency period 1/f N , and in general it is preferred that it is less than 8% of 1/f N .
  • control signals used for generating binary 'O's are at 6.8kHz and binary '1's are at 5.5kHz, from the 3kHz natural frequency piezo disc 2, as shown in Fig. 3 .
  • the pulse width is 16 ⁇ s and the gap is 165 ⁇ s giving a repetition rate of 181 ⁇ s.
  • the pulse width of 16 ⁇ s is much less than the 1/f N duration of 333 ⁇ s.
  • the repetition rate is 147 ⁇ s and the pulse width is the same (16 ⁇ s).
  • the frequency difference between a 0 and a 1 is in this example 1.3kHz. It is preferred that the difference be at least 1kHz.
  • the processor 8 control signal 7 drive scheme avoids a situation such as shown in Fig. 4 in which a high dB level is reached at the disc's fundamental. Referring to Fig. 4 , when the control signal pulse widths are greater than 1/f N the output audio signal is dominated by a high amplitude 3kHz signal, and its 3 rd harmonic.
  • the output audio signal shows a dominant peak at a disc vibration (sound) frequency of 6.8kHz, which is approximately 5dB larger than the disc's natural vibration frequency of 3kHz.
  • the fundamental intensity has decreased by over 30dB, and is thus significantly quieter while also generating a more controllable frequency.
  • Fig. 6 demonstrates the audio output for a binary-FSK signal generated by the above procedure.
  • data was transmitted by alternately driving at frequencies of 5.5kHz and 6.8kHz, representing binary 1s and 0s respectively.
  • the decoder listens for audio signals at 5.5kHz and 6.8kHz to recognize 1s and 0s.
  • the difference between a binary 1 or 0 must be as clear as possible.
  • the chosen FSK output frequencies can be produced independently with little cross-talk. For example, when a 6.8kHz output is generated, the output at 5.5kHz should be as low as possible. Therefore, an important parameter for decoding performance is the relative ON-OFF amplitude difference between the chosen FSK frequencies.
  • the acoustic interface uses Binary FSK modulation, one frequency for binary 1, and another frequency for the 0. Turning it on and off rapidly at frequencies greater than the disc's natural frequency by at least 40% has the effect of dampening the feedback of the primary resonance (in one example, 3kHz), preventing the disc from resonating at the natural frequency. It is repeatedly interrupted and is used to generate other frequencies of sufficient amplitude that they become useful. Because it is not driven at resonance, disc vibration dampens down a lot faster, so higher data rate is possible.
  • the microcontroller can generate and control multiple control signal frequencies. When it generates say 6.8kHz for binary 0, that 6.8kHz is not unintentionally generated for a binary 1 at 5.5kHz.
  • the acoustic interface is at least 5 times faster and significantly quieter than if the drive signals have a frequency close to the disc's natural frequency.
  • the control is via the duty cycle and frequency of the pulses used to turn on/off the piezo.
  • the drive processor providing the control signals is a dedicated IC of the host device, while in other examples it is an LC oscillator circuit. In general, it is preferred that there be a 3-wire arrangement with feedback from the vibrating element such as a piezo.
  • the frequencies are 5.5kHz for binary 1, and 9kHz for binary 0. In another example it is 5.5khz and 6.8kHz respectively.
  • this may for example be generated by driving at 4.5kHz and taking advantage of the second harmonic output produced at 9kHz, and the listening device decoding processor may listen out for 9kHz or 4.5kHz.
  • harmonics can also be used, such as 11kHz from a 5.5kHz drive signal, or 13.5kHz from the 3rd harmonic caused by a drive signal at 4.5kHz.
  • audio frequency noise dB level usually decreases as frequency increases.
  • the noise is as high as -60dB for frequencies in the region of 10Hz to low hundreds Hz.
  • common sources of audio frequency noise such as speech, music and road traffic usually have higher amplitudes at the lower end of the audible range ( ⁇ 5kHz). Beyond this, the amplitude of ambient noise tends to decrease towards zero. Therefore, to maximise signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), a higher audio frequency carrier wave should ideally be used.
  • SNR signal-to-noise ratio
  • the characteristics of the smartphone microphone system are important to the overall operation of the data transfer.
  • Most modern phones have active noise-cancellation algorithms and use multiple microphones to reduce noise.
  • the data transmission can be regarded as noise by the phone, and it therefore actively attempts to eliminate this perceived "noise" signal. This can severely interfere with decoding the data and leads to errors.
  • An additional problem is that different makes and models of phones behave differently in terms of noise cancelling and therefore there is no single range of preferred frequencies that will work for audio data transmission on all phones. Having the ability to decode with different frequencies when required is an advantage.
  • the processor is configured to utilise the harmonics which are naturally produced by the disc when driven. For example, as shown in Fig. 8 , when driven at 5.5kHz, a harmonic at 11kHz is created.
  • Fig. 9 shows the sound output when driven at 4.5kHz, with disc vibration (sound) intensity peaks at 5.5kHz and 9kHz. It also shows a relatively strong 3 rd harmonic at 13.5kHz. As can be seen, the 9kHz output signal is actually larger than the signal at the driven frequency of 4.5kHz. This is because 9kHz is a multiple of the disc's natural frequency. The disc will therefore be relatively efficient at oscillating at 9kHz even though it is electronically driven at 4.5kHz.
  • the data transmitted is thus present in the 4.5kHz signal and the 9kHz signal and the 13.5 kHz signal.
  • This provides three sources from which decoding can take place to recover the data. This is very beneficial in the context of noise-cancelling smart-phone systems, where one range of frequencies may be more prone to cancellation on a particular phone.
  • Successful decoding of the transmitted data is more likely when decoding on more than a single frequency. For example, if a particular phone has a weak response at 4.5kHz, the decoded signal may have errors, but decoding at 9kHz or 13.5kHz can resolve the errors.
  • acoustic interface has been described as being for a smoke alarm device, it may be for any other appliance for which status information is to be communicated acoustically to be picked up and decoded by a processor such as a smartphone.

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  • Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Acoustics & Sound (AREA)
  • Multimedia (AREA)
  • Electromagnetism (AREA)
  • General Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • Piezo-Electric Transducers For Audible Bands (AREA)
EP22169570.3A 2021-05-10 2022-04-22 Interface acoustique pour un dispositif d'alarme Active EP4089655B1 (fr)

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Citations (4)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
EP2461299A2 (fr) 2010-12-06 2012-06-06 E.I. Technology Limited Test de dispositif d'alarme utilisant des messages acoustiques à codage temporel
US20130197320A1 (en) * 2012-01-26 2013-08-01 David E. Albert Ultrasonic digital communication of biological parameters
US20160119168A1 (en) * 2014-10-22 2016-04-28 The Board Of Trustees Of The University Of Illinois Communicating through physical vibration
EP3502741A2 (fr) * 2017-12-21 2019-06-26 Aisin Seiki Kabushiki Kaisha Capteur de détection d'obstacles

Patent Citations (4)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
EP2461299A2 (fr) 2010-12-06 2012-06-06 E.I. Technology Limited Test de dispositif d'alarme utilisant des messages acoustiques à codage temporel
US20130197320A1 (en) * 2012-01-26 2013-08-01 David E. Albert Ultrasonic digital communication of biological parameters
US20160119168A1 (en) * 2014-10-22 2016-04-28 The Board Of Trustees Of The University Of Illinois Communicating through physical vibration
EP3502741A2 (fr) * 2017-12-21 2019-06-26 Aisin Seiki Kabushiki Kaisha Capteur de détection d'obstacles

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EP4089655C0 (fr) 2024-07-10

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