(12) United States Patent
`(10) Patent N0.:
`US 8,672,513 B2
`(45) Date of Patent:
`Mar. 18, 2014
`Redpath et a1.
`
`U8008672513B2
`
`METHOD OF USING LIGHT STRIPING FOR
`FIRE RESCUE NAVIGATION
`
`(56)
`
`References Cited
`U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS
`
`54)
`
`76)
`
`Inventors: Richard Redpath, Cary, NC (US);
`James Redpath, Cary, NC (US)
`
`
`
`*)
`
`Notice:
`
`Subject to any disclaimer, the term of this
`patent is extended or adjusted under 35
`U.S.C. 154(b) by 0 days.
`
`21)
`
`Appl. N0.: 13/601,559
`
`22)
`
`Filed:
`
`Aug. 31, 2012
`
`65)
`
`Prior Publication Data
`
`US 2012/0326635 A1
`
`Dec. 27, 2012
`
`Related US. Application Data
`
`(63)
`
`(51)
`
`(52)
`
`(58)
`
`Continuation-in-part of application No. 13/013,427,
`filed on Jan. 25, 2011, now abandoned.
`
`(2006.01)
`
`Int. Cl.
`G02B 27/20
`US. Cl.
`USPC ............................ 362/259; 362/103; 362/253
`Field of Classification Search
`USPC ................... 362/259, 103, 108, 234, 253; 2/5
`See application file for complete search history.
`
`140
`
`................ 359/1961
`2/2000 Cotty et al.
`6,031,649 A *
`4/2004 Billmers et al.
`...... 356/504
`6,724,467 B1 *
`
`340/6935
`3/2005 Popps et al.
`6,864,799 B2 *
`
`7,614,765 B2 * 11/2009 Reason .......
`362/259
`1/2013 Redpath et a1.
`.
`8,360,612 B2 *
`362/259
`
`2004/0012962 A1 *
`1/2004 Wolf ...........
`362/259
`.................... 362/259
`2009/0086489 Al *
`4/2009 Scott et al.
`
`* cited by examiner
`
`Primary Examiner 7 Peggy A. Neils
`(74) Allorng), Agent, or Firm 7 Ming Chow; Sinorica, LLC
`
`ABSTRACT
`(57)
`The present invention provides a method of using a laser
`lighting apparatus for fire rescue navigation in a smoke—filled
`structure. The laser lighting apparatus is portably carried at a
`user’s body and directly operated by the user to perform the
`steps of turning the laser lighting apparatus on to output one
`or more coherent light planes; projecting the one or more
`coherent light planes on objects in the smoke-filled structure
`to produce one or more light stripes on surfaces ofthe objects;
`and identifying the objects in the smoke-filled structure from
`the one or more light stripes.
`
`5 Claims, 3 Drawing Sheets
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`130
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`120
`150
`laser diode
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`Parhelion, | 0.
`EXHIBIT
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`0000303
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`US. Patent
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`Mar. 18, 2014
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`Sheet 1 013
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`US 8,672,513 132
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`Figure 1;
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`00003 04
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`US. Patent
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`Mar. 18, 2014
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`Sheet 2 0f 3
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`US 8,672,513 B2
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`2813
`g.NA«W“N2M“N«Mw“«N2«NN.mw.“NM‘wW«AWKMNxWKM.2‘«Kw“w«ANWM.2«N«w~AR“WNW..«x2MN««M\w««w\\w.mw\w.mw« «mi
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`figure 2
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`US. Patent
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`Mar. 18, 2014
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`Sheet 3 of3
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`US 8,672,513 B2
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`US 8,672,513 B2
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`measurements, and is aimed at providing an improved light-
`ing apparatus and method for illumination and navigation in
`smoke—filled structures.
`
`SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
`
`According to an aspect of the current invention, a laser
`lighting apparatus for fire rescue navigation is disclosed in
`View of the above problems associated with existing smoke
`area lighting devices. The laser lighting apparatus utilizes a
`laser source together With a diffraction grating to create one or
`more light planes projecting on objects in a smoke-filled
`structure and thus allow a human being, e.g. a firefighter
`therein to identify obstacles or exits and implement effective
`emergency rescue. The apparatus only needs a single laser
`source but allows for one or more light planes to illuminate
`and navigate the smoke-filled structure, thereby addressing
`the emergency use of power and limiting the detrimental
`result of heat dissipation.
`Due to the use of a diffraction grating in the laser lighting
`apparatus, the laser beam emitted by the single laser source
`may be diffracted by the diffraction grating into a laser light
`plane that can penetrate a smoke-filled structure, project onto
`objects Within the smoke-filled structure and create a 3D
`visual effect therein. Therefore, the contours of the projected
`objects can be easily identified by the firefighter.
`According another aspect of the current
`invention, a
`method of using the laser lighting apparatus for fire rescue is
`disclosed. When a user, e.g. a firefighter, carrying the laser
`lighting apparatus of the invention on his/her body enters a
`smoke—filled building, the laser lighting apparatus can be
`controlled by the user to turn on and output one or more light
`planes. The one or more light planes will project on objects in
`the building, thereby producing deformed light stripes on
`surfaces of the objects that can be observed by the firefighter
`for recognizing the obj ects in the building.
`
`BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
`
`1
`METHOD OF USING LIGHT STRIPING FOR
`FIRE RESCUE NAVIGATION
`
`The present application is a continuation-in-part applica-
`tion of, and claims a priority to the US. Non-provisional
`application Ser. No. 13/013,427 filed on Jan. 25, 2011 now
`abandoned.
`
`BACKGROUND
`
`1. Field of the Invention
`
`The present invention relates to a method for fire rescue
`navigation, and more particularly relates to a method ofusing
`light striping to provide illumination and navigation in
`smoke-filled structures.
`2. Description of the Prior Art
`Visibility inside a burning building is very limited because
`ofheavy smoke or flame. When a building is on fire, firefight-
`ers have to enter various parts of the building for emergency
`rescue, but because of poor visibility in the smoke-filled
`building, the firefighters may become disorientated and may
`be unable to find exits or notice holes or damages in the floor,
`which is very dangerous and also makes it hard to implement
`effective rescue. So smoke area lighting is a critical problem
`for fire rescue. The typical practice is to place a flashlight at
`the exit, with the beam of the flashlight pointing in the direc—
`tion from which the firefighter expects to exit later. However,
`the flashlight beam usually does not penetrate very far. This is
`because the flashlight emits white or incoherent light. The full
`spectrum light illuminates the smoke molecules which reflect
`the light, thereby reducing penetration of the flashlight beam
`through the smoke and also causing blinding light to occur.
`Coherent light such as a laser beam can penetrate smoke
`areas without the blinding reflection of commonly used flash—
`light sources and thus be considered as a distinguished light—
`ing source for use in smoke-filled structures. But a single laser
`beam still cannot achieve a satisfactory lighting effect for fire
`rescue since a single laser beam is simply a point when
`projected on an object. Meanwhile, using multiple lasers
`would be an issue as each laser requires power supply and
`heat dissipation, and thus would increase the power consump-
`tion and the limitation of the operating environment. There-
`fore, a new technique is desirable to use a single laser source
`to produce multiple beams ofcoherent light, one or more light
`planes for illumination and navigation in smoke-filled struc-
`tures.
`
`In addition, prior arts of using a light striping method to
`reconstruct a 3D dimensional form of an object have existed
`since the 1980’s in the field of 3D measurements. A light
`striping vision system uses one or more light stripes projected
`onto a 3D object by a line laser source to detect the image
`coordinates of the light stripes and obtain 3D coordinates of
`the surface points ofan object. The line laser source generates
`one or more coherent light planes that can create a 3D Visual
`effect when illuminating an indoor space. So it can be con-
`ceived to utilize a similar light striping Vision system to
`provide illumination and navigation for fire rescue.
`The conventional light striping vision system has never
`been envisioned for fire rescue navigation and never been
`designed as a portable device that can be easily carried and
`directly controlled by a human being. In this respect, the laser
`lighting apparatus and method for fire rescue navigation of
`the current invention substantially departs from the conven-
`tional design of light striping vision systems for 3D object
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`FIG. 1 schematically illustrates a laser lighting apparatus
`for fire rescue navigation according to an embodiment of the
`present invention;
`FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating the use of the
`laser lighting apparatus of FIG. 1 in a smoke-filled room
`according to an embodiment of the present invention; and
`FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating a projected light
`stripe in the smoke-filled room of FIG. 2 that can be used for
`naviga ion therein.
`
`DETAIL DESCRIPTIONS OF THE INVENTION
`
`The particulars ofthe invention will become apparent from
`the fol owing detailed discussion of preferred embodiments
`of the invention with reference to the accompanying draw-
`ings.
`FIG. 1 schematically illustrates anexemplary laser lighting
`apparatus 100 according to an embodiment of the invention.
`The laser lighting apparatus 100 comprises a laser diode 110
`for emitting a laser beam 120 and a diffraction grating 130 for
`receiving the laser beam 120, diffracting the laser beam 120
`and generating an outgoing light beam 150. One skilled in the
`art of creating enclosures for lighting can be referenced to
`apply an enclosure for the embodiment, so as to get a product
`of laser lighting apparatus for use in fire rescue.
`Because of the effect of diffraction, a projection of the
`outgoing light beam 150 ofthe laser lighting apparatus 100 on
`a flat target normal thereto is a light stripe as illustrated at 140,
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`0000307
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`US 8,672,513 B2
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`3
`from which it can be appreciated that the outgoing laser beam
`150 is actually a light plane containing multiple dilfracted
`light beams propagating in different directions on the light
`plane. Additionally,
`in order to get more light planes for
`illumination and navigation, the diffraction grating 130 can
`be configured as a multiline diffraction grating that is com-
`posed of multiple diffraction gratings parallel to each other.
`For instance, a projection of the outgoing light beam 150
`generated from a multiline diffraction grating is illustrated as
`three light stripes at 145, wherein the multiline diffraction
`grating comprises
`three parallel diffraction gratings.
`Although more light stripes may cover a larger illumination
`and navigation space, it has been discovered that the number
`of laser lines should be limited as the walking of a human
`being, e.g. a firefighter could be disoriented with too much
`shaking information.
`For the purpose of use in fire rescue, the laser diode 110
`may be designed to produce green (~532 nm) or blue (445-
`475 nm) light as the green or blue light will contrast with fire
`lit areas to distinguish the lighting source. Also, scotopic
`vision (i.e. the Vision ofthe eye under low light conditions) is
`stronger for blue to green light.
`Referring to FIG. 2, a top view 200 of a smoke—filled room
`is schematically illustrated. For example, a firefighter 205 is
`entering the smoke-filled room, and the firefighter 205 has a
`portable laser lighting apparatus 210 of the present invention
`mounted at his/her body. When the firefighter 205 is walking
`to a doorway 240 ofthe room, the firefighter 205 can turn the
`laser lighting apparatus 210 on. As discussed above, the laser
`lighting apparatus 210 will emit a light plane herein marked
`as 220. The light plane 220 may propagate forward and strike
`a wall 230 atboth sides ofthe doorway 240 and firrther strikes
`a wall 250 behind the doorway 240. As a result, a light stripe
`is projected on the surface of the wall 230 and the surface of
`a part ofthe wall 250 behind the doorway 240. The light stripe
`will be observed as a broken line indicating that the doorway
`240 is present. Then the firefighter 205 can follow the light
`stripe to identify the doorway 240 and eventually find an exit
`260 of the room. The projected light stripe is illustrated in
`FIG. 3 by a broken stripe 300. The broken stripe 300 provides
`a 3D visual effect to the firefighter 205 and thus can assist the
`firefighter 205 to identify objects in the smoke-filled room.
`In this embodiment, the laser lighting apparatus 210 is
`designed as a portable device and mounted at the front body
`of the firefighter 205, so that while the firefighter 205 is
`walking through the smoke-filled room, the light plane 220
`from the laser lighting apparatus 210 always projects on
`surfaces of those objects in front of the firefighter 205 and
`allows the firefighter 205 to recognize the contours of the
`objects in the room. Meanwhile, the light plane 220 can easily
`penetrate smoke areas since the light plane 220 is actually
`composed of numerous coherent light beams Therefore, the
`laser lighting apparatus according to the embodiment can
`provide effective navigation in the smoke-filled room.
`In addition, as illustrated in FIG. 1, a multiline diffraction
`grating can be employed to configure the laser lighting appa-
`ratus of the invention. In this case, multiple parallel light
`planes can be generated from the laser lighting apparatus, and
`consequently multiple parallel light stripes would be pro—
`jected on a surface of an object in front of the multiple light
`planes. For example, the broken stripe 300 in FIG. 3 may
`become multiple broken stripes parallel to each other. Three
`parallel light stripes may be preferably generated from the
`laser lighting apparatus, so that the lower light stripe can be
`very low to project on the floor of a smoke-filled room for
`identifying holes or damages in the floor, the center light strip
`can illuminate objects in front of the user for walking navi-
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`gation and the higher light strip can project on anything
`hanging down from the ceiling of the room for identifying
`those objects above the user. Furthermore, instead of being
`mounted at a user’s body, the laser lighting apparatus of the
`invention can be placed at any appropriate locations in a
`smoke-filled structure for illumination and navigation.
`Although a particular embodiment of the invention has
`been described in detail for purposes of illustration, other
`embodiments of the invention will be apparent to those
`skilled in the art from consideration of the specification and
`practice of the invention disclosed herein. It is intended that
`the specification and examples be considered as exemplary
`only, with a true scope and spirit of the invention being
`indicated by the following claims.
`The invention claimed is:
`1. A method of using a laser lighting apparatus for fire
`rescue navigation in a smoke-filled structure, comprising:
`carrying said laser lighting apparatus at a user’ 5 body when
`operating the device, wherein said laser lighting appa-
`ratus being directly operated by the user;
`turning the laser lighting apparatus on to output one or
`more coherent light planes;
`projecting the one or more coherent light planes on objects
`in the smoke-filled structure to produce one or more light
`stripes on surfaces of the objects;
`identifying the objects in the smoke-filled structure from
`the one or more light stripes;
`the laser lighting apparatus includes a diffraction grating
`and only one laser diode;
`the diffraction grating diffracts a laser beam emitted by the
`laser diode to generate the one or more coherent light
`planes;
`the diffraction grating is a multiline diffraction grating that
`is composed of multiple diffraction gratings parallel to
`each other; and
`the one or more coherent light planes are green or blue
`light.
`2. A method of using a laser lighting apparatus for fire
`rescue navigation in a smoke-filled structure, comprising:
`carrying said laser lighting apparatus at auser’s body when
`operating the device, wherein said laser lighting appa-
`ratus being directly operated by the user;
`turning the laser lighting apparatus on to output one or
`more coherent light planes;
`projecting the one or more coherent light planes on objects
`in the smoke-filled structure to produce one or more light
`stripes on surfaces of the objects;
`identifying the objects in the smoke—filled structure from
`the one or more light stripes;
`the laser lighting apparatus includes a diffraction grating
`and only one laser diode;
`the diffraction grating diffiacts a laser beam emitted by the
`laser diode to generate the one or more coherent light
`planes; and
`the one or more coherent light planes are green or blue
`light.
`3. The method of using the laser lighting apparatus for fire
`rescue navigation in the smoke-filled structure of claim 2,
`wherein
`the diffraction grating is a multiline diffraction grating that
`is composed of multiple diffraction gratings parallel to
`mch other.
`4. A method of using a laser lighting apparatus for fire
`rescue navigation in a smoke-filled structure, comprising:
`carrying said laser lighting apparatus at auser’s body when
`operating the device, wherein said laser lighting appa-
`ratus being directly operated by the user;
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`US 8,672,513 B2
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`5
`turning the laser lighting apparatus on to output one or
`more coherent light planes;
`projecting the one or more coherent light planes on obj ects
`in the smoke-filled structure to produce one or more light
`stripes on surfaces of the objects; and
`identifying the objects in the smoke-filled structure from
`the one or more light stripes, wherein
`the laser lighting apparatus includes a diffraction grating
`and only one laser diode
`the diffraction grating diffracts a laser beam emitted by the
`laser diode to generate the one or more coherent light
`planes; and
`the diffraction grating is a multiline diffraction grating that
`is composed of multiple diffraction gratings parallel to
`each other.
`5. The method of using the laser lighting apparatus for fire
`rescue navigation in the smoke-filled structure of claim 4,
`wherein the one or more coherent light planes are green or
`blue light.
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