The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Nov. 10, 2009
Filed:
Mar. 16, 2005
Raymond A. Vincent, Plymouth, MI (US);
Raymond A. Vincent, Plymouth, MI (US);
Masco Corporation of Indiana, Indianapolis, IN (US);
Abstract
A plumbing device uses electronic control circuitry with two infrared emitters and one infrared receiver to detect objects in a particular region of space. In one embodiment, detection of an object using both sensors (in sequential scans) results in the plumbing device turning on. When no object has been detected for a certain amount of time, the plumbing device is turned off. Also, when the plumbing device has run for another certain amount of time, the plumbing device is turned off regardless of whether an object is still being detected. In another embodiment, the output of the IR emitters is partially blocked by one or more mask elements to tailor the region that is covered by both IR emitters and, hence, the region that triggers the opening of the plumbing device valve.