US 12,469,381 B2
Industrial device to personal protective equipment alert delivery
Brian J. Swift, Woodbury, MN (US); Gary R. Stephany, Stillwater, MN (US); and Michael G. Wurm, Waukesha, WI (US)
Assigned to 3M Innovative Properties Company, St. Paul, MN (US)
Appl. No. 17/755,933
Filed by 3M INNOVATIVE PROPERTIES COMPANY, St. Paul, MN (US)
PCT Filed Nov. 16, 2020, PCT No. PCT/IB2020/060783
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date May 12, 2022,
PCT Pub. No. WO2021/099920, PCT Pub. Date May 27, 2021.
Claims priority of provisional application 62/937,436, filed on Nov. 19, 2019.
Prior Publication US 2022/0383730 A1, Dec. 1, 2022
Int. Cl. G08C 17/02 (2006.01); G08B 21/02 (2006.01)
CPC G08C 17/02 (2013.01) [G08B 21/02 (2013.01); G08C 2201/42 (2013.01)] 21 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A system comprising:
an article of personal protective equipment (PPE);
an industrial controller device that is configured to control an industrial device;
a first computing device communicatively coupled to the industrial controller device and comprising a first computer processor and a first memory; and
a second computing device communicatively coupled to the article of PPE and comprising a second computer processor and a second memory;
wherein the first memory comprises at least one first instruction that, when executed by the first computer processor, causes the first computer processor to, in response to detecting an industrial controller event that corresponds to an abnormality associated with at least one of a temperature, an output rate, a vibration, a sound emission, a component speed, an operating rate, an air hazard level, a sound hazard level, or a radiation level associated with an operation of the industrial device, wirelessly broadcast an event message, based at least in part on the industrial controller event, that solicits an action from a worker, wherein the event message includes (i) severity information associated with the industrial controller event; and (ii) a worker group identifier associated with a work zone that includes a region encompassed by a defined boundary that includes a location of the industrial device;
wherein the second memory comprises at least one second instruction that, when executed by the second computer processor, causes the second computer processor to:
in response to receiving the event message that is wirelessly broadcasted, generate an output for the worker associated with the article of PPE that solicits the action from the worker, wherein one or more characteristics of the output are based on the severity information associated with the industrial controller event; and
in response to detecting a user input associated with the article of PPE, send, based at least in part on the event message and the user input, a response from the second computing device to the first computing device,
wherein the first memory comprises at least one third instruction that, when executed by the first computer processor, causes the first computer processor to, in response to receiving the response from the second computing device, stop operation of the industrial controller device.