An alarm signal responder

Responder arranged to detect and respond to a smoke alarm by producing a secondary alarm signal

The invention provides a responder designed to detect and respond to an alarm signal consisting of burst of energy. The responder comprises a processor (9,fig.2), connected to receive signals derived from a microphone (6,fig.2) and programmed to detect 20 a degree of consistency in one or more characteristics of bursts of sound from a smoke alarm (SD,fig.1) before responding. This is preferably done using means 18 for examining measured periods and/or on/off ratios of the sound bursts. The responder is particularly suited for eliminating problems associated with high false alarm rates, high processor power requirements, and the dependency on knowledge of the characteristics of each smoke alarm.

System for assisting the rescue of vulnerable persons

A system is provided for assisting the rescue of vulnerable persons, such as young children, the elderly, and the disabled, from buildings, particularly by a fire rescue crew. Conventionally, a fire rescue crew, upon entering a burning building 1, will search rooms 1A to 1H in a strictly specified order to ensure that every room is searched. This procedure however does not ensure that top priority is given to rooms that are likely to contain vulnerable persons. This problem is addressed by the disclosed system which utilises a visual signalling unit 5 mounted on or adjacent the door of a room 1F identified as containing a vulnerable person and visible to rescuers in the access area A. The signalling unit 5 comprises a microphone (6,fig.2); means (7-11,fig.2) for processing an output of the microphone to identify a sound emanated from a smoke alarm; and means (12,12A,fig.2) for generating, in response to such detection, a visual signal, visible to rescuers in the access area A. Activation ...

A system for assisting the rescue of vulnerable persons