HK1183091B - Airlock comprising a lighting device - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention relates to an airlock comprising: two walls (106a) defining a passage through which a person can pass; for each wall (106a), a transparent lighting pane (202) extending over at least part of the wall (106a); for at least one of the sections of the lighting pane (202), a light source (206 a-d) intended to light said section and to generate light beams (210) that propagate through the thickness of the lighting pane (202); and, for each lighting pane (202), at least one extraction zone (208) provided on the lighting pane (202) and intended to transmit the light beams (210) towards the face of the person passing through the passage, the light beams (114a) thus transmitted forming, with respect to the plane of the lighting pane (202) from which they emanate, an angle adapted to the geometry of the airlock, such as to optimize the lighting of the person.

Description

Inspection tunnel with illumination device

Technical Field

The invention relates to an inspection channel with an illumination device. The invention is applied to the field of security to ensure the security of entering and exiting a special place.

Background

To check the identity of a person entering a facility, an inspection corridor is provided at the entrance to the facility. Such an examination tunnel has a chamber with an entrance and an exit and a face recognition device for capturing facial images of persons for comparison with a list of suspicious persons.

For optimal acquisition of the facial image in the examination channel, two light sources are preferably provided. The light source is positioned approximately 45 in front of the face when the image is acquired. In addition, the light source has a large area to avoid reflections and hot spots. Therefore, such a light source requires a large space.

However, the inspection channel must be kept at a moderate size, which is not consistent with current light source technology.

Furthermore, in order not to shield the interior of the inspection shaft, the walls of the inspection shaft must be transparent so that security personnel can monitor the presence of personnel in the inspection shaft.

Disclosure of Invention

The present invention aims to propose a security inspection channel with an improved lighting device without the drawbacks of the prior art.

To this end, an inspection channel is proposed, which has:

two walls defining a passage therebetween for the entry of a person,

a transparent lighting glass extending, for each wall, over at least a portion of said wall,

-a light source for illuminating at least one edge of the glass, said light source being intended to illuminate said edge, producing a light beam propagating over the thickness of the illuminating glass,

-extraction areas, for each illuminating glazing, at least one extraction area being arranged on the illuminating glazing for propagating the light beam towards the face of the person passing through the passage, the light beam thus propagated forming an angle suitable for the geometry of the inspection passage with respect to the plane of the illuminating glazing producing the light beam, so as to optimize the illumination of the person.

Advantageously, the light beam thus propagated forms an angle of 30 ° to 60 °.

Advantageously, the light beam thus propagated forms an angle of about 45 °.

According to a particular embodiment, each exit area has a first area arranged on the outer surface of the illuminating glazing and a second area arranged on the inner surface of the illuminating glazing, the first area having means for modifying the reflection law of the light beam on said outer surface so that the light beam is reflected towards said inner surface, propagating through it, and the second area having directing means for causing the light beam to propagate towards the face of the person.

Advantageously, the means of the first region are constituted by a scattering paint sheet.

Advantageously, the means of the second area are constituted by prisms.

Advantageously, the prism is bonded by its tip to the illuminating glass.

According to another particular embodiment, each extraction area has a prism which is arranged with its base on the inner surface of the illuminating glass.

Advantageously, the prism is mounted on the inner surface of the illuminating glass by means of a light coupling device.

Advantageously, the inspection corridor has a single light source with at least two exit areas at different distances from said light source, the surface of each exit area being such that the light intensity received by the face of the person from each exit area is substantially the same.

Advantageously, the illuminating glazing has, with respect to the glazing illuminated by said light source, auxiliary spreading means arranged along said opposite edges for spreading the light beam towards the face of the person.

Drawings

The above and other features of the invention will be more apparent from the following description of embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a schematic top view of an inspection tunnel of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a side view of one wall of the inspection tunnel of FIG. 1 in accordance with one particular embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a top view of the glass sheet of the wall according to the first embodiment of the invention shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a view similar to FIG. 3 showing a second embodiment of the invention; and

FIG. 5 is similar to FIG. 2 and shows a particular embodiment of the present invention.

Detailed Description

Fig. 1 shows an inspection corridor 100 through which a person 102 passes, the person 102 walking in the direction of an arrow 104, the arrow 104 showing the direction of travel of the person 102 in the inspection corridor 100.

The inspection tunnel 100 has two walls 106a and 106b defining a tunnel 108 therebetween through which the person 102 passes. The inspection tunnel 100 has an entrance 110 for the person 102 to enter the tunnel 108 and an exit 112 for the person 102 to exit the tunnel 108.

An image capturing device 120 is arranged near the exit 112 for capturing an image of the face of the person 102. The image capture device 120 is part of a more complete face recognition device that also compares the captured facial image to facial images that are included in a database.

Each wall 106a, 106b has an illumination device, which will be described later, which generates a light beam 114a and 114b, respectively, the light beams 114a and 114b being directed to illuminate the face of the person 102 when the person 102 walks into the examination tunnel 100, the image being acquired optimally by the image acquisition device 120, making the acquired image as usable as possible.

In the figure, arrows 114a and 114b show the main illumination directions, which correspond to the main directions of the propagating light lobes (lightlobes). Thus, each light flap has an illuminated area towards the face of the person 102, and each light flap is successively closed as the person 102 walks in, thereby ensuring proper illumination along the pathway 108.

Fig. 2 shows a particular embodiment of wall 106a, however, the other wall 106b has the same features.

The wall 106a has an illumination window 202 extending over a portion of the wall 106a arranged to illuminate the face of the person 102 entering the examination channel 100 when the facial image is acquired.

The illumination windows 202 of the two walls 106a and 106b face each other to ensure that the illumination is uniform on both sides of the face of the person 102.

Each illumination window 202 is made of a transparent material, such as glass, PPMA (plexiglass), etc., that allows security personnel outside the inspection lane 100 to monitor the behavior of the person 102 in the inspection lane 100. In this case, monitoring is facilitated if the remainder of the wall 106a is also transparent.

Obviously, it is possible to design the lighting window 202 to cover the wall 106a entirely. In this case, the entire wall 106a, 106b is transparent.

In other words, the illumination window 202 extends over and is in the same plane as at least a portion of the wall 106 a.

Here, the illumination window 202 is bounded by four sides 204 a-d.

Corresponding to each edge 204a-d is a side of the illumination window 202, which extends over the thickness of the illumination window 202.

The light sources 206a-d are arranged along at least one side, here four sides corresponding to the four sides 204a-d, the light sources 206a-d illuminating the relevant side into the illumination window 202.

Each light source 206a-d takes the form of, for example, a fluorescent tube or an electroluminescent diode (LED).

Each light beam 210 so generated propagates through the thickness of the illumination window 202 that directs the light beam 210.

The angles at which the light sources 206a-d emit light beams are selected such that the light beams 210 may be reflected within the lighting window 202 without being unduly transmitted out of the lighting glass 202.

For a proper propagation of the light beam 210, i.e. for a light beam 210 illuminating the face of the person 102 at a proper angle for best possible illumination, the illuminating glass 202 has at least one exit area 208, each for leaving at said angle some of the light beams 114a, 114b of the illuminating glass 202.

Optimally, the exit angle of the propagated light beams 114a, 114b is about 45 ° with respect to the plane of the illuminating glass 202, shining from the illuminating glass 202 towards the entrance 110.

However, the exit angle of the propagated beams 114a, 114b may be different depending on the geometry of the inspection channel 100. In practice, the width and length of the inspection channel 100 may vary from one inspection channel 100 to another, and the exit angle of the propagating beams 114a and 114b must be adapted to this geometry to optimize the illumination of the person.

Thus, the exit angle of the propagating beams 114a, 114b is preferably 30-60.

Fig. 3 illustrates a particular embodiment of the lead-out area 208. Each exit area 208 comprises a first area 302 and a second area 304, the second area 304 being arranged on the inner surface of the illuminating glass 202 facing the channel 108, i.e. facing the interior of the inspection channel 100. The first region 302 is arranged on the other side of the illuminating glass 202, i.e. the side facing the outside of the inspection channel 100, which constitutes the outer surface of the illuminating glass 202.

The first region 302 includes means for altering the reflection law of the light beam 210 within the illuminating glass 202 on the outer surface, causing the light beam 210 to reflect towards the inner surface and propagate therethrough. The second region 304 comprises means for directing the propagated light beam 114a in a suitable manner, i.e. towards the face of the person 102.

Each first area 302 corresponds to one second area 304, which are arranged face to face on both sides of the illuminating glass 202.

The first region 302 may take the form of a sheet of scattering coating, for example.

The second region 304 may take the form of, for example, a prism, such as a polyester or polycarbonate film, that supports a grooved surface structure in the form of a microprism having a symmetrical or asymmetrical profile. The height of the symmetric microprisms is, for example, about 100 μm. The angle of the prism is selected to obtain the desired angle for propagating the beam 114 a.

In the embodiment of fig. 3, the prism is bonded to the illuminating glass 202 by its tip.

Fig. 4 illustrates another particular embodiment of the lead-out area 208. Each extraction area 208 has the form of a sheet 402 that is optically coupled to the inner surface of the illuminating glass 202.

Sheet 402 serves to properly orient the propagated light beam 114 a. Sheet 402 comprises, for example, prisms such as polyester or polycarbonate film that support grooved surface structures in the form of microprisms having a symmetrical or asymmetrical profile. The height of the symmetric microprisms is, for example, about 100 μm. The angle of the prism is selected to achieve the desired angle of the propagated beam 114 a.

In the embodiment shown in fig. 4, the prism is bonded by its base to an illuminating glass 202.

Each sheet 402 is secured to the illuminating glass 202 by a light coupling means, such as a refractive index liquid or a transparent optical adhesive, which improves the light coupling between the two and propagates the light beam 210 out of the illuminating glass 202.

Obviously, other means of extracting beams 114a and 114b may be provided. In particular, a prism may be engraved on the illuminating glass 202.

The number and distribution of the sheets 302, 304, and 402 depends on many parameters, such as the material comprising the illuminating glass 202, the optical power output by the light sources 206a-d, and so forth.

According to a particular embodiment of the invention, each sheet 302, 304, 402 is a square with a side length of 3 centimeters, spaced from each other by about 3 centimeters.

In the embodiment shown in fig. 3, the area of the sheet 304 may be 30% to 80%, preferably about 70%, of the total area of the illuminating glass 202.

Sheets 304 and 402 are made of polyester or polycarbonate film, engraved with prisms of 50 or 200 microns in height and provided with a pattern reproduction step.

The angle of the prism is selected in the main direction (45 °) required for the extraction of the light beams 114a and 114 b.

The present invention avoids having a thickness margin on the illumination glass 202 of the inspection channel 100, the propagating beams 114a and 114b are optimally oriented, and are easily adjusted by replacing the prism.

The distribution of patches may also adjust the illumination of the facial image capture area.

Fig. 5 illustrates a particular distribution of the present invention using the sheet 402 shown in fig. 4.

The illuminating glass 202 is illuminated by a single light source 206a only along one side 204a thereof. Here, the side 204a is arranged on the side of the outlet 112, i.e. upstream with respect to the advancing direction of the person 102.

The embodiment shown in fig. 5 has three lead-out areas 502a-c, that is to say at least two lead-out areas.

The exit areas 502a-c are arranged at different distances from the light source 206 a.

Each extraction area 502a-c is made up of one or more tiles 402 distributed to achieve a substantially uniform illumination distribution along the channel 108.

The first extraction region 502a, which is closest to the light source 206a, has a minimum area, here, it has only one tile 402.

The second exit region 502b is slightly further from the light source 206a, here consisting of three sheets 402, the total area of which is larger than the area of only one sheet 402. Since the second lead-out region 502b is farther from the light source 206a than the first lead-out region 502a, it transmits less light intensity for the same area, and thus, installing a second lead-out region 502b having a larger area can compensate for such a deficiency.

The third lead-out regions 502c function identically, which means that the total area of the third lead-out regions 502c is larger than the total area of the second lead-out regions 502 b. In the embodiment of the present invention shown here, the third lead-out area 502c has five pieces 402.

Thus, the area of each exit region 502a-c is such that the light intensity received by the face of the person 102 from each exit region 502a-c is substantially the same.

It will be apparent that the size and location of the sheet 402 for each exit region 502a-c and the number of exit regions 502a-c may be different, so long as the intensity of illumination produced by each exit region 502a-c is substantially the same for a person entering the inspection channel 100.

Each extraction area 502a-c is positioned substantially vertically on the illuminating glass 202.

The auxiliary propagation means 504 are arranged along the side opposite to the side illuminated by said light source 206a, i.e. here along the side 204c extending parallel to the side 204 a. The auxiliary propagation device 504 is used to propagate the light beam 210 propagating outwards in the illuminating glass 202, thus providing auxiliary illumination of the face of the person 102.

The auxiliary propagation means 504 take the form of, for example, a prism, which is bonded on the side of the illuminating glass 202 by an optical adhesive.

It is clear that the invention is not limited to the examples and embodiments described and illustrated, but encompasses numerous variants that can be implemented by the person skilled in the art.

Claims (29)

1. An inspection channel (100) comprising:

-two walls (106a, 106b) defining between them a passage (108) for the passage of a person (102),

-a transparent lighting glass (202) for each wall (106a, 106b) and extending over at least a portion of said each wall (106a, 106b),

-a light source (206a-d) for illuminating at least one edge of the glass (202), the light source (206a-d) for illuminating the edge and generating a light beam (210) propagating over the thickness of the illuminating glass (202),

-at least one exit area (208) for each illuminating glass (202), said at least one exit area (208) being arranged on said illuminating glass (202) for propagating said light beam (210) towards the face of the person (102) passing through said passage (108), so that the propagated light beam (114a, 114b) forms an angle adapted to the geometry of said inspection passage (100) with respect to the plane of said illuminating glass (202) from which the light beam emanates, so as to optimize the illumination of the person (102).

2. The inspection tunnel (100) of claim 1, whereby the propagated light beams (114a, 114b) form an angle of 30 ° -60 °.

3. The inspection tunnel (100) of claim 1, whereby the propagated light beams (114a, 114b) form an angle of about 45 °.

4. The inspection tunnel (100) of claim 1, each exit area (208) comprising a first area (302) arranged on an outer surface of the illuminating glass (202) and a second area (304) arranged on an inner surface of the illuminating glass (202), the first area (302) comprising means for altering the reflection law of the light beam (210) on the outer surface so as to cause the light beam to reflect towards and propagate through the inner surface, the second area (304) comprising means for directing the propagated light beam (114a, 114b) towards the face of the person (102).

5. The inspection tunnel (100) of claim 2, wherein each exit area (208) comprises a first area (302) arranged on an outer surface of the illuminating glass (202) and a second area (304) arranged on an inner surface of the illuminating glass (202), the first area (302) comprising means for changing the reflection law of the light beam (210) on the outer surface so as to cause the light beam to reflect towards and propagate through the inner surface, the second area (304) comprising means for directing the propagated light beam (114a, 114b) towards the face of the person (102).

6. The inspection tunnel (100) of claim 3, each exit area (208) comprising a first area (302) arranged on an outer surface of the illuminating glass (202) and a second area (304) arranged on an inner surface of the illuminating glass (202), the first area (302) comprising means for changing the reflection law of the light beam (210) on the outer surface so as to cause the light beam to reflect towards and propagate through the inner surface, the second area (304) comprising means for directing the propagated light beam (114a, 114b) towards the face of the person (102).

7. The inspection tunnel (100) of claim 4, wherein the means of the first region (302) is comprised of a scattering paint sheet.

8. The inspection tunnel (100) of claim 5, wherein the means of the first region (302) is comprised of a scattering paint sheet.

9. The inspection tunnel (100) of claim 6, wherein the means of the first region (302) is comprised of a scattering paint sheet.

10. The inspection tunnel (100) of claim 4, wherein the means of the second region (304) is constituted by a prism.

11. The inspection tunnel (100) of claim 5, wherein the means of the second region (304) is constituted by a prism.

12. The inspection tunnel (100) of claim 6, wherein the means of the second region (304) is constituted by a prism.

13. The inspection tunnel (100) of claim 7, wherein the means of the second region (304) is constituted by a prism.

14. The inspection tunnel (100) of claim 8, wherein the means of the second region (304) is constituted by a prism.

15. The inspection tunnel (100) of claim 9, wherein the means of the second region (304) is constituted by a prism.

16. The inspection channel (100) of claim 10, wherein the prism is bonded to the illumination glass (202) by its tip.

17. The inspection channel (100) of claim 11, characterized in that the prism is glued by its tip to the illuminating glass (202).

18. The inspection channel (100) of claim 12, wherein the prism is bonded to the illumination glass (202) by its tip.

19. The inspection channel (100) of claim 13, wherein the prism is bonded to the illumination glass (202) by its tip.

20. The inspection channel (100) of claim 14, wherein the prism is bonded to the illumination glass (202) by its tip.

21. The inspection channel (100) of claim 15, wherein the prism is bonded to the illumination glass (202) by its tip.

22. The inspection tunnel (100) of claim 1, wherein each exit area (208) comprises a prism arranged with its base on an inner surface of the illuminating glass (202).

23. The inspection tunnel (100) of claim 2, wherein each exit area (208) comprises a prism arranged with its base on an inner surface of the illuminating glass (202).

24. The inspection tunnel (100) of claim 3, wherein each exit area (208) comprises a prism arranged with its base on an inner surface of the illuminating glass (202).

25. The inspection tunnel (100) of claim 22, wherein the prism is fixed on the inner surface of the illumination glass (202) by an optical coupling device.

26. The inspection tunnel (100) of claim 23, wherein the prism is fixed on the inner surface of the illumination glass (202) by an optical coupling device.

27. The inspection tunnel (100) of claim 24, wherein the prism is fixed on an inner surface of the illumination glass (202) by an optical coupling device.

28. The inspection tunnel (100) of one of claims 1 to 27, comprising a single light source (206a), the inspection tunnel comprising at least two exit areas (502a-c) at different distances from the light source (206a), the surface of each exit area (502a-c) being arranged such that the light intensity received by the face of the person (102) from each exit area (502a-c) is the same.

29. The inspection tunnel (100) of claim 28, wherein an opposite side of the illuminating glass (202) opposite to the side illuminated by the light source (206a) has auxiliary propagation means (504), the auxiliary propagation means (504) being arranged along the opposite side and being for propagating the light beam (210) towards the face of the person (102).