WO2012101098A1

WO2012101098A1 - Method and device for positioning a trapped individual in case of emergency

Info

Publication number: WO2012101098A1
Application number: PCT/EP2012/050999
Authority: WO
Inventors: Alejandro Ramirez; Dan Yu; Oliver Zechlin; Liang Zhang
Original assignee: Siemens Aktiengesellschaft
Priority date: 2011-01-27
Filing date: 2012-01-24
Publication date: 2012-08-02
Also published as: CN102621520A

Abstract

Proposed in the present invention are a fitting, system and method for positioning a trapped individual in a building in case of emergency, which fitting is to be installed in the building and has information relating to its fitting location and it comprises: a receiving device for receiving a sound signal; a processing device for identifying from the received sound signal a distress signal produced by a trapped individual according to a preset mode; and a transmitting device for sending the identified result and information related to the location of said fitting. The positioning fitting can be used to position the trapped person according to the sound distress signal produced by the trapped person. Such a positioning fitting and system for emergency would not be affected by factors such as smoke, hot air and complicated background noise, so that the identification can be made accurately. Furthermore, such a positioning fitting does not require the individual to carry any transmitting/receiving device, so its use is very convenient.

Description

Method and device for positioning a trapped individual in case of emergency

Technical field

The present invention relates to a method and device for positioning a trapped individual in case of emergency and, particularly, to a method and device for positioning a trap- ped individual in a building in case of emergency.

Background art

In most cases of emergency, for example, when a fire dis^¬ aster or an earthquake happens, it is critical to timely and accurately find and locate the trapped individuals, since on^¬ ly in this way it is possible to perform effective rescue op^¬ erations as soon as possible, thus saving more human lives. Such a positioning system is especially important for build^¬ ings, particularly high-rise buildings, since high-rise buildings are often full of people and their structures are complicated, and once emergencies such as a fire disaster happen, people are likely to be trapped somewhere in the buildings, and at this moment without the help of a position^¬ ing system it would be hard for the rescuers to timely learn in which room or corner there are still living beings.

Generally speaking, positioning systems for emergency si^¬ tuations need to meet requirements such as being convenient to install, accurate in positioning, low in costs and so on. Although various positioning systems have already been pro^¬ posed in the prior art, these positioning systems cannot yet meet the above requirements.

For example, those currently available global positioning systems (GPS) are a type of navigation systems based on sat^¬ ellites, and currently they are widely used for track^¬ ing/positioning outdoor mobile objects. However, GPS signals will be greatly attenuated or fail in an indoor environment due to blockage by the walls and so on, therefore the GPS systems are not suitable for indoor applications. Further^¬ more, the use of the GPSs requires every individual to carry a GPS receiver, which is unrealistic for public places with high personnel mobility (such as shopping malls and so on) and the GPS receivers can be easily lost.

Another currently available positioning system is referred to as the "Active Badge System", which requires each individual to carry a signal generator to periodically send out a unique IR/RF signal, and this unique IR/RF signal is received by a receiver which is installed at a known location and then transmitted to a monitoring center for positioning the same. Similar to the GPSs, the inconvenience of this sys- tern also lies in that it requires every individual to carry a miniature device, and in case of emergency, this miniature device can be easily lost, thus misleading the rescuers.

Furthermore, another frequently used positioning system is to directly identify the appearance of a human body by us^¬ ing a radar device or a video camera installed in the build^¬ ing. Such a system may be more suitable for public places, but it still has defects. For example, such a system usually requires a high-speed processor and auxiliary devices to com- plete the complicated operation of the body identification, and therefore the system costs would be considerable. More^¬ over, complicated algorithms and high-speed operating compo^¬ nents also need to consume a considerable amount of electric^¬ ity, so generally it is difficult to use batteries as its power supply. Therefore, when there is a power failure, such a positioning system would also be inoperative therewith. Furthermore, in the case of a fire disaster or an emergency evacuation, for example, the interference of the flame and the smoke and the complicated background would all reduce the identification performance of the radar devices or the video cameras, especially the identification speed and accuracy. Therefore, those currently available positioning systems cannot yet meet the needs of facilitating the rescuers to ef^¬ fectively carry out the rescue operations in case of emer^¬ gency .

Contents of the invention

An object of the present invention is to provide a posi^¬ tioning system for an emergency situation, which system does not require individuals to carry specific signal transmit- ting/receiving devices and can provide relatively reliable positioning information in a complicated environment.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a positioning system for an emergency situation, which system is able to adapt to a severe environment in case of emergency and has a prolonged period of time for operating.

In order to achieve the above objects, proposed in the present invention is a fitting for positioning a trapped in- dividual in a building in case of emergency, wherein said fitting is to be installed in the building and has informa^¬ tion related to its fitting location and the fitting comprises: a receiving device for receiving a sound signal; a processing device for identifying from the received sound signal a distress signal produced by a trapped individual ac^¬ cording to a preset mode; and a transmitting device for send^¬ ing the identified result and the information related to the location of said fitting. The positioning fitting in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention will position a trapped person according to the sound distress signal produced by the trapped person. Since the distress signal made by a person generally has an apparently unique nature and is easily separated from other background sounds, and moreover, the identification and processing of sound signals are simpler and more feasible as compared to the processing of video signals and will not be affected by factors such as smoke, hot air and complicated background, therefore the solution proposed in the present invention can achieve more accurate identification. Furthermore, such a positioning solution does not require an indi^¬ vidual to carry any transmitting/receiving device, and its fitting is convenient and the problem of losing it would not exist, so it is especially suitable for public places where personnel mobility is high (such as shopping malls, large of^¬ fice buildings, convention and exhibition centers, etc.) . Therefore, the positioning fitting proposed in the present invention is capable of meeting various requirements for po^¬ sitioning in case of emergency.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the distress signal can be a sound signal shouted out by a trapped indi- vidual, such as "help", a baby's crying, etc. The distress signal can also be a sound signal produced in response to an action by a trapped individual, such as clapping sound, knocking sound, etc. These distress signals can be identified by the positioning fitting according to a plurality of preset sound signal modes. For example, the preset mode can comprise a repetitive signal mode or a fixed signal mode or a combina^¬ tion thereof. In this case, the repetitive signal mode refers to a distress signal which is a signal series constituted by a plurality of sound signals which appear repetitively, such as "bang-bang-bang". The interval between the repetitive sig^¬ nals can have certain rules, for example, a periodic signal, or the signal interval increases by 2 times, or the repeti^¬ tive signals form a certain rhythm. The fixed signal mode can comprise various types of signal modes, for example, a sound signal mode such as "help" or a sound signal sequence in Mor^¬ se code, etc. Those skilled in the art would understand that, according to the needs of practical applications, the preset mode is not limited to the above contents and can also con^¬ tain other types of sound signal modes. By using this mode, it no longer requires a trapped person to make a distress signal according to any mode with strict provisions, and the distress signal made by the trapped person can be success^¬ fully distinguished from the complicated background sounds. In an embodiment of the present invention, the positioning fitting is activated only in an emergency situation (i.e. a fire alarm) , so as to save energy and protect the privacy of the users.

In an embodiment of the present invention, in order to save costs, the positioning fitting is deployed at places such as above the existing facility of a building. Prefera^¬ bly, the positioning fitting is deployed on a component (such as a smoke sensor, a temperature sensor, or an optical sen^¬ sor) of a fire alarm system in the building and share the power supply system and the data transmission network with the fire alarm system. In this way, it does not need to lay separate power supply circuits or a transmission network for the positioning fitting, therefore the positioning fitting of the present invention is easy to install in any building which has already been built or is in the process of con^¬ struction . In an embodiment of the present invention, it is consid^¬ ered that an emergency situation, such as a fire disaster, may cause the failure of the power supply system and the transmission network. The positioning fitting of the present invention is further equipped with an energy storage device, which is charged when the power supply system works normally and supplies power to the positioning fitting during a power outage. Furthermore, optionally, the positioning fitting can comprise a wireless unit for sending the identified result and the location information wirelessly. The wireless unit can also form an ad hoc wireless network with the wireless units of other positioning fittings or non-positioning fittings. In this way, even if the fire is severe and causes the failure of the power supply and the transmission system, the positioning fitting according to the present invention can still continue its operation for a certain time period, thus prolonging its effective operating time in an emergency situ^¬ ation . In the embodiments according to the present invention, this positioning fitting can be installed at a fixed loca^¬ tion, such as on the facility (such as a fire alarm system, a socket, a switch, a lighting system, heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems, etc.) of a building, and its loca^¬ tion information can be pre-stored in the fitting, for example a label which is related to its fitting location is pre- stored (such as a floor/room number, or simply a fitting ID, which ID can be associated with the fitting location of the fitting) . This positioning fitting can be installed on a mobile device, which mobile device can carry a location tracking module. After having identified the distress signal of a trapped person, the positioning fitting sends out the identi^¬ fied result together with the current location information obtained from the mobile device.

Furthermore, according to another aspect of the present invention, proposed in the present invention is a monitoring center for locating a trapped individual in a building in ca- se of emergency, which monitoring center comprises: a receiving device for receiving a sound signal detected by a detec^¬ tion fitting installed in the building and information related to the location of said detection fitting; an identification device for identifying from the received sound signal a distress signal produced by a trapped individual according to a preset mode; and a positioning device for positioning the trapped individual according to the identified result and the determined information related to the location. Prefera^¬ bly, the monitoring center determines the location of said trapped individual according to the signals from a plurality of adjacent detection fittings. Therefore, the operation of the monitoring center can enhance the positioning accuracy. At the same time, this point is also very advantageous for accurately identifying a non-periodic distress signal sent from an explosion location.

In addition, according to another aspect of the present invention, proposed in the present invention is a method for locating a trapped individual in a building in case of emer^¬ gency, which method comprises: receiving, by a device in^¬ stalled in the building, a sound signal; identifying from the received sound signal a distress signal produced by a trapped individual according to a preset mode; determining the loca^¬ tion of the device which receives said sound signal; and po^¬ sitioning the trapped individual according to said identified result and the determined location. The above aspects and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent by making reference to the detailed description of the embodiments of the present invention here- inbelow in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. Brief description of the accompanying drawings

The following accompanying drawings are only intended for the illustrative description and explanation of the present invention and are not to limit the scope of the present in^¬ vention. In the drawings,

Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of a way for the deployment of a positioning device according to an embodiment of the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a block structural diagram of the positioning device according to an embodiment of the present invention;

Fig. 3 is a flow chart of the operation of the positioning device according to an embodiment of the present inven^¬ tion;

Fig. 4 is a flow chart of a process for identifying a distress signal according to an embodiment of the present in- vention;

Fig. 5 is a block structural diagram of the positioning device according to another embodiment of the present inven^¬ tion; and

Fig. 6 is a waveform diagram of a periodic distress sig- nal made by a trapped person according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Exemplary embodiments For the sake of better understanding of the technical features, objects, and effects of the present invention, the particular embodiments of the present invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Hereinafter, a device and system for positioning a trapped individual in case of emergency according to the present invention will be described by taking a scenario in which a building catches fire as an example. However, those skilled in the art would understand that the positioning device and system proposed in the present invention are not limited to the applications in buildings, and can also be applied in so^¬ me outdoor circumstances. Fig. 1 shows an exemplary scenario in which a building catches fire. As shown in Fig. 1, it is assumed that a build^¬ ing 100 includes 3 floors with each floor including 3 rooms. As shown in Fig. 1, a conventional fire alarm system is al^¬ ready installed in the building 100. This fire alarm system comprises a detector 110 (such as a smoke sensor) fitted in each room and a monitoring center 130 which is connected to these detectors 110 via a signal transmission network 120 distributed in the building, in which each detector 110 carries a location label indicating its fitting location. Once a certain detector 110 has detected smoke or fire, the monitoring center 130 immediately positions the fire site according to the detected result sent by this detector and the location label of this detector. In the example shown in Fig. 1, the monitoring center 130 can position that fire occurs on all of floors 1 to 3. However, the monitoring center cannot find out that there are two persons A and B trapped respectively in room 1-1 on floor 1 and room 2-3 on floor 2.

In the scenario shown in Fig. 1, a positioning fitting 200 according to an embodiment of the present invention is fitted on the detector 110. In Fig. 1, for the sake of simplicity, only two positioning fittings 200 are shown, however, actually one positioning fitting 200 can be installed on each detector 110. Alternatively, according to practical situations, a plurality of positioning fittings 200 can also be installed and connected to the same detector 110. Each po^¬ sitioning fitting 200 can be pre-stored with a label (ID) as- sociated with its fitting location, same as the detector 110. For example, this ID can be a floor number, a room number, a location number, etc. As another example: this ID can also be simply the serial number of this fitting, and at the monitoring center this ID is already associated with its fitting lo- cation.

Fig. 2 shows the particular structure of the positioning fitting 200 in Fig. 1. As shown in Fig. 2, according to an embodiment of the present invention, the positioning fitting 200 can comprise a sound receiving device 210, a processing device 220 and a transmitting device 230. In the example shown in Fig. 1, the positioning fitting 200 shares the same power supply system with the fire alarm system, and the transmitting device 230 transfers signals via the transmis- sion network 120 which already exists in the fire alarm system.

Fig. 3 shows schematically a flow chart of the operation of the positioning fitting 200 according to the embodiment of the present invention. Hereinafter, the operation process of the positioning fitting according to the present invention will be described in detail in conjunction with Figs. 2 and 3. As shown in Fig. 3, after the positioning fitting 200 has been activated, its receiving device 210 will continuously receive/acquire sound signals and convert the sound signals into electric signals (step S310) . Preferably, in order to avoid acquiring a large amount of unnecessary sound informa- tion, it is possible for the positioning fitting 200 to be activated only after an emergency situation arises (for example, a fire alarm) , and of course, the present invention is not limited to this. When the building is on fire, if there is any individual trapped in the building, the trapped indi^¬ vidual will make a distress signal by a variety of methods. For example, as shown in Fig. 1, a trapped individual A may shout for help, for example shouting "help", "SOS" and so on, while a trapped individual B may make a repetitive distress sound of "bang-bang-bang" by knocking (such as knocking the wall, desk, or clapping, etc.) due to whatever reasons. At this moment, the receiving device 210 of the positioning fit^¬ ting which is located near the trapped individual will cap- ture this distress sound. Here, optionally, the receiving de^¬ vice can further comprise an A/D converter for converting the analog signals of acquired sound into digital signals, so that the processing device 220 can carry out the identifica^¬ tion processing in the digital domain. However, as those skilled in the art would understand, the present invention is not limited to this, and the signal analysis in the analog domain can also be used for the identification operation.

The sound signal received by the receiving device 210 is further transmitted to the processing device 220 for analysis and identification (step S320) . As described above, the dis^¬ tress signal made by the trapped individual usually has a unique nature (for example, it may be a repetitive signal (bang-bang-bang) or a signal in fixed mode (such as an "SOS" signal)), therefore this distress signal can be distinguished from the cluttered background noises caused by the fire by carrying out appropriate analysis or processing thereon. As to distress signals in different modes, the processing device 220 can use different algorithms to carry out the analysis and identification thereon.

Hereinafter, the identification process of the processing device 220 will be described in conjunction with Fig. 4 by first taking a series of periodic distress signals of "bang- bang-bang" as an example. As shown in Fig. 4, first of all, the processing device 220 keeps monitoring the input signals received from the receiving device 210, i.e. it monitors whether the amplitude or energy of such signals exceeds a preset threshold value (step S410) . If it exceeds the thresh^¬ old value, then it indicates that what is found is a possible distress signal, for example, when the first "bang" signal SI is found. In step S420, the processing device 220 continues to search whether there are subsequent possible distress sig^¬ nals. For example, the processing device 220 can compare the energy of the next possible distress signal with the signal energy of the SI or can calculate a correlated coefficient therebetween, so as to decide whether they are repetitive signals (as shown in Fig. 6), and of course, the present in^¬ vention is not limited to these two methods. After a series of repetitive possible distress signals have been found, in step S430, it is determined whether the series of repetitive possible distress signals found by then are distress signals made by a human being. For example, in this example, if the interval between the signals in this signal series is within a reasonable tolerance range, then it is determined that it has identified the distress signals produced by the trapped person, i.e. the trapped person has been found (step S440) .

The identification method shown in Fig. 4 is only exemplary. In other embodiments of the present invention, the above identification method can be further replaced by a spectrum analysis method or a correlation calculation method and so on. In another embodiment, the distress signal may al^¬ so be a signal in the fixed mode, such as the "help" sound shouted out by the trapped individual B. As to such a dis^¬ tress signal in the fixed mode, the processing device can pre-store some pre-defined known distress signal templates. After a possible distress signal which exceeds the threshold value has been received, it can be determined whether it is the distress signal made by a trapped person by comparing the similarity between this possible distress signal and the pre^¬ defined templates. The repetitive mode and the fixed mode can also be used in combination.

Furthermore, preferably, in order to avoid a false alarm, the processing device 220 can further filter the received sound signal so as to remove sound signals which are not pro^¬ duced by a human being. For example, sounds such as music, that of an alarm clock and so on also have a periodic nature, but their periods are accurate and can reach a period length of up to several hundred, which cannot be produced by a human being. As to such a situation, a filter can be used to filter signals with the accurate period and too long a period. In addition, when there is a fire, sounds made by the distortion of the building structure or the breaking of metal pipes may also occur, and the frequency change of such sounds generally has the accurate acceleration or deceleration which cannot be produced by a human being, and therefore the filter can be used to filter them out. The filtering methods applicable in the present invention are not limited to them, and those skilled in the art can also use any other appropriate filter^¬ ing methods according to the actual needs .

Once a trapped person is identified in step S320 of Fig. 3, then the transmitting device 230 transmits this identified result together with the ID associated with the fitting loca^¬ tion to a monitoring center via the transmission network 120 of the fire alarm system (step S330) . Preferably, the trans^¬ mitting device 230 can transmit to the monitoring center a sign which is used to identify whether a trapped person is found and its ID associated with the location, so as to mini^¬ mize the traffic of the network transmission. Optionally, to^¬ gether with the identified result, the transmitting device 230 can further transmit the parameters of a series of iden^¬ tified distress signals to the monitoring center, such as the sound signal's frequency, period, signal's amplitude, etc.

Alternatively, segments of the identified distress signal can also be transmitted to the monitoring center, for the moni^¬ toring center to carry out the verification and the confirmation thereon. As to those misreported or privacy related sound segments, the monitoring center can eliminate them by itself after having them confirmed. Finally, the monitoring center positions the location of the trapped person according to the data received from the positioning fitting, and guides the rescuers to search at the location indicated by this location related ID accordingly. Preferably, the monitoring center can further carry out more accurate positioning according to the data (such as the identified result or the sound signals) from several adjacent po^¬ sitioning fittings. For example, if both of 2 positioning fittings A and B among 4 adjacent positioning fittings have identified the distress signal made by a trapped person, then the monitoring center confirms that there is someone trapped and his location is close to the side of positioning fittings A and B. This point can effectively improve the accuracy in positioning the trapped person.

An embodiment according to the present invention is de^¬ scribed in conjunction with Figs. 1-4 hereinabove. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and it can fur^¬ ther have various variants to adapt to the requirements of different application occasions. For example, in the case that the network transmission capability is strong enough, the positioning fitting 200 itself can be simplified as a de^¬ tector, which can receive only sound signals and transmit all of the sound signals together with its fitting ID to the monitoring center. Then, different from the traditional way, the monitoring center is responsible for identifying the distress signal made by a trapped person from the received sound signals, i.e. the processing device in Fig. 2 which is used for completing the identification operation is implemented in turn in the processing device. In this embodiment, the moni^¬ toring center comprises: a receiving device for receiving a sound signal detected by a detection fitting installed in the building and information related to the location of the detection fitting (such as a fitting ID); an identification de- vice for identifying from the received sound signal a dis^¬ tress signal produced by a trapped individual according to a preset mode (such as a repetitive signal and a fixed signal); and a positioning device for positioning the trapped individ- ual according to the identified result and the information related to the location. The advantages of this design lie in that the structure of the detector is simplified and the ac^¬ curacy of the identification and positioning can also be im- proved because the monitoring center has relatively strong computing ability.

Furthermore, Fig. 5 further shows various optional func^¬ tion modules in different variants. These function modules not only can be applied in the positioning fitting as shown in Fig. 2, but also can be applied in the above detector which only receives and transmits sound signals. Each of the function modules shown by dashed lines in Fig. 5 can be used independently and can also be used in combination with other function modules.

As shown in Fig. 5, in a variant 500 of the present in^¬ vention, the transmitting device 230 can comprise a wireless module 530 for transmitting the identified result and the lo- cation information to the monitoring center wirelessly. Optionally, it is possible for the wireless module 530 to be activated only when the transmission network 120 has failed. Furthermore, the wireless modules of the positioning fittings which are adjacent one another can further have an ad hoc wi- reless network according to various wireless network proto^¬ cols (such as the Bluetooth protocol, the Zigbee protocol, etc.) . In this case, if the wired network connected to one certain positioning fitting A fails while the wired network connected to other positioning fittings still operates nor- mally, then the positioning fitting A can activate its wireless module and transmit the data to an adjacent positioning fitting B via a wireless network which is formed by the adja^¬ cent positioning fittings, and then the adjacent positioning fitting B transmits the data to the monitoring center via a wired network connected thereto. By using this mode, even if a part of the wired network fails due to severe fire, the po^¬ sitioning system according to the present invention can still operate normally within a certain time period. Returning to Fig. 5 again, in Fig. 5, the positioning fitting 500 can be further equipped with an energy storage module 540 for storing electric energy so as to expect that it still goes on supplying power to the positioning fitting when a power supply system 550 fails. Preferably, as shown in Fig. 5, the energy storage module 540 comprises a charging circuit 541, an energy storage component 543 such as a bat^¬ tery or a capacitor, and a power regulation module 545. In particular, during the normal working of the power supply system, the energy storage component 543 is charged under the control of the charging circuit 541. When the power supply system fails, the energy storage component 543 supplies the electric energy and outputs stable power to the positioning fitting 500 under the regulation of the power regulation module 545. In the embodiment as shown in Fig. 1, the power sup^¬ ply system is just the power supply system in the fire alarm system. Optionally, the positioning fitting 500 can further comprise a storage device 560 for pre-storing a plurality of sound signal modes and corresponding identification algorithms. The processing device can selectively use one or more signal modes therein and corresponding identification algo- rithms as required. Optionally, the positioning fitting 500 can further comprise an indicator 570 for indicating the working state of the positioning fitting. For example, a blue LED indicates that the positioning fitting is receiving a sound signal, a green LED indicates that the positioning fit- ting has already identified a distress signal made by a trap^¬ ped person. Furthermore, the positioning fitting 500 can be further equipped with a loudspeaker 580 which can broadcast an instruction when the amount of electricity is sufficient, for example guiding the trapped person on how to make a dis- tress sound signal so as to position the trapped person rap^¬ idly and effectively. Furthermore, once the distress signal of a trapped person has been identified (i.e. the trapped person has been found) , the loudspeaker can further give this trapped person an audio feedback so as to notify him that the rescuers are coming.

An example of a positioning fitting according to the pre- sent invention combined with the fire alarm system in the building is described hereinabove in conjunction with the ac^¬ companying drawings, and however, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the positioning fitting ac^¬ cording to the present invention can also be installed on the other facility parts in the building, such as on a socket, a light, a heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) system, in order to make use of the currently available power supply system and transmission network as much as possible. Of course, the positioning system constituted by the posi- tioning fitting and monitoring center according to the present invention can also be laid and installed independent of the other systems in the building.

The above positioning fitting proposed in the present in- vention can be implemented by using a combination of software and hardware, and can also be implemented by using hardware such as FPGA, and this is obvious to those skilled in the art . It should be understood that although the present de^¬ scription is described according to the embodiments, it is not the case that each embodiment includes only one independ^¬ ent technical solution, and the way of the explanation in the present specification is only for the sake of clarity; and those skilled in the art shall treat the description as a whole, and the technical solutions in these embodiments can also be combined in any adequate way to form other embodi^¬ ments the implementation of which can be understood by those skilled in the art.

What are described above are merely illustrative par^¬ ticular embodiments of the present invention and are not in^¬ tended to limit the scope of the present invention. Any equivalent variation, variant, and combination made by anyone skilled in the art without departing from the concept and principles of the present invention shall belong to the pro^¬ tective scope of the present invention.

Claims

1. A positioning fitting (200, 500) for positioning a trapped individual in a building (100) in case of emergency, wherein said fitting (200, 500) is to be installed in the building and has information relating to the installed location thereof, said positioning fitting (200, 500) comprising: a receiving device (210) for receiving a sound signal; a processing device (220) for identifying from the re- ceived sound signal a distress signal produced by a trapped individual according to a preset mode; and

a transmitting device (230) for sending the identified result and information related to the location of said fit^¬ ting (200) .

2. The positioning fitting (200, 500) as claimed in claim 1, wherein said preset mode comprises a repetitive signal mode or a fixed signal mode.

3. The positioning fitting (200, 500) as claimed in claim 2, wherein said repetitive signal mode comprises a periodic sig^¬ nal mode.

4. The positioning fitting (200, 500) as claimed in claim 1, wherein said distress signal comprises a sound signal made by said trapped individual or a sound signal produced in re^¬ sponse to an action by the trapped individual.

5. The positioning fitting (200, 500) as claimed in claim 1, wherein said fitting (200) is only activated when an emergency situation arises.

6. The positioning fitting (200, 500) as claimed in claim 1, wherein said transmitting device (230) further transmits pa- rameters of said distress signal and/or all of or part of said distress signal.

7. The positioning fitting (200, 500) as claimed in claim 1, further comprising an energy storage device for providing electric energy to said fitting (200, 500) in case of a power outage .

8. The positioning fitting (200, 500) as claimed in claim 1, wherein said transmitting device comprises a wireless unit for sending said identified result and the information re^¬ lated to the location of said fitting (200, 500) wirelessly.

9. The positioning fitting (200, 500) as claimed in claim 8, wherein said wireless unit is further used for forming a net^¬ work with other wireless units so as to transmit information from another one of said fitting (200, 500) .

10. The positioning fitting (200, 500) as claimed in claim 1, wherein said fitting (200, 500) is installed on the facility of the building (100) .

11. The positioning fitting (200, 500) as claimed in claim

10, wherein said identified result and the information re^¬ lated to the location of said fitting (200, 500) are trans^¬ ferred via a transmission network connected to said facility.

12. The positioning fitting (200, 500) as claimed in claim

11, wherein said facility is a component of a fire alarm sys^¬ tem in the building (100) .

13. A monitoring center (130) for positioning a trapped indi- vidual in a building (100) in case of emergency, which monitoring center (130) comprising:

a receiving device for receiving a sound signal detected by a detection fitting installed in the building and informa^¬ tion related to the location of said detection fitting;

an identification device for identifying from the received sound signal a distress signal produced by a trapped individual according to a preset mode; and a positioning device for positioning the trapped individ^¬ ual according to the identified result and said information related to the location.

14. The monitoring center (130) as claimed in claim 13, wherein said distress signal comprises a sound signal made by said trapped individual or a sound signal produced in re^¬ sponse to an action by the trapped individual.

15. The monitoring center (130) as claimed in claim 13, wherein said preset mode comprises a repetitive signal mode or a fixed signal mode.

16. The monitoring center (130) as claimed in claim 13, wherein said positioning device positions said trapped indi^¬ vidual according to the identified result of the distress signal which is identified from the sound signal received by an adjacent detection fitting or received from different lo^¬ cations .

17. A method for positioning a trapped individual in a build^¬ ing (100) in case of emergency, which method comprising:

receiving (S310), by a device installed in the building, a sound signal;

identifying (S320, S440) from the received sound signal a distress signal produced by a trapped individual according to a preset mode;

determining the location of the device which receives said sound signal; and

positioning the trapped individual according to said identified result and the determined location.

18. The method as claimed in claim 17, wherein said distress signal comprises a sound signal made by said trapped individ- ual or a sound signal produced in response to an action by the trapped individual .

19. The method as claimed in claim 17, wherein said preset mode comprises a repetitive signal mode or a fixed signal mode .

20. The method as claimed in claim 19, wherein when said pre^¬ set mode is the repetitive signal mode, said identification step (S320, S440) comprises:

monitoring whether the amplitude or energy of said sound signal exceeds a preset threshold value;

if it exceeds the threshold value, then searching for a next sound signal which exceeds the threshold value;

determining whether the interval of a series of sound signals found thereby is within a reasonable tolerance range and

if it is within the tolerance range, then determining that the distress signal produced by the trapped individual has been identified.