Patent Application
20070132571
The present invention is directed to a system for detecting the presence of a child within a vehicle. Specifically, the system generates an alarm when a child has been left in a vehicle without the driver present.
A number of children die each year due to being left unattended in a vehicle. Cases have occurred, for example, in which infants have been left all day in their car seats after their parents had failed to drop them off at a babysitter or daycare on their way to work. In hot weather, the children often succumb to dehydration and heat exhaustion due to the extremely high temperatures that can be reached in a closed vehicle. The problem, however, is not just limited to hot weather, as deaths have also occurred due to children freezing from the cold during winter months.
Pioneering efforts to solve the problem of children being left unattended in their car seats included a system as described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,949,340 in which sensors are used to detect the presence of a child in an infant seat and also to detect the state of the vehicle's ignition. In the event that a child is left in the infant seat and the ignition is changed from an “on” state to an “off” state, a warning signal is generated to remind the vehicle's drive to remove the infant from the car seat. Further refinements of the system were described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,104,293.
Since the pioneering work described above, a number of others have proposed additional modifications of the basic concept. However, none of these systems has yet to be adopted in the commercial marketplace. Accordingly, children continue to die each year when a simple solution could be implemented to improve their chances of survival.
The present invention is based, in part, on the realization that commercialization of a warning system has been impeded due to the necessity of detecting the ignition state of the vehicle. The requirement to detect the ignition state of the vehicle adds complexity to the overall system, as the warning system must be either physically hard wired to the electrical system of the vehicle or a wireless transmitter must be coupled to the electrical system to send out a signal indicative of ignition state. Due to variations in wiring and electrical systems in vehicles, it is difficult to develop a warning system product that can be easily implemented across all vehicle lines. In addition, incorporating a sensor within an infant seat requires the cooperation of seat manufacturers.
In view of the above, it would be desirable to provide a warning system for detecting the presence of a child within a vehicle that doesn't rely on the detection of vehicle ignition state to generate an alarm. It would further be desirable to provide such a warning system that was capable of operating within any type of vehicle and could be easily transported from one vehicle to another.
The present invention provides a warning system for detecting the presence of a child within a vehicle that doesn't rely on the detection of vehicle ignition state to generate an alarm. The warning system is capable of operation within any type of vehicle and could be easily transported from one vehicle to another.
The warning system preferably includes a control unit, a first occupant sensor coupled to the control unit, and a second occupant sensor coupled to the control unit. The control unit generates an alarm when the first occupant sensor detects the presence of an occupant and the second occupant sensor does not detect the presence of an occupant, preferably by utilizing a first occupant sensor that provides a normally open circuit condition and a second occupant sensor provides a normally closed circuit condition.
The control unit preferably includes a rechargeable electrical power source coupled to an alarm circuit, with the electrical power source, the alarm circuit, the first occupant sensor and the second occupant sensor preferably connected in series. Accordingly, an alarm is generated when the first occupant sensor detects the presence of an occupant, and the alarm continues until the second occupant sensor detects the presence of an occupant.
The alarm circuit includes either an audible alarm, a visual alarm or both an audible alarm and a visual alarm. The audible and visual alarms can be included within the control circuit or be provided as separate devices that can plug into the control circuit.
In just one example, a visual alarm is provided that can be coupled to the vehicle by a mechanism such as a suction cup. The visual alarm includes a visual alarm indicator, preferably a flashing light, which can draw attention to the vehicle in the event the vehicle driver ignores the alarm.
In one illustrated example, the first occupant sensor and the second occupant sensor are respectively provided in first and second seat pads. The first seat pad, to be employed in a child car seat, is preferably smaller than the second seat pad, which is to be located in the vehicle's driver's seat. The first occupant sensor and the second occupant sensor may include: a mechanical sensor, an optical sensor, an ultrasonic sensor or a pressure sensor.
The invention will now be described with reference to certain preferred embodiments thereof and the accompanying drawings, wherein:
A warning system in accordance with the invention is shown in
In operation, the first occupant sensor 10 is preferably placed or located in, near or around a child's car seat in a position enabling the first occupant sensor 10 to detect the presence of a child in the car seat. The second occupant sensor 12 is preferably placed or located in, near or around the vehicle driver's seat in a position enabling the second occupant sensor 12 to detect the presence of the vehicle driver in the vehicle driver's seat. When the child is placed in the child's car seat, the warning system is activated (first occupant sensor 10 closes circuit) and begins generating at least one of an audible alarm or a visual alarm. The alarm will continue until the vehicle driver sits in the vehicle driver's seat (second occupant sensor 12 opens circuit), at which point the warning system is deactivated. When a destination is reached, the vehicle driver leaves their seat (second occupant sensor 12 closes circuit) causing the warning system to be activated once again. An alarm will be generated until the child is removed from the child's car seat (first occupant sensor 10 opens circuit), thereby greatly reducing the possibility that the child will be left unattended in the vehicle.
The first and second seat pads 24, 26 are preferably gell type seat pads in order to provide some additional cushioning. However, the seat pads 24, 26 can be as simple as a single layer of material to which the occupant sensors are attached. The primary function of the seat pads 24, 26 to provide a mechanism for locating the occupant sensors in a desired position within the child seat and the vehicle drivers seat in the event the occupant sensors are of a type requiring the occupant to directly sit on them.
The embodiment illustrated in
The invention has been described with reference to certain preferred embodiments thereof. It will be understood, however, that modifications and variations are possible within the scope of the appended claims. For example, although the illustrated example shows the use of hard wiring between the occupant sensors and the control unit, wireless devices may be readily employed. Further, the occupant sensors need not be incorporated into a seat pad, but can simply be placed in any manner at any location suitable to detect the presence of occupants. For example, in the case of optical or ultrasonic devices, the occupant sensor may be attached to the roof of the vehicle at a location above the occupant seats. Timers may also be incorporated to allow time delays before the activation of the alarms. In addition, the electrically layout of the circuitry may vary, for example, the electrical power source or the alarm circuit could be wired in series between the occupant sensors and still have the same effect. It should be understood that the invention is in no way limited to the disclosed circuit design, as those skilled in the art can use a variety of hardware, software, firmware and logic elements to accomplish the same function. The only requirement of the control circuit is to generate an alarm when a child is detected and to discontinue an alarm when the driver is detected without reliance on the ignition state of the vehicle. Accordingly, the examples provided above ate clearly only illustrative examples of possible circuit designs within the scope of the invention.
As will be readily appreciated by those skilled in the art, the warning system is extremely simple in design, can be inexpensively manufactured, can be utilized in any vehicle without requiring detection of the vehicles ignition state, and can be readily moved from one vehicle to another as required. Of primary importance is the ability to manufacture the warning system without the cooperation of either vehicle manufacturers or child seat manufactures, namely, the warning system is a separate stand alone system that is independent of vehicle or car seat design.
