Vehicle Child Lock Activation Using Camera and Seat Weight Sensing
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Solution Overview
Problem
There is a need to automatically detect the presence of a child in a vehicle and activate the child lock to prevent accidental door opening during vehicle motion, as drivers may forget to engage the child lock, potentially leading to safety hazards.
Innovation Solution
An automatic door lock system that uses an image sensor to capture images of the vehicle interior, a weight sensor to detect occupant weight, and a processor to determine if the occupant is a human, specifically a child, by analyzing parameters such as age and height, and activate the lock accordingly.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If manual child lock operation is used, then the driver has control over the lock, but the driver may forget to activate it, compromising safety
Solution Approach 1:
The system automatically detects child presence using sensors and activates the child lock without requiring driver action. The vehicle system serves itself by monitoring occupancy and autonomously engaging the lock mechanism when a child is detected, eliminating reliance on driver memory or attention.
Solution Approach 2:
The system continuously monitors seat occupancy through weight sensors and camera systems, providing real-time feedback about child presence. Based on this feedback, the system automatically adjusts the lock state, creating a closed-loop control system that responds to changing conditions within the vehicle.
2Reliability
If automatic child lock activation is implemented, then safety is improved, but the system complexity increases due to additional sensors and processing
Solution Approach 1:
The camera system serves multiple functions: it captures images for child presence detection, determines occupancy status, and can potentially serve other vehicle functions. This multi-functionality reduces the need for dedicated single-purpose components, thereby limiting the increase in overall system complexity while achieving automatic lock activation.
Solution Approach 2:
The system combines weight sensor data with visual analysis from the camera system to determine child presence. By merging multiple detection methods into a unified decision-making process, the system achieves more reliable detection without proportionally increasing complexity, as the components work together synergistically rather than independently.
3Measurement precision
If image processing is used to determine occupant characteristics, then detection accuracy is improved, but the processing time and computational load increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system captures images continuously or at predetermined intervals before lock activation is needed, allowing time for processing. By preparing detection data in advance and using predetermined timing for analysis, the system ensures accurate determination of child presence without delaying the lock activation decision.
Data Source
AI summary
A method for activating a lock in a vehicle includes capturing an image of an interior of a vehicle, the image comprising an occupant on a seat of the vehicle, detecting a weight value of the occupant on a respective seat of the vehicle, processing the image for determining whether the occupant is a human or an object or an animal, processing, in response to the determination that the occupant is the human, the image for determining a parameter of the human, and activating a lock based on the parameter, or the weight value and the parameter.