Standalone Child Safety Sensor System for Vehicle Monitoring

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Solution Overview

Problem

Existing child safety devices in vehicles are compromised by human errors, leading to fatal accidents, as they require inconvenient, difficult, and costly additional components integrated into the vehicle's electrical or signal systems to prevent children from being left unattended.

Innovation Solution

A smart safety system using smart sensors, including vehicle motion sensors and door motion sensors, with a controller that detects awareness scenarios, such as a child left in a parked vehicle, and generates an alarm after determining the child is unattended, utilizing artificial intelligence to differentiate between door and window openings and providing a customizable grace period based on historical driver behavior.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Reliability

If additional components are integrated into the vehicle's electrical or signal system to improve child safety monitoring, then the reliability of child safety monitoring is improved, but the device complexity and installation difficulty increase

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvechild safety monitoring reliabilityVSAvoidsystem complexity

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The patent extracts the safety monitoring function from the vehicle's electrical system by using a standalone smart device (mobile phone or wearable) that operates independently. The device uses sensors to detect child presence and vehicle motion without requiring integration into the vehicle's complex electrical architecture, thus maintaining reliability while reducing device complexity.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #2Taking out (Extraction)

Solution Approach 2:

The smart device acts as an intermediary between the child safety seat and the parent/guardian. It receives sensor data from the safety seat, processes the information, and communicates alerts to the guardian's mobile device, eliminating the need for direct integration with the vehicle's electrical system while maintaining effective monitoring.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

2Reliability

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvechild safety monitoring reliabilityVSAvoidinstallation ease

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSEase of operation

Solution Approach 1:

The monitoring system is extracted from the vehicle's electrical system and implemented as a standalone smart device that can be easily installed in the child safety seat without requiring vehicle system integration. This makes installation simple and user-friendly while maintaining reliable monitoring through sensor-based detection.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #2Taking out (Extraction)

Solution Approach 2:

The smart device performs self-service by automatically detecting child presence, vehicle motion, and generating alerts without requiring complex configuration or integration work. The device operates autonomously using its own sensors and processing capabilities, making it easy for parents to install and use.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #25Self-service

3Reliability

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvechild safety monitoring reliabilityVSAvoidmanufacturing cost

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSEase of manufacture

Solution Approach 1:

The smart device uses universal components (accelerometers, pressure sensors, microcontrollers) that are already widely manufactured for other applications. By repurposing these existing components for child safety monitoring, the system achieves reliable monitoring without requiring expensive custom-built vehicle-integrated systems.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #6Universality (Multi-functionality)

Solution Approach 2:

The patent employs inexpensive sensor components and a standalone smart device that can be manufactured at low cost compared to vehicle-integrated systems. The device is designed as an affordable, replaceable unit that provides effective monitoring without the high manufacturing costs associated with integrating components into the vehicle's electrical system.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #27Cheap short-living objects (Disposable)

Applied Scientific Principles

This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.

Function Achieved in This Case

The system effectively alerts users to potential child safety hazards without the need for additional vehicle-integrated components, reducing the risk of fatal accidents through a user-friendly and cost-effective solution.

Implementation Method 1

The vehicle motion sensor, e.g., an accelerometer

Methodology Applied

Scientific EffectAccelerometer: Accelerometer

Implementation Method 2

a door motion sensor such as a pressure sensor, e.g., an air pressure sensor

Methodology Applied

Scientific EffectAir pressure sensor:

Data Source

PatentEP3712869B1Smart child safety device in vehicles

Publication Date: 2023.05.24 STMICROELECTRONICS SRL

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AI summary

A child safety seat (202) includes a motion sensor (214), e.g., an accelerometer, and a pressure sensor (116), e.g., an air pressure sensor. The motion sensor (114) is configured to detect a motion state of a vehicle (220) where the child safety seat is installed, e.g., whether the vehicle is moving or non-moving. The pressure sensor (116) is configured to detect a motion state of a door (222, 224) of the vehicle, e.g., a door open/close motion. Based on the information detected by the motion sensor and the pressure sensor, a controller (132) determines whether an awareness scenario occurs.