Driver Status-Based Fuel Warning Control System
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional vehicles lack the ability to prevent secondary drivers from disabling safety and notification features, posing a risk as primary drivers may not ensure these features remain enabled during vehicle operation.
Innovation Solution
A system and method that differentiate between primary and secondary drivers using unique keys with embedded RFID tags, allowing the primary driver to selectively enable or disable safety and notification features based on the driver's status, thereby ensuring these features remain active when the secondary driver is operating the vehicle.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If multiple drivers share the same vehicle and key, then ease of operation is improved, but reliability of safety features deteriorates because secondary drivers can disable them
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the driver population into primary drivers and secondary drivers, assigning different permission levels to each group. Primary drivers can access all vehicle functions including safety feature controls, while secondary drivers have restricted access. This segmentation is implemented through different key types or authorization levels in the key ignition device, allowing multiple drivers to share the vehicle while protecting safety features from unauthorized modification.
2Ease of operation
If safety and notification features are made accessible to all drivers, then ease of operation is improved, but loss of information deteriorates because drivers may not maintain proper settings
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary action by pre-configuring authorization levels for different drivers before they operate the vehicle. Primary drivers are pre-authorized to modify safety feature settings, while secondary drivers are pre-restricted from doing so. This preliminary authorization setup prevents the loss of safety feature status information by ensuring that only authorized drivers can change these critical settings, while all drivers can still access and benefit from the features.
3Reliability
If driver differentiation is implemented, then reliability of safety features is improved, but device complexity increases due to multiple key types and control logic
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements universality by designing a single key ignition device that can serve multiple functions: identifying primary drivers, identifying secondary drivers, and controlling access to different vehicle functions. Rather than requiring separate physical keys or multiple devices, the system uses one universal key interface with embedded authorization logic, reducing physical complexity while maintaining the reliability benefits of driver differentiation.
Data Source
AI summary
A system and method is provided for controlling the operation of notifying drivers of the fluid level. Primary and secondary keys are adapted to be associated to primary and secondary drivers. A key ignition device is positioned on the primary and secondary keys and generates driver status signals. A fluid level sensing device is operable to generate a fluid level signal indicative of the fluid level. A controller is coupled to the fluid level sensing device and the key ignition device. The controller determines whether the driver of the vehicle is the primary or secondary driver in response to the driver status signals. The controller notifies the primary or secondary driver of the fluid level in response to the fluid level signal. The controller selectively controls the operation of notifying the primary or the secondary driver based on whether the driver is the primary or secondary driver.