Portable OBD-II Controller for Vehicle Journey Status Detection
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current systems fail to accurately determine when a vehicle journey has ended, which is crucial for preventing children from being left unattended in vehicles, as they do not effectively utilize vehicle network information to infer the driver's destination arrival and vehicle status changes.
Innovation Solution
A portable controller device that interacts with a vehicle's OBD-II port to query and analyze network parameters using predefined PIDs, inferring the vehicle's journey status by monitoring responses and changes in parameter values, and broadcasting or alerting the driver when the journey is ended, especially when a child is present in a safety seat.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If conventional systems monitor vehicle ignition status and child presence, then child safety can be improved, but the systems fail to accurately determine when the vehicle journey has ended
Solution Approach 1:
The system continuously queries the vehicle network for parameter values and uses feedback from these queries to determine journey status. By monitoring changes in parameter values over time and using this feedback to infer when the journey has ended, the system achieves both child safety and accurate journey status detection.
Solution Approach 2:
The system uses the vehicle network as an intermediary to obtain information about vehicle status, ignition state, and journey progress. By querying standard parameters through this intermediary network, the system can accurately determine when the journey has ended without requiring direct complex sensors.
2Measurement precision
If the system queries vehicle network parameters continuously to determine journey status, then measurement precision improves, but energy consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of continuous querying, the system uses periodic action by querying the vehicle network at specific intervals or when parameter changes are detected. This allows the system to maintain measurement precision while reducing energy consumption compared to continuous monitoring.
Solution Approach 2:
The system leverages the vehicle's existing network and parameters to determine journey status, rather than requiring separate dedicated sensors. By using the vehicle's own resources (OBD-II port, standard network protocols), the system minimizes additional energy consumption while maintaining accurate detection.
3Adaptability or versatility
If the system uses standard vehicle network parameters, then adaptability to different vehicles improves, but the ability to detect ignition status and journey end becomes less direct
Solution Approach 1:
The system uses universal standard parameters (OBD-II protocol) that work across different vehicle makes and models. By querying standard parameters like engine RPM, vehicle speed, and ignition status, the system achieves broad adaptability while still being able to detect ignition status and journey end conditions through these universal interfaces.
Data Source
AI summary
A portable controller device having an OBD-II port interface and a microcontroller that interacts with a vehicle network through the interface, including programming for querying successively the vehicle network for one or more parameter, and for retrieving values for the parameter returned from the network. The retrieving values for the parameter returned from the network is compared with an inferring response or parameter value, such as an absence of a response to query of the monitoring parameter, that if satisfied can infer that the journey status of the vehicle has changed from ‘underway’ to ‘ended’, and identifies the monitoring parameter as a candidate parameter. The journey status can be confirm as ‘ended’ when successive querying of the candidate parameter returns the same an absence of a response.