Voice Analysis Drunkenness Detection via Energy Patterns

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Solution Overview

Problem

Existing methods for determining drunkenness, such as alcohol sensors in vehicles, face accuracy issues in humid and dusty environments and have a short lifespan, making them unreliable for preventing drunk driving accidents.

Innovation Solution

A method using voice analysis in the time domain to determine alcohol consumption by converting voice signals into frames, extracting average energy, and comparing energy differences between sections to assess whether a person is drunk.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Measurement precision

If alcohol sensors are used to measure alcohol concentration, then measurement accuracy is improved, but reliability deteriorates in humid and dusty environments

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvealcohol concentration measurement accuracyVSAvoidsensor reliability in automotive interior environment

Core Design Contradiction:

Measurement precisionVSReliability

Solution Approach 1:

The patent replaces the physical alcohol sensor (mechanical/chemical detection system) with a voice analysis system that processes acoustic signals. This substitution eliminates the reliability issues of sensors in humid and dusty environments while maintaining measurement capability through alternative physical principles (acoustic signal processing in time domain).

Inventive Principle:

Principle #28Mechanics substitution (Replace mechanical system)

Solution Approach 2:

The patent introduces voice signals as an intermediary medium to indirectly measure alcohol consumption effects. Instead of directly detecting alcohol concentration with a sensor, the system uses voice characteristics (which are affected by alcohol consumption) as a mediator to infer the driver's drunkenness state, thereby avoiding direct sensor exposure to harsh environmental conditions.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

2Measurement precision

If alcohol sensors are used to detect drunkenness, then measurement capability is improved, but device lifetime deteriorates

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvedrunkenness detection accuracyVSAvoidsensor lifetime

Core Design Contradiction:

Measurement precisionVSDuration of action of stationary object

Solution Approach 1:

The patent replaces the short-lived alcohol sensor with a voice analysis system that has no consumable sensing components. The voice processing system uses computational methods on acoustic signals, eliminating the need for physical sensors that degrade over time, thereby significantly extending the device's operational lifetime.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #28Mechanics substitution (Replace mechanical system)

Solution Approach 2:

The patent eliminates the need for expensive, short-lived alcohol sensors by using a software-based voice analysis approach. The voice processing algorithm can be updated and reused indefinitely without physical degradation, replacing the disposable sensor model with a durable computational model.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #27Cheap short-living objects (Disposable)

3Measurement precision

If alcohol sensors are combined with electronic devices, then detection function is improved, but repair complexity increases

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvealcohol detection capabilityVSAvoidelectronic device repair convenience

Core Design Contradiction:

Measurement precisionVSEase of repair

Solution Approach 1:

The patent replaces the alcohol sensor component with a voice processing software module. This substitution transforms a hardware repair problem (sensor replacement requiring device disassembly and reassembly) into a software update problem, significantly improving ease of repair and maintenance.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #28Mechanics substitution (Replace mechanical system)

Solution Approach 2:

The patent extracts the detection function from the physical sensor and implements it through voice signal processing algorithms. This separation allows the detection capability to be updated or fixed through software without affecting the hardware structure, making the device easier to repair and maintain.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #2Taking out (Extraction)

Data Source

PatentUS9934793B2Method for determining alcohol consumption, and recording medium and terminal for carrying out same

Publication Date: 2018.04.03 FOUND OF SOONGSIL UNIV IND COOP

AI summary

Disclosed are a method for determining whether a person is drunk after consuming alcohol capable of analyzing alcohol consumption in a time domain by analyzing a voice, and a recording medium and a terminal for carrying out same. An alcohol consumption-determining terminal comprises: a voice input unit for generating a voice frame by converting an inputted voice signal and outputting the voice frame; a voiced/unvoiced sound analysis unit for determining whether the voice frame inputted through the voice input unit corresponds to a voiced sound, an unvoiced sound, or background noise; a voice frame energy detection unit for extracting the average energy of voice frames which have been determined as a voiced sound by the voiced/unvoiced sound analysis unit; an interval energy detection unit for detecting the average energy of intervals including a plurality of voice frames which have been determined as voiced sounds; and an alcohol consumption determining unit for determining whether a person is drunk after consuming alcohol by extracting a difference value among the average energy of neighboring intervals which have been detected by the interval energy detection unit, thereby determining whether a person is drunk after consuming alcohol by analyzing the voice signal in a time domain.