Wearable Device Left-Behind Alert System
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Solution Overview
Problem
People often inadvertently leave their mobile devices in vehicles, and existing solutions fail to effectively alert the owner until they have walked away from the vehicle, leading to delayed realization of the forgotten device.
Innovation Solution
A system that pairs a mobile device with a vehicle infotainment system and a wearable device, using signal strength indicators to determine the device's location and alert the owner when it is left behind, by transmitting location signals and shutdown flags between devices.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the mobile device relies on the owner to manually check its location, then the system complexity remains low, but the likelihood of the device being left behind increases and the alert is delayed
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a wearable device as an intermediary between the mobile device and the owner. The wearable device receives location information from the mobile device and autonomously determines whether to generate an alert, eliminating the need for the owner to manually check device locations while distributing the system's intelligence across multiple components rather than concentrating all complexity in one system
2Loss of time
If the alert is generated only after the owner walks away from the vehicle, then the false alert rate is reduced, but the time delay in alerting the owner increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by continuously tracking the mobile device's location and comparing it with the wearable device's location before the owner exits the vehicle. The wearable device monitors signal strength indicators in advance and prepares to generate an alert as soon as the separation threshold is exceeded, enabling timely notification while maintaining alert accuracy through pre-established geographic and temporal context
3Measurement precision
If the system uses signal strength indicators to determine device location, then the measurement precision improves, but the system becomes more sensitive to environmental interference
Solution Approach 1:
The system employs feedback mechanisms where the wearable device continuously receives signal strength indicators from the mobile device and compares them against expected ranges. When the signal strength falls outside the expected range indicating potential left-behind conditions, the system generates an alert that can be acknowledged or adjusted by the owner, creating a feedback loop that refines the system's sensitivity and reduces false alerts from environmental interference
Data Source
AI summary
A vehicle system includes a communication device programmed to pair with a mobile device and a processing device programmed to periodically transmit, to the mobile device, a present location signal representing a present location of the mobile device. The processing device is further programmed to detect a vehicle shutdown and transmit a final location signal to the mobile device, the final location signal representing a final location of the mobile device and a shutdown flag.