Vehicle safety system for preventing child abandonment and related methods
AssigneeLicec LLC
InventorCecil Lee Hunter, Jr.
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A vehicle safety system is for preventing child abandonment in a vehicle. The vehicle safety system may include a controller coupled to a flow sensor, a temperature sensor, and a seat sensor. The controller may be configured to detect when the vehicle is in a fueling state based upon the flow sensor, detect occupancy of a child safety seat based upon the seat sensor, and detect when a driver side door is in an open state based upon a driver side door sensor in the vehicle. The controller may be configured to when the driver side door has entered the open state, when the child safety seat is occupied, and when the vehicle does not enter the fueling state within a time period, then cause the vehicle to enter an alert state.
Claims20
A vehicle safety system for preventing child abandonment in a vehicle, the vehicle safety system comprising:
- a flow sensor for fuel in the vehicle;
- a temperature sensor configured to generate a temperature value for an interior of the vehicle;
- at least one seat sensor respectively associated with at least one child safety seat within the vehicle;
- and
- a controller coupled to said flow sensor, said temperature sensor, and said at least one seat sensor, said controller configured to
- detect when the vehicle is in a fueling state based upon said flow sensor,
- detect occupancy of the at least one child safety seat based upon said at least one seat sensor,
- detect when a driver side door is in an open state based upon a driver side door sensor in the vehicle, and
- when the driver side door has entered the open state, when the at least one child safety seat is occupied, and when the vehicle does not enter the fueling state within a time period, then
- cause the vehicle to enter an alert state, and
- when in the alert state, cause an air conditioning device of the vehicle to activate.
A vehicle with a vehicle safety system for preventing child abandonment in a vehicle, the vehicle comprising:
- a vehicle frame;
- a flow sensor carried by said vehicle frame and being for fuel in the vehicle;
- a temperature sensor carried by said vehicle frame and configured to generate a temperature value for an interior of the vehicle;
- at least one seat sensor respectively associated with at least one child safety seat within the vehicle;
- and
- a controller carried by said vehicle frame and coupled to said flow sensor, said temperature sensor, and said at least one seat sensor, said controller configured to
- detect when the vehicle is in a fueling state based upon said flow sensor,
- detect occupancy of the at least one child safety seat based upon said at least one seat sensor,
- detect when a driver side door is in an open state based upon a driver side door sensor in the vehicle, and
- when the driver side door has entered the open state, when the at least one child safety seat is occupied, and when the vehicle does not enter the fueling state within a time period, then
- cause the vehicle to enter an alert state, and
- when in the alert state, cause an air conditioning device of the vehicle to activate.
A method for installing a vehicle safety system for preventing child abandonment in a vehicle, the method comprising:
- positioning a flow sensor for fuel in the vehicle;
- positioning at least one seat sensor respectively associated with at least one child safety seat within the vehicle;
- and
- coupling a controller to the flow sensor and the at least one seat sensor, the controller configured to
- detect when the vehicle is in a fueling state based upon the flow sensor,
- detect occupancy of the at least one child safety seat based upon the at least one seat sensor,
- detect when a driver side door is in an open state based upon a driver side door sensor in the vehicle, and
- when the driver side door has entered the open state, when the at least one child safety seat is occupied, and when the vehicle does not enter the fueling state within a time period, then
- cause the vehicle to enter an alert state, and
- when in the alert state, cause an air conditioning device of the vehicle to activate.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.