Driver alcohol ignition interlock
First Claim
1. A method for preventing equipment having an operator seat from being operated comprising:
- mounting a non-breathalizer blood-alcohol detector adapted to receive a bodypart under the operator'"'"'s seat;
receiving a bodypart in the blood-alcohol detector;
detecting blood-alcohol concentration of the bodypart through tissue of said bodypart;
comparing the detected blood-alcohol concentration to a preselected threshold value; and
preventing operation of the equipment when the detected blood-alcohol concentration is at least the threshold value.
0 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A method and an ignition interlock for preventing operation of equipment when an operator'"'"'s blood-alcohol content is above a threshold value. The interlock has a blood-alcohol detector that measures intensities of wavelengths of light emerging from a finger. A microprocessor correlates these intensities with the finger'"'"'s blood-alcohol content, determines whether this content is above a threshold level, and prevents the equipment from operating unless the blood-alcohol content is below the threshold. The interlock also has a fingerprint image generator which reflects light of the finger and scans the fingerprint to form a scanned image. The microprocessor compares this scanned image to a prestored image of a principal operator and compares the two images to determine whether the images match. The fingerprint and blood-alcohol analyses occur substantially simultaneously.
-
Citations
35 Claims
-
1. A method for preventing equipment having an operator seat from being operated comprising:
-
mounting a non-breathalizer blood-alcohol detector adapted to receive a bodypart under the operator'"'"'s seat;
receiving a bodypart in the blood-alcohol detector;
detecting blood-alcohol concentration of the bodypart through tissue of said bodypart;
comparing the detected blood-alcohol concentration to a preselected threshold value; and
preventing operation of the equipment when the detected blood-alcohol concentration is at least the threshold value. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 29, 30)
storing data corresponding to a distinguishing aspect that corresponds to the identity of a principal equipment operator;
measuring the distinguishing aspect from the bodypart;
comparing said stored data to said measured aspect; and
determining and whether said stored data and said measured aspect match.
-
-
7. The method of claim 6, further comprising the step of preventing operation of the equipment unless the stored data and the measured aspect match.
-
8. The method of claim 6, wherein said step of measuring the distinguishing aspect occurs substantially simultaneously with the step of detecting the blood-alcohol content.
-
9. The method of claim 6, wherein the bodypart is a finger, the blood-alcohol detector is shaped to receive the finger, and the distinguishing aspect is a fingerprint.
-
10. The method of claim 9, further comprising the steps of reflecting light off the finger and scanning the reflected light to form an image of a fingerprint from the finger.
-
11. The method of claim 10, wherein said reflected light and the light emerging from the finger travel in directions generally perpendicular to each other.
-
12. The method of claim 10, wherein the reflected light and the light emerging from the finger have different wavelengths.
-
29. The method of claim 1, wherein the equipment is a vehicle, the bodypart is a finger, and the detecting of the blood-alcohol concentration in the bodypart is conducted under the driver seat of the vehicle.
-
30. The method of claim 1, wherein the preventing operation of the equipment comprises operating a switch to prevent operation of the equipment when the detected blood-alcohol concentration is at least the threshold value.
-
13. A method for preventing a vehicle from being operated, comprising:
-
mounting a housing shaped to receive a finger under a driver'"'"'s seat of the vehicle;
receiving the finger in the housing;
detecting blood-alcohol concentration of the finger through tissue of said finger;
comparing the detected blood-alcohol concentration to a preselected threshold value; and
preventing operation of the vehicle when the detected blood-alcohol concentration is at least the threshold value.
-
-
14. A method for preventing a vehicle from being operated comprising:
-
mounting a finger print detector adapted to receive a finger under a driver'"'"'s seat of the vehicle;
receiving the finger in the finger print detector;
storing data corresponding to a fingerprint of a principal vehicle-driver;
measuring the a fingerprint from a finger;
comparing the stored fingerprint to the measured fingerprint;
determing whether the stored and measured fingerprints match; and
preventing operation of the vehicle unless the stored and measured fingerprints match.
-
-
15. An ignition interlock for a vehicle, comprising:
-
a blood-alcohol detector sensitive to a blood-alcohol concentration of a bodypart and capable of detecting the blood-alcohol concentration without reliance on breath-alcohol information, wherein the blood-alcohol detector is disposed in the vehicle in a location disposed for restricting access by a non-driver of the vehicle when a driver is seated in a driver'"'"'s seat of the vehicle;
electronic circuitry connected to the blood alcohol-detector and configured for comparing the detected blood-alcohol concentration to a preselected threshold value; and
an operation switch connected to the electronic circuitry and capable of preventing operation of the vehicle when the detected blood-alcohol concentration is at least the threshold value. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 31)
-
-
32. An interlock for equipment having an operator seat, comprising:
-
a non-breathalizer blood-alcohol detector disposed under the operator seat and configured to receive a finger, the blood-alcohol detector sensitive to a blood-alcohol concentration of the finger and capable of detecting the blood-alcohol concentration;
electronic circuitry connected to the blood alcohol-detector and configured for comparing the detected blood-alcohol concentration to a preselected threshold value; and
an operation switch connected to the electronic circuitry and capable of preventing operation of the equipment vehicle when the detected blood-alcohol concentration is at least the threshold value. - View Dependent Claims (33, 34, 35)
-
Specification