Safety arrangement for and method of alerting vehicle operator to remove rear occupant from parked vehicle

• US 8,493,201 B2
• Filed: 07/09/2010
• Issued: 07/23/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 07/13/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Chaim Sinai Orbach
• Original Assignee: Chaim Sinai Orbach
• Inventors: Orbach, Chaim Sinai
• Primary Examiner(s): POPE, DARYL C
• Application Number:
  US12/833,368
• Publication Number:
  US 20110102169A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,110 Days
• Field of Search: 340/686.1, 340/573.1, 340/425.5, 340/426, 180/273
• US Class Current: 340/457
• CPC Class Codes: B60N 2/002 Seats provided with an occupancy detection means mounted therein or thereon detection means responsive to presence or absence of children B60N2/266
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/22 responsive to presence or absence of persons
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/24 Reminder alarms, e.g. anti-loss alarms

Abstract

A safety arrangement for alerting an operator of a parked vehicle having an ignition and rear doors that a rear occupant, e.g., a child, is still present in a rear of the vehicle, includes door sensors for detecting when either rear door is open or closed, an ignition sensor for detecting when the ignition is activated or deactivated, a programmed controller responsive to each door sensor and the ignition sensor, for automatically activating the arrangement when either rear door has been opened for a predetermined time period, and for generating an alert signal in response to detection that the ignition has been activated, followed by subsequent detection that the ignition has been deactivated, and an alarm responsive to generation of the alert signal for alerting the operator to remove the rear occupant from the parked vehicle.

Claims

1. A safety arrangement for alerting an operator of a parked vehicle having an ignition and a rear door that a rear occupant is still present in a rear of the vehicle, comprising:

a door sensor for detecting when the rear door is in an open state and in a closed state;

an ignition sensor for detecting when the ignition is in an activated state and in a deactivated state;

a programmed controller responsive to the door sensor and the ignition sensor, for automatically activating the arrangement when the rear door has been in the open state for a predetermined time period, and for generating an alert signal in response to detection of the activated state of the ignition, followed by subsequent detection of the deactivated state of the ignition;

an alarm responsive to generation of the alert signal, for alerting the operator to remove the rear occupant from the parked vehicle; and

an alarm deactivator mounted in the rear of the vehicle and accessible only upon when the rear door is in the open state, for manually deactivating the alarm.

2. The arrangement of claim 1, wherein the alarm includes a first sound generator for emitting sound at a first sound level for an initial time period, and a second sound generator for emitting sound at a second sound level louder than said first level upon expiration of the initial time period.

3. The arrangement of claim 2, wherein the first sound generator is a chime speaker, and wherein the second generator is a horn of the vehicle.

4. The arrangement of claim 1, wherein the alarm deactivator is a push button switch mounted in the rear of the vehicle.

5. The arrangement of claim 1, wherein the alarm deactivator overrides the automatic activation of the arrangement when manually actuated once.

6. The arrangement of claim 1, wherein the alarm deactivator temporarily overrides the automatic activation of the arrangement only for a given amount of time when manually actuated a plurality of times.

7. The arrangement of claim 1, wherein the controller is operative for cancelling the automatic activation of the arrangement when the rear door has been in the closed state for a time-out period during which the activated state of the ignition has not been detected.

8. The arrangement of claim 1, wherein the vehicle has another rear door;

and another door sensor for detecting when the other rear door is in an open state and in a closed state; and

wherein the controller is also responsive to the other door sensor for automatically activating the arrangement when the other rear door has been in the open state for the predetermined time period.

9. The arrangement of claim 1, wherein the predetermined time period is on the order of three seconds.

10. A safety method of alerting an operator of a parked vehicle having an ignition and a rear door that a rear occupant is still present in a rear of the vehicle, comprising the steps of:

detecting when the rear door is in an open state and in a closed state;

detecting when the ignition is in an activated state and in a deactivated state;

automatically activating the method when the rear door has been in the open state for a predetermined time period, and generating an alert signal in response to detection of the activated state of the ignition, followed by subsequent detection of the deactivated state of the ignition;

alerting the operator with an alarm in response to generating the alert signal that removal of the rear occupant from the parked vehicle is required; and

manually deactivating the alarm.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the alerting step is performed by emitting sound at a first sound level for an initial time period, and by emitting sound at a second sound level louder than said first level upon expiration of the initial time period.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the sound at the first sound level is emitted by a chime speaker, and wherein the sound at the second sound level is emitted by a horn of the vehicle.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein the manual deactivating step is performed by actuating a push button switch mounted in the rear of the vehicle.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein the manual deactivating step is performed once to override the automatic activation of the method.

15. The method of claim 10, wherein the manual deactivating step is performed a plurality of times to temporarily override the automatic activation of the arrangement only for a given amount of time.

16. The method of claim 10, and cancelling the automatic activation of the method when the rear door has been in the closed state for a time-out period during which the activated state of the ignition has not been detected.

17. The method of claim 10, wherein the vehicle has another rear door;

and detecting when the other rear door is in an open state and in a closed state; and

wherein the automatically activating step is also performed when the other rear door has been in the open state for the predetermined time period.

18. The method of claim 10, wherein the predetermined time period is on the order of three seconds.