System and method for preventing driving of a vehicle by an alcohol intoxicated person

A system for preventing driving a vehicle by an alcohol intoxicated person, includes at least one alcohol sensor for detecting a presence of an alcohol in a potential driver; a door of a vehicle provided with a door lock; and a unit operatively connected with said sensor and with a door lock and configured for preventing unlocking of said door lock of said door of a vehicle and opening said door of a vehicle when said alcohol level sensor senses an alcohol level in the potential driver which is not within an allowable range.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to systems for preventing driving of a vehicle by alcohol intoxicated persons.

Systems of the above mentioned general type are known in the art. U.S. Pat. No. 4,613,845 discloses an apparatus for preventing the operation of machinery by an operator who is intoxicated, which includes an alcohol sensor and a proximity sensor in the control area of the machinery affecting starting of the machinery.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,220,919 discloses a blood alcohol monitor which measures ethanol levels expelled through a subject's skin to monitor blood alcohol level at regular or random intervals, and the device measures a distance from the subject's skin thereby preventing the subject from moving the device far enough away to provide an inaccurate indication of the amount of alcohol in the blood and providing another tamper indication if the device is removed.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,793,292 discloses a system which inhibits use of a hand-operated machine by detecting in a user toxin in the area of the machine which the user regularly engages.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,944,661 discloses a method of continuing tracking of blood alcohol with the use of a potential and diffusion-controlled electrochemical solid electrolyte sensor that continuously and concurrently measures very low concentration of ethanol vapor at the surface of the skin and also skin properties such as temperature and ionic conductivity.

A system as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,969,615 discloses a portion of a machine which an operator regularly engages with his or her hands and which is provided with a plurality of passage ways through which a vacuum is applied to draw vapor emitted by the hands of the individual and drawn through a sampling apparatus to produce a single indicative of an alcohol content of the individual.

U.S. patent application publication no. 2004/0083031 discloses an alcohol sensitive apparatus and method for vehicles, in which a blood alcohol sensing device senses that a potential driver of a vehicle has a blood alcohol content above a limit and sends a signal which causes operation of the vehicle to be disabled. A blood alcohol content limit may be transmitted by a transmitter and received by a vehicle.

A system disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,236,094 includes means attached to a covering of a steering wheel for sensing trans-dermal messages from skin of a human being including alcohol content and temperature and logic circuit means activating switching means to shut off electric current in the ignition system to an engine if excessive alcohol content is detected.

U.S. Pat. No. 7,377,186 discloses a sensor system in which a steering wheel has a structural skeleton forming a core within an outer covering and having U-shaped cross-section with ethanol detectors communicating with a wire harness and an electrical circuit for receiving electrical signals indicative of presence of ethanol vapors.

U.S. Pat. No. 7,413,047 discloses an alcohol ignition interlock system with an alcohol concentration reader in combination with a vehicle ignition interlock circuit preventing an intoxicated person from operating a vehicle.

U.S. Pat. No. 7,671,752 discloses a car alcohol monitoring system with a vapor analyzer system for detecting an amount of alcohol in a driver operating the car and a speed controller setting a maximum speed of the car to a predetermined level in the event that the amount of detected alcohol is above a predetermined threshold.

U.S. Pat. No. 7,700,044 discloses a chemical vapor sensor that passively measures a chemical species with high sensitivity and chemical specificity to detect a motor vehicle drive alcohol that exceeds a legal limit of blood alcohol concentration, with a channel of infrared detection making the sensor less costly.

A system disclosed in U.S. patent application publication 2010/0269566 includes an array of sensors imbedded into the steering mechanism of a motorized vehicle and ascertaining the driver's alcohol concentration so as to prevent the operation of motorized vehicle by a driver with excessive alcohol content.

U.S. patent application publication 2010/0921502 discloses an operation control system with a transmitter circuit connector, a transmitter interace, an engine start button switch, a receiver unit, and an engine ECU operating so as to provide the engine's start depending on alcohol level of a driver.

It is believed that the existing systems of this type can be further improved.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a system for preventing driving of a vehicle by an alcohol intoxicated person existing is a further improvement of existing systems.

In keeping with this object the present invention resides a system for preventing driving of a vehicle by an alcohol intoxicated person including at least one alcohol sensor for detecting a presence of an alcohol in a potential driver; a door of a vehicle providing with a door lock; and means operatively connected with the sensor and with the door lock and preventing unlocking of the door lock and opening the door of the vehicle only when the sensor senses an alcohol level in the potential driver outside of an allowable range.

When the system is designed in accordance with the present invention, if the alcohol level of the potential driver is outside of an allowable range, the door lock of the vehicle simply cannot be unlocked and the door vehicle cannot be opened.

In accordance with a further feature of the present invention the alcohol sensor can be arranged on a driver's door of the vehicle so as to prevent or allow opening of the door lock of the driver's door of the vehicle.

Alcohol level sensors can be arranged on all doors of the vehicle so that none of the door locks of the vehicle can be opened if at least one sensors detects an alcohol level in the potential driver outside of the allowable range and none of the doors of the vehicle can be opened.

The alcohol level sensor can be also located on a key, so that when a driver or another person tries to open any door with the key, the door of the vehicle can be opened only when the alcohol level detected by the sensor is within the allowable range.

The sensors can be provided on a key which is used for mechanically opening of the door lock by insertion of the key into a keyhole, and also on a remotely opening key for operating of the door lock remotely.

In accordance with the present invention the sensors can be provided both on the door of the vehicle and on the door key to prevent unlocking of the door locks and opening of the doors if any of the sensors detects an alcohol level in the potential driver outside of the allowable range.

In accordance with additional feature of the present invention the alcohol level sensor is also operatively connected with an ignition system of a vehicle to provide an additional guarantee that the vehicle cannot be driven by a driver if the sensor senses the alcohol level of the potential driver outside of the allowable range. Thus the double protection is provided by blocking unlocking of a door/doors of the vehicles and additionally by blocking operation of the ignition system if the sensor/sensors sense an alcohol level in the potential driver which is not outside an allowable range.

In accordance with another important feature of the present invention the alcohol level sensor sends a signal to a door lock, an ignition system, or to both remotely, so that no wires are needed, which can complicate the construction, installation and operation of inventive system.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

FIG. 1shows a vehicle provided with a system for preventing its driving by an alcohol intoxicated person and identified as a whole with reference numeral1. The vehicle has for example two doors including a driver-side door2and a passenger-side door3. The driver-side door2is provided with an alcohol level sensor4.

The alcohol level sensor4senses an alcohol level in a potential driver of the vehicle1. The alcohol level sensor4can be based on any known alcohol sensing principles. For example, it can sense an alcohol in a potential driver based on sensing an air exhaled by a potential driver when he approaches the driver-side door2of a vehicle1. The driver's door2has a door lock which is identified with reference numeral5. The detail construction of the door lock5is not a subject matter of the present invention and therefore is not described in detail. The door lock5of the driver-side door2is operatively connected with the sensor4.

If the sensor4senses that the alcohol level of the potential drive is absent or within an allowable range, it sends a signal to the door lock5and the door lock can open either automatically or by a key. If however to the contrary the sensor4senses an alcohol level in a potential driver which is outside of the allowable range, the sensor sends a signal to the door lock5and the door lock5cannot open either automatically or by a key. In the latter case a potential driver of the vehicle cannot enter the vehicle through the locked driver-side door.

The above described system is schematically shown inFIG. 2which illustrates the alcohol level sensor4and the door lock5operatively connected with one another. In a preferable embodiment of the present invention the alcohol level sensor4provided on the driver-vehicle side door2has a transmitter6while the door lock5has a receiver7, so that the signals of the door sensor5are sent by the transmitter6and remotely received by the receiver7of the door lock5, thus eliminating the need for a wire connection between the door sensor4and the door lock5. The wireless transmission between the transmitter6of the door sensor4and the receiver7of the door lock5can be performed by any known wireless transmission technology, such as for example by a radio frequency wireless transmission.

In accordance with a further feature of the present invention the door sensor4is also operatively connected with a vehicle ignition system identified inFIG. 2with reference numeral8. If the door sensor4senses that an alcohol level in a potential driver is within an allowable range, it sends a corresponding signal to the vehicle ignition system8, and in particular by its transmitter6to a receiver9of the vehicle ignition system8and the vehicle ignition system can be started to drive the vehicle. If however the door sensor4senses that an alcohol level in a potential driver is not outside an allowable range, it sends another signal to the vehicle ignition system8, preventing the vehicle ignition system8from operation, so that the vehicle ignition system cannot be started and the vehicle cannot be driven.

It is believed to be clear that the vehicle ignition system8can include logic circuits which distinguish between a signal corresponding to an alcohol level of a potential driver located within an allowable range and a signal indicative of an alcohol level in a potential driver which is outside the allowable range and also door lock actuating means to correspondingly start or not start the vehicle ignition system8.

FIG. 3illustrates another embodiment of the present invention. Here an alcohol level sensor10is located not on a vehicle door, but instead on a door key10. The door key-located sensor10senses whether an alcohol level in a potential driver is within an allowable range or outside of the allowable range through touching the door key10of fingers and/or hand by the potential driver. Such a sensor can be formed as a known transdermal sensor which can sense an alcohol level in blood of a potential driver through his skin, as known in the art.

FIG. 5ashows an alcohol level a sensor10′ which is arranged directly on a body11of a mechanical key12, whileFIG. 5bshows an alcohol level sensor10″ located on a push button13of a remotely operated key14. When a potential driver touches the vehicle door key10,10′,10″ his alcohol level is sensed and corresponding signals are sent to the door lock5, the vehicle ignition system8, or both remotely by means of a transmitter15and receivers16and17so as to allow opening of the door lock5and starting of the vehicle ignition system8, or to prevent the same.

FIG. 4shows a further embodiment of the present invention. Here the system is designed so that depending on signals from alcohol sensing means it is possible or impossible to open not only the driver's door of the vehicle1, but also any door of the vehicle. This system is illustrated for a vehicle which has two alcohol level sensors18and19mounted on two door and having transmitters22and23correspondingly. The doors have door locks20and21provided with receivers24and25. Each door sensor18and19is connected with both door locks20and21.

If a driver tries to enter the vehicle1not only through the driver's door but through another door of the vehicle, the sensor of the door which the driver tries to open, either on the driver-side door or on the passenger side will sense the alcohol level in his blood and depending whether the alcohol level is within an allowable range or outside of the allowable range, will allow opening of the door locks20and21of both doors or prevents opening of the door locks20and21both of the doors of the vehicle. Each of the door sensors18and19can be also operatively connected with the vehicle ignition system8and therefore the ignition system8can start only if the alcohol level sensed by all sensors18and19on all doors is within an allowable range.

It will be understood that each of the elements described above, or two or more together, may also find a useful application in other types of constructions differing from the type described above.

While the invention has been illustrated and described as embodied in a system for preventing operation of a vehicle by an intoxicated person, it is not intended to be limited to the details shown, since various modifications and structural changes may be made without departing in any way from the spirit of the present invention.