Unattended Child Car Seat Alarm

Abstract

A car seat alarm has an on/off switch that is initiated by clicking the latch on the car seat. (“Pumpkin” or removable carrier infant seats may use a two-part switch.) Initiating the circuit when clicking the child into the seat would conserve battery life. The device would be off when the seat is unlocked. Additionally, if an occasion arose where a parent or caregiver were sitting in the vehicle with a child and needed to have the engine off, that parent or caregiver would simply need to unclick or unlock the child car seat restraint to deactivate the device. A learning or programmable chip can be programmed to the same frequency as the panic button on the key fob. This may be done by pressing the panic button on the key fob in close proximity to the learning circuit on the seat.

1 . A child car seat, comprising: 
 a seat shaped to receive a child;    a child restraint attached to the seat;    a sensor responsive to the presence of the child in the seat;    a timing circuit;    a wireless transmitter operably configured to emit a signal mimicking an electronic key fob panic signal;    control circuitry responsive to the sensor indicating presence of a child to initiate broadcast by the wireless transmitter upon a determination of a time threshold from the timing circuit.    
   
   
       2 . The child car seat of  claim 1 , wherein the sensor comprises a locked restraint circuit.  
   
   
       3 . The child car seat of  claim 1 , wherein the sensor comprises a pressure sensor.  
   
   
       4 . The child car seat of  claim 1 , further comprising a temperature sensor, wherein the control circuitry is further operatively responsive to the temperature sensor to adjust the timing threshold.  
   
   
       5 . The child car seat of  claim 1 , further comprising a learning circuit responsive to an initiating condition to accept a panic signal format for recording and use by the wireless transmitter.  
   
   
       6 . The child car seat of  claim 5 , wherein the wireless transmitter further comprises a wireless transceiver, the learning circuit further operatively configured to determine a power level of a received key fob panic signal being above a power threshold to comprise the initiating condition.  
   
   
       7 . The child car seat of  claim 1 , wherein the learning circuit is further operatively configured to sweep a plurality of key fob panic signal formats in an attempt to activate a panic mode in another vehicle proximate to the car seat.  
   
   
       8 . The child car seat of  claim 1 , further comprising a microphone, the learning circuit operatively configured to sweep a plurality of key fob panic signal formats and to respond to a corresponding horn sound to accept a panic signal format for recording and use by the wireless transmitter.