PENSACOLA, Florida - The idea for a smoke detector that lets parents record a message to tell young children what to do when there is a fire came in a dream, one of its inventors says. Eddie Fray was one of four inventors of the "KidSmart" voice-equipped smoke detector who shared an award last week at the International Consumer Electronics Association's 36th annual show in Las Vegas. "I dreamed there was a fire in the house and the smoke alarm told the kids to get out," said Fray, a 42-year-old father of three. "I almost went back to sleep, but I decided to get up and write the idea down."

　　Fray said he believes such a detector, with a message in a familiar voice recorded on it, will be less confusing to a child than a standard smoke alarm. Fray and a business partner teamed up with two other men who had earlier patented a talking smoke alarm. According to the inventors, young children often panic and hide when they hear a conventional smoke alarm, sometimes fearing they have done something wrong to set it off.