Method for determining an impact intensity

• US 10,399,524 B2
• Filed: 02/22/2017
• Issued: 09/03/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 04/04/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Robert Bosch GmbH
• Original Assignee: Robert Bosch GmbH
• Inventors: Gross, Marcus, Ohl, Christian, Lehr, Elvira, Faisst, Hans-Joerg, Roelleke, Michael, Ladda, Josefine, Schuster, Stefan
• Primary Examiner(s): Barakat, Mohamed
• Application Number:
  US16/080,190
• Publication Number:
  US 20190054879A1
• Time in Patent Office: 923 Days
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 2021/0027 Post collision measures, e.g. notifying emergency services
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 2021/01325 Vertical acceleration
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 21/0132 responsive to vehicle motion parameters , e.g. to vehicle longitudinal or transversal deceleration or speed value
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 25/009 Signalling of the alarm condition to a substation whose identity is signalled to a central station, e.g. relaying alarm signals in order to extend communication range
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 25/016 Personal emergency signalling and security systems emergency non-personal manually actuated alarm activators G08B25/12
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 25/08 using communication transmission lines G08B13/19658, G08B21/0286, G08B25/016 take precedence

Abstract

A method for generating a signal representing an impact intensity including the steps: receiving at least three signals, which represent respectively accelerations in different spatial directions; calculating a direction-independent variable from the three signals; ascertaining an integrated measurand of the direction-independent variable over a time window; generating a signal representing an impact intensity on the basis of the ascertained integrated measurand.

Claims

1. A method for a vehicle for generating a signal representing an impact intensity, comprising:

receiving at least three signals, which represent respectively accelerations in different spatial directions;

calculating a direction-independent variable from the three signals;

adapting the direction-independent variable by subtracting a value representing gravitational acceleration from the direction-independent variable;

ascertaining an integrated measurand of the direction-independent variable over a time window; and

generating a signal representing an impact intensity from the ascertained integrated measurand.

2. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the three signals are low-pass filtered.

3. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the integrated measurand is ascertained continuously.

4. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the integrated measurand is compared to a predefined threshold value.

5. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein a transmitting device is activated for transmitting the signal representing an impact intensity to:

(i) an external receiving device, and/or (ii) a mobile terminal.

6. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the integrated measurand is ascertained continuously at a discrete-time sampling rate.

7. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein a transmitting device is triggered based on the comparison to transmit the signal representing the impact intensity to at least one of:

an external receiving device, or a mobile terminal.

8. A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium on which is stored a computer program for generating a signal representing an impact intensity, the computer program, when executed by a processor, causing the processor to perform:

receiving at least three signals, which represent respectively accelerations in different spatial directions;

calculating a direction-independent variable from the three signals;

adapting the direction-independent variable by subtracting a value representing gravitational acceleration from the direction-independent variable;

ascertaining an integrated measurand of the direction-independent variable over a time window; and

generating a signal representing an impact intensity from the ascertained integrated measurand.

9. An electronic control unit for generating a signal representing an impact intensity, the electronic control unit designed to:

receive at least three signals, which represent respectively accelerations in different spatial directions;

calculate a direction-independent variable from the three signals;

adapting the direction-independent variable by subtracting a value representing gravitational acceleration from the direction-independent variable;

ascertain an integrated measurand of the direction-independent variable over a time window; and

generate a signal representing an impact intensity from the ascertained integrated measurand.

10. A device, comprising:

an electronic control unit for generating a signal representing an impact intensity, the electronic control unit designed to;

receive at least three signals, which represent respectively accelerations in different spatial directions,

calculate a direction-independent variable from the three signals,

adapting the direction-independent variable by subtracting a value representing gravitational acceleration from the direction-independent variable;

ascertain an integrated measurand of the direction-independent variable over a time window, and

generate a signal representing an impact intensity from the ascertained integrated measurand; and

a triaxial acceleration sensor to detect the accelerations in the three different spatial directions.

11. The device as recited in claim 10, further comprising:

a transmitting device to transmit the signal representing an impact intensity to;

(i) an external receiving device, and/or (ii) a mobile terminal.

12. The device as recited in claim 11, wherein the electronic control unit, the triaxial acceleration sensor, and the transmitting device are situated together in a common housing.

13. A method for a vehicle for generating a signal representing an impact intensity, comprising:

receiving at least three signals, which represent respectively accelerations in different spatial directions;

adapting at least one of the three signals by subtracting a value representing gravitational acceleration from the at least one of the three signals;

calculating a direction-independent variable from the three signals;

ascertaining an integrated measurand of the direction-independent variable over a time window; and

generating a signal representing an impact intensity from the ascertained integrated measurand.