Monitoring windshield vibrations for vehicle collision detection

• US 10,525,921 B2
• Filed: 08/10/2017
• Issued: 01/07/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 08/10/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC (Ford Motor Company)
• Original Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC (Ford Motor Company)
• Inventors: Ghannam, Mahmoud Yousef, Wheeler, Joshua, Bennie, Brian, Amman, Scott Andrew, Thornburg, Doug B.
• Primary Examiner(s): Marc, McDieunel
• Application Number:
  US15/674,155
• Publication Number:
  US 20190047500A1
• Time in Patent Office: 880 Days
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 2021/0004 Frontal collision
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 2021/0011 Rear collision or recoiling bounce after frontal collision
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 21/013 including means for detecting collisions, impending collisions or roll-over
• CPC Class Codes: B60S 1/0859 Other types of detection of rain, e.g. by measuring friction or rain drop impact
• CPC Class Codes: G01H 11/08 using piezoelectric devices

Abstract

An example vehicle for monitoring windshield vibrations for vehicle collision detection includes a windshield, a vibration sensor coupled to the windshield to detect window vibrations of the windshield, a first accelerometer to detect vehicle body vibrations of a vehicle body, and a restraint control module. The restraint control module is to detect an event based upon the window vibrations and determine whether the event is a collision event or a non-collision event responsive to comparing the window vibrations and the vehicle body vibrations.

Claims

1. A vehicle comprising:

a window;

a first sensor coupled to the window to detect window vibrations of the window;

a second sensor to detect vehicle body vibrations of a vehicle body; and

a restraint control module to;

detect an event based upon the window vibrations; and

determine whether the event is a collision event or a non-collision event responsive to comparing the window vibrations and the vehicle body vibrations.

2. The vehicle of claim 1, wherein the window vibrations detected by the first sensor correspond to sound waves caused by the event.

3. The vehicle of claim 2, further including a rain/wiper sensor that detects vibrations of the window caused by at least one of precipitation and windshield wipers to enable the window vibrations corresponding to the sound waves of the event to be identified.

4. The vehicle of claim 1, further including an airbag, the restraint control module sends a signal to deploy the airbag responsive to determining that the event is the collision event and does not send the signal to deploy the airbag responsive to determining that the event is the non-collision event.

5. The vehicle of claim 1, wherein the non-collision event includes a blowout of a tire of a nearby vehicle.

6. The vehicle of claim 1, wherein the first sensor is a piezoelectric accelerometer.

7. The vehicle of claim 1, wherein the restraint control module includes the second sensor and is mounted to a vehicle floor between a driver seat and a front-passenger seat.

8. The vehicle of claim 1, wherein the restraint control module determines whether the event is the collision event or the non-collision event by comparing frequencies of the window vibrations and frequencies of the vehicle body vibrations for a predetermined time period after the event has initiated.

9. The vehicle of claim 8, wherein the restraint control module determines that the event is the collision event responsive to identifying the frequencies of the vehicle body vibrations increase to a threshold frequency before the frequencies of the window vibrations increase to the threshold frequency.

10. The vehicle of claim 8, wherein the restraint control module determines that the event is the non-collision event responsive to identifying at least one of:

the frequencies of the window vibrations increase to a threshold frequency before the frequencies of the vehicle body vibrations increase to the threshold frequency; and

the frequencies of the window vibrations increase to a respective maximum frequency before the frequencies of the vehicle body vibrations increase to a respective maximum frequency.

11. The vehicle of claim 1, further including a front accelerometer configured to further detect the vehicle body vibrations.

12. The vehicle of claim 11, wherein, in response to determining that the event is the collision event, the restraint control module is to determine whether the collision event is at least one of a head-on collision and a rear-end collision via the front accelerometer.

13. The vehicle of claim 1, further including at least one of a side accelerometer and a side pressure sensor configured to further detect the vehicle body vibrations.

14. The vehicle of claim 13, wherein, in response to determining that the event is the collision event, the restraint control module is to determine whether the collision event is a side collision via the at least one of the side accelerometer and the side pressure sensor.

15. The vehicle of claim 1, further including a camera located on a side-view mirror, wherein the restraint control module is to determine whether the event is the collision event or the non-collision event further based on images captured by the camera.

16. The vehicle of claim 1, further including a communication module configured to communicate with another vehicle via vehicle-to-vehicle communication, wherein the restraint control module is to determine whether the event is the collision event or the non-collision event further based on information collected via vehicle-to-vehicle communication.

17. A method comprising:

detecting window vibrations of a window via a first sensor coupled to the window;

detecting vehicle body vibrations of a vehicle body via a second sensor;

detecting, via a processor, an event based upon the window vibrations; and

determining, via the processor, whether the event is a collision event or a non-collision event responsive to comparing the window vibrations and the vehicle body vibrations.

18. The method of claim 17, further including comparing frequencies of the window vibrations and frequencies of the vehicle body vibrations for a predetermined time period after the event to determine whether the event is the collision event or the non-collision event.

19. The method of claim 18, further including determining that the event is the collision event responsive to identifying the frequencies of the vehicle body vibrations increase to a threshold frequency before the frequencies of the window vibrations increase to the threshold frequency.

20. The method of claim 18, further including determining that the event is the non-collision event responsive to identifying at least one of:

the frequencies of the window vibrations increase to a threshold frequency before the frequencies of the vehicle body vibrations increase to the threshold frequency; and

the frequencies of the window vibrations increase to a respective maximum frequency before the frequencies of the vehicle body vibrations increase to a respective maximum frequency.