System and method for recognition of seat occupancy in a vehicle
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A system, for recognition of seat occupancy in a vehicle, comprises a microwave transmitter (10), a microwave receiver (10) and preferably a reflector (12). If a person is located between said objects the microwave radiation is thus weakened. A back-scatter device can be used as reflector (12), such that radiation received by the receiver (10) can be unambiguously assigned to the reflector (12). In addition or alternatively a run-time measurement for the microwave radiation can be carried out and the above further processed with an analysis of the seat position. It is possible to use the refraction properties of the microwave radiation around the object in order to obtain further information about the seat position. The recognition of whether and optionally how a seat is occupied can preferably be used for the locking or activation of an airbag.
23 Citations
49 Claims
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1-30. -30. (canceled)
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31. A system for determining an occupancy of a vehicle seat in a vehicle, comprising:
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at least one microwave transmitter;
at least one microwave receiver; and
at least one reflector in the form of a modulating back-scatter device;
wherein said at least one microwave transmitter and said at least one microwave receiver are disposed such that;
microwave radiation transmitted by said at least one microwave transmitter over a radiation path reaches said at least one microwave receiver, at least when the vehicle seat is unoccupied; and
when the vehicle seat is occupied, an object may be in the radiation path, and radiation received by said microwave receiver is influenced in accordance with the seat occupancy, and an intensity received by said at least one microwave receiver and affected by diffraction provides information on a position of the object in the radiation path. - View Dependent Claims (32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40)
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41. A method for determining a seat occupancy in a vehicle, which comprises the following steps:
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transmitting microwave radiation to cause the transmitted microwave radiation to propagate over a radiation path, wherein, depending on the seat occupancy, an object may be present in the radiation path, whereupon the radiation received may be influenced in accordance with the seat occupancy;
reflecting the microwave radiation with a modulating back-scatter process; and
receiving reflected microwave radiation and deducing, from a received intensity affected by diffraction of the radiation, information on the position of the object in the radiation path. - View Dependent Claims (42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49)
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Specification