System for detecting pedestrian colliding with vehicle

• US 20060219461A1
• Filed: 03/10/2006
• Published: 10/05/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 03/29/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: DENSO Corporation
• Original Assignee: DENSO Corporation
• Inventors: Kiribayashi, Shinichi
• Granted Patent: US 7,493,983 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 180/274
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 21/0132 responsive to vehicle motion parameters , e.g. to vehicle longitudinal or transversal deceleration or speed value

Abstract

A pedestrian-detecting system mounted on an automotive vehicle includes a touch sensor for detecting a first touch of an object at a collision, an acceleration sensor for detecting deceleration at a collision, a calculator to which outputs of sensors are fed, and an electronic control unit for activating a pedestrian-protecting device when the calculator determines that the vehicle collides with a pedestrian. A time period T from the first touch detected by the touch sensor to a time when deceleration detected by the acceleration sensor reaches its peak is compared with a threshold time period Tth. If the time period T is longer than the time period Tth, it is determined that the vehicle collided with a pedestrian.

Claims

1. A system for detecting whether an object collided with an automotive vehicle is a pedestrian, the system comprising:

a touch sensor mounted on the automotive vehicle for detecting a touch of an object to the automotive vehicle;

an acceleration sensor mounted on the automotive vehicle; and

a calculating means for determining that the object collided with the automotive vehicle is a pedestrian based on a signal from the touch sensor and outputs of the acceleration sensor.

2. The detecting system as in claim 1, wherein:

the calculating means determines that the object collided with the automotive vehicle is a pedestrian based on changes in deceleration detected by the acceleration sensor.

3. The detecting system as in claim 1, wherein:

the touch sensor is mounted on a front bumper of the automotive vehicle.

4. The detecting system as in claim 1, wherein:

the acceleration sensor is mounted in the vicinity of the touch sensor.

5. The detecting system as in claim 1, wherein:

a plurality of acceleration sensors are mounted on the automotive vehicle.

6. The detecting system as in claim 1, further comprising a vehicle speed sensor mounted on the automotive vehicle, wherein:

outputs of the vehicle speed sensor are fed to the calculating means.

7. The detecting system as in claim 2, wherein:

the calculating means determines that the object collided with the automotive vehicle is a pedestrian if a period of time between a time when the touch of the object to the automotive vehicle is detected by the touch sensor and a time when an amount of deceleration detected by the acceleration sensor becomes a peak exceeds a threshold period of time.

8. The detecting system as in claim 7, wherein:

the threshold period of time is set according to a vehicle speed at a time when the touch of the object is detected.