Vehicle passenger detection apparatus with wireless acquisition of passenger-related data
First Claim
1. Apparatus for detecting presence of passengers in different seating locations of a vehicle passenger compartment, comprising:
- passive seat force sensors disposed in each of the seating locations, each passive seat force sensor including a surface acoustic wave device loaded by a passive sensor device; and
a controller disposed in proximity to said seating locations for issuing wireless interrogation signals to the passive seat force sensors disposed in said seating locations, receiving responses generated by said surface acoustic wave devices, obtaining seat force data from said responses, and detecting presence of passengers in the different seating locations based on said seat force data.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A vehicle passenger detection apparatus includes passive RF seat force sensors at each seating location and a single-point electronic control unit (ECU) for wirelessly acquiring passenger-related data from each of the sensors. A sensor-loaded surface acoustic wave (SAW) device is installed in each seating location of the vehicle, and the ECU successively interrogates the SAW devices to determine passenger presence for each of the seating locations. The SAW devices have distinguishable fundamental resonance frequencies for differentiation among the seating locations. A fluid-filled elastomeric bladder is installed in the seat bottom of each seating location, and a pelletized sensor including a capacitive pressure sensor and a SAW device is disposed in each bladder. The pressure sensor capacitively loads the respective SAW device so that when interrogated by the ECU, the SAW device emits an RF response indicative of the fluid pressure in the bladder.
15 Citations
9 Claims
-
1. Apparatus for detecting presence of passengers in different seating locations of a vehicle passenger compartment, comprising:
-
passive seat force sensors disposed in each of the seating locations, each passive seat force sensor including a surface acoustic wave device loaded by a passive sensor device; and
a controller disposed in proximity to said seating locations for issuing wireless interrogation signals to the passive seat force sensors disposed in said seating locations, receiving responses generated by said surface acoustic wave devices, obtaining seat force data from said responses, and detecting presence of passengers in the different seating locations based on said seat force data. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
-
Specification