Vehicle pre-impact sensing system and method
First Claim
1. A vehicle pre-impact sensing system comprising:
- a signal transmitter mounted on a vehicle for transmitting signals within multiple transmit zones incrementally spaced from the vehicle;
a receiver mounted on the vehicle for receiving said signals reflected from an object located in one or more of the multiple receive zones indicative of the object being in certain one or more zones; and
a processor for processing the received reflected signals and determining location, speed and direction of the object, wherein the processor further determines whether the object is expected to impact the vehicle as a function of the determined location, speed and direction of the object, and generates an output indicative of a sensed pre-impact event.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A vehicle pre-impact sensing system and method are provided. Included in the system is an array of energy signal transmitters mounted on a vehicle for transmitting signals within multiple transmit zones incrementally spaced from the vehicle. The system further includes an array of receiver elements mounted on the vehicle for receiving signals reflected from an object located in one or more multiple receive zones indicative of the object being in certain one or more zones. The system also includes a processor for processing the received reflected signals and determining location, speed and direction of the object, wherein the processor further determines whether the object is expected to impact the vehicle as a function of the determined location, speed and direction of the object, and generates an output signal indicative of a pre-impact event.
13 Citations
22 Claims
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1. A vehicle pre-impact sensing system comprising:
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a signal transmitter mounted on a vehicle for transmitting signals within multiple transmit zones incrementally spaced from the vehicle; a receiver mounted on the vehicle for receiving said signals reflected from an object located in one or more of the multiple receive zones indicative of the object being in certain one or more zones; and a processor for processing the received reflected signals and determining location, speed and direction of the object, wherein the processor further determines whether the object is expected to impact the vehicle as a function of the determined location, speed and direction of the object, and generates an output indicative of a sensed pre-impact event. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. A vehicle pre-impact sensing system comprising:
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an array of energy signal transmitters mounted on a vehicle for transmitting signals within multiple transmit zones incrementally spaced from the vehicle; an array of receiver elements mounted on the vehicle for receiving the signals reflected from an object located in one or more multiple receive zones indicative of the object being in certain one or more receive zones; and a processor for processing the received reflected signals and determining location, speed and direction of the object, wherein the processor further determines whether the object is expected to impact the vehicle as a function of the determined location, speed and direction of the object, and generates an output signal indicative of a sensed pre-impact event. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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18. A method of detecting an expected impact of an object with a vehicle, said method comprising the steps of:
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transmitting signals within multiple transmit zones incrementally spaced from the vehicle, within one zone at a time; receiving signals reflected from an object located in the one or more multiple zones indicative of the object being in certain one or more receive zones; processing the received reflected signals; determining location of the object; determining speed of the object; determining direction of the object; determining whether the object is expected to impact the vehicle as a function of the determined location, speed and direction of the object; and generating an output signal indicative of a sensed pre-impact event. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21, 22)
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Specification