Device and Method for Controlling a Passenger Protection System of a Vehicle
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Accused Products
Abstract
A device for controlling a passenger protection system of a motor vehicle includes at least one structure-borne noise sensor, used to receive body vibrations, and an evaluation device, used to evaluate the structure-borne noise signal. The evaluation provides information about an impact object and/or the characteristics of the impact. The evaluation device is configured to analyze the structure-borne noise signal in relation to the frequencies contained therein, wherein the frequency spectrum contained in a signal section is distributed into a plurality of frequency ranges. The current signal energy is determined for each frequency range, and the signal energy of the frequency range is a standardized. The device also comprises a passenger protection system, which can be actuated according to the information relating to the impact object and/or the characteristics of the impact. Further, the evaluation device is embodied such that during standardization, the signal energy of each frequency range is established in relation to the signal energy of a specific reference frequency range, and the resulting ratio course is compared to predetermined threshold values.
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Citations
54 Claims
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1-26. -26. (canceled)
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27. A device for controlling a passenger protection system of a motor vehicle, comprising:
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at least one structure-borne noise sensor disposed to pick up vehicle body vibrations and to output a structure-borne noise signal; an evaluation device connected to receive the signal from said sensor and to evaluate the signal for generating information about an impact object and/or a characteristic of a collision; said evaluation device being configured to analyze the sensor signal in respect of the frequencies contained therein, by; dividing a frequency spectrum contained in a signal section into a number of frequency bands; determine a signal energy for each frequency band; and standardizing the signal energy of the frequency bands, thereby relating the signal energy of each of the frequency bands to a signal energy of a specific reference frequency band, and comparing resulting ratio curves with predetermined threshold values; wherein the passenger protection system is activated in dependence on the information about the impact object and/or the characteristic of the collision. - View Dependent Claims (28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39)
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40. A method of controlling a passenger protection system of a motor vehicle, the method which comprises:
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picking up bodywork vibrations with at least one structure-borne noise sensor and outputting a structure-borne noise signal; evaluating the structure-borne noise signal with an evaluation device to determine information about an impact object and/or characteristics of a collision, the evaluation device analyzing the structure-borne noise signal in respect of the frequencies contained therein, by dividing the frequency spectrum contained in the signal section into a number of frequency bands; determining a signal energy for each of the frequency bands; and standardizing the signal energy of the frequency bands and thereby relating the signal energy of each of the frequency bands to a signal energy of a specific reference frequency band and comparing a resulting relationship with predetermined threshold values; selectively activating a passenger protection system depending on the information about the impact object and/or the characteristics of the collision. - View Dependent Claims (41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50)
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51. A device for controlling a passenger protection system of a vehicle, comprising:
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a sensor system for detecting a collision of an object with the vehicle, said sensor system including at least one crash sensor for detecting an impact of the object on the motor vehicle and at least one structure-borne noise sensor for picking up vehicle bodywork vibrations and outputting a structure-borne noise signal; an evaluation device connected to receive sensor signals from said sensor system and evaluating the sensor signals such that information about an impact object and/or about a characteristic of the collision can be supplied, and for activation of a passenger protection system tailored to the impact situation; said evaluation device, for distinguishing a pedestrian impact from a crash, evaluating a frequency spectrum of the structure-borne noise signal emitted by the structure-borne noise sensor and, as a part of the evaluation, to compare high-frequency signal components with low-frequency signal components; and a passenger protection system that is activated depending on the information about the impact object and/or about the characteristics of the collision. - View Dependent Claims (52, 53, 54)
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Specification