COLLISION DETERMINATION APPARATUS

• US 20130253775A1
• Filed: 03/05/2013
• Published: 09/26/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 03/23/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: DENSO Corporation
• Original Assignee: DENSO Corporation
• Inventors: Shimizu, Ryo
• Granted Patent: US 9,371,051 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/45
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 21/013 including means for detecting collisions, impending collisions or roll-over
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 21/0136 responsive to actual contact with an obstacle , e.g. to vehicle deformation, bumper displacement or bumper velocity relative to the vehicle monitoring crash strength in combination with passenger seat detection B60R21/01558

Abstract

A collision determination apparatus receives sensor data, which includes a sensor identifier, from multiple sensors that are of at least two different sensor types. Based on the sensor data from each of the sensors, a main determination unit determines whether to operate a protection apparatus. In parallel, a redundant determination unit determines whether to operate the protection apparatus based on at least one sensor data and by switching sub-determination units that have different determination logics according to a sensor type. In particular, the sensor identifier includes a sensor type information that allows the redundant determination unit to determine the sensor type of the sensor that transmitted the sensor data, and select the appropriate sub-determination unit. Therefore, based on the sensor type information in the sensor data, the same collision determination apparatus can be used in different vehicles that have respectively different number of sensors and different sensor types.

Claims

1. A collision determination apparatus for determining an occurrence of a collision and deploying an occupant protection apparatus based on information from multiple sensors, the multiple sensors being of at least two different sensor types and each of the multiples sensors having a predetermined detection function detecting at least one of a vehicle behavior and a vehicle deformation and having an identification function for retaining a uniquely-assigned sensor identifier, each of the multiple sensors transmitting a sensor data to the collision determination apparatus, the collision determination apparatus comprising:

a bus master receiving the sensor data from each of the multiple sensors via an in-vehicle network, the sensor data including a detection data from the predetermined detection function and the uniquely-assigned sensor identifier;

a main determination unit determining whether to operate the occupant protection apparatus based on the sensor data forwarded by the bus master;

a redundant determination unit including at least two sub-determination units and a switch unit, the sub-determination units being of at least two different types and at least corresponding to each of the different sensor types of the multiple sensors, the switch unit selecting one of the sub-determination units for providing a redundant determination, wherein the redundant determination of whether to operate the occupant protection apparatus is based on at least one of the sensor data forwarded by the bus master and is performed independently from the determination of the main determination unit;

a logic gate determining whether to operate the occupant protection apparatus by evaluating a determination result of the main determination unit and a determination result of the redundant determination unit; and

a start driver starting the occupant protection apparatus according to a logic output provided by the logic gate.

2. The collision determination apparatus of claim 1, wherein

the sensors are satellite sensors that are dispersedly disposed on the vehicle,

the sensor identifier includes a type information representing a sensor type of each of the satellite sensors,

the sub-determination units have different determination logics that respectively correspond to at least the different sensor types of the satellite sensors, and

the switch unit distributes the sensor data according to the type information.

3. The collision determination apparatus of claim 1, wherein the main determination unit further includes:

an identifier setting unit that sets a respectively different sensor identifier to each of the multiple sensors as an initial setting after a start up; and

an identifier confirmation unit that confirms the sensor identifier in the sensor data that is returned by the multiple sensors in response to a request signal, which requests a transmission of the sensor data and is sent to each of the sensors.

4. The collision determination apparatus of claim 1, wherein the collision determination apparatus is an electronic control unit (ECU) that includes, in one housing:

a CPU that has the main determination unit built-in, and

an ASIC that has the bus master, the redundant determination unit, the logic gate, and the start driver built therein.

5. The collision determination apparatus of claim 4, wherein

the ECU is an airbag ECU having a side collision determination function,

the different sensor types at least include a pressure sensor that detects a pressure change in an in-door space of each door and are movably installed on a side face of the vehicle and include an impact sensor disposed in a non-movable side face that detects at least one of an acceleration or deformation,

the sub-determination units include a first sub-determination unit that performs a collision determination based on the detection data from the pressure sensor and a second sub-determination unit that performs a collision determination based on the detection data from the impact sensor,

the logic gate is an AND gate, and

the start driver is an ignition driver that operates a gas generator for deploying an airbag that servers as the occupant protection apparatus for a side collision.