Air bag controlling apparatus
First Claim
1. An air bag controlling apparatus for controlling inflation of an air bag for a motor vehicle and adapted to cooperate with (a) an acceleration sensor which generates a deceleration signal as a function of the vehicle'"'"'s deceleration, and (b) an inflator which provides said air bag with compressed gas when ignited by an igniter, said air bag controlling apparatus comprising:
- threshold value storage means for storing a threshold value used in determining whether the inflator will be ignited;
calculating means for processing the deceleration signal to derive a displacement value as a function of the deceleration of the vehicle;
waveform judging means for evaluating a waveform of said deceleration signal to determine whether an initial period for which the deceleration has a positive value continues for a predetermined interval of time after said acceleration sensor detects a predetermined deceleration;
threshold value correcting means for correcting the threshold value stored in said threshold value storage means when said waveform judging means determines that the initial period for which the deceleration has a positive value has continued for the predetermined interval of time;
discriminating means for determining whether the displacement value derived by said calculating means is greater than the corrected threshold value; and
signal output means for outputting an ignition signal to said inflator so that said inflator is ignited and said air bag is inflated when the discriminating means determines that the displacement value derived by the calculating means is greater than the corrected threshold value.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
An air bag controlling apparatus for controlling inflation of an air bag for a motor vehicle and adapted to cooperate with (i) an inflator which provides said air bag with compressed gas when ignited by an igniter, and (ii) an acceleration sensor which generates an appropriate deceleration signal as a function of the vehicle'"'"'s deceleration. The apparatus comprises a threshold value storage for storing a threshold value used in determining whether the inflator will be ignited and a calculator for calculating a displacement amount of the vehicle. A waveform evaluator evaluates the waveform of the deceleration signal to determine whether an initial period for which the deceleration has a positive value continues for a predetermined interval of time after a predetermined deceleration is detected. A threshold value corrector corrects the threshold value stored in the threshold value storage when the waveform evaluator determines that the initial period for which the deceleration has a positive value has continued for the predetermined interval of time. A discriminator determines whether the displacement amount calculated by the calculating means is greater than the corrected threshold value. Finally, a signal output generator outputs the ignition signal to the inflator so that the inflator is ignited and the air bag is inflated when the discriminator determines that the displacement amount calculated by the calculator is greater than the corrected threshold value.
15 Citations
20 Claims
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1. An air bag controlling apparatus for controlling inflation of an air bag for a motor vehicle and adapted to cooperate with (a) an acceleration sensor which generates a deceleration signal as a function of the vehicle'"'"'s deceleration, and (b) an inflator which provides said air bag with compressed gas when ignited by an igniter, said air bag controlling apparatus comprising:
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threshold value storage means for storing a threshold value used in determining whether the inflator will be ignited; calculating means for processing the deceleration signal to derive a displacement value as a function of the deceleration of the vehicle; waveform judging means for evaluating a waveform of said deceleration signal to determine whether an initial period for which the deceleration has a positive value continues for a predetermined interval of time after said acceleration sensor detects a predetermined deceleration; threshold value correcting means for correcting the threshold value stored in said threshold value storage means when said waveform judging means determines that the initial period for which the deceleration has a positive value has continued for the predetermined interval of time; discriminating means for determining whether the displacement value derived by said calculating means is greater than the corrected threshold value; and signal output means for outputting an ignition signal to said inflator so that said inflator is ignited and said air bag is inflated when the discriminating means determines that the displacement value derived by the calculating means is greater than the corrected threshold value. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5)
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6. An air bag controlling apparatus for controlling inflation of an air bag for a motor vehicle and adapted to cooperate with (a) an acceleration sensor which generates a deceleration signal as a function of the vehicle'"'"'s deceleration, and (b) an inflator which provides said air bag with compressed gas when ignited by an igniter, said air bag controlling apparatus comprising:
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threshold value storage means for storing a threshold value used in determining whether the inflator will be ignited; calculating means for processing the deceleration signal to derive a displacement value as a function of the deceleration of the vehicle; waveform judging means for evaluating a waveform of said deceleration signal to determine whether an initial period for which the deceleration has a positive value continues for a predetermined interval of time after said acceleration sensor detects a predetermined deceleration; displacement value correcting means for correcting the displacement value by reducing the displacement value when said waveform judging means determines that the initial period for which the deceleration has a positive value has continued for the predetermined interval of time; discriminating means for determining whether the displacement value derived by said calculating means and corrected by said correcting means is greater than the threshold value stored in said threshold value storage means; and signal output means for outputting an ignition signal to said inflator so that said inflator is ignited and said air bag is inflated when the discriminating means determines that the displacement value derived by the calculating means and corrected by said correcting means is greater than the threshold value. - View Dependent Claims (7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. An air bag assembly for a motor vehicle comprising:
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an inflator for discharging compressed gas when ignited by an ignition signal; an inflatable air bag which is inflated by the compressed gas discharged by said inflator; an acceleration sensor capable of detecting a deceleration of said vehicle and generating a deceleration signal as a function of said deceleration, said deceleration signal having a waveform over time; threshold value storage means for storing a threshold value used in determining whether the inflator will be ignited; calculating means for processing the deceleration signal to derive a displacement value as a function of the deceleration of the vehicle; waveform judging means for evaluating the waveform of said deceleration signal to determine whether an initial period for which the deceleration has a positive value continues for a predetermined interval of time after said acceleration sensor detects a predetermined deceleration; threshold value correcting means for correcting the threshold value stored in said threshold value storage means when said waveform judging means determines that the initial period for which the deceleration has a positive value has continued for the predetermined interval of time; discriminating means for determining whether the displacement value derived by said calculating means is greater than the corrected threshold value; and signal output means for outputting the ignition signal to said inflator so that said inflator is ignited and said air bag is inflated when the discriminating means determines that the displacement value derived by the calculating means is greater than the corrected threshold value. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. An air bag assembly for a motor vehicle comprising:
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an inflator for discharging compressed gas when ignited by an ignition signal; an inflatable air bag which is inflated by the compressed gas discharged by said inflator; an acceleration sensor capable of detecting a deceleration of said vehicle and generating a deceleration signal as a function of said deceleration, said deceleration signal having a waveform over time; threshold value storage means for storing a threshold value used in determining whether the inflator will be ignited; calculating means for processing the deceleration signal to derive a displacement value as a function of the deceleration of the vehicle; waveform judging means for evaluating the waveform of said deceleration signal to determine whether an initial period for which the deceleration has a positive value continues for a predetermined interval of time after said acceleration sensor detects a predetermined deceleration; displacement value correcting means for correcting the displacement value by reducing the displacement value when said waveform judging means determines that the initial period for which the deceleration has a positive value has continued for the predetermined interval of time; discriminating means for determining whether the displacement value derived by said calculating means and corrected by said correcting means is greater than the threshold value stored in said threshold value storage means; and signal output means for outputting the ignition signal to said inflator so that said inflator is ignited and said air bag is inflated when the discriminating means determines that the displacement value derived by the calculating means and corrected by said correcting means is greater than the threshold value. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20)
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Specification