Vehicle impact detection system
First Claim
1. A system for controlling actuation of a vehicle occupant safety restraint device in response to an impact with an outer surface of the vehicle comprising:
- a sensor means affixed to the outer surface of the vehicle for generating a continuous, two dimensional analog output signal representative of a condition of the outer surface; and
a processor means for monitoring the two dimensional sensor output signal, said processor means further comprising;
means for performing signal analysis on said continuous output signal to generate data representative of at least one criterion indicative of an impact with the outer surface;
means for determining whether said generated data indicates an impact of sufficient severity to require actuation of the safety restraint device; and
means controlled by said determining means for actuating the occupant safety restraint device in response to an impact of sufficient severity.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
A vehicle impact detection system (10) for controlling the actuation of an occupant safety restraint device (24) includes a sensor array (12) affixed to an outer surface (16) of the vehicle for continuously generating a two dimensional output (14) representative of the condition of the outer surface, and a processor/evaluation circuit (20) for performing advanced array signal processing on the sensor array output. The system (10) can reliably predict severe impacts within a few milliseconds of initial impact, and therefore is particularly suited for controlling the actuation of a safety restraint device in response to side impacts.
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Citations
9 Claims
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1. A system for controlling actuation of a vehicle occupant safety restraint device in response to an impact with an outer surface of the vehicle comprising:
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a sensor means affixed to the outer surface of the vehicle for generating a continuous, two dimensional analog output signal representative of a condition of the outer surface; and a processor means for monitoring the two dimensional sensor output signal, said processor means further comprising; means for performing signal analysis on said continuous output signal to generate data representative of at least one criterion indicative of an impact with the outer surface; means for determining whether said generated data indicates an impact of sufficient severity to require actuation of the safety restraint device; and means controlled by said determining means for actuating the occupant safety restraint device in response to an impact of sufficient severity. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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8. A system for controlling actuation of a vehicle occupant safety restraint device in response to an impact with an outer surface of the vehicle comprising:
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a sensor means affixed to the outer surface of the vehicle for generating a continuous, two dimensional output signal representative of a condition of the outer surface, said sensor means comprising an array of sensor elements formed from piezoelectric film; and a processor means for monitoring the two dimensional sensor output signal, said processor means further comprising; means for performing signal analysis on said continuous output signal to generate data representative of at least one criterion indicative of an impact with the outer surface; means for determining whether said generated data indicates an impact of sufficient severity to require actuation of the safety restraint device; and means controlled by said determining means for actuating the occupant safety restraint device in response to an impact of sufficient severity.
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9. A system for controlling actuation of a vehicle occupant safety restraint device in response to an impact with an outer surface of the vehicle comprising:
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a sensor means affixed to the outer surface of the vehicle for generating a continuous, two dimensional output signal representative of a condition of the outer surface; and a processor means for monitoring the two dimensional sensor output signal, said processor means further comprising; means for performing signal analysis on said continuous output signal to generate data representative of at least one criterion indicative of an impact with the outer surface, wherein said at least one criterion comprises acceleration of the outer surface; means for determining whether said generated data indicates an impact of sufficient severity to require actuation of the safety restraint device; and means controlled by said determining means for actuating the occupant safety restraint device in response to an impact of sufficient severity.
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Specification