System and method for discriminating short-period crashes
First Claim
1. In a method for controlling actuation of a vehicle passenger safety device in response to an event possibly requiring actuation of said safety device, said method including the steps of:
- receiving information representative of instantaneous vehicle acceleration;
generating a measure which is evaluative of said received information in relation to time;
generating a measure correlated with the progress of said event based on said received acceleration information;
generating a measure predictive of the severity of said event based on said evaluative measure and said progress measure;
comparing said predictive measure with a first predetermined threshold value; and
actuating said safety device if said predictive measure exceeds said first predetermined threshold value, the improvement wherein said step of generating said progress measure comprises the steps of;
selectively providing as an input to an accumulator a transitory value for said received information if the transitory value is less than or equal to a second predetermined threshold value, or an alternative value equal to twice said second predetermined threshold value minus the transitory value for said received information if the transitory value is greater than said second predetermined threshold value; and
accumulating said selectively provided inputs in said accumulator.
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Accused Products
Abstract
In a system (10) and method for controlling actuation of a vehicle passenger safety device in response to an event possibly requiring actuation of the safety device, a differential measure (m1 (t)) is generated based on stored consecutive values for received vehicle acceleration information while a measure (m2 (t)) correlated with the relative progress of the event is generated by selectively providing as an input to a first accumulator (24) either a weighted transitory value for received acceleration information (a(t)) whenever the transitory value is itself less than or equal to a first predetermined threshold value (x1), or a weighted alternative value, wherein the alternative value is itself equal to twice the first predetermined threshold value (x1) minus the transitory value. The differential measure (m1 (t)) is thereafter combined with the progress measure (m2 (t)) to effectively "damp" or weight the former as a function of event progress, whereupon the resulting combination is accumulated in a second accumulator (30) to obtain a measure (m3 (t)) predictive of event severity, with the safety device being actuated when the predictive measure (m3 (t)) exceeds a second predetermined threshold value (x2).
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Citations
16 Claims
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1. In a method for controlling actuation of a vehicle passenger safety device in response to an event possibly requiring actuation of said safety device, said method including the steps of:
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receiving information representative of instantaneous vehicle acceleration; generating a measure which is evaluative of said received information in relation to time; generating a measure correlated with the progress of said event based on said received acceleration information; generating a measure predictive of the severity of said event based on said evaluative measure and said progress measure; comparing said predictive measure with a first predetermined threshold value; and actuating said safety device if said predictive measure exceeds said first predetermined threshold value, the improvement wherein said step of generating said progress measure comprises the steps of; selectively providing as an input to an accumulator a transitory value for said received information if the transitory value is less than or equal to a second predetermined threshold value, or an alternative value equal to twice said second predetermined threshold value minus the transitory value for said received information if the transitory value is greater than said second predetermined threshold value; and accumulating said selectively provided inputs in said accumulator. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. A system for controlling actuation of a vehicle passenger safety device in response to an event possibly requiring actuation of said safety device, said system comprising:
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means for receiving information representative of instantaneous vehicle acceleration; first generating means responsive to said received information for generating a measure evaluative of said received information in relation to time; second generating means responsive to said received information for generating a measure correlated with the progress of said event, said second generating means including an accumulator, and means for selectively providing as an input to said accumulator a transitory value for said received information if the transitory value is less than or equal to a first predetermined threshold value, or an alternative value equal to twice said first predetermined threshold value minus the transitory value for said received information if the transitory value is greater than said first predetermined threshold value; third generating means responsive to said evaluative measure and said progress measure for generating a measure predictive of crash severity; first comparing means responsive to said predictive measure for generating an output signal if said predictive measure has exceeded a second predetermined threshold value; and actuating means responsive to said first comparing means for actuating said vehicle safety device upon generation of said output signal. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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Specification