Procedure and device for protecting vehicle occupants
First Claim
1. A method for protecting at least one occupant of a vehicle which includes protective means for the at least one occupant, comprising the steps of:
- providing at least one acceleration sensor coupled to the protective means for monitoring an acceleration of the vehicle, the at least one acceleration sensor having an output signal corresponding to the acceleration;
filtering the output signal with at least one Kalman filter to obtain at least one of a first estimated value of future forward displacement of the at least one occupant as a function of the acceleration of the vehicle and a second estimated value of future relative speed of the at least one occupant with respect to a passenger compartment of the vehicle; and
activating the protective means as a function of at least one of the first estimated value and the second estimated value when at least one of the first estimated value exceeds first predetermined limit values within a predetermined future time interval and the second estimated value exceeds second predetermined limit values within the predetermined future time interval.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A device for the protection of occupants of a vehicle includes at least one acceleration sensor (10), an electronic device (20) for evaluating the output signal of the sensor (10), and a protective device (30) for the occupants of the vehicle. The electronic device makes it possible to carry out a process for the activating in due time of the protective device (30) by the electronic device (20) in the manner that estimated values for the future displacement of the occupant of the vehicle and/or his relative speed with respect to the passenger compartment are estimated in advance and compared with presettable limit values.
39 Citations
18 Claims
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1. A method for protecting at least one occupant of a vehicle which includes protective means for the at least one occupant, comprising the steps of:
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providing at least one acceleration sensor coupled to the protective means for monitoring an acceleration of the vehicle, the at least one acceleration sensor having an output signal corresponding to the acceleration; filtering the output signal with at least one Kalman filter to obtain at least one of a first estimated value of future forward displacement of the at least one occupant as a function of the acceleration of the vehicle and a second estimated value of future relative speed of the at least one occupant with respect to a passenger compartment of the vehicle; and activating the protective means as a function of at least one of the first estimated value and the second estimated value when at least one of the first estimated value exceeds first predetermined limit values within a predetermined future time interval and the second estimated value exceeds second predetermined limit values within the predetermined future time interval. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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18. A device for protecting at least one occupant of a vehicle which includes at least one protective means for the at least one occupant, comprising:
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at least one acceleration sensor coupled to the protective means for monitoring an acceleration of the vehicle, the at least one acceleration sensor having an output signal corresponding to the acceleration; and at least one electronic device for evaluating the output signal and controlling the protective means in response to the output signal, the electronic device including, means for evaluating the position of the at least one occupant in the vehicle, means for determining at least one of first predetermined limit values for future forward displacement of the at least one occupant as a function of the acceleration of the vehicle and second predetermined limit values for future relative speed of the at least one occupant with respect to a passenger compartment of the vehicle, means for filtering the output signal with at least one Kalman filter to obtain at least one of a first estimated value of future forward displacement of the at least one occupant as a function of the acceleration of the vehicle and a second estimated value of future relative speed of the at least one occupant with respect to a passenger compartment of the vehicle, and means for estimating whether at least one of the first estimated value exceeds first predetermined limit values within a predetermined future time interval and the second estimated value exceeds second predetermined limit values within the predetermined future time interval and means for activating the protective means as a function of at least one of the first and second estimated values.
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Specification