Method and apparatus for discriminating vehicle crash conditions
First Claim
1. An apparatus for controlling actuation of an occupant restraint system in a vehicle, said apparatus comprising:
- means for determining an instantaneous power value of said vehicle when involved in a crash condition;
means for determining a vehicle delta velocity value of said vehicle when involved in said crash condition; and
means for actuating the occupant restraint system when both said determined vehicle delta velocity value and said determined instantaneous power value indicate a predetermined type of vehicle crash condition is occurring.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An apparatus for controlling actuation of an occupant restraint system in a vehicle includes an accelerometer for providing a signal having a characteristic indicative of a vehicle crash condition. A microcomputer monitors the output of the accelerometer at a plurality of different times and determines an instantaneous power value from the plurality of monitored acceleration signals. The microcomputer further determines a vehicle delta velocity value from the acceleration signal. The microcomputer compares the instantaneous power and the delta velocity against associated thresholds. The microcomputer actuates the occupant restraining device when the vehicle delta velocity value exceeds its threshold within a time period from when the instantaneous power value exceeds its threshold.
101 Citations
25 Claims
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1. An apparatus for controlling actuation of an occupant restraint system in a vehicle, said apparatus comprising:
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means for determining an instantaneous power value of said vehicle when involved in a crash condition; means for determining a vehicle delta velocity value of said vehicle when involved in said crash condition; and means for actuating the occupant restraint system when both said determined vehicle delta velocity value and said determined instantaneous power value indicate a predetermined type of vehicle crash condition is occurring. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
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7. An apparatus for controlling actuation of an occupant restraint system in a vehicle, said apparatus comprising:
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means for determining the instantaneous power value of said vehicle when involved in a crash condition; means for comparing said determined instantaneous power value of a vehicle crash condition against a first threshold value; means for determining a vehicle delta velocity value of said vehicle when involved in said crash condition; means for comparing said determined vehicle delta velocity value against a second threshold value; and means for actuating the occupant restraint system when said determined vehicle delta velocity value exceeds said second threshold value within a time period from when said determined instantaneous power value exceeds said first threshold value. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. An apparatus for controlling actuation of an occupant restraint system in a vehicle, said apparatus comprising:
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sensing means for providing a signal indicative of vehicle deceleration; means for determining the root-mean-square value of said deceleration signal; means for determining a first time derivative of said determined root-mean-square value of said deceleration signal; first comparing means for comparing said determined derivative of said determined root-means-square value of said deceleration signal against a first threshold value; means for determining a value indicative of vehicle delta velocity from said signal indicative of vehicle deceleration; second comparing means for comparing the determined vehicle delta velocity against a second threshold value; and means for actuating the occupant restraint system when said means for second comparing means determines that said delta velocity value is greater than said second threshold value within a time period from when said first comparing means determines that the derivative of said determined root-means-square value of said deceleration signal is greater than said first threshold value. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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20. A method for controlling actuation of an occupant restraint system in a vehicle, said method comprising the steps of:
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determining an instantaneous power value of said vehicle when involved in a crash condition; determining a vehicle delta velocity value of the vehicle when involved in the crash condition; and actuating the occupant restraint system when both said determined vehicle delta velocity value and said determined instantaneous power value indicate a predetermined type of vehicle crash condition is occurring. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22, 23, 24, 25)
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Specification