System and method for the detection and discrimination of vehicle crash events
First Claim
1. A method for controlling deployment of an inflatable restraint disposed within a passenger compartment of a vehicle, the method comprising:
- monitoring a signal indicative of acceleration of the passenger compartment to generate a plurality of signal samples;
determining distance traveled by the passenger compartment based on the plurality of signal samples;
determining a first, second, and third average acceleration of the passenger compartment based on a first, second, and third number, respectively, of the plurality of signal samples;
determining jerk based on the first average acceleration;
determining a fourth average acceleration based on a second number of the plurality of signal samples and the jerk of the second average acceleration;
comparing the fourth average acceleration to a plurality of thresholds each based on the distance traveled; and
generating a signal to deploy the inflatable restraint based on the jerk of the second average acceleration exceeding at least one of the plurality of thresholds.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A system and method for controlling deployment of an inflatable passenger restraint utilize distance-based thresholds to improve deployment time in high-speed crash events and to improve event discrimination for side impacts. The invention uses an acceleration signal to calculate distance and to calculate average acceleration using three buffers holding differing numbers of samples. The three average accelerations are used to determine the length of the acceleration curves above and below the zero axis which is defined as positive and negative jerk. Average acceleration and jerk are compared to the distance-based thresholds to determine whether or not to deploy the inflatable restraint.
23 Citations
10 Claims
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1. A method for controlling deployment of an inflatable restraint disposed within a passenger compartment of a vehicle, the method comprising:
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monitoring a signal indicative of acceleration of the passenger compartment to generate a plurality of signal samples; determining distance traveled by the passenger compartment based on the plurality of signal samples; determining a first, second, and third average acceleration of the passenger compartment based on a first, second, and third number, respectively, of the plurality of signal samples; determining jerk based on the first average acceleration; determining a fourth average acceleration based on a second number of the plurality of signal samples and the jerk of the second average acceleration; comparing the fourth average acceleration to a plurality of thresholds each based on the distance traveled; and generating a signal to deploy the inflatable restraint based on the jerk of the second average acceleration exceeding at least one of the plurality of thresholds. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5)
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6. A system for controlling deployment of an inflatable restraint disposed within a passenger compartment of a vehicle, the system comprising:
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a sensor for generating a signal indicative of acceleration of the passenger compartment; and control logic in communication with the sensor to periodically sample the signal to generate a plurality of signal samples, determine distance traveled by the passenger compartment based on the plurality of signal samples, determine a first, second, and third average acceleration of the passenger compartment based on a first, second, and third number of the plurality of signal samples, determine jerk based on the first average acceleration, determine a fourth average acceleration based on a second number of the plurality of signal samples and the jerk of the second average acceleration, compare the fourth average acceleration to a plurality of thresholds each based on the distance traveled, and generate a signal to deploy the inflatable restraint based on the jerk of the second average acceleration exceeding at least one of the plurality of thresholds. - View Dependent Claims (7, 8, 9, 10)
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Specification