Optical weight sensor for vehicular safety restraint systems
First Claim
1. A safety restraint system for restraining an occupant seated in a seat, comprising:
- a restraint device (32) which can be selectively activated to restrain the occupant;
a weight sensor (16) for determining the weight of the occupant and generating an output signal indicative thereof, the weight sensor (16) including a housing (50) secured to the seat and an optical assembly (52) retained in the housing (50) for generating the output signal as a function of the amount of displacement of the housing (50) relative to the optical assembly (52) caused by the occupant'"'"'s weight; and
a controller (24) for controlling activation of the restraint device (32) in response to the output signal.
6 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An optical weight sensor (16) for use in the crash management system of a motor vehicle'"'"'s safety restraint system (10). The optical weight sensor (16) functions to determine the weight of an occupant sitting on a vehicle seat (12) and is mounted between the seat frame (42) and mounting structure (46) of the vehicle seat (12). The optical weight sensor (16) includes an imaging assembly (52) retained in an enclosed housing assembly (50). The weight of a seat occupant causes a portion (56) of the housing assembly (50) to deflect the imaging assembly (52) generating a change in a reflection angle caused by such deflection. The imaging assembly (52) includes a light emitting unit (70) which emits a light beam onto a target area (78) on housing portion (56) which is subsequently reflected onto a position sensing unit (76).
83 Citations
13 Claims
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1. A safety restraint system for restraining an occupant seated in a seat, comprising:
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a restraint device (32) which can be selectively activated to restrain the occupant; a weight sensor (16) for determining the weight of the occupant and generating an output signal indicative thereof, the weight sensor (16) including a housing (50) secured to the seat and an optical assembly (52) retained in the housing (50) for generating the output signal as a function of the amount of displacement of the housing (50) relative to the optical assembly (52) caused by the occupant'"'"'s weight; and a controller (24) for controlling activation of the restraint device (32) in response to the output signal. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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8. A weight sensor for determining the weight of an occupant sitting in a seat, comprising:
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a housing (50) secured relative to the seat and which includes a plate (56) adapted to deflect in response to the occupant'"'"'s weight being transferred to the housing (50); and an optical assembly (52) mounted to the housing (50) and including a light emitting unit (70) which emits a light beam directed at a target area (78) on the plate (56), and a position sensing unit (76) receiving the incident light beam reflected off the target surface (78), whereby deflection of the plate (56) causes the incident light beam to strike the position sensing unit (76) at different positions corresponding to the weight of the occupant. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11)
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12. A method of measuring the weight of an object using an optical weight sensor, the method comprising the steps of:
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projecting a beam of light toward a target area; displacing the target area due to the weight of the object; measuring the displacement of the target area by determining the reflection angle of the beam of light reflected off the target area; generating an output signal in proportion to the measured displacement of the target area and which is indicative of the weight of the object. - View Dependent Claims (13)
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Specification