Vehicle crash sensing system
First Claim
1. An acceleration sensor, comprising:
- a. a plurality of at least three substantially co-planar accelerometers with axes both skewed relative to one another and intersecting a region near a point;
b. a means for determining at least one acceleration basis value from at least one of said plurality of acceleration measurements; and
c. a means for outputting at least one of said acceleration basis values.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
A vehicle crash sensing system for making omnidirectional acceleration measurements comprises 1) an assembly (26) of at least three preferably self-testable accelerometers (10, 12, 14) mounted in an array on a substantially common plane (16) with axes (18, 20, 22) both skewed relative to one another and intersecting a region near a point, and 2) an electronic control module (30). The accelerometer signals (A, B, C) provide a redundant measure of the associated acceleration vector (R). The magnitudes of components for associated acceleration basis vectors are calculated from the accelerometer signals (A, B, C) and used in the detection of crashes for associated safety restraint systems (801, 802, 803, 804). Algorithms (500, 600, 700) in the electronic control module remove accelerometer offset, determine if the acceleration measurements are self-consistent whereby the measurement of acceleration from one accelerometer is consistent with a corresponding estimate thereof based upon measurements of acceleration from the other accelerometers, control self-testing, detect crashes using only self-consistent acceleration measurements, and activate associated safety restraint systems (801, 802, 803, 804) as appropriate.
119 Citations
20 Claims
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1. An acceleration sensor, comprising:
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a. a plurality of at least three substantially co-planar accelerometers with axes both skewed relative to one another and intersecting a region near a point; b. a means for determining at least one acceleration basis value from at least one of said plurality of acceleration measurements; and c. a means for outputting at least one of said acceleration basis values. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4)
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5. An apparatus for controlling the activation of a safety restraint system, comprising:
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a. a plurality of at least three substantially co-planar accelerometers with axes both skewed relative to one another and intersecting a region near a point; b. a means for determining at least one acceleration basis value from at least one of said plurality of acceleration measurements; c. a means for selecting time series elements of at least one of said acceleration basis values; and d. a means for determining if the safety restraint system should be activated based upon said time series. - View Dependent Claims (6, 7, 8)
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9. A method of sensing acceleration, comprising:
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a. making measurements of acceleration from a plurality of at least three substantially co-planar accelerometers with axes both skewed relative to one another and intersecting a region near a point; b. determining at least one acceleration basis value using said measurements of acceleration from at least one of said plurality of accelerometers; and c. outputting at least one of said acceleration basis values. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12)
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13. A method of controlling the activation of a safety restraint system, comprising:
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a. making measurements of acceleration from a plurality of at least three substantially co-planar accelerometers with axes both skewed relative to one another and intersecting a region near a point; b. determining at least one acceleration basis value using said measurements of acceleration from at least one of said plurality of accelerometers; and c. determining if the safety restraint system should be activated based upon the time series of said basis values. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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Specification