System and method for controlling a vehicle occupant protection device
First Claim
1. A system for controlling a vehicle occupant protection device associated with a vehicle seat, said system comprising:
- an occupant weight sensor operative to sense a weight condition of an occupant of the vehicle seat and provide a weight sensor signal, said weight sensor signal varying as a position of the occupant of the vehicle seat varies;
a second sensor operative to sense a second condition of the occupant and provide a second sensor signal;
a controller operative to receive said weight sensor signal and said second sensor signal, said controller analyzing said weight sensor signal and said second sensor signal to determine inconsistencies between the conditions indicated by said weight sensor signal and said second sensor signal, said controller enabling actuation of the occupant protection device if said weight sensor signal and said second sensor signal are inconsistent.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A system (10) for controlling a vehicle occupant protection device (52) associated with a vehicle seat (12) includes a weight sensor (40) operative to sense a weight condition of an occupant (26) of the vehicle seat (12) and provide a weight sensor signal. A second sensor (50) is operative to sense a second condition of the occupant (26) and provide a second sensor signal. A controller (34) receives the weight sensor signal and the second sensor signal. The controller (34) analyzes the weight sensor signal and the second sensor signal to determine inconsistencies between the weight sensor signal and the second sensor signal and enables actuation of the occupant protection device (52) if the weight sensor signal and the second sensor signal are inconsistent.
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Citations
18 Claims
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1. A system for controlling a vehicle occupant protection device associated with a vehicle seat, said system comprising:
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an occupant weight sensor operative to sense a weight condition of an occupant of the vehicle seat and provide a weight sensor signal, said weight sensor signal varying as a position of the occupant of the vehicle seat varies;
a second sensor operative to sense a second condition of the occupant and provide a second sensor signal;
a controller operative to receive said weight sensor signal and said second sensor signal, said controller analyzing said weight sensor signal and said second sensor signal to determine inconsistencies between the conditions indicated by said weight sensor signal and said second sensor signal, said controller enabling actuation of the occupant protection device if said weight sensor signal and said second sensor signal are inconsistent.
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2. A system for controlling a vehicle occupant protection device associated with a vehicle seat, said system comprising:
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an occupant weight sensor operative to sense a weight condition of an occupant of the vehicle seat and provide a weight sensor signal;
a second sensor operative to sense a second condition of the occupant and provide a second sensor signal;
a controller operative to receive said weight sensor signal and said second sensor signal, said controller analyzing said weight sensor signal and said second sensor signal to determine inconsistencies between the conditions indicated by said weight sensor signal and said second sensor signal, said controller enabling actuation of the occupant protection device if said weight sensor signal and said second sensor signal are inconsistent; and
an acceleration sensor operative to sense acceleration of the vehicle and providing an acceleration signal, and said controller sampling said weight and second sensor signals over time and receiving said acceleration signal, said controller being operative to, in response to said acceleration signal, determine a weight characteristic indicative of how said weight condition is changing over a plurality of sampling intervals and a second characteristic indicative of how said second occupant condition is changing over the plurality of sampling intervals, said controller controlling operation of the occupant protection device based on at least one of said weight and second characteristics. - View Dependent Claims (3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. A sensing system for use in a vehicle comprising:
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at least two sensors, each of said at least two sensors being operative to sense a different condition of a vehicle occupant associated with a vehicle seat and provide a sensor signal indicative of the sensed condition;
an acceleration sensor operative to sense acceleration of the vehicle and provide an acceleration signal; and
a controller responsive to said sensor signals and said acceleration signal, said controller having a first operating mode when the acceleration signal indicates vehicle acceleration less than or equal to a first acceleration threshold and a second operating mode when the acceleration signal indicates acceleration greater than the first acceleration threshold, said controller, when in the first operating mode, being operative to control actuation of an associated vehicle occupant protection device based on the sensed occupant condition being indicated by each of said sensor signals and said acceleration signal indicating a vehicle acceleration above a second acceleration threshold, which is greater than the first acceleration threshold, said controller, when in the second operating mode, being operative to determine an occupant characteristic indicative of how each of the occupant conditions sensed by said at least two occupant condition sensors varies over time and to control actuation of the associated vehicle occupant protection device based on the acceleration signal indicating vehicle acceleration above the second acceleration threshold and based on each of said determined occupant characteristics. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. A method for helping to protect a vehicle occupant located in a vehicle seat, said method comprising the steps of:
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sensing vehicle acceleration and providing an acceleration signal according to the sensed vehicle acceleration;
sampling over time a first occupant condition signal indicative of a first vehicle occupant condition;
sampling over time a second occupant condition signal indicative of a second vehicle occupant condition;
determining how each of the first and second sampled occupant condition signals vary over a plurality of sampling intervals based on the acceleration signal; and
enabling actuation of a vehicle occupant protection device upon determining that the first and second occupant conditions vary inconsistently over the plurality of sampling intervals. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18)
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Specification