Vehicle satellite sensor for frontal or side occupant restraint deployment
First Claim
1. Apparatus for controlling deployment of an occupant restraint in a motor vehicle crash, the apparatus comprising:
- means for receiving and sampling an acceleration signal;
means for deriving a first oscillation value from consecutive values of the received and sampled acceleration signal in a first predetermined process;
means for deriving a second oscillation value from the consecutive values of the received and sampled acceleration signal in a second predetermined process;
means for activating a predetermined one of the means for deriving a first oscillation value and the means for deriving a second oscillation value on the basis of a reference datum so that a selected one of the first oscillation value and the second oscillation value is derived; and
means for deriving an occupant restraint deployment signal from the received and sampled acceleration signal and the selected one of the first oscillation value and the second oscillation value.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A vehicle satellite crash sensor includes a microcomputer with a stored datum indicating intended use in a frontal application such as the front crush space or a side application such as a vehicle side door. The microcomputer also stores a program that processes a sensed acceleration signal, derives an oscillation value and derives an occupant restraint deployment signal at least in response to the oscillation value. The program includes stored code for two alternative oscillation derivation algorithms: one of which is used in frontal applications and derives an integral of the absolute value of the sensed acceleration signal; the other of which is used in side applications and derives an integral of the sensed acceleration. The stored datum determines which of the stored oscillation algorithms is used.
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Citations
7 Claims
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1. Apparatus for controlling deployment of an occupant restraint in a motor vehicle crash, the apparatus comprising:
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means for receiving and sampling an acceleration signal;
means for deriving a first oscillation value from consecutive values of the received and sampled acceleration signal in a first predetermined process;
means for deriving a second oscillation value from the consecutive values of the received and sampled acceleration signal in a second predetermined process;
means for activating a predetermined one of the means for deriving a first oscillation value and the means for deriving a second oscillation value on the basis of a reference datum so that a selected one of the first oscillation value and the second oscillation value is derived; and
means for deriving an occupant restraint deployment signal from the received and sampled acceleration signal and the selected one of the first oscillation value and the second oscillation value. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5)
the means for deriving a first oscillation value comprises means for calculating a sum of terms in which each term comprises a positively signed magnitude of the difference between two consecutive values of the received and sampled acceleration signal; and
the means for deriving a second oscillation value comprises means for calculating a sum of terms in which each term comprises, alternatively;
(a) a positively signed magnitude of the difference between two consecutive values of the received and sampled acceleration signal when both of the consecutive values are positive, (b) a negatively signed magnitude of the difference between two consecutive values of the received and sampled acceleration signal when both of the consecutive values are negative, and (c) a signed sum of two consecutive values of the received and sampled acceleration signal when one of the consecutive values is positive and the other of the consecutive values is negative.
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6. A vehicle crash sensor for an occupant restraint deployment system comprising:
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means for providing a sensed acceleration signal; and
a microcomputer having a stored program and a stored datum indicating whether the sensor is intended to discriminate a frontal crash or to discriminate a side crash, the stored program comprising means for receiving the sensed acceleration signal, means for deriving a first oscillation value from consecutively sampled values of the acceleration signal in a first predetermined process, means for deriving a second oscillation value from consecutively sampled values of the acceleration signal in a second predetermined process, means for activating one of the means for deriving a first oscillation value and the means for deriving a second oscillation value to derive a selected one of the first oscillation value and the second oscillation value on the basis of a value of the stored datum, and means for deriving an occupant restraint deployment signal using the selected one of the first oscillation value and the second oscillation value. - View Dependent Claims (7)
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Specification