Rules-based occupant classification system for airbag deployment
First Claim
1. An occupant classification system for use with an airbag deployment system having a seat, an occupant in the seat, a video camera for capturing a visual image of the occupant, a feature extractor, and an airbag controller, said occupant classification system comprising:
- an expert system classifier, wherein said expert system classifier receives a vector of features comprising at least one feature relating to the occupant, and wherein said expert system classifier applies an internal set of rules to the vector of features such that the occupant is identified as one of a plurality of predefined occupant-type categories; and
a confidence factor extractor, wherein said confidence factor extractor generates a confidence factor representing the relative accuracy or inaccuracy of the occupant-type classification by said expert system classifier.
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Abstract
An occupant classification system utilizes a rules-based expert system to automatically classify the occupant of a seat for the purposes of airbag deployment. The invention provides users with the ability to create, test, and modify the image attributes or “features” used by the expert system to classify occupants into one of several predefined occupant-type categories. Users are also provided the ability to create, test, and modify the processes utilizing those chosen features. The user of the invention designs the features and the algorithms used by the expert system classifier. A feature extractor is used to extract features from an image of the occupant and surrounding seat area, and the values relating to those features are sent in a vector of features to the expert system classifier. The expert system classifier classifies the image of the occupant according to the internal rules for that classifier. The resulting occupant-type classification is sent to the confidence factor extractor, along with the vector of features. The confidence factor extractor generates a confidence factor indicating the probable accuracy of the occupant-type classification. The occupant-type classification and confidence factor are then sent to the airbag controller so the airbag deployment system can take the appropriate action. For embodiments involving multiple expert system classifiers, one weighted occupant-type classification and one weighted confidence factor are sent to the airbag controller.
96 Citations
48 Claims
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1. An occupant classification system for use with an airbag deployment system having a seat, an occupant in the seat, a video camera for capturing a visual image of the occupant, a feature extractor, and an airbag controller, said occupant classification system comprising:
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an expert system classifier, wherein said expert system classifier receives a vector of features comprising at least one feature relating to the occupant, and wherein said expert system classifier applies an internal set of rules to the vector of features such that the occupant is identified as one of a plurality of predefined occupant-type categories; and
a confidence factor extractor, wherein said confidence factor extractor generates a confidence factor representing the relative accuracy or inaccuracy of the occupant-type classification by said expert system classifier. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. An occupant classification system comprising:
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a sensor for capturing an image of a seat area, said visual image being in a frequency range normally perceivable by the human eye;
a feature extractor for extracting a feature of an occupant from said image and generating a vector of said feature, wherein said vector of features are derived solely from said visual image;
an expert system classifier that receives said vector and determines a classification of the occupant; and
a confidence factor extractor that uses said vector and said occupant-type classification to calculate a confidence level of said classification. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35)
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36. An occupant classification system comprising:
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a video camera for capturing an ambient image of a seat area and a segmented image of an occupant;
a feature extractor that receives said ambient image and said segmented image from said video camera and extracts said ambient image and said segmented image into a vector of features comprising at least one feature;
an expert system classifier that receives said vector of features and uses internal rules embodied in a decision tree to classify the occupant of said seat area into one of a plurality of predefined occupant-type classifications comprising adult, child, and non-adult seat; and
a confidence factor extractor that receives said occupant-type classification and said vector of features and determines the confidence level for the classification of said occupant. - View Dependent Claims (37, 38, 39, 40)
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41. A method for associating a predetermined occupant-type classification to an occupant image, comprising the steps of:
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applying a decision tree utilizing different features and boundary values for those features leading to occupant-type classification determinations, wherein all said features are derived from the occupant image; and
extracting a confidence factor based on past performance of the decision tree. - View Dependent Claims (42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48)
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Specification