Seat occupation judging apparatus for a vehicle
First Claim
1. A seat occupation judging apparatus for a vehicle comprising:
- load detection means arranged at a seat for detecting a load on said seat to output a load detection signal;
seat condition detection means arranged at said seat for detecting a seat condition to generate a seat condition detection signal indicative of discrimination in presence on said seat between an adult and a child seat on said seat; and
judging means responsive to said load detection means and said seat condition detection means for outputting a judging signal indicating that a child seat is set on said seat when said load detection signal indicates that an adult sits on said seat and said seat condition detection signal indicates that said child seat sits on said seat.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
A seat occupation is judged with a load detector arranged at a seat for detecting a load on the seat and a seat condition detection means arranged at the seat for providing discrimination between an adult and a child seat on the seat. A judging means judges that a child seat is set on the seat when the load detection means detects the load corresponding to that of adult and the seat condition detection means detects that the child seat on the seat. The seat condition detection means may comprise an electrostatistic sensor for detecting a capacitance that is increased by the body of the passenger or a pressure detection element array arranged on the sitting portion. The detected capacitance or the pressure distribution is different between a child seat and an adult or a passenger.
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Citations
16 Claims
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1. A seat occupation judging apparatus for a vehicle comprising:
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load detection means arranged at a seat for detecting a load on said seat to output a load detection signal;
seat condition detection means arranged at said seat for detecting a seat condition to generate a seat condition detection signal indicative of discrimination in presence on said seat between an adult and a child seat on said seat; and
judging means responsive to said load detection means and said seat condition detection means for outputting a judging signal indicating that a child seat is set on said seat when said load detection signal indicates that an adult sits on said seat and said seat condition detection signal indicates that said child seat sits on said seat. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 16)
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12. A seat occupation judging apparatus for a vehicle comprising:
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load detection means arranged at a seat for detecting a load on said seat to output a load detection signal;
seat condition detection means arranged at said seat for detecting a seat condition to generate a seat condition detection signal indicative of discrimination in presence on said seat between an adult and a child seat on said seat; and
judging means responsive to said load detection means and said seat condition detection means for outputting a judging signal indicating that a child seat is set on said seat when said load detection signal indicates that an adult sits on said seat and said seat condition detection signal indicates that said child seat sits on said seat, wherein said seat condition detection means comprises a planar pressure sensor array arranged in a sitting portion of said seat along a surface, touchable to said seat occupation, of said sitting portion including pressure sensing elements two-dimensionally arranged with a predetermined pattern, and wherein said array includes three to ten rows of said pressure elements arranged in said backward and forward direction of said sitting portion and five to twelve lines of pressure elements arranged in the width direction of said sitting portion at a predetermined interval. - View Dependent Claims (13)
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14. A seat occupation judging apparatus for a vehicle comprising:
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a load detector arranged at a seat for detecting a load of an occupant on said seat to output a load detection signal;
a seat condition detector arranged at said seat for detecting a seat condition to generate a seat condition detection signal indicative of discrimination in presence on said seat between an adult and a child seat on said seat;
comparing means for comparing a load detection signal with a threshold value to discriminate between a child on said seat and a group including an adult on said seat and a child seat attached on said seat;
first judging means for judging said occupant as a child when a comparison result from said comparing means discriminates said child from said group; and
second judging means responsive to said first judging means for judging said occupant on the basis of said seat condition detection signal when said comparing means discriminates said group from a child, and thereby judging said occupant as an adult when said seat condition detection signal indicates presence of an adult on said seat and judging said occupant as a child seat when said seat condition detection signal indicates presence of a child seat on said seat.
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15. A seat occupation judging apparatus for a vehicle comprising:
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a load detector arranged at a seat for detecting a load of an occupant on said seat to output a load detection signal;
a seat condition detector arranged at said seat for detecting a seat condition to generate a seat condition detection signal indicative of discrimination in presence on said seat between an adult and a child seat on said seat;
comparing means for comparing a load detection signal with a threshold value to discriminate between a child on said seat and a group including an adult on said seat and a child seat attached on said seat;
judging means responsive to said load detection signal, seat condition signal, and said comparing means for judging said occupant as a child when a child is discriminated from said group in accordance with said load detection signal, judging said occupant as an adult when said group is discriminated from a child in accordance with said load detection signal and an adult is discriminate from a child seat in accordance with said seat condition detection signal, and judging said occupant as a child seat when said group is discriminated from a child in accordance with said load detection signal and a child seat is discriminate from an adult in accordance with said seat condition detection signal.
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Specification