Control circuit for a passenger protection device in a motor vehicle and corresponding method of operation

• US 6,859,706 B1
• Filed: 08/22/2000
• Issued: 02/22/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 08/22/2000
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Siemens AG
• Original Assignee: Siemens AG
• Inventors: Schmidt, Claus
• Primary Examiner(s): Hernandez, Olga
• Application Number:
  US10/311,866
• Time in Patent Office: 1,645 Days
• Field of Search: 701/45, 701/36, 701/29, 701/34, 280/735, 280/734, 180/271, 180/273
• US Class Current: 701/45
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 21/0132 responsive to vehicle motion parameters , e.g. to vehicle longitudinal or transversal deceleration or speed value
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 7/00 Methods or arrangements for processing data by operating upon the order or content of the data handled logic circuits H03K19/00

Abstract

The invention relates to a control circuit for at least one passenger protection system (6-8) in a motor vehicle, comprising a plurality of sensors for detecting a respective parameter of the motor vehicle, and an evaluation unit connected to the sensors at the input side and adapted to produce, in accordance with the measured parameters, a release signal (Enable1) activating the passenger protection device in the case of an accident. The control circuit further comprises a check unit (10) connected to the sensors at the input side and adapted to check the mutual plausibility of the parameters measured by the sensors and to output a first disable signal (Error) for the passenger protection device in the case of an incorrect plausibility check. A logical circuit (11-14, 21-28) is connected to the evaluation unit (4, 5) and the check unit on the input side and to the passenger protection device on the output side and blocks activation of the passenger protection device when a first disable signal (Error) is received. At least one inducer element (15-17) is provided for simulating a malfunction of the sensors and/or of the check unit. Said inducer element simulates only a single sensor or only a part of the sensors, thereby simulating a malfunction of the remaining sensors.

Claims

1. A control circuit for at least one vehicle-occupant protection system in a motor vehicle, comprising:

a plurality of sensors to detect a respective parameter of the motor vehicle;

an evaluation unit which is connected to the sensors at the input end to generate a triggering signal which activates the vehicle-occupant protection system based on the measured parameters when there is an accident;

a check unit, which is connected to the sensors at the input end, to check a mutual plausibility of the parameters which are measured by the sensors and to output a first disable signal for the vehicle-occupant protection system when there is an errored plausibility check; and

a logic circuit, which is connected at the input end to the evaluation unit and to the check unit and at the output end to the vehicle-occupant protection system for disabling activation of the vehicle-occupant protection system when the first disable signal is present, wherein

to simulate a malfunction of the sensors and/or of the check unit, at least one excitation element provided which excites a single sensor or some of the sensors and simulates a malfunction of the rest of the sensors.

2. The control circuit as claimed in claim 1, wherein the excitation element is connected to a first controllable switching element to perform controllable activation.

3. The control circuit as claimed in claim 2, wherein to receive a second disable signal for the vehicle-occupant protection system, the logic circuit is connected to the first controllable switching element during the simulation of a sensor malfunction, the logic circuit disabling or enabling the activation of the vehicle-occupant protection system as a function of the two disable signals.

4. The control circuit as claimed in claim 3, wherein the logic circuit disables the activation of the vehicle-occupant protection system if the first disable signal is present and/or the second disable signal is not present.

5. The control circuit as claimed in claim 3, wherein the logic circuit disables the activation of the vehicle-occupant protection system if the first disable signal is not present although the second disable signal is present.

6. The control circuit as claimed in claim 1, wherein the logic circuit has a sample-and-hold element to maintain the first disable signal, generated after an errored plausibility check, even if there was a successful plausibility check in the meantime.

7. The control circuit as claimed in claim 6, wherein the logic circuit actuates the sample-and-hold element to permanently disable the vehicle-occupant protection system if, during the simulation of a sensor malfunction, the second disable signal is present whereas the second disable signal is not present.

8. The control circuit as claimed in claim 6, wherein the sample-and-hold element has a resetting input to delete the stored disable signal.

9. The control circuit as claimed in claim 8, wherein the resetting input is connected to a switching element to be able to delete the disable signal manually.

10. The control circuit as claimed in claim 1, further comprising another check unit which is connected to the sensors at the input end is provided, the another check unit comparing the parameters measured by the sensors in each case with a predefined minimum value and generating a third disable signal if the measured parameters drop below the predefined minimum values.

11. The control circuit as claimed in claim 1, wherein at least one sensor is an acceleration sensor or an angle of inclination sensor.

12. The control circuit as claimed in claim 1, wherein the vehicle-occupant protection system is an airbag, a side bag, a seatbelt pretensioner or a seatbelt force limiter.

13. An operating method for a control circuit, comprising:

measuring at least one parameter of the motor vehicle by a plurality of sensors;

evaluating the parameters which are measured by the sensors to detect an accident;

performing a mutual plausibility check of the parameters measured by the sensors during normal operation; and

activating at least one vehicle-occupant protection system when there is an accident and a successful plausibility check, wherein

at least one sensor is excited in a self-test to simulate a malfunction of the rest of the other sensors, the activation of the vehicle-occupant protection system being disabled if the plausibility check proceeds without errors despite the simulated malfunction of the sensors.

14. The operating method as claimed in claim 13, wherein the activation of the vehicle-occupant protection system is permanently disabled if the plausibility check is errored in the normal operating mode and/or has proceeded without errors in the self-test.

15. The operating method as claimed in claim 13, wherein the parameters which are measured by the sensors are compared with predefined minimum values, the activation of the vehicle-occupant protection system being disabled if the parameters measured by the sensors are below the minimum value.