Vehicle occupant presence and position sensing system
DCFirst Claim
1. In a vehicle having occupant protection means for protecting an occupant of said vehicle and a microprocessor for controlling said occupant protection means, the improvement comprising:
- a vehicle seat comprising sensing means for providing sensor data sufficient with knowledge of the vehicle geometry for calculating the location of a part of an occupant of said seat with respect to a reference frame fixed with respect to the structure of said vehicle, andmeans for enabling said sensor data to influence said microprocessor in its said controlling said occupant protection means.
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Abstract
The invention characterizes a seat occupant. Sensors in the seat determine the position of a seat occupant relative to the seat. The position of the seat relative to the vehicle combined with the position of the seat occupant relative to the seat determines the location of the seat occupant relative to the vehicle. The seat occupant is characterized by the magnitude and Q of capacitance between electrodes in the seat and other indications. Situations wherein airbag deployment is not desired are identified. The position of the occupant relative to the seat, the weight of the seat occupant, whether the seat belt is latched, the track position and recline angle of the vehicle seat and vehicle deceleration during a crash are combined with capacitance and other measurements to estimate the position of the occupant relative to a possible deploying airbag as the occupant moves toward the airbag during a crash.
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Citations
44 Claims
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1. In a vehicle having occupant protection means for protecting an occupant of said vehicle and a microprocessor for controlling said occupant protection means, the improvement comprising:
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a vehicle seat comprising sensing means for providing sensor data sufficient with knowledge of the vehicle geometry for calculating the location of a part of an occupant of said seat with respect to a reference frame fixed with respect to the structure of said vehicle, and means for enabling said sensor data to influence said microprocessor in its said controlling said occupant protection means. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23)
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24. In a vehicle having occupant protection means for protecting an occupant of said vehicle and a microprocessor for controlling said occupant protection means, the improvement comprising:
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a vehicle seat comprising a seat back, a seat cushion, and an occupant sensor responsive to distance from a location on said seat to a location on said occupant by producing a first signal categorizing an occupant of said seat into one of at least three categories, and wherein said microprocessor is responsive to said first signal when controlling said occupant protection means. - View Dependent Claims (25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30)
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31. In a vehicle having occupant protection means for protecting an occupant of said vehicle and decision making means for controlling said occupant protection means, the improvement comprising:
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a vehicle seat comprising capacitor electrodes, seat occupant categorizing means for categorizing an occupant of said seat into one of at least three categories, and means for transmitting said category to said decision making means and wherein said seat occupant categorizing means is responsive to capacitance between said capacitor electrodes when said categorizing. - View Dependent Claims (32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37)
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38. In a vehicle having occupant protection means for protecting an occupant of said vehicle and decision making means for controlling said occupant protection means, the improvement comprising:
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a vehicle seat comprising capacitor electrodes, means for causing displacement current to flow between said capacitor electrodes, means responsive to said displacement current by categorizing an occupant of said seat into one of at least three categories, and means for transmitting said category to said decision making means. - View Dependent Claims (39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44)
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Specification