Activation system for passenger protection apparatus
First Claim
1. An activation system for a passenger protection apparatus, designed to activate said passenger protection apparatus in accordance with a behavior of a vehicle, comprising:
- a collision sensor unit provided in a front or rear portion of said vehicle for detecting a collision acceleration of said vehicle;
a control unit provided at a central portion of said vehicle in its longitudinal direction for controlling the activation of said passenger protection apparatus; and
a communication line provided between said collision sensor unit and said control unit,wherein said collision sensor unit includes;
a collision acceleration sensor for outputting said collision acceleration of said vehicle in the form of an analog signal;
conversion means for converting said analog signal outputted from said collision acceleration sensor into a digital signal including digital data and for outputting said digital signal, said digital data including at least one byte of 8 bits; and
transmission means forgenerating mirror data of said digital data, said mirror data including at least one byte of 8 bits,rearranging, in a distributed manner, said digital data into at least two of first to third data and said mirror data into at least two of said first to third data so that said digital data and said mirror data comprise said first to third data, andsequentially transmitting, to said control unit through said communication line, said first to third data in byte format at predetermined intervals; and
said control unit includes;
a central-portion acceleration sensor for detecting and outputting an acceleration of the central portion of said vehicle;
reception means configured toreceive said first to third data outputted from said collision sensor unit through said communication line,reconstruct first digital data corresponding to said digital data and second digital data corresponding to said mirror data based on received bits included in said first to third data, anddetermine that data reception is correctly completed when the reconstructed first digital data and the reconstructed second digital data are identical to each other,collision decision means for making a decision on the occurrence of collision of said vehicle on the basis of the detection output from said central-portion acceleration sensor and said reconstructed first digital data after said reception means determines that the data reception is correctly completed; and
activation control means for controlling the activation of said passenger protection apparatus on the basis of a result of the decision in said collision decision means.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Provided is an activation system for a passenger protection apparatus capable of detecting a collision acceleration accurately and in detail with a simple configuration for appropriately activating apparatus. A satellite sensor unit side converts a detection output from an electronic acceleration sensor into a digital collision acceleration data and sequentially it to a communication line at a predetermined cycle, while an air bag control unit side makes a decision on collision at a front portion of a vehicle on the basis of a central-portion acceleration detected by an acceleration sensor and the collision acceleration data received through the line for the activation of air bags. This configuration enables only the air bag control unit side to make a collision decision without making a collision decision in the satellite sensor unit side, which allows a simple and low-cost system.
19 Citations
12 Claims
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1. An activation system for a passenger protection apparatus, designed to activate said passenger protection apparatus in accordance with a behavior of a vehicle, comprising:
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a collision sensor unit provided in a front or rear portion of said vehicle for detecting a collision acceleration of said vehicle; a control unit provided at a central portion of said vehicle in its longitudinal direction for controlling the activation of said passenger protection apparatus; and a communication line provided between said collision sensor unit and said control unit, wherein said collision sensor unit includes; a collision acceleration sensor for outputting said collision acceleration of said vehicle in the form of an analog signal; conversion means for converting said analog signal outputted from said collision acceleration sensor into a digital signal including digital data and for outputting said digital signal, said digital data including at least one byte of 8 bits; and transmission means for generating mirror data of said digital data, said mirror data including at least one byte of 8 bits, rearranging, in a distributed manner, said digital data into at least two of first to third data and said mirror data into at least two of said first to third data so that said digital data and said mirror data comprise said first to third data, and sequentially transmitting, to said control unit through said communication line, said first to third data in byte format at predetermined intervals; and said control unit includes; a central-portion acceleration sensor for detecting and outputting an acceleration of the central portion of said vehicle; reception means configured to receive said first to third data outputted from said collision sensor unit through said communication line, reconstruct first digital data corresponding to said digital data and second digital data corresponding to said mirror data based on received bits included in said first to third data, and determine that data reception is correctly completed when the reconstructed first digital data and the reconstructed second digital data are identical to each other, collision decision means for making a decision on the occurrence of collision of said vehicle on the basis of the detection output from said central-portion acceleration sensor and said reconstructed first digital data after said reception means determines that the data reception is correctly completed; and activation control means for controlling the activation of said passenger protection apparatus on the basis of a result of the decision in said collision decision means. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
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7. An activation system for a passenger protection apparatus, designed to activate said passenger protection apparatus in accordance with a behavior of a vehicle, comprising:
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a collision sensor unit provided in a side-surface portion of said vehicle for detecting a collision acceleration of said vehicle; a control unit provided at a central portion of said vehicle in its lateral direction for controlling the activation of said passenger protection apparatus; and a communication line provided between said collision sensor unit and said control unit, wherein said collision sensor unit includes; a collision acceleration sensor for outputting said collision acceleration of said side-surface portion of said vehicle in the form of an analog signal; conversion means for converting said analog signal outputted from said collision acceleration sensor into a digital signal including digital data including at least one byte of 8 bits and for outputting said digital signal; and transmission means for generating mirror data of said digital data, said mirror data including at least one byte of 8 bits, rearranging, in a distributed manner, said digital data into at least two of first to third data and said mirror data into at least two of said first to third data so that said digital data and said mirror data comprise said first to third data, and sequentially transmitting, to said control unit through said communication line, said first to third data in byte format at predetermined intervals; said control unit includes; a central-portion acceleration sensor for detecting and outputting an acceleration of the central portion of said vehicle; reception means configured to receive said first to third data outputted from said collision sensor unit through said communication line, reconstruct first digital data corresponding to said digital data and second digital data corresponding to said mirror data based on the received bits included in said first to third data, and determine that data reception is correctly completed when said reconstructed first digital data and said reconstructed second digital data are identical to each other; collision decision means for making a decision on the occurrence of collision of said vehicle on the basis of the detection output from said central-portion acceleration sensor and said reconstructed first digital data after said reception means determines that the data reception is correctly completed; and activation control means for controlling the activation of said passenger protection apparatus on the basis of a result of the decision in said collision decision means. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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Specification