Apparatus and method for controlling an occupant protection system in response to determined passenger compartment occupancy information
First Claim
1. An apparatus for controlling an actuatable occupant protection system in a passenger compartment of a vehicle, the apparatus comprising:
- a camera configured for obtaining an image of a viewable field within the passenger compartment of the vehicle;
at least one pattern located on vehicle structures located within the viewable field;
means for detecting the pattern in the obtained image;
means for removing portions of the obtained image associated with vehicle structures having the pattern so as to obtain information regarding occupancy within the viewable field; and
means responsive to the obtained occupancy information for controlling the actuatable occupant protection system,wherein the means for detecting the pattern in the obtained image includes means for forming a binary image from the obtained image, the means for forming the binary image including means for comparing pixel values of the obtained image with a threshold value and providing a binary zero when a respective pixel value fails to exceed the threshold value.
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Accused Products
Abstract
An apparatus and method for controlling an actuatable occupant protection system (40) in a passenger compartment (12) of a vehicle (10) includes a camera (72) configured for obtaining an image of a viewable field (78) within the passenger compartment (12) of the vehicle (10). At least one pattern (84, 86) is associated with vehicle structures (22, 24, 26) located within the viewable field (78). The portions of the obtained image associated with vehicle structures (22, 24, 26) having the pattern (84, 86) are removed from the image so as to obtain information regarding occupancy of the viewable field (78). The actuatable occupant protection system (40) is controlled in response to the obtained occupancy information.
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Citations
17 Claims
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1. An apparatus for controlling an actuatable occupant protection system in a passenger compartment of a vehicle, the apparatus comprising:
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a camera configured for obtaining an image of a viewable field within the passenger compartment of the vehicle; at least one pattern located on vehicle structures located within the viewable field; means for detecting the pattern in the obtained image; means for removing portions of the obtained image associated with vehicle structures having the pattern so as to obtain information regarding occupancy within the viewable field; and means responsive to the obtained occupancy information for controlling the actuatable occupant protection system, wherein the means for detecting the pattern in the obtained image includes means for forming a binary image from the obtained image, the means for forming the binary image including means for comparing pixel values of the obtained image with a threshold value and providing a binary zero when a respective pixel value fails to exceed the threshold value. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. An apparatus for controlling an actuatable occupant protection system in a passenger compartment of a vehicle, the apparatus comprising:
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a camera configured for obtaining an image of a viewable field within the passenger compartment of the vehicle; at least one pattern located on vehicle structures located within the viewable field, the at least one pattern being formed from a dye that is adapted to fluoresce at a near-infrared wavelength of light, the camera being a near-infrared camera that is adapted to obtain an image at the fluorescing near-infrared wavelength; means for detecting the pattern in the obtained image; means for removing portions of the obtained image associated with vehicle structures having the pattern so as to obtain information regarding occupancy within the viewable field; means responsive to the obtained occupancy information for controlling the actuatable occupant protection system; and an optical filter associated with the camera, the optical filter allowing passage of a predefined range of near-infrared wavelengths of light and preventing passage of wavelengths of light outside of the predefined range.
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12. A method of controlling an actuatable occupant protection system in a passenger compartment of a vehicle, the method comprising the steps of:
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obtaining an image of a viewable field within the passenger compartment of the vehicle; locating at least one pattern on vehicle structures located within the viewable field; detecting the pattern in the obtained image; removing portions of the obtained image associated with vehicle structures having the pattern so as to obtain information regarding occupancy of within the viewable field; and controlling the actuatable occupant protection system in response to the obtained occupancy information; the step of detecting the pattern in the obtained image further includes the step of forming a binary image from the obtained image by comparing pixel values of the obtained image with a threshold value and providing a binary zero when a respective pixel value fails to exceed the threshold value. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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Specification