Occupant weight detecting device

• US 7,135,645 B2
• Filed: 02/27/2004
• Issued: 11/14/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 02/27/2003
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Aisin Seiki Co., Ltd. (Aisin Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Aisin Seiki Co., Ltd. (Aisin Corp.)
• Inventors: Ito, Koji, Yamamoto, Yukihiro, Satta, Hiroki, Hiraki, Yasuaki, Hattori, Katsu
• Primary Examiner(s): Cuneo, Kamand
• Assistant Examiner(s): Kayes, Sean
• Application Number:
  US10/787,755
• Publication Number:
  US 20040226756A1
• Time in Patent Office: 991 Days
• Field of Search: 177/1, 177/25.13, 177/13, 177/136, 177/144, 177/210, 177/208, 177/209, 701/45, 340/667, 180/273, 280/735, 738/625.3
• US Class Current: 177/25.13
• CPC Class Codes: G01G 19/4142 for controlling activation of safety devices, e.g. airbag systems electrical circuits for triggering safety arrangements in case of vehicle accidents B60R21/015

Abstract

An occupant weight detecting device includes plural cells provided on a seat and detecting pressure which is defined by rows in a width direction of the seat and columns in a back-and-forth direction of the seat, a peak row detecting means for calculating the sum of pressure per cells of predetermined number of rows adjoining in the back-and-forth direction and detecting any one row of the predetermined number of rows corresponding to the maximum sum to be defined as a peak row, and a detecting means for detecting a concentrated load position on the seat based on the peak row.

Claims

1. An occupant weight detecting device, comprising:

plural cells provided at a sitting part on a seat and detecting partial pressure which is defined by rows in a width direction of the sitting part and columns in a back-and-forth direction of the sitting part;

a peak row detecting means for calculating the sum of partial pressure per cells of plural number of rows adjoining in the back-and-forth direction and detecting any one row of the plural number of rows corresponding to the maximum sum to be defined as a peak row; and

a detecting means for detecting a concentrated load position in the sitting part based on the peak row.

2. An occupant weight detecting device, comprising:

plural cells provided on a seat and detecting partial pressure which is defined by rows in a width direction of the seat and columns in a back-and-forth direction of the seat;

a peak row detecting means for calculating the sum of pressure per cells of plural number of rows adjoining in the back-and-forth direction and detecting any one row of the plural number of rows corresponding to the maximum sum to be defined as a peak row; and

a deviation determining means for calculating the sum of the cells of plural number of columns from one end and the other end with respect to the width direction among the cells of plural number of rows including the peak row, the deviation detecting means for determining deviation of load with respect to the width direction on the seat based on the calculated sum.

3. An occupant weight detecting device, comprising:

plural cells provided on a seat and detecting pressure which is defined by rows in a width direction of the seat and columns in a back-and-forth direction of the seat;

a minimum column detecting means for detecting a minimum column in both sides with respect to the center of the width direction among the plural cells, in which the sum of pressure is minimum;

a variation calculating means for calculating a first difference between the sum at the minimum column and the sum at a second column adjoined by the minimum column toward the center of the width direction and a second difference between the sum at the second column and the sum at a third column adjoined by the second column toward the center of the width direction with respect to each minimum column detected by the minimum column detecting means, the variation calculating means for calculating variation at each side with respect to the width direction by comparing the first difference with the second difference; and

a determination means for determining a state on the seat based on the variation at each side calculated by the variation calculating means.

4. An occupant weight detecting device, comprising:

plural cells provided on a seat and detecting pressure which is defined by rows in a width direction of the seat and columns in a back-and-forth direction of the seat;

a peak row detecting means for calculating the sum of pressure per cells of plural number of rows adjoining in the back-and-forth direction and detecting any one row of the plural number of rows corresponding to the maximum sum to be defined as a peak row;

a peak lateral width counting means for calculating the sum of pressure per each column in the cells of plural number of rows including the peak row, the peak lateral width counting means for comparing the sum at each column with a width threshold being set at each column, the peak width counting means for counting the number of columns in which the sum is greater than the width threshold to be defined as a peak lateral width; and

a determination means for determining a state on the seat based on the peak lateral width counted by the peak lateral width detecting means.

5. An occupant weight detecting device, according to claim 4, further including

a deviation determining means for calculating the sum of the cells of plural number of columns from one end and the other end with respect to the width direction among the cells of plural number of rows including the peak row, the deviation detecting means for determining deviation of load with respect to the width direction on the seat based on the calculated sum, wherein the peak lateral width counting means sets the width threshold per each column so as to correspond to the deviation of load based on the deviation of load with respect to the width direction determined by the deviation determining means and counts as the peak lateral width.

6. An occupant weight detecting device, according to claim 4, further including a minimum column detecting means for detecting a minimum column in both sides with respect to the center of the width direction among the plural cells, in which the sum of pressure is minimum, and a variation calculating means for calculating a first difference between the sum at the minimum column and the sum at a second column adjoined by the minimum column toward the center of the width direction and a second difference between the sum at the second column and the sum at a third column adjoined by the second column toward the center of the width direction with respect to each minimum column detected by the minimum column detecting means, the variation calculating means for calculating variation at each side with respect to the width direction by comparing the first difference with the second difference, wherein the peak lateral width counting means corrects the peak lateral width based on the variation calculated by the variation calculating means, and the determination means determines the state on the seat based on the corrected peak lateral width.

8. An occupant weight detecting device, according to claim 5, wherein the peak lateral width counting means sets the width threshold corresponding to the deviation of load per each column by moving the width threshold in the width direction based on the deviation of load with respect to the width direction determined by the deviation determining means.

7. An occupant weight detecting device, comprising:

plural cells provided on a seat and detecting pressure which is defined by rows in a width direction of the seat and columns in a back-and-forth direction of the seat;

a peak row detecting means for calculating the sum of pressure per cells of plural number of rows adjoining in the back-and-forth direction and detecting any one row of the plural number of rows corresponding to the maximum sum to be defined as a peak row;

a difference calculating means for calculating the sum of pressure per each column in the cells of plural number of rows including the peak row, the difference detecting means for calculating difference per each column between the sum at a certain column and an adjoined column adjoined by the certain column in either direction when the sum at the adjoined column is greater than a predetermined threshold;

a lateral edge calculating means for summing the absolute value of all the difference at each column calculated by the difference calculating means and calculating a lateral edge calculated by comparing the sum of the absolute value of the difference with total load corresponding to the sum of pressure detected by all the plural cells; and

a determination means for determining a state on the seat based on the lateral edge calculated by the lateral edge calculating means.