Apparatus for protecting occupant in vehicle
First Claim
1. An apparatus for protecting an occupant in a vehicle having a seat, comprising:
- a pair of area image sensors spaced at a predetermined interval in a transverse direction of the vehicle and located in front of the seat for taking images of an area on the seat respectively;
an occupant information calculating portion for calculating a longitudinal-direction position of a head of an occupant on the seat from the images taken by the area image sensors; and
an occupant protecting portion for changing an occupant protecting operation at a time of occurrence of a collision of the vehicle in response to the longitudinal-direction position of the head of the occupant which is decided by the occupant information calculating portion;
wherein the occupant information calculating portion comprisesmeans for dividing each of the images taken by the area image sensors into blocks;
means for calculating a cumulative difference between corresponding blocks, in each pair, of the images taken by the area image sensors each time one of the corresponding blocks is shifted in a transverse direction relative to the other on a unit by unit basis;
means for detecting when the cumulative difference minimizes for each pair of corresponding blocks, means for calculating a transverse-direction shift between the corresponding blocks, in each pair, which occurs when the cumulative difference minimizes;
means for measuring longitudinal-direction positions of objects whose images are in the blocks of the images taken by the area image sensors in response to the calculated transverse-direction shifts according to triangulation; and
means for selecting, from the measured longitudinal-direction positions of the objects, one corresponding to a highest position with respect to the vehicle and being in front of the seat as the longitudinal-direction position of the head of the occupant.
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Accused Products
Abstract
An apparatus for protecting an occupant in a vehicle includes a pair of image sensors for taking images of an area on a seat in the vehicle. Transverse-direction shifts between corresponding portions of the images are calculated. Longitudinal-direction positions of objects whose images are in the portions of the images taken by the image sensors are measured in response to the calculated transverse-direction shifts. A longitudinal-direction position of an occupant on the seat is decided in response to the measured longitudinal-direction positions of the objects. Occupant protecting operation at a time of occurrence of a collision of the vehicle is changed in response to the decided longitudinal-direction position of the occupant. From the measured longitudinal-direction positions of the objects, one corresponding to a highest position with respect to the vehicle and being in front of the seat is selected as a longitudinal-direction position of a head of the occupant.
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Citations
3 Claims
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1. An apparatus for protecting an occupant in a vehicle having a seat, comprising:
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a pair of area image sensors spaced at a predetermined interval in a transverse direction of the vehicle and located in front of the seat for taking images of an area on the seat respectively; an occupant information calculating portion for calculating a longitudinal-direction position of a head of an occupant on the seat from the images taken by the area image sensors; and an occupant protecting portion for changing an occupant protecting operation at a time of occurrence of a collision of the vehicle in response to the longitudinal-direction position of the head of the occupant which is decided by the occupant information calculating portion; wherein the occupant information calculating portion comprises means for dividing each of the images taken by the area image sensors into blocks; means for calculating a cumulative difference between corresponding blocks, in each pair, of the images taken by the area image sensors each time one of the corresponding blocks is shifted in a transverse direction relative to the other on a unit by unit basis; means for detecting when the cumulative difference minimizes for each pair of corresponding blocks, means for calculating a transverse-direction shift between the corresponding blocks, in each pair, which occurs when the cumulative difference minimizes; means for measuring longitudinal-direction positions of objects whose images are in the blocks of the images taken by the area image sensors in response to the calculated transverse-direction shifts according to triangulation; and means for selecting, from the measured longitudinal-direction positions of the objects, one corresponding to a highest position with respect to the vehicle and being in front of the seat as the longitudinal-direction position of the head of the occupant. - View Dependent Claims (2)
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3. An apparatus for protecting an occupant in a vehicle having a seat, comprising:
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a pair of area image sensors spaced at a predetermined interval in a transverse direction of the vehicle and located in front of the seat for taken images of an area including an area of the seat respectively; an occupant information calculating portion for calculating a longitudinal-direction position of a head of an occupant on the seat from the images taken by the area image sensors; and an occupant protecting portion for changing an occupant protecting operation at a time of occurrence of a collision of the vehicle in response to the longitudinal-direction position of the head of the occupant which is decided by the occupant information calculating portion; wherein the occupant information calculating portion comprises; means for dividing each of the images taken by the area image sensors into blocks; means for calculating transverse-direction shifts between corresponding blocks of the images taken by the area image sensors; means for sequentially implementing measurements of longitudinal-direction positions of objects whose images are in the blocks of the images taken by the area image sensors in an order from a highest-position block toward a lowest-position block in response to the calculated transverse-direction shifts according to triangulation; means for deciding whether or not the measured longitudinal-direction position of each object is in front of the seat; and means for, when it is decided that the measured longitudinal-direction position of the object is in front of the seat deciding the measured longitudinal-direction position of the object to be the longitudinal-direction position of the head of the occupant.
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Specification