Methods and devices for identifying the type of occupancy of a supporting surface
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A method for identifying the type of occupancy of a supporting surface, using sensor signals, comprising:
- storing the sensor signals recorded at predefined instants ti, or quantities derived from the sensor signals, in a memory as stored values, sti,making available for evaluation the stored values sti, from a recent past,evaluating further sensor signals at a selected predefined instant ti in conjunction with the stored values sti, andderiving the type of occupancy from the evaluation,wherein the recording of the stored values sti is started via an external start signal.
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Abstract
A method and device for identifying the type of occupancy of a supporting surface, particularly of a motor vehicle seat (2), with the aid of force sensor-assisted signals. The sensor signals si, which are recorded at predetermined instants ti, or quantities derived therefrom, are continuously stored in a memory (4) in such a manner that, the sensor signals from the recent past, or the quantities derived therefrom are available for analysis at any time, and that the type of occupancy is derived from these stored values using at least two independent calculation methods or using a neural network.
12 Citations
36 Claims
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1. A method for identifying the type of occupancy of a supporting surface, using sensor signals, comprising:
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storing the sensor signals recorded at predefined instants ti, or quantities derived from the sensor signals, in a memory as stored values, sti, making available for evaluation the stored values sti, from a recent past, evaluating further sensor signals at a selected predefined instant ti in conjunction with the stored values sti, and deriving the type of occupancy from the evaluation, wherein the recording of the stored values sti is started via an external start signal. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A method for identifying the type of occupancy of a supporting surface, using sensor signals, comprising:
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storing the sensor signals recorded at predefined instants ti, or quantities derived from the sensor signals, in a memory as stored values, sti, making available for evaluation the stored values sti, from a recent past, and deriving the type of occupancy from these stored values, wherein the supporting surface is a motor vehicle seat and the sensor signals are emitted from sensors that sense forces on the motor vehicle seat, wherein said storing of the sensor signals is performed continuously, wherein said deriving of the type of occupancy comprises using at least two independent calculation methods or a neural network, wherein the stored values sti are stored in a shift register, and wherein at least the following steps are executed; (a) reading out the stored values sti at the instants ti, i=1 . . . n, with a shift register number n from the shift register, forming measured quantities for an occupancy mass m(ti) and a location of the center of gravity (x,y)(ti), storing the measured quantities in the shift register, deleting the first value and shifting the shift register by one step, (b) classifying the seat occupancy based on a plurality of classification states by means of occupancy probabilities Wk(ti) determined from the content of the shift register using the at least two calculation methods or the neural network, (c) calculating occupancy classes k=p for occupancy by a person and k=cs for occupancy by a child seat, which satisfy an occupancy probability condition Wk(ti)>
Wlim, with a probability limit value Wlim, and storing the values in a classification window,(d) counting up the classification window of the last n values starting from n toward the past and entering the values in a confidence algorithm, (e) executing the confidence algorithm, (f) repeating the steps (a) to (e) until a confidence coefficient Ck>
Clim, where Clim;
confidence limit, has been determined, or aborting when an abortion condition is satisfied,(g) establishing the occupancy class k by means of the calculated confidence coefficient Ck for this class, (h) providing a control signal as a function of the established occupancy class k. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31)
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32. A system for identifying the type of occupancy of a supporting surface, comprising:
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at least three force sensors or at least one axis of rotation in conjunction with at least one force sensor arranged on the supporting surface; measurement electronics via which the at least three force sensors or the at least one axis of rotation in conjunction with the at least one force sensor measure forces acting on the supporting surface; and a control unit that controls the system as a function of measured values as determined by the measurement electronics; a memory in communication with the measurement electronics such that sensor signals recorded at predefined instants ti, or quantities derived from the sensor signals, are continuously stored as stored values sti, with the stored values sti from the recent past available for evaluation at any time; and a data processing unit that determines the type of occupancy by evaluating further sensor signals at a selected predefined instant ti, in conjunction with the stored values sti using at least two independent calculation methods or using a neural network, wherein the recording of the stored values sti is started via an external start signal. - View Dependent Claims (33, 34, 35, 36)
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Specification