Occupant classification system and method
First Claim
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1. A system for classifying an occupant located on a vehicle seat comprising:
- a plurality of force sensors located beneath the vehicle seat;
a controller, wherein each of the force sensors provides a signal corresponding to the vertical force at each sensor wherein the total vertical force on all the sensors is indicative of the weight of the seat and the occupant of the seat; and
wherein the controller is configured to provide an occupant classification calculation based on the total vertical force on the sensors and to determine whether a measure of the total vertical force on the seat is less than a threshold value, and to transmit a signal indicating a potential error in the occupant classification calculation if the measure is consistently below the threshold value.
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Abstract
A system for classifying an occupant located on a vehicle seat comprising a controller configured to receive signals from a plurality of sensors for detecting the vertical forces on the seat. The controller is configured to determine whether the detected vertical forces are indicative of the weight of the seat and the weight of the occupant located on the vehicle seat.
24 Citations
16 Claims
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1. A system for classifying an occupant located on a vehicle seat comprising:
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a plurality of force sensors located beneath the vehicle seat; a controller, wherein each of the force sensors provides a signal corresponding to the vertical force at each sensor wherein the total vertical force on all the sensors is indicative of the weight of the seat and the occupant of the seat; and wherein the controller is configured to provide an occupant classification calculation based on the total vertical force on the sensors and to determine whether a measure of the total vertical force on the seat is less than a threshold value, and to transmit a signal indicating a potential error in the occupant classification calculation if the measure is consistently below the threshold value. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. A system for classifying an occupant located on a vehicle seat comprising:
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a plurality of force sensors located beneath the vehicle seat; a controller, wherein each of the force sensors provides a signal corresponding to the vertical force at each sensor wherein the total vertical force on all the sensors is indicative of the weight of the seat and the occupant of the seat; and wherein the controller is configured to provide an occupant classification calculation based on the total vertical force on the sensors and to transmit a faulty system signal if the distribution of the vertical force on the seat as determined from the signals provided by the sensors falls outside of a range of force distribution expected for the calculated occupant class. - View Dependent Claims (15)
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16. A method for detecting and classifying an occupant located in a vehicle seat comprising:
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providing a occupant classification calculation; providing a plurality of force sensors, each force sensor providing a signal corresponding to the vertical force on that force sensor; determining the total vertical force on the sensors; determining whether the total vertical force is less than a threshold value; and transmitting a signal indicating a potential error in the occupant classification calculation if the total vertical force on the seat is consistently below the threshold value.
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Specification