Control method for occupant restraint apparatus and occupant restraint apparatus
First Claim
1. A method for controlling an occupant restraint apparatus, the method comprising:
- detecting an obstacle in a travelling direction of a vehicle that may potentially collide with the vehicle;
predicting a type of collision between the obstacle detected and the vehicle;
setting conditions for expanding an airbag of the vehicle based on the collision type predicted; and
controlling both of the expansion of the airbag and gas discharge from the airbag according to the conditions set by attaching one end of a flap to the airbag and based on the conditions set either;
holding the other end of the flap as the airbag is expanding to restrict the expansion size of the airbag and to overlap a large vent of the flap with an opening in the airbag to increase flow of gas out therefrom, or releasing the other end of the flap as the airbag is expanding to increase the expansion size of the airbag and to overlap a small vent of the flap with the airbag opening to decrease flow of gas out therefrom.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A method and apparatus for controlling an occupant restraint apparatus are provided which allow the force applied to a nearby occupant to be optimized in response to collision conditions. In one form, a method for controlling an occupant restraint apparatus includes detecting an obstacle in a travelling direction of a vehicle that may potentially collide with the vehicle; predicting a type of collision between the obstacle detected and the vehicle; setting conditions for expanding an airbag of the vehicle based on the collision type predicted; and controlling the expansion of the airbag and/or gas discharge from the airbag according to the conditions set at the setting step. Detecting the obstacle preferably includes detecting the position and relative speed of the obstacle with respect to the vehicle based on images of views in the travelling direction of the vehicle.
18 Citations
12 Claims
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1. A method for controlling an occupant restraint apparatus, the method comprising:
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detecting an obstacle in a travelling direction of a vehicle that may potentially collide with the vehicle; predicting a type of collision between the obstacle detected and the vehicle; setting conditions for expanding an airbag of the vehicle based on the collision type predicted; and controlling both of the expansion of the airbag and gas discharge from the airbag according to the conditions set by attaching one end of a flap to the airbag and based on the conditions set either; holding the other end of the flap as the airbag is expanding to restrict the expansion size of the airbag and to overlap a large vent of the flap with an opening in the airbag to increase flow of gas out therefrom, or releasing the other end of the flap as the airbag is expanding to increase the expansion size of the airbag and to overlap a small vent of the flap with the airbag opening to decrease flow of gas out therefrom. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. An occupant restraint apparatus comprising:
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an obstacle detecting device for detecting a position and relative speed of an obstacle with respect to a vehicle with the obstacle being in a travelling direction of the vehicle and potentially corning into collision with the vehicle; a collision predicting device for predicting a type of collision between the obstacle detected by the obstacle detecting device and the vehicle; a setting device for setting conditions for expanding an airbag of the vehicle based on the collision type predicted by the collision predicting device; and an expansion controlling device including a flap member for controlling both the expansion size of the airbag and gas discharge from the airbag according to the conditions set by the setting device, wherein the flap member has one end fixed to the airbag and another end releasably connected to an inflator device for the airbag and has smaller and larger vents with one or the other of the vents being overlapped with an opening in the airbag depending on whether the other end of the flap member is connected or released from the inflator device based on the conditions set by the setting device. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12)
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Specification