Occupant posture sensing apparatus and occupant posture sensing method
First Claim
1. An occupant posture sensing apparatus, comprising:
- a capacitance sensor disposed to a vehicle interior ceiling of a vehicle and sensing capacitance between a head of a human body sitting on a seat and the vehicle interior ceiling, wherein the capacitance sensor comprises two sensing electrodes which are arranged at portions of the vehicle interior ceiling that are above the seat so as to be capable of sensing capacitances between the head of the human body sitting on the seat and the vehicle interior ceiling, and which sense capacitances between the head of the human body sitting on the seat and the vehicle interior ceiling;
a detecting circuit which is connected to each of the sensing electrodes and detects a position of the head of the human body based on sensing signals from the sensing electrodes, wherein the detecting circuit comprises a capacitance sensing circuit sensing a capacitance value based on the sensing signals from the sensing electrodes; and
a posture determining circuit which determines a sitting posture of the human body according to a detection result from the detecting circuit.
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Accused Products
Abstract
To be configured inexpensively to enable cost reduction and sense sitting posture of an occupant highly accurately, occupant posture sensing apparatus 100 includes capacitance sensor unit 10 and circuit unit 20. Capacitance sensor unit 10 includes first and second sensing electrodes 11 and 12 provided at portions of vehicle interior ceiling 2 ahead of and right above a seat 40 and connected to capacitance sensing circuit 21 of circuit unit 20 and shield-driving circuit 23 through selector switches SW1 and SW2. CPU 29 of circuit unit 20 determines sitting posture of occupant (human body) 48 sitting on the seat 40 based on information regarding position of head 49 of the occupant 48 by using capacitance values detected by capacitance sensing circuit 21 based on capacitances from sensing electrodes 11 and 12. Posture information regarding the determined sitting posture is output to ECU mounted on a vehicle 1 and used for controlling air bag deployment, etc.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. An occupant posture sensing apparatus, comprising:
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a capacitance sensor disposed to a vehicle interior ceiling of a vehicle and sensing capacitance between a head of a human body sitting on a seat and the vehicle interior ceiling, wherein the capacitance sensor comprises two sensing electrodes which are arranged at portions of the vehicle interior ceiling that are above the seat so as to be capable of sensing capacitances between the head of the human body sitting on the seat and the vehicle interior ceiling, and which sense capacitances between the head of the human body sitting on the seat and the vehicle interior ceiling; a detecting circuit which is connected to each of the sensing electrodes and detects a position of the head of the human body based on sensing signals from the sensing electrodes, wherein the detecting circuit comprises a capacitance sensing circuit sensing a capacitance value based on the sensing signals from the sensing electrodes; and a posture determining circuit which determines a sitting posture of the human body according to a detection result from the detecting circuit. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. An occupant posture sensing apparatus, comprising:
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a capacitance sensor disposed to a vehicle interior ceiling of a vehicle and sensing capacitance between a head of a human body sitting on a seat and the vehicle interior ceiling, wherein the capacitance sensor comprises at least three sensing electrodes which are arranged at portions of the vehicle interior ceiling that are above the seat so as to be capable of sensing a position on a certain plane, and which sense capacitances between the head of the human body sitting on the seat and the vehicle interior ceiling; a detecting circuit which is connected to each of the sensing electrodes and detects a position of the head of the human body based on sensing signals from the sensing electrodes, wherein the detecting circuit comprises a capacitance sensing circuit sensing a capacitance value based on the sensing signals from the sensing electrodes; and a posture determining circuit which determines a sitting posture of the human body according to a detection result from the detecting circuit. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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Specification