Automated passenger airbag switch

• US 10,358,104 B2
• Filed: 07/26/2016
• Issued: 07/23/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 11/08/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Thunder Power New Energy Vehicle Development Company Limited
• Original Assignee: Thunder Power New Energy Vehicle Development Company Limited
• Inventors: Chen, Yong-Syuan, Hsiao, Jen-Chieh
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Bao Long T
• Application Number:
  US15/219,942
• Publication Number:
  US 20170129437A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,092 Days
• Field of Search: 701 36, 701 45, 701 48, 701 344, 2807281, 280734, 280735, 296 104, 383106, 383154
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 21/01512 Passenger detection systems
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 21/01516 using force or pressure sensing means
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 21/01538 for image processing, e.g. cameras or sensor arrays
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 21/01552 detecting position of specific human body parts, e.g. face, eyes or hands
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 21/16 Inflatable occupant restraints or confinements designed to inflate upon impact or impending impact, e.g. air bags protective garments with automatically inflatable shock-absorbing means A41D13/018; connection of valves to inflatable elastic bodies B60C29/00
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 2300/8006 for monitoring and displaying scenes of vehicle interior, e.g. for monitoring passengers or cargo
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/593 Recognising seat occupancy
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/166 using acquisition arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/168 Feature extraction; Face representation
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/183 for receiving images from a single remote source
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/188 Capturing isolated or intermittent images triggered by the occurrence of a predetermined event, e.g. an object reaching a predetermined position signal generation from motion picture films H04N5/253

Abstract

Techniques described herein include a system and method for switching an airbag on or off based on determining that an object situated in a vehicle seat meets one or more conditions. In some embodiments, the vehicle seat may be fitted with a weight sensor configured to detect an object situated in the vehicle seat. The system may include a camera device configured to capture image information associated with the object situated in the vehicle seat. The image information may be processed to determine if the object is a person meeting one or more threshold conditions for activating the airbag. Upon processing the image information, the airbag may be provided with instructions to either activate or deactivate.

Claims

1. A method of activating and deactivating an airbag deployment device, comprising:

receiving, from a service provider, an indication of an activation threshold;

detecting an object situated in a vehicle seat;

activating a camera device positioned to capture image information related to the object situated in the vehicle seat;

receiving, from the camera device, the captured image information;

processing the image information to determine a location of one or more facial features of the object within the captured image information, the location of the one or more facial features of the object described in coordinates on a coordinate grid;

determining, based at least in part on the one or more facial features, a height of the object;

comparing the determined height to the activation threshold to generate activation instructions; and

providing the activation instructions to the airbag deployment device, based at least in part on whether the height of the object is equal to or above a height threshold, the height threshold being a vertical position on the coordinate grid.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the activation threshold is the height threshold, and wherein generating activation instructions comprises at least one of:

upon determining that the height of the object is equal to or above the height threshold, generating instructions to activate the airbag deployment device;

or

upon determining that the height of the object is below the height threshold, generating instructions to deactivate the airbag deployment device.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the captured image information is a digital video of the object situated in the vehicle seat.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the object is detected as being situated in the vehicle seat using a weight sensor.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein detecting the object situated in the vehicle seat comprises detecting that a weight applied to the vehicle seat is above a minimum weight threshold.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining, based at least in part on the one or more facial features, an age of the object, and wherein the activation instructions provided to the airbag deployment device are also based at least in part on the age of the object.

7. A vehicle airbag system, comprising:

a vehicle seat equipped with one or more weight sensors;

an airbag deployment device configured to deploy an airbag to the vehicle seat;

a camera device configured to capture image information related to the vehicle seat in response to receiving a signal from the one or more weight sensors;

a processor device; and

a memory including instructions that, when executed by the processor device, cause the vehicle airbag system to, at least;

receive, from a remote server, an indication of at least one condition;

receive the captured image information from the camera device;

process the image information, using one or more image processing techniques, to identify a facial feature of the image information;

determine whether an attribute of the facial feature meets the at least one condition; and

provide instructions to the airbag deployment device based at least in part on whether the location of the facial feature meets the at least one condition, the location of the facial feature described in coordinates on a coordinate grid, and the at least one condition comprising a height threshold described by a vertical position on the coordinate grid.

8. The vehicle airbag system of claim 7, wherein the attribute of the facial feature is an age of a person in the vehicle seat, and wherein the instructions to the airbag deployment device are also provided based at least in part on whether the age of the person meets an age threshold.

9. The vehicle airbag system of claim 7, wherein the instructions further cause the vehicle airbag system to identify a person situated in the vehicle seat based at least in part on the identified facial feature of the image information.

10. The vehicle airbag system of claim 9, wherein the instructions further cause the vehicle airbag system to access a user profile related to the person situated in the vehicle seat, the user profile including data related to the person situated in the vehicle seat.

11. The vehicle airbag system of claim 10, wherein the user profile is associated with one or more configuration settings, wherein the instructions to the airbag deployment device are provided based at least in part on the one or more configuration settings.

12. The vehicle airbag system of claim 11, wherein the one or more configuration settings includes data related to at least one of an age or a medical condition.