Vehicle occupant proximity seat sensor

• US 20020180463A1
• Filed: 11/20/2001
• Published: 12/05/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 09/29/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Appy Risk Technologies Limited (Trak Global Group Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Intelligent Mechatronic Systems Inc. (Trak Global Group Ltd.)
• Inventors: Karray, Fakhreddine, Filippov, Vladimir, Basir, Otman Adam
• Granted Patent: US 6,693,440 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 324/662
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 21/01532 using electric or capacitive field sensors
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 21/01538 for image processing, e.g. cameras or sensor arrays

Abstract

A vehicle occupant proximity sensor includes a transmitting electrode in a vehicle seat and an array of receiving electrodes mounted in the vehicle seat. The sensor determines the capacitance at each of the receiving electrodes, which varies based upon the proximity of the occupant to each receiving electrode, thus producing an array of proximity information indicating in two dimensions the position of the occupant.

Claims

1. A method for determining whether to activate a vehicle occupant safety system for an occupant of a seat including the steps of:

a. Receiving an electromagnetic signal at a plurality of points in the vehicle seat;

b. Determining a position of the occupant relative to the seat based upon said step a; and

c. Activating the vehicle occupant safety system based upon said step b.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein said seat comprises a base and a back, said step a including the step of receiving the electromagnetic signal at the plurality of points in the base of the seat.

3. The method of claim 2 further includes the step of transmitting the electromagnetic signal from the base of the seat.

4. The method of claim 2 wherein said step a further includes the step of receiving the electromagnetic signal at the plurality of points in the back of the seat.

5. The method of claim 4 further includes the step of transmitting the electromagnetic signal from the back of the seat.

6. The method of claim 5 further including the step of:

d. determining the capacitance at a plurality of points adjacent the seat based upon said step a.; and

e. performing said step b based upon said step d.

7. A method for activating a vehicle occupant safety system including the steps of:

a) Receiving an electromagnetic signal at each of a plurality of points in a seat in a vehicle passenger compartment having an occupant safety system;

b) Determining a position of an occupant relative to the seat based upon said step a; and

c) Determining whether to activate the vehicle occupant safety system based upon said step a.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein said step a. further includes the step of transmitting the electromagnetic signal from the seat.

9. The method of claim 7 wherein said step a. further includes the step of measuring capacitance based upon the electromagnetic signal received at the plurality of points.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein said step a. further includes the step of measuring capacitance at an array of the plurality of points.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein said step a. further includes the step of comparing the capacitance measured at each of the plurality of points with each other.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein said step a. further includes the step of:

d) monitoring a change in capacitance over time at the plurality of points; and

e) in said step c), determining whether to activate the vehicle occupant safety system based upon said step d).

14. The vehicle passenger compartment proximity sensing system of claim 13 further comprising:

A first electrode generating an electromagnetic signal;

Said capacitive sensor array comprising a plurality of second electrodes mounted in the seat receiving the electromagnetic signal; and

the controller determining capacitance at each of the second electrodes to determine the position of the occupant relative to the seat.

15. The vehicle passenger compartment proximity sensing system of claim 14 wherein the first electrode is mounted in the seat in the vehicle passenger compartment.

13. A vehicle passenger compartment proximity sensing system comprising:

A capacitive sensor array measuring capacitance at a plurality of points in a seat in a vehicle passenger compartment; and

A controller determining a position of an occupant relative to the seat based upon the capacitance measured at the plurality of points.