Occupant type and position detection system
First Claim
1. A system for determining vehicle occupant type and position relative to a fixed structure within the vehicle comprising:
- an imaging means mounted at a single location within the vehicle interior and having a predetermined field of view so that front driver side seat and a front passenger side seat are both simultaneously viewable by said imaging means but not simultaneously in focus, wherein said imaging means generates an output signal representative of an instantaneous position of any object located within the field of view;
a narrow depth of focus lens operatively coupled to said imaging means, wherein said narrow depth of focus lens has an optic axis;
a de-blurring filter, wherein said de-blurring filter cooperates with said narrow depth of focus lens to provide a measure of distance along said optic axis to said object within the field of view relative to the fixed structure of the vehicle;
a memory for storing predetermined object profile data characteristic of a plurality of different types of objects when situation in either front seat of the vehicle; and
a processor means operatively coupled to said de-blurring filter for identifying the type of object located in the front seats of the vehicle by comparing said imaging means output signal to said predetermined object profile data.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A method and system (10) for detecting vehicle occupant type and position utilizes a single camera unit (12) positioned, for example at the driver or passenger side A-pillar, to generate image data of the front seating area of the vehicle. The present invention distinguishes between objects, forwardly or rearwardly facing child seats, and occupants, by periodically mapping the image taken of the interior of the vehicle into an image profile (104), and utilizing image profile matching with stored profile data (110) to determine the occupant or object type. The system and method of the present invention track occupant type and position in both parallel and perpendicular directions relative to a fixed structure such as the vehicle instrument panel to optimize both the efficiency and safety in controlling deployment of a occupant safety device, such as an air bag (28).
203 Citations
28 Claims
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1. A system for determining vehicle occupant type and position relative to a fixed structure within the vehicle comprising:
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an imaging means mounted at a single location within the vehicle interior and having a predetermined field of view so that front driver side seat and a front passenger side seat are both simultaneously viewable by said imaging means but not simultaneously in focus, wherein said imaging means generates an output signal representative of an instantaneous position of any object located within the field of view; a narrow depth of focus lens operatively coupled to said imaging means, wherein said narrow depth of focus lens has an optic axis; a de-blurring filter, wherein said de-blurring filter cooperates with said narrow depth of focus lens to provide a measure of distance along said optic axis to said object within the field of view relative to the fixed structure of the vehicle; a memory for storing predetermined object profile data characteristic of a plurality of different types of objects when situation in either front seat of the vehicle; and a processor means operatively coupled to said de-blurring filter for identifying the type of object located in the front seats of the vehicle by comparing said imaging means output signal to said predetermined object profile data. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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8. A system for determining vehicle occupant type and position relative to a fixed structure within the vehicle comprising:
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an imaging means mounted at a single location within the vehicle interior and having a predetermined field of view so that a front driver side seat and a front passenger side seat are both simultaneously viewable by said imaging means, wherein said imaging means generates an output signal representative of an instantaneous position of any object located within the field of view; a memory for storing predetermined object profile data characteristic of a plurality of different types of objects when situated in either front seat of the vehicle; a processor mans for identifying the type of object located in the front seats of the vehicle by comparing said imaging means output signal to said predetermined object profile data, said processor means comprising means for determining the distance between an object located within the field of view and the fixed structure within the vehicle based on said imaging means output signal; means for generating two-dimensional image data representative of any objects located within the predetermined field of view; and means for generating a two-dimensional range grid which vertically divides the field of view into a plurality of independent regions each representative of a predetermined size of vehicle interior space, wherein said grid if oriented so that the fixed vehicle structure is located proximate with one end region, and the vehicle front seats are located proximate with the opposite end region, wherein said means for determining distance comprises means for comparing said generated two-dimensional image data with said range grid to detect which if any of the plurality of regions are occupied by an object. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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19. A method for determining position of an object located in a vehicle relative to a fixed structure within the vehicle comprising the steps of:
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generating two-dimensional image data representative of any objects located within a front seating area of the vehicle; generating a two-dimensional range grid by vertically dividing the front seating area into a plurality of independent regions each representative of predetermined size of vehicle interior, wherein the fixed vehicle structure is located proximate with one end region, and the vehicle front seats are located proximate with the opposite end region; detecting lateral location of the object relative to a narrow depth of focus reference plane using a de-blurring filter; and estimating the distance between the object and said fixed structure by comparing said generated image data with said range grid and detected lateral location to determine which if any of the plurality of regions are occupied by an object. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27)
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28. A method for determining position of an object located in a vehicle relative to a fixed structure within the vehicle comprising the steps of:
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generating two-dimensional image data representative of any objects located within a front seating area of the vehicle; generating a two-dimensional range grid by vertically dividing the front seating area into a plurality of independent regions each representative of predetermined size of vehicle interior, wherein the fixed vehicle structure is located proximate with one end region, and the vehicle front seats are located proximate with the opposite end region; and estimating the distance between the object and said fixed structure by comparing said generated image data with said range grid to determine which if any of the plurality of regions are occupied by an object.
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Specification