Occupant-restraint deployment method and system for automotive vehicle

• US 6,173,224 B1
• Filed: 07/17/1998
• Issued: 01/09/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 07/17/1998
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC (Ford Motor Company)
• Original Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC (Ford Motor Company)
• Inventors: Riesner, Miloslav, Barnard, Robert D.
• Primary Examiner(s): Zanelli, Michael J.
• Application Number:
  US09/118,189
• Time in Patent Office: 907 Days
• Field of Search: 701/45, 701/46, 701/47, 280/734, 280/735, 307/9.1, 307/10.1
• US Class Current: 701/47
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 21/0132 responsive to vehicle motion parameters , e.g. to vehicle longitudinal or transversal deceleration or speed value
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 21/01332 by frequency or waveform analysis

Abstract

An occupant-restraint deployment system and method for an automotive vehicle measures an initial vehicle velocity and a vehicle acceleration over a discrete time interval and calculates a vehicle velocity. An energy-momentum (e-m) waveform is determined for the time interval based upon the vehicle velocity and a vehicle mass. A semimetric distance is calculated between the e-m waveform and each of a set of signature waveforms characterizing collision classes. Identification of a collision class is then made based upon the semimetric distances, and deployment of an occupant restraint is activated if the identified collision class indicates a collision for which deployment is appropriate.

Claims

1. An occupant-restraint deployment method for an automotive vehicle, the method comprising the steps of:

determining an e-m waveform for a discrete time interval;

retrieving a set of collision signature waveforms from a collision signature library;

calculating a semimetric distance for the discrete time interval between the e-m waveform and each of a set of signature waveforms characterizing a collision class;

generating a sequence of tentatively identified collision classes based upon the semimetric distance;

identifying an actual collision class as the limit of the sequence of tentatively identified collision classes; and

activating deployment of an occupant restraint if the actual collision class indicates a collision for which deployment is appropriate.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the e-m waveform is a two-dimensional, vector-valued function of which the first and second components represent an energy waveform and a momentum waveform, respectively.

3. The method of claim 2 including the steps of measuring an initial vehicle velocity and a vehicle acceleration and calculating a vehicle energy and vehicle momentum based thereon.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the sequence of tentatively identified collision classes is a set of observable e-m waveforms that could result from a specified type of collision, a class for which deployment is either appropriate or inappropriate, but not both.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein a collision signature waveform is an expectation of all the observable e-m waveforms of a collision class that represents an e-m waveform characterizing the class.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the semimetric distance is calculated as an assigned nonnegative, nondimentional number quantifying the difference between the e-m waveform and one of the set of collision signature waveforms.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of activating the occupant restraint is accomplished by sending a signal from a controller to an occupant-restraint activation module.

8. An occupant-restraint deployment method for an automotive vehicle, the method comprising the steps of:

measuring an initial vehicle velocity and a vehicle acceleration sample for a discrete time interval;

calculating a vehicle velocity from the initial vehicle velocity and the vehicle acceleration;

determining an e-m waveform for the time interval based upon the vehicle velocity and a vehicle mass;

calculating a semimetric distance between the e-m waveform and each of a set of signature waveforms characterizing, a collision class;

identifying a collision class based upon the semimetric distances; and

activating deployment of an occupant restraint if the identified collision class indicates a collision for which deployment is appropriate.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein the vehicle velocity is calculated as

10. The method of claim 9 wherein the e-m waveform is calculated as

11. The method of claim 10 wherein the semimetric distances between q and s_j over the intervals [0,n·

T_s], n≧

0, and s_j(n·

T_s), n≧

0 are determined as ${\mathrm{\rho <br><br>}}_n<br><br>\left(q,s_j\right)=\underset{a=e,m}{\sum <br><br>}<br><br>\text{\hspace{1em}<br><br>}<br><br><br><br>\left[q_a<br><br>\left(n·<br><br>T_s\right)-q_a<br><br>\left(0\right)\right]-\left[s_{\mathrm{ja}}<br><br>\left(n·<br><br>T_s\right)-s_{\mathrm{ja}}<br><br>\left(0\right)\right]<br><br>$

where q and s are an observed e-m waveform and a signature waveform, respectively.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein the collision class is identified if for some class j,

13. The method of claim 8 wherein the step of activating the occupant restraint is accomplished by sending a signal from a controller to an occupant-restraint activation module.

14. An occupant-restraint deployment system for an automotive vehicle comprising:

means for measuring an initial vehicle velocity and vehicle acceleration;

an occupant-restraint activation module adapted for activation of a vehicle deployable occupant restraint; and

deployment control means for causing the occupant-restraint activation module to activate deployment of the deployable occupant restraint if an actual collision class indicates a collision for which deployment is appropriate based on a set of e-m waveforms, a set of collision classes, a set of signature waveforms each of which represents one of the set of collision classes, and a set of semimetric distances between the e-m waveforms and each of the set of signature waveforms.

15. The system according to claim 14 wherein the deployment control means has velocity code means associated therewith for determining a vehicle velocity as

16. The system of claim 15 wherein the deployment control means has e-m waveform code means associated therewith for determining an e-m waveform as

17. The system of claim 16 wherein the deployment control means has semimetric code means associated therewith for determining a set of semimetric distances between q and s_j over the intervals [0, n·

T_s], n≧

0, and s_j(T_s), n≧

0 as ${\mathrm{\rho <br><br>}}_n<br><br>\left(q,s_j\right)=\underset{a=e,m}{\sum <br><br>}<br><br>\text{\hspace{1em}<br><br>}<br><br><br><br>\left[q_a<br><br>\left(n·<br><br>T_s\right)-q_a<br><br>\left(0\right)\right]-\left[s_{\mathrm{ja}}<br><br>\left(n·<br><br>T_s\right)-s_{\mathrm{ja}}<br><br>\left(0\right)\right]<br><br>$

where q and s are an observed wave form and a signature waveform, respectively.

18. The system of claim 17 wherein the deployment control means has collision class identification code means associated therewith for identifying a collision class if for some class j,