System for determining the occupancy state of a seat in a vehicle and controlling a component based thereon
DC CAFCFirst Claim
1. A method for controlling an occupant protection device in a vehicle, comprising the steps of:
- acquiring data from at least one sensor relating to an occupant in a seat to be protected by the occupant protection device;
classifying the type of occupant based on the acquired data;
when the occupant is classified as an empty seat or a rear-facing child seat, disabling or adjusting deployment of the occupant protection device;
otherwise classifying the size of the occupant based on the acquired data;
determining the position of the occupant by means of one of a plurality of algorithms selected based on the classified size of the occupant using the acquired data, each of the algorithms being applicable for a specific size of occupant, and disabling or adjusting deployment of the occupant protection device when the determined position of the occupant is more likely to result in injury to the occupant if the occupant protection device were to deploy.
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Abstract
Method for controlling an occupant protection device in a vehicle in which data is acquired from at least one sensor relating to an occupant in a seat to be protected by the occupant protection device, the type of occupant is classified based on the acquired data and when the occupant is classified as an empty seat or a rear-facing child seat, deployment of the occupant protection device is disabled or adjusted. Otherwise, the size of the occupant is classified based on the acquired data, the position of the occupant is determined by one of a plurality of algorithms selected based on the classified size of the occupant using the acquired data, each algorithm being applicable for a specific size of occupant. Deployment of the occupant protection device is disabled or adjusted when the determined position of the occupant is more likely to result in injury to the occupant if the occupant protection device were to deploy. The algorithms may be pattern recognition algorithms such as neural networks.
49 Citations
56 Claims
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1. A method for controlling an occupant protection device in a vehicle, comprising the steps of:
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acquiring data from at least one sensor relating to an occupant in a seat to be protected by the occupant protection device;
classifying the type of occupant based on the acquired data;
when the occupant is classified as an empty seat or a rear-facing child seat, disabling or adjusting deployment of the occupant protection device;
otherwiseclassifying the size of the occupant based on the acquired data;
determining the position of the occupant by means of one of a plurality of algorithms selected based on the classified size of the occupant using the acquired data, each of the algorithms being applicable for a specific size of occupant, and disabling or adjusting deployment of the occupant protection device when the determined position of the occupant is more likely to result in injury to the occupant if the occupant protection device were to deploy. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 56)
determining whether the acquired data is compatible with data for classification of the type or size of the occupant; and
when the acquired data is not compatible with the data for classification of the type or size of the occupant, rejecting the acquired data and acquiring new data.
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56. The method of claim 1, wherein the identification of the occupant, the determination of the orientation of the child seat, the determination of the position of the child seat and the determination of the at least one of the size and position of the occupant when other than a child seat is performed by a combination neural network created from a plurality of data sets, each of the data sets representing a different occupancy state of the seat and being formed from data from the at least one sensor while the seat is in that occupancy state.
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12. A method for controlling a component in a vehicle, comprising the steps of:
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acquiring data from at least one sensor relating to an occupant of a seat interacting with or using the component, determining an occupancy state of the seat based on the acquired data;
periodically acquiring new data from the at least one sensor;
for each time new data is acquired, determining the occupancy state of the seat based on the acquired new data and the determined occupancy state from a preceding time; and
controlling the component based on the determined occupancy state of the seat. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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18. A method for controlling a component in a vehicle, comprising the steps of:
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acquiring data from at least one sensor relating to an occupant of a seat interacting with or using the component;
identifying the occupant based on the acquired data;
determining the position of the occupant based on the acquired data;
controlling the component based on at least one of the identification of the occupant and the determined position of the occupant;
periodically acquiring new data from the at least one sensor; and
for each time new data is acquired, identifying the occupant based on the acquired new data and an identification from a preceding time and determining the position of the occupant based on the acquired new data and then controlling the component based on at least one of the identification of the occupant and the determined position of the occupant. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31)
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32. A method for controlling a component in a vehicle, comprising the steps of:
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acquiring data from at least one sensor relating to an occupant of a seat interacting with or using the component;
identifying an occupant based on the acquired data;
determining the position of the occupant based on the acquired data;
controlling the component based on at least one of the identification of the occupant and the determined position of the occupant;
periodically acquiring new data from the at least one sensor; and
for each time new data is acquired, identifying an occupant based on the acquired new data and determining the position of the occupant based on the acquired new data and a determination of the position of the occupant from a preceding time and then controlling the component based on at least one of the identification of the occupant and the determined position of the occupant. - View Dependent Claims (33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45)
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46. A method for controlling a component in a vehicle, comprising the steps of:
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acquiring data from at least one sensor relating to an occupant of a seat interacting with or using the component;
identifying the occupant based on the acquired data;
when the occupant is identified as a child seat, determining the orientation of the child seat based on the acquired data, determining the position of the child seat by means of one of a plurality of algorithms selected based on the determined orientation of the child seat, each of the algorithms being applicable for a specific orientation of a child seat, and controlling the component based on the determined position of the child seat; and
when the occupant is identified as other than a child seat, determining at least one of the size and position of the occupant, and controlling the component based on the at least one of the size and position of the occupant. - View Dependent Claims (47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55)
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Specification