Apparatus and method for controlling a vehicular component

• US 6,792,342 B2
• Filed: 08/26/2002
• Issued: 09/14/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 06/07/1995
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: American Vehicular Sciences LLC (Acacia Research Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Automotive Technologies International Incorporated
• Inventors: Breed, David S., DuVall, Wilbur E., Morin, Jeffrey L., Xu, Kunhong
• Primary Examiner(s): Black, Thomas G.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Gibson, Eric M.
• Application Number:
  US10/227,781
• Publication Number:
  US 20030023362A1
• Time in Patent Office: 750 Days
• Field of Search: 701/45, 701/46, 701/47, 701/49, 318/467, 318/466, 318/468, 280/735, 280/728.1, 280/734, 180/271, 180/268
• US Class Current: 701/45
• CPC Class Codes: B60N 2/002 Seats provided with an occupancy detection means mounted therein or thereon detection means responsive to presence or absence of children B60N2/266
• CPC Class Codes: B60N 2/015 Attaching seats directly to vehicle chassis
• CPC Class Codes: B60N 2/02246 Electric motors therefor
• CPC Class Codes: B60N 2/0244 with logic circuits
• CPC Class Codes: B60N 2/0248 with memory of positions
• CPC Class Codes: B60N 2/0252 with relations between different adjustments, e.g. height of headrest following longitudinal position of seat
• CPC Class Codes: B60N 2/0268 using sensors or detectors for adapting the seat or seat part, e.g. to the position of an occupant
• CPC Class Codes: B60N 2/0272 using sensors or detectors for detecting the position of seat parts
• CPC Class Codes: B60N 2/0276 reaction to emergency situations, e.g. crash
• CPC Class Codes: B60N 2/067 by linear actuators, e.g. linear screw mechanisms
• CPC Class Codes: B60N 2/28 Seats readily mountable on, and dismountable from, existing seats or other parts of the vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: B60N 2/2806 for securing the child seat to the vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: B60N 2/2863 backward facing
• CPC Class Codes: B60N 2/66 Lumbar supports
• CPC Class Codes: B60N 2/68 Seat frames
• CPC Class Codes: B60N 2/829 characterised by their adjusting mechanisms, e.g. electric motors
• CPC Class Codes: B60N 2/853 characterised by their adjusting mechanisms, e.g. electric motors
• CPC Class Codes: B60N 2/888 with arrangements for protecting against abnormal g-forces, e.g. by displacement of the head-rest
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 2021/26094 characterised by fluid flow controlling valves
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 2021/2765 comprising means to control the venting
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 2022/288 : with means to adjust or regulate the amount of energy to be absorbed
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 2022/4685 : with means to adjust or regulate the tensioning force in relation to external parameters
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 21/01516 : using force or pressure sensing means
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 21/01526 : using piezoelectric elements
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 21/0153 : using field detection presence sensors
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 21/01536 : using ultrasonic waves
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 21/01542 : detecting passenger motion
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 21/01554 : Seat position sensors
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 21/203 : in steering wheels or steering columns
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 22/201 : with the belt anchor connected to a slider movable in a vehicle-mounted track for passive restraint systems B60R22/06
• CPC Class Codes: G01G 19/4142 : for controlling activation of safety devices, e.g. airbag systems electrical circuits for triggering safety arrangements in case of vehicle accidents B60R21/015
• CPC Class Codes: G01G 23/3728 : with wireless means
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 15/06 : Systems determining the position data of a target
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 15/87 : Combinations of sonar systems
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 15/88 : Sonar systems specially adapted for specific applications seismic or acoustic prospecting or detecting G01V1/00

Abstract

Arrangement and method for controlling a component in a vehicle in which at least one morphological characteristic of an occupant is measured and a current position of at least a part of a seat on which the occupant is situated is obtained. The component is controlled based on the measured morphological characteristic(s) and the current position of the seat. The component may be an occupant restraint device, such as an airbag whose inflation, deflation and/or deployment direction is/are controlled.

Claims

1. An arrangement for controlling a component in a vehicle based on contents of a passenger compartment of the vehicle, comprising:

at least one wave-receiving sensor arranged to receive waves from the passenger compartment;

a processing circuit coupled to said at least one wave-receiving sensor and arranged to remove at least one portion of each wave received by said at least one wave-receiving sensor in a discrete period of time to thereby form a shortened returned wave; and

a processor coupled to said processing circuit and arranged to receive data derived from the shortened returned waves formed by said processing circuit, said processor being arranged to generate a control signal to control the component based on the data derived from the shortened returned waves formed by said processing circuit.

2. The arrangement of claim 1, wherein said at least one portion of the wave removed is an initial wave portion starting from the beginning of the time period.

3. The arrangement of claim 1, wherein said at least one portion of the wave removed is an end wave portion at the end of the time period.

4. The arrangement of claim 1, wherein said at least one wave-receiving sensor comprises a plurality of wave-receiving sensors.

5. The arrangement of claim 4, further comprising:

a sensor driver circuit coupled to said wave-receiving sensors for driving said wave-receiving sensors; and

a multiplex circuit coupled to said plurality of wave-receiving sensors for processing the waves received by said wave-receiving sensors, said multiplex circuit being switched in synchronization with a timing signal from said driver circuit.

6. The arrangement of claim 1, further comprising a band pass filter interposed between said at least one wave-receiving sensor and said processing circuit for filtering waves at particular frequencies and noise from the waves received by said at least one wave-receiving sensor.

7. The arrangement of claim 6, further comprising an amplifier coupled to said band pass filter and arranged to amplify the waves provided by said band pass filter and an analog to digital converter interposed between said amplifier and said processing circuit for removing a high frequency carrier wave component and generating an envelope wave signal.

8. The arrangement of claim 1, further comprising a sensor driver circuit coupled to said at least one wave-receiving sensor for driving said wave-receiving sensor, said processing circuit being controlled by a timing signal output from said sensor driver circuit.

9. The arrangement of claim 1, wherein said processor comprises a neural network.

10. The arrangement of claim 1, further comprising at least one additional sensor coupled to said processor and arranged to provide data to said processor, said processor being arranged to generate a control signal to control the component based on the data derived from the shortened returned waves formed by said processing circuit and the data from said at least one additional sensor.

11. The arrangement of claim 1, wherein said component is an airbag system.

12. An arrangement for controlling a component in a vehicle based on contents of a passenger compartment of the vehicle, comprising:

generating means for generating a succession of time windows;

receiving means for receiving waves from the passenger compartment during the time windows;

a processing circuit coupled to said receiving means and arranged to remove at least one portion of each wave received by said receiving means in each time window to thereby form a shortened wave; and

processor means coupled to said processing circuit and arranged to receive data derived from the shortened waves formed by said processing circuit, said processor means being arranged to generate a control signal to control the component based on the data derived from the shortened waves formed by said processing circuit.

13. The arrangement of claim 12, wherein said at least one portion of the wave removed is an initial wave portion of each time window.

14. The arrangement of claim 12, wherein said at least one portion of the wave removed is an end wave portion of each time window.

15. The arrangement of claim 12, wherein said receiving means comprise a plurality of wave-receiving sensors.

16. The arrangement of claim 15, wherein said generating means comprise a sensor driver circuit coupled to said wave-receiving sensors for driving said wave-receiving sensors, further comprising a multiplex circuit coupled to said plurality of wave-receiving sensors for processing the waves received by said wave-receiving sensors, said multiplex circuit being switched in synchronization with a timing signal from said driver circuit.

17. The arrangement of claim 12, further comprising a band pass filter interposed between said receiving means and said processing circuit for filtering waves at particular frequencies and noise from the waves received by said receiving means.

18. The arrangement of claim 17, further comprising an amplifier coupled to said band pass filter and arranged to amplify the waves provided by said band pass filter and an analog to digital converter interposed between said amplifier and said processing circuit for removing a high frequency carrier wave component and generating an envelope wave signal.

19. The arrangement of claim 12, wherein said receiving means comprises a wave-receiving and transmitting sensor, said generating means comprising a sensor driver circuit coupled to said sensor for driving said sensor and outputting a timing signal to control said processing circuit.

20. The arrangement of claim 12, wherein said receiving means comprises a plurality of wave-receiving and transmitting sensors, said generating means comprising a sensor driver circuit coupled to said sensors for driving said sensors and outputting a timing signal to control said processing circuit.

21. The arrangement of claim 12, wherein said processor means comprises a neural network.

22. The arrangement of claim 12, further comprising at least one additional sensor coupled to said processor means and arranged to provide data to said processor means, said processor means being arranged to generate a control signal to control the component based on the data derived from the shortened waves formed by said processing circuit and the data from said at least one additional sensor.

23. The arrangement of claim 12, wherein said component is an airbag system.

24. A method for controlling a component in a vehicle based on contents of a passenger compartment of the vehicle, comprising the steps of:

receiving waves from the passenger compartment;

removing at least one portion of each received wave in a discrete period of time to thereby form a shortened wave;

deriving data from the shortened waves; and

generating a control signal to control the component based on the data derived from the shortened waves.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein the step of removing at least one portion of each received wave comprises the step of removing an initial wave portion starting from the beginning of a data sampling interval.

26. The method of claim 24, wherein the step of removing at least one portion of each received wave comprises the step of removing an end wave portion ending at the end of a data sampling interval.

27. The method of claim 24, wherein the step of receiving waves comprises the step of providing a plurality of wave-receiving sensors, each receiving waves.

28. The method of claim 27, further comprising the steps of:

driving the wave-receiving sensors by means of a sensor driver circuit;

multiplexing the waves received by the wave-receiving sensors; and

switching the multiplex circuit in synchronization with a timing signal from the driver circuit.

29. The method of claim 24, wherein the at least one portion of each received wave is removed by a processing circuit, further comprising the step of controlling the processing circuit by a timing signal output from a sensor driver circuit.

30. The method of claim 24, wherein the data is derived by a neural network.

31. The method of claim 24, further comprising the step of obtaining data from at least one additional sensor, the step of generating a control signal comprising the step of generating the control signal based on the data derived from the shortened waves and the data obtained from the at least one additional sensor.

32. The method of claim 24, wherein the component is an airbag system.

33. A method for controlling a component in a vehicle based on contents of a passenger compartment of the vehicle, comprising the steps of:

generating a succession of time windows;

receiving waves from the passenger compartment during the time windows;

removing at least one portion of each received wave in each time window to thereby form a shortened wave;

deriving data from the shortened waves; and

generating a control signal to control the component based on the data derived from the shortened waves.

34. The method of claim 33, wherein the step of removing at least one portion of each received wave comprises the step of removing an initial wave portion of each time window.

35. The method of claim 33, wherein the step of removing at least one portion of each received wave comprises the step of removing an end wave portion of each time window.

36. The method of claim 33, wherein the step of receiving waves comprises the step of providing a plurality of wave-receiving sensors, each receiving waves.

37. The method of claim 36, further comprising the steps of:

driving the wave-receiving sensors by means of a sensor driver circuit;

multiplexing the waves received by the wave-receiving sensors; and

switching the multiplex circuit in synchronization with a timing signal from the driver circuit.

38. The method of claim 33, wherein the at least one portion of each received wave is removed by a processing circuit, further comprising the step of controlling the processing circuit by a timing signal output from a sensor driver circuit.

39. The method of claim 33, wherein the data is derived by a neural network.

40. The method of claim 33, further comprising the step of obtaining data from at least one additional sensor, the step of generating a control signal comprising the step of generating the control signal based on the data derived from the shortened waves and the data obtained from the at least one additional sensor.

41. The method of claim 33, wherein the component is an airbag system.

42. The method of claim 33, further comprising the steps of:

transmitting waves into the passenger compartment;

controlling the transmission and reception of waves by means of a sensor driver circuit; and

outputting a timing signal from said sensor driver circuit to control the removal of the at least one portion of each received wave in each time window.

43. A method for generating an algorithm capable of determining occupancy of a seat;

comprising the steps of;

mounting a plurality of wave-receiving sensors in the vehicle;

obtaining data from the sensors while the seat has a particular occupancy;

forming a vector from the data from the sensors obtained while the seat has a particular occupancy;

repeatedly changing the occupancy of the seat and for each occupancy, repeating the steps of obtaining data from the sensors and forming a vector from the data;

modifying the vectors by removing at least one portion of the wave received by each sensor during a discrete period of time; and

generating the algorithm based on the modified vectors such that upon input from the sensors, the algorithm is capable of outputting a likely occupancy of the seat.

44. The method of claim 43, further comprising the step of normalizing the modified vectors.

45. The method of claim 43, further comprising the step of inputting the modified vectors into a compression circuit that reduces the magnitude of reflected signals from high reflectivity targets compared to those of low reflectivity.

46. The method of claim 43, further comprising the step of applying a time gain circuit to the modified vectors to compensate for the difference in sonic strength received by the sensors based on the distance of the reflecting object from the sensor.

47. The method of claim 43, wherein the step of modifying the vectors comprises the step of removing an initial portion of the wave during the time period.

48. The method of claim 43, wherein the step of modifying the vectors comprises the step of removing an end portion of the wave during the time period.

49. The method of claim 43, further comprising the step of obtaining data from at least one additional sensor, the step of generating the algorithm comprising the step of generating the algorithm based on the modified vectors and the data obtained from the at least one additional sensor such that upon input from the wave-receiving sensors and the at least one additional sensor, the algorithm is capable of outputting a likely occupancy of the seat.

50. The method of claim 43, wherein the step of generating the algorithm comprises the step of generating a neural network.