System and method for detecting seat occupancy in a vehicle
First Claim
1. A system for determining seat occupancy in a vehicle, comprising:
- at least one microwave transmitter, a plurality of reflectors stationarily disposed in predetermined locations at a seat of the vehicle, and at least one microwave receiver, commonly arranged;
to define between said microwave transmitter and said microwave receiver a radiation path divided into at least one first radiation path and at least one second radiation path;
wherein microwave radiation emitted by said microwave transmitter can reach at least one of said reflectors along the at least one first radiation path when the seat is unoccupied;
wherein the microwave radiation, after reflection by said at least one reflector can reach said microwave receiver via the at least one second radiation path;
wherein, depending on the seat occupancy, an object may be located in at least one of the first radiation path and the second radiation path and the radiation received by the microwave receiver may be influenced in dependence on the seat occupancy; and
wherein said reflectors are modulating backscattering devices.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A system for determining seat occupancy in a motor vehicle includes a microwave transmitter, a microwave receiver and preferably a reflector. If a person is between those appliances, the microwave radiation is attenuated. The reflector can be a backscattering device, such that the radiation received by the receiver is unequivocally associated with the reflector. Furthermore or alternatively, the transit time of the microwaves can be measured, to be subsequently processed in combination with an analysis of the seated position of passengers. In preferred embodiments, the microwave radiation diffraction properties around an object are also used to obtain the seated position of passengers. The determination of a seat occupancy and optionally of seat occupancy mode can be advantageously used for locking or on the other hand releasing an airbag.
13 Citations
24 Claims
-
1. A system for determining seat occupancy in a vehicle, comprising:
-
at least one microwave transmitter, a plurality of reflectors stationarily disposed in predetermined locations at a seat of the vehicle, and at least one microwave receiver, commonly arranged; to define between said microwave transmitter and said microwave receiver a radiation path divided into at least one first radiation path and at least one second radiation path; wherein microwave radiation emitted by said microwave transmitter can reach at least one of said reflectors along the at least one first radiation path when the seat is unoccupied; wherein the microwave radiation, after reflection by said at least one reflector can reach said microwave receiver via the at least one second radiation path; wherein, depending on the seat occupancy, an object may be located in at least one of the first radiation path and the second radiation path and the radiation received by the microwave receiver may be influenced in dependence on the seat occupancy; and wherein said reflectors are modulating backscattering devices. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
-
-
13. A method of determining seat occupancy in a vehicle, which comprises the following steps:
-
defining a radiation path with at least one first radiation path and at least one second radiation path; emitting microwave radiation to propagate along the at least one first radiation path; reflecting the microwave radiation from a defined location at the seat of the vehicle with a modulating backscattering process to form reflected microwave radiation, and causing the reflected radiation to propagate along the at least one second radiation path; receiving the reflected microwave radiation; and determining a seat occupancy and deducing whether or not an object is located in at least one of the first radiation path and the second radiation path, where the radiation received by a microwave receiver is influenced depending on the seat occupancy. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24)
-
Specification