Vehicle behavior judgment system and vehicle occupant-protecting system

• US 7,454,276 B2
• Filed: 01/24/2005
• Issued: 11/18/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 01/26/2004
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Calsonic Kansei Corporation
• Original Assignee: Calsonic Kansei Corporation
• Inventors: Sawahata, Toshikatsu
• Primary Examiner(s): Keith; Jack W.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Nguyen; Chuong P
• Application Number:
  US11/039,995
• Publication Number:
  US 20050165528A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,394 Days
• Field of Search: 701/38, 701/39, 701 45- 47, 180/268, 180/271, 180/282, 280 5502- 5507, 280/728.1, 280/734, 280/735
• US Class Current: 701/38
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 2021/0018 Roll-over
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 2021/0117 Noise
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 2021/01306 monitoring vehicle inclination
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 2021/01327 Angular velocity or angular acceleration
• 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 21/01336 using filtering

Abstract

A vehicle behavior judgment system comprising a rolling angular velocity detector adapted for detecting a rolling angular velocity of a vehicle, a rollover judgment device adapted for judging, based on at least a rolling angular velocity of a vehicle, whether the vehicle rolls over or not, and a noise-cutting filter adapted for removing a noise component from the rolling angular velocity.

Claims

1. A vehicle behavior judgment system comprising:

a rolling angular velocity detector adapted for detecting rolling angular velocities in a time series of a vehicle,

a rollover judgment device adapted for judging, based on at least one rolling angular velocity of the vehicle detected by the rolling angular velocity detector, whether the vehicle rolls over or not, and

a noise-cutting filter adapted for removing a noise component from the rolling angular velocities,

wherein, if a difference between a newest rolling angular velocity and a just previous rolling angular velocity as viewed in the time series exceeds a threshold value, the rollover judgment device is configured to replace the newest rolling angular velocity with the just previous rolling angular velocity and then to effect judgment as to “

rollover”

of the vehicle by using the just previous rolling angular velocity instead of the newest rolling angular velocity.

2. The vehicle behavior judgment system set forth in claim 1, which further comprises a rolling angle calculator for calculating a rolling angle based on signals from the rolling angular velocity detector via the noise-cutting filters, and

wherein the rollover judgment device is adapted for judging, based on the at least one rolling angular velocity and the calculated rolling angle of the vehicle, whether the vehicle rolls over or not.

3. The vehicle behavior judgment system set forth in claim 1, wherein the noise component is a signal component which corresponds to a behavior never occurring in the actual vehicle.

4. The vehicle behavior judgment system set forth in claim 1, wherein the threshold value is a value which corresponds to a behavior never occurring in the actual vehicle.

5. A vehicle occupant-protecting system comprising:

a vehicle behavior judgment system, wherein the vehicle behavior judgment system comprises;

a rolling angular velocity detector adapted for detecting rolling angular velocities in a time series of a vehicle,

a rollover judgment device adapted for judging, based on at least one rolling angular velocity of the vehicle detected by the rolling angular velocity detector, whether the vehicle rolls over or not, and

a noise-cutting filter adapted for removing a noise component from the rolling angular velocities,

wherein, if a difference between a newest rolling angular velocity and a just previous rolling angular velocity as viewed in the time series exceeds a threshold value, the rollover judgment device is configured to replace the newest rolling angular velocity with the just previous rolling angular velocity and then to effect judgment as to “

rollover”

of the vehicle by using the just previous rolling angular velocity instead of the newest rolling angular velocity, and

an occupant-protecting device which protects an occupant through an operation corresponding to a judgment result as to “

rollover”

obtained by the vehicle behavior judgment system.

6. The vehicle occupant-protecting system set forth in claim 5, wherein the occupant-protecting device is selected from at least one of an airbag system, a seat belt pretensioner device, and an active rollover device.

7. The vehicle occupant-protecting system set forth in claim 5, which further comprises an inclination sensor adapted to detect whether the vehicle is inclined beyond a given inclination angle in a width direction of the vehicle or not, and

wherein the occupant-protecting device is adapted for protecting the occupant through an operation corresponding to a judgment result as to “

rollover”

obtained by the vehicle behavior judgment system and a judgment result as to “

inclination”

obtained by the inclination sensor.

8. A vehicle occupant-protecting system set forth in claim 5, wherein the threshold value is a value which corresponds to a behavior never occurring in the actual vehicle.

9. The vehicle occupant-protecting system set forth in claim 8, which further comprises an inclination sensor adapted to detect whether the vehicle is inclined beyond a given inclination angle in a width direction of the vehicle or not, and

wherein the occupant-protecting device is adapted for protecting the occupant through an operation corresponding to a judgment result as to “

rollover”

obtained by the vehicle behavior judgment system and a judgment result as to “

inclination”

obtained by the inclination sensor.

10. A vehicle occupant-protecting system comprising:

a vehicle behavior judgment system, wherein the vehicle behavior judgment system comprises;

a rolling angular velocity detector adapted for detecting rolling angular velocities in a time series of a vehicle,

a rollover judgment device adapted for judging, based on at least one rolling angular velocity of the vehicle detected by the rolling angular velocity detector, whether the vehicle rolls over or not, and

a noise-cutting filter adapted for removing a noise component from the rolling angular velocities,

wherein, if a difference between a newest rolling angular velocity and a just previous rolling angular velocity as viewed in the time series exceeds a threshold value, the rollover judgment device is configured to replace the newest rolling angular velocity with the just previous rolling angular velocity and then to effect judgment as to “

rollover”

of the vehicle by using the just previous rolling angular velocity instead of the newest rolling angular velocity,

an inclination sensor adapted to detect whether the vehicle is inclined beyond a given inclination angle in a width direction of the vehicle or not, and

an occupant-protecting device adapted for protecting an occupant through an operation corresponding to a judgment result as to “

rollover”

obtained by the vehicle behavior judgment system and a judgment result as to “

inclination”

obtained by the inclination sensor.

11. The vehicle occupant-protecting system set forth in claim 10, wherein the occupant-protecting device is selected from at least one of an airbag system, a seat belt pretensioner device, and an active rollover device.