System and method for airbag deployment and inflation

• US 9,730,482 B2
• Filed: 11/20/2014
• Issued: 08/15/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 11/20/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Elwha LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Original Assignee: Elwha LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Inventors: Bayly, Philip V., Brody, David L., Cheatham, III, Jesse R., Radovitzky, Raul, Smith, Anthony V., Wood, Jr., Lowell L., Leuthardt, Eric C., Touran, Nicholas W., Wood, Victoria Y. H., Hyde, Roderick A., Ishikawa, Muriel Y., Kare, Jordin T., Myhrvold, Nathan P., Pan, Tony S., Petroski, Robert C., Sweeney, Elizabeth A., Tegreene, Clarence T., Allen, Paul G., Ellenbogen, Richard G.
• Primary Examiner(s): Hurley, Shaun R
• Assistant Examiner(s): Nguyen, Bao-Thieu L
• Application Number:
  US14/549,237
• Publication Number:
  US 20160143383A1
• Time in Patent Office: 999 Days
• Field of Search: 2413, 2414
• CPC Class Codes: A42B 3/00 Helmets; Helmet covers ; Other protective head coverings hoods for welders A61F9/06; defence protection helmets F41H1/04
• CPC Class Codes: A42B 3/0406 Accessories for helmets
• CPC Class Codes: A42B 3/046 Means for detecting hazards or accidents
• CPC Class Codes: A42B 3/0486 Airbags
• CPC Class Codes: A42B 3/122 inflatable
• CPC Class Codes: G08C 17/02 using a radio link

Abstract

A helmet with an airbag assembly coupled to the shell of the helmet. The airbag assembly includes an airbag and an inflation device. The inflation device is configured to at least partially inflate the airbag upon deployment of the airbag assembly. The helmet also includes a processing circuit disposed at least partially within the shell. The processing circuit is configured to receive helmet data regarding a second helmet, transmit deployment data regarding inflation of the airbag assembly, and control operation of the inflation device to inflate the airbag based on the helmet data.

Claims

1. A helmet, comprising:

a shell;

a first airbag assembly coupled to the shell and including a first airbag and a first inflation device, wherein the first inflation device is configured to at least partially inflate the first airbag; and

a processing circuit disposed at least partially within the shell and configured to;

receive first helmet data regarding the helmet worn by a first user;

receive second helmet data regarding a second helmet worn by a second user, the second helmet including a second airbag assembly having a second airbag and a second inflation device;

determine impact data based on the first helmet data and the second helmet data;

communicate deployment instructions to the first inflation device regarding inflation of the first airbag to control at least one of an inflation rate and an inflation pressure of the first airbag based on the impact data such that the first airbag deploys from a surface of the shell to receive at least one of the second helmet and the second airbag; and

communicate deployment instructions regarding inflation of the second airbag.

2. The helmet of claim 1, wherein the second helmet data includes an indication of at least one of user data for a user of the second helmet, a location of the second helmet, a direction of travel of the second helmet, a velocity of the second helmet, and an acceleration of the second helmet.

3. The helmet of claim 2, wherein the user data includes at least one of a user height, a user weight, a user identification, and a user status.

4. The helmet of claim 2, wherein the location of the second helmet includes two-dimensional location data.

5. The helmet of claim 2, wherein the location of the second helmet includes three-dimensional location data.

6. The helmet of claim 2, wherein the location of the second helmet is a relative location, the velocity of the second helmet is a relative velocity, and the acceleration of the second helmet is a relative acceleration.

7. The helmet of claim 1, wherein the second helmet data includes second deployment data for the second airbag of the second helmet.

8. The helmet of claim 7, wherein the second deployment data includes an indication of at least one of whether the second airbag has been inflated, a decision regarding future inflation of the second airbag, and a planned future inflation time for the second airbag.

9. The helmet of claim 7, wherein the second deployment data includes at least one of a size, a shape, a location, an internal pressure, and a direction of inflation for the inflated second airbag.

10. The helmet of claim 1, wherein the first helmet data includes first deployment data that includes timing data regarding a planned future inflation time of the first airbag.

11. The helmet of claim 1, wherein the first helmet data includes first deployment data that includes directional data regarding at least one of a location and a direction of inflation for the first airbag.

12. The helmet of claim 1, wherein the first helmet data includes first deployment data that includes data regarding at least one of a size and a shape for the inflated first airbag.

13. The helmet of claim 1, wherein the processing circuit is configured to transmit a request for the second helmet to not inflate the second airbag.

14. The helmet of claim 1, wherein the processing circuit is configured to transmit a request for the second helmet to inflate the second airbag.

15. The helmet of claim 1, wherein the processing circuit is configured to transmit a request for the second helmet data regarding deployment of the second airbag of the second helmet.

16. A helmet airbag deployment system, comprising:

a processing circuit including a processor and memory, the processing circuit configured to;

be worn by a first user;

receive first data regarding a first helmet worn by the first user, the first helmet coupled to a first airbag;

receive second data regarding a second helmet worn by a second user, the second helmet coupled to a second airbag;

determine impact data based on the first data and the second data;

communicate deployment instructions to an inflation device regarding inflation of the first airbag to control at least one of an inflation rate and an inflation pressure of the first airbag based on the impact data such that the first airbag deploys from a surface of the first helmet to receive at least one of the second helmet and the second airbag; and

communicate deployment instructions regarding inflation of the second airbag.

17. The helmet airbag deployment system of claim 16, wherein the processing circuit is a first processing circuit, and further comprising a second processing circuit configured to be worn by the second user and communicate with the first processing circuit.

18. The helmet airbag deployment system of claim 16, wherein the processing circuit is configured to control operation of the inflation device to control a timing of inflation of at least one of the first airbag and the second airbag based on the impact data.

19. The helmet airbag deployment system of claim 16, wherein the first data includes at least one of first deployment data for the first airbag, first user data for the first user of the first helmet, a location of the first helmet, a direction of travel of the first helmet, a velocity of the first helmet, and an acceleration of the first helmet.

20. The helmet airbag deployment system of claim 16, wherein the first data includes an indication of at least one of whether the first airbag has been inflated, a decision regarding future inflation of the first airbag, and a planned future inflation time for the first airbag.

21. The helmet airbag deployment system of claim 16, wherein the first data includes at least one of a size, a shape, a location, an internal pressure, and a direction of inflation for the inflated first airbag.

22. The helmet airbag deployment system of claim 16, wherein the first data includes at least one of a first user height, a first user weight, a first user identification, and a first user status.

23. The helmet airbag deployment system of claim 16, wherein the deployment instructions include at least one of timing data regarding a timing of inflation of at least one of the first airbag and the second airbag and directional data regarding a direction of inflation for the at least one of the first airbag and the second airbag.

24. The helmet airbag deployment system of claim 16, wherein the deployment instructions include at least one of data regarding a location of an inflated airbag, data regarding a size of the inflated airbag, data regarding a shape of the inflated airbag and data regarding an internal pressure of the inflated airbag.

25. An airbag deployment system, comprising:

a first helmet including a first processing circuit and a first airbag assembly, the first airbag assembly including a first inflation device and a first airbag, the first airbag configured to be selectively deployable from at least one of a shell, a facemask, a chinstrap, padding, and an underside of the first helmet; and

a second helmet including a second processing circuit and a second airbag assembly, the second airbag assembly including a second inflation device and a second airbag, the second airbag configured to be selectively deployable from at least one of a shell, a facemask, a chinstrap, padding, and an underside of the second helmet such that the second airbag is configured to deploy from a surface of the second helmet to engage at least one of the first helmet and the first airbag during an impact between the first helmet and the second helmet;

wherein the first processing circuit is configured to communicate impact data regarding a potential impact between the first helmet and the second helmet to the second processing circuit; and

wherein the first processing circuit is configured to transmit a request for deployment data regarding deployment of the second airbag assembly.

26. The airbag deployment system of claim 25, wherein the first processing circuit is configured to control operation of the first inflation device to control at least one of a size, a shape, a location, and a direction of inflation for the first airbag based on the impact data.

27. The airbag deployment system of claim 25, wherein the second processing circuit is configured to control operation of the second inflation device to control at least one of a size, a shape, a location, and a direction of inflation for the second airbag based on the impact data.

28. The airbag deployment system of claim 25, wherein the impact data includes an indication of at least one of user data for a user of the first helmet, a location of the first helmet, a direction of travel of the first helmet, a velocity of the first helmet, and an acceleration of the first helmet.

29. The airbag deployment system of claim 25, wherein the impact data includes at least one of a user height, a user weight, a user identification, and a user status.

30. The airbag deployment system of claim 28, wherein the location is a relative location of the first helmet in relation to the second helmet, the velocity is a relative velocity of the first helmet in relation to the second helmet, and the acceleration is a relative acceleration of the first helmet in relation to the second helmet.

31. The airbag deployment system of claim 25, wherein the first processing circuit is further configured to communicate deployment data to the second processing circuit, wherein the deployment data includes an indication of at least one of whether the first airbag has been inflated, a decision regarding future inflation of the first airbag, and a planned future inflation time for the first airbag.

32. The airbag deployment system of claim 25, wherein the first processing circuit is further configured to communicate deployment data to the second processing circuit, wherein the deployment data includes at least one of a size, a shape, a location, an internal pressure, and a direction of inflation for the inflated first airbag.

33. An airbag deployment system, comprising:

a first helmet including a first processing circuit and a first airbag assembly, the first airbag assembly including a first inflation device and a first airbag, the first airbag configured to be selectively deployable from at least one of a shell, a facemask, a chinstrap, padding, and an underside of the first helmet; and

a second helmet including a second processing circuit and a second airbag assembly, the second airbag assembly including a second inflation device and a second airbag, the second airbag configured to be selectively deployable from at least one of a shell, a facemask, a chinstrap, padding, and an underside of the second helmet such that the second airbag is configured to deploy from a surface of the second helmet to engage at least one of the first helmet and the first airbag during an impact between the first helmet and the second helmet;

wherein the first processing circuit is configured to communicate impact data regarding a potential impact between the first helmet and the second helmet to the second processing circuit; and

wherein the first processing circuit is configured to transmit at least one of an instruction to inflate the second airbag, an instruction to not inflate the second airbag, and a clearance to inflate the second airbag to the second processing circuit.