Occupant protection control system, storage medium storing program, and vehicle

• US 9,981,622 B2
• Filed: 12/29/2015
• Issued: 05/29/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 03/19/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Inventors: Ohmura, Yukito
• Primary Examiner(s): Edwards, Jerrah
• Assistant Examiner(s): Gordon, Mathew Franklin
• Application Number:
  US14/982,848
• Publication Number:
  US 20160272141A1
• Time in Patent Office: 882 Days
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 2021/0002 Type of accident
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 2021/01034 Controlling a plurality of restraint devices
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 2021/01286 Electronic control units
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 21/0134 responsive to imminent contact with an obstacle , e.g. using radar systems
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 21/0136 responsive to actual contact with an obstacle , e.g. to vehicle deformation, bumper displacement or bumper velocity relative to the vehicle monitoring crash strength in combination with passenger seat detection B60R21/01558
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 21/01554 Seat position sensors
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 21/16 Inflatable occupant restraints or confinements designed to inflate upon impact or impending impact, e.g. air bags protective garments with automatically inflatable shock-absorbing means A41D13/018; connection of valves to inflatable elastic bodies B60C29/00
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/34 Route searching; Route guidance

Abstract

An occupant protection control system that includes: a crash sensing component that senses an occurrence of a crash of a vehicle, including a crash type; a detecting component that detects a current seat state, of a seat whose state can be changed from a normal state; plural types of occupant protection devices that are disposed according to crash type and protect, according to crash type, an occupant seated in the seat; and a control component that, on the basis of a detection result of the detecting component and a sensing result of the crash sensing component, controls the plural types of occupant protection devices in such a way that, among the plural types of occupant protection devices, the control component operates occupant protection devices that are necessary to protect the occupant and prohibits operation of occupant protection devices that are not necessary to protect the occupant.

Claims

1. An occupant protection control system comprising:

a crash sensing component that senses a crash of a vehicle, including a crash type;

a detecting component that detects a current seat state of a seat whose state can be changed from a predetermined normal state in which the seat faces forward to another state in which the seat does not face forward;

plural types of occupant protection devices that are disposed according to crash type and that protect, according to crash type, an occupant seated in the seat;

a predicting component that predicts a crash of the vehicle;

a changing component that changes the seat state; and

a control component that;

based on a detection result of the detecting component and a sensing result of the crash sensing component, operates at least one first device of the occupant protection devices that is necessary to protect the occupant and prohibits operation of at least one second device of the occupant protection devices that is not necessary to protect the occupant, and

in a case where the crash of the vehicle has been predicted by the predicting component and the current seat state is detected to be the other state, and in a case where an angle difference between the detected current seat state and the normal state is a predetermined angle or less and it is possible to complete the change from the detected current seat state to the normal seat state before the predicted crash of the vehicle occurs, further controls the changing component to rotate the seat to change the seat state to the normal state without prohibiting the operation of the at least one second device of the occupant protection devices.

2. The occupant protection control system according to claim 1, wherein:

whether or not operation of each of the plural types of occupant protection devices is necessary is predetermined according to the seat state, and

in accordance with the current seat state detected by the detecting component, the control component prohibits the operation of the at least one second device of the occupant protection devices that is not necessary to operate, and in a case where the crash has been sensed, the control component operates, according to crash type, the at least one first device of the occupant protection devices that are is not prohibited from operating.

3. The occupant protection control system according to claim 1, further comprising a driving control component that (i) generates, based on peripheral information relating to an area around the vehicle and map information, a travel plan following a preset target route and (ii) controls the vehicle to autonomously travel in accordance with the generated travel plan.

4. The occupant protection control system according to claim 3, wherein the control by the control component is performed during the control of the driving control component.

11. A vehicle comprising:

a driving control component that (i) generates, based on map information and peripheral information relating to an area around the vehicle, a travel plan following a preset target route and (ii) controls the vehicle to autonomously travel in accordance with the generated travel plan; and

the occupant protection control system according to claim 1.

12. The occupant protection control system according to claim 1, wherein the detecting component comprises at least one switch configured to detect the angle of the seat at the current seat state.

5. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing a program executable by a processor to cause the processor to perform an occupant protection control process, the process comprising:

sensing a crash of a vehicle, including a crash type;

detecting a current seat state of a seat whose state can be changed from a predetermined normal state in which the seat faces forward to another state in which the seat does not face forward;

predicting a crash of the vehicle;

based on a result of sensing the crash of the vehicle and a result of detecting the current seat state, operating at least one first device of plural types of occupant protection devices that is necessary to protect an occupant seated in the seat and prohibiting operation of at least one second device of the occupant protection devices that is not necessary to protect the occupant seated in the seat, the plural types of occupant protection devices being disposed according to crash type and protecting, according to crash type, the occupant seated in the seat; and

in a case where the crash of the vehicle has been predicted and the current seat state is detected to be the other state, and in a case where an angle difference between the detected current seat state and the normal state is a predetermined angle or less and it is possible to complete the change from the detected current seat state to the normal seat state before the predicted crash of the vehicle occurs, changing the seat state to the normal state by rotating the seat without prohibiting the operation of the at least one second device of the occupant protection devices.

6. The non-transitory storage medium according to claim 5, wherein:

whether or not operation of each of the plural types of occupant protection devices is necessary is predetermined according to the seat state, and

in accordance with the current seat state that has been detected, the occupant protection control process prohibits the operation of the at least one second device of the occupant protection devices that is not necessary to operate, and in a case where the crash has been sensed, the occupant protection control process operates, according to crash type, the at least one first device of the occupant protection devices that is not prohibited from operating.

7. The non-transitory storage medium according to claim 5, wherein the occupant protection control process:

generates, based on map information and peripheral information relating to an area around the vehicle, a travel plan following a preset target route, and

controls the vehicle to autonomously travel in accordance with the generated travel plan.

8. An occupant protection control method, comprising, via a processor:

sensing a crash of a vehicle including crash type;

detecting a current seat state of a seat whose state can be changed from a predetermined normal state in which the seat faces forward to another state in which the seat does not face forward;

predicting a crash of the vehicle;

based on a result of sensing the crash of the vehicle and a result of detecting the current seat state, operating at least one first device of plural types of occupant protection devices that is necessary to protect an occupant seated in the seat and prohibiting operation of at least one second device of the occupant protection devices that is not necessary to protect the occupant seated in the seat, the plural types of occupant protection devices being disposed according to crash type and protecting, according to crash type, the occupant seated in the seat; and

in a case where the crash of the vehicle has been predicted and the current seat state is detected to be the other state, and in a case where an angle difference between the detected current seat state and the normal state is a predetermined angle or less and it is possible to complete the change from the detected current seat state to the normal seat state before the predicted crash of the vehicle occurs, changing the seat state to the normal state by rotating the seat without prohibiting the operation of the at least one second device of the occupant protection devices.

9. The occupant protection control method according to claim 8, wherein:

whether or not operation of each of the plural types of occupant protection devices is necessary is predetermined according to the seat state, and

in accordance with the current seat state that has been detected, the processor prohibits the operation of the at least one second device of the occupant protection devices that is not necessary to operate, and in a case where the crash has been sensed, the processor operates, according to crash type, the at least one first device of the occupant protection devices that is not prohibited from operating.

10. The occupant protection control method according to claim 8, wherein the processor:

generates, based on map information and peripheral information relating to an area around the vehicle, a travel plan following a preset target route, and

controls the vehicle to autonomously travel in accordance with the generated travel plan.