WO2002004250A2 - Hardware independent mapping of multiple sensor configurations for classification of persons - Google Patents
Hardware independent mapping of multiple sensor configurations for classification of persons Download PDFInfo
- Publication number
- WO2002004250A2 WO2002004250A2 PCT/US2001/021358 US0121358W WO0204250A2 WO 2002004250 A2 WO2002004250 A2 WO 2002004250A2 US 0121358 W US0121358 W US 0121358W WO 0204250 A2 WO0204250 A2 WO 0204250A2
- Authority
- WO
- WIPO (PCT)
- Prior art keywords
- sensors
- seat
- virtual
- sensor
- predetermined number
- Prior art date
Links
Classifications
-
- B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
- B60—VEHICLES IN GENERAL
- B60R—VEHICLES, VEHICLE FITTINGS, OR VEHICLE PARTS, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
- B60R21/00—Arrangements or fittings on vehicles for protecting or preventing injuries to occupants or pedestrians in case of accidents or other traffic risks
- B60R21/01—Electrical circuits for triggering passive safety arrangements, e.g. airbags, safety belt tighteners, in case of vehicle accidents or impending vehicle accidents
- B60R21/015—Electrical circuits for triggering passive safety arrangements, e.g. airbags, safety belt tighteners, in case of vehicle accidents or impending vehicle accidents including means for detecting the presence or position of passengers, passenger seats or child seats, and the related safety parameters therefor, e.g. speed or timing of airbag inflation in relation to occupant position or seat belt use
- B60R21/01512—Passenger detection systems
- B60R21/01516—Passenger detection systems using force or pressure sensing means
-
- G—PHYSICS
- G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
- G06V—IMAGE OR VIDEO RECOGNITION OR UNDERSTANDING
- G06V40/00—Recognition of biometric, human-related or animal-related patterns in image or video data
- G06V40/10—Human or animal bodies, e.g. vehicle occupants or pedestrians; Body parts, e.g. hands
Definitions
- This invention relates to a method and apparatus for classifying vehicle occupants utilizing common hardware for multiple seat sensor configurations. Specifically, physical sensors are mapped into a virtual matrix from which an occupant classification is determined.
- Most vehicles include airbags and seatbelt restraint systems that work together to protect the driver and passengers from experiencing serious injuries due to highspeed collisions. It is important to control the deployment force of the airbags based on the size of the driver or the passenger. When an adult is seated on the vehicle seat, the airbag should be deployed in a normal manner. If there is a small child sitting on the vehicle seat, then the airbag should not be deployed or should be deployed at a significantly lower deployment force.
- One way to control the airbag deployment is to monitor the weight of the seat occupant. The weight information can be used to classify seat occupants into various groups, e.g., adult, child, infant seat, etc., to ultimately control the deployment force of the airbag.
- One type of system uses a plurality of sensors mounted within the seat bottom cushion. Information from the sensors is sent to system hardware, which utilizes software to combine the output from the sensors to determine the weight of the seat occupant. Often, these sensors must be placed symmetrically within the seat cushion in order to be compatible with the system hardware and software. Sometimes, due to specific seat design or limited space within the seat cushion, symmetrical placement of the sensors is difficult to achieve. Another problem with current seat sensor configurations is that each different sensor configuration requires different system hardware and software to account for the variations in sensor placement. Thus, it is difficult to optimize sensor placement because of restrictions with regard to row and column placement of the sensors.
- the subject invention includes a method and apparatus for classifying vehicle occupants utilizing common hardware for multiple seat sensor configurations.
- Multiple seat sensors are mapped into a virtual matrix from which an occupant classification is determined.
- the seat sensors are preferably mounted within a seat bottom cushion or the seat structure.
- the sensors can be mounted in a symmetrical or non-symmetrical pattern.
- the virtual matrix defines an optimal pattern having an optimal number of seat sensor positions.
- the sensors are mounted in a first configuration having one physical sensor for each virtual seat sensor position of the optimal pattern.
- One occupant weight signal from each sensor is mapped into one corresponding seat sensor position in the optimal pattern.
- the difference between the number of virtual cell locations in the virtual matrix and the number of physical sensors mounted within the seat bottom define a remaining number of virtual cell positions. A value is assigned to each of the remaining virtual cell positions based on data from the surrounding physical sensors.
- electrically erasable programmable read only memory is used to map the virtual matrix by determining values for each of the remaining number of virtual cell positions.
- the EEPROM is preferably mounted on a printed circuit board that is common to all seat sensor configurations.
- the subject invention provides a method and apparatus for classifying seat occupants that can be used for symmetrical and non-symmetrical sensor configurations and utilizes common hardware for each different seat sensor configurations.
- Figure 1 is a schematic representation of a vehicle seat and airbag system incorporating the subject invention.
- Figure 2 is a schematic view of one seat sensor mounting configuration incorporating the subject invention.
- Figure 3A is a schematic view of an alternate embodiment of a seat sensor mounting configuration incorporating the subject invention.
- Figure 3B is a schematic view of the sensor configuration of Figure 3A incorporating a virtual matrix.
- Figure 4 is a schematic view of the control system incorporating the subject invention.
- a vehicle includes a vehicle seat assembly, shown generally at 12 in Figure 1, and a restraint system including an airbag 14.
- the seat assembly 12 is preferably a passenger seat and includes a seat back 16 and a seat bottom 18.
- a vehicle occupant 20 exerts a force F against the seat bottom 18.
- the vehicle occupant 20 can be an adult, child, or infant in a car seat.
- the airbag system 14 deploys an airbag 24 under certain collision conditions.
- the deployment force for the airbag 24, shown as deployed in dashed lines in Figure 1, varies depending upon the type of occupant that is seated on the seat 12. For and adult, the airbag 24 is deployed in a normal manner shown in Figure 1. If there is child or an infant in a car seat secured to the vehicle seat 12 then the airbag 24 should not be deployed or should be deployed at a significantly lower deployment force. Thus, it is important to be able to classify seat occupants in order to control the various restraint systems.
- One way to classify occupants is to monitor and measure the weight force F exerted on the seat bottom 18.
- Multiple seat sensors 26 are mounted within the seat bottom 18 for generating occupant weight signals 28 representing portions of the occupant weight exerted against each respective sensor 26. The signals 28 are transmitted to a central control unit 30 and the combined output from the sensors 26 is used to determine seat occupant weight. This process will be discussed in greater detail below.
- the classification information can be used in a variety of ways.
- the classification information can be used in a vehicle restraint system including an airbag system 14.
- the classification information can be transmitted to an airbag control. If the classification indicates that an adult is in the seat 12 then the airbag 24 is deployed in a normal manner. If the classification indicates that a child or infant is the seat occupant then the airbag 24 will not be deployed or will be deployed at a significantly lower deployment force.
- the seat sensors 26 can be mounted within the seat bottom 18 in any of various configurations.
- the sensors 26 can be mounted in a symmetrical configuration, see Fig. 2, or a non-symmetrical pattern, see Fig. 4.
- the sensors 26 are preferably mounted into the seat bottom 18 in a series of rows and columns. The number of rows and columns can vary, however, Figure 2 is exemplary of a fully equipped sensor configuration.
- FIG 3A depicts an alternate sensor mounting configuration. Tins embodiment has one less row, indicated at 30, than the configuration shown in Figure 2. Reconfiguring the number of rows and/or columns is typically in response to customer requirements for a seat that includes an extra trench to define seat cushion sections. Or, for smaller seats, it may also be necessary to reduce the number of rows and columns.
- a virtual matrix 40 is used to take the place of the missing row as shown in Figure 3B.
- the virtual matrix 40 includes virtual cell locations 42 to accommodate the sensors 26 that have been removed from an ideal pattern.
- the virtual cells 42 are assigned values based on data from the surrounding physical sensors 26.
- the central control unit 30 can then utilize an algorithm that is common to all seat sensor configurations to determine the seat occupant weight. The occupant can then be classified and the airbag system 14 can control the airbag deployment force based on this classification.
- the weight signals 28 from the physical sensors 26 are transmitted to a central control unit 30.
- the central control unit 30 is preferably a printed circuit board (PCB) 44 that includes a connector 46 with a plurality of ports for connection to the various sensors 26.
- the PCB 44 includes a central processor unit (CPU) 48 and electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM) 50.
- EEPROM is a type of programmable read-only memory that can be erased by exposing it to an electrical charge and retains its contents even when the power is turned off.
- the CPU 48 and EEPROM 50 receive the weight signals 28, generate the virtual matrix 40, and map the signals 28 into the matrix 40.
- the CPU 48 then generates an output signal 52 to the airbag assembly 14 to control airbag deployment based on the seat occupant weight.
- the operation of PCBs and EEPROMs are well known and will not be discussed in further detail. Also, while PCBs and EEPROMs are preferred, other similar components known in the art can also be used.
- the system operates in the following manner.
- the sensors 26 are mounted within the seat bottom 18 and generate a plurality of weight signals 28 in response to a weight force F applied to the seat bottom 18.
- the signals 28 are transmitted to the central control unit 30 where they are mapped into virtual cells 42 in the virtual matrix 40.
- the output from the virtual cells 42 in the matrix 40 is combined and used to generate an output signal representing the seat occupant weight.
- Each seat occupant can then be classified into one of a plurality of predetermined occupant weight classes.
- the classification information can then be used to control any of various restraint systems.
- the virtual matrix 40 is configured to define an optimal pattern having an optimal number of virtual cells representing the optimal or maximum number of seat sensor positions.
- the virtual matrix 40 can be generated as a full matrix having a maximum number of seat sensor positions where each physical sensor 26 is mapped into a virtual cell or the matrix 40 can be generated to represent the "missing" physical sensors 26 that the control unit 30 expects to receive signals from.
- the weight signals 28 from the physical sensors 28 are combined with the data generated for the virtual row 30 to determine the seat occupant weight.
- each sensor signal 28 is mapped into the virtual matrix 40 as shown in Figure 4.
- the physical seat sensors 26 can be mounted within the seat bottom 18 in any of various configurations including a symmetrical row/column configuration or a non-symmetrical pattern.
- the sensors 26 can be installed within the seat bottom 18 in a pattern that includes one physical sensor 26 for each virtual seat sensor position or cell 42 of the optimal pattern.
- the control unit 30 would then map one occupant weight signal 28 from each physical sensor into one virtual seat sensor cell 42 in the optimal pattern.
- the physical sensors 26 can be installed in the seat bottom 18 in an alternate pattern that has fewer physical sensors 26 than virtual seat sensor cells in the virtual matrix 40.
- One occupant weight signal 28 from each of the physical sensors 26 is mapped into a corresponding virtual seat sensor cell 42 in the optimal pattern to define a remaining number of virtual sensor positions.
- a value for each of the remaimng virtual sensor positions is determined based on information supplied by surrounding sensors 26.
- any number of physical sensors 26 can be mounted within a seat in any type of pattern.
- the weight signals 28 generated by the sensors 26 are then mapped into the virtual matrix 40 and any remaining virtual cells 42 are assigned values based on information from surrounding sensors.
- electrically erasable programmable read only memory EEPROM is to map the virtual matrix 40 by determining values for each of the remaining number of virtual cells 42 with information from the surrounding cells.
- position tables can be stored within the EEPROM to be used in conjunction with occupant weight signals 28 from surrounding sensors 26 to detennine values for each of the remaining number of virtual cells 42.
- This unique process allows common hardware and software to be used for any seat sensor configuration, which significantly reduces system cost. This means that the same PCB 44 with the same CPU 48 and EEPROM 50 can be used for each different seat sensor configuration.
- the subject invention also provides a method and apparatus for classifying seat occupants that can be used for symmetrical and non- symmetrical sensor configurations.
Abstract
Description
Claims
Priority Applications (3)
Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
---|---|---|---|
DE60101853T DE60101853T2 (en) | 2000-07-12 | 2001-07-06 | CIRCUIT-FREE TRANSFORMATION OF SENSOR CONFIGURATIONS FOR THE CLASSIFICATION OF PERSONS |
JP2002508933A JP3803637B2 (en) | 2000-07-12 | 2001-07-06 | Mapping to configure multiple sensor configurations independent of hardware to classify occupants |
EP01950917A EP1299268B1 (en) | 2000-07-12 | 2001-07-06 | Hardware independent mapping of multiple sensor configurations for classification of persons |
Applications Claiming Priority (6)
Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
---|---|---|---|
US21758100P | 2000-07-12 | 2000-07-12 | |
US60/217,581 | 2000-07-12 | ||
US26553301P | 2001-01-31 | 2001-01-31 | |
US60/265,533 | 2001-01-31 | ||
US28002101P | 2001-03-30 | 2001-03-30 | |
US60/280,021 | 2001-03-30 |
Publications (2)
Publication Number | Publication Date |
---|---|
WO2002004250A2 true WO2002004250A2 (en) | 2002-01-17 |
WO2002004250A3 WO2002004250A3 (en) | 2002-04-11 |
Family
ID=27396434
Family Applications (1)
Application Number | Title | Priority Date | Filing Date |
---|---|---|---|
PCT/US2001/021358 WO2002004250A2 (en) | 2000-07-12 | 2001-07-06 | Hardware independent mapping of multiple sensor configurations for classification of persons |
Country Status (5)
Country | Link |
---|---|
US (5) | US6735508B2 (en) |
EP (1) | EP1299268B1 (en) |
JP (1) | JP3803637B2 (en) |
DE (1) | DE60101853T2 (en) |
WO (1) | WO2002004250A2 (en) |
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- 2001-07-06 EP EP01950917A patent/EP1299268B1/en not_active Expired - Lifetime
- 2001-07-06 DE DE60101853T patent/DE60101853T2/en not_active Expired - Lifetime
- 2001-07-06 WO PCT/US2001/021358 patent/WO2002004250A2/en active IP Right Grant
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Cited By (5)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
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DE10239604A1 (en) * | 2002-04-19 | 2003-11-13 | Visual Analysis Ag | Seat occupation detection method for vehicle passenger seat identifying seated person or object for corresponding control of airbag device |
US7567184B2 (en) | 2002-04-19 | 2009-07-28 | Bayerische Motoren Werke Aktiengesellschaft | Method for establishing the occupation of a vehicle seat |
DE10239761B4 (en) * | 2002-08-29 | 2007-10-25 | Sartorius Ag | Method and device for identifying the type of occupancy of a support surface |
WO2011033360A1 (en) * | 2009-09-15 | 2011-03-24 | Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha | Vehicle seat occupancy sensor |
CN102498018A (en) * | 2009-09-15 | 2012-06-13 | 丰田自动车株式会社 | Vehicle seat occupancy sensor |
Also Published As
Publication number | Publication date |
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US20080140288A1 (en) | 2008-06-12 |
JP2004502591A (en) | 2004-01-29 |
US7460938B2 (en) | 2008-12-02 |
US20030105571A1 (en) | 2003-06-05 |
US6675080B2 (en) | 2004-01-06 |
DE60101853T2 (en) | 2004-12-30 |
US6876912B2 (en) | 2005-04-05 |
US20020007240A1 (en) | 2002-01-17 |
EP1299268A2 (en) | 2003-04-09 |
US6735508B2 (en) | 2004-05-11 |
US20040073347A1 (en) | 2004-04-15 |
US20050090959A1 (en) | 2005-04-28 |
DE60101853D1 (en) | 2004-02-26 |
US7548808B2 (en) | 2009-06-16 |
EP1299268B1 (en) | 2004-01-21 |
JP3803637B2 (en) | 2006-08-02 |
WO2002004250A3 (en) | 2002-04-11 |
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