Safety apparatus for indicating the usage state of a seat belt
AssigneeAptiv Technologies AG
InventorsMarek Uszkur, Artur Boron, Lukasz Bohdan
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Safety apparatus for indicating the usage state of a seat belt. The seat belt has a strap spooled from a retractor and being lockable to a buckle by a tongue. The apparatus has an indicator unit for mounting to an upper part of a seat. A lock indicator is provided on the indicator unit and, in use, is operably connected to the buckle for indicating a state when the tongue has been locked into the buckle. A strap indicator is provided for indicating a state when a spooled length of the strap exceeds a threshold corresponding to a predetermined minimum length of strap needed to secure a body with the seat belt. The lock indicator and the strap indicator are detectable by a camera.
Claims18
An apparatus, comprising:
- a safety apparatus for indicating the usage state of a seat belt, the seat belt having a strap spooled from a retractor and a tongue being lockable to a buckle, the safety apparatus including:
- an indicator unit for mounting to an upper region of a seat;
- a lock indicator detectable by a camera and provided on the indicator unit and being operably connectable to the buckle for indicating a state when the tongue has been locked into the buckle;
- and
- a strap indicator provided on the indicator unit and being detectable by the camera for indicating a state when a spooled length of the strap exceeds a threshold corresponding to a predetermined minimum length of strap needed to secure a body with the seat belt.
A system comprising:
- a seat for a vehicle;
- a seat belt retractor for the vehicle;
- a seat belt configured to spool to or from the seat belt retractor;
- and
- a safety apparatus for indicating the usage state of the seat belt, the safety apparatus having:
- an indicator unit for mounting to an upper region of the seat;
- a lock indicator detectable by a camera and provided on the indicator unit and being operably connectable to a buckle for indicating a state when a tongue of the seat belt is locked into the buckle;
- and
- a strap indicator provided on the indicator unit and being detectable by the camera for indicating a state when a spooled length of the strap exceeds a threshold corresponding to a predetermined minimum length of strap needed to secure a body with the seat belt.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.