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US 2018/0022233 A1Published application
Occupant detection and classification system
AssigneeJoyson Safety Systems Acquisition LLC
InventorsPhillip Bernard Maguire, Daniel Tabar, David Haggitt, Jeffrey Bennett
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An occupant detection system includes a controller, a sensing electrode, and a shield electrode, the electrodes disposed in a vehicle seat. The controller is electrically coupled to the sensing electrode and shield electrode by a sensing circuit. The controller is configured to send an input signal to the sensing electrode, the shield electrode, or both and measures current, impedance, or capacitance values to determine the presence of an object on the seat, to classify the object, or both.
Claims24
A system for classifying an occupant in a vehicle comprising:
- at least one pair of occupant classification sensors, each occupant classification sensor having a sensing electrode mountable in a seat bottom of a vehicle seat and a shield electrode located in the vehicle seat opposite the sensing electrode;
- a respective sensing circuit operatively coupled to the respective sensing electrode and shield electrode for each occupant classification sensor in the at least one pair;
- a controller comprising computer memory operatively coupled to the respective sensing circuits,
- wherein the controller operates to configure the respective sensing circuits into a plurality of circuit configurations;
- and wherein in the circuit configurations the sensing electrode and the shield electrode are electrically coupled to the sensing circuit, wherein the controller sends a control signal to the sensing circuit, and measures a plurality of sensing current measurements, each sensing current measurement corresponding to one of the circuit configurations, wherein the sensing circuit is further configured to detect a change in at least one current characteristic of sensing current on at least one pair of sensing electrodes due to the presence of the object located on the vehicle seat,
- wherein the sensing circuits corresponding to the at least one pair of sensing electrodes provide, to the controller, a respective output signal corresponding to a respective change in the sensing current on the respective sensing electrodes,
- wherein the memory stores threshold data establishing occupant classifications according to threshold boundaries, and
- wherein the controller uses the respective output signals as a coordinate pair to identify a respective occupant classification for the coordinate pair relative to the threshold boundaries.
5 more elements
A system for classifying objects positioned on a vehicle seat within a vehicle, the system comprising:
- a first occupant classification sensor secured to a front region of the vehicle seat;
- a second occupant classification sensor secured to a rear region of the vehicle seat;
- wherein each occupant classification sensor has a sensing electrode positioned oppositely a shield electrode;
- a respective sensing circuit operatively coupled to the respective sensing electrode and shield electrode for each occupant classification sensor;
- a controller comprising computer memory operatively coupled to the respective sensing circuits,
- wherein the controller operates to configure the respective sensing circuits into a plurality of circuit configurations;
- and wherein in the circuit configurations, the sensing electrode and the shield electrode are electrically coupled to the sensing circuit, wherein the controller sends a control signal to the sensing circuit and measures a plurality of sensing current measurements, each sensing current measurement corresponding to one of the circuit configurations, wherein the sensing circuit is further configured to detect a change in at least one current characteristic of sensing current on at least one pair of sensing electrodes due to the presence of the object located on the vehicle seat,
- wherein the sensing circuits corresponding to the at least one pair of sensing electrodes provide, to the controller, a respective output signal corresponding to a respective change in sensing current on the respective sensing electrodes,
- wherein the memory stores threshold data establishing occupant classifications according to threshold boundaries in a coordinate system comprising Q values of the first occupant classification sensor on an x-axis and additional Q values of the second occupant classification sensor on the y-axis, wherein Q values represent magnitudes of the quadrature components of sensing current signals on respective sensing electrodes of each occupant classification sensor and
- wherein the controller uses the respective output signals as a coordinate pair to place within the coordinate system and identify a respective occupant classification for the coordinate pair.
7 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.