US 5,835,873 A · Vehicle safety system with safety device controllers

Abstract

A vehicle safety system having a plurality of safety device controllers and a method of controlling same are disclosed. The vehicle safety system provides for the protection of vehicle occupants in the event of a vehicle crash. The system is capable of controlling safety devices such as airbag assemblies, seat belt tensioner assemblies, fuel cutoff switch assemblies, battery disconnect switch assemblies, assemblies for sending notification to emergency services, and assemblies for sending vehicle location data. The system accepts data from other vehicle systems such as speed data from the antilock brake system to distinguish between a low speed and a high speed crash, seat occupancy data to selectively activate airbags, and steering system and acceleration data to detect vehicle rollover conditions. The system provides for fault detection and notification to the vehicle operator, as well as immunity from electromagnetic interference through the use of distributed controllers that communicate with a central electronic control unit over digital communication bus using coded commands and data. Each controller has the capability of performing self-tests and communicating the results to the central electronic control unit.

Claims41

Dependent claims

A vehicle safety system with safety device controllers comprising a plurality of safety device controllers, each of the safety device controllers controlling a safety device activation and communicating with an electronic control unit over a communication bus, the electronic control unit comprising:

(a) communication means for sending safety device activation commands comprising a coded address part and a coded command part to selected safety device controllers over the communication bus, for reading system integrity data and fault warning messages from the safety device controllers over the communication bus, and for communication protocol management;
(b) external data interface means for sending and receiving data from other vehicle systems;
(c) diagnostic port interface means for performing service diagnostic tests on the vehicle safety system;
(d) an acceleration sensor device mounted firmly to the vehicle for measuring vehicle acceleration direction and magnitude data;
(e) memory means for storing vehicle crash parameters, passenger configuration parameters, data from the acceleration sensor device, system integrity data, and system fault warning messages;
and
(f) control means for interchanging data with the communication means, with the external data interface means, with the diagnostic port means, with the acceleration sensor device, and with the memory means, and for performing control algorithms.

4 more elements

A vehicle safety system with safety device controllers comprising a plurality of safety device controllers, each of the safety device controllers controlling a safety device activation and communicating with an electronic control unit over a high speed, digital electronic bi-directional serial communication bus, the electronic control unit comprising:

(a) communication means for sending safety device activation and integrity data commands to the safety device controllers over the high speed, digital electronic bi-directional serial communication bus and for receiving safety device controller integrity data and fault warning messages over the high speed, digital electronic bi-directional serial communication bus from the safety device controllers;
(b) external data interface means for receiving velocity data from a vehicle antilock brake system, for receiving suspension system data from a vehicle active suspension system, for receiving steering system data from a vehicle steering system, for receiving passenger seat occupancy data from a passenger seat occupant sensing systems, and for receiving harness type data from the vehicle wiring harness;
(c) an acceleration sensor device secured firmly to the vehicle frame for measuring vehicle acceleration direction and magnitude along three orthogonal axes of motion;
(d) nonvolatile memory means for storing vehicle crash parameters, passenger configuration parameters, data from the acceleration sensor device, system integrity data, system fault warning messages, vehicle crash algorithms, and safety device activation logic;
(e) diagnostic port means for performing service diagnostic tests on the vehicle safety system, for reading data and fault warning messages from the nonvolatile memory, and for reading safety device controller integrity data from the safety device controller;
(f) control means comprising a microprocessor for receiving safety device controller integrity data and fault warning messages from the communication means, for receiving passenger seat occupancy data, vehicle harness data, vehicle velocity data, and vehicle suspension data from the external data interface means, for receiving vehicle acceleration direction and magnitude from the acceleration sensing device, for sending data to the diagnostic port means and receiving data from the diagnostic port means, and for reading and writing vehicle crash parameters, passenger configuration parameters, data from the acceleration sensor device, system integrity data, system fault warning messages, vehicle crash algorithms, and safety device activation logic to the nonvolatile memory means;
and
(g) the control means comprising a means for performing vehicle crash algorithms and safety device activation logic in response to system integrity data, passenger seat occupancy data, vehicle harness data, vehicle velocity data, vehicle suspension system data, vehicle acceleration data, vehicle crash parameters, and passenger configuration parameters, and for sending safety device activation commands to the communication means.

5 more elements

A method for controlling a vehicle safety system with safety device controllers, comprising the steps of:

(a) sending safety device activation commands to selected safety device controllers over the communication bus by the communication means, reading system integrity data and fault warning messages from safety device controllers over the communication bus by the communication means, and managing communication protocol by the communication means;
(b) sending and receiving data from other vehicle systems by an external data interface means;
(c) performing service diagnostics on the vehicle safety system by a diagnostic port interface means;
(d) measuring vehicle acceleration direction and magnitude data by an acceleration sensing device mounted firmly to the vehicle;
(e) storing vehicle crash parameters, passenger configuration parameters, acceleration sensor device data, system integrity data, and system fault warning messages in a memory means;
and
(f) interchanging data by the control means with the communication means, with the external data interface means, with the diagnostic port means,
with the acceleration sensor device, and with the memory means, and performing control algorithms by the control means.

5 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Vehicle safety system with safety device controllers

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Vehicle safety system with safety device controllers

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Abstract

Claims41