Vehicle occupant position sensor utilizing image focus attributes
AssigneeTRW Inc.
InventorsNicholas M. Zayan, Stephen R. W. Cooper, Jon K. Wallace, Farid Khairallah
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Abstract
A vehicle occupant sensor apparatus (34) has an imager (36) that gathers an image of an occupant (12). The image has focus attributes. A focal plane associated with the imager (36) is at a distance from the imager. A 2D high-pass filter (42), a multiple frame temporal filter (46), and a position determination component (52) operate to determine position of the occupant (12) relative to the focal plane (38) via use of the focus attributes.
Claims17
A vehicle occupant sensor apparatus comprising:
- an imager that collects an image of an occupant and that outputs a signal indicative of the collected image, the image having focus attributes, a focal plane associated with said imager being at a distance from said imager;
- a two-dimensional high pass filter operatively connected to the imager to provide a signal indicative of high frequency content of the imager signal;
- a multiple frame temporal filter operatively connected to the imager to provide a signal indicative of image size conveyed by the imager signal;
- and
- a position determination component operatively connected to said two-dimensional high pass filter and said multiple frame temporal filter to determine position of the occupant relative to the focal plane utilizing the signal indicative of high frequency content of the imager signal and the signal indicative of image size.
A vehicle occupant sensor apparatus comprising:
- means for producing periodic images of an occupant, the periodic images having at least two focus attributes that are functionally related to a position of the occupant relative to a focal plane;
- and
- means for detecting changes in the at least two focus attributes of the periodic signals and, in response to the changes in the at least two focus attributes of the periodic signals, for determining the position of the occupant relative to the focal plane.
A method of sensing a vehicle occupant comprising the steps of:
- producing periodic images of an occupant, the periodic images having at least two focus attributes that are functionally related to a position of the occupant relative to a focal plane;
- detecting changes in the at least two focus attributes of the periodic signals;
- and
- determining the position of the occupant relative to the focal plane in response to the changes in the at least two focus attributes of the periodic signals.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.