Weight based vehicle seat occupant detection device with compensation for seat orientation angle

A vehicle seat comprising:

• a seat cushion configured to define a seating surface;
• a weight sensing means installed in the vehicle seat in a manner effective to sense weight on the seating surface, said weight sensing means configured to output a weight signal indicative of an occupant weight of a seat occupant residing on the vehicle seat;
• and
• a seat orientation angle sensing means configured to output an orientation angle signal indicative of a seat bottom orientation angle, wherein the orientation angle signal is used to compensate the weight signal to estimate an occupant weight value;
• and
• a seat backrest angle sensing means configured to indicate a seat backrest angle, wherein the seat backrest angle signal is also used to compensate the weight signal to estimate the occupant weight value.

A method of operating a weight based occupant detection device comprising the steps of:

• receiving an indication of an occupant weight from a weight sensing means installed in a vehicle seat;
• receiving an indication of a seat bottom orientation angle of the vehicle seat;
• receiving an indication of a seat backrest angle;
• and
• estimating an occupant weight of an occupant residing on the vehicle seat based on the indication of occupant weight, the indication of a seat bottom orientation angle, and the indication of a seat backrest angle.