Method for operating a pedestrian protection system and a motor vehicle
AssigneeAudi AG
InventorsJohann Stoll, Franz Roth, Carlos Garcia de Caceres, Verena Horz
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method for operating a pedestrian protection system in a motor vehicle for reducing the severity of an accident in a frontal collision with pedestrians includes evaluating the measurement data from at least one detection device depending on at least one trigger condition, wherein the trigger condition includes a height criterion evaluating whether a height of a collision object determined from measurement data from an optical detection device exceeds a height threshold value.
Claims11
A method for operating a pedestrian protection system in a motor vehicle for reducing severity of an accident in a frontal collision with a pedestrian, comprising:
- evaluating measurement data from at least two detection devices operating according to different measurement principles, wherein one of the at least two detection devices is an optical detection device and another of the at least two detection devices is a collision sensor responsive to contact with a collision object,
- determining a threshold value for triggering at least one safety system of the motor vehicle based on a height criterion which indicates whether a height of the collision object determined from measurement data from the optical detection device exceeds a height threshold value,
- determining a plausibility value based on the determined height criterion to indicate whether the collision object represents a pedestrian,
- when the plausibility value indicates that the collision object represents a pedestrian, adapting a criterion relating to measurement data from the other of the at least two detection devices for triggering of the at least one safety system, and
- decreasing a threshold for triggering the at least one safety system based on the adapted criterion.
A motor vehicle, comprising
- an optical detection device,
- at least one additional detection device a collision sensor responsive to contact with a collision object,
- at least one safety system, and
- a pedestrian protection system for reducing severity of an accident in a frontal collision with a pedestrian,
- wherein the pedestrian protection system comprises a control device configured to trigger at least one safety system depending on at least one trigger condition that evaluates measurement data from the optical detection device,
- wherein the at least one trigger condition includes a height criterion indicating whether a height of a collision object determined from measurement data from an optical detection device exceeds a height threshold value,
- the control device further configured to determine a plausibility value based on the determined height criterion to indicate whether the collision object represents a pedestrian and to adapt, when the plausibility value indicates that the collision object represents a pedestrian, a criterion relating to measurement data from the at least one additional detection device for triggering of the at least one safety system by decreasing a threshold for triggering of the at least one safety system.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.