Seat occupancy determination apparatus

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10035432-B2
Application number	US-201313771784-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 20, 2013
Priority date	Feb 22, 2012
Publication date	Jul 31, 2018
Grant date	Jul 31, 2018

Abstract

A seat occupancy determination apparatus includes a seatbelt attachment detection device, a first load detection device and a second load detection device arranged under a vehicle seat and each detecting part of a load acting on the vehicle seat, a control processor obtaining a first load value and a second load value, the control processor including a sum load value calculation portion computing a sum load value, a no-occupancy determination portion, a slope way determination portion determining that a vehicle is stopped on a slope way, a seatbelt attachment determination portion, a tentative determination portion tentatively making a seat occupancy determination, a forward movement determination portion determining that the vehicle starts moving forward and runs steadily on a flat ground, and a definite determination portion determining that an adult is seated and determining that a child safety seat is fastened.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A seat occupancy determination apparatus disposed in a vehicle comprising:
a seatbelt attachment detection device detecting engagement and disengagement of a tongue plate of a seatbelt and a buckle of the seatbelt relative to each other;
a first load detection device and a second load detection device which are arranged at only one of left and right sides of a vehicle seat in the vehicle in a manner that the first load detection device and the second load detection device are spaced away from each other in a front-rear direction of the vehicle, each of the first load detection device and the second load detection device detecting part of a load acting on the vehicle seat;
a control processor obtaining a first load value and a second load value which are detected at the first load detection device and the second load detection device, respectively and performing calculation, the control processor including:
a sum load value calculation portion computing a sum load value that is computed by adding the first load value and the second load value to each other;
a no-occupancy determination portion determining that the vehicle seat is in a no-occupancy state when the tongue plate is disengaged from the buckle and the sum load value is equal to or smaller than a no-occupancy determination threshold;
a slope way determination portion determining that the vehicle is stopped while being inclined in a left-right direction of the vehicle, which is perpendicular to the front-rear direction of the vehicle, in a manner that the one of left and right sides is positioned at an upper side of an inclination in the left-right direction of the vehicle relative to the other of the one of left and right sides when it is determined by the no-occupancy determination portion that the vehicle seat is in the no-occupancy state;
a seatbelt attachment determination portion determining that the seatbelt is fastened when it is detected by the seatbelt attachment detection device that the tongue plate engages with the buckle after the determination is made by the slope way determination portion;
a tentative determination portion tentatively making a seat occupancy determination after it is determined by the slope way determination portion that the vehicle is stopped while being inclined and it is determined by the seatbelt attachment determination portion that the tongue plate engages with the buckle;
a forward movement determination portion determining that the vehicle starts moving forward and runs steadily on a flat ground; and
a definite determination portion determining that an adult is seated in the vehicle seat when the sum load value computed by the sum load value calculation portion is equal to or larger than an adult determination threshold value that is set in advance and determining that a child safety seat is fastened to the vehicle seat when the sum load value is smaller than a child safety seat determination threshold value that is set in advance, the definite determination portion making the determination after it is determined by the forward movement determination portion that the vehicle starts moving forward and runs steadily on the flat ground,

wherein the controller processor controls an airbag in the vehicle to be in a deployable state when determining that the adult is seated in the vehicle seat and controls the airbag in the vehicle to be in a non-deployable state when determining that the child safety seat is fastened to the vehicle seat.

2. The seat occupancy determination apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the slope way determination portion determines that the vehicle is stopped while being inclined in a case where the sum load value of the vehicle seat in the no-occupancy state fluctuates by a first predetermined amount or more relative to the sum load value of the vehicle seat in the no-occupancy state when the vehicle is in a horizontal state.

3. The seat occupancy determination apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising:
an inclination angle sensor configured to detect the inclination of the vehicle, wherein the slope way determination portion detects that the vehicle is stopped while being inclined on the basis of a detection value of the inclination angle sensor.

4. The seat occupancy determination apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the forward movement determination portion determines that the vehicle starts moving forward and runs steadily on the flat ground in a case where the sum load value computed when it is determined by the seatbelt attachment determination portion that the seatbelt is fastened increases by a second predetermined amount or more.

5. The seat occupancy determination apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the control processor controls an indicator lamp based upon the determination of the definite determination portion.

6. The seat occupancy determination apparatus according to claim 5 , wherein the controller processor controls the indicator lamp to be ON when determining that the adult is seated in the vehicle seat and controls the indicator lamp to be OFF when determining that the child safety seat is fastened to the vehicle seat.

Assignees

• Aisin Seiki

Inventors

• Fujii Hiroyuki
• Tomatsu Yoshiaki

Classifications

• B60R21/0152

  using strain gauges · CPC title

• B60R2022/4858

  for sensing pressure on seat · CPC title

• B60R2022/4816

  for sensing locking of buckle · CPC title

• B60N2/002 Primary

  Seats provided with an occupancy detection means mounted therein or thereon (detection means responsive to presence or absence of children B60N2/266) · CPC title

• B60R22/48 Primary

  Control systems, alarms, or interlock systems, for the correct application of the belt or harness · CPC title