Vehicle dashboard safety features

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10676058-B2
Application number	US-201615203502-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 6, 2016
Priority date	Jul 6, 2016
Publication date	Jun 9, 2020
Grant date	Jun 9, 2020

Abstract

A vehicle includes: a dashboard with load sensors and airbag(s), a seat, processor(s) configured to: (a) detect load on the dashboard, (b) generate a display based on (a), (c) count time elapsed since (b), (d) activate a vibrating motor of the seat based on (a) and (c), (e) count time elapsed since (d), (f) disable the airbag(s) based on (a) and (e).

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A vehicle comprising:
a dashboard with load sensors and airbag(s), a seat, processor(s) configured to:
(a) detect a first load on the dashboard,
(b) determine that the first load exceeds a predetermined load,
(c) detect, subsequent to a first predetermined amount of time since (b), a second load on the dashboard,
(d) determine that the second load exceeds the predetermined load,
(e) disable the airbag(s) based on (b) and (d).

2. The vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the processor(s) are further configured to:
(f) detect, subsequent to a second predetermined amount of time since (d), a third load on the dashboard;
(g) determine that the third load exceeds the predetermined load; and
(h) based on (b), (d) and (g), perform at least one of: causing a user interface to generate a warning light, or causing the user interface to generate a warning video.

3. The vehicle of claim 1 , wherein some of the load sensors are arranged to detect the first load or the second load in a horizontal direction and some of the load sensors are arranged to detect the first load or the second load in a vertical direction.

4. The vehicle of claim 3 , wherein the processor(s) are configured to: perform (a) or (c) by: determining a horizontal load of the first load or the second load on the dashboard and a vertical load of the first load or the second load on the dashboard.

5. The vehicle of claim 4 , wherein the processor(s) are configured to:
compare the determined vertical load of the first load or the second load to a first threshold and compare the determined horizontal load of the first load or the second load to a second threshold; and
perform (e) based on (b) and (d) by at least one of: determining that the determined vertical load of the first load and the determined vertical load of the second load exceed the first threshold, determining that the determined horizontal load of the first load and the determined horizontal load of the second load exceed the second threshold, determining that the determined vertical load of the first load exceeds the first threshold and the determined horizontal load of the second load exceeds the second threshold, or determining that the determined horizontal load of the first load exceeds the second threshold and the determined vertical load of the second load exceeds the first threshold.

6. The vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the vehicle comprises a camera pointed at the dashboard and the processor(s) are configured to:
(f) detect, subsequent to a second predetermined amount of time since (d), one or more first images via the camera;
determine one or more differences between the one or more first images and a baseline image; and
(g) determine presence of an object on the dashboard based on the one or more differences.

7. The vehicle of claim 6 , wherein the processor(s) are configured to:
perform (e) based on (b), (d) and (g).

8. The vehicle of claim 7 , wherein the vehicle comprises a light sensor and the processor(s) are configured to: process the one or more first images from the camera based on an amount of light sensed by the light sensor.

9. The vehicle of claim 8 , wherein the processor(s) are configured to: process the one or more first images from the camera based on an amount of light sensed by the light sensor by processing the one or more first images with an algorithm selected based on the amount of light sensed by the light sensor.

10. The vehicle of claim 6 , wherein the processor(s) are further configured to:
(h) detect, subsequent to a third predetermined amount of time since (g), one or more second images via the camera;
determine one or more differences between the one or more second images and the baseline image;
(i) determine the presence of the object on the dashboard based on the one or more differences; and
(j) based on (g) and (i), perform at least one of: causing a user interface to generate a warning light, or causing the user interface to generate a warning video.

11. The vehicle of claim 6 , wherein determining one or more differences between the one or more first images and a baseline image comprises:
combining the one or more first images into a combined image; and
determining that a predetermined reference number of pixels of the combined image differ by a predetermined degree from the baseline image.

12. The vehicle of claim 6 , wherein the baseline image comprises one or more clean images, each clean image associated with a range of light conditions, and wherein determining one or more differences between the one or more first images and the baseline image comprises:
determining one or more light conditions for each of the one or more first images;
selecting one or more clean images associated with each of the one or more first images based on the one or more light conditions; and
determining one or more differences between each of the one or more first images and respective selected one or more clean images.

13. A method comprising, via processor(s) of a vehicle including a dashboard with load sensors, a seat, and airbag(s):
(a) detecting a first load on the dashboard,
(b) determine that the first load exceeds a predetermined load,
(c) detect, subsequent to a first predetermined amount of time since (b), a second load on the dashboard,
(d) determine that the second load exceeds the predetermined load,
(e) disabling the airbag(s) based on (b) and (d).

14. The method of claim 13 , comprising:
(f) detecting, subsequent to a second predetermined amount of time since (d), a third load on the dashboard;
(g) determining that the third load exceeds the predetermined load; and
(h) based on (b), (d), and (g), performing at least one of: causing a user interface to generate a warning light, or causing the user interface to generate a warning video.

15. The method of claim 13 , comprising:
(f) detecting, subsequent to a second predetermined amount of time since (d), one or more first images via a camera;
determining one or more differences between the one or more first images and a baseline image;
(g) determining presence of an object on the dashboard based on the one or more differences; and
performing (e) based on (b), (d) and (g).

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein the presence of the object on the dashboard is determined via image filtering software that relies on an amount of light detected by a light sensor of the vehicle.

Assignees

• Ford Global Tech Llc

Inventors

• Ghannam Mahmoud Yousef
• Conner Dana
• Hammoud Jeff
• Jarmak Sami

Classifications

• B60R21/239

  characterised by their venting means · CPC title

• B60R21/02 Primary

  Occupant safety arrangements or fittings {, e.g. crash pads (seat belts with crash pads B60R22/14; removable children's seats having a front guard or barrier B60N2/2839)} · CPC title

• B60R21/01512 Primary

  Passenger detection systems · CPC title

• B60R2021/162

  Means for diverting, destroying or blocking the bag in case of dangerous deployment, e.g. during rescue operations or use of rear-facing children seats · CPC title

• B60R21/206

  in the lower part of dashboards, e.g. for protecting the knees · CPC title