Methods and systems for activating a door lock in a vehicle

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12059977-B2
Application number	US-202117533052-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 22, 2021
Priority date	Nov 23, 2020
Publication date	Aug 13, 2024
Grant date	Aug 13, 2024

Abstract

A method for activating a lock in a vehicle includes capturing an image of an interior of a vehicle, the image comprising an occupant on a seat of the vehicle, detecting a weight value of the occupant on a respective seat of the vehicle, processing the image for determining whether the occupant is a human or an object or an animal, processing, in response to the determination that the occupant is the human, the image for determining a parameter of the human, and activating a lock based on the parameter, or the weight value and the parameter.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An automatic door lock system, comprising:
a lock;
an image sensor configured to capture an image of an interior of a vehicle, the image comprising an occupant on a seat of the vehicle;
a weight sensor, wherein the weight sensor is arranged in a respective seat of the vehicle and configured to detect a weight value of the occupant on the respective seat of the vehicle; and
a processor operatively coupled to the image sensor, the weight sensor and the lock and configured to:
receive the image;
process the image to determine an occupant type of the occupant by classifying the occupant into one of a plurality of occupant types, the plurality of occupant types including a first occupant type being only a human, a second occupant type being a human with an object, a third occupant type being a human with an animal, a fourth occupant type being a human with an object and an animal, and a fifth occupant type being an object or an animal without a human;
in response to the determination that the determined occupant type is one of the first, second, third and fourth occupant types:
receive the weight value from the weight sensor;
process the received image to determine a parameter of the human; and
activate the lock based on:
the weight value and the parameter if the determined occupant type is the first occupant type; and
the parameter without the weight if the determined occupant type is the second, third, or fourth occupant type.

2. The automatic door lock system of claim 1 , wherein the parameter of the human is selected from a group comprising an age and a height.

3. The automatic door lock system of claim 2 , wherein:
if the determined occupant type is the first occupant type, the processor is configured to activate the lock in response to either one of:
the age of the human is less than a first threshold; or
the height of the human is less than a second threshold and the detected weight value of the corresponding human is less than a third threshold.

4. The automatic door lock system of claim 2 , wherein to determine the age of the human, the processor is configured to:
detect a face of the human in the image;
in response to detection of the face of the human, calculate a distance between left eye pupil and right eye pupil in each of the detected face; and
determine the age of the human based on the calculated distance in the corresponding detected face.

5. The automatic door lock system of claim 2 , wherein to determine the age of the human, the processor is configured to:
detect a face of the human in the image;
in response to detection of the face of the human, calculate a nose length in each of the detected face; and
determine the age of the human based on the calculated nose length in the corresponding detected face.

6. The automatic door lock system of claim 2 , wherein to determine the height of the human, the processor is configured to:
determine the height of the human based on a reference parameter, wherein said reference parameter comprises a height of a back rest of the seat or a horizontal distance between doors of the vehicle.

7. The automatic door lock system of claim 1 , further comprising:
a human-machine interface (HMI) operatively coupled to the processor and configured to receive an HMI input from a user, wherein in response to the HMI input, the processor is configured to activate/deactivate the lock.

8. A method for activating a lock in a vehicle, the method comprising:
capturing an image of an interior of the vehicle, the image comprising an occupant on a seat of the vehicle;
detecting a weight value of the occupant on a respective seat of the vehicle;
processing the image for determining an occupant type of the occupant by classifying the occupant into one of a plurality of occupant types, the plurality of occupant types including a first occupant type being only a human, a second occupant type being a human with an object, a third occupant type being a human with an animal, a fourth occupant type being a human with an object and an animal, and a fifth occupant type being an object or an animal without a human;
in response to the determination that the determined occupant type is one of the first, second, third and fourth occupant types:
processing the image for determining a parameter of the human; and
activating a lock based on:
the parameter if the determined occupant type is the second, third, or fourth occupant type; and
the weight value and the parameter if the determined occupant type is the first occupant type.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the parameter of the human is selected from a group comprising an age and a height.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein:
if the determined occupant type is the first occupant type, activating the lock comprises activating the lock in response to either one of:
the age of the human is less than a first threshold; or
the height of the human is less than a second threshold and the detected weight value of the corresponding human is less than a third threshold,

if the determined occupant type is one of the second, third, or fourth occupant types, activating the lock comprises activating the lock in response to either one of:
the age of the human is less than the first threshold; or
the height of the human is less than the second threshold.

11. The method of claim 9 , wherein determining the age of the human comprises:
detecting a face of the human in the image;
in response to detecting of the face of the human, calculating a distance between left eye pupil and right eye pupil in each of the detected face; and
determining the age of the human based on the calculated distance in the corresponding detected face.

12. The method of claim 9 , wherein determining the age of the human comprises:
detecting a face of the human;
in response to detecting the face of the human, calculating a nose length in each of the detected face; and
determining the age of the human based on the calculated nose length in the corresponding face.

13. The method of claim 9 , wherein determining the height of the human comprises:
determining the height of the human based on a reference parameter, wherein said reference parameter comprises a height of a back rest of the seat or a horizontal distance between doors of the vehicle.

14. The method of claim 8 , further comprising:
receiving a human-machine interface (HMI) input from a user; and
activating/deactivating the lock based on the HMI input.

15. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer executable instructions when executed by a processor causes the processor to perform operations of:
capturing an image of an interior of the vehicle, the image comprising an occupant on a seat of the vehicle;
detecting a weight value of the occupant on a respective seat of the vehicle;
processing the image for determining an occupant type of the occupant by classifying the occupant into one of a plurality of occupant types, the plurality of occupant types including a first occupant type being only a human, a second occupant type being a human with an object, a third occupant type being a human with an animal, a fourth occupant type being a human with an object and an animal, and a fifth occupant type being an object or an animal without a human;
in response to the determination that the determined occupant type is one of the first, second, third and fourth occupant types:
processing the image for determining a parameter of the human; and
activating a lock based on:
the parameter if the determined occupant type is the s

Assignees

• Hl Klemove Corp

Inventors

• Goel Manish
• Sharma Gaurav
• Miglani Alok

Classifications

• B60R21/01516 Primary

  using force or pressure sensing means · CPC title

• B60N2/0025

  by using weight measurement · CPC title

• B60N2/266

  with detection or alerting means responsive to presence or absence of children; with detection or alerting means responsive to improper locking or installation of the child seats or parts thereof · CPC title

• B60N2/0021

  characterised by the type of sensor or measurement · CPC title

• E05B81/62

  for opening or closing of a circuit depending on electrical parameters, e.g. increase of motor current · CPC title