Impact-injury predicting system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9254804-B2
Application number	US-201414157637-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 17, 2014
Priority date	Jan 22, 2013
Publication date	Feb 9, 2016
Grant date	Feb 9, 2016

Abstract

A first-collision predicting part determines if a possibility of a first collision, which happens between a human and a vehicle, is higher than a predetermined threshold. A first-collision-situation determining part determines a position of a head of the human and a relative speed of the head relative to the vehicle at a time of the first collision, when the first-collision predicting part determines the possibility of the first collision is higher than the predetermined threshold. A second-collision-situation estimating part estimates a collision situation of the head in a second collision, based on a determining result of the first-collision-situation determining part. An injury-degree predicting part predicts a degree of injury of the head based on an estimation result of the second-collision-situation estimating part.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An impact-injury predicting system, comprising:
an image sensor detecting a human in front of a vehicle in a front-rear direction of the vehicle, wherein the image sensor detects a position of a head of the human, a relative speed of the head relative to the vehicle in a left-right direction of the vehicle, and a relative speed of the head relative to the vehicle in a perpendicular direction perpendicular to the front-rear direction and the left-right direction;
a distance sensor detecting a relative speed and a relative distance of the human, who is detected by the image sensor, relative to the vehicle in the front-rear direction;
a first-collision predicting part determining whether a possibility of a first collision, which happens between the human and the vehicle, is higher than a predetermined threshold based on a detection result of the image sensor and a detection result of the distance sensor;
a first-collision-situation determining part determining a position of the head and a relative speed of the head relative to the vehicle at a time of the first collision based on the detection result of the image sensor and the detection result of the distance sensor, when the first-collision predicting part determines the possibility of the first collision is higher than the predetermined threshold;
a second-collision-situation estimating part estimating a collision situation of the head in a second collision, based on a determining result of the first-collision-situation determining part; and
an injury-degree predicting part predicting a degree of injury of the head based on an estimation result of the second-collision-situation estimating part.

2. The impact-injury predicting system according to claim 1 , wherein
the second-collision-situation estimating part estimates an impact site of the head with the vehicle and an impact speed of the head relative to the vehicle at the time of the second collision.

3. The impact-injury predicting system according to claim 1 , further comprising:
a collision-detecting sensor detecting a collision of the vehicle; and
a collision determining part determining whether a collision happens or not based on a detection result of the collision-detecting sensor, wherein
the second-collision-situation estimating part determines that the estimation result of the second-collision-situation estimating part is effective, when the collision determining part determines the collision of the vehicle.

4. The impact-injury predicting system according to claim 1 , further comprising:
a collision-detecting sensor detecting a collision of the vehicle;
a collision determining part determining whether a collision happens or not based on a detection result of the collision-detecting sensor;
a first protection device mounted in a front part of the vehicle to absorb an impact of a collision between the human and an internal combustion engine of the vehicle;
a second protection device mounted in a front part of the vehicle to absorb an impact of a collision between the human and a pillar of the vehicle; and
a protection device controller selectively actuates the first protection device or the second protection device based on the estimation result of the second-collision-situation estimating part, when the collision determining part determines the collision of the vehicle.

5. The impact-injury predicting system according to claim 4 , wherein
the injury-degree predicting part predicts the degree of injury of the head based on the estimation result of the second-collision-situation estimating part and a control result of the protection device controller.

6. The impact-injury predicting system according to claim 1 , further comprising:
a collision-detecting sensor detecting a collision of the vehicle;
a collision determining part determining whether a collision happens or not based on a detection result of the collision-detecting sensor; and
a wireless communication device reporting a prediction result of the injury-degree predicting part to an institution, when the collision determining part determines the collision of the vehicle.

7. The impact-injury predicting system according to claim 1 , wherein
the second-collision-situation estimating part estimates an impact speed of the head relative to ground, when the second-collision-situation estimating part estimates that the second collision does not happen between the head and the vehicle.

8. An impact-injury predicting system, comprising:
a first sensor detecting a human in front of a vehicle in a front-rear direction of the vehicle, the first sensor detecting a relative distance and a relative speed of the human relative to the vehicle;
a second sensor detecting a collision of the human with the vehicle;
a collision determining part determining whether a collision happens or not based on a detection result of the second sensor;
a first-collision predicting part determining whether a possibility of a first collision that happens between the human and the vehicle is higher than a predetermined threshold based on a detection result of the first sensor;
a first-collision-situation determining part determining a position of the human and a relative speed of the human relative to the vehicle at a time of the first collision based on the detection result of the first sensor, when the first-collision predicting part determines the possibility of the first collision is higher than the predetermined threshold; and
a second-collision-situation estimating part estimating an impact site of a head of the human with the vehicle and determining whether the head collides with the vehicle in a second-collision based on a determination result of the first-collision-situation determining part.

9. The impact-injury predicting system according to claim 8 , further comprising:
a protection device absorbing an impact of a collision between the human and the vehicle; and
a protection device controller operating the protection device based on the impact site estimated by the second-collision-situation estimating part.

10. The impact-injury predicting system according to claim 8 , wherein
the first sensor has:
an image sensor detecting where the human is positioned in front of the vehicle; and
a distance sensor detecting the relative speed and the relative distance of the human relative to the vehicle.

11. An impact-injury predicting system, comprising:
a first sensor detecting a human in front of a vehicle in a front-rear direction of the vehicle, the first sensor detecting a relative distance and a relative speed of the human relative to the vehicle;
a second sensor detecting a collision of the human with the vehicle;
a collision determining part determining whether a collision happens or not based on a detection result of the second sensor;
a first-collision predicting part determining whether a possibility of a first collision that happens between the human and the vehicle is higher than a predetermined threshold based on a detection result of the first sensor;
a first-collision-situation determining part determining a position of the human and a relative speed of the human relative to the vehicle at a time of the first collision based on the detection result of the first sensor, when the collision determining part determines that a collision happens; and
a second-collision-situation estimating part estimating an impact site of a head of the human with the vehicle and determining whether the head collides with the vehicle in a second-collision based on a determination result of the first-collision-situation determining part.

12. The impact-injury predicting system accor

Assignees

• Denso Corp

Inventors

• Wanami Shingo

Classifications

• B60R21/0136 Primary

  responsive to actual contact with an obstacle {, e.g. to vehicle deformation, bumper displacement or bumper velocity relative to the vehicle (monitoring crash strength in combination with passenger seat detection B60R21/01558)} · CPC title

• B60R21/0134 Primary

  responsive to imminent contact with an obstacle {, e.g. using radar systems} · CPC title

• G06T7/20

  Analysis of motion (motion estimation for coding, decoding, compressing or decompressing digital video signals H04N19/43, H04N19/51) · CPC title

• G06K9/00362

  Physics · mapped topic

• G06K9/00805

  Physics · mapped topic