Occupant sensor

Details Occupant sensor Occupant sensor

2000-07-11

2002-05-21

Mullen, Thomas (Department: 2632)

Communications: electrical

Condition responsive indicating system

Specific condition

C280S735000, C340S562000, C701S045000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06392542

ABSTRACT:

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The above-identified applications are incorporated herein by reference.
In the accompanying drawings:
FIG. 1
illustrates an embodiment of the instant invention;
FIG. 2
illustrates a child in a typical rear facing infant seat placed on a vehicle seat;
FIGS. 3
a
and
3
b
illustrate several electrode embodiments in accordance with the instant invention;
FIG. 4
illustrates another electrode embodiment in accordance with the instant invention;
FIG. 5
illustrates yet another electrode embodiment in accordance with the instant invention,
FIG. 6
illustrates the capacitance of an electric field sensor in accordance with
FIG. 5
for a variety of seat occupancy scenarios and conditions;
FIG. 7
illustrates a side-view of an embodiment of an electric field sensor incorporating a driven shield;
FIG. 8
illustrates a schematic diagram of an embodiment of a circuit for providing both amplitude and phase information from an electric field sensor;
FIG. 9
illustrates a plot of phase angle vs. amplitude of an electric field sensor for a variety of seat occupancy scenarios and for varying degrees of wetness;
FIG. 10
a
illustrates a schematic diagram of another embodiment of a circuit for providing both amplitude and phase information from an electric field sensor;
FIG. 10
b
illustrates the operation of various elements of the sensing circuit of
FIG. 10
a;
FIG. 11
a
illustrates a flow chart of the processing of amplitude and phase measurements from an electric field sensor;
FIG. 11
b
illustrates a flow chart of a process of calculating a rotation factor from amplitude and phase measurements from an electric field sensor for dry seat conditions;
FIG. 11
c
illustrates a flow chart of a process of calculating a compensation function from amplitude and phase measurements from an electric field sensor;
FIG. 12
a
is a plot of phase vs. amplitude for measurements from an electric field sensor for dry seat conditions, illustrating a rotation angle for adjusting subsequent measurements from the electric field sensor;
FIG. 12
b
is a plot of phase vs. amplitude for measurements from an electric field sensor for a variety of seat occupancy conditions and a variety of seat wetness conditions;
FIG. 12
c
is a plot of a compensation function;
FIG. 12
d
is a plot of compensated amplitude as a function of rotated phase for the measurements of
FIG. 12
b;
FIG. 13
a
illustrates a plurality of capacitance measurements from an electric field sensor, plotted as a function of wetness for a variety of seat occupancy scenarios;
FIG. 13
b
illustrates a plurality of capacitance measurements from an electric field sensor, compensated in accordance with the process of
FIG. 11
a,
plotted as a function of wetness for a variety of seat occupancy scenarios;
FIGS. 14
a
and
14
b
illustrate a schematic diagram of yet another embodiment of a circuit for providing both amplitude and phase information from an electric field sensor;
FIG. 15
illustrates a schematic diagram of an embodiment of a circuit for providing both integral and peak information from an electric field sensor using pulse excitation;
FIG. 16
illustrates a schematic diagram of another embodiment of a circuit for providing both integral and peak information from an electric field sensor using pulse excitation; and
FIG. 17
illustrates signals in the circuit of
FIG. 16
for two different levels of shunt resistance of the electric field sensor.


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