Communications: electrical – Land vehicle alarms or indicators – Of burglary or unauthorized use
Reexamination Certificate
2000-02-25
2001-11-06
Pope, Daryl (Department: 2632)
Communications: electrical
Land vehicle alarms or indicators
Of burglary or unauthorized use
C701S049000, C701S045000, C318S467000, C280S735000, C180S273000, C340S457000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06313739
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Field of the Invention
The invention lies in the automotive technology field. More specifically, the invention relates to a device for sensing an object or a person in the interior of a vehicle. A sensor is provided for this purpose. The device includes an attachment member with which the device is attached to the vehicle in a given position and with a given orientation for the sensor. The invention also pertains to a related operating method for a device for sensing an object or a person in the interior of a vehicle.
Persons who are displaced far forward in the direction of the dashboard—such as children in rearward facing child or infant seats that are placed on the front passenger seat—are subjected to the hazard, during the operation of a motor vehicle provided with an airbag, of suffering injuries as result of the inflation impact of the airbag in the event of an accident. Modern occupant protection control systems aim at switching off the airbag in such situations or inflating it with reduced force and speed in order to avoid the risk of injury to a vehicle occupant. It is thus necessary to determine the position of the vehicle occupant in the vehicle. In order to determine the position of the vehicle occupant, use is preferably made of contactless, optical sensors.
European published patent application No. 0 669 227 A1 discloses a device for the contactless detection of an object or of a person in the interior of a vehicle. There, the vehicle seat is irradiated by a number of LEDs. The beams which are reflected from the seat or a person or an object on the vehicle seat are registered by a photodetector field.
The location at which such a device is installed in the vehicle, for example, on the A pillar, on the B pillar, or on the roof lining, integrated with the interior lighting if appropriate, can generally be specified by the manufacturer of the vehicle only with a tolerance of approximately ±5% with respect to a fixed point in the vehicle. Manufacture-related tolerance chains in the bodywork of the vehicle do not permit the place of installation to be determined more precisely. However, a local tolerance of 5% already results, for a scanning device using optical scanning, in an angular deviation of the beam path of a maximum of 18° with respect to a fixed object that is to be scanned. In the case of an assumed function area of the device—also referred to as range—of one meter—the measuring point can be displaced by approximately 30 cm. Such a tolerance in the sensing of objects or persons for the purpose of switching off an airbag or the appropriate metering of an airbag is not acceptable for safety reasons. Hazardous situations are not detected owing to such an indeterminate installation position of the device, or are assessed incorrectly because, although the device is operating without faults per se, it is not monitoring the intended area owing to its incorrect installation position.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is accordingly an object of the invention to provide a device and a method for sensing the position of persons or other objects in a vehicle interior, which overcomes the above-mentioned disadvantages of the heretofore-known devices and methods of this general type and which enables sensing such objects in the interior of the vehicle within precise tolerances.
With the foregoing and other objects in view there is provided, in accordance with the invention, an improved device for sensing an object in an interior of a vehicle of the type having a sensor for sensing an object in the interior and an attachment for attaching the device to the vehicle, whereby the sensor assumes a given position and a given orientation. The improvement is found in an adjustment device for changing the position or the orientation of the sensor or of the device in the vehicle after an installation thereof in the vehicle.
In accordance with an added feature of the invention, the adjustment device includes at least one positioning screw for changing the position or the orientation of the sensor or the device.
In accordance with an additional feature of the invention, the be adjustment device is designed to change the position or the orientation of the sensor or of the device in two spatial directions.
In accordance with another feature of the invention, the sensor includes a transmitter for outputting a signal and a receiver for receiving the signal after reflection or scattering thereof at the object.
With the above and other objects in view there is also provided, in accordance with the invention, a method of operating a device for sensing an object in an interior of a vehicle, which comprises:
operating a sensor for sensing an object installed in the vehicle in a test mode and acquiring test data;
evaluating the test data acquired in the test mode; and
changing a position or an orientation of the sensor or of the device in the vehicle with an adjustment device or generating an adjustment signal in dependence on a result obtained in the evaluating step.
In accordance with again an added feature of the invention, the method further comprises:
providing an object containing areas with different scattering or reflection properties;
irradiating, in the test mode, the object with a transmitter of the sensor; and
registering a radiation reflected or scattered at the object and evaluating the data thus acquired.
In accordance with again an additional feature of the invention, the acquired data represent a scattering pattern or reflection pattern of the irradiated object, and the method further comprises:
comparing the acquired data with stored data for a predefined scattering pattern or reflection pattern; and
changing the position or the orientation of the sensor or of the device if the acquired data deviate from the stored data by a predefined value.
In accordance with again another feature of the invention, the test mode is started after the vehicle door is locked.
In accordance with again a further feature of the invention, the evaluating step comprises evaluating the acquired data in order to determine a maximum intensity of the reflected or scattered radiation.
In accordance with yet an added feature of the invention, the position or the orientation of the sensor or of the device is changed or the adjustment signal is generated until the reflected or scattered radiation has a maximum intensity (due to the change in position/orientation and/or due to the weighting of the signal).
In accordance with yet another feature of the invention, the device or the sensor is locked in that position or that orientation in which the reflected or scattered radiation has a maximum intensity. Alternatively, the device or the sensor is locked in that position or that orientation in which the acquired data drop below the predefined value of the stored data.
Other features which are considered as characteristic for the invention are set forth in the appended claims.
Although the invention is illustrated and described herein as embodied in a device for sensing an object or a person in the interior of a vehicle and operating method for such a device, it is nevertheless not intended to be limited to the details shown, since various modifications and structural changes may be made therein without departing from the spirit of the invention and within the scope and range of equivalents of the claims.
The construction and method of operation of the invention, however, together with additional objects and advantages thereof will be best understood from the following description of specific embodiments when read in connection with the accompanying drawings.
REFERENCES:
patent: 6078854 (2000-06-01), Breed et al.
patent: 19707590A1 (1998-09-01), None
patent: 0497364A1 (1992-08-01), None
patent: 0734921A2 (1996-10-01), None
Hamperl Reinhard
Mader Gerhard
Roesl Reinhard
Roth Christoph
Stierle Thomas
Greenberg Laurence A.
Lerner Herbert L.
Pope Daryl
Siemens Aktiengesellschaft
Stemer Werner H.
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