JP2000302003A - Vehicle occupant physique detection device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To obtain proper physique data of an occupant without being affected by the vibration and acceleration and deceleration of a vehicle so as to perform proper operation control by detecting physique of the occupant and holding the detected physique data in accordance with wearing of a seat belt. SOLUTION: A seat sensor 5 detecting a seated condition or physique of an occupant 2 is arranged over whole face of a seat part 3a inside the seat part 3a of a seat next to a driver 3 in a vehicle 1. When seating of the occupant 2 on the seat next to the driver 3 is detected by an output of the seat sensor 5, weight of the occupant 2 is measured. Next, if the results of measurement are larger than a predetermined value, it is judged that it is suitable for operation condition of an air bag. Then, it is judged whether the occupant 2 wears a seat belt 7 or not, and weight data and the results of judgement of the occupant 2 are held if the occupant 2 wears the seat belt to control the operation of the air bag based on the data. Accordingly, physique data of the occupant 2 is not fluctuated by receiving the influence of vibration and acceleration and deceleration during vehicle running so that weight data measured at first is maintained to control the operation.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a vehicle occupant size detection apparatus for detecting the physique of an occupant sitting on a vehicle seat.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art For example, in a passenger airbag system or the like for protecting a vehicle occupant from a collision accident, a load acting on a seating portion of a passenger seat in determining whether to activate a passenger seat airbag system or not. There is a technique for measuring an airbag system and activating the airbag system when it is larger than a predetermined value. This prevents the operation of the airbag system to the passenger seat where there is no occupant.

[0003] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 10-236275 discloses that an air bag provided in a seating portion of a seat receives the weight of an occupant,
An apparatus for measuring the weight of an occupant by detecting the internal air pressure with a pressure sensor is described.

However, in such a weight measuring device, a measured value changes under the influence of vibration or acceleration / deceleration of the vehicle. Therefore, for an occupant protection device such as an airbag system controlled using the measured value, the occupant's weight data is newly updated each time the measured value changes. In spite of the fact that an occupant conforming to the above is riding, a problem arises that the airbag cannot be properly operated because the load acting on the seating portion of the passenger seat is less than a predetermined value.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and provides a vehicle occupant physique detecting apparatus capable of obtaining proper occupant physique data without being affected by vibration or acceleration / deceleration of the vehicle. The task is to

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a physique detecting device for detecting the physique of an occupant seated on a vehicle seat, wherein the physique of the occupant is detected while the occupant is seated on the seat. In addition, the problem is solved by a vehicle occupant physique detection device configured to hold physique data detected according to wearing of a seat belt.

That is, according to the present invention, since the occupant physique data is retained by wearing the seat belt, the measured values do not change due to the influence of the vibration or acceleration / deceleration of the vehicle, and the occupant's physique data can be appropriately adjusted. Can be acquired and maintained.

[0008]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

Referring to FIG. 1, a seat sensor 5 for detecting the seating state or physique of the occupant 2 is provided substantially inside the seat 3a of the passenger seat 3 of the vehicle 1 as shown in FIG. Are arranged over. The airbag as the vehicle occupant protection device is disposed inside the instrument panel 4 located in front of the passenger seat 3.

The sheet sensor 5 according to the present embodiment is
As shown in FIG. 3, a plurality of electrodes 5 are provided at predetermined positions, respectively.
2 and a pair of film-like members 51 formed with wiring 53
Are overlapped so that the electrodes 52 face each other with a predetermined gap therebetween. The electrodes 52 facing each other in the seating area of the occupant 2 receive the weight of the occupant 2 and are closed. It is connected to the control device 10 shown in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the control device 10. The control device 10 according to the present embodiment includes a power supply circuit 12 connected to a power supply 11 and supplying necessary power.
A load measuring circuit / sensor diagnostic circuit 14 connected to the seat sensor 5; a seat belt wearing diagnostic circuit 15 connected to the seat belt sensor 7a provided on the seat belt 7 of the passenger seat 3; , 15 and an output of the microcomputer 13 is connected to an airbag control circuit (airbag EC).
U) 17 and a communication interface 16 for supplying the same to the communication interface 16.

In the load measuring circuit / sensor diagnostic circuit 14,
The seating of the occupant 2 is detected based on the distribution of the electrodes 52 that are closed when the occupant 2 is seated in response to the output from the seat sensor 5, and in the present embodiment, the occupant 2 is used as physique data as physique data.
Measure your weight. The microcomputer 13 determines whether or not the measured weight data is larger than a predetermined value which is a threshold value for the operation of the airbag.

The seat belt wearing diagnosis circuit 15 detects whether or not the occupant 2 seated on the front passenger seat 3 is wearing the seat belt 7. In accordance with the wearing of the seat belt 7, the physique data of the occupant 2 detected by the seat sensor 5 at this time is stored in the storage unit of the microcomputer 13 until the seat belt 7 is removed, and the seat belt 7 is removed. Then, the stored physique data is deleted.

Next, the operation of the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.

When the occupant 2 is seated on the passenger seat 3 in step S21 based on the output of the seat sensor 5, the process proceeds to step S22, and the weight of the occupant 2 is measured. If the measurement result is larger than a predetermined value, it is determined that the operation condition of the airbag is satisfied. Next, in step S23, it is determined whether or not the occupant 2 wears the seat belt 7, and if so, the occupant 2 measured in step S23 is determined.
The weight data and the determination result are stored (saved), and the operation of the airbag is controlled based on the data.

Therefore, the physique data of the occupant 2 does not fluctuate due to the influence of vibration or acceleration / deceleration during running of the vehicle.
At the time of a vehicle collision, the operation of the airbag can be controlled based on the data.

Deletion of the stored physique data of the occupant 2
This is performed by removing the seat belt 7 (step S25). Therefore, when the occupant seated in the passenger seat 3 is replaced, the weight data of the newly seated occupant is updated and held according to the wearing of the seat belt 7, and is used as an airbag operation control parameter as described above.

Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described above, the present invention is, of course, not limited thereto, and various modifications can be made based on the technical concept of the present invention.

For example, in the above-described embodiment, the weight of the occupant 2 is measured as the occupant physique data. Alternatively, or in addition to this, the physique of the occupant 2 may be measured. . In other words, it is dangerous to operate the airbag with an inflation force similar to that of an adult male when a child or a small female is sitting in the passenger seat. The physique may be measured, and the operation control of the airbag may be performed based on the measurement result.

[0020]

As described above, according to the vehicle occupant physique detecting device of the present invention, the occupant's physique data does not change under the influence of the vibration or acceleration / deceleration of the vehicle, and the occupant's physique can be appropriately adjusted. By maintaining the data, appropriate operation control of the occupant protection device can be achieved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a view showing an embodiment of the present invention, and is a side view showing a seated state of an occupant.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing an arrangement state of a seat sensor for detecting a physique of an occupant;

FIG. 3 is a plan view showing a configuration of the sheet sensor.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an airbag operation control system according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating the same operation.

[Explanation of symbols]

 2 Passenger 3 Passenger's seat 3a Seat 5 Seat sensor 7 Seat belt 7a Seat belt sensor 10 Controller 14 Load measuring circuit / sensor diagnostic circuit 15 Seat belt wearing diagnostic circuit

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A physique detecting device for detecting the physique of an occupant sitting on a seat of a vehicle, wherein the physique of the occupant is detected in a state where the occupant is seated on the seat, and the physique of the occupant is detected in accordance with wearing of a seat belt. A vehicle occupant physique detection device that holds detected physique data. 2. The vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the physique data is retained until the seat belt is released, and the retention of the physique data is released in response to the removal of the seat belt. Occupant physique detection device. 3. The vehicle occupant size detection device according to claim 1, wherein the physique data is the weight of the occupant. 4. The vehicle occupant size detection device according to claim 1, wherein the physique data is used for controlling an occupant protection device.