Abstract: Electrical system in a vehicle includes crash sensor systems each arranged to sense a crash involving the vehicle and occupant protection systems each including an occupant protection device arranged to protect an occupant in the event of a crash involving the vehicle. The crash sensor system(s) and the occupant protection system(s) are connected to a bus and supplied with power by the bus and communication through the bus. Each occupant protection device is actuated in the event of a crash involving the vehicle as sensed by a crash sensor system. Each occupant protection system may include a power supply for providing power to enable actuation of the occupant protection device, diagnostic circuitry for self-diagnosis, an occupant sensor and a controller for controlling actuation of the occupant protection device based on a signal received from a crash sensor system over the bus, and data from the occupant sensor.

Abstract: System and method for reacting to a impact involving a motor vehicle in which an anticipatory sensor system assesses the probable severity of the impact based on data obtained prior to the impact and initiates deployment of an external safety device via an actuator in the event an impact above a threshold probable severity is assessed. The anticipatory sensor system includes receivers for receiving waves or energy and a pattern recognition system for analyzing the received waves or energy, or data representative thereof, to assess the probable severity of the impact. The pattern recognition system ascertains the identity of an object from which the waves or energy have been emitted, reflected or generated. The pattern recognition system includes a processor embodying a pattern recognition algorithm designed to provide an output of one of a number of pre-determined identities of the object.

Abstract: Vehicle including a system for preventing injury to an occupant's head and neck during a rear impact includes a support structure for supporting the occupant including an upper body support portion for supporting the occupant's head and neck. The support structure has a deformable upper body support portion which may be filled with a fluid such as air, liquid or a gel and deforms during a rear impact to support the entire back, neck and/or head of the occupant. The upper body support portion may be moved to a support location, regardless of the detection of a crash (a passive mode), or moved only prior to an anticipated impact as determined by a crash sensor (an active mode).

Abstract: Control system for controlling at least one part of a vehicle includes a plurality of sensor systems mounted at different locations on the vehicle, each sensor system providing a measurement related to a state thereof system or a measurement related to a state of the mounting location. The sensor systems are preferably arranged such that the measurements from the sensor systems are measurements of different physical characteristics. A processor is coupled to the sensor systems and diagnoses the condition of the vehicle with respect to its stability based on the measurements of the sensor systems. The processor controls each part based at least in part on the diagnosed condition of the vehicle.

Abstract: System for measuring the weight of an occupant in a vehicle seat having a bottom portion and a back portion at an angle to the bottom portion and for controlling a safety restraint system responsive thereto which includes a fluid-containing bladder mounted within or beneath an upper surface of the bottom portion of the seat and supported by a base of the seat, a pressure sensor operatively coupled to the bladder for generating a signal responsive to pressure of the fluid within the bladder caused by pressure applied to the upper surface of the seat, and a processor coupled to the pressure sensor for determining the weight of the occupant from the signal and generating a control signal for controlling the safety restraint system responsive to the weight determination. The weight of the occupant can be used to control components in the vehicle or the seat itself.

Abstract: System and method for preventing whiplash injuries to an occupant, in particular, during rear impacts, includes a movable headrest associated with the seat and a system for positioning the headrest adjacent a head of the occupant in an impact involving the vehicle. This latter system includes an anticipatory crash sensor system arranged to produce an output signal when an external object is approaching a rear of the vehicle at a velocity above a predetermined velocity, a headrest movement system arranged to move the headrest and a sensor system arranged to determine when the headrest contacts or is proximate the occupant's head. Upon the determination of a pending rear impact between the object and the vehicle, the output signal is produced by the crash sensor system and the headrest is moved into a position in contact with or proximate the occupant's head as determined by the sensor system.

Abstract: Method and system for controlling inflation of an airbag in a vehicle which protects an occupant from injury in a crash involving the vehicle includes sensing a crash involving the vehicle for which deployment of the airbag is desired, inflating the airbag to protect the occupant in the crash involving the vehicle upon sensing of the crash, incorporating an accelerometer in a seatbelt worn by the occupant, and adjusting the continued inflation of the airbag after contact of the airbag with the occupant based on the acceleration sensed by the accelerometer. The accelerometer may be arranged to determine movement or acceleration of the seatbelt which can be correlated to contact between the airbag and the seatbelt, i.e., based on changes in the measured acceleration of the seatbelt arising from contact of the airbag with the seatbelt.

Abstract: Arrangement and method for classifying an occupying item in a seat includes at least one force sensor arranged to measure the force applied to the seat at time intervals, and a processor coupled to the force sensor(s) for receiving the force measurements therefrom. The processor analyzes the force measurements from each force sensor over time to discern patterns in the force measurements and analyzes any discerned pattern to determine if it approximates a known pattern indicative of an animate object or an inanimate object. The processor may be trained to discern patterns providing information about the occupying item by conducting tests in which different occupying items are placed in the seat and measurements of the force applied to the seat are obtained by the force sensor, before, during and after placement of the occupying item in the seat.

Abstract: Control system for controlling at least one part of a vehicle includes sensor systems mounted on the vehicle, each providing a measurement of a state of the sensor system or a state of the mounting location of the sensor system and generating a signal representative of the measurement, and a pattern recognition system for receiving the signals and diagnosing the condition of the vehicle with respect to its stability based on the measurements of the sensor systems. The pattern recognition system generates a control signal for controlling the part(s) based on the diagnosed condition of the vehicle. The control signal is directed to each part to cause it to vary its operation, for example, to cause the part to attempt to correct for any instability of the vehicle. The controlled part may be a steering, braking or throttle system.

Abstract: Vehicle including an arrangement for controlling audio reception by occupants of a passenger compartment includes a frame defining an interior, at least one seat in the interior defining a plurality of seating positions, and a sound generating system for generating different audio sounds for each seating position. The sound generating system utilizes hypersonic sound, and may be an entertainment system which delivers music or other audio content to the occupants. A monitoring system determines the presence and/or position of occupants in the seating positions relative to the sound generating system. The sound generating system for each seating position may then be automatically adjustable based on the determined presence and/or position of the occupant in the seating position such that different sounds are audible to each occupant.

Abstract: Seat assembly attachable to a substrate of a vehicle includes a seat having a bottom portion and a back portion coupled at an angle to a rear portion of the bottom portion, a support structure arranged at least partially under the seat and to support the seat on the substrate at a plurality of locations including two rearward locations on opposite lateral sides of the seat and at least one forward location, and a weight measuring system arranged in connection with the support structure for determining an approximate weight of an occupying item of the seat. The weight measuring system includes at least one strain or force measuring sensor mounted to measure at least a portion of the load applied to the seat. The approximate weight of the occupying item may be used to control deployment of one or more occupant restraint systems for the occupying item.

Abstract: System and method for measuring the weight of an occupant in a vehicle seat and for controlling a safety restraint system responsive thereto includes at least one fluid-containing structure arranged mounted within or beneath an upper surface of a bottom portion of the seat and supported by a base of the seat and at least one pressure sensor operatively coupled to the fluid-containing structure(s) for generating a signal responsive to pressure of the fluid within the fluid-containing structure(s) caused by pressure applied to the upper surface of the seat by the occupant. A processor is coupled to the pressure sensor(s) and provides an indication of the weight of the occupant from the signal and generates a control signal for controlling the safety restraint system based on the weight. The fluid-containing structure may be a bladder arranged in the bottom of the seat and/or include a plurality of interconnected chambers.

Abstract: Land-based vehicle including an arrangement for monitoring objects in or about a vehicle which includes a source from which illumination is emitted into an area in or about the vehicle, a receiver arranged to receive illumination reflected from an object in the path of the illumination, a light-regulating component arranged in front of the receiver to regulate reception of illumination by the receiver, and circuitry coupled to the source, the receiver and the light-regulating component. The light-regulating component is modulated to enable a determination of a distance between an object from which the illumination has been reflected and the receiver. The circuitry obtains information about objects from which the received illumination has been reflected other than distance information and associates with the objects distances between the objects and the receiver. This improves the ability to control vehicular systems based on the presence of objects in or about the vehicle.

Abstract: Vehicle including an anticipatory sensor system for determining that an impact involving the vehicle is about to occur unless a corrective action is taken based on data obtained prior to the impact and determining whether the potential impact requires activation of a reactive system which controls operation of the vehicle. The anticipatory sensor system includes a receiver for receiving waves or energy and a pattern recognition system for analyzing the received waves or energy, or data representative thereof, to determine that an impact is about to occur if corrective action is not taken and whether the potential impact requires activation of the reactive system. The pattern recognition system ascertains the identity of an object from which the waves or energy have been emitted, reflected or generated, so that the determination whether the impact requires activation of the reactive system is based on identification of the object.

Abstract: Vehicular seat assembly includes a seat having a bottom portion and a back portion coupled at an angle to a rear portion of the bottom portion, a support structure arranged at least partially under the seat and to support the seat on a substrate at a plurality of locations including two rearward locations on opposite lateral sides of the seat and at least one forward location, and a weight measuring system arranged in connection with the support structure for determining an approximate weight of an occupying item of the seat. The weight measuring system consists of only one or two sensors, e.g., strain gage sensors, arranged at the rearward locations or only one or two sensors arranged at the forward location(s). Each sensor provides data relating to the force or pressure being applied at the respective location which is used to derive the approximate weight of the occupying item.

Abstract: Automotive vehicle including a radar transceiver each including a heterodyne active IMPATT multiplier module arranged to receive a signal from a VCO, a first balance mixer arranged to receive a signal from a VCO, a second balance mixer arranged to receive a signal from a receive antenna and the IMPATT multiplier module and derive a first intermediate frequency signal, a first amplifier for amplifying the output of the second balance mixer and providing the amplifier output to the first balance mixer, and a second amplifier for amplifying the output of the first balance mixer. The vehicle also includes a processor which receives output from the second amplifier of each transceiver and generates a control signal for controlling one or more vehicular components based on the output from the second amplifier(s). The components can be part of a collision avoidance system, blind spot monitoring system and the like.

Abstract: Method and arrangement for obtaining information about a radio-frequency identification (RFID) device or an object on which the RFID device is mounted when the RFID device is in a space defined by a frame includes arranging a plurality of antennas on the frame to enable transmission of signals into the space and reception of signals from the space, controlling transmission of signals by the antennas by means of an interrogator, and directing radio frequency signals from at least one of the antennas into the space to cause a RFID device in the space to return a signal if it receives any signal from any of the antennas. The return signals from the RFID device are received, e.g., by the interrogator or an associated receiver, and information about the RFID device or object to which the RFID device is attached is derived based on the return signals.

Abstract: Electrical system in a vehicle includes crash sensor systems each arranged to sense a crash involving the vehicle and occupant protection systems each including an occupant protection device arranged to protect an occupant in the event of a crash involving the vehicle. The crash sensor system(s) and the occupant protection system(s) are connected to a bus and supplied with power by the bus and communication through the bus. Each occupant protection device is actuated in the event of a crash involving the vehicle as sensed by a crash sensor system. Each occupant protection system may include a power supply for providing power to enable actuation of the occupant protection device, diagnostic circuitry for self-diagnosis, an occupant sensor and a controller for controlling actuation of the occupant protection device based on a signal received from a crash sensor system over the bus, and data from the occupant sensor.

Abstract: Method for in-vehicle communications during use of the vehicle, in which a first, data-processing component is arranged on the vehicle, at least one second component is arranged on a non-rotating part of the vehicle, each second component being a sensor arranged to measure a property of the vehicle or a component thereof or an actuator arranged to control a system, subsystem or other component of the vehicle, and the first and second components wirelessly communicate with one another. When the second component is a sensor, it wirelessly transmits data about the measured property and the first component receives the data wirelessly from the second component and processes the received data. When the first component is an actuator, it processes data relating to control of the second component and generates and wirelessly transmits signals to the second component to control the system, subsystem or other component of the vehicle.

Abstract: Arrangement and method for obtaining information about objects in an environment in or around a vehicle includes one or more optical imagers for obtaining images of the environment and a processor coupled to the imager(s) for obtaining information about an object in one or more images obtained by the imager(s). The processor is arranged to process the obtained images to determine edges of objects in the images and input data about the edges into a trained pattern recognition algorithm which has been trained to provide information about the object as output. The pattern recognition algorithm may include a neural network or variation thereof. The information about the object may be used to control a vehicular component such as an airbag or light filter.