Takata Corporation

Hirofumi Mita

Hiroshi Aoki

Masato Yokoo

Yuu Hakomori

Masato Takao

Junji Azuma

A vehicular actuation system installed in a vehicle includes an actuation device that includes an operation member manipulated by a vehicle occupant. The system also includes a detecting unit for detecting a three-dimensional image in an operational area of a predetermined range about the operation member. The system also includes a control unit that determines based on the detected three-dimensional image whether or not a palm or back of a hand of the vehicle occupant is present in the operational area. The control unit operates the actuation device when the palm or back of the hand of the vehicle occupant is present in the operational area. The system includes a first operation mode in which the operation member is directly manipulated by the hand of the vehicle occupant to operate the actuation device and a second operation mode in which the actuation device is operated by the control unit.

Vehicular actuation system

An occupant information detection system for detecting information related to a vehicle occupant on a vehicle seat includes an image detecting section facing a vehicle seat area taking a three-dimensional image, an information extraction processing section extracting information related to a three-dimensional surface profile of a detected object on a vehicle seat based on the three-dimensional image, a conversion processing section converting the extracted information into numerical coordinates of a predetermined coordinate system, and a computation processing section deriving a computed value by subtracting an average of first and second coordinate components from a third coordinate component. The system also includes a determination processing section determining the concave-convex shape of a line segment formed by the arbitrary points and the middle point based on the computed value.

Occupant information detection system

An occupant detection apparatus can include a photographing device disposed to face to a vehicle rear seat for taking three-dimensional images; an information extracting section which extracts image information corresponding to an upper area of a seat of the rear seat from three-dimensional images taken by the photographing device; a division processing section which divides information extracted by the information extracting section into areas relating to respective sitting areas for occupants sitting in the rear seat; and a derivation processing section which derives, with regard to histogram showing frequency distribution of picture elements relative to distances from the photographing device, a first histogram corresponding to image information divided by the division processing section and also derives a difference histogram by deriving a second histogram from the derived first histogram, and thus derives information about each rear-seat occupant in each sitting area of said vehicle rear seat based on the difference histogram.

Occupant detection apparatus

A method of discriminating the state of an object on a vehicle seat. The method includes taking samples of a signal indicative of seat load. It is provisionally determined that the object is in a second state if the seat load exceeds a first threshold, and it is provisionally determined that the object is in a first state if the seat load is less than a second threshold. It is determined that the object is in the first state if it is provisionally determined that the object is in the first state and if it is not provisionally determined that the object is in the second state. It is determined that the object is in the second state if it is provisionally determined that the object is in the second state and if it is not provisionally determined that the object is in the first state.

Growing community of inventors

Minato-ku, Japan

Hirofumi Mita