Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha

Other

Katsuji Imai

Motomi Iyoda

Yujiro Miyata

Tomoki Nagao

Masuji Oshima

Seiya Ide

The activating device () for an occupant protection device includes a first deceleration detecting means () for detecting a first deceleration G in vehicle front/rear direction and an activation judging means () for judging whether the activation of the occupant protection device is necessary or not by comparing the first deceleration G detected by the first deceleration detecting means () with a first threshold value. The device further includes a second deceleration detecting means () for detecting a deceleration LG, RG at a position further front side of the vehicle than the position detecting the first deceleration, a collision condition detecting means () for detecting a vehicle collision condition based on a second threshold value by the deceleration LG and RG and a first threshold changing means () for changing the first threshold value of an activation judging means () based on the detected result of the collision condition detecting means ().

Activating device for occupant protection device and controlling method therefor

A collision type identifying device is disposed in a central portion of a vehicle main body and has first deceleration detecting device (), peak time detecting device (), required time detecting device (), and type identifying device (). The deceleration detecting device () detects a vehicle deceleration in the longitudinal direction. The peak time detecting device () detects, as a first peak time (tp), a time from the excess of a preset threshold (GTH) by a waveform of the vehicle deceleration (G) detected by the deceleration detecting device () to a first peak. The required time detecting device () detects, as a required time (tn), a time when an integrated deceleration (VG) obtained through time quadrature of the vehicle deceleration (G) becomes equal to a predetermined integrated value set in advance. The type identifying device () identifies a vehicle collision type on the basis of the first peak time (tp) and the required time (tn). The collision type identifying device can identify a vehicle collision as one of a plurality of collision types at once.

Collision type identifying device

An activation control apparatus of an air bag system of a motor vehicle includes a first sensor disposed at a predetermined position within a vehicle body, for generating a signal indicative of an impact applied to the vehicle, and at least one second sensor disposed frontwardly of the position of the first sensor, for generating a signal indicative of an impact applied to the vehicle. The control apparatus is operable to activate an air bag device when a parameter determined based on the output signal of the first sensor exceeds a predetermined threshold pattern that is determined based on the output signal of the second sensor. When the predetermined threshold pattern is changed from a reference pattern to a desired threshold pattern that provides lower threshold values, the pattern is changed step by step at predetermined time intervals, without skipping an intermediate pattern or patterns between the reference pattern and the desired pattern.

Activation control apparatus and method of air bag system

An apparatus for controlling an output of an air bag device () such that the output is made relatively high when a deceleration value (G) detected by a floor sensor () disposed in a central portion of a vehicle body is higher than a threshold which changes with a velocity (&#x222b;G&#xb7;dt) which is obtained as a time integral of the deceleration value (G). The threshold is changed from a normally selected high value to a low value when one of two deceleration values (G, G) detected by respective two satellite sensors () disposed in front left and right portions of the vehicle body has reached a threshold value which changes with the velocity (&#x222b;G&#xb7;dt).

Apparatus and method for controlling activation of vehicle occupant protecting device

An airbag trigger control system is provided with a first sensor which is disposed in a predetermined position in a vehicle body and outputs a signal corresponding to an impact exerted to the vehicle body, a trigger control system which triggers an airbag when a parameter determined on the basis of the signal output from the first sensor exceeds a predetermined threshold value, a second sensor which is disposed forward of the first sensor in the vehicle body and outputs a signal corresponding to an impact exerted to the vehicle body, and a threshold value changing device which changes the predetermined threshold value in accordance with the signal output by the second sensor. The second sensor outputs a predetermined signal at predetermined intervals, and the threshold value changing device changes the predetermined threshold value to a given value when the output signal of the second sensor is not detected in a predetermined number of successive control cycles.

Airbag trigger control system

A product-sum operation portion for performing a product-sum operation (wavelet transformation) with respect to an input time-series signal by using as a base of integral a complex function in which the imaginary number portion is &pgr;/2 shifted in phase from the real number portion, a phase calculation portion for calculating a phase &thgr; from the ratio between the real number portion and the imaginary number portion of a result of the product-sum operation, a peak time detection portion for detecting a time point at which the calculated phase &thgr; changes from 2&pgr; to zero, as a peak time, are provided. Since the wavelet transformation is performed by using a basic wavelet function that is localized in terms of time and frequency, a peak time can be promptly detected. Furthermore, since a differential operation is not employed but the product-sum operation is performed, false detection caused by noises or the like can be prevented.

Peak time detecting apparatus and method

A collision severity determining system for determining severity of a collision of a vehicle includes a first deceleration detector disposed in a central portion of a vehicle for detecting a deceleration in a longitudinal direction of the vehicle, and a second deceleration detector disposed in a front portion of the vehicle for detecting a deceleration in the longitudinal direction. A controller calculates a velocity change amount of the vehicle by integrating the vehicle deceleration with respect to time, and determines severity of the collision by comparing the vehicle deceleration with a threshold value corresponding to the same velocity change amount. When a problem, such as a failure or breakdown of the second deceleration detector, occurs, the severity determining unit operates in a predetermined fail-safe mode for selecting an appropriate severity determination map stored in the controller, and makes a severity determination based on the selected severity determination map.

Collision severity determining system

A satellite sensor and a floor sensor are provided in a forward portion and a central portion, respectively, of a vehicle body. A calculated value and a speed are determined through predetermined processing of a deceleration detected based on an output signal of the floor sensor. If a value determined from the relationship between the calculated value and the speed exceeds a predetermined threshold changing pattern, an airbag apparatus is activated. The threshold changing pattern is set by selecting a map from a Hi map, a Lo map, a Lo map and a Lo map based on a deceleration determined from an output signal of the satellite sensor. If a map different from the current map is to be set as a threshold changing pattern, the threshold changing pattern is set to the desired map after a state that allows the map to be set continues for a time corresponding to a difference between the two maps.

Activation control apparatus and method of airbag apparatus

An activation control apparatus of an occupant safety system is an activation control apparatus for controlling activation of airbag system mounted on a vehicle in the event of the vehicle colliding with an obstacle, which has a front sensor B mounted in the left part of the vehicle, a front sensor A mounted in the right part of the vehicle, a collision type identifying part for identifying a type of collision of the vehicle, based on values detected by the front sensor B and the front sensor A, and an activation control for controlling the activation of the airbag system , based on the type of the collision identified by the collision type identifying part

Activation control apparatus of occupant safety system

An activation control apparatus of an occupant safety system is an activation control apparatus,for controlling activation of airbag system,mounted on a vehicle in the event of the vehicle colliding with an obstacle, which has a front sensor,B mounted in the left part of the vehicle, a front sensor,A mounted in the right part of the vehicle, a collision type identifying part,for identifying a type of collision of the vehicle, based on values detected by the front sensor,B and the front sensor,A, and an activation control,for controlling the activation of the airbag system,based on the type of the collision identified by the collision type identifying part

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Nagoya, Japan

Katsuji Imai