The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Oct. 16, 2001
Filed:
Apr. 19, 1999
Robert A. Stopper, Jr., Plymouth, MI (US);
James G. Stanley, Novi, MI (US);
Automotive Systems Laboratory, Inc., Farmington Hills, MI (US);
Abstract
An occupant detection system (,) for controlling the activation of an air bag inflator (,) incorporates a transmitter/receiver subsystem (,) and a ranging subsystem (,) that respectively measure the distances from a point of reference to the upper seat back (,) and to the region in front of the upper seat back (,). If a normally seated occupant is detected from the difference of the respective distances, then the air bag inflator (,) is enabled. A range/proximity sensing subsystem (,) determines if an occupant is sufficiently close to an air bag inflator (,) to be at risk of injury by deployment thereof, and if so the air bag inflator (,) is disabled.