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. 22, 2002
Filed:
Sep. 01, 2000
Siemens Aktiengesellschaft, Munich, DE;
Abstract
A motor vehicle occupant protection system and a method for triggering the system include an accident sensor and a control device. The latter controls system triggering as a function of a sensor output signal. The control device has an input terminal connected via a communication line to a sensor status signal output terminal. In the system and method, the sensor has internally checks errors at regular and/or irregular intervals, and, upon detection, permanently generates a status signal for the control device, which checks the status before triggering a vehicle occupant protection system when it receives a signal fulfilling system triggering criteria. The control device enables/disables the triggering as a function of the check result. Specifically, the control device disables the firing standby state and generates a warning signal. In the event of an accident, before the vehicle occupant protection system is fired, the status signal is interrogated once more, i.e., sensor status is checked. If the accident sensor does not signal an error, the triggering takes place, but otherwise it is disabled. As a result, undesired triggering of the vehicle occupant protection system can be avoided.