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:
Nov. 22, 2005
Filed:
Apr. 24, 2002
Michael E. O'boyle, Brighton, MI (US);
Gregory G. Schamp, South Lyon, MI (US);
Owen A. Davies, Goleta, CA (US);
James C. Demro, Santa Barbara, CA (US);
Debbie E. Nachtegall, Royal Oak, MI (US);
William P. Wernette, Brighton, MI (US);
Michael E. O'Boyle, Brighton, MI (US);
Gregory G. Schamp, South Lyon, MI (US);
Owen A. Davies, Goleta, CA (US);
James C. Demro, Santa Barbara, CA (US);
Debbie E. Nachtegall, Royal Oak, MI (US);
William P. Wernette, Brighton, MI (US);
Automotive Systems Laboratory, Inc., Farmington Hills, MI (US);
Abstract
An eye-safe light curtain is generated by a plurality of LED's illuminating a cylindrical lens having a corrugated cylindrical surface. A camera generates a first image of an avoidance zone boundary of an air bag inflator with the light curtain off, and a second image of with the light curtain on along the avoidance zone boundary. The first image is subtracted from the second image, and the resulting difference image is binned to enhance signal strength. A penetration of the avoidance zone is classified from features of the leading edge of the binned image, and the air bag inflator is disabled if the avoidance zone is penetrated by an occupant at risk of injury from the deployment thereof. An image of the light curtain may be recovered for high ambient lighting conditions by adapting the exposure time of the camera responsive to the percentage of pixels in a mask region of the first image having values exceeding a threshold.