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:
Jul. 29, 2008
Filed:
Oct. 04, 2004
Michael E. O'boyle, Brighton, MI (US);
Owen A. Davies, Goleta, CA (US);
Gregory G. Schamp, South Lyon, MI (US);
James C. Demro, Santa Barbara, CA (US);
Michael E. O'Boyle, Brighton, MI (US);
Owen A. Davies, Goleta, CA (US);
Gregory G. Schamp, South Lyon, MI (US);
James C. Demro, Santa Barbara, CA (US);
Automotive Systems Laboratory, Inc., Farmington Hills, MI (US);
Abstract
A camera () captures successive images of light stripes () projected onto an object by a light curtain () positioned by a light source positioner (). A background image is subtracted () therefrom, and the resulting image is boosted by binning (), binarized with a thresholding algorithm (), skeletonized (), interpolated () and stored (). Interpolated images are acquired for a plurality of light stripes (). A processor () generates () a 3-D surface model from Cartesian coordinates computed for non-zero camera pixels. A volumetric representation is determined () from the offset of the object surface model relative to a model of a proximate surface, e.g. a seating surface (). The object is classified (), e.g. by a trainable pattern recognitions system, responsive to 3-D shape descriptors () of the 3-D surface model and to the volumetric representation () or portions () thereof. The detection of an occupant () in a vehicle () may be used to control a safety restraint system ().