초록 ▼

A vehicle has a seat configured to receive a person or object. An array of flexible potentiometers is positioned in the seat to sense the mass or weight and the footprint or profile of that which is in the seat. The flexible potentiometers supply a signal through circuitry to enable or disable an ai

A vehicle has a seat configured to receive a person or object. An array of flexible potentiometers is positioned in the seat to sense the mass or weight and the footprint or profile of that which is in the seat. The flexible potentiometers supply a signal through circuitry to enable or disable an air bag system in the vehicle. The air bag system operates under selected conditions such as what may be experienced in a crash of the vehicle to deploy the air bag to preclude movement of a seat occupant into vehicle structure.

대표청구항 ▼

[ We claim:] [1.] A sensor system comprising:a surface configured to receive and support a weight having a mass and a foot print, said surface being formed of a material which deflects in a pattern reflective of said mass and said foot print between a first position without said weight on said surfa

[ We claim:] [1.] A sensor system comprising:a surface configured to receive and support a weight having a mass and a foot print, said surface being formed of a material which deflects in a pattern reflective of said mass and said foot print between a first position without said weight on said surface and a second position with said weight on said surface;an array of flexible potentiometers each having an electrical resistance that predictably varies upon deflection from a first position to a second position, said array of flexible potentiometers being positioned under said surface, each of said flexible potentiometers being positioned to move from its first position to its second position to sense the deflection of said surface in said pattern between the first position of said surface and the second position of said surface and to generate deflection signals reflective of said pattern; anda circuit means connected to receive said deflection signals reflective of said pattern and to supply a control signal to an exterior receiver, said circuit means having means to process said deflection signals reflective of said pattern and to generate said control signal.