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Method for controlling a vehicular component based on the position and velocity of an occupant in which the current position and velocity of the occupant are determined, an expected position of the occupant is determined based on the current position and current velocity of the occupant and the comp

Method for controlling a vehicular component based on the position and velocity of an occupant in which the current position and velocity of the occupant are determined, an expected position of the occupant is determined based on the current position and current velocity of the occupant and the component is controlled in consideration of the expected position of the occupant. If the component is a deployable occupant protection device, deployment can be suppressed if the expected position of the occupant is not in a predetermined acceptable position for deployment of the occupant protection device, i.e., the occupant is out-of-position. The position and velocity can be determined several times after the start of the crash and prior to deployment of the occupant protection device so as to enable continual adjustment and control thereof based on the most recent position and velocity of the occupant. The position and velocity of the occupant can be determined using a wave transmitter/receiver arrangement. The velocity of the occupant can be determined from successive position measurements.

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1. A method for controlling a vehicular component based on the position and velocity of an occupant, comprising the steps of:determining the current position of the occupant, determining the current velocity of the occupant, determining an expected, future position of the occupant based on the curre

1. A method for controlling a vehicular component based on the position and velocity of an occupant, comprising the steps of:determining the current position of the occupant, determining the current velocity of the occupant, determining an expected, future position of the occupant based on the current position and current velocity of the occupant, and controlling the component in consideration of the expected position of the occupant. 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the component is a deployable occupant protection device.3. The method of claim 2, wherein the step of controlling the component comprises the step of suppressing the deployment of the occupant protection device when the expected position of the occupant is not in a predetermined acceptable position for deployment of the occupant protection device.4. The method of claim 2, wherein the step of controlling the component comprises the step of suppressing the deployment of the occupant protection device when the expected position of the occupant is within a threshold distance from the occupant protection device.5. The method of claim 2, wherein the step of controlling the component comprises the step of allowing deployment of the occupant protection device when the expected position of the occupant is greater than a threshold distance from the occupant protection device.6. The method of claim 5, further comprising the steps of:determining a revised current position of the occupant after a period of time from the determination of the then-current position of the occupant, determining a revised current velocity of the occupant after a period of time from the determination of the then-current velocity of the occupant, determining a revised expected position of the occupant based on the revised position and revised velocity of the occupant, and controlling the component in consideration of the revised expected position of the occupant. 7. The method of claim 2, wherein the step of determining an expected position of the occupant comprises the step of determining the expected movement of the occupant based on the current velocity and the time difference between the time at which the current position and current velocity are determined and the time of expected deployment of the occupant protection device.8. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of determining the current position of the occupant comprises the steps of receiving waves from the occupant and determining the position of the occupant from the received waves.9. The method of claim 8, wherein the waves are electromagnetic waves.10. The method of claim 8, wherein the waves are ultrasonic waves.11. The method of claim 8, wherein the step of determining the current position of the occupant further comprises the step of transmitting waves toward the occupant whereby the transmitted waves are modified as a function of the position of the occupant and then received.12. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of determining the current position and current velocity comprise the steps of mounting a single wave transmitter on the vehicle, transmitting waves from the transmitter toward the occupant and receiving the transmitted waves after the transmitted waves have been modified by the occupant by means of a wave receiver whereby the position and velocity are determinable from differences between the transmitted waves and the received waves.13. The method of claim 12, wherein the wave transmitter transmits ultrasonic waves, the position of the occupant being determined by the travel time of the ultrasonic waves and the velocity of the occupant being determined by the frequency shift of the ultrasonic waves.14. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of:prior to determining the current position of the occupant, determining and storing a preceding position of the occupant in memory, the step of determining the velocity of the occupant comprising the step of dividing the change in position of the occupant between the preceding position and the current position by the difference in time from the time when the preceding position was determined and the time when the current position was determined. 15. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of determining the velocity of the occupant comprises the steps of measuring infrared radiation over a period of time and applying pattern recognition techniques to the measured infrared radiation to obtain the velocity of the occupant.16. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of determining the position of the occupant comprises the step of utilizing pattern recognition techniques.17. A method for controlling a vehicular component based on the position and velocity of an occupant, comprising the steps of:receiving waves from a direction of the occupant at a first time, receiving waves from the direction of the occupant at a second time, determining a current position of the occupant at the second time from the waves received from the direction of the occupant at the second time, determining a current velocity of the occupant at the second time from the waves received from the direction of the occupant at the first and second times, determining an expect, future position of the occupant based on the current position and velocity of the occupant at the second time, and controlling the component in consideration of the expected position of the occupant. 18. The method of claim 17, wherein the component is a deployable occupant protection device.19. The method of claim 18, wherein the step of controlling the component comprises the step of suppressing the deployment of the occupant protection device when the expected position of the occupant is not in a predetermined acceptable position for deployment of the occupant protection device.20. The method of claim 18, wherein the step of controlling the component comprises the step of suppressing the deployment of the occupant protection device when the expected position of the occupant is within a threshold distance from the occupant protection device.21. The method of claim 18, wherein the step of controlling the component comprises the step of allowing deployment of the occupant protection device when the expected position of the occupant is greater than a threshold distance from the occupant protection device.22. The method of claim 21, further comprising the steps of:receiving waves from the direction of the occupant at a third time, determining the position of the occupant at the third time from the waves received from the direction of the occupant at the third time, determining the velocity of the occupant at the third time from the waves received from the direction of the occupant at the second and third times, determining a revised expected position of the occupant based on the position and velocity of the occupant at the third time, and controlling the component in consideration of the revised expected position of the occupant. 23. The method of claim 17, wherein the step of determining an expected position of the occupant comprises the step of determining the expected movement of the occupant based on the velocity at the second time and the difference between the first and second times.24. The method of claim 17, wherein the waves are electromagnetic waves.25. The method of claim 17, wherein the waves are ultrasonic waves.26. The method of claim 17, wherein the step of determining the position of the occupant further comprises the step of transmitting waves toward the occupant whereby the transmitted waves are modified as a function of the position of the occupant and then received.27. The method of claim 17, wherein the step of determining the position and current velocity comprise the steps of mounting a single wave transmitter to direct waves toward the occupant and a single wave receiver to receive the transmitted waves after being modified by the occupant.28. A method for controlling a vehicular component based on the position and velocity of an occupant, comprising the steps of:transmitting waves toward the occupant, receiving waves from the direction of the occupant, determining the current position of the occupant based on the travel time of the waves, determining the current velocity of the occupant, determining an expected, future position of the occupant based on the current position and current velocity of the occupant, and controlling the component in consideration of the expected position of the occupant. 29. The method of claim 28, wherein the component is a deployable occupant protection device.30. The method of claim 29, wherein the step of controlling the component comprises the step of suppressing the deployment of the occupant protection device when the expected position of the occupant is not in a predetermined acceptable position for deployment of the occupant protection device.31. The method of claim 29, wherein the step of controlling the component comprises the step of suppressing the deployment of the occupant protection device when the expected position of the occupant is within a threshold distance from the occupant protection device.32. The method of claim 29, wherein the step of controlling the component comprises the step of allowing deployment of the occupant protection device when the expected position of the occupant is greater than a threshold distance from the occupant protection device.33. The method of claim 29, wherein the step of determining an expected position of the occupant comprises the step of determining the expected movement of the occupant based on the current velocity and the time difference between the time at which the current position and current velocity are determined and the time of deployment of the occupant protection device.34. The method of claim 28, wherein the waves are electromagnetic waves.35. The method of claim 28, wherein the waves are ultrasonic waves.36. The method of claim 28, wherein the step of determining the position of the occupant comprises the step of utilizing pattern recognition techniques.37. The method of claim 28, wherein the waves are transmitted by a single transmitter arranged on a steering wheel assembly of the vehicle.38. The method of claim 28, wherein the waves are transmitted by a single transmitter arranged on an airbag module in the vehicle.39. The method of claim 28, wherein the current velocity of the occupant is determined by the frequency shift of the waves.