IPC분류정보
국가/구분 |
United States(US) Patent
등록
|
국제특허분류(IPC7판) |
|
출원번호 |
US-0278979
(2006-04-07)
|
등록번호 |
US-7386372
(2008-06-10)
|
발명자
/ 주소 |
- Breed,David S.
- DuVall,Wilbur E.
- Johnson,Wendell C.
- Chekhovoy,Oleksandr
- Zakharenkov,Kyrylo
|
출원인 / 주소 |
- Automotive Technologies International, Inc.
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대리인 / 주소 |
|
인용정보 |
피인용 횟수 :
20 인용 특허 :
27 |
초록
▼
Vehicle including a first substructure and a second substructure arranged such that an interior space is defined by or between the first and second substructures, and an arrangement for determining whether an object is present in the interior space. The arrangement includes at least one ultrasonic t
Vehicle including a first substructure and a second substructure arranged such that an interior space is defined by or between the first and second substructures, and an arrangement for determining whether an object is present in the interior space. The arrangement includes at least one ultrasonic transducer arranged on the second substructure and to transmit ultrasonic waves toward the first substructure and receive any waves reflected by objects in the interior space and a processor coupled to the ultrasonic transducer(s) and arranged to determine whether an object is present in the interior space based on reception of waves by the ultrasonic transducer(s). If the vehicle is an automobile and the interior space is the passenger compartment therein, the first substructure can be the passenger seat and the second substructure can be the A-pillar, in which case, the processor determines the presence or absence of a passenger in the passenger seat.
대표청구항
▼
The invention claimed is: 1. A vehicle, comprising: a plurality of parts or components defining an interior space in which one or more objects can be situated, said parts or components including a first substructure and a second substructure arranged opposite at least a part of said first substruct
The invention claimed is: 1. A vehicle, comprising: a plurality of parts or components defining an interior space in which one or more objects can be situated, said parts or components including a first substructure and a second substructure arranged opposite at least a part of said first substructure such that the interior space is defined in part by said first and second substructures; and an arrangement for determining whether an object is present in the interior space, arrangement comprising: at least one ultrasonic transducer arranged on said second substructure and to transmit ultrasonic waves toward said first substructure and receive any waves reflected by objects in the interior space; a processor coupled to said at least one ultrasonic transducer and arranged to determine whether an object is present in the interior space based on any reception of waves by said at least one ultrasonic transducer; determining means for determining at least one property of an atmosphere in the interior space which affects the propagation of ultrasonic waves; and ultrasonic transducer control means coupled to said determining means and to at least one of said at least one transducer and said processor for modifying transmission of the ultrasonic waves via said at least one ultrasound transducer or processing of the received ultrasonic waves via said processor based on the property of the atmosphere in the interior space determined by said determining means. 2. The vehicle of claim 1, wherein said at least one ultrasonic transducer is controlled to associate reception of waves in discrete periods of time with specific timed transmissions of waves, said arrangement further comprising a processing circuit coupled to said at least one ultrasonic transducer and arranged to remove at least one portion of the waves received by said at least one ultrasonic transducer in each time period to thereby form shortened returned waves, said processor being coupled to said processing circuit and arranged to determine whether an object is present in the interior space based on the shortened returned waves formed by said processing circuit. 3. The vehicle of claim 2, wherein said at least one portion of the waves removed is an end wave portion at the end of the time period. 4. The vehicle of claim 1, wherein said at least one ultrasonic transducer comprises a plurality of ultrasonic transducers arranged on said second substructure in positions in which they have different transmission and reception fields. 5. The vehicle of claim 1, wherein said processor comprises a pattern recognition algorithm. 6. The vehicle of claim 5, wherein said pattern recognition algorithm comprises a neural network trained in a training stage in which ultrasonic waves received by said at least one ultrasonic transducer in the absence of objects in the interior space and ultrasonic waves received by said at least one ultrasonic transducer with objects present in the interior space are collected and used to derive the neural network, said neural network operatively processing the waves received by said at least one ultrasonic transducer to provide an indication of the presence or absence of objects in the interior space. 7. The vehicle of claim 1, wherein the vehicle is an automobile, the interior space is a passenger compartment in the automobile, said first substructure is a front passenger seat and said second substructure is an A-pillar, said processor being arranged to determined the presence or absence of a passenger in said passenger seat. 8. The vehicle of claim 7, wherein said at least one ultrasonic transducer is mounted on said A-pillar proximate but not on a ceiling defining the passenger compartment. 9. The vehicle of claim 1, wherein said at least one ultrasonic transducer is mounted at or proximate a top of said second substructure such that waves are transmitted in a downward direction toward the first substructure. 10. The vehicle of claim 1, wherein said determining means are arranged to determine the temperature of the atmosphere in the interior space and said ultrasonic transducer control means are arranged to modify transmission of the ultrasonic waves or processing of the received ultrasonic waves based on the determined temperature. 11. The vehicle of claim 10, wherein said ultrasonic transducer control means are arranged to modify a frequency at which the ultrasonic waves are transmitted by said at least one ultrasonic transmitter based on the determined temperature to provide for a substantially constant wavelength of the transmitted ultrasonic waves over a range of temperatures. 12. The vehicle of claim 10, wherein said ultrasonic transducer control means are arranged to determine the size of a portion of waves to be removed from a larger set of waves received during each discrete period of time based on the determined temperature such that the analyzed waves emanate from the same distance or distance range from said at least one transducer. 13. The vehicle of claim 1, wherein said determining means are arranged to determine the humidity of the atmosphere in the interior space; said ultrasonic transducer control means are arranged to determine at least one acceptable or optimum parameter for the transmission of ultrasonic waves via said at least one ultrasonic transducer or for the reception of ultrasonic waves via said at least one ultrasonic transducer based on the determined humidity whereby each of the at least one parameter is designed to compensate for any increased attenuation of ultrasonic waves resulting from humidity above a threshold, the ultrasonic waves being transmitted via said at least one ultrasonic transducer into the interior space using the at least one determined parameter or any reflected waves being received via said at least one ultrasonic transducer using the at least one determined parameter, said ultrasonic transducer control means being arranged to optionally determine transmission power of the ultrasonic waves or amplification for the reception of the ultrasonic waves. 14. The vehicle of claim 1, wherein said ultrasonic transducer control means are coupled to said at least one transducer and arranged to modify transmission of the ultrasonic waves via said at least one ultrasound transducer based on the property of the atmosphere in the interior space determined by said determining means. 15. The vehicle of claim 1, wherein said ultrasonic transducer control means are coupled to said processor and arranged to modify processing of the received ultrasonic waves via said processor based on the property of the atmosphere in the interior space determined by said determining means. 16. The vehicle of claim 1, wherein said at least one ultrasonic transducer comprises a plurality of ultrasonic transducers arranged on said second substructure in positions in which they have an overlapping transmission and reception field, said processor being arranged to determine whether an object is present in the overlapping transmission and reception field based on any reception of waves by said ultrasonic transducers. 17. A vehicle, comprising: a plurality of parts or components defining an interior space in which one or more objects can be situated, said parts or components including a first substructure and a second substructure arranged opposite at least a part of said first substructure such that the interior space is defined in part by said first and second substructures; and an arrangement for determining whether an object is present in the interior space, said arrangement comprising: transmitting means arranged on said second substructure for transmitting ultrasonic waves at different times toward said first substructure; receiving means arranged on said second substructure for receiving any waves reflected from objects in the interior space during a period of time after each transmission; processor means coupled to said transmitting means and said receiving means for determining whether an object is present in the interior space based on any waves received by said receiving means; determining means for determining at least one property of an atmosphere in the interior space which affects the propagation of ultrasonic waves; and ultrasonic transducer control means coupled to said determining means and to at least one of said transmitting means and said processor means for modifying transmission of the ultrasonic waves via said transmitting means or processing of the received ultrasonic waves via said processor means based on the property of the atmosphere in the interior space determined by said determining means. 18. The vehicle of claim 17, wherein said receiving means is arranged to associate reception of waves in discrete periods of time with specific timed transmissions of waves, said arrangement further comprising a processing circuit coupled to said receiving means and arranged to remove at least one portion of the waves received by said receiving means in each time period to thereby form shortened returned waves, said processor means being coupled to said processing circuit and arranged to determine whether an object is present in the interior space based on the shortened returned waves formed by said processing circuit. 19. The vehicle of claim 18, wherein said at least one portion of the waves removed is an end wave portion at the end of the time period. 20. The vehicle of claim 17, wherein said transmitting means and said receiving means comprise a plurality of ultrasonic transducers arranged on said second substructure in positions in which they have different transmission and reception fields. 21. The vehicle of claim 17, wherein said processor means comprise a pattern recognition algorithm. 22. The vehicle of claim 21, wherein said pattern recognition algorithm comprises a neural network trained in a training stage in which ultrasonic waves received by said receiving means in the absence of objects in the interior space and ultrasonic waves received by said receiving means with objects present in the interior space are collected and used to derive the neural network, said neural network operatively processing the waves received by said receiving means to provide an indication of the presence or absence of objects in the interior space. 23. The vehicle of claim 17, wherein the vehicle is an automobile, the interior space is a passenger compartment in the automobile, said first substructure is a front passenger seat and said second substructure is an A-pillar, said processor means being arranged to determined the presence or absence of a passenger in said passenger seat. 24. The vehicle of claim 23, wherein said transmitting means comprise an ultrasonic transducer mounted on said A-pillar proximate but not on a ceiling defining the passenger compartment. 25. The vehicle of claim 17, wherein said ultrasonic transducer control means are coupled to said transmitting means and arranged to modify transmission of the ultrasonic waves via said transmitting means based on the property of the atmosphere in the interior space determined by said determining means. 26. The vehicle of claim 17, wherein said ultrasonic transducer control means are coupled to said processor means and arranged to modify processing of the received ultrasonic waves via said processor means based on the property of the atmosphere in the interior space determined by said determining means. 27. The vehicle of claim 17, wherein said transmitting means and said receiving means comprise a plurality of ultrasonic transducers arranged on said second substructure in positions in which they have an overlapping transmission and reception field, said processor means being arranged to determine whether an object is present in the overlapping transmission and reception field based on any reception of waves by said ultrasonic transducers. 28. A method for determining whether an object is present in an interior space of a movable asset, comprising: arranging at least one ultrasonic transducer on one side of the interior space; transmitting ultrasonic waves via the at least one ultrasonic transducer into the interior space; receiving any waves reflected from objects in the interior space via the at least one ultrasonic transducer; when waves are received, removing at least one portion of the received waves in a discrete period of time to thereby form shortened waves; and determining whether an object is present in the interior space based on any reception of waves by the at least one ultrasonic transducer and when waves are received in a discrete period of time, upon analysis of the shortened wave formed therefrom. 29. The method of claim 28, wherein the step of removing at least one portion of the received waves comprises removing an end wave portion ending at the end of a data sampling interval. 30. The method of claim 28, wherein the step of arranging at least one ultrasonic transducer comprises arranging a plurality of ultrasonic transducers in positions in which they have different transmission and reception fields. 31. The method of claim 28, wherein the receiving step comprises receiving any waves reflected from objects in the interior space during a succession of time windows following transmissions of ultrasonic waves, and upon reception of any waves, removing at least one portion of the received waves in each time window to thereby form shortened waves. 32. A vehicle, comprising: a plurality of parts or components defining an interior space in which one or more objects can be situated, said parts or components including a first substructure and a second substructure arranged opposite at least a part of said first substructure such that the interior space is defined in part by said first and second substructures; and an arrangement for determining whether an object is present in the interior space, said arrangement comprising: at least one ultrasonic transducer arranged on said second substructure and to transmit ultrasonic waves toward said first substructure and receive any waves reflected by objects in the interior space, said at least one ultrasonic transducer being controlled to associate reception of waves in discrete periods of time with specific timed transmissions of waves; and a processor coupled to said at least one ultrasonic transducer and arranged to determine whether an object is present in the interior space based on any reception of waves by said at least one ultrasonic transducer; and a processing circuit coupled to said at least one ultrasonic transducer and arranged to remove at least one portion of the waves received by said at least one ultrasonic transducer in each time period to thereby form shortened returned waves, said processor being coupled to said processing circuit and arranged to determine whether an object is present in the interior space based on the shortened returned waves formed by said processing circuit. 33. A vehicle, comprising: a plurality of parts or components defining an interior space in which one or more objects can be situated, said parts or components including a first substructure and a second substructure arranged opposite at least a part of said first substructure such that the interior space is defined in part by said first and second substructures; and an arrangement for determining whether an object is present in the interior space, said arrangement comprising: at least one ultrasonic transducer arranged on said second substructure and to transmit ultrasonic waves toward said first substructure and receive any waves reflected by objects in the interior space; a processor coupled to said at least one ultrasonic transducer and arranged to determine whether an object is present in the interior space based on any reception of waves by said at least one ultrasonic transducer; temperature determining means for determining the temperature of the atmosphere in the interior space; and modification means coupled to said at least one transducer for modifying transmission of the ultrasonic waves or processing of the received ultrasonic waves based on the determined temperature, said modification means being arranged to determine the size of a portion of waves to be removed from a larger set of waves received during each discrete period of time based on the determined temperature such that the analyzed waves emanate from the same distance or distance range from the at least one transducer. 34. A vehicle, comprising: a plurality of parts or components defining an interior space in which one or more objects can be situated, said parts or components including a first substructure and a second substructure arranged opposite at least a part of said first substructure such that the interior space is defined in part by said first and second substructures; and an arrangement for determining whether an object is present in the interior space, said arrangement comprising: transmitting means arranged on said second substructure for transmitting ultrasonic waves at different times toward said first substructure; receiving means arranged on said second substructure for receiving any waves reflected from objects in the interior space during a period of time after each transmission, said receiving means being arranged to associate reception of waves in discrete periods of time with specific timed transmissions of waves; processor means coupled to said transmitting means and said receiving means for determining whether an object is present in the interior space based on any waves received by said receiving means; and a processing circuit coupled to said receiving means and arranged to remove at least one portion of the waves received by said receiving means in each time period to thereby form shortened returned waves, said processor means being coupled to said processing circuit and arranged to determine whether an object is present in the interior space based on the shortened returned waves formed by said processing circuit.
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