초록 ▼

Vehicle including a crash sensor system arranged to determine a crash condition involving the vehicle which might cause injury to a vehicular occupant, at least one module each including an occupant protection device actuatable upon determination of a crash condition in order to protect the occupant

Vehicle including a crash sensor system arranged to determine a crash condition involving the vehicle which might cause injury to a vehicular occupant, at least one module each including an occupant protection device actuatable upon determination of a crash condition in order to protect the occupant from injury during the crash, and a vehicle bus to which the crash sensor system and module(s) are connected. The crash sensor system generates a signal upon a determination of a crash condition and directs the signal over the bus. Each module is arranged to actuate its occupant protection device in consideration of the signal. The signal might be directly sent to the module from the crash sensor system or sent to a control module which processes it and in turn generates a signal to be directed via the bus to the module(s).

대표청구항 ▼

The invention claimed is: 1. A vehicle, comprising: a crash sensor system arranged to determine a crash condition involving the vehicle which might cause injury to an occupant of the vehicle, said crash sensor system including a sensor arranged in a portion of the vehicle that is crushed during a c

The invention claimed is: 1. A vehicle, comprising: a crash sensor system arranged to determine a crash condition involving the vehicle which might cause injury to an occupant of the vehicle, said crash sensor system including a sensor arranged in a portion of the vehicle that is crushed during a crash involving the vehicle; at least one module, each of said at least one module including an occupant protection device arranged to be actuated upon the determination of a crash condition involving the vehicle by said crash sensor system in order to protect the occupant from injury during the crash; and a vehicle bus, said crash sensor system and said at least one module being independently and directly connected to said bus such that said crash sensor system and each of said at least one module are linked to one another only via said bus, said crash sensor system being arranged to generate a crash signal upon the determination of a crash condition and direct said crash signal to said bus such that said crash signal travels in a first direction on said bus and is receivable by each of said at least one module directly from said bus, said at least one module being arranged to actuate said occupant protection device in consideration of said crash signal, each of said at least one module being arranged to generate an operation signal relating to operation of said module and direct said operation signal over said bus such that said operation signal travels in a second direction on said bus and thus said bus handles bi-directional communications to and from said at least one module. 2. The vehicle of claim 1, further comprising a monitoring circuit independently and directly connected to said bus for monitoring said at least one module, said operation signal being generated by said at least one module being a signal relating to operational status of said at least one module which is directed directly from said at least one module to said bus, travels in the second direction on said bus and is receivable from said bus directly by said monitoring circuit. 3. The vehicle of claim 1, wherein said bus is arranged to transmit power and data to said at least one module. 4. The vehicle of claim 1, wherein said sensor provides an indication of crush of that portion of the vehicle and thus determines a crash condition based on crush of that portion of the vehicle. 5. The vehicle of claim 1, wherein said at least one module comprises a plurality of modules, said occupant protection device in each of said modules being an airbag. 6. The vehicle of claim 5, wherein different sets of said modules are associated with different types of crash conditions, said crash sensor system being arranged to detect each of the different types of crash conditions and enable deployment of said airbag in only the set of said modules associated with the detected type of crash condition. 7. The vehicle of claim 1, wherein said at least one module comprises a plurality of modules, each of said modules being arranged to determine independent of each other whether to actuate said occupant protection device of said module. 8. The vehicle of claim 7, wherein each of said modules includes an occupant position sensor for determining the position of the occupant to be protected by said occupant protection device of said module, each of said modules being arranged to consider the determined position of the occupant when determining whether to actuate said occupant protection device. 9. A method for enabling actuation of occupant protection devices in a vehicle, comprising: arranging a crash sensor system on the vehicle to determine a crash condition involving the vehicle which might cause injury to an occupant of the vehicle, the crash sensor system including a sensor arranged in a portion of the vehicle that is crushed during a crash involving the vehicle; arranging at least one module on the vehicle, each of the at least one module including an occupant protection device arranged to be actuated upon the determination of a crash condition involving the vehicle by the crash sensor system in order to protect the occupant from injury during the crash, the occupant protection device being actuated upon a determination of the crash condition by the sensor; connecting the crash sensor system and the at least one module to a vehicle bus, the crash sensor system and the at least one module being independently and directly connected to the bus such that the crash sensor system and each of the at least one module are linked to one another only via the bus; generating a crash signal via the crash sensor system upon the determination of a crash condition and directing the crash signal to the bus such that the crash signal travels in a first direction on the bus and is receivable by each of the at least one module directly from the bus; enabling the at least one module to actuate the occupant protection device upon generation of the crash signal via the crash sensor system; and generating an operation signal in the at least one module relating to operation of the module and directing the operation signal over the bus such that the operation signal travels in a second direction on the bus and thus the bus handles bi-directional communications to and from the at least one module. 10. The method of claim 9, further comprising connecting a monitoring circuit to the bus for monitoring the at least one module, the operation signal being generated by the at least one module being a signal relating to operational status of the at least one module which is directed from the at least one module to the bus, travels in the second direction on the bus and is received by the monitoring circuit. 11. The method of claim 9, further comprising transmitting power and data to the at least one module via the bus. 12. The method of claim 9, wherein the sensor provides an indication of crush of that portion of the vehicle and thus determines a crash condition based on crush of that portion of the vehicle. 13. The method of claim 9, wherein the at least one module comprises a plurality of modules, the occupant protection device in each of the modules being an airbag. 14. The method of claim 13, wherein different sets of the modules are associated with different types of crash conditions, the crash sensor system being arranged to detect each of the different types of crash conditions and enable deployment of the airbag in only the set of the modules associated with the detected type of crash condition. 15. The method of claim 9, wherein the at least one module comprises a plurality of modules, each of the modules being arranged to determine independent of each other whether to actuate the occupant protection device of the module. 16. The method of claim 15, further comprising determining the position of the occupant to be protected by the occupant protection device of the module, each of the modules being arranged to consider the determined position of the occupant when determining whether to actuate the occupant protection device. 17. A vehicle electrical system, comprising: a vehicle bus; a plurality of modules connected to said bus, each of said modules including an occupant protection device arranged to be actuated upon determination of a crash condition involving the vehicle in order to protect the occupant from injury during the crash; a crash sensor system connected to said bus and arranged to generate a crash signal upon a determination of a crash condition involving the vehicle which might cause injury to an occupant of the vehicle, said crash sensor system including a sensor arranged in a portion of the vehicle that is crushed during a crash involving the vehicle; said crash sensor system and said modules being independently and directly connected to said bus such that said crash sensor system and each of said modules are linked to one another only via said bus, said crash sensor system being arranged to direct said crash signal to said bus such that said crash signal travels in a first direction and is receivable by each of said modules directly from said bus to enable said modules to actuate said occupant protection device in each of said modules; and a monitoring system connected to said bus for monitoring operability of said modules, said modules being arranged to generate an operation signal relating to operational status thereof and direct said operation signal over said bus to said monitoring system such that said operation signal travels in a second direction on said bus and thus said bus handles bi-directional communications to and from said modules. 18. The system of claim 17, wherein said sensor provides an indication of crush of that portion of the vehicle and thus determines a crash condition based on crush of that portion of the vehicle.