IPC분류정보
국가/구분 |
United States(US) Patent
등록
|
국제특허분류(IPC7판) |
|
출원번호 |
US-0613071
(2009-11-05)
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등록번호 |
US-8447474
(2013-05-21)
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발명자
/ 주소 |
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출원인 / 주소 |
- American Vehicular Sciences LLC
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대리인 / 주소 |
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인용정보 |
피인용 횟수 :
15 인용 특허 :
37 |
초록
▼
Externally deployed airbag system for a vehicle including one or more inflatable airbags deployable outside of the vehicle, an anticipatory sensor system for assessing the probable severity of an impact involving the vehicle based on data obtained prior to the impact and initiating inflation of the
Externally deployed airbag system for a vehicle including one or more inflatable airbags deployable outside of the vehicle, an anticipatory sensor system for assessing the probable severity of an impact involving the vehicle based on data obtained prior to the impact and initiating inflation of the airbag(s) in the event an impact above a threshold severity is assessed, and an inflator coupled to the anticipatory sensor system and the airbag for inflating the airbag when initiated by the anticipatory sensor system. The airbag may be housed in a module mounted along a side of the vehicle, in a side door of the vehicle (both for side impact protection), at a front of the vehicle (for frontal impact protection) or at a rear of the vehicle (for rear impact protection). Also, the externally deployed airbag can be deployed to cushion a pedestrian's impact against the vehicle.
대표청구항
▼
1. A motor vehicle, comprising: at least one inflatable airbag deployable outside of the vehicle;an anticipatory sensor system that obtains distance and velocity information about an object exterior of the vehicle prior to contact between the object and the vehicle;a warning system coupled to said a
1. A motor vehicle, comprising: at least one inflatable airbag deployable outside of the vehicle;an anticipatory sensor system that obtains distance and velocity information about an object exterior of the vehicle prior to contact between the object and the vehicle;a warning system coupled to said anticipatory sensor system and that generates a warning for a driver of the vehicle based in part on the distance and velocity information about the object obtained by said anticipatory sensor system; andan inflator system coupled to said anticipatory sensor system and said at least one airbag and that controls inflation of said at least one airbag based in part on the distance and velocity information about the object obtained by said anticipatory sensor system. 2. The vehicle of claim 1, wherein said anticipatory sensor system is configured to assess severity of an impact involving the vehicle and the object based in part on data obtained prior to the impact and initiate inflation of said at least one airbag by said inflator system in the event an impact above a threshold severity is assessed. 3. The vehicle of claim 2, wherein said anticipatory sensor system comprises at least one receiver for receiving waves or energy and a pattern recognition system that analyzes the received waves or energy or data representative of the received waves or energy to assess the severity of the impact, said pattern recognition system being configured to ascertain the identity of an object from which the waves or energy have been emitted, reflected or generated, the assessment of the severity of the impact being at least partially based on the identification of the object, said pattern recognition system comprising a processor embodying a pattern recognition algorithm trained or designed to provide an output of one of a number of pre-determined identities of the object. 4. The vehicle of claim 3, wherein said pattern recognition system is further configured to determine at least one property of the object from which the waves or energy have been emitted, reflected or generated, the assessment of the probable severity of the impact being at least partially based on the determined at least one property of the object. 5. The vehicle of claim 4, wherein the at least one property is the size of the object. 6. The vehicle of claim 3, wherein said anticipatory sensor system further comprises a transmitter for transmitting waves away from the vehicle, said at least one receiver receiving waves transmitted by said transmitter which have been reflected from objects exterior of the vehicle, the received waves being analyzed to enable assessment of the probable severity of the impact. 7. The vehicle of claim 3, wherein when said pattern recognition system ascertains the identity of the object as being a pedestrian, said anticipatory sensor system is configured to assess the probable severity of an impact between the pedestrian and the vehicle based in part on data obtained prior to the impact, said at least one airbag being deployable to cushion impact of the pedestrian against the vehicle. 8. The vehicle of claim 1, wherein the vehicle has a front, a rear, a left side and a right side, further comprising an airbag module for housing said at least one airbag, said airbag module being mounted along one of the right and left sides of the vehicle. 9. The vehicle of claim 1, further comprising an airbag module for housing said at least one airbag, said airbag module being mounted in a side door of the vehicle. 10. The vehicle of claim 1, further comprising an airbag module for housing said at least one airbag, said airbag module being mounted at a front of the vehicle for use in frontal impact protection. 11. The vehicle of claim 1, further comprising an airbag module for housing said at least one airbag, said airbag module being mounted at a rear of the vehicle for use in rear impact protection. 12. The vehicle of claim 1, further comprising: an additional, internally deployable airbag, said anticipatory sensor system being configured to initiate inflation of said additional airbag in the event an impact above a threshold severity is assessed; andan additional inflator coupled to said anticipatory sensor system and said additional airbag for inflating said additional airbag when initiated by said anticipatory sensor system. 13. The vehicle of claim 1, wherein said anticipatory sensor system comprises at least one receiver for receiving waves or energy and pattern recognition means for analyzing the received waves or energy or data representative of the received waves or energy to determine that an impact is about to occur and to determine whether the impact requires deployment of said airbag, said pattern recognition means being configured to ascertain the identity of an object from which the waves or energy have been emitted, reflected or generated, the determination whether the impact requires deployment of said airbag being at least partially based on the identification of the object, said pattern recognition means comprising a processor embodying a pattern recognition algorithm trained to provide an output of one of a number of pre-determined identities of the object. 14. The vehicle of claim 1, wherein said anticipatory sensor system is configured to determine that an impact involving the vehicle is about to occur based in part on distance and velocity information obtained prior to the impact and determine whether the about-to-occur impact requires deployment of said at least one airbag. 15. The vehicle of claim 1, wherein said warning system is configured to generate an audible tone. 16. The vehicle of claim 1, wherein said warning system is configured to generate a visual warning. 17. The vehicle of claim 1, wherein said warning system is configured to generate an icon on a display indicative of the object. 18. A method for improving use of a vehicle, comprising: obtaining distance and velocity information about an object exterior of the vehicle prior to contact between the object and the vehicle by means of an anticipatory sensor system;generating a warning for a driver of the vehicle based in part on the obtained distance and velocity information about the object by means of a warning system; andcontrolling inflation of at least one airbag deployable external from the vehicle based in part on the obtained distance and velocity information about the object by means of an inflator system. 19. The method of claim 18, wherein the at least one airbag comprises a plurality of airbags, further comprising: detecting an impending impact between the vehicle and the object prior to the impact based in part on the obtained distance and velocity information about the object by means of the anticipatory sensor system;determining severity of the impending impact prior to the impact by means of the anticipatory sensor system; anddetermining which of the airbags to deploy based in part on the obtained distance and velocity information about the object and then inflating the airbag(s) prior to impact when the impending impact is determined to be above a threshold severity. 20. The method of claim 18, further comprising: receiving waves or energy from the object by means of a wave receiver; andascertaining, using a processor, the identity of the object based in part on the received waves or energy by inputting the received waves or energy or data representative of the received waves or energy into a pattern recognition algorithm that provides an output of one of a number of pre-determined identities of the object,the warning being generated based in part on the identity of the object or the inflation of the at least one airbag being controlled based in part on the identity of the object. 21. The method of claim 20, further comprising transmitting waves away from the vehicle by means of a wave transmitter, whereby the transmitted waves reflected off of objects and thus-reflected waves are receivable by the wave receiver. 22. The method of claim 20, further comprising determining at least one property of the object based in part on the received waves or energy, the warning being generated based in part on the at least one property of the object or the inflation of the at least one airbag being controlled based in part on the at least one property of the object. 23. The method of claim 22, wherein the at least one property is the size of the object. 24. The method of claim 18, wherein the vehicle has a front, a rear, a left side and a right side, the at least one airbag being situated along one of the right and left sides of the vehicle. 25. The method of claim 18, wherein each of the at least one airbag is situated in a side door of the vehicle, at a front of the vehicle or at a rear of the vehicle. 26. The method of claim 18, wherein the warning system generates an audible tone. 27. The method of claim 18, wherein the warning system generates a visual warning. 28. The method of claim 18, wherein the warning system generates an icon on a display indicative of the object.
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