Control unit for a passenger restraint system and/or passenger protection system for vehicles

Claim 1

A control unit for a passenger safety system for vehicles, comprising: at least one acceleration or deceleration sensor for generating at least one electronic analog output signal corresponding to accelerations or decelerations acting upon an applicable installation site in a vehicle, the at least one sensor output signal having a course corresponding to the time-dependent course of the respective accelerations or decelerations, at least one evaluation circuit having outputs and having an input connected to said at least one acceleration or deceleration sensor for evaluating the at least one sensor output signal to determine if threshold values are exceeded, a tripping circuit for tripping at least one passenger-protection component of the system if at least one of said threshold values is exceeded, means for subjecting each of the at least one sensor output signal to a plurality of different evaluations by supplying the at least one sensor output signal to at least one of said at least one evaluation circuit, each of said at least one evaluation circuit having means for evaluating said time-dependent course by different criteria and by a plurality of differently defined threshold values, at least one of said at least one evaluation circuit having means for using typical features of the time-dependent course supplied to it and a defined threshold value assigned to it to distinguish between accidents of at least two different types to which differently defined threshold values for the severity of the accident are assigned, at least one of said at least one evaluation circuit having means for ascertaining the severity of the type of accident individually assigned to it from said typical features of the time-dependent course supplied to it and from at least one of said threshold values assigned individually to it, at least one logic element for forming a linking function, said logic element having inputs connected to the outputs of said at least one evaluation circuit for linking applicable evaluation outcomes and having an output supplying the linking function to said tripping circuit, said linking function of said at least one logic element tripping the tripping circuit only if evaluations by the various criteria show a defined type of accident from a plurality of defined accident types, and if the at least one threshold value having been specifically assigned to the applicable type of accident has been exceeded, and at least one of said at least one evaluation circuit having means for ascertaining an optimal tripping instant derived from the time-dependent course output signal of said at least one sensor, said optimal tripping instant differing from an instant at which exceeding of the tripping threshold value is ascertained.