Method and apparatus for vehicle crash discrimination based on oscillation and energy content

Claim 1

A method of controlling deployment of an inflatable restraint system for a motor vehicle comprising the steps of: obtaining vehicle acceleration data, detecting an onset of a crash event at periodic intervals of time after said onset of the crash event, computing a change in vehicle velocity from said acceleration data, selecting a time dependent velocity boundary value from a boundary curve in a velocity vs. time domain which bounds velocity vs. time test data of a plurality of non-deployment events, and comparing said change in vehicle velocity with said velocity boundary value, at periodic intervals of time after said onset of the crash event, computing an oscillation value corresponding to an oscillation content of the acceleration data, selecting a time dependent oscillation boundary value from a boundary curve in an oscillation vs. time domain which bounds oscillation vs. time test data of at least one non-deployment event, and comparing said oscillation value with said oscillation boundary value, and deploying the restraint system when said change in vehicle velocity exceeds said velocity boundary value and said oscillation value exceeds said oscillation boundary value.

Claim 2

A method of controlling deployment of an inflatable restraint system for a motor vehicle comprising the steps of: obtaining vehicle acceleration data, detecting an onset of a crash event at periodic intervals of time after said onset of the crash event, computing a change in vehicle velocity from said acceleration data, selecting a time dependent velocity boundary value from a boundary curve in a velocity vs. time domain which bounds velocity vs. time test data of a plurality of non-deployment events, and comparing said change in vehicle velocity with said velocity boundary value, at periodic intervals of time after said onset of the crash event, computing an oscillation value corresponding to an oscillation content of the acceleration data, selecting a time dependent oscillation boundary value from a boundary curve in an oscillation vs. time domain which bounds oscillation vs. time test data of at least one non-deployment event, and comparing said oscillation value with said oscillation boundary value, and deploying the restraint system when said change in vehicle velocity exceeds said velocity boundary value and said oscillation value exceeds said oscillation boundary value.

Claim 3

A method of controlling deployment of an inflatable restraint system for a motor vehicle comprising the steps of: sensing vehicle deceleration and comparing the vehicle deceleration sensed with a deceleration threshold to detect an onset of a crash event, integrating the sensed vehicle deceleration over a first time interval T1 following detection of the onset of the crash event to determine a change in velocity value and comparing said change in velocity value with a velocity threshold value, integrating the absolute value of a derivative of vehicle deceleration over a second time interval T2 equal to and immediately adjacent said first time interval T1 to determine an oscillation value, and comparing said oscillation value with an oscillation threshold value, deploying the restraint system when both said velocity and said oscillation threshold values are respectively exceeded by the change in velocity and oscillation values.

Claim 4

A method of controlling deployment of an inflatable restraint system for a motor vehicle comprising the steps of: sensing vehicle deceleration and comparing the vehicle deceleration sensed with a deceleration threshold to detect an onset of a crash event, integrating the sensed vehicle deceleration over a first time interval T1 following detection of the onset of the crash event to determine a change in velocity value and comparing said change in velocity value with a velocity threshold value, integrating the absolute value of a derivative of vehicle deceleration over a second time interval T2 equal to and immediately adjacent said first time interval T1 to determine an oscillation value, and comparing said oscillation value with an oscillation threshold value, deploying the restraint system when both said velocity and said oscillation threshold values are respectively exceeded by the change in velocity and oscillation values.

Claim 5

A method of controlling deployment of an inflatable restraint system for a motor vehicle comprising the steps of: sensing vehicle deceleration and comparing the vehicle deceleration sensed with a deceleration threshold to detect an onset of a crash event, integrating the sensed vehicle deceleration following detection of the onset of the crash event to determine a change in velocity value and comparing said change in velocity value with a velocity threshold value, integrating the absolute value of a derivative of vehicle deceleration following detection of the onset of the crash event to determine an oscillation value and comparing said oscillation value with an oscillation threshold value, deploying the restraint system when both said velocity and said oscillation threshold values are exceeded.

Claim 6

A method of controlling deployment of an inflatable restraint system for a motor vehicle comprising the steps of: sensing vehicle deceleration and comparing the vehicle deceleration sensed with a deceleration threshold to detect an onset of a crash event, integrating the sensed vehicle deceleration following detection of the onset of the crash event to determine a change in velocity value and comparing said change in velocity value with a velocity threshold value, integrating the absolute value of a derivative of vehicle deceleration following detection of the onset of the crash event to determine an oscillation value and comparing said oscillation value with an oscillation threshold value, deploying the restraint system when both said velocity and said oscillation threshold values are exceeded.

Claim 14

A method of controlling deployment of an inflatable restraint system for a motor vehicle comprising the steps of: sampling vehicle deceleration at a predetermined sampling rate to obtain discrete values of deceleration, comparing vehicle deceleration values with a deceleration threshold to detect a start of a crash event, summing a predetermined number of vehicle deceleration values following detection of the start of the crash event to determine a change in velocity value, comparing said change in velocity value with a velocity threshold value, summing the absolute value of a difference between successive deceleration samples following detection of the start of the crash event to obtain an oscillation value, comparing said oscillation value with an oscillation threshold value, deploying the restraint system when the change in velocity value exceeds said velocity threshold value AND said oscillation value exceeds said oscillation threshold value.

Claim 15

A method of controlling deployment of an inflatable restraint system for a motor vehicle comprising the steps of: sampling vehicle deceleration at a predetermined sampling rate to obtain discrete values of deceleration, comparing vehicle deceleration values with a deceleration threshold to detect a start of a crash event, summing a predetermined number of vehicle deceleration values following detection of the start of the crash event to determine a change in velocity value, comparing said change in velocity value with a velocity threshold value, summing the absolute value of a difference between successive deceleration samples following detection of the start of the crash event to obtain an oscillation value, comparing said oscillation value with an oscillation threshold value, deploying the restraint system when the change in velocity value exceeds said velocity threshold value AND said oscillation value exceeds said oscillation threshold value.

Claim 16

A method of controlling deployment of an inflatable restraint system for a motor vehicle comprising the steps of: sampling vehicle acceleration at a predetermined sampling rate to obtain discrete values of acceleration, comparing vehicle acceleration values with an acceleration threshold to detect a start of a crash event, summing a predetermined number of vehicle acceleration values following detection of the start of the crash event to determine a change in velocity value, comparing said change in velocity value with a velocity change threshold value obtained from a table of velocity change values corresponding to a composite profile of velocity change vs. time test data of a plurality of non-deployment events for the vehicle, summing the absolute value of a difference between successive acceleration samples following detection of the start of the crash event to obtain an oscillation value, comparing said oscillation value with an oscillation threshold value obtained from a table of oscillation values corresponding to a composite profile of oscillation vs. time test data of a plurality of non-deployment events for the vehicle, deploying the restraint system when the change in vehicle velocity value exceeds said velocity change threshold value AND said oscillation value exceeds said oscillation threshold value obtained from said table.

Claim 17

A method of controlling deployment of an inflatable restraint system for a motor vehicle comprising the steps of: sampling vehicle acceleration at a predetermined sampling rate to obtain discrete values of acceleration, comparing vehicle acceleration values with an acceleration threshold to detect a start of a crash event, summing a predetermined number of vehicle acceleration values following detection of the start of the crash event to determine a change in velocity value, comparing said change in velocity value with a velocity change threshold value obtained from a table of velocity change values corresponding to a composite profile of velocity change vs. time test data of a plurality of non-deployment events for the vehicle, summing the absolute value of a difference between successive acceleration samples following detection of the start of the crash event to obtain an oscillation value, comparing said oscillation value with an oscillation threshold value obtained from a table of oscillation values corresponding to a composite profile of oscillation vs. time test data of a plurality of non-deployment events for the vehicle, deploying the restraint system when the change in vehicle velocity value exceeds said velocity change threshold value AND said oscillation value exceeds said oscillation threshold value obtained from said table.