US6474683B1
Expired / Lapsed
US
⏱️ 0.0 years remaining
Method and arrangement for obtaining and conveying information about occupancy of a vehicle
Assignee: Automotive Technologies International Inc
•
Filing: 2000-05-03
•
Granted: 2002-11-05
•
Expires: 2020-05-03
Abstract
Abstract Method and arrangement for obtaining and conveying information about occupancy of a passenger compartment of a vehicle including at least one wave-receiving sensor for receiving waves from the passenger compartment. Information about the occupancy of the passenger compartment is generated based on the waves received by the wave-receiving sensor(s) and transmitted, e.g., through a cellular phone system, to emergency response personnel to enable them to respond accordingly. The information about the occupancy of the passenger compartment may be generated by a processor applying pattern recognition techniques so that any occupants of the seat may be classified and such classification transmitted to the emergency response personnel. The wave received by the wave-receiving sensor(s) may also be used to determine the number of occupants in the vehicle and/or whether the occupants are moving after a crash.
Inventors
- 👤 David S. Breed
- 👤 Wilbur E. DuVall
- 👤 Wendell C. Johnson
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
US
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-11-06 15:43
CPC Classifications
B; B60; B60R; B60R21/00; B60R21/01; B60R21/015; B60R21/01512; B60R21/0153; B60J; B60J10/00; B60N; B60N2/00; B60N2/002; B60N2/0021; B60N2/0022; B60N2/0024; B60N2/0029; B60N2/02; B60N2/0224; B60N2/02246; B60N2/0244; B60N2/0248; B60N2/0268; B60N2/0272; B60N2/0276; B60N2/24; B60N2/26; B60N2/28; B60N2/2803; B60N2/2806; B60N2/2857; B60N2/2863; B60N2/80; B60N2/806; B60N2/838; B60N2/853; B60N2/888; B60R1/00; B60R1/02; B60R1/08; B60R1/083; B60R1/088; B60R11/00; B60R11/02; B60R11/0241; B60R16/00; B60R16/02; B60R16/037; B60R21/013; B60R21/0136; B60R21/01516; B60R21/01534; B60R21/01536; B60R21/01538; B60R21/0154; B60R21/01542; B60R21/01552; B60R21/01554; B60R22/00; B60R22/18; B60R22/20; B60R25/00; B60R25/20; B60R25/25; E; E05; E05F; E05F15/00; E05F15/40; E05F15/42; E05F15/43; E05F15/431; G; G01; G01F; G01F23/00; G01F23/20; G01F23/22; G01F23/28; G01F23/296; G01F23/2962; G01F23/80; G01F23/802; G01F23/804; G01S; G01S15/00; G01S15/87; G01S15/88; G01S17/00; G01S17/88; G01S7/00; G01S7/02; G01S7/41; G01S7/417; G01S7/48; G01S7/4802; G01S7/52; G01S7/539; G06; G06V; G06V40/00; G06V40/10; B60N2210/00; B60N2210/10; B60N2210/12; B60N2210/16; B60N2210/20; B60N2210/26; B60R1/12; B60R2001/1223; B60R2021/0027; B60R2021/01315; B60R21/02; B60R21/16; B60R21/23; B60R21/231; B60R2021/23153; B60R21/26; B60R2021/26094; B60R21/276; B60R2021/2765; B60R2022/208; B60R22/48; B60R2022/4808; B60R2022/4825; B60R21/0134; B60R21/01544; B60R21/01548; B60R21/20; B60R21/215; B60R21/2165; B60R21/21656; E05F2015/432; E05F2015/433; E05Y; E05Y2900/00; E05Y2900/50; E05Y2900/53; E05Y2900/55; G01S13/00; G01S13/02; G01S13/04; G01S15/02; G01S15/04; G01S15/06; G01S17/89; G10; G10K; G10K2210/00; G10K2210/10; G10K2210/128; G10K2210/1282; G10K2210/30; G10K2210/321; G10K2210/3219
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 53
Claim 1
Independent Claim
102 words
An arrangement for obtaining and conveying information about occupancy of a passenger compartment of a vehicle, comprising at least one wave-receiving sensor for receiving waves from the passenger compartment, generating means coupled to said at least one wave-receiving sensor for generating information about the occupancy of the passenger compartment based on the waves received by said at least one wave-receiving sensor, and communications means coupled to said generating means and arranged to establish a communications channel between the vehicle and a remote facility to thereby enable the information about the occupancy of the passenger compartment to be transmitted to the remote facility.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
102 words
An arrangement for obtaining and conveying information about occupancy of a passenger compartment of a vehicle, comprising at least one wave-receiving sensor for receiving waves from the passenger compartment, generating means coupled to said at least one wave-receiving sensor for generating information about the occupancy of the passenger compartment based on the waves received by said at least one wave-receiving sensor, and communications means coupled to said generating means and arranged to establish a communications channel between the vehicle and a remote facility to thereby enable the information about the occupancy of the passenger compartment to be transmitted to the remote facility.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
19 words
The arrangement of claim 1 , wherein said at least one wave-receiving sensor comprises a plurality of wave-receiving sensors.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
19 words
The arrangement of claim 1 , wherein said at least one wave-receiving sensor is arranged to receive ultrasonic waves.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
19 words
The arrangement of claim 1 , wherein said at least one wave-receiving sensor is arranged to receive electromagnetic waves.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
17 words
The arrangement of claim 1 , wherein said at least one wave-receiving sensor is a capacitance sensor.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
44 words
The arrangement of claim 1 , further comprising a transmitter for transmitting waves into the passenger compartment such that said at least one wave-receiving sensor receives waves transmitted from said transmitter and modified by passing into and at least partially through the passenger compartment.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
67 words
The arrangement of claim 1 , further comprising at least one memory unit coupled to said generating means for storing the information about the occupancy of the passenger compartment, said communications means being coupled to said at least one memory unit and interrogating said at least one memory unit upon a crash of the vehicle to thereby obtain the information about the occupancy of the passenger compartment.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
57 words
The arrangement of claim 1 , further comprising means for determining the health state of at least one occupant, said communications means being coupled to said health state determining means and interrogating said health state determining means upon a crash of the vehicle to thereby obtain and transmit the health state of the at least one occupant.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
16 words
The arrangement of claim 8 , wherein said health state determining means comprise a heartbeat sensor.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
23 words
The arrangement of claim 8 , wherein said health state determining means comprise means for detecting motion of the at least one occupant.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
24 words
The arrangement of claim 10 , wherein said means for detecting motion of the at least one occupant comprises a micropower impulse radar sensor.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
34 words
The arrangement of claim 10 , wherein said means for detecting motion of the at least one occupant comprises an arrangement for detecting changes in the weight distribution of the at least one occupant.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
26 words
The arrangement of claim 8 , wherein said health state determining means comprise a motion sensor for determining whether the at least one occupant is breathing.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
34 words
The arrangement of claim 8 , wherein said health state determining means comprise a chemical sensor for analyzing the amount of carbon dioxide in the passenger compartment or around the at least one occupant.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
26 words
The arrangement of claim 8 , wherein said health state determining means comprise a chemical sensor for detecting the presence of blood in the passenger compartment.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim
54 words
The arrangement of claim 1 , wherein said at least one wave-receiving sensor generates a signal representative of the waves received thereby, said generating means comprising a processor for receiving and analyzing the signal from said at least one wave-receiving sensor in order to generate the information about the occupancy of the passenger compartment.
Claim 18
Dependent Claim
43 words
The arrangement of claim 16 , wherein said processor comprises pattern recognition means adapted to classify an occupant of the seat and the information about the occupancy of the passenger compartment includes the classification of the occupant obtained by said pattern recognition means.
Claim 19
Dependent Claim
37 words
The arrangement of claim 17 , wherein said pattern recognition means comprise a trained neural network trained to output the classification of the occupant upon receiving as input the signal from said at least one wave-receiving sensor.
Claim 20
Dependent Claim
39 words
The arrangement of claim 1 , wherein said generating means are structured and arranged such that the information about the occupancy of the passenger compartment generated by said generating means includes the number of occupants in the passenger compartment.
Claim 21
Dependent Claim
67 words
The arrangement of claim 1 , wherein said wave-receiving sensor is a micropower impulse radar sensor adapted to detect motion of an occupant whereby the motion of the occupant or absence of motion of the occupant is indicative of whether the occupant is breathing, the information about the occupancy of the passenger compartment generated by said generating means being an indication of whether the occupant is breathing.
Claim 22
Dependent Claim
90 words
The arrangement of claim 1 , wherein said at least one wave-receiving sensor generates a signal representative of the waves received thereby, said generating means being structured and arranged to receive the signal representative of the waves received by said at least one wave-receiving sensor over time and determine whether any occupants in the passenger compartment are moving such that the information about the occupancy of the passenger compartment generated by said generating means includes the number of moving and non-moving occupants in the passenger compartment. of the passenger compartment.
Claim 23
Dependent Claim
37 words
The arrangement of claim 1 , wherein said communications means comprise a cellular phone system and an antenna coupled to said cellular phone system arranged to transmit signals from said cellular phone system to the remote facility.
Claim 24
Independent Claim
71 words
A method for obtaining and conveying information about occupancy of a passenger compartment of a vehicle, comprising the steps of: receiving waves from the passenger compartment, generating information about the occupancy of the passenger compartment based on the received waves, and establishing a communications channel between the vehicle and a remote facility to thereby enable the information about the occupancy of the passenger compartment to be transmitted to the remote facility.
Claim 25
Independent Claim
71 words
A method for obtaining and conveying information about occupancy of a passenger compartment of a vehicle, comprising the steps of: receiving waves from the passenger compartment, generating information about the occupancy of the passenger compartment based on the received waves, and establishing a communications channel between the vehicle and a remote facility to thereby enable the information about the occupancy of the passenger compartment to be transmitted to the remote facility.
Claim 26
Dependent Claim
29 words
The method of claim 23 , wherein the step of receiving waves from the passenger compartment comprises the step of arranging a plurality of wave-receiving sensors in the vehicle.
Claim 27
Dependent Claim
30 words
The method of claim 23 , wherein the step of receiving waves from the passenger compartment comprises the step of arranging at least one electromagnetic wave-receiving sensor in the vehicle.
Claim 28
Dependent Claim
29 words
The method of claim 23 , wherein the step of receiving waves from the passenger compartment comprises the step of arranging at least one capacitance sensor in the vehicle.
Claim 29
Dependent Claim
37 words
The method of claim 23 , further comprising the step of: transmitting waves into the passenger compartment whereby the transmitted waves are modified by passing into and at least partially through the passenger compartment and then received.
Claim 30
Dependent Claim
53 words
The method of claim 23 , further comprising the steps of: storing the information about the occupancy of the passenger compartment in at least one memory unit, and interrogating the at least one memory unit upon a crash of the vehicle to thereby obtain the information about the occupancy of the passenger compartment.
Claim 31
Dependent Claim
59 words
The method of claim 23 , further comprising the steps of: generating a signal representative of the received waves, and providing a processor for receiving the signal representative of the waves and analyzing the signal representative of the waves in order to generate the information about the state of health of at least one occupant of the passenger compartment.
Claim 32
Dependent Claim
52 words
The method of claim 23 , further comprising the steps of: generating a signal representative of the received waves, and providing a processor for receiving the signal representative of the waves and analyzing the signal representative of the waves in order to generate the information about the occupancy of the passenger compartment.
Claim 33
Dependent Claim
61 words
The method of claim 30 , wherein the step of analyzing the signal representative of the waves comprises the step of applying a pattern recognition technique to recognize and identify any occupants of the passenger compartment, further comprising the step of: incorporating the identification of the occupants of the passenger compartment into the information about the occupancy of the passenger compartment.
Claim 34
Dependent Claim
34 words
The method of claim 31 , wherein the pattern recognition technique is a trained neural network trained to output an identification of the occupants upon receiving as input the signal representative of the waves.
Claim 35
Dependent Claim
40 words
The method of claim 23 , further comprising the steps of: determining from the received waves the number of occupants in the passenger compartment, and incorporating the number of occupants into the information about the occupancy of the passenger compartment.
Claim 36
Dependent Claim
49 words
The method of claim 23 , further comprising the steps of: determining whether any occupants in the passenger compartment are moving after a crash, and incorporating an indication of the number of moving and non-moving occupants in the passenger compartment in the information about occupancy of the passenger compartment.
Claim 37
Dependent Claim
34 words
The method of claim 34 , wherein the step of determining whether any occupants in the passenger compartment are moving after the crash comprises the step of monitoring the weight distribution of the occupants.
Claim 38
Dependent Claim
35 words
The method of claim 23 , wherein the step of receiving waves comprises the step of arranging at least one wave-receiving sensor to receive waves from a plurality of seat locations in the passenger compartment.
Claim 39
Dependent Claim
102 words
An arrangement for obtaining and conveying information about occupancy of a passenger compartment of a vehicle, comprising at least one wave-receiving sensor for receiving waves from the passenger compartment, a processor coupled to said at least one wave-receiving sensor for generating information about the occupancy of the passenger compartment based on the waves received by said at least one wave-receiving sensor, and a communications unit coupled to said processor and arranged to establish a communications channel between the vehicle and a remote facility to thereby enable the information about the occupancy of the passenger compartment to be transmitted to the remote facility.
Claim 40
Dependent Claim
102 words
An arrangement for obtaining and conveying information about occupancy of a passenger compartment of a vehicle, comprising at least one wave-receiving sensor for receiving waves from the passenger compartment, a processor coupled to said at least one wave-receiving sensor for generating information about the occupancy of the passenger compartment based on the waves received by said at least one wave-receiving sensor, and a communications unit coupled to said processor and arranged to establish a communications channel between the vehicle and a remote facility to thereby enable the information about the occupancy of the passenger compartment to be transmitted to the remote facility.
Claim 41
Dependent Claim
18 words
The arrangement of claim 37 , wherein said at least one wave-receiving sensor comprises a plurality wave-receiving sensors.
Claim 42
Dependent Claim
19 words
The arrangement of claim 37 , wherein said at least one wave-receiving sensor is arranged to receive ultrasonic waves.
Claim 43
Dependent Claim
19 words
The arrangement of claim 37 , wherein said at least one wave-receiving sensor is arranged to receive electromagnetic waves.
Claim 44
Dependent Claim
17 words
The arrangement of claim 37 , wherein said at least one wave-receiving sensor is a capacitance sensor.
Claim 45
Dependent Claim
44 words
The arrangement of claim 37 , further comprising a transmitter for transmitting waves into the passenger compartment such that said at least one wave-receiving sensor receives waves transmitted from said transmitter and modified by passing into and at least partially through the passenger compartment.
Claim 46
Dependent Claim
69 words
The arrangement of claim 37 , further comprising at least one memory unit coupled to or incorporated with said processor for storing the information about the occupancy of the passenger compartment, said communications unit being coupled to said at least one memory unit and interrogating said at least one memory unit upon a crash of the vehicle to thereby obtain the information about the occupancy of the passenger compartment.
Claim 47
Dependent Claim
56 words
The arrangement of claim 37 , wherein said at least one wave-receiving sensor is a sensor adapted to receive waves providing information about the health state of the at least one occupant such that said communications unit upon a crash of the vehicle transmits information about the state of health of the at least one occupant.
Claim 48
Dependent Claim
49 words
The arrangement of claim 37 , wherein said at least one wave-receiving sensor generates a signal representative of the waves received thereby, said processor receiving and analyzing the signal from said at least one wave-receiving sensor in order to generate the information about the occupancy of the passenger compartment.
Claim 49
Dependent Claim
43 words
The arrangement of claim 45 , wherein said processor comprises pattern recognition means adapted to classify any occupants of the seat and the information about the occupancy of the passenger compartment includes the classification of the occupants obtained by said pattern recognition means.
Claim 50
Dependent Claim
42 words
The arrangement of claim 46 , wherein said pattern recognition means comprise a trained neural network trained to output the classification of the occupants upon receiving as input the signal representative of the waves received by said at least one wave-receiving sensor.
Claim 51
Dependent Claim
37 words
The arrangement of claim 37 , wherein said processor is structured and arranged such that the information about the occupancy of the passenger compartment generated by said processor includes the number of occupants in the passenger compartment.
Claim 52
Dependent Claim
87 words
The arrangement of claim 37 , wherein said at least one wave-receiving sensor generates a signal representative of the waves received thereby, said processor being structured and arranged to receive the signal representative of the waves received by said at least one wave-receiving sensor over time and determine whether any parts of any occupants in the passenger compartment are moving such that the information about the occupancy of the passenger compartment generated by said processor includes the number of moving and non-moving occupants in the passenger compartment.
Claim 53
Dependent Claim
37 words
The arrangement of claim 37 , wherein said communications means comprise a cellular phone system and an antenna coupled to said cellular phone system arranged to transmit signals from said cellular phone system to the remote facility.
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USPTO Annuity & Maintenance Windows
| Annuity Stage | Window Opens | Payment Deadline | Surcharge Period Until | Estimated Fee | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3.5 Years (Year 4) | 2005-11-04 | 2006-05-06 | 2006-11-05 | $2000.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 7.5 Years (Year 8) | 2009-11-04 | 2010-05-06 | 2010-11-05 | $3760.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 11.5 Years (Year 12) | 2013-11-04 | 2014-05-06 | 2014-11-05 | $7700.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |