Patent Application
20070095595
An anti-squeeze control utilizes information provided by airbag system sensors to initiate a high safety level of operation for window movement control once a child is identified within a vehicle.
Children can be left momentarily in a vehicle or can be playing inside a vehicle, while the vehicle is parked or while the vehicle is in some type of non-driving mode of operation. The children are often able to release seatbelts such that they are able to move within a passenger compartment area. Sometimes these children are able to insert a key within a vehicle ignition or are able to activate other types of vehicle systems by using keyless entry. This could have unfortunate consequences.
If a child is playing inside a vehicle and manages to activate a window closing mechanism for example, the child could have a head, neck, arm, fingers, or other body parts pinched between a moving window pane and a vehicle frame member. This could cause serious injury to the child.
Many different anti-squeeze control systems have been proposed to address this problem. These systems often do not work effectively to provide desired window movement control for various different operational conditions. One proposed solution reduces a pinch detection threshold for a motor that raises a window. However, when the vehicle is driving, especially when experiencing rough road conditions, there are vertical accelerations of the vehicle and the windows. Having a reduced pinch detection threshold in these circumstances could cause undesired reversing of window movement.
Another proposed solution is to reduce raising speed of the window for certain conditions. This allows the amount of window travel to be reduced between pinching detection and actual window movement reversal. Reduced raising speed can be applied when the vehicle is stationary, for example. However, an adult may view slow movement of the window, which is an associated result of having a reduced pinch detection threshold, as a potential system failure.
Thus, there is a need for a simple and effective method to identify when a child is playing within a vehicle such that certain vehicle operations, such as raising windows for example, can be performed at higher safety levels to prevent injury to the child.
An anti-squeeze control utilizes information provided by a safety restraint system, such as an adaptive, i.e. “smart,” airbag system for example, to vary at least one of window raising speed and a squeezing detection threshold in accordance with vehicle occupant type. The airbag system includes at least one occupant sensor that generates data related to at least one of a weight and size of a vehicle occupant. When a vehicle is equipped with a smart airbag system, a controller utilizes this available data concerning weight and/or size of the vehicle occupant to vary deployment conditions of an airbag based on occupant type. The subject anti-squeeze control uses this already available data to identify whether the vehicle occupant is an adult or child for anti-squeeze purposes. If a child is identified, the anti-squeeze controller modifies window driving and/or pinching threshold parameters to allow reversal before high pinching forces are reached.
The anti-squeeze control has a high safety level and a standard safety level. The high safety level is activated when the vehicle occupant is classified in the child classification, and the standard safety level is activated when the vehicle occupant is classified in the adult classification. The high safety level is defined as having a first maximum allowable window raising speed and a first maximum allowable pinching force, and the standard safety level is defined as having a second maximum allowable window raising speed and a second maximum allowable pinching force. The first maximum allowable window raising speed is less than the second maximum allowable window raising speed and the first maximum allowable pinching force is less than the second maximum allowable pinching force. The anti-squeeze control reverses a window direction of movement when either the first or second maximum allowable pinching force is exceeded.
The anti-squeeze control utilizes existing occupant sensor data from an airbag system to identify whether or not a child is playing in a vehicle when the vehicle is not in motion. Once a child is identified, the anti-squeeze control operates at high safety level to prevent the child from suffering an injury resulting from having appendages pinched or caught between a window pane and a vehicle frame member, if the child is somehow able to initiate movement of window panes toward a closed position. The controller information could also be used to prohibit the vehicle from being started, or prevent a parking brake from being released, if only a child is identified in the vehicle when the vehicle is in a non-driving mode of operation.
These and other features of the present invention can be best understood from the following specification and drawings, the following of which is a brief description.
A vehicle 10 encloses a passenger compartment 12. Vehicle occupants 14 (only one is shown) can occupy the passenger compartment 12 during non-driving modes of operation for various reasons. For example, a child 14a can be left in a running vehicle 10 while a parent or adult is outside the vehicle 10. Or, the child 14a could enter a vehicle without adult permission or knowledge. In either event, the child 14a could intentionally or inadvertently activate certain vehicle systems that could be potentially harmful to the child 14a, or to others if the child 14a initiates movement of the vehicle 10.
The vehicle 10 includes a safety restraint system 16 that is used to prevent or reduce injuries to vehicle occupants 14 during collisions or other impact events. The safety restraint system 16 includes a seatbelt assembly 18 and an airbag system 20. The seatbelt assembly 18 is used to secure a vehicle occupant 14 to a vehicle seat 22. The airbag system 20 is deployed under predetermined collision conditions to prevent the vehicle occupant 14 from impacting vehicle components such as a steering wheel, instrument panel, or console, for example.
The airbag system 20 is in communication with a vehicle or system electronic control unit (ECU) 24, and can control deployment force of an airbag 26, or can prevent deployment, based on vehicle occupant size, weight, and/or proximity to an instrument panel 30 as known. The airbag system 20 utilizes a plurality of sensors that generate occupant signals to determine such information as occupant weight, size, and position within the passenger compartment 12. A power source 32, such as a vehicle battery for example, provides power to operate the sensors and the ECU 24 when the vehicle is in a driving or non-driving mode of operation.
Many different types of sensors can be used to generate data for the vehicle occupant 14. In one example, at least one weight sensor 34 is associated with the vehicle seat 22. The weight sensor 34 transmits a weight signal 36 to the ECU 24, which determines vehicle occupant weight based on the weight signal 36. Other sensors from the airbag system 20, such as occupant position and/or or seatbelt sensors 38, can also be utilized to generate vehicle occupant data. The occupant position and seatbelt sensors 38 also generate occupant signals 40 that are transmitted to the ECU 24, which determines occupant position within the vehicle 10 based on the signals 40. Any type of weight sensor or occupant sensor suitable for a restraint system, and which can be used to determine occupant morphology, can be used.
The ECU 24 uses data from the occupant signals 40 and the weight signal 36 to classify the type of vehicle occupant 14 that is in the vehicle. The ECU 24 can use the occupant signals 40 to determine position and/or size of the vehicle occupant. The ECU 24 could also compare the measured weight to a predetermined weight level or threshold to determine whether or not the vehicle occupant 14 is a child. An example of one predetermined weight threshold is approximately thirty kilograms (30 kg). If the ECU 24 determines that the weight of the vehicle occupant 14 is less than the predetermined weight threshold, or that the size of the vehicle occupant 14 is smaller than a predetermined size, the ECU 24 classifies the vehicle occupant as a child. If the ECU 24 determines that the weight of the vehicle occupant 14 is greater than the predetermined weight threshold, or that the size of the vehicle occupant 14 is greater than a predetermined size, the ECU 24 classifies the vehicle occupant as an adult.
Thirty kilograms is just one example of a predetermined weight threshold. It should be understood that while two weight and/or size classifications are discussed as an example (one above and one below a threshold), additional classifications could also be utilized. For example, the predetermined weight and size thresholds could be comprised of multiple weight and size thresholds to provide multiple classifications, such as infant, toddler, small child, large child, small adult, large adult, etc. The ECU 24 could then make control decisions based on what type of occupant is found within the vehicle 10.
The vehicle 10 also includes an anti-squeeze control 50, see
The window regulator 58 includes a moving mechanism such as a motor (not shown) that is coupled to the window pane 52 to move the window pane 52 between raised and lowered positions. Raising speed of the window pane 52 correlates to a pinching force that is generated when an object is placed in the path of the moving window pane 52. Once a pinching force is generated, the motor can be reversed to move the window pane 52 back toward the lowered position. Once the anti-squeeze control 50 determines that an object is caught, a certain period of time is necessary to allow movement of the window pane 52 to be braked and stopped before reversing movement. During this period of time, the pinching force keeps rising. Sometimes, if the raising speed of the window pane 52 is high, this pinching force can be very high, and the anti-squeeze control 50 may not be able to reverse the direction of window pane movement quickly enough to avoid injury.
The anti-squeeze control 50 of the present invention has at least a high safety level and a standard safety level that are activated based on vehicle occupant type. The anti-squeeze control 50 utilizes existing sensor data from the airbag system 20 to classify whether the vehicle occupant 14 is an adult or a child. The high safety level is activated when the vehicle occupant 14 is classified in a child classification and the standard safety level is activated when the vehicle occupant 14 is classified in an adult classification.
The high safety level is defined as having a first maximum allowable window raising speed and a first maximum allowable pinching force, and the standard safety level is defined as having a second maximum allowable window raising speed and a second maximum allowable pinching force. The first maximum allowable window raising speed is less than the second maximum allowable window raising speed and the first maximum allowable pinching force is less than the second maximum allowable pinching force. The anti-squeeze control 50 reverses a window direction of movement when either the first or second maximum allowable pinching force is exceeded. However, injury to children is prevented by modifying squeeze control operational characteristics to keep the raising speed and maximum allowable pinching forces as low as possible once a child is identified in the vehicle 10.
As an alternative, the high safety level is defined as having a first maximum allowable pinching force threshold before reversing window movement, and the standard safety level is defined as having a second maximum allowable pinching force threshold before reversing window movement. The first maximum allowable pinching force threshold is less than the second maximum allowable pinching force threshold. The anti-squeeze control 50 reverses a window direction of movement when either the first or second maximum allowable pinching force threshold is exceeded.
Optionally, a combination of window raising speed and maximum allowable pinching force thresholds could be used to define the high and standard safety levels. The high safety level would have a window raising speed that is less than the window raising speed for the standard safety level. The high safety level would also have a maximum allowable pinching force threshold that would be lower than that of the standard safety level. The anti-squeeze control 50 controls window raising speed in combination with reversing a direction of movement of the window when the maximum allowable pinching forces for either the high or standard safety level is exceeded.
In any of the embodiments described above, injury to children is prevented by modifying squeeze control operational characteristics to keep the maximum allowable pinching forces as low as possible once a child 14a is identified in the vehicle 10.
The anti-squeeze control 50 utilizes existing occupant sensor data from the airbag system 20 to identify whether or not a child is playing in the vehicle 10, which typically occurs when the vehicle is not in motion, i.e. parked with ignition on or off. Once a child is identified, the anti-squeeze control 50 operates at the high safety level to prevent the child from suffering from an injury resulting from having appendages pinched or caught between the window pane 52 and the frame member 54, if the child is somehow able to initiate window pane movement toward a closed position.
The ECU 24 could also be used to prevent an engine 60, see
Although a preferred embodiment of this invention has been disclosed, a worker of ordinary skill in this art would recognize that certain modifications would come within the scope of this invention. For that reason, the following claims should be studied to determine the true scope and content of this invention.
