Claims
- 1. A method of communicating between a peripheral sensor device and an electronic controller in a vehicle safety system, comprising the steps of:
generating a plurality of pulses in a series responsive to a condition sensed by the sensor device, each pulse having a chosen duration such that the sequence and durations of the pulses are indicative of the sensed condition; and determining a condition sensed by the sensor using the electronic controller based upon the duration and sequence of the pulses.
- 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the peripheral sensor device is a front electronic sensor having a sensor portion and a current absorbing portion and wherein the pulses are generated by selectively controlling the current absorbing portion responsive to the condition sensed by the sensor portion.
- 3. The method of claim 2, including powering the sensor device using the electronic controller and determining an amount of time that an amount of current exceeding a chosen threshold is draw by the sensor from the controller to determine the pulse durations.
- 4. The method of claim 1, including controlling the vehicle safety system responsive to the determined condition.
- 5. The method of claim 4, including determining whether the determined condition has a severity beyond a chosen threshold and deploying a supplemental restraint device when the determined condition severity exceeds the threshold.
- 6. The method of claim 5, including controlling the manner of deployment of the supplemental restraint device based upon the determined severity.
- 7. The method of claim 1, including establishing a set number of pulses included in the series and generating a separator signal portion in between successive series.
- 8. The method of claim 6, including generating three pulses in the series and assigning a duration to each of the pulses from one of at least three preselected durations.
- 9. The method of claim 7, including assigning a duration to one of the pulses from one of at least four preselected durations.
- 10. A system for controlling a supplemental restraint device in a vehicle comprising:
a plurality of sensor devices supported at peripheral locations on the vehicle; and a controller that communicates with the sensor devices by interpreting a series of pulses that each have a chosen duration to determine a condition sensed by the sensor devices based upon the duration and sequence of the pulses.
- 11. The system of claim 10, wherein the sensor devices each include a sensor portion that generates an electrical signal responsive to a condition of the vehicle and a microprocessor portion that controls the duration and sequence of pulses based upon the electrical signal from the sensor portion such that the duration and sequence of pulses is indicative of the condition sensed by the sensor portion.
- 12. The system of claim 10, wherein the controller provides current to the sensor devices and the pulses comprise an amount of current drawn by each sensor device.
- 13. The system of claim 12, wherein each sensor device includes a sensor portion that generates an electrical signal responsive to a condition of the vehicle, a current absorbing portion and a microprocessor portion that controls the current absorbing portion to thereby generate the pulses based upon the electrical signal from the sensor portion such that the duration and sequence of the pulses is indicative of the condition sensed by the sensor portion.
- 14. The system of claim 10, wherein the sensor devices each comprise an electronic front sensor that senses a collision event condition.
- 15. The system of claim 10, wherein the controller determines a severity level of the condition sensed by at least one of the sensing devices and controls deployment of a supplemental restraint device based upon the determined severity level.
- 16. The system of claim 10, wherein the controller includes a memory portion that contains information that correlates a plurality of condition severity levels to specific pulse duration sequences.
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/199,450, which was filed on Apr. 25, 2000.
Provisional Applications (1)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
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60199450 |
Apr 2000 |
US |