Patent Grant
11938878
Seatbelts are commonly used in vehicles to help prevent injury to passengers during accidents by keeping the passengers in their seats. By maintaining a passenger in their seat during a collision, the seatbelt can prevent the passenger from coming into harmful contact with other parts of the vehicle. The seatbelt can also keep the passenger in a position that allows the vehicle airbag system to provide the most effective protection of the passenger. The seatbelt can also help prevent the passenger from being ejected from the vehicle during an accident. Many jurisdictions require the use of seatbelts by passengers to reduce injury.
The detailed description is described with reference to the accompanying figures. The use of the same reference numbers in different figures indicates similar or identical components or features.
The occupant constraint system and methods disclosed herein can be used in passenger carrying vehicles, including autonomous vehicles. As described in the present disclosure, the occupant constraint system described can involve estimating physical characteristic of vehicle passenger and controlling a passenger related system. The occupant constraint system and methods may improve the overall safety for passengers in the vehicle.
Some autonomous vehicles do not have provisions in the vehicle for a driver or other operator to control or manage the vehicle. While there are drivers in taxi's and ride share vehicles, who can monitor passenger usage of seatbelts, there are not humans in some autonomous vehicles to perform this function. In addition, autonomous vehicles can have multiple different people as passengers. These people can have a variety of different physical characteristics. Because of this, the physical characteristics of passengers using each seat in the vehicle can vary from one trip to another throughout the use of the vehicle. The occupant constraint system described herein is able to estimate a variety of passenger physical characteristics at each of the vehicle's seats to improve safety for the passengers.
In some examples, the occupant constraint system may estimate a physical characteristic of a passenger in a particular seat of the vehicle and may control or provide information to one or more system of the vehicle which can be used to make accommodations for those physical characteristics. The system controlled may be a safety system such as a load limiter which can limit a holding force of the seat belt and the system may control the holding force at which the belt of the occupant constraint system holds the passenger while the vehicle experiences a collision.
In some examples, the occupant constraint system can include a belt marker on the seat belt and the occupant constraint system can include a camera system having a camera with a field of view that includes a view of the belt marker. The camera system may produce a signal having marker position data that is indicative of the position of the belt marker in the field of view of the camera. The occupant constraint system can also include a physical characteristic estimator that is communicatively connected to the camera system to receive marker position data. The physical characteristic estimator can use the marker position data to produce a physical characteristic estimate of a physical characteristic of the passenger.
The position of the belt marker can indicate physical characteristics of the passenger. For example, if the belt marker is on the sash portion of the seat belt and is relatively higher up on the torso of the passenger, then this can indicate that the passenger is small since there will be less lap portion of the belt going across the waist of the passenger and the sash portion of the belt will move further up. Conversely, if the belt marker is relatively lower down on the torso of the passenger, then this can indicate that the passenger is large since there is more lap portion to go around the relatively larger waist of the passenger and the sash portion of the belt will move further down.
The buckle assembly 128 may be connected to the vehicle chassis 122 at a second mounting position 136. The belt reel 130 and shoulder ring 132 may be connected to the vehicle chassis 122 at a third mounting position 140 and fourth mounting position 138, respectively. The vehicle chassis 122 may include structural components of the vehicle 104 that are capable of holding the seat belt during a collision. The belt reel 130 may be connected to a second belt end 142 to wind and unwind a portion of the seat belt adjacent to the second belt end 142. The first and second mounting positions 126 and 136 can be located on opposite sides of the seat 108 with one or the other next to a door 144. The fixed belt connector 124 holds the first end 120 of the seat belt 110 to the vehicle 104 and typically does not include any adjustment mechanism to adjust the length of the seat belt 110 relative to the chassis 122.
The buckle assembly 128 can be buckled to secure the seat belt around the passenger 106/134 during use; and unbuckled to release the seat belt 110 from around the passenger 106/134. The buckle assembly 128 may include a belt portion 146 that is associated with the seat belt 110, and a vehicle portion 148 that is fixed to the vehicle chassis 122 at the second mounting position 136. The belt portion 146 may include a tongue and the vehicle portion 148 may include a receiver that engages the tongue when the buckle assembly 128 is buckled. When the buckled, the buckle assembly 128 secures the seat belt 110 to the chassis 122. In some embodiments, the buckle assembly 128 may include a buckle sensor 150 that indicates when the buckle assembly 128 is buckled or unbuckled. The buckle sensor 150 may be used in determining when to begin to determine the physical characteristics of the passenger 106/134 or when a passenger does not have their seat belt buckled. The buckle sensor 150 can be, or can be connected to, a vehicle system 152 that controls and/or senses other systems in the vehicle 104. The vehicle system 152 can be connected the occupant constraint system 100.
The belt portion 146 can have a slot 154 through which the seat belt 110 can slide so that the lengths of the lap portion 112 and sash portion 116 can be adjusted to fit the size of the passenger 106/134. When the passenger 106/134 sits in the seat 108 and buckles the seat belt 110, the passenger 106/134 pulls the belt portion 146 of the buckle assembly 128 across their body and the seat belt 110 slides through the slot 154 such that the lengths of the lap portion 112 and sash portion 116 adjust to fit the physical characteristics of the passenger 106/134.
The occupant constraint system 100 may include one or more belt markers 160 on the seat belt 110. The belt marker 160 may be a single belt marker, as shown in
The occupant constraint system 100 can include a camera system 180 that can be mounted in the passenger compartment 102 of the vehicle 104. The camera system 180 can include a camera 182 that has field of view 184 that includes at least a portion of the seat belt 110 that has at least one belt marker 160. In examples, the belt marker 160 can be a sash belt marker which can be located on the sash portion 116 of the seat belt 110. The sash belt marker 160 and the camera 182 can be positioned so that the sash belt marker 160 is in the field of view 184 of the camera when the passenger 106/134 is seated in the seat 108 and the seat belt 110 is buckled around the passenger 106/134. The camera 182 can have infrared capabilities to image the belt marker 160 when the belt marker 160 is infrared reflective. The camera 182 may be active or passive infrared, color, and/or black and white, and the camera lens may have optics suitable for producing the field of view 184.
The camera system 180 can optically recognize the belt marker 160 and a position of the belt marker 160 (indicated by arrow 186 in
The occupant constraint system 100 can include a physical characteristic estimator 200. The physical characteristic estimator 200 can be communicatively connected to the camera system 180 to receive the marker position data 190 from the camera system 180. The physical characteristic estimator 200 can use the marker position data 190 to produce a physical characteristic estimate of a physical characteristic of the passenger 106/134. The marker position data 190 can be, or can include, data relating to the location 186/188 of the belt marker 160 in the field of view 184 of the camera 182.
In
In
In examples, the physical characteristic estimator 200 may estimate a volume of the passenger as the percentile size of the passenger. The volume of the passenger may relate to the waist size and height of the passenger. The physical characteristic estimator 200 may use the estimated volume to determine an estimated mass of the passenger as the physical characteristic. In
The physical characteristic estimator 200 may utilize machine learning in which a model is generated to estimate the physical characteristic of the passenger based on inputs of passengers with known physical characteristics. In examples, calibration of the occupant constraint system 100 or generating the model may include having various size people sit in the seat, measuring the position of one or more of the markers, and associating the marker position with the size of the people. In examples, calibration or generating the model may involve using dummies instead of people or may use data available about the size percentiles of a given population. The machine learning model may be validated by comparing results of the physical characteristic estimator 200 with test passengers having known physical characteristics. The calibration or generating the model may need to be done once for a particular configuration of vehicle and/or belt marker layout or may be done more than once which may increase accuracy, for example.
As shown in
In examples, the lap portion 112 can include multiple markers having a known spacing and a measure of the passenger's waist may be determined based on how much length of the belt is being used. In examples, the sash portion 116 can include multiple markers having a known spacing and a measure of the passenger's torso may be determined based on how much length of the belt is being used.
As shown in
As shown in
The physical characteristic estimator 200 may estimate the physical characteristic to estimate if the passenger is a large person, e.g., a person who is around the 95th percentile or greater of the size of people; an small person, e.g., a person who is around the 5th percentile or below of the size of people; or an average person, e.g., a person who is around the 50th percentile or between the 5th and 95th percentile of the size of people in the population. In examples, the physical characteristic estimate generated is that the person is below a low percentile of size of people when the height of the sash marker is above a threshold height. In examples, the height of the sash marker can relate to a distance of the marker from the buckle. In examples, height of the sash marker can be indicative of the volume of the passenger using the seat belt, with higher sash marker positions indicative of smaller volume and lower sash marker positions indicative of larger volume. In examples, the physical characteristic estimate generated is that the person is above a high percentile of size of people when the height of the sash marker is below a threshold height.
A volume of an occupant can be estimated at one or more discrete locations, for example. A lap portion of a belt can be used to estimate a circumference of a user. As disclosed herein, various sensors and/or methodologies can be used to estimate a length of a lap portion of a seatbelt. The lap portion can be modeled as a curve over a waste of an occupant. The length of the curve can be used to estimate the are underneath. For example, the curve can be modeled in the form of y=√(H−(½ *L)2) wherein H=the peak height of the curve (e.g., the distance that the belt protrudes outward) and L=the length of the curve. The peak height can be measured directly (e.g., by using a depth measuring camera) or can be estimated (e.g., based on an average ratio of a person's belly width vs height). Integrating the formula can provide the following formula for area under the curve:
wherein C is an offset that may be disregarded. Note that this is one example formula that can be used and an additional component may be added based on the area of a person's torso not under the curve (e.g., behind the buckle). The area can be used to infer mass and/or size of the occupant.
In some examples, the formula may be modified depending on the position of the lap portion on a user's torso (e.g., depending on its height above the seat as a larger individual may wear the lap portion higher on their torso). The formula may also be modified depending on the length as a larger person may have a more rounded torso than a smaller person. As further disclosed herein, a similar methodology can be applied to the sash portion of the seatbelt to estimate an area under the sash portion of a seat belt. In some examples, a ration between a length or position of a portion of a sash portion or a lap portion of a seatbelt can be used to modify the above equation (e.g., for a person with a smaller waste and larger chest). In some examples, an occupant's size and/or weight can be estimated without direct calculation and may be inferred from a length of one or more portions of a seatbelt and/or positions of portions of the seatbelt by, for example, using machine learning or a lookup table based on statistical averages.
The physical characteristic estimator 200 may estimate different sizes, which can include the passenger height, weight or combination of height and weight. In some examples, the physical characteristic estimator 200 may estimate the passenger shape which can include the build, such as whether the person carries their weight relatively higher up on their torso, or carries their weight lower or around the waist, or is thin. In some examples, the physical characteristic estimator 200 may estimate the height of the passenger as the physical characteristic. Since a relatively taller person typically has a higher center of mass than a relatively shorter person, the force generated on a sash portion of the belt going across the torso of the passenger may be greater for a taller person than for a shorter person of the same weight. In some examples, the physical characteristic estimator 200 can estimate a ratio of the height and waist of the passenger as the physical characteristic. The ratio can be indicative of the volume of the passenger and the ratio can be indicative of the weight and center of mass of the passenger. These estimates of the physical characteristic can then be used for adjusting a safety system or other passenger related system in the vehicle.
The occupant constraint system 100 can include a passenger related system 250 (
The load limiter 252 can allow the seat belt 110/174 to extend from the belt reel 130 at a controlled rate during a collision rather than having the belt reel 130 simply holding the seat belt rigidly without any give. The occupant constraint system 100 can adjust the holding force of the load limiter 252 dependent on the physical characteristic of a passenger in a given seat 108. In an example, the occupant constraint system 100 may provide a lower holding force for relatively smaller passengers and provide a higher holding force for relatively larger passengers. The occupant constraint system 100 may provide a greater holding force for a taller person and a lesser holding force for a shorter person. In examples, the occupant constraint system may provide a lower holding force for a passenger in the lower percentile, such as 5th percentile, than a holding force for a passenger in the higher percentile, such as 50th or 95th percentile.
In examples, the holding force can be reduced before or at a beginning of the collision when the physical characteristic estimate generated is that the passenger is at or below the fifth percentile of size of people. In examples, the holding force can be maintaining during the collision when the physical characteristic estimate generated is that the passenger is at or above the 95th percentile of size of people. In examples, the holding force can be reduced after the beginning of the collision if the physical characteristic estimate generated is that the passenger is above the fifth percentile of size of people and below the 95 the percentile of size of people.
In some examples, the vehicle may include a collision detector (not shown) which may determine when a collision even has begun and has ended. The collision detector can be part of the vehicle system 152. In some embodiments, the holding force can be controlled to provide a relatively larger holding force during part of the collision and a relatively smaller holding force during another part of the collision. The holding force may be set ahead of the collision and maintained at the set force or the holding force may be adjusted during the collision. By controlling the holding force based on the size of the passenger, the occupant constraint system may reduce injury to the passenger caused by the belt while still retaining the safety benefits of the seat belt.
In some examples, the belt reel 130 may include a motor 260, as shown in
In another example, the passenger related system 250 may be an air bag system 266 (
In some examples, the estimated physical characteristic of the passenger can be used to control other types of passenger related systems in the vehicle 104, such as heating and air-conditioning systems which may be part of vehicle system 152. In examples, the estimated physical characteristic may be used to determine the how much heat or air-conditioning is required to warm or cool the passenger compartment 102 of the vehicle. The heat or air-conditioning requirements may be related to the sizes of one or more passengers in the passenger compartment 102. In examples, the passenger related system vehicle system controlled can be related to the suspension of the vehicle.
In examples, the occupant constraint system 100 can include or operate with a seat sensor. The seat sensor may be part of vehicle system 152 and may provide a weight related to a person or object sitting on the seat 108. The seat sensor may be used to determine if a passenger is seated in the seat 108 or if the seat is empty or has an object on it. In examples, the seat sensor may be used to determine that the seat is empty and the occupant constraint system 100 does not need to estimate a physical characteristic of a passenger, when the seat sensor determines a weight on the seat to be less than 3 kilograms. In examples, the seat sensor may be used to determine that the seat has a small person or an object if the seat sensor determines a weight on the seat to be between about 3 and 23.4 kilograms. In examples, the seat sensor may be used to determine that the seat has a passenger and the occupant constraint system 100 should operate if the seat sensor determines a weight of 23.4 kilograms or greater.
In examples, the vehicle may include an active seat back and/or an active head rest that can be part of vehicle system 152 and which may be used in estimating the size or stature of the passenger. In examples, the position of the passenger's head in relation to the seat back may be optically determined. In some examples the seat back and/or head rest may be adjusted or articulated based on the estimated size of the passenger to prepare for an impending collision.
The physical characteristic estimator 200 may send the physical characteristic estimate to the passenger related system for control of the passenger function. In this embodiment, the passenger related system may include a processing system to interpret the physical characteristic estimate into a control for the passenger function. In examples, the physical characteristic estimator 200 may provide control instructions based on the physical characteristic estimate to the passenger related system for control of the passenger function. In examples, the occupant constraint system can communicate and cooperate with one or more vehicle system 152. The vehicle system may include a buckle sensor, collision detector, location system, vehicle controller, seat belt tension sensor, and/or other systems.
The processor may include one or more processors. The processor may be any suitable processor that is capable of executing instructions. The processor may be an instruction set architecture (ISA), such as x86, PowerPC, SPARC, or MIPS, or other suitable ISA processor. In examples the camera system and/or the physical characteristic estimator 180 may include a central processing unit (CPU), a graphics processing unit (GPU) or both. Memory 402 may be non-transitory computer readable media that stores executable instructions which when performed by the processor perform the processes described herein including the process as described in
The occupant constraint system 100 can be used for multiple passenger seated in different seats and using different seat belts. The occupant constraint system 100 can individually distinguish the sizes of the different passengers. The occupant constraint system 100 can use a single camera to optically collect marker position data related to one or more seat belts in the passenger compartment or may use multiple cameras. In examples, the camera can include a fish-eye lens and can have a one hundred eighty degree viewing angle.
In some examples, the occupant constraint system 100 may identify if the passenger is leaning forward in their seat by the position of one or more belt marker. In some examples, the occupant constraint system 100 may determine that the passenger is leaning forward in their seat by detecting a position of one or more belt markers on the seat belt which may be closer to the camera and therefore larger than if the passenger is leaning back against the seat back. In some examples, the occupant constraint system 100 may determine that the passenger is leaning forward by comparing positions of the belt marker over time. In some examples, the occupant constraint system 100 may determine that the passenger is leaning forward based on a length of seat belt that is unwound from a belt reel in comparison to a length of seat belt unwound from the belt reel when the passenger is seated upright and leaning back against the back of the seat. In some examples, the size or shape of a seat belt marker may change when the passenger is leaning forward since the belt marker may be viewed by a camera of a camera system at a different angle than before the passenger leaned forward. In some examples, the passenger leaning forward can indicate that the passenger is unhealthy or is experiencing a medical emergency. The occupant constraint system 100 may attempt to ascertain if the passenger needs assistance audibly, visually and/or haptically by vibrating the seat or belt or the vehicle in some other way.
The vehicle 502 can include vehicle computing device(s) 504, one or more sensor systems 506, one or more emitters 508, one or more communication connections 510, at least one direct connection 512 (e.g., for physically coupling the vehicle 502 to exchange data and/or to provide power), and one or more drive systems 514.
In some instances, the sensor(s) 506 may include light detection and ranging (LIDAR) sensors, RADAR sensors, ultrasonic transducers, sonar sensors, location sensors (e.g., global positioning system (GPS), compass, etc.), inertial sensors (e.g., inertial measurement units (IMUs), accelerometers, magnetometers, gyroscopes, etc.), cameras (e.g., red-green-blue (RGB), infrared (IR), intensity, depth, time of flight, etc.), microphones, wheel encoders, environment sensors (e.g., temperature sensors, humidity sensors, light sensors, pressure sensors, etc.), etc. The sensor(s) 506 may include multiple instances of each of these or other types of sensors. For instance, the LIDAR sensors may include individual LIDAR sensors located at the corners, front, back, sides, and/or top of the vehicle 502. As another example, the cameras may include multiple cameras disposed at various locations about the exterior and/or interior of the vehicle 502. The sensor(s) 506 may provide input to the vehicle computing device(s) 504.
The vehicle 502 may also include the emitter(s) 508 for emitting light and/or sound, as described above. The emitter(s) 508 in this example may include interior audio and visual emitter(s) to communicate with passengers of the vehicle 502. By way of example and not limitation, interior emitter(s) may include speakers, lights, signs, display screens, touch screens, haptic emitter(s) (e.g., vibration and/or force feedback), mechanical actuators (e.g., seatbelt tensioners, seat positioners, headrest positioners, etc.), and the like. The emitter(s) 508 in this example may also include exterior emitter(s). By way of example and not limitation, the exterior emitter(s) in this example include lights to signal a direction of travel or other indicator of vehicle action (e.g., indicator lights, signs, light arrays, etc.), and one or more audio emitter(s) (e.g., speakers, speaker arrays, horns, etc.) to audibly communicate with pedestrians or other nearby vehicles, one or more of which comprising acoustic beam steering technology.
The vehicle 502 may also include the communication connection(s) 510 that enable communication between the vehicle 502 and one or more other local or remote computing device(s). For instance, the communication connection(s) 510 may facilitate communication with other local computing device(s) on the vehicle 502 and/or the drive system(s) 514. Also, the communication connection(s) 510 may additionally or alternatively allow the vehicle 502 to communicate with other nearby computing device(s) (e.g., other nearby vehicles, traffic signals, etc.). The communication connection(s) 510 may additionally or alternatively enable the vehicle 502 to communicate with computing device(s) 504.
The vehicle computing device(s) 504 can include one or more processors 518 and memory 520 communicatively coupled with the one or more processors 518. In the illustrated example, the memory 520 of the vehicle computing device(s) 504 stores a perception component 522, one or more system controllers 524, and a collision detection system 526. Though depicted in
In some instances, the perception component 522 can include functionality to perform object detection, segmentation, and/or classification. In some examples, the perception component 522 can provide processed sensor data that indicates a presence of an entity that is proximate to the vehicle 502 and/or a classification of the entity as an entity type (e.g., car, pedestrian, cyclist, animal, building, tree, road surface, curb, sidewalk, unknown, etc.). In additional or alternative examples, the perception component 522 can provide processed sensor data that indicates one or more characteristics associated with a detected entity (e.g., a tracked object) and/or the environment in which the entity is positioned. In some examples, characteristics associated with an entity can include, but are not limited to, an x-position (global and/or local position), a y-position (global and/or local position), a z-position (global and/or local position), an orientation (e.g., a roll, pitch, yaw), an entity type (e.g., a classification), a velocity of the entity, an acceleration of the entity, an extent of the entity (size), etc. Characteristics associated with the environment can include, but are not limited to, a presence of another entity in the environment, a state of another entity in the environment, a time of day, a day of a week, a season, a weather condition, an indication of darkness/light, etc.
In at least one example, the vehicle computing device(s) 504 can include one or more system controllers 524, which can be configured to control steering, propulsion, braking, safety, emitters, communication, and other systems of the vehicle 502. The system controller(s) 524 can communicate with and/or control corresponding systems of the drive system(s) 514 and/or other components of the vehicle 502.
The system controller(s) 524 may be communicatively coupled to one or more sensors of the vehicle sensor system(s) 506. By way of non-limiting example, the sensors may detect the presence of objects in the environment of the vehicle and/or determine attributes of those objects. The system controller(s) 524 may also cause activation of a safety system of the vehicle 502 when it is determined that the safety system should be activated. For example, the system controller 524 may instruct an airbag control unit to deploy one or more airbags, or may send a signal to a tensioner arranged to adjust tensioning of one or more restraints. Other safety systems are known and may be activated. In other embodiments, the system controller 524 may instruct activation of multiple safety systems. In some embodiments, some or all functionality of the safety system controller 524 may be performed remote from the vehicle 502, e.g., at a remote server associated with a dispatch or headquarters for the vehicle 502 or in the cloud. In other implementations, some or all of the functionality of the system controller(s) 524 may be performed at the vehicle 502 to minimize any delay that could result from the transmission of data between locales.
The drive system(s) 514 may include many of the vehicle systems, including a high voltage battery, a motor to propel the vehicle, an inverter to convert direct current from the battery into alternating current for use by other vehicle systems, a steering system including a steering motor and steering rack (which may be electric), a braking system including hydraulic or electric actuators, a suspension system including hydraulic and/or pneumatic components, a stability control system for distributing brake forces to mitigate loss of traction and maintain control, an HVAC system, lighting (e.g., lighting such as head/tail lights to illuminate an exterior surrounding of the vehicle), and one or more other systems (e.g., cooling system, safety systems, onboard charging system, other electrical components such as a DC/DC converter, a high voltage junction, a high voltage cable, charging system, charge port, etc.). Additionally, the drive system(s) 514 may include a drive system controller which may receive and preprocess data from the sensor(s) and to control operation of the various vehicle systems. In some instances, the drive system controller may include one or more processors and memory communicatively coupled with the one or more processors. The memory may store one or more modules to perform various functionalities of the drive system(s) 514. Furthermore, the drive system(s) 514 may also include one or more communication connection(s) that enable communication by the respective drive system with one or more other local or remote computing device(s).
The collision detection system 526 is configured to detect relatively higher impact collisions using inputs from one or more sensors of the sensor system(s) 506. For example, inputs from accelerometers placed proximate the front of the vehicle may indicate a head-on collision with an object. A collision indication from the collision detection system 526 causes the system controller(s) 524 to deploy vehicle safety systems, for example, one or more airbags, air curtains, restraint systems, or the like.
In response to a collision event indication from the collision detection system 526, the system controller(s) 524 may take one or more of the following actions, as non-limiting examples. The system controller(s) 524 may engage the drive system(s) 514 to bring the vehicle 502 to a stop. The system controller(s) 524 may open a communication connection(s) 510 between a communication unit of the vehicle 502 and a tele-operator over a network 536. This connection may enable a two-way communication between the tele-operator and person(s) located in and around the vehicle 502. The system controller(s) 524 may also store vehicle operational data such as vehicle speed, heading, steering angle, as well as data from sensor system(s) 506 for an interval of time preceding and subsequent to the collision event. The operational data may be stored locally in the on-board memory 520 of the vehicle 502, or may be transmitted via network(s) 536 to an external computing device(s) 538 to be stored in external memory 540. The external computing device(s) 538 may include one or more processor 542. The system controller(s) 524 may also engage the emitter(s) 508 on vehicle 502 to indicate a hazard condition when an impact collision indication is received. For example, an audio emitter may sound the horn, or make an announcement in the interior of the vehicle 502. A visual emitter such as hazard lights on the exterior of the vehicle 502 may also be activated. The lighting in the interior of the vehicle 502 may also indicate an impact event.
In examples, the physical characteristic estimator 200 may be incorporated into vehicle computing device(s) 504. The processor 404 may correspond to the processor(s) 518 and the memory 402 may correspond to memory 402. In examples, the camera 182 of the camera system 180 may correspond to one or more camera in the sensor system(s) 506. In examples, the vehicle system 152 may include or be controlled by the system controller(s) 524. For example, the system controller 524 may control the deployment of one or more airbags 266 or may send a signal to the load limiter 266.
In some examples, the vehicle 502 can send operational data, including raw or processed sensor data from the sensor system(s) 506, to one or more computing device(s) 538 via the network(s) 536. The operational data can be sent in response to a collision event detected by the collision detection system 526. In other examples, the vehicle 502 can send processed operational data and/or representations of operational data to the computing device(s) 538 at a particular frequency, after a lapse of a predetermined period of time, in near real-time, etc. In some cases, the vehicle 502 can send raw or processed operational data to the computing device(s) 538 as one or more log files.
In some instances, aspects of some or all of the components discussed herein may include any models, algorithms, and/or machine learning algorithms. For example, the component(s) in the memory 520, 540 may be implemented as a neural network. As can be understood in the context of this disclosure, a neural network can utilize machine learning, which can refer to a broad class of such algorithms in which an output is generated based on learned parameters.
In examples, the vehicle 104 illustrated in
A: An occupant constraint system, comprising:
a belt, including a first belt end and a second belt end;
a belt connector that connects the first belt end to a vehicle at a first mounting position relative to a seat in the vehicle;
a buckle assembly comprising a belt portion and a vehicle portion, the vehicle portion fixed to the vehicle at a second mounting position relative to the seat;
a shoulder ring connected to the vehicle at a third mounting position, the shoulder ring including a slot through which the belt passes;
a belt reel connected to the vehicle at a fourth mounting position and connected to the second belt end to wind and unwind a portion of the belt adjacent to the second belt end,
wherein the belt includes a lap portion between the first belt end and the belt portion of the buckle assembly for extending across the waist of a passenger, and includes a sash portion between the belt portion of the buckle assembly and the shoulder ring for extending across a torso of the passenger;
a sash marker on the sash portion of the belt;
a camera system having a camera with a field of view that includes a view of the sash marker, when the passenger is seated between the sash portion and the seat, and wherein the camera system produces marker position data indicative of a position of the sash marker;
a physical characteristic estimator that is communicatively coupled to the camera system, wherein the physical characteristic estimator is configured to receive the marker position data from the camera system and to produce, based at least in part on the marker position data, a physical characteristic estimate of a physical characteristic of the passenger; and
a passenger related system having a passenger function, the passenger related system controlling the passenger function based at least in part on the physical characteristic estimate.
B: The occupant constraint system of clause A, wherein the passenger related system is a load limiter connected to the belt reel and the passenger function is a holding force at which the belt reel holds the belt from unwinding from the belt reel during a collision of the vehicle.
C: The occupant constraint system of clause A, wherein the passenger related system is an airbag system and the passenger function is a deployment rate, volume and/or pressure at which the an airbag of the airbag system deploys during a collision of the vehicle.
D: The occupant constraint system of clause A, further comprising a lap marker on the lap portion of the belt, and wherein the field of view of the camera includes a view of the lap marker, when the passenger is seated in the vehicle and is between the lap portion and the seat with the buckle assembly buckled, and wherein the marker position data is indicative of the position of the sash marker and the position of the lap marker.
E: The occupant constraint system of clause D, wherein the lap marker and the sash marker are each one of a series of belt markers on the belt.
F: A method comprising:
determining a position of a belt marker, as marker position data, wherein the belt marker is included on a seat belt configured to secure a passenger to a vehicle seat and the seat belt includes a lap portion and a sash portion;
generating, based at least in part on the marker position data, a physical characteristic estimate of a physical characteristic of the passenger; and
controlling a passenger function of a passenger related system based at least in part on the physical characteristic estimate.
G: The method of clause F, wherein the passenger related system includes a belt reel with a load limiter and the passenger function is a holding force at which the belt reel holds the belt from unwinding from the belt reel during a collision of the vehicle.
H: The method of clause F, wherein the passenger related system is an airbag system and the passenger function is a deployment rate, volume and/or pressure at which the an airbag of the airbag system deploys during a collision of the vehicle.
I: The method of clause F, wherein the belt marker is a sash marker on the sash portion of the belt and wherein the marker position data optically collected includes data related to a height of the sash marker on the passenger's torso.
J: The method of claim 9, wherein the physical characteristic estimate generated is that the passenger is below a low percentile of size of people when the height of the sash marker is above a threshold height.
K: The method of clause J, wherein the physical characteristic estimate generated is that the passenger is above a high percentile of size of people when the height of the sash marker is below a threshold height.
L: The method of clause J, wherein the passenger related system is a load limiter connected to a belt reel of the seat belt and the passenger function is a holding force at which the belt reel holds the seat belt from unwinding from the belt reel during a collision of the vehicle, and wherein controlling the passenger function includes: reducing the holding force before or during the collision when the physical characteristic estimate generated is that the passenger is at or below the fifth percentile of mass of people; maintaining the holding force during the collision when the physical characteristic estimate generated is that the passenger is at or above the 95th percentile of mass of people; and reducing the holding force after the beginning of the collision if the physical characteristic estimate generated is that the passenger is above the fifth percentile of mass of people and below the 95 the percentile of mass of people.
M: The method of clause F, wherein the position of the belt marker is determined optically.
N: The method of clause F, wherein the belt marker includes a sash marker on the sash portion of the belt and a lap marker on the lap portion of the belt, and wherein the marker position data collected includes data related to positions of the sash marker and the lap marker, and the physical characteristic estimate is generated using a ratio of the positions of the sash marker and the lap marker.
O: The method of clause N, wherein sash marker and the lap marker are each one of a series of belt markers on the seat belt that begin at an end of the seat belt that is connected to the vehicle, each of the belt markers including a unique identifier, and wherein collecting marker position data includes collecting data related to one of the unique identifiers.
P: The method of clause O, wherein the unique identifiers are indicative of a distance from the end of the seat belt, and wherein generating a physical characteristic estimate of a physical characteristic of the passenger includes using the distance from the end of the seat belt.
Q: The method of clause P, wherein a first one of the series of belt markers is offset by an offset distance from the end of the seat belt, and wherein generating a physical characteristic estimate includes using the distance from the end of the seat belt and the offset distance.
R: The method of clause F, wherein the belt marker is an infrared reflector, and the marker position data is collected using an infrared sensor.
S: A vehicle comprising:
a seat belt including a lap portion and a sash portion;
a belt marker positioned on the seat belt;
a camera system having a camera mounted in a passenger compartment of the vehicle, the camera having a field of view that includes a view of the belt marker, the camera system producing marker position data indicative of the position of the belt marker;
a physical characteristic estimator that is communicatively coupled to the camera system, wherein the physical characteristic estimator is configured to receive the marker position data from the camera system and to produce, based at least in part on the marker position data, a physical characteristic estimate of a physical characteristic of a passenger using the seat belt; and
a passenger related system having a passenger function, the passenger related system controlling the passenger function based at least in part on the physical characteristic estimate.
T: The vehicle of clause S, wherein the camera includes an infrared capacity, and wherein the belt marker includes a series of infrared reflective individual markers that extend from an end of the seat belt along the lap portion of the seat belt and to the sash portion of the seat belt, and wherein the camera system infrared-optically recognizes a distance from the seat belt end to one of the belt markers on the sash portion of the seat belt as the position of the belt marker.
While the example clauses described above are described with respect to one particular implementation, it should be understood that, in the context of this document, the content of the example clauses can also be implemented via a method, device, system, computer-readable medium, and/or another implementation. Additionally, any of examples A-T may be implemented alone or in combination with any other one or more of the examples A-T.
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