DESC:TITLE OF THE INVENTION: AIRBAG DEPLOYMENT SYSTEM
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present disclosure is generally related to an airbag deployment system. Particularly, it is related to an adaptive and failsafe airbag deployment system.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
An airbag is a vehicle occupant-restraint system that helps prevent head, chest, and other severe injuries during a road vehicle collision. Airbag deployment is one of the prime features in preventing accidental damage to life.
The following problems are identified in the deployment of airbags in automobiles. First, if the seat belt is just buckled, without covering the occupant of the seat (i.e. the seat belt is retracted and buckled to the seat behind the occupant of the seat), the deployment of an airbag may injure the occupant.
Second, if there is no person who is seated on the seat, but the seat belt is buckled, there is no necessity for airbag deployment.
Third, if a child is sitting on the seat, the airbag should be deployed with less force.
Further, the existing systems mostly rely on buckle sensors and weight sensors to deploy an airbag, irrespective of identifying whether the seat belt is properly worn by a person or not. Additionally, the existing systems are not capable of identifying whether the seat is occupied by a single person or more, at the time of deployment.
There is, therefore, a need in the art for an adaptive and failsafe airbag deployment system, which overcomes the aforementioned drawbacks and shortcomings.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
An adaptive and failsafe airbag deployment system is disclosed. Said system comprises: an at least a sensor; a control unit that facilitates the monitoring and controlling of the system; a communication unit that facilitates the communicating of the system to with an at least an external device; an alert module that facilitates the sending of an at least one alert; and a power supply unit that supplies power to the system.
The at least one sensor includes: a buckle sensor that continuously monitors the status of a seat belt buckle in real-time to identify whether the seat belt is properly buckled or not, with the results of the monitoring being transmitted to the control unit; a thermal sensor that continuously monitors the occupancy status of each seat in real-time to identify whether each seat is occupied by a person or not, with the results of the monitoring being transmitted to the control unit; and a rotary encoder that continuously monitors the length of the seat belt in real-time, when the seat belt is buckled, to identify whether the seat belt is buckled with a person actually wearing it or not, with the results of the monitoring being transmitted to the control unit.
The control unit comprises an at least a decision-making module. Said decision-making module comprises: a seat belt buckle status finder that facilitates the deciding of whether the seat belt buckle is properly buckled or not, based on the inputs received from the buckle sensor; and an occupancy finder that facilitates: the deciding of whether each seat of a vehicle is occupied or not, based on the inputs received from the thermal sensor, and the identifying of whether the occupant is a person or not.
Said decision-making module also comprises: an occupant-type finder that facilitates: the identifying and deciding of whether the person occupying the seat is an adult or a child, based on the inputs received from the thermal sensor, and the identifying of whether the seat is occupied by a single person or multiple persons; a seat belt status finder that facilitates the identifying of whether the seat belt is buckled with the person actually wearing it or not, based on the inputs received from the rotary encoder; and an analytics module.
The analytics module facilitates the making of a decision, whether an airbag is to be deployed or not, based on the inputs from the seat belt buckle status finder, the occupancy finder, the occupant-type finder, and the seat belt status finder, with: the decision being transmitted to an electronic control unit of the vehicle; and an at least an alert being sent to a user through the alert module.
The at least one external device facilitates the remote tracking of: the occupancy status of each seat; whether the occupants are adults or children; and seat belt status of each occupant.
The alert module comprises an at least a display that facilitates the showing of visual alerts, and an at least a speaker that facilitates the generating of audio alerts
The disclosed airbag deployment system is a multi-model system, not dependent on the buckle sensor alone. Since it comes to a conclusion based on the results from all the sensors, the chances of failure are also very less.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
Figure 1 illustrates an embodiment of an adaptive and failsafe airbag deployment system, in accordance with the present disclosure.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Throughout this specification, the use of the words "comprise" and “include”, and variations such as "comprises" "comprising", “includes”, and “including” may imply the inclusion of an element or elements not specifically recited. Further, the disclosed embodiments may be embodied in various other forms as well.
Throughout this specification, the phrases “at least a”, “at least an”, and “at least one” are used interchangeably.
Throughout this specification, the use of the word “plurality” is to be construed as being inclusive of at least one.
Throughout this specification, the use of the word “system” is to be construed as a set of technical components that are communicatively associated with each other, and function together as part of a mechanism to achieve a desired technical result.
Throughout this specification, the use of the word “user” and its variations are to be construed as being inclusive of the driver of a vehicle.
Also, it is to be noted that embodiments may be described as a system and/or a method depicted as a flow chart, a flow diagram, a dataflow diagram, a structure diagram, a block diagram, or diagram in any other form. Although a flow chart describes the operations as a sequential process, many of the operations may be performed in parallel, concurrently, or simultaneously. In addition, the order of the operations may be re-arranged. A method may be terminated when its operations are completed, but may also have additional steps not included in the figure(s).
An adaptive and failsafe airbag deployment system (100) is disclosed. As illustrated in Figure 1, an embodiment of said system (100) broadly comprises: an at least a sensor (101); a control unit (102) that facilitates the monitoring and controlling of the system (100), said control unit (102) comprising an at least a decision-making module; an alert module (103); and a power supply unit.
The at least one sensor (101) includes, but is not limited to, a buckle sensor (1011), a thermal sensor (1012), and a rotary encoder (1013).
In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the buckle sensor (1011) continuously monitors the status of a seat belt buckle in real-time (i.e. whether the seat belt is properly buckled or not), and transmits the status to the control unit (102).
In another embodiment of the present disclosure, the thermal sensor (1012) continuously monitors occupancy status of each seat in real-time (i.e. whether each seat is occupied by a person or not), and transmits the status to the control unit (102).
In yet another embodiment of the present disclosure, the rotary encoder (1013) continuously monitors the length of the seat belt in real-time, when the seat belt is buckled, to identify whether the seat belt is buckled with a person actually wearing it or not, and transmits the status to the control unit (102). The rotary encoder (1013) transmits the length of the seat belt in its retracted state.
In yet another embodiment of the present disclosure, the control unit (102) is a microcontroller. The control unit (102) further comprises a communication unit, through which the system (100) communicates with an at least an external device.
The at least one decision-making module includes, but is not limited to, a seat belt buckle status finder (1021), an occupancy finder (1022), an occupant-type finder (1023), a seat belt status finder (1024), and an analytics module (1025).
In yet another embodiment of the present disclosure, the seat belt buckle status finder (1021) facilitates the deciding of whether the seat belt buckle is properly buckled or not, based on the inputs received from the buckle sensor (1011).
In yet another embodiment of the present disclosure, the buckle sensor (1011) comprises a reed switch. The reed switch is open, when the seat belt is not latched properly. Similarly, the reed switch closes when the seat belt is latched properly, thus sending an output to the control unit (102).
In yet another embodiment of the present disclosure, the occupancy finder (1022) facilitates the deciding of whether each seat of a vehicle is occupied or not, based on the inputs received from the thermal sensor (1012).
The occupancy finder (1022) also facilitates the identifying of whether the occupant is a person or not. If the seat is occupied by a person, the temperature values are elevated. The thermal sensor (1012) comprises 64 thermopile elements arranged in 8*8 format. Each thermopile element senses the temperature at the area that the thermopile element covers. The temperature value of the thermopile element becomes elevated, if the seat is occupied by a person, and the thermal images also can be mapped.
In yet another embodiment of the present disclosure, the occupant-type finder (1023) facilitates the identifying and deciding of whether the person occupying the seat is an adult or a child, based on the inputs received from the thermal sensor (1012).
Based on the temperature value of each thermopile element in the thermal sensor (1012) and image mapping, the occupant-type finder (1023) identifies whether the occupant is a child or an adult, and whether the seat is occupied by a single person or multiple persons. This paves the way for an airbag to be deployed with applicable force, depending on whether the occupant is a child or an adult.
In yet another embodiment of the present disclosure, the seat belt status finder (1024) facilitates the identifying of whether the seat belt is buckled with the person actually wearing it or not, based on the inputs received from the rotary encoder (1013). The rotary encoder (1013) comprises a disc with optical pattern moving around a shaft. As the shaft rotates, light passes through the optical pattern, and gets converted to output signal.
In yet another embodiment of the present disclosure, the analytics module (1025) facilitates the making of a decision, based on the inputs from the seat belt buckle status finder (1021), the occupancy finder (1022), the occupant-type finder (1023), and the seat belt status finder (1024) (i.e. whether to deploy the airbag or not), and transmits its decision to an electronic control unit (104) of the vehicle, along with other details, such as force of deployment, etc. Said module (1025) also sends out an at least an alert to a user. The alert may be any type of alert known in the art and includes, but is not limited to, visual alerts, text messages, and sound alerts.
In yet another embodiment of the present disclosure, the minimum and maximum temperature values for the thermal sensor (1012) is set. The temperature value of each thermopile element in the thermal sensor (1012) is fed to the analytics module (1025). The analytics module (1025) is trained by various sets of input data and their corresponding output, such as “Co-Driver”, “Driver”, “Driver & Co-Driver”, “Empty”, etc.
The analytics module (1025) provides the status of occupancy based on the values from the thermal sensor (1012). Based on the inputs received from the buckle sensor (1011) and the rotary encoder (1013), the analytics module (1025) decides: “Seat belt is OK”, if the outputs of both the buckle sensor (1011) and the rotary encoder (1013) are positive; “Abnormal Wearing of Seat belt”, if either of the output is positive; and “Seat belt is Not Worn”, if both the outputs are negative.
In yet another embodiment of the present disclosure, the power supply unit supplies power to the system (100). The power supply unit either receives power from the vehicle or comprises an at least a rechargeable battery to supply power to the system (100). The power for recharging the at least one rechargeable battery is received from the vehicle.
In yet another embodiment of the present disclosure, the communication between the control unit (102) and the electronic control unit (104) occurs through CAN (Controller Area Network) bus using CAN protocol. The information shared by the control unit (102) to the electronic control unit (104) includes, but is not limited to, status from the at least one sensor (101), and the decision made by the analytics module (1025) (i.e. whether to deploy the airbag or not), along with the other details, such as force of deployment, etc.
In yet another embodiment of the present disclosure, voice and visual alert to the user or driver of the vehicle are sent through the alert module (103). Said alert module (103) comprises an at least a display (1031) and an at least a speaker (1032). The display may be installed in the vicinity of the user (for example, at the front near the dashboard of the vehicle).
In yet another embodiment of the present disclosure, the system (100) provides a display alert to the driver regarding the seat belt status of all the occupants of the vehicle. In case of any abnormalities, it gives an audio alert as well.
In yet another embodiment of the present disclosure, the at least one alert is also sent to the at least one external device. Since all the details are shared with the at least one external device by the control unit (102), the at least one external device facilitates the remote tracking of: the occupancy status of each seat; whether the occupants are adults or children; and seat belt status of each occupant.
In yet another embodiment of the present disclosure, the at least one external device includes, but is not limited to, mobile phones, smart phones, tablets, phablets, and smart watches. The communication through the communication unit may occur through wireless internet, mobile data, Bluetooth Low Energy, LoRa, ZigBee, or the like.
In yet another embodiment of the present disclosure, one or more components of the at least one decision-making module may be based on techniques, such as Artificial Intelligence or Artificial Neural Network.
The disclosed airbag deployment system (100) is a multi-model system, not dependent on the buckle sensor alone. Since it comes to a conclusion based on the results from all the sensors, the chances of failure are also very less.
The system (100) is developed without the usage of camera, thus eliminating the issues of privacy and hacking. The system (100) is suitable for easy retrofitting with the existing vehicles too.
It will be apparent to a person skilled in the art that the above description is for illustrative purposes only and should not be considered as limiting. Various modifications, additions, alterations and improvements without deviating from the spirit and the scope of the disclosure may be made by a person skilled in the art. Such modifications, additions, alterations and improvements should be construed as being within the scope of this disclosure.

LIST OF REFERENCE NUMERALS:
100 – Airbag Deployment System
101 – At least One Sensor
1011 – Buckle Sensor
1012 – Thermal Sensor
1013 – Rotary Encoder
102 – Control Unit
1021 – Seat Belt Buckle Status Finder
1022 – Occupancy Finder
1023 – Occupant-Type Finder
1024 – Seat Belt Status Finder
1025 – Analytics Module
103 – Alert Module
1031 – At Least a Display
1032 – At Least a Speaker
104 – Engine Control Unit ,CLAIMS:1. An adaptive and failsafe airbag deployment system (100), comprising:
an at least a sensor (101) that includes:
a buckle sensor (1011) that continuously monitors the status of a seat belt buckle in real-time to identify whether the seat belt is properly buckled or not, with the results of the monitoring being transmitted to a control unit (102);
a thermal sensor (1012) that continuously monitors the occupancy status of each seat in real-time to identify whether each seat is occupied by a person or not, with the results of the monitoring being transmitted to the control unit (102); and
a rotary encoder (1013) that continuously monitors the length of the seat belt in real-time, when the seat belt is buckled, to identify whether the seat belt is buckled with a person actually wearing it or not, with the results of the monitoring being transmitted to the control unit (102);
the control unit (102) that facilitates the monitoring and controlling of the system (100), said control unit (102) comprising:
an at least a decision-making module that comprises:
a seat belt buckle status finder (1021) that facilitates the deciding of whether the seat belt buckle is properly buckled or not, based on the inputs received from the buckle sensor (1011);
an occupancy finder (1022) that facilitates: the deciding of whether each seat of a vehicle is occupied or not, based on the inputs received from the thermal sensor (1012); and the identifying of whether the occupant is a person or not;
an occupant-type finder (1023) that facilitates: the identifying and deciding of whether the person occupying the seat is an adult or a child, based on the inputs received from the thermal sensor (1012); and the identifying of whether the seat is occupied by a single person or multiple persons;
a seat belt status finder (1024) that facilitates the identifying of whether the seat belt is buckled with the person actually wearing it or not, based on the inputs received from the rotary encoder (1013), and
an analytics module (1025) that facilitates the deciding of whether an airbag is to be deployed or not, based on the inputs from the seat belt buckle status finder (1021), the occupancy finder (1022), the occupant-type finder (1023), and the seat belt status finder (1024), with: the decision being transmitted to an electronic control unit (104) of the vehicle; and an at least an alert being sent to a user through an alert module (103);
a communication unit that facilitates the communicating of the system (100) with an at least an external device, with said at least one external device facilitating the remote tracking of: the occupancy status of each seat; whether the occupants are adults or children; and seat belt status of each occupant;
the alert module (103) that facilitates the sending of the at least one alert to the user, said alert module (103) comprising: an at least a display (1031) that facilitates the showing of a visual alert, and an at least a speaker (1032) that facilitates the generating of an audio alert; and
a power supply unit that supplies power to the system (100).
2. The adaptive and failsafe airbag deployment system (100) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the control unit (102) is a microcontroller.
3. The adaptive and failsafe airbag deployment system (100) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the communication between the control unit (102) and the electronic control unit (104) occurs through Controller Area Network bus using CAN protocol.
4. The adaptive and failsafe airbag deployment system (100) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the at least one alert includes visual alerts, text messages, and sound alerts.
5. The adaptive and failsafe airbag deployment system (100) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the at least one display (1031) is installed near the dashboard of the vehicle.
6. The adaptive and failsafe airbag deployment system (100) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the at least one external device includes mobile phones, smart phones, tablets, phablets, and smart watches.