Airbag system

Abstract

To prevent an inflated airbag from failing to exhibit expected restraining performance and from adversely affecting an occupant.SOLUTION: A control device 54 of an airbag device 10 determines whether a collision of a vehicle has occurred or not, based on an output value from a collision sensor 50 which detects the collision of the vehicle; determines whether or not a head part of an occupant is positioned within a predetermined range corresponding to a loop space of an airbag 32 including a pair of front and rear chambers, left and right, in which a loop space is formed between an airbag main body deployed on a vehicle front side of the occupant during inflation thereof and the airbag main body extending in a vehicle longitudinal direction during the inflation, based on an output value from an indoor camera 52 which photographs inside of the photographic range including the head part of the occupant seated on a seat 12 and based on a determination model which is learned in advance from learning data including data about a case where the head part of the occupant is not positioned within the predetermined range; and inflates the airbag 32 when it is determined that the collision of the vehicle has occurred and that the head part of the occupant is positioned within the predetermined range.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This disclosure relates to an airbag device.

Background Art

[0002] Patent Document 1 describes an airbag device including a body support portion that expands from behind the occupant's head to the front of the occupant, and a pair of head support portions that expand on both the left and right sides of the occupant's head and are connected to the body support portion. In this airbag device, in the deployed state, an escape portion is formed that penetrates vertically between the pair of head support portions and avoids the occupant's head.

[0003] Patent Document 2 also describes an airbag device having a rear inflation portion that expands on the back side of the seat, a pair of side inflation portions that extend forward from both the left and right sides of the rear inflation portion, and a pair of front inflation portions that extend from the side inflation portions toward the center side and are connected to each other on the center side to cover the front of the occupant. In this airbag device, a gas flow path is formed in the order of the rear inflation portion, the side inflation portions, and the front inflation portions.

Prior Art Documents

Patent Documents

[0004]

Patent Document 1

Patent Document 2

Summary of the Invention

Problems to be Solved by the Invention

[0005] In cases where an airbag, including those described in Patent Documents 1 and 2, includes an airbag body that deploys in front of the occupant when deployed, and a pair of front and rear chambers that extend in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle when deployed, forming a loop space between them and the airbag body, the following problems arise. Specifically, if the occupant's head is not in a normal position, for example, if the occupant is lying down and leaning against the window, or if the occupant is in a hunched-over position, the occupant's head may not enter the loop space at all, or may only partially enter it, when the airbag deploys. In this case, there are concerns that the deployed airbag may not be able to perform the intended restraint performance, or that it may have adverse effects on the occupant.

[0006] This disclosure is made in consideration of the above facts, and aims to provide an airbag system that can prevent deployed airbags from failing to perform their intended restraint performance or from adversely affecting occupants. [Means for solving the problem]

[0007] The airbag system according to the first embodiment includes a control unit that determines whether or not a vehicle collision has occurred based on an output value from a collision sensor that detects a vehicle collision, and determines whether or not the occupant's head is located within a predetermined range corresponding to the loop space of the airbag, which includes an airbag body that deploys in front of the vehicle when deployed and a pair of left and right front and rear chambers that extend in the front-rear direction of the vehicle when deployed and form a loop space between them and the airbag body, based on an output value from a camera that captures a range including the head of an occupant seated in a seat, and deploys the airbag when it is determined that a vehicle collision has occurred and that the occupant's head is located within the predetermined range. The control unit then determines whether the occupant's head is located within the predetermined range, based on a determination model that has been previously learned from training data, which includes data for cases where the occupant's head is not located within the predetermined range, in addition to the output value from the camera. .

[0008] In the first embodiment, whether or not a vehicle collision has occurred is determined based on the output value from the collision sensor. In addition, it is determined whether or not the occupant's head is located within a predetermined range corresponding to the airbag loop space, based on the output value from a camera that captures the area including the occupant's head. If it is determined that a vehicle collision has occurred and that the occupant's head is located within the predetermined range, the airbag is deployed. As a result, if it is determined that the occupant's head is not located within the predetermined range, the airbag will not deploy, thus preventing the deployed airbag from failing to provide the intended restraint performance or causing adverse effects on the occupant.

[0009] Also, The 1 manner in The control unit determines whether the occupant's head is located within the predetermined range, based on a determination model that has been previously learned from training data, which includes data for cases where the occupant's head is not located within the predetermined range, in addition to the output value from the camera. This allows for accurate determination of whether the occupant's head is located within a predetermined range corresponding to the airbag loop space, without requiring the use of stereo cameras or other configuration complexities.

[0011] The 2 The manner of is, 1 In this embodiment, the data for cases where the occupant's head is not located within the predetermined range includes data for cases where the occupant is lying down and leaning against the window, and data for cases where the occupant is leaning forward.

[0012] The 2 According to this configuration, in a judgment based on a judgment model pre-trained from training data, it is possible to accurately determine if the occupant's head is not within a predetermined range when the occupant is sleeping and leaning against the window or when the occupant is leaning forward.

[0013] The 3 The manner of is, 1In the aspect, the learning data includes first data in which the output value of the camera when the head of the occupant is not located within the predetermined range is associated with position information representing the position of the head of the occupant, and second data in which the output value of the camera when the head of the occupant is located within the predetermined range is associated with position information representing the position of the head of the occupant.

[0014] First 3 According to the aspect, since the learning data includes the above first data and second data, in the determination based on the determination model pre-learned from the learning data, the position information representing the position of the head of the occupant can be obtained from the output value from the camera. And it is possible to accurately determine whether or not the head of the occupant is located within the predetermined range from the position information.

Advantages of the Invention

[0015] The present disclosure has an effect of suppressing a situation where the deployed airbag cannot exhibit the intended restraint performance or has an adverse effect on the occupant.

Brief Description of the Drawings

[0016] [Figure 1] It is a schematic block diagram of an airbag device according to an embodiment. [Figure 2] It is a perspective view showing a vehicle airbag. [Figure 3] It is an image diagram showing the arrangement of an in-vehicle camera and a specific example of the position of the head when it is determined that the head of the occupant is not located within the predetermined range. [Figure 4] It is an image diagram showing an example of the positional relationship between the occupant and the airbag when the occupant is in a normal posture and when the head is shifted horizontally. [Figure 5] It is an image diagram showing an example of the positional relationship between the occupant and the airbag when the occupant is in a normal posture and when the head is shifted forward.

Modes for Carrying Out the Invention

[0017] Hereinafter, an example of an embodiment of the present disclosure will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. As shown in FIG. 1, an airbag device 10 according to this embodiment is provided corresponding to each seat of a vehicle, and includes a collision sensor 50, an in-vehicle camera 52, a control device 54, an inflator 44, and an airbag 32. Hereinafter, first, referring to FIG. 2, the airbag 32 and its surrounding configuration will be described.

[0018] The seat 12 shown in FIG. 2 is a front seat or a rear seat of the vehicle. The seat 12 has a seat cushion 14, a seat back 16 erected above the rear end of the seat cushion 14, and a headrest 18 connected to the upper end of the seat back 16. A passenger D sitting on the seat cushion 14 of the seat 12 is restrained by a seat belt 22 provided in a seat belt device 20. The seat belt device 20 is a three-point seat belt device, and a so-called seat-attached seat belt device in which a retractor and an anchor (not shown) and a buckle (reference numeral omitted) are provided on the seat 12.

[0019] The airbag 32 is normally stored in a module case 46 together with a pair of inflators 44 in a folded state. The module case 46 is formed in a hollow rectangular parallelepiped shape. The module case 46 is disposed behind the upper part of the seat 12 (specifically, behind the upper end of the seat back 16 and the headrest 18), and is fixed to the upper end of the seat back 16 or a vehicle body (not shown).

[0020] The airbag 32 receives gas supply from a pair of inflators 44 and expands and deploys (deploying and inflating) from the rear side to the front side of the upper part of the seat 12. This airbag 32 includes a pair of left and right front and rear chambers 34 and an airbag main body 40. The airbag main body 40 is deployed in front of the vehicle of the passenger D during deployment. Also, a pair of left and right front and rear chambers 34 extend in the vehicle front-rear direction during deployment, and a loop space 36 is formed between the airbag main body 40.

[0021] More specifically, the front and rear chambers 34 have a pair of front and rear extending portions 34A that inflate and deploy forward, passing on both sides of the occupant D's head H when the occupant D is in a standard position, and a connecting portion 34B that connects the front ends of the pair of front and rear extending portions 34A in the left-right direction. The airbag body 40 inflates and deploys toward the occupant D side (rear side) behind the front and rear chambers 34, with a delay at the rear of the connecting portion 34B.

[0022] The front and rear chambers 34 are formed in a long, bag-like shape, and the airbag body 40 is also formed in a bag-like shape. The longitudinal ends of the front and rear chambers 34 are a pair of left and right inflator housings that house a pair of inflators 44. The longitudinal center of the front and rear chambers 34 is a connecting section 34B, and the area between the connecting section 34B and the pair of inflator housings is the front and rear extension section 34A. The pair of inflators 44 are combustion-type or cold-gas-type cylinder inflators that generate gas when activated. The operation of these inflators 44 is controlled by a control device 54.

[0023] On the other hand, the collision sensor 50 shown in Figure 1 consists of an acceleration sensor that detects acceleration in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle. If the sensor detects acceleration of a predetermined value or higher, which corresponds to the vehicle colliding with an object, for a predetermined period of time or longer, it detects this as a vehicle collision.

[0024] The interior camera 52 captures the area within its shooting range, including the head H of occupant D seated in seat 12. More specifically, the interior camera 52 includes a monocular interior camera 52F (see Figure 3(A)) for capturing occupant D seated in the front seat, and a monocular interior camera 52R (see Figure 3(B)) for capturing occupant D seated in the rear seat.

[0025] As shown in Figure 3(A), the interior camera 52F is mounted on the front end of the vehicle's roof and in the center in the vehicle's width direction. The camera's field of view and shooting range are adjusted so that the head H of the occupant D is within the shooting range even when the head H of the occupant D is located at positions 70A, 70B, 70C, etc. in Figure 3(C), or when the head H of the occupant D is located at positions 70D, 70E, 70F, etc. in Figure 3(C).

[0026] Positions 70A and 70C indicate the position of occupant D's head H when occupant D is seated in the driver's seat and is lying down with their head H tilted to the left or right (for example, leaning against the window). Position 70B indicates the position of occupant D's head H when occupant D is seated in the driver's seat and is leaning forward.

[0027] Furthermore, positions 70D and 70F indicate the position of occupant D's head H when occupant D is seated in the passenger seat and is reclined with their head H tilted to the left or right (for example, leaning against the window). Position 70E indicates the position of occupant D's head H when occupant D is seated in the passenger seat and is leaning forward.

[0028] As shown in Figure 3(B), the interior camera 52R is mounted on the roof of the vehicle, in the center of both the front-to-rear and width-to-rear directions. Similar to the interior camera 52F, the field of view and shooting range of the interior camera 52R are adjusted so that the head H of the occupant D is within the shooting range even when the occupant D is reclined in the rear seat with their head H tilted to the left or right, or when the occupant D is leaning forward.

[0029] The control device 54 includes a collision determination unit 56, an occupant posture determination unit 58, and an overall determination unit 60. The collision determination unit 56 determines whether a vehicle collision has occurred based on the output value from the collision sensor 50 and outputs the determination result to the overall determination unit 60. The occupant posture determination unit 58 includes a memory unit in which a learned determination model is pre-stored. Based on the output value from the interior camera 52 and the learned determination model, the occupant posture determination unit 58 determines whether the occupant D's head H is located within a predetermined range corresponding to the loop space 36 of the airbag 32 and outputs the determination result to the overall determination unit 60.

[0030] The above-mentioned trained judgment model is generated using training data that includes data for cases where the occupant D's head H is not located within a predetermined range corresponding to the loop space 36 of the airbag 32. Specifically, the training data includes first data and second data. The first data is data in which the output value of the interior camera 52 when the occupant D's head H is not located within the predetermined range is associated with position information (an example of training data) representing the position of the occupant D's head H. The second data is data in which the output value of the interior camera 52 when the occupant D's head H is located within the predetermined range is associated with position information (an example of training data) representing the position of the occupant D's head H. The first data also includes data for cases where the occupant D is lying down and leaning against the window, and where the occupant D is leaning forward. The above position information is, for example, information such as "300 mm to the left from the center (position in standard posture)".

[0031] In this embodiment, based on the above-mentioned training data, a model is trained to output the position of occupant D's head H in the situation represented by the output value of the indoor camera 52, thereby pre-generating a trained judgment model. In this embodiment, a neural network as shown in Figure 1 can be used as an example of the model, and deep learning can be used as an example of the learning algorithm.

[0032] The occupant posture determination unit 58 obtains a determination result for the position of occupant D's head H by performing signal processing on a multilayer neural network based on the output value from the indoor camera 52 and a trained determination model each time an output value from the indoor camera 52 is input. In this embodiment, this determination result is obtained as data in the format of, for example, an 80% probability that occupant D's head H is "400 mm to the left of the center", a 10% probability that it is "300 mm to the left of the center", a 10% probability that it is "200 mm to the left of the center", and a 0% probability that it is "100 mm to the left of the center". In the above example, the position of occupant D's head H is determined to be "400 mm to the left of the center", and by comparing "400 mm to the left" with a predetermined value, it is determined whether or not occupant D's head H is located within a predetermined range.

[0033] The integrated determination unit 60 activates the inflator 44 to deploy the airbag 32 when the collision determination unit 56 determines that a vehicle collision has occurred and the occupant posture determination unit 58 determines that the occupant D's head H is within a predetermined range. The control device 54, including the collision determination unit 56, occupant posture determination unit 58, and integrated determination unit 60 described above, is an example of a control unit in this disclosure.

[0034] Next, the operation of this embodiment will be explained. As shown in Figures 4(A) and 5(A), when occupant D is seated in the seat 12 in a standard position, or when the seat back 16 is reclined and occupant D is seated in a comfortable position, occupant D's head H is located within a predetermined range corresponding to the loop space 36. Therefore, if the vehicle collides with an object in this state and the airbag 32 deploys, as indicated by the notation "in the normal position," occupant D's head H will be located within the loop space 36 of the deployed airbag 32, and occupant D's head H can be appropriately restrained.

[0035] However, as shown in Figure 4(B), if occupant D is seated in seat 12 and is lying down and leaning against the window, occupant D's head H is located to the side outside the predetermined range corresponding to the loop space 36. Therefore, if the vehicle collides with an object in this state and the airbag 32 deploys, there is a risk that occupant D's head H may move out of the loop space 36 of the deployed airbag 32, or that the front and rear chambers 34 of the airbag 32 may directly hit the back of occupant D's head, as indicated by the notation "when the head is shifted to the side".

[0036] Furthermore, as shown in Figure 5(B), when occupant D is seated in seat 12 in a hunched-over position, occupant D's head H is located in front of the predetermined range corresponding to the loop space 36. Therefore, if the vehicle collides with an object in this state and the airbag 32 deploys, as indicated by the phrase "when the head is shifted forward," occupant D's head H may come into contact with the airbag body 40, and by restraining only occupant D's head H, there is a risk that the neck may be excessively flexed backward, or that occupant D's head H may come out of the loop space 36 of the deployed airbag 32.

[0037] In contrast, in this embodiment, if the occupant posture determination unit 58 determines that the occupant D's head H is not located within a predetermined range corresponding to the loop space 36, the airbag device 10 will not deploy the airbag 32 of the corresponding seat 12 even if the vehicle collides with an object in this state. As a result, as shown in Figure 4(B), in a seat 12 where the seated occupant D is reclined and leaning against the window, it is suppressed that the occupant D's head H may come out of the loop space 36 of the deployed airbag 32, or that the front and rear chambers 34 of the airbag 32 may directly hit the back of the occupant D's head. Also, as shown in Figure 5(B), in a seat 12 where the seated occupant D is leaning forward, the occupant D's head H may come into contact with the airbag body 40, and by restraining only the occupant D's head H, it is suppressed that the neck may flex excessively backward or that the occupant D's head H may come out of the loop space 36 of the deployed airbag 32.

[0038] As described above, in this embodiment, the control device 54 of the airbag device 10 determines whether or not a vehicle collision has occurred based on the output value from the collision sensor 50 that detects a vehicle collision, and also determines whether or not the head H of occupant D is located within a predetermined range corresponding to the loop space 36 of the airbag 32, which includes the airbag body 40 that deploys in front of the occupant when deployed and a pair of left and right front and rear chambers 34 that extend in the front-rear direction of the vehicle when deployed and form a loop space 36 between them and the airbag body 40. If it is determined that a vehicle collision has occurred and that the head H is located within the predetermined range, the control device 54 deploys the airbag 32. As a result, if it is determined that the head H of occupant D is not located within the predetermined range, the airbag 32 will not deploy, and it is possible to prevent the deployed airbag 32 from failing to perform the intended restraint performance or from adversely affecting occupant D.

[0039] Furthermore, in this embodiment, the control device 54 determines whether the head H is located within a predetermined range based on a determination model that has been pre-trained from training data, including data for cases where the head H of occupant D is not located within a predetermined range, in addition to the output value from the interior camera 52. This makes it possible to accurately determine whether the head H of occupant D is located within a predetermined range corresponding to the loop space 36 of the airbag 32 without complicating the configuration.

[0040] Furthermore, in this embodiment, the data for cases where the occupant D's head H is not located within a predetermined range includes data for cases where the occupant D is lying down and leaning against the window, and data for cases where the occupant D is leaning forward. As a result, in judgments based on a judgment model pre-trained from training data, it is possible to accurately determine that the occupant D's head H is not located within the predetermined range when the occupant D is lying down and leaning against the window, or when the occupant D is leaning forward.

[0041] Furthermore, in this embodiment, the training data includes first data, in which the output value of the indoor camera 52 when the occupant D's head H is not located within a predetermined range is associated with position information representing the position of the head H, and second data, in which the output value of the indoor camera 52 when the occupant D's head H is located within a predetermined range is associated with position information representing the position of the head H. As a result, in a determination based on a determination model that has been trained in advance from the training data, position information representing the position of the occupant D's head H can be obtained from the output value of the indoor camera 52, and it is possible to accurately determine from this position information whether or not the occupant D's head H is located within a predetermined range.

[0042] In the above embodiment, a method was described in which a trained determination model is generated that outputs the position of occupant D's head H from the output value of the indoor camera 52 by using data that associates the output value of the indoor camera 52 with position information representing the position of occupant D's head H as training data. However, this disclosure is not limited thereto. For example, data that associates the output value of the indoor camera 52 with identification information representing whether or not occupant D's head H is located within a predetermined range may be used as training data. By using this training data, a trained determination model is generated that outputs whether or not occupant D's head H is located within a predetermined range from the output value of the indoor camera 52. In this case, it is possible to directly determine whether or not occupant D's head H is located within a predetermined range from the output value of the indoor camera 52 based on the generated determination model.

[0043] Furthermore, while the above embodiment describes a method of training a neural network model as an example of a model using deep learning, the invention is not limited to this. For example, other models different from the neural network model may be trained using other learning methods different from deep learning.

[0044] Furthermore, in the above embodiment, whether or not the occupant D's head H is located within a predetermined range was determined from the output value from the indoor camera 52 and a determination model pre-trained from training data including data for cases where the occupant D's head H is not located within a predetermined range corresponding to the loop space 36. However, this disclosure is not limited thereto. For example, the indoor camera 52 may be a stereo camera to obtain the 3D coordinates of the occupant D's head H, and the determination of whether or not the occupant D's head H is within a predetermined range may be made from the obtained 3D coordinates. [Explanation of Symbols]

[0045] 10. Airbag system 32 airbags 34 Front and rear chambers 36 Loop Space 40 Airbag Unit 50 Collision sensors 52 Indoor Cameras 54 Control device (control unit) 56 Collision determination section 58 Crew posture determination unit 60 Overall Judging Section

Claims

1. The control unit determines whether a vehicle collision has occurred based on the output value from a collision sensor that detects a vehicle collision, and determines whether the occupant's head is located within a predetermined range corresponding to the loop space of the airbag, which includes an airbag body that deploys in front of the vehicle when deployed and a pair of front and rear chambers that extend in the front-rear direction of the vehicle when deployed and form a loop space between them and the airbag body, based on the output value from a camera that captures a range including the head of an occupant seated in a seat, and deploys the airbag if it determines that a vehicle collision has occurred and that the occupant's head is located within the predetermined range. The control unit determines whether or not the occupant's head is located within the predetermined range, based on a determination model that has been previously learned from training data including data for cases where the occupant's head is not located within the predetermined range, in addition to the output value from the camera.

2. The airbag device according to Claim 1, wherein the data when the occupant's head is not located within the predetermined range includes data when the occupant is lying down and leaning against the window, and data when the occupant is leaning forward.

3. The airbag device according to claim 1, wherein the learning data includes first data in which the output value of the camera when the occupant's head is not located within the predetermined range is associated with position information representing the position of the occupant's head, and second data in which the output value of the camera when the occupant's head is located within the predetermined range is associated with position information representing the position of the occupant's head.

Images