Vehicle Passenger Height Estimation for Adaptive Airbag Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current vehicle safety systems rely on basic person detection, which is insufficient for reliably controlling advanced safety measures such as airbag deployment and seatbelt functionality, particularly in differentiating between children and adults, necessitating a more precise method to determine passenger height and age for enhanced safety and regulatory compliance.
Innovation Solution
A computerized method that uses images from onboard cameras to determine passenger height by analyzing body characteristics through bounding boxes and body key points, comparing these to reference characteristics, and outputting control signals for safety measures like airbag deployment and seatbelt control, with the option to fuse height estimates from both methods for accuracy.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If basic person detection is used for seat occupancy detection, then the system complexity is low and ease of operation is maintained, but the measurement precision of passenger characteristics is insufficient to reliably control advanced safety measures
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces complex mechanical measurement systems with optical imaging and computational analysis. Instead of using physical measurement devices, the system uses onboard cameras to capture images and applies image processing algorithms to extract body characteristics and estimate passenger height and age, thereby achieving high measurement precision without proportionally increasing device complexity
Solution Approach 2:
The patent makes the onboard camera system multi-functional by using it not only for basic seat occupancy detection but also for advanced passenger characterization (height estimation, age determination). This allows a single existing component to serve multiple purposes, improving measurement precision without adding separate dedicated measurement devices that would increase system complexity
2Reliability
If advanced safety measures such as airbag deployment and seatbelt control are implemented, then passenger safety is improved, but the reliability of these measures depends on precise passenger characterization which basic detection cannot provide
Solution Approach 1:
The patent performs preliminary characterization of the passenger (detecting body characteristics, estimating height and age) before the safety measures need to be activated. This advance analysis allows the system to pre-determine the appropriate safety response, ensuring that when airbags or seatbelts need to be controlled, the decisions are based on already-analyzed precise passenger data, thereby improving reliability
Solution Approach 2:
The patent establishes a feedback loop where image data is continuously analyzed to update passenger characteristics, and this information feeds back to adjust safety measure control decisions. The system uses the measured body characteristics to inform and refine safety measure activation, ensuring that control reliability is maintained based on accurate, up-to-date passenger information
Data Source
AI summary
A computer-implemented method of controlling one or more vehicle safety measures by determining a height of a person sitting on a seat in a vehicle cabin. The method includes determining, based on one or more images showing the person on a vehicle seat, a height of the person by: determining a set of body characteristics of the person, comparing the set of determined body characteristics with a corresponding set of reference characteristic, and determining the height of the person based on the comparison. The method includes outputting a control signal to the one or more vehicle safety measures based at least partially on the determined height.