Patent ID: 6353782
Filing Date: 2002-03-05
Classification: B60R

Abstract:
An air bag system comprising:a main controller that controls operation of an air bag; a main acceleration sensor that senses an acceleration of a vehicle carrying the air bag system; and an auxiliary acceleration sensor device, located at a periphery of the vehicle, that senses an acceleration of the periphery of the vehicle, the auxiliary acceleration sensor device comprising: a longitudinal sensor that senses a longitudinal acceleration of the vehicle and generates a longitudinal acceleration signal; a lateral sensor that senses a lateral acceleration of the vehicle and generates a lateral acceleration signal; a first set of comparators that compare the longitudinal acceleration signal with each of a first preselected set of acceleration values and generate a first set of comparator output signals, each of the first set of comparator output signals corresponding to one of the first preselected set of acceleration values; a second set of comparators that compare the lateral acceleration signal with each of a second set of preselected values of acceleration and generate a second set of comparator output signals, each of the second set of comparator output signals corresponding to one of the second preselected set of acceleration values; AND elements, each having an AND element output signal, the AND elements logically multiplying each output signal of the first set of comparator output signals with a related output signal of the second set of comparator output signals, wherein the first and second set of comparator output signals are related by increasing magnitudes of their respective preselected first and second sets of acceleration values; and an OR circuit that logically sums the AND element output signals and outputs a result to the main controller.