Patent ID: 7661706
Filing Date: 2010-02-16
Classification: B60R

Abstract:
1. An occupant sensing system for a vehicle equipped with a front airbag system including an airbag normally received in an instrument panel of the vehicle at a position located in front of a front passenger seat, and a cover part formed as an integral part of the instrument panel at a position corresponding to the position of the airbag, said occupant sensing system comprising: a plurality of image pickup devices disposed on an upper part of a passenger compartment of the vehicle and pointed toward the instrument panel and the front passenger seat to capture a three-dimensional image in a region including at least the cover part of the front airbag system in the instrument panel of the vehicle and an upper part of the front passenger seat; and signal processing means for processing image signals taken by the image pickup devices to determine a three-dimensional position of the image captured by the image pickup devices, the signal processing means being configured to determine a three-dimensional position of a part of the captured image pertaining to the cover part of the front airbag system, said signal processing means including: