Patent ID: 7139410
Filing Date: 2006-11-21
Classification: B60R,G06T

Abstract:
1. An apparatus for protecting an occupant in a vehicle having a seat, comprising: a pair of area image sensors spaced at a predetermined interval in a transverse direction of the vehicle and located in front of the seat for taking images of an area on the seat respectively; an occupant information calculating portion for calculating a longitudinal-direction position of a head of an occupant on the seat from the images taken by the area image sensors; and an occupant protecting portion for changing an occupant protecting operation at a time of occurrence of a collision of the vehicle in response to the longitudinal-direction position of the head of the occupant which is decided by the occupant information calculating portion; wherein the occupant information calculating portion comprises means for dividing each of the images taken by the area image sensors into blocks; means for calculating a cumulative difference between corresponding blocks, in each pair, of the images taken by the area image sensors each time one of the corresponding blocks is shifted in a transverse direction relative to the other on a unit by unit basis; means for detecting when the cumulative difference minimizes for each pair of corresponding blocks, means for calculating a transverse-direction shift between the corresponding blocks, in each pair, which occurs when the cumulative difference minimizes; means for measuring longitudinal-direction positions of objects whose images are in the blocks of the images taken by the area image sensors in response to the calculated transverse-direction shifts according to triangulation; and means for selecting, from the measured longitudinal-direction positions of the objects, one corresponding to a highest position with respect to the vehicle and being in front of the seat as the longitudinal-direction position of the head of the occupant.