Patent ID: 8417422

Claim:
A vehicle passenger classification system, comprising: a plurality of weight sensors installed under a seat frame supporting a load of a vehicle seat; a single dummy sensor installed under the seat frame supporting the load of the vehicle seat along with the plurality of weight sensors; and a passenger classification logic unit configured to classify a passenger as either a first class or a second class by comparing a total passenger value (W total ) obtained by summing sensor values of the plurality of weight sensors with a first reference and a second reference, wherein the passenger classification logic unit classifies the passenger as the first class if the total passenger value (W total ) is less than or equal to the first reference, classifies the passenger as the second class if the total passenger value (W total ) is greater than or equal to the second reference, and performs at least one of a modification process of the total passenger value (W total ) and a load distribution process if the total passenger value (W total ) is greater than the first reference and less than the second reference; and wherein the passenger classification logic unit is configured to perform the modification process of the total passenger value (W total ) by determining a sensor value of the dummy sensor from sensor values of the plurality of the weight sensors, modifying the total passenger value (W total ) by adding the determined sensor value of the dummy sensor to a sum of the sensor values of the plurality of the weight sensors, and classifying the passenger as either the first class or the second class by comparing the modified total passenger value (W total ′) with the first reference and the second reference.