Patent ID: 7469925

Claim:
An airbag device, comprising: a seat belt; a light source which irradiates the seat belt; a string of labels on the seat belt, the string of labels being made of a material that reflects light from the light source more strongly than does the seat belt; a camera which takes an image of the string of labels on the seat belt; an airbag having a mechanism for adjusting an inflation amount or an inflation speed of the airbag; a processor; and a memory accessible by the processor, wherein the memory stores: table data that associates arrangement patterns with seating states, the seating states including a presence, an absence, and a posture of an occupant, and program code executed by the processor, the program code including steps of: detecting an arrangement pattern of the string of labels from the image, estimating a seating state of an occupant fastening the seat belt by comparing the detected arrangement pattern with the arrangement patterns in the table data, and controlling the inflation amount or the inflation speed of the airbag according to the estimated seating state.