Patent Document ID: 20130253778
Application ID: 13898812
Patent Status: 0

Claim One:
1. A system for identifying an object impacting a vehicle bumper during a collision, the system comprising: a plurality of sensors including a left-side sensor positioned near a left side of the vehicle bumper, a right-side sensor positioned near a right side of the vehicle bumper, and a middle sensor positioned near the middle of the vehicle bumper; a processor; and a memory storing instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the system to receive acceleration values from each of the plurality of sensors, calculate a center strength value of an impact based on the acceleration values, the center strength value being indicative of an amount of force that is applied to a middle location of the vehicle bumper, determine an impact location on the vehicle bumper based at least in part on the acceleration values, calculate a normalized intrusion value based on the center strength value, the impact location, and a bumper stiffness factor, the bumper stiffness factor being indicative of the stiffness of the bumper at the impact location, and identify the object impacting the vehicle bumper based on the normalized intrusion value.