A switch assembly for a vehicle seat belt buckle comprising a switch housing defining an interior and a pocket, a cable extending into the interior and including hook-shaped ends extending around posts in the interior of the switch housing. In one embodiment, the interior of the switch housing includes first and second posts positioned in a co-linear and spaced apart relationship and the hook-shaped ends face each other and extend around the first posts and abut against the second posts. In one embodiment, the Hall Effect sensor is positioned in the pocket of the switch housing in an inclined relationship.

A loop antenna transmits and receives a radio wave including a signal. A RFID detection circuit includes a circuit terminal and a circuit terminal connected with the loop antenna. A switch circuit switches, according to a state of an object to be detected, between a gain reduced state in which a gain of the loop antenna is reduced and a gain unreduced state in which the gain of the loop antenna is not reduced. The switch circuit has a first point of action and a second point of action for reducing the gain of the loop antenna, when is a wavelength of the radio wave, the point of action is located within a gain reduction range that represents a range on the loop antenna from the circuit terminal to a position of /32 away from the circuit terminal in a direction in which the loop antenna extends.

A seat belt status determining system and method for a vehicle that evaluate a seat belt and determine if it is buckled and if it is properly routed on a passenger. In order to evaluate the seat belt status, the system and method use seat belt sensors and cameras inside the vehicle cabin to generate data that is then analyzed in conjunction with machine learning techniques (e.g., supervised machine learning techniques implemented through the use of neural networks) to classify the seat belt status into one or more categories, such as: passenger not present, passenger present/seat belt not being worn, passenger present/seat belt being worn improperly, passenger present/seat belt being worn properly, and blocked view.

A method of controlling an airbag inflator, may include determining, when an occupant is accommodated on a seat, whether the weight of the occupant is in which of first to fourth weight ranges sequentially allocated by a controller, performing a first logic for operating an inflator at the lowest one of three intensities by the controller when it is determined that the weight of the occupant is in the lightest first weight range, and performing a second logic for operating the inflator at the intermediate intensity or a third logic for operating the inflator at the highest intensity by the controller, according to conditions such as a position of a seat, a state of operation of a recliner, a collision condition, a collision pulse, and wearing of a belt, when it is determined that the weight of the occupant is in the third or fourth weight range.

A radar-based occupancy detection system that includes a seatbelt buckle disposed adjacent a seat of a vehicle and a radar module disposed within the seatbelt buckle, the radar module including an antenna, a radio frequency (RF) transmitter, a RF receiver, and a processor, the antenna configured to broadcast a RF signal generated by the RF transmitter toward the seat, the processor configured to derive signal information from output received from the receiver and to characterize occupancy of the seat based on the signal information.

The present invention discloses seat occupation, vital signs and safety belt lock sensor for rear seats, which do not have power supply. The proposed system contains mm-wave radar sensor to be used for rear seat detection of seat occupancy and for vital sign detection, being placed on the vehicle ceiling or being integrated in the front seats, having radiation in the direction of the rear seat and detection if the human being is on the rear seat. The proposed system further contains hardware functionality being integrated in the safety belt environment. This functionality is communicating status if the safety belt is locked or not, in the case when the remote mm-wave sensor detected the human being on the rear seat, using arbitrary wireless communication means, and embedded arbitrary means for conserving energy, like battery. The proposed system is additionally detecting vital signs of the person using rear seats.

An electronic module assembly (EMA) for use in controlling one or more personal restraint systems. A programmed processor within the EMA is configured to determine when a personal restraint system associated with each seat in a vehicle should be deployed. In addition, the programmed processor is configured to perform a diagnostic self-test to determine if the EMA and the personal restraint systems are operational. In one embodiment, results of the diagnostic self-test routine are displayed on a display included on the electronic module assembly. In an alternative embodiment, the results of the diagnostic self-test routine are transmitted via a wireless transceiver to a remote device. The remote device can include a wireless interrogator or can be a remote computer system such as a cabin management computer system.

A system and method for a vehicle includes detecting within a first predetermined time period of a vehicle ignition transitioning from an OFF status to an ON status: (a) a rear door OPEN status; and (b) at least one of: (i) a stored record of rear seat occupancy; and (ii) a rear seat belt BUCKLED status; and outputting a rear seat occupancy indicator within the vehicle upon detecting the vehicle ignition transitioning from the ON status to the OFF status.

A state detection sensor includes a housing and a position sensing component mounted in the housing. The position sensing component is being configured to provide position data in response to detecting the presence or position of vehicle structure relative to the sensor. The state detection sensor also includes an analog input component mounted in the housing. The analog input component is configured to provide external analog sensor data in response to an analog signal received from an external analog sensor to which the analog input component can be operatively connected. The state detection sensor further includes a component configured to communicate the position data and the external analog sensor data via a serial bus.

Systems, apparatus and methods may be configured to implement actively-controlled light emission from a robotic vehicle. A light emitter(s) of the robotic vehicle may be configurable to indicate a direction of travel of the robotic vehicle and/or display information (e.g., a greeting, a notice, a message, a graphic, passenger/customer/client content, vehicle livery, customized livery) using one or more colors of emitted light (e.g., orange for a first direction and purple for a second direction), one or more sequences of emitted light (e.g., a moving image/graphic), or positions of light emitter(s) on the robotic vehicle (e.g., symmetrically positioned light emitters). The robotic vehicle may not have a front or a back (e.g., a trunk/a hood) and may be configured to travel bi-directionally, in a first direction or a second direction (e.g., opposite the first direction), with the direction of travel being indicated by one or more of the light emitters.