JP7775129B2 - Emergency notification system - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to an emergency notification system.

Conventionally, when seating information changes before and after an impact, a specific position is displayed and the movement and position information are sent to a reporting center (see, for example, Patent Document 1).
There are also known systems that use seat sensor information before and after the accident to determine the severity of the accident by determining whether the occupant has been thrown out of the vehicle, and then issue an emergency call (see, for example, Patent Document 2). These systems calculate the occupant's position and the severity of the injury based on seat sensor information before and after the accident, and then notify a call center.

JP 2020-17077 A JP 2016-30481 A

Conventional emergency notification systems configured in this way simply calculate the number of rear seat occupants and their seating positions at the time of an accident based on the assumption that only seats whose seating sensors detected occupants before the accident were occupied.
On the other hand, passengers in the rear seats may not only not be wearing seat belts, but may also be temporarily crouching away from the seating surface, or standing and moving between seats. If an accident occurs under these circumstances, it may not be possible to accurately report the number of passengers in the rear seats or their seating positions, leaving room for further improvement.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide an emergency reporting system that can report accurate information even in various situations, such as when a person is temporarily crouching and away from the seat, or when the person is standing and moving around in the seat.
The present application aims to improve the safety of emergency call systems in order to solve the above-mentioned problems, and ultimately to further improve traffic safety and contribute to the development of sustainable transportation systems.

To achieve the above object, the emergency call system of the present invention includes at least two or more seats and a plurality of seating sensors installed in each seat to detect whether an occupant is seated or not. The emergency call system also includes a determination means for determining the number of occupants and their seating positions based on the seating or not detected by each seating sensor. When seating states are detected in a plurality of seats and the seating state detection periods overlap, the determination means determines that an occupant is seated in each of the seats whose detection periods overlap , and when seating states are detected in seats other than the seats whose detection periods overlap, the determination of the number of occupants and their seating positions is corrected .

The present invention provides an emergency notification system that can report accurate information in a variety of situations.

1 is a schematic top view of a vehicle illustrating a state in which a seating sensor and a buckle sensor are installed on each seat in an emergency call system according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing a process for determining the number of occupants and their seating positions in the emergency notification system. 10 is a time chart showing an example of seating determination, in which the ON/OFF states of the seating sensor indicate that one person is seated in the front passenger seat and three people are seated in the rear seats. 10 is a time chart of Case 2 in which it is determined that there is one or more passengers in the rear seats when the buckle sensor is OFF. 10 is a time chart for Case 3 in which it is determined that there are three passengers in the rear seats when the buckle sensor remains ON. This is a time chart for Case 4, in which it is determined that there is one or more passengers in the rear seats when the buckle sensor is OFF and there is no overlap time in the seating sensor. 10 is a time chart of Case 5 in which, when the buckle sensor remains ON, it is determined that an occupant is in the vehicle even if the seating sensor is OFF. This is a time chart for Case 6, in which if the buckle sensor remains ON and the ON seating sensors overlap, it is determined that two or more occupants are on board. 10 is a time chart showing Case 7 in which the seating sensor determines that one occupant is in the vehicle in an emergency call system having rear seats including a third row. 10 is a time chart for Case 8 in which the seating sensor determines that there are two or more passengers in the rear seats, including the third row. 10 is a time chart for Case 9 in which the seating sensor determines that there are three or more occupants in the rear seats including the third row.

Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. The same components are designated by the same reference numerals, and redundant description will be omitted.
The emergency call system 10 of the embodiment is mounted on a vehicle 1. The vehicle 1 is provided with a front seat 3 and a rear seat 4, each consisting of one or more seats, arranged in a row at the front and a row at the rear of the vehicle interior.
Of these, the front seats 3 include a driver's seat 5 and a passenger seat 6. The rear seats 4 include a left seat 7, a center seat 8, and a right seat 9.

The emergency notification system 10 includes seating sensors 11, 12, and 13 installed in the left seat 7, center seat 8, right seat 9, etc. of each rear seat 4, etc., and a determination means 20 connecting each seating sensor 11, etc.
In addition, seating sensors 14 and 15 are provided on the driver's seat 5 and the passenger's seat 6 of the front seats 3, respectively.
These seating sensors 11 to 15 are composed of pressure sensors etc. that are provided on the seat surface of each seat. When an occupant sits in each seat, the seating sensors 11 to 15 detect whether the occupant is seated or not based on the pressure or weight applied to the seat surface and output the result to the determination means 20.

The determination means 20 of the emergency notification system 10 determines the number of occupants and their seating positions based on the seated or unseated state detected by each of the seating sensors 11 to 15.
In this embodiment, the seats determined by the determination means 20 are the left seat 7, center seat 8, and right seat 9 provided in the rear seat 4 among the front and rear seats provided in multiple rows in front and behind. This allows accurate information to be reported to passengers in the rear seats 4, who are more likely to move between seats than passengers in the front seats 3, even in various situations.
For example, the determination means 20 of the embodiment uses different calculation logic for detecting whether an occupant is seated in the front seat 3 and the rear seat 4. This makes it possible to report accurate seating information such as the accurate number of occupants and their seating positions by narrowing it down to occupants in the rear seat 4, which is more likely to be involved in various situations.

The vehicle 1 is also equipped with seat belts 16, 17, and 18 on the left seat 7, center seat 8, and right seat 9 of the rear seat 4, respectively. Each seat belt 16 has a buckle. Each buckle interconnects the multiple components that make up the seat belt 16. When the buckle is in the connected state (ON), the seat belt 16 is fastened, restraining the seated occupant. When the buckle is in the released state (OFF) where it is unfastened, the seat belt 16 is not fastened, allowing the occupant to leave the seat and move between seats.

Each of these buckles is equipped with a buckle sensor 21, 22, 23. The buckle sensors 21, 22, 23 detect the fastening state of the seat belt 16, etc. from the fastening/unfastening state (ON/OFF) of each buckle of the seat belt 16, etc. Furthermore, each buckle sensor 21, 22, 23 is connected to the determination means 20. The detected fastening/unfastening state (ON/OFF) of the buckle, which indicates the fastening state of each seat belt 16, is output to the determination means 20 as seat belt fastening information.

The determination means 20 is also connected to a collision sensor 30 that detects a collision of the vehicle 1 and a communication means 50 provided in a car navigation system 40 .
The determination means 20 makes a determination based on the seating information and non-seating information of each seat during a predetermined period (hereinafter also referred to as the detection period) prior to the detection of the collision by the collision sensor 30 .
The communication means 50 is configured to be able to transmit an emergency call including seating information consisting of at least the number of occupants and their seating positions to a receiving facility (not shown) outside the vehicle, such as an emergency call service of an insurance company with which the vehicle is contracted.

Furthermore, the determination means 20 of the embodiment is connected to an imaging means 60 such as a camera and a collision prediction unit 70 that determines whether a collision will occur.
The collision prediction unit 70 determines the collision type, such as an offset collision or a collision with a pedestrian, by mutual collision determination based on the collision detection information from the collision sensor 30 and the image data information from the imaging means 60. Information on the determined collision type is sent to the determination means 20.
The determination means 20 can adjust the injury value of the occupant calculated from the seating information obtained by the seating sensors 11 to 15 and the buckle sensors 21 to 23 according to the collision type determined to be a mutual collision by the collision prediction unit 70.

Next, the processing procedure in the determination means 20 of the emergency notification system 10 will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.
As shown in FIG. 2, while the vehicle 1 is traveling, the collision sensor 30 detects a collision such as an offset collision with another vehicle 101 ahead, and outputs the detection result to the determination means 20 .

In step S1, the seating status of the occupants in the front and rear seats 3 and 4 is detected within a predetermined period of time preceding the moment of the collision. Here, the predetermined period is the period from _minutes_ before the collision (_minutes is arbitrarily set, for example, 1 to 10 minutes) until the collision.
The seating sensor 15 provided in the passenger seat 6 shown in Fig. 1 and the seating sensors 11 to 15 provided in the left seat 7, center seat 8, and right seat 9 (see Fig. 1) of the rear seat 4 each detect pressure caused by an occupant sitting on the seat. When pressure exceeding a predetermined value is detected, a seating signal indicating an ON state (hereinafter also referred to as a seated state) is sent from the seating sensor 11 to the determination means 20. When no pressure is detected, the state is determined to be an OFF state (hereinafter also referred to as a non-seated state).

In this embodiment, the calculation logic for the front seat 3 is set to be different from the calculation logic for the rear seat 4.
Therefore, in case 1 (see Figure 3), when the seating sensor 15 of the passenger seat 6 detects the seated state of an occupant (see t1) within the judgment time, the judgment means 20 determines that there is one occupant in the vehicle, independently of the rear seat 4.
Then, the obstacle value of the occupant seated in the passenger seat 6 of the front seat 3 can be calculated based on the determination by the determination means 20. At this time, when the seated state is no longer detected (see t2), the possibility of movement between seats is low in the front seat 3. Therefore, it is determined that the hips are off the ground, and the determination that there is only one occupant on board is maintained.

In step S2, the determining means 20 detects a seating signal from any one of the seating sensors 11 to 13 provided in the rear seat 4 and determines whether or not a seat is occupied from the seating signal.
If there is a seating signal (YES in step S2), the process proceeds to step S4. If there is no seating signal (NO in all seats in step S2), the process proceeds to step S3. In step S3, the determining means 20 determines that there are no occupants in the rear seats 4, and determines that there are no occupants in the rear seats 4 for which a fault value needs to be calculated.

In step S4, it is determined whether there are multiple seats with seating signals in the rear seats 4. If there are multiple seats (Yes in step S4), processing proceeds to step S6. If there are not multiple seats with seating signals in the rear seats 4 (No in step S4), processing proceeds to step S5. In step S5, the determination means 20 determines that there is an occupant in only one detected rear seat, and determines that there is one occupant sitting in the seat where seating was detected.

In step S6, it is determined whether the periods during which the seats are detected overlap. If the periods during which the seats are detected overlap (Yes in step S6), the process proceeds to step S10, which will be described later.
For example, in Case 1 shown in Figure 3, the seating state of the left seat and the seating state of the center seat overlap during detection period t3, so it is determined that there is an occupant in both the left seat and the center seat.
In addition, the seating state of the right seat and the seating state of the center seat overlap during detection period t4, so it is determined that there is an occupant in each of the right seat and the center seat (Yes in step S6), and the process proceeds to step S10 in either situation.

Then, during detection period t3, there is no overlap with the period in which the right seat is occupied. Furthermore, during detection period t4, there is no overlap with the period in which the left seat is occupied. Therefore, the non-overlapping seats, i.e., seats other than the overlapping seats, are determined to be occupied (Yes in step S10), and the process proceeds to step S11.

Steps S10 to S11 are processes for correcting the seating information determination if there is an occupant in a seat other than the overlapping seats. In step S10, the determination means 20 determines whether an occupancy state has been detected in a seat other than each of the seats whose detection periods overlap.

For example, in Case 1 shown in Figure 3, the detection periods t3 during which occupancy is detected in two seats (the left seat and the center seat) overlap. Therefore, step S6 in Figure 2 returns Yes, and processing proceeds to step S10. During detection period t3, the period during which occupancy is detected in the right seat does not overlap (step S10 returns No). Therefore, step S9 determines that there are occupants in each seat, and the number of occupants is determined to be two in the two seats (the left seat and the center seat).

However, an occupant state in the right seat is detected after the end of detection period t3, during a period that does not overlap with detection period t3. Therefore, in step S10, an occupant state is detected in a seat (right seat) other than the seats with overlapping detection period t3 (left seat and center seat) (Yes in step S10). As a result, processing proceeds to step S11, and the determination is revised to indicate that there is one occupant in the right seat in addition to the two occupants in the two seats (right seat and center seat) during overlapping detection period t4.

Furthermore, during detection period t4, the periods during which two seats (the right seat and the center seat) are detected as occupied overlap. Therefore, step S6 in Figure 2 returns Yes, and processing proceeds to step S10. During detection period t4, the periods during which the left seat is occupied do not overlap (step S10 returns No). Therefore, step S9 determines that there is an occupant in each seat, and as things stand, it is determined that there are two occupants in the right seat and the center seat.

However, the seating state of the left seat is detected during a period that does not overlap with detection period t4, for example, before period t3. Therefore, in step S10, an occupancy state is detected in a seat (left seat) other than the seats (right seat and center seat) that overlap detection period t3 (Yes in step S10). As a result, the process proceeds to step S11, where the determination is revised to include two or more occupants in addition to the two occupants in the two seats (left seat and center seat) during overlapping detection period t3, and it is determined that two or more occupants are present.
In this way, the determination means 20 determines that there is a high possibility that an occupant was already seated when the detection periods do not overlap, in addition to the number of seats where the seating state is detected due to overlapping detection periods, and corrects the determination when there are more occupants than the number of overlapping seats.
This allows the determination means 20 to correct the number of occupants to X or more and determine the number and seating positions of occupants more accurately.

On the other hand, in steps S7 to S9, in addition to determining whether the seat belt 16, etc. is fastened, the seating state is also determined by the determination means 20. That is, if the detection periods for the seating state do not overlap in any of the seats (No in step S6), the determination means 20 proceeds to step S7.
In step S7, the seating state is detected in multiple rear seats 4, and the determination means 20 determines whether or not one or more of the seat belts 16 to 18 are fastened among the rear seats 4 whose seating state detection periods do not overlap.
The determining means 20 determines the fastening state of the seat belts 16 to 18 based on fastening information (ON, OFF) from the buckle sensors 21, 22, and 23.

If it is determined that one or more of the seat belts 16 to 18 of the rear seats 4 are not fastened (No in step S7), the process proceeds to step S8.
In step S8, the determining means 20 determines that the seat belts 16 and the like are not fastened in all of the rear seats 4 where the detection periods do not overlap, and that there is a possibility that the same person has moved.
Then, the determining means 20 determines that X or more occupants are seated, which is the number of seats whose seating status has been detected.

For example, in case 2 shown in Fig. 4, the buckle sensor 21 etc. at the source seat detects whether the seat belt 16 etc. is fastened or not fastened based on the buckle connection status. The fastening information detected by each buckle sensor 21 is sent to the determination means 20.
In case 2, the seat belts 16, etc. are detected as not fastened (OFF) in the left seat 11, the center seat 12, and the right seat 13. Therefore, the determination means 20 determines that the detection periods for each seat do not overlap and that the occupants are not fastening the seat belts 16, etc. (No in step S7), and proceeds to step S8.
In step S8, the determining means 20 corrects its determination that there is a possibility that the occupant may have been moving with their hips raised during the period t5, and that there is a possibility that the same person may have moved. In case 2 shown in Figure 4, it is determined that one or more occupants are present, and a determination is made to calculate the obstacle value for the right seat.

On the other hand, if the seat belts 16 to 18 of one or more of the rear seats 4 are fastened (Yes in step S7), the determination means 20 proceeds to step S9.
In step S9, if the seating detection periods do not overlap and the seat belts 16 etc. are fastened for the seats where the seating states are detected, it is determined that there is an occupant seated in each seat, and the determination means 20 determines that X number of occupants are seated.

For example, as shown in Case 3 in Fig. 5, there is a case where the seating information of the buckle sensor 21 or the like is in the fastened state (ON) at the seat from which the vehicle is moved. If the determination means 20 determines that the detection periods of the seated state do not overlap and that the occupant is fastening the seat belt 16 or the like (Yes in step S7), the process proceeds to step S9.
As a result, in Case 3 shown in Figure 5, the periods during which seating is detected do not overlap, so there is a possibility that the occupant is moving with their hips raised during period t6. However, because the seat belt 16 of the center seat remains fastened, it cannot be assumed that they are moving. Therefore, in step S9, the determination means 20 determines that there are occupants seated in each seat and determines that there are three occupants. This adds the occupant in the right seat to the calculation of the fatality and serious injury rates for each of the three seats. Therefore, the emergency notification system 10 can further transmit accurate seating information outside the vehicle, allowing for prompt and appropriate rescue in the event of a collision.

6, for example, there may be a case where the fastening information of the buckle sensor 21 or the like at the seat from which the vehicle is moved is in the unfastened state (OFF). The determination means 20 determines that the detection periods do not overlap and that the occupant is not fastening the seat belt 16 or the like (No in step S7), and proceeds to step S8.
6, there is a high possibility that the same occupant has lifted his hips and moved to the right seat during the period t7, resulting in a single occupant. Therefore, the fatality and serious injury rate is calculated for the right seat after the occupant has moved. Therefore, in Case 4, the seating information is narrowed down by the determining means 20, and rescue can be provided promptly and appropriately in the event of a collision based on accurate seating information.

Furthermore, for example, as in Case 5 shown in Fig. 7, the detection period for the seating state of the left seat and the detection period for the seating state of the right seat do not overlap. Also, except for the case where the fastening information of the buckle sensor 21 or the like remains in the fastened state (ON) in the seat from which the movement originates, if the detection periods do not overlap in step S6 in the flowchart of Fig. 2 (No in step S6) and the seat belt 16 or the like in the left seat is not fastened (No in step S7), the process proceeds to step S8.
This means that there is a possibility that the same passenger in the left seat has moved to the right seat, and it is determined that there are X or more passengers, two or more in this case.
Therefore, it is determined that the two occupants in the left and right seats were alternately lifting their hips, and the fatality and serious injury rates are calculated for the two occupants in the left and right seats.

For example, in case 6 shown in Figure 8, the detection period for the seating state of the left seat and the detection period for the seating state of the center seat overlap during period t8. In the flowchart of Figure 2, if step S6 returns Yes, there is a possibility of two occupants in the vehicle, and the determination means 20 proceeds to step S10.

In step S10, the determination means 20 detects an occupied state in the right seat other than the overlapping left seat and center seat. After the end of period t8, the center seat becomes unoccupied, and after a certain period t9, an occupied state is detected in the right seat.
Therefore, although there is a possibility that an occupant was seated in the right seat from the beginning, the determination means 20 determines that the occupant has moved from the center seat to the right seat. If an occupant in the right seat is detected in step S10 (Yes in step S10), the process proceeds to step S11.
If the buckle sensor 22 of the center seat remains in the fastened state (ON), the passenger cannot move to the right seat. Therefore, it is assumed that a passenger was already seated in the right seat from the beginning, and there is a possibility that three passengers are in the vehicle.
In step S11, the determination that there are occupants in more than the number of overlapping seats (here, two or more occupants) is corrected. As a result, it is determined that there are two or more occupants, including three occupants, and calculations are performed to increase the fatality and serious injury rates for the right and left seats with priority.
Therefore, the emergency notification system 10 can further transmit emergency information including accurate seating information to a receiving facility such as a notification center outside the vehicle, thereby enabling prompt and appropriate rescue in the event of a collision based on the accurate seating information.

9 to 11, the front and rear seats 3, 4 are configured as three rows of seats. The rear seats 4 include a second-row rear seat (2nd seat) 4a and a third-row rear seat (3rd seat) 4b.
The second row rear seats (second seats) 4a of the rear seats 4 are provided with a left seat 7 equipped with a seating sensor 11 and a right seat 9 equipped with a seating sensor 13, respectively.
Furthermore, the third-row rear seat (3rd seat) 4b of the rear seats 4 is provided with a left seat equipped with a seating sensor 31, a center seat equipped with a seating sensor 32, and a seating sensor 33. Each of the seating sensors 31 to 33 is connected to the determination means 20 shown in FIG. 1 and configured to send a seating signal indicating the seating state to the determination means 20.

For example, Case 7 shown in Figure 9 is a case where none of the seats have a seatbelt 16 fastened or a buckle sensor 21 installed. There is a possibility that an occupant has moved to the left seat of the third-row rear seat 4b, among the seats 4, and that there are three occupants. Therefore, the determination means 20 determines that one or more occupants are present and calculates the fatality and serious injury rate for the left seat of the third-row rear seat 4b. Therefore, the emergency call system 10 can provide prompt and appropriate assistance in the event of a collision based on accurate seating information.

10 shows a case where none of the seats have the seat belts 16 fastened or are equipped with the buckle sensors 21. Since the detection periods t10 for the seating states of the occupants of any of the second-row rear seats 4a and the occupant in the right seat of the third-row rear seat 4b overlap (Yes in step S6), the process proceeds to step S10.
In step S10, an occupant state is detected in a seat other than the seats whose detection periods t10 overlap (Yes in step S10). Therefore, the process proceeds to step S11, where the determination means 20 determines that there are X or more occupants (two in this case).

11, for example, the seating status of three seats is detected during the detection period t11 (Yes in step S10), and the determination means 20 determines that there are X or more occupants (three in this case).
In this way, the determining means 20 determines that one or more passengers are in the vehicle and calculates the fatality and serious injury rate for the left seat of the third-row rear seat 4b. Therefore, the emergency notification system 10 transmits accurate seating information to the outside of the vehicle, and based on this seating information, rescue can be carried out quickly and appropriately in the event of a collision.

As described above, the emergency call system 10 of this embodiment includes at least two or more front and rear seats 3, 4, etc. The emergency call system 10 also includes multiple seating sensors 11-13 installed in the left seat 7, center seat 8, and right seat 9 of the rear seat 4, respectively, to detect whether occupants are seated or not. The emergency call system 10 also includes a determination means 20 that determines the number of occupants and their seating positions based on the seating or not-seated state detected by each of the seating sensors 11-13. When seating states are detected in multiple seats and the detection periods for the seating states overlap, the determination means 20 determines that there are occupants seated in each of the seats 7, etc., where the detection periods overlap.

The emergency notification system 10 configured in this manner can notify accurate information in a variety of situations.
More specifically, as shown in Case 1 in Figure 3, when seating sensors 11, 12, and 13 of multiple seats detect seating states and the seating state detection periods t3 and t4 overlap, the determination means 20 determines that there are occupants seated in each of the overlapping seats. This allows for a more accurate determination of the number of occupants than simply determining that there are occupants only in seats where seating sensors 11, 12, and 13 detected occupants before the accident.
For example, situations are assumed in which a person temporarily crouches down and moves away from the seating surface, or stands up and moves between seats. In such situations, if a determination is made based solely on the detection signal detected by the seating sensors 11, 12, and 13 provided for each seat, as in the past, it would be determined that the seat is empty and there is no occupant present simply because the occupant is away from the seating surface. As a result, the number of occupants may be estimated to be lower than the actual number of occupants.

In addition, there are known detection devices that retain information on seating detected between IG-ON and IG-OFF, which indicates the time from starting to stopping a power source such as an engine. If an occupant moves between IG-ON and IG-OFF, such detection devices may overestimate the actual number of occupants by reporting that one occupant before and after the movement was two. When these erroneous determinations occur, accurate emergency calls cannot be made.

In contrast, in the emergency notification system of the present invention, if the detection periods for multiple seats overlap (Yes in step S6) and seating is detected only in the overlapping seats in step S10 (No in step S10), the judgment means 20 determines that an occupant is seated in each seat (step S9).
Therefore, even in a situation where an occupant temporarily crouches down and leaves the seat or stands up from the seat and moves between seats, the determining means determines that the occupant is seated without moving between seats for seats where the detection periods overlap.
In this way, seating information including the accurate number of occupants and their seating positions can be reported in various situations.
The emergency notification system 10 of the present invention allows appropriate responses to be made to occupants, thereby improving safety and ultimately further improving traffic safety, thereby contributing to the development of a sustainable transportation system.

The seat determined by the determining means 20 is the rear seat 4 among the seats provided in a plurality of rows in front and behind.
Accurate information can be reported to passengers in the rear seats 4, who are more likely to move between seats than the passengers in the front seats 3, even in various situations.
In more detail, for example, different calculation logic is used to detect whether an occupant is seated in the rear seat 4 and in the front seat 3. This makes it possible to narrow down the information to occupants in the rear seat 4, which is more likely to be involved in various situations, and to report accurate seating information such as the exact number of occupants and which seats they are seated in.

In step S10, if an occupancy state is detected in a seat other than the seats whose detection periods overlap, the determination means 20 corrects the determination of the number of occupants and the seating positions.
If there is a seat in which an occupant has been detected other than the seats whose detection periods overlap (Yes in step S10), the determination means 20 determines that there is a possibility that an occupant has already been seated in a seat whose detection periods do not overlap.
Therefore, the determination means 20 adds the number of seats whose detection periods did not overlap to the number of seats whose detection periods were detected as overlapping in step S11, and corrects the determination based on the number of occupants and seating positions that is equal to or greater than the number of seats detected as overlapping.

For example, if there is a seat such as right seat 9, which was detected as occupied later than two seats whose detection periods overlap, such as left seat 7 and center seat 8 shown in Figure 3, there is a possibility that an occupant who has already lifted their hips is in the right seat 9. Therefore, the occupant in right seat 9 is included, and the determination is corrected to three occupants.
It should be noted that if one of the seats detected as overlapping, for example the left seat 7, becomes vacant after being overlapped, it is possible that the occupant may have moved to the right seat 9. In this case, it may be determined that the number of occupants is two.
Therefore, accurate seating information can be reported by limiting the detection period to two or more people whose detection periods overlap, so as to include two or three people.

More specifically, in the case shown in Figure 3, during the period in which the detection periods of the left seat 7 and center seat 8 are determined to overlap, no occupant is detected in the right seat 9. However, after the overlapping detection period of the left seat 7 and center seat 8, an occupant is detected in the right seat 9. Therefore, as there are more occupants than the number of seats that overlapped, the determination means 20 can correct the determination of the number of occupants to three.

Furthermore, in Case 1 shown in Figure 3, the period t4 during which the detection periods for the right seat 9 and the center seat 8 overlap is later than the period t3 during which the detection periods for the left seat 7 and the center seat 8 overlap, and the detection periods for all three seats overlap, so there is no triple overlap.

Therefore, the left seat 7 is no longer in an occupied state during the period t4 when the detection periods for the right seat 9 and the center seat 8 overlap. When the detection periods t4 for the right seat 9 and the center seat 8 overlap in this manner, the determination means 20 may determine in step S10 in FIG. 2 that the occupant in the left seat 7 is "detected to be in an occupied state in a seat other than the seat for which the detection periods overlap."
Then, in step S11, the determination means 20 first determines that there are occupants in two or more seats that overlap, the right seat 9 and the center seat 8. Then, in addition to the occupants in the two seats, the right seat 9 and the center seat 8, there is an occupant in the left seat, so the determination means 20 can correct the determination of the number of occupants to three.

In this way, the emergency notification system 10 of this embodiment determines that there are occupants in more seats than the number of seats where the seating state is detected overlappingly by the determination means 20. This makes it possible to correct the determination of the number of occupants by including, in addition to the number of seats where the seating state detection periods overlap, seats that are outside the overlapping detection periods before or after the overlapping detection periods. Therefore, the emergency notification system 10 can report even more accurate information on the number of occupants and their seating positions.

The emergency notification system 10 further includes seat belts 16 to 18 installed in the left seat 7, the center seat 8, and the right seat 9, respectively. The emergency notification system 10 also includes buckle sensors 21, 22, and 23 that detect whether or not each of the seat belts 16 to 18 is fastened, and use the detected fastening information as information on fastening.
If there is a seat where the seating sensor 31 or the like has detected an occupant sitting on the seat whose detection period does not overlap with any other seat, the determination means 20 detects the wearing state of the buckle sensor 21 or the like for the non-overlapping seat, and then corrects the determination of the number of occupants and their seating positions based on the detected wearing information.

There may be a situation where the seating sensors 11, 12, and 13 detect that an occupant is seated on a seat whose detection period does not overlap with any other seats (NO in step S6). In this situation, the determining means 20 modifies the determination of the number of occupants and their seating positions for the seats that do not overlap based on the installation information detected by the buckle sensors 21, 22, and 23 (step S7).
For example, even if no occupant is seated at any of the buckle sensors 21, 22, and 23, the buckle may be in a fastened state. In this case, the buckle sensors 21, 22, and 23 alone are unlikely to provide accurate seating information.

In contrast to this, in the present invention, the determination of the number of occupants and seating information is corrected based on the fastening information from the buckle sensors 21, 22, 23 provided on the seats where the seating sensors 11, 12, 13 have detected seating.
This allows the accuracy of the determination to be further improved by taking into account the state of the seat buckle sensor 21 and the like based on the corrected number of occupants and seating information.

In addition, if the buckle sensors 21, 22, and 23 detect that an occupant is fastened even though the occupant is not seated, the seat may be excluded as there is no occupant in the seat. This means that even in situations where the buckle sensors 21, 22, and 23 alone would erroneously determine that an occupant is present, combining them with the seating sensors 11, 12, and 13 can lead to accurate reporting of seating information.

If the seat belts of at least one of the seats whose detection periods do not overlap are not fastened based on fastening information from the buckle sensor 21 or the like (NO in step S7), the determination means 20 determines that the same person has moved (step S8).

For example, there may be cases where one or more buckle sensors 21, 22, 23 detect a seat in which the seat belt is not fastened (unfastened state) (NO in step S7). In this case, it is determined that the occupant is the same person and that this occupant may have moved (step S8). This determination allows the emergency notification system 10 to report more accurate seating information on the number of occupants.

The determination means 20 may determine that one of the seat belts is fastened based on the fastening information from the buckle sensors 21, 22, and 23 for seats whose detection periods do not overlap (yes in step S7). In this case, it determines that there is an occupant seated in each seat (step S9).

If the detection periods for occupied seats do not overlap (NO in step S4) and the seat belts of those seats are fastened, it can be accurately determined that one occupant is continuously seated in that seat.

The vehicle seats include front seats 3 and rear seats 4. The rear seats 4 of the three-row seat arrangements of cases 7 and 9 shown in Figures 9 to 11 respectively include a second-row rear seat (second seat) 4a with one or more seats, and a third-row rear seat (third seat) 4b with one or more seats.
More specifically, the second-row rear seat 4a has a left seat equipped with a seat sensor 11 and a right seat equipped with a seat sensor 13. The third-row rear seat 4b has a left seat equipped with a seat sensor 31, a center seat equipped with a seat sensor 32, and a right seat equipped with a seat sensor 33.

Just as with a rear seat 4 with only the second-row rear seat 4a, even if there are second-row and third-row rear seats 4a and 4b, accurate rear seat occupancy information can be obtained, improving the accuracy of emergency calls.

The emergency notification system 10 further includes a collision sensor 30 that detects a collision of the vehicle 1, and a communication means 50 that can transmit an emergency notification including seating information consisting of at least the number of occupants and their seating positions to a receiving device outside the vehicle. The determination means 20 makes a determination based on the seating information and non-occupancy information for each seat within a predetermined period prior to the detection of the collision by the collision sensor 30.

In the emergency notification system 10, when the vehicle 1 collides, the communication means 50 transmits an emergency notification including accurate seating information. As a result, the notification center that receives the emergency notification can use the accurate seating information to provide prompt and appropriate assistance in the event of a collision.

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various modifications are possible. The above-described embodiments are provided as examples to explain the present invention in an easy-to-understand manner, and are not necessarily limited to those that include all of the configurations described. Furthermore, it is possible to replace part of the configuration of one embodiment with the configuration of another embodiment, or to add the configuration of another embodiment to the configuration of one embodiment. It is also possible to delete part of the configuration of each embodiment, or to add or replace other configurations. Possible modifications to the above-described embodiments include, for example, the following:

In this embodiment, the emergency notification system 10 is equipped with a buckle sensor 21 that detects the fastening status of the seat belt 16, etc. However, this is not particularly limited. For example, the determination means 20 may determine the number of occupants and their seating positions using only the seating information detected by the seating sensor 11, etc.

3 Front seats 4 Rear seats
10 Emergency notification system 11-15, 31-33 Seat occupancy sensor 20 Determination means

Claims (7)

A plurality of seats, at least two in number;
a plurality of seating sensors installed in each of the seats to detect whether an occupant is seated or not;
a determination means for determining the number of occupants and the seating positions of the occupants based on the seating state or non-seating state detected by each of the seating sensors,
The emergency call system is characterized in that, when seating states are detected in the plurality of seats and the seating state detection periods overlap, the determination means determines that there is an occupant seated in each of the seats where the detection periods overlap, and when seating states are detected in seats other than the seats where the detection periods overlap, the determination of the number of occupants and their seating positions is corrected . The emergency call system of claim 1, wherein the seat determined by the determination means is a rear seat among multiple rows of seats arranged in front and behind. A plurality of seats, at least two in number;
a plurality of seating sensors installed in each of the seats to detect whether an occupant is seated or not;
a determination means for determining the number of occupants and their seating positions based on the seating state or non-seating state detected by each of the seating sensors;
a seat belt provided on each of the seats;
a buckle sensor that detects whether each seat belt is fastened and outputs the detected fastening information;
When seating states are detected in the plurality of seats and the detection periods of the seating states overlap, the determination means determines that there is an occupant seated in each of the seats where the detection periods overlap , and when there is a seat where an occupant has been detected by the seating sensor but whose detection period does not overlap with any of the other seats, the determination means modifies the determination of the number of occupants and seating positions for the seats that do not overlap based on the wearing information detected by the buckle sensor . The emergency call system according to claim 3, characterized in that the determination means determines that the same person has moved when the seat belt of at least one of the seats in which the detection periods do not overlap is in an unfastened state based on the fastening information of the buckle sensor. 5. The emergency call system according to claim 3, wherein the determination means determines that there is an occupant seated in each of the seats whose detection periods do not overlap if the seat belt of any of the seats is in a fastened state according to the fastening information of the buckle sensor. The emergency call system of claim 1 or 3, characterized in that the seats include front seats and rear seats, and the rear seats include a second-row rear seat equipped with one or more of the seats, and a third-row rear seat equipped with one or more of the seats. A plurality of seats, at least two in number;
a plurality of seating sensors installed in each of the seats to detect whether an occupant is seated or not;
a determination means for determining the number of occupants and their seating positions based on the seating state or non-seating state detected by each of the seating sensors;
a collision sensor that detects a vehicle collision;
a communication means capable of transmitting an emergency call including seating information consisting of at least the number of occupants and their seating positions to a receiving device outside the vehicle;
Equipped with
The emergency call system is characterized in that, when an occupancy state is detected in the multiple seats and the detection periods of the occupancy states overlap, the determination means determines that there is an occupant seated in each of the seats where the detection periods overlap, and makes the determination based on the occupancy information and non-occupancy information of each seat within a predetermined period prior to the detection of the collision by the collision sensor .