David Wayne Breed

US Patent:

20010020777, Sep 13, 2001

Filed:

Apr 6, 2001

Appl. No.:

09/827961

Inventors:

Wendell Johnson - Signal Hill CA, US
Wilbur Du Vall - Kimberling City MO, US
David Breed - Boonton Township NJ, US

International Classification:

B60R021/32

US Classification:

280/735000, 180/273000

Abstract:

Methods for controlling a vehicle system in which radiation is directed from a transducer into the passenger compartment and is reflected off or modified by an object in the passenger compartment and received by the same or a different transducer. When ultrasonic waves are used, one or more techniques are used to compensate for thermal gradients in the passenger compartment and/or enable the use of a single transducer to send and receive waves, for example, a tubular mounting structure for the transducers, electronic reduction of ringing of the transducer, mechanical damping of the transducer cone, shaped horns, grills and reflectors for the output of the transducers to precisely control the beam pattern, a logarithmic compression amplifier, a temperature compensation method based on change in transducer properties with temperature and/or a dual level network, one level for categorization and the second for occupant position sensing.