US 6397136

Patent Overview — US 6397136 B1

Title: System for determining the occupancy state of a seat in a vehicle

Patent number / application: US 6397136 B1; application US 09/474,147, filed 1999-12-29; granted/publication date 2002-05-28.

Assignee / inventors: Original assignee and current assignee listed as Automotive Technologies International Inc. Inventors listed: David S. Breed, Wendell Johnson, Wilbur E. DuVall, Jeffrey L. Morin, Kunhong Xu, Andrew J. Varga.

Priority / family dates (as supplied): Priority date listed as 1997-02-06; earlier priority claimed from US 08/919,823 (1997-08-28) and US 09/382,406 (1999-08-24). Later filings claiming priority to this application include US 09/780,654, US 09/853,118, US 10/234,436, US 10/413,426, US 10/733,957, US 10/895,121, US 10/931,288, US 10/940,881, US 11/538,934 and US 12/039,427. Anticipated expiration listed as 2017-02-06. Legal status: Expired – Fee Related.

Purpose and plain-language scope (from supplied text): The patent concerns a system for determining the occupancy state of a vehicle seat. Based on the supplied classifications, the disclosure sits within electrical circuits for triggering passive safety arrangements (airbags, belt tighteners) that include means for detecting the presence or position of passengers, passenger seats or child seats. Classification entries indicate passenger detection using force/pressure sensing means (including strain gauges), field-detection presence sensors (electric/capacitive, electromagnetic/IR, ultrasonic), seat position sensors, and seat-belt parameter detection including belt buckle sensors. The listed prior-art keywords are "vehicle," "seat," "transducers," "data" and "sensors."

Source: https://patents.google.com/patent/US6397136/en

What this excerpt does not establish: The supplied text does not include the claims, written description, drawings or detailed embodiments; therefore it does not establish the specific claimed scope, sensor arrangements, algorithms or dependent-claim limitations. It also does not establish litigation outcomes, ownership transfers, validity, or the content of cited prior art. The excerpt references a Delaware District Court litigation link and a global litigation dataset, but no details or conclusions are supplied and none are assessed here. Classification and keyword entries are labels, not claim language. Bibliographic dates are noted only as listed and are described by the source itself as assumptions.