US 6422595

Patent Overview: US6422595B1 (excerpt-based)

Title: Occupant position sensor and method and arrangement for controlling a vehicular component based on an occupant's position

Patent number: US6422595B1 | Application number: US09/639,299

Inventors: David S. Breed, Wendell Johnson, Wilbur E. DuVall

Assignee (current and original): Automotive Technologies International Inc

Key dates (per source; priority date noted as an assumption, not a legal conclusion):

• Priority date: 1992-05-05
• Filing date: 2000-08-15
• Publication/grant date: 2002-07-23
• Anticipated expiration: 2012-05-05; legal status listed as "Expired – Fee Related"

Purpose and plain-language scope (from the supplied text): The patent concerns an occupant position sensor and a method/arrangement for controlling a vehicular component based on where an occupant is positioned. Classification data supplied with the excerpt places it in vehicular passive-safety circuitry, specifically arrangements including means for detecting passenger presence or position (B60R21/015 and B60R21/01512), with an indicated ultrasonic field-detection subclass (B60R21/01536). Further classifications cover vehicle seats with occupancy detection, including sensing anthropometric parameters and detecting occupant or body-part position. The recurring prior-art keywords in the source are "occupying item," "data," "vehicle," "occupant," and "information."

Source: https://patents.google.com/patent/[US6422595](/patent/US6422595)/en (excerpt only; omitted text may exist)

What this excerpt does not establish: It contains no claim language, no written description, no drawings, and no prior-art references. Therefore the actual scope of the claims, the specific control method, sensor types, algorithms, and any relationship to cited prior art cannot be determined from this material. The excerpt also does not explain what "occupying item" denotes, nor how position data is used to control any component. Litigation history, ownership transfers, validity, and prior-art analysis are outside this overview by instruction.

Caveat: The excerpt mentions that external-priority relationships and later priority claims exist, but those details describe other applications and are not restated here as established facts about this patent's scope.