US 11,794,690 B2
Seatbelt monitoring system
Scott D. Thomas, Novi, MI (US)
Assigned to GM GLOBAL TECHNOLOGY OPERATIONS LLC, Detroit, MI (US)
Filed by GM GLOBAL TECHNOLOGY OPERATIONS LLC, Detroit, MI (US)
Filed on Aug. 25, 2020, as Appl. No. 17/2,199.
Prior Publication US 2022/0063554 A1, Mar. 3, 2022
Int. Cl. B60R 22/48 (2006.01); B60R 25/30 (2013.01); B60R 25/102 (2013.01); B60R 22/34 (2006.01)
CPC B60R 22/48 (2013.01) [B60R 22/34 (2013.01); B60R 25/102 (2013.01); B60R 25/305 (2013.01); B60R 2022/4816 (2013.01)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A vehicle seatbelt monitoring system for monitoring seatbelts of a plurality of seats comprising:
a buckle sensor for each seat configured to determine whether a seatbelt is buckled into a buckle attachment of each seat;
a seatbelt webbing payout sensor for each seat configured to determine an amount of seatbelt webbing that is unwound from a seatbelt retractor associated with each seat based on one of: a length of webbing payout from rotation of a retractor spool and an amount of rotation of the retractor spool; and
a seatbelt monitor control module coupled to the buckle sensor and the seatbelt webbing payout sensor and configured to receive buckle state data from the buckle sensor for each seat and seatbelt payout data including the amount from the seatbelt webbing payout sensor for each seat, wherein the seatbelt monitor control module is further configured to, based on the buckle state data and the seatbelt payout data and one of (a) without the vehicle including a camera and (b) the vehicle including a camera that is hibernating, one of:
determine if a first seatbelt is unbuckled and if so, to determine if a second seatbelt is buckled and properly worn when the first seatbelt is unbuckled;
determine if a first seatbelt is unbuckled and if so, to determine if the first seatbelt is rebuckled and properly worn;
determine an unbuckled seating position and a buckled seat position for one of the seats;
determine a difference in seat position based on the unbuckled and buckled seating positions;
determine a seat correction factor for the one of the seats based on the difference in seat position using one of a graph, a lookup table, and a formula; and
adjust the amount of seatbelt webbing that is unwound from the seatbelt retractor for the buckled seatbelt position for the one of the seats based on the correction factor.