1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a system for minimizing damage to automobiles involved in accidents or collisions and for restricting personal injury in accidents or collisions. In one aspect, the invention relates to a computer processor based system for predicting a collision and deploying airbags for protection of the occupants and the roadway vehicle just prior to the impact. More particularly, the present invention relates to a system for monitoring the speed and direction of the roadway vehicle, the speed, direction and distance of other obstacles in relationship to the roadway vehicle, for affording intelligent cruise control, warning to the operator, and for deploying of air bags prior to the collision to restrict the movement of the occupants and to absorb the impact of the obstacle colliding with the roadway vehicle. Another aspect is the monitoring of vehicles adjacent to the roadway vehicle to advise the driver of the roadway vehicle when it is safe to change lanes.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Various airbags have been adopted to protect the passengers of a vehicle from injuries resulting from collisions. These air bags have been the steering wheel airbag to protect the driver and the passenger side air bag to protect the passenger. However, these air bags have been found to be the cause for some serious injuries and death to children and short adults. Further there have not been proposals to reduce the cost of repair or replacement of an automobile involved in a collision. Numerous attempts in the art from bumper construction to air bags, to vehicular control and warning systems have come about to protect the occupants of the vehicle. Despite this regard for reducing human danger, in most collisions the damage to the vehicle is unmitigated, creating substantial costs for repair or replacement. Also, the present air bags that deploy upon impact of the roadway vehicle with an obstacle have been found to be the contributing factor in injury and death during accident.
A plethora of patents exemplify various automotive devices known for human protection. Early designs to protect the automobile include: Collision Avoidance System published in the Fortune magazine dated Dec. 11, 1995 currently developed by TRW, describing that a computer based system that adjusts the throttle and the brake to automatically maintain a safe following distance. British Patent Specification No. 550,194 describes a bumper for motor vehicles having a concave cross section and an outer cover within which is located an elastic member having a valve to inflate the pneumatic bumper to provide a protective air cushion throughout the entire surface of the bumper. German patent No. 2,020,360 issued Nov. 11, 1971 discloses a vehicle with bladders that are inflatable at will by the driver of the vehicle by electrical, hydraulic, pneumatic or mechanical means, or there are automatic means provided which initiate inflation of the bladders themselves. For example, sensors can be provided which, e.g., address the distance of the vehicle from a hazard under reverse extrapolation from the approach speed towards this hazard. There may also be provided sensors which address a predetermined deceleration of the vehicle air bags surrounding the vehicle to protect the vehicle, which air bags are inflated when the vehicle is approaching an object and the distance to the object is diminishing and a collision is likely. U.S. Pat. No. 4,215,878, issued Aug. 5, 1980 to Hirbod, discloses an internal air bag deployment system for protecting automobile occupants from injury during an accident. U.S. Pat. No. 4,528,563, issued Jul. 9, 1985 to Takeuchi, discloses an obstruction sensing system to provide an alarm when an obstruction is within a warning area. U.S. Pat. No. 4,694,295, issued Sep. 15, 1987 to Miller et al., discloses a system for warning a driver if another vehicle is located in the blind spot of the mirrors and delivers a warning or provides the actual distance in feet between the vehicle and operators vehicle. U.S. Pat. No. 5,119,901, issued Jun. 9, 1992 to Buie, discloses a vehicle air bag system having switches for triggering the air bags when the bumper is moved and a distance measuring system for generating an alarm signal when a radar ranging device detects tile distance between the vehicle and other vehicles to be in a potentially dangerous condition. U.S. Pat. No. 5,347,273, issued Sep. 13, 1994 to Katiraie, discloses an ultrasonic detection system for sensing an obstacle and measuring the distance to that obstacle and generating an alarm or activating an air bag when the vehicle is within a dangerous distance to another vehicle. U.S. Pat. No. 5,106,137, issued Apr. 21, 1992 to Curtis, discloses an improved vehicle bumper having, internally of the bumper shell, an air bag for providing additional energy absorption upon impact. U.S. Pat. No. 5,165,497, issued Nov. 24, 1992 to Chi, discloses a system for controlling driving distances. U.S. Pat. No. 5,166,881, issued Nov. 24, 1992 to Akasu, discloses a control apparatus for maintaining a set distance between a vehicle and a leading vehicle. U.S. Pat. No. 5,202,742, issued Apr. 13, 1993 to Frank et al., discloses a vehicle guidance system utilizing laser radar. U.S. Pat. No. 5,209,519, issued May 11, 1993 to Shiga et al., discloses an air bag for protecting the occupants of a vehicle upon impact. U.S. Pat. No. 5,314,037, issued May 24, 1994 to Shaw et al., discloses an automobile collision avoidance system that uses a laser radar and microprocessor for anticipating a collision and warning the driver of the possibility of the accident. Additionally, this patent discloses the control of vehicular functions such as braking. U.S. Pat. No. 5,324,072, issued Jun. 28, 1994 to Olson et al., discloses an air bag for protecting the occupant of an automobile from broadside injury by deploying the air bag from the internal side of the automobile. U.S. Pat. No. 5,332,057, issued Jul. 26, 1994 to Butsuen et al., discloses an automatic vehicular control system for altering the direction and/or speed, ultimately avoiding contact. U.S. Pat. No. 5,357,438, issued Oct. 18, 1994 to Davidian, discloses an anti-collision system for automobiles using a multiplicity of sensors and a computer processor for predicting an accident, and subsequently warming the vehicle operator of the possible danger. U.S. Pat. No. 5,400,864, issued Mar. 28, 1995 to Winner et al., discloses a system and method for controlling vehicle speed by maintaining a set safe distance from a preceding vehicle. U.S. Pat. No. 5,461,357, issued Oct. 24, 1995 to Yoshioka et al., discloses an obstacle detection device for a vehicle, which upon obstacle detection, subsequently controls vehicular functions and emits an alarm warning the operator of the imminent danger. Canadian patent doc. No. 923,604, published Mar. 27, 1973 by Lalone et al., discloses a vehicle anti-collision automatic control system for predicting a collision between two vehicles and causing the vehicle to be slowed or stopped, avoiding a collision. Despite the abundance of such devices, none of the above inventions and patents, taken either singly or in combination, is seen to describe the instant invention as claimed.