METHOD FOR OPERATING AN OCCUPANT PROTECTION SYSTEM FOR A MOTOR VEHICLE

1 . A method of operating an occupant protection system for a motor vehicle, having a control unit, occupant protection devices, and sensors for identifying a type and a severity of an impending or occurring accident, and having at least one occupant detection means for identifying an occupant situation, the method comprising:

determining trigger configurations of the occupant protection system are specified for different occupant situations and accident situations;

determining at least one stress value for each body part standardized with respect to a default value;

forming a maximum value from the standardized stress values or a variable derived therefrom

and

a mean value for the plurality of body parts;

during driving mode of the motor vehicle, if an impending or occurring accident situation is identified,

comparing the current accident situation to the specified number of sample accident situations and establishing at least one best-matching sample accident situation

and, comparing the current occupant situations to the specified number of sample occupant situations and establishing at least one best-matching sample occupant situation;

selecting, from the number of trigger configurations of the occupant protection system, that trigger configuration for which first the maximum value is lowest and, if a plurality of trigger configurations remains, in addition the mean value is lowest.

2 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the best-matching sample accident situation for the current accident situation is established from the specified number of sample accident situations, in that the relative deviation of the parameters currently detected by the sensors for identifying the type and severity of an impending or occurring accident from, in each case, a default value assigned to the sample accident situation is determined, and that sample accident situation with the smallest deviation in total across all of the parameters is determined.

3 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the best-matching sample occupant situations for the current occupant situations are established from the specified number of occupant situations, in that the relative deviation of currently detected parameters of the at least one occupant detection means from, in each case, a default value assigned to the sample occupant situation is determined, and that sample occupant situation with the smallest deviation in total across all of the parameters is determined.

4 . The method according to claim 3 , wherein a weighting factor is assigned to each parameter, wherein a weighting factor deviating from the others is provided for at least one parameter and the total of the thus weighted relative deviation is determined.

5 . The method according to claim 3 , wherein for at least one individual occupant protection device or a subgroup of the number of trigger configurations of the occupant protection system, only a subgroup of the number of parameters, at least the most relevant parameter for the triggering decision, is taken into account in each case, and the best-matching sample occupant situations for the current occupant situations and/or the best-matching sample accident situation for the current accident situation is/are only established based on this subgroup of the number of parameters, at least the most relevant parameter for the triggering decision.

6 . The method according to claim 5 , wherein a weighting factor is assigned in each case for the plurality of body parts for the standardized stress values or variables derived therefrom, wherein a weighting factor deviating from the others is provided for at least one stress value, and a weighted mean value is thus established.

7 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the standardized stress values are divided into a specified number of danger levels for the plurality of body parts, and the maximum value of the danger levels of the body parts, which was determined during the trigger configuration and the sample occupant situations and the sample accident situations, is used as the maximum value.

8 . The method according to any one of the preceding claims , wherein for the current accident situation, instead of the one best-matching sample accident situation, a plurality of the closest sample accident situations and/or for the current occupant situation, instead of the one best-matching sample occupant situation, a plurality of the closest sample occupant situations is/are established and for the current accident situation and/or current occupant situation for at least individual occupant protection devices, at least for the subgroup of the most relevant parameters for the triggering thereof, these parameters are established from the interpolation of the values of the plurality of the closest sample accident situations and/or the plurality of the closest sample occupant situations.

9 . (canceled)