Position-sensing system for vehicle seat

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10011192-B2
Application number	US-201615271862-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 21, 2016
Priority date	Sep 22, 2015
Publication date	Jul 3, 2018
Grant date	Jul 3, 2018

Abstract

A vehicle seat includes a seat bottom and a seat back. The seat back is coupled to the seat bottom and arranged to extend in an upward direction away from the seat bottom. The vehicle seat further includes an electronics system.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A vehicle seat comprising
a seat bottom,
a foundation comprising a rail coupled to the seat bottom to move therewith and a rail receiver arranged in a fixed position relative to the seat bottom, the rail receiver defining a track to receive the rail therein and allow the rail to move along a predefined linear path,
a magnetic feature coupled to the foundation, the magnetic feature comprising a track having a sequence of separated magnetic regions,
a magnetic sensor coupled to the foundation and configured to generate sensor data in response to sensing the magnetic feature, and
a seat controller coupled to the magnetic sensor and configured to determine a position of the rail along the predefined linear path as a function of the sensor data generated by the magnetic sensor.

2. The vehicle seat of claim 1 , wherein the magnetic feature is coupled to the rail of the foundation and the magnetic sensor is coupled to the rail receiver of the foundation.

3. The vehicle seat of claim 1 , wherein the magnetic feature is coupled to the rail receiver of the foundation and the magnetic sensor is coupled to the rail of the foundation.

4. The vehicle seat of claim 1 , wherein the magnetic feature comprises a magnetic stripe, the sensor data is indicative of magnetic field strength of the magnetic feature in proximity to the magnetic sensor, and to determine the position of the rail along the predefined linear path comprises to determine the position of the rail along the predefined linear path as a linear function of the magnetic field strength.

5. The vehicle seat of claim 1 , wherein the magnetic feature comprises a magnetic stripe, the sensor data is indicative of magnetic field strength of the magnetic feature in proximity to the magnetic sensor, and to determine the position of the rail along the predetermined linear path comprises to (i) determine a sequence of magnetic field strength values based on the sensor data and (ii) decode the sequence of magnetic field strength values to determine the position.

6. The vehicle seat of claim 1 , wherein the magnetic feature comprises a magnetic stripe including a plurality of magnetic signal tracks, the sensor data is indicative of a plurality of magnetic field strength values, wherein each magnetic fields strength value is associated with a signal track of the magnetic feature in proximity to the magnetic sensor, and to determine the position of the rail along the predetermined linear path comprises to decode the plurality of magnetic field strength values to determine the position.

7. A vehicle seat comprising
a first member,
a second member coupled to the first member and configured to move rotationally relative to the first member,
a visual feature coupled to the first member, wherein the visual feature comprises a color gradient,
an optical sensor coupled to the second member and configured to generate sensor data indicative of the visual feature, and
a seat controller coupled to the optical sensor and configured to determine a position of the second member relative to the first member as a function of the sensor data generated by the optical sensor.

8. The vehicle seat of claim 7 , wherein the first member comprises a seat bottom and the second member comprises a seat back.

9. The vehicle seat of claim 7 , wherein the first member comprises a seat back and the second member comprises a seat bottom.

10. The vehicle seat of claim 7 , wherein the first member comprises a rail and the second member comprises a rail receiver.

11. The vehicle seat of claim 7 , wherein the first member comprises a rail receiver and the second member comprises a rail.

12. The vehicle seat of claim 7 , wherein the optical sensor comprises a camera.

13. The vehicle seat of claim 7 , wherein the optical sensor comprises a photodiode or a photocell.

14. The vehicle seat of claim 7 , wherein the visual feature comprises a shape.

Assignees

• Faurecia Automotive Seating Llc

Inventors

• Bonk Jeffery T
• Frye Dale J
• Shinew Matthew

Classifications

• G01D5/34784

  with only analogue scales or both analogue and incremental scales · CPC title

• G01D5/34746

  Linear encoders · CPC title

• B60N2002/0272

  Operations & Transport · mapped topic

• G01D5/34792

  with only digital scales or both digital and incremental scales · CPC title

• B60N2/06 Primary

  slidable (B60N2/12 {, B60N2/2209} take precedence) · CPC title