Vehicle seat

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10059232-B2
Application number	US-201515126047-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 30, 2015
Priority date	Mar 26, 2014
Publication date	Aug 28, 2018
Grant date	Aug 28, 2018

Abstract

A vehicle seat includes a seat bottom and a seat back coupled to the seat bottom to extend upwardly away from the seat bottom. The vehicle seat further includes a seat-bottom foundation arranged to interconnect the seat bottom and seat back to translate back and forth relative to a vehicle floor.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An occupant support system comprising
a vehicle seat including a seat bottom and a seat back coupled to the seat bottom to move relative to the seat bottom,
a foundation adapted to couple the vehicle seat to a floor of a vehicle for movement back and forth relative to the floor, and
a manual-memory system configured to provide means for adjusting infinitely a longitudinal position of the vehicle seat relative to the floor without the use of powered motors in response to application of a user-applied force to the vehicle seat by a user and locking the vehicle seat in a stored position as the vehicle seat moves to the stored position,
wherein the manual-memory system includes a position-sensor unit coupled to the vehicle seat to sense a position of the vehicle seat relative to the floor, a longitudinal lock unit coupled to the foundation to move between a locking arrangement in which movement of the vehicle seat back and forth is blocked and a freed arrangement in which the vehicle seat is freed to move relative to the floor, and a computer configured to provide means for receiving the position of the vehicle as sensed by the position-sensor unit, determining when the vehicle seat will be in the stored position, and commanding the longitudinal lock unit to block movement of the vehicle seat relative to the floor when the vehicle seat is in the stored position,
wherein the computer during the determining operation calculates a velocity of the vehicle seat using the position sensed by the position-sensor unit and calculates a time when to send the command to the longitudinal lock unit to block movement of the vehicle seat to cause the vehicle seat to be in the stored position after the command is sent to the longitudinal lock unit.

2. The occupant support system of claim 1 , wherein the manual-memory system further includes a remote-actuation unit coupled to the longitudinal lock unit and the computer and is configured to receive commands from the computer to cause the longitudinal lock unit to move between the locking and the freed arrangements.

3. The occupant support system of claim 2 , wherein the remote-actuation unit includes a remote interface coupled to the computer to receive a user input and a longitudinal lock actuator coupled to the computer to receive commands from the computer to cause the longitudinal lock actuator to engage and move the longitudinal lock unit between the locked and freed arrangements.

4. The occupant support system of claim 3 , wherein the computer is further configured to receive a manual release signal from the remote interface and command the longitudinal lock actuator to move the longitudinal lock unit to the freed arrangement in response to receiving the manual release signal.

5. The occupant support system of claim 4 , wherein the computer is further configured to receive a manual engage signal from the remote interface and command the longitudinal lock actuator to move the longitudinal lock unit to the locking arrangement in response to receiving the manual engage signal.

6. The occupant support system of claim 3 , wherein the computer is further configured to receive a store signal from the remote interface, determine the position of the vehicle seat when the store signal is received, and store the position in memory included in the computer as the stored position.

7. The occupant support system of claim 1 , wherein the manual-memory system further includes a seat-back lock coupled to the seat bottom and the seat back to move between a blocking arrangement in which movement of the seat back relative to the seat bottom about a pivot axis is blocked and a freeing arrangement in which the seat back is free to pivot relative to the seat bottom and the computer configured is further configured command the seat-back lock to move to the blocking arrangement when the vehicle seat is in the stored position and
wherein the manual-memory system further includes a remote-actuation unit coupled to the longitudinal lock unit, the seat-back lock, and the computer and is configured to receive commands from the computer to cause the longitudinal lock unit to move between the locked and the freed arrangements and the seat-back lock to move between the blocking and the freeing arrangements.

8. The occupant support system of claim 7 , wherein the remote-actuation unit includes a remote interface coupled to the computer to receive user input, a longitudinal lock actuator coupled to the computer to receive commands from the computer to cause the longitudinal lock actuator to engage and move the longitudinal lock unit between the locked and freed arrangements, and a seat-back lock actuator coupled to the computer to receive commands from the computer to cause the seat-back lock actuator to engage and move the seat-back lock blocking and the freeing arrangements.

9. The occupant support system of claim 8 , wherein the computer is further configured to receive a manual release signal from the remote interface and command the longitudinal lock actuator to move the longitudinal lock unit to the freed arrangement in response to receiving the manual release signal and
wherein the computer is further configured to command the seat-back lock actuator to move the seat-back lock to the freeing arrangement in response to receiving the manual release signal.

10. The occupant support system of claim 8 , wherein the computer is further configured to receive a manual release signal from the remote interface and command the longitudinal lock actuator to move the longitudinal lock unit to the freed arrangement in response to receiving the manual release signal and
wherein the computer is further configured to receive a manual engage signal from the remote interface and command the longitudinal lock actuator to move the longitudinal lock unit to the locking arrangement in response to receiving the manual engage signal.

11. The occupant support system of claim 10 , wherein the computer is further configured to command the seat-back lock actuator to move the seat-back lock to the blocking arrangement in response to receiving the manual engage signal.

12. The occupant support system of claim 8 , wherein the computer is further configured to receive a store signal from the remote interface, determine the position of the vehicle seat when the store signal is received, and store the position in memory included in the computer as the stored position.

13. The occupant support system of claim 1 , wherein the position-sensor unit includes a longitudinal position sensor coupled to the vehicle seat and configured to sense the longitudinal position of the vehicle seat relative to the floor,
wherein the longitudinal position sensor is an accelerometer coupled to the seat bottom to move relative to the seat bottom as the seat bottom moves back and forth relative to the floor,
wherein the position-sensor unit further includes a seat-back position sensor coupled to the vehicle seat and configured to sense an angular position of the seat back relative to the seat bottom, and
wherein the seat-back position sensor is an accelerometer coupled to the seat back in a fixed position relative to the seat back.

14. The occupant support system of claim 13 , wherein the position-sensor unit further includes a seat-height position sensor coupled to the vehicle seat and configured to sense a height of the seat bottom above the floor of the vehicle and
wherein the seat-height position sensor is an accelerometer coupled to the seat bottom to move relative to the seat bottom.

15. The occupant support system of claim 1 , where

Assignees

• Faurecia Automotive Seating Llc

Inventors

• Frye Dale J
• Bonk Jeffery T
• Hogg Christopher L
• Deck Adam M

Classifications

• B60N2/08

  characterised by the locking device · CPC title

• B60N2/0881

  Activation of the latches by the control mechanism · CPC title

• B60N2/06 Primary

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

• B60N2/42736

  of the whole seat · CPC title

• B60N2/18

  the front or the rear portion of the seat being adjustable, e.g. independently of each other · CPC title