Autonomous vehicle seat positioning system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10150386-B2
Application number	US-201715443879-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 27, 2017
Priority date	Feb 27, 2017
Publication date	Dec 11, 2018
Grant date	Dec 11, 2018

Abstract

An autonomous vehicle seat positioning system includes a seat controller connected to a autonomous vehicle controller and a positioning mechanism of a seat assembly. The seat controller is configured to operating the positioning mechanism such that with the autonomous vehicle controller operating the vehicle in a self-driving mode and the vehicle operator's seat assembly being in a reclined setting: in response to the autonomous vehicle controller detecting an emergency condition requiring a change to the manual driving mode, the seat controller operates the positioning mechanism to move the operator's seat assembly from the reclined setting to the upright setting in an emergency re-positioning mode, and in response to the autonomous vehicle controller detecting a non-emergency condition requiring a change to the manual driving mode, the seat controller operates the positioning mechanism to move the operator's seat assembly from the reclined setting to the upright setting in a non-emergency re-positioning mode.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An autonomous vehicle seat positioning system, comprising:
an autonomous vehicle controller configured to operate a vehicle in a self-driving mode and a manual driving mode;
an operator's seat assembly having a positioning mechanism configured to move the operator's seat assembly between a reclined setting and an upright setting; and
a seat controller connected to the autonomous vehicle controller and the positioning mechanism of the vehicle seat assembly the seat controller being configured to operating the positioning mechanism such that with the autonomous vehicle controller operating the vehicle in the self-driving mode and the vehicle operator's seat assembly being in the reclined setting:
in response to the autonomous vehicle controller detecting an emergency condition requiring a change from the self-driving mode to the manual driving mode, the seat controller operates the positioning mechanism to move the operator's seat assembly from the reclined setting to the upright setting in an emergency re-positioning mode,
in response to the autonomous vehicle controller detecting a non-emergency condition requiring a change from the self-driving mode to the manual driving mode, the seat controller operates the positioning mechanism to move the operator's seat assembly from the reclined setting to the upright setting in a non-emergency re-positioning mode, and
the autonomous vehicle controller is configured such that the emergency condition includes further determining a first level of urgency and a second level of urgency,
the seat controller is configured such that the emergency re-positioning mode includes a first emergency movement sequence and a second emergency movement sequence, wherein
in response to the autonomous vehicle controller determining that the emergency condition includes the first level of urgency, the seat controller employs the first emergency movement sequence in which the seat positioning mechanism is operated to immediately move the operator's seat assembly from the reclined setting to the upright setting, and
in response to the autonomous vehicle controller determining that the emergency condition includes the second level of urgency, the seat controller employs the second emergency movement sequence in which the seat positioning mechanism is operated to move the operator's seat assembly from the reclined setting to the upright setting within a first pre-determined period of time.

2. The autonomous vehicle seat positioning system according to claim 1 , wherein the first pre-determined period of time is between 1 and 2 minutes.

3. The autonomous vehicle seat positioning system according to claim 1 wherein
the autonomous vehicle controller is configured such that the first level of urgency is determined in response to a first group of detected road conditions that include a road incident that has occurred less than a first predetermined distance ahead of the vehicle, or a weather condition determined to be less that the first predetermined distance ahead of the vehicle, and
the autonomous vehicle controller is configured such that the second level of urgency is determined in response to a second group of detected road conditions that include a road incident that has occurred greater than the first predetermined distance from the vehicle and less a second predetermined distance from the vehicle, or the vehicle is approaching a weather condition that has been detected a distance ahead of the vehicle greater than the first predetermined distance from the vehicle and less the second predetermined distance from the vehicle.

4. The autonomous vehicle seat positioning system according to claim 1 , wherein
the seat controller is configured such that the non-emergency re-positioning mode includes a non-emergency movement sequence in which the seat controller moves the operator's scat assembly from the reclined setting to the upright setting in a stepped sequence in order to gradually move the occupant of the operator's seat assembly to the upright setting.

5. The autonomous vehicle seat positioning system according to claim 4 , wherein
the stepped sequence of the non-emergency re-positioning mode employed by the seat controller includes a two-stage movement such that during a first stage of movement, the operator's seat assembly is moved to an intermediate orientation approximately 50% of the distance between the reclined setting and the upright setting, after which movement is paused for a predetermined number of seconds, and then moved in a second stage of movement to the upright setting.

6. The autonomous vehicle seat positioning system according to claim 4 , wherein
the stepped sequence of the non-emergency re-positioning mode employed by the seat controller includes a three-stage movement such that during a first stage of movement, the operator's seat assembly is moved to a first intermediate orientation approximately 33% of the distance from the reclined setting to the upright setting, after which movement is paused for a predetermined number of seconds, and then moved to a second intermediate orientation approximately 66% of the distance from the reclined setting the upright setting, after which movement is paused for the predetermined number of seconds and then moved fully to the upright setting.

7. The autonomous vehicle seat positioning system according to claim 4 . wherein
the stepped sequence of the non-emergency re-positioning mode employed by the seat controller includes a four-stage movement such that during a first stage of movement, the operator's seat assembly is moved to a first intermediate orientation approximately 25% of the distance from the reclined setting to the upright setting, after which movement is paused for a predetermined number of seconds, then moved to a second intermediate orientation approximately 50% of the distance from the reclined setting the upright setting, after which movement is paused for the predetermined number of seconds, then moved to a third intermediate orientation approximately 75% of the distance from the reclined setting the upright setting, after which movement is paused for the predetermined number of seconds, and then moved fully to the upright setting.

8. The autonomous vehicle seat positioning system according to claim 1 , wherein
the seat controller is configured such that the non-emergency re-positioning mode includes vibrating the operator's seat assembly prior to movement of the operator's seat assembly.

9. The autonomous vehicle seat positioning system according to claim 1 , further comprising
a display installed to a roof of a passenger compartment within the vehicle, and
the seat controller is connected to the display and is configured to display information relating to movement of the operator's seat assembly, including a countdown to beginning of movement of the operator's seat assembly in the non-emergency re-positioning mode.

10. The autonomous vehicle seat positioning system according to claim 1 , further comprising
a camera configured to capture images of an occupant seated in the operator's seat assembly, the camera being connected to the seat controller, and
the seat controller is configured to determine whether or not the occupant of the operator's seat assembly is currently asleep.

11. An autonomous vehicle seat positioning, system, comprising
an autonomous vehicle controller configured to operate a vehicle in a self-driving mode and a manual driving mode:
an operator's seat assembly having a positioning mechanism configured to move the operator's seat assembly between a reclined setting and an upright setting:
a display installed to a roof of a passenger compartm

Assignees

• Nissan North America Inc

Inventors

• Tan Adrian

Classifications

• B60N2/0244 Primary

  with logic circuits · CPC title

• B60K2350/2013

  Operations & Transport · mapped topic

• B60N2/002

  Seats provided with an occupancy detection means mounted therein or thereon (detection means responsive to presence or absence of children B60N2/266) · CPC title

• B60R2300/207

  using multi-purpose displays, e.g. camera image and navigation or video on same display · CPC title

• G05D1/0088

  characterized by the autonomous decision making process, e.g. artificial intelligence, predefined behaviours (using knowledge based models G06N5/00) · CPC title