Sway control for suspended furniture in a vehicle

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10259348-B2
Application number	US-201715639629-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 30, 2017
Priority date	Jun 30, 2017
Publication date	Apr 16, 2019
Grant date	Apr 16, 2019

Abstract

Various examples for controlling sway of a furniture that is suspended in a vehicle are disclosed herein. In addition to the suspended furniture, the vehicle can include sway control devices operatively connected to the suspended furniture. The sway control devices can be connected to the suspended furniture via sway lines. The sway control devices can be controlled to adjust the rates that the sway lines are let out or retracted. As a result, the vehicle can control how much the suspended furniture sways.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system for controlling sway of suspended furniture in a vehicle, comprising:
furniture suspended in a vehicle, the suspended furniture having a human support surface;
a plurality of sway control devices, each of the plurality of sway control devices operatively connected to the suspended furniture via a respective at least one sway line that is let out or retracted by the sway control device;
a processor operatively connected to each of the plurality of sway control devices; and
memory operatively connected to the processor, the memory storing:
a sway control module including instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to generate one or more control signals for at least one of the plurality of sway control devices to control a rate that the respective at least one sway line is let out or retracted, and thereby control sway of the suspended furniture with respect to a normal position.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one of the plurality of sway control devices comprises:
an actuatable pulley having a line positioned therealong and connected to opposing first and second sides of the suspended furniture, a first portion of the line extending between the actuatable pulley and the first side of the suspended furniture defining a respective first sway line, and a second portion of the line extending between the actuatable pulley and the second side of the suspended furniture defining a respective second sway line.

3. The system of claim 2 , wherein the one or more control signals control the rate that the respective first and second sway lines are let out or retracted by controlling a rotation rate of the actuatable pulley.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein at the least one of the plurality of sway control devices comprise:
a damping system configured to receive damper control signals generated via the sway control module that change the rate that the respective at least one sway line is let out or retracted from a reel.

5. The system of claim 4 , wherein the damping system includes an adjustable rotary damper operatively connected to the reel.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the memory further stores:
a sway identification module including instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to:
identify a direction that the suspended furniture sways with respect to the normal position; and
identify the at least one of the plurality of sway control devices as being at least one of the plurality of sway control devices whose respective at least one sway line is associated with controlling sway of the suspended furniture along the identified direction.

7. The system of claim 6 , wherein the sway control module generates the one or more control signals for the identified at least one of the plurality of sway control devices.

8. The system of claim 7 , wherein the sway control module generates the one or more controls signals in response to the suspended furniture swaying away from the normal position or back towards the normal position.

9. The system of claim 8 , wherein the one or more control signals cause the identified at least one of the plurality of sway control devices to reduce the rate that the respective at least one sway line is let out as the suspended furniture sways away from the normal position or back towards the normal position.

10. The system of claim 1 , further comprising at least one height control system, wherein the memory further stores:
a height control module including instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to generate one or more height control signals for the at least one height control system to adjust a suspension height of the suspended furniture.

11. A system for reducing a rate that suspended furniture sways in a vehicle, comprising:
furniture suspended within an interior portion of a vehicle, the suspended furniture having an upwardly-facing human support surface, with at least a portion of the human support surface extending substantially horizontally when the suspended furniture is in a normal position;
a plurality of sway lines operatively connected to the suspended furniture;
a plurality of sway control devices for controlling a rate that a respective at least one sway line is let out, each of the plurality of sway lines being controllable by a respective sway control device;
a processor operatively connected to each of the plurality of sway control devices; and
memory operatively connected to the processor, the memory storing:
a sway identification module including instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to:
identify a direction that the suspended furniture sways away from the normal position; and
identify at least one of the plurality of sway control devices whose respective at least one sway line is associated with controlling sway of the suspended furniture along the identified direction; and

a sway control module including instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to generate one or more control signals for the identified at least one of the plurality of sway control devices to reduce the rate that the respective at least one sway line is let out as the suspended furniture sways back towards the normal position, and thereby reduce the rate that the suspended furniture sways back towards the normal position.

12. A method of controlling sway of a suspended furniture in a vehicle, comprising:
identifying sway with respect to a normal position of furniture suspended in a vehicle; and
controlling a rate that a respective at least one sway line of a plurality of sway lines is let out from a sway control device to thereby control sway of the suspended furniture.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein the sway control device is an actuatable pulley, and controlling the rate that the respective at least one sway line is let out from the actuatable pulley comprises controlling a rotation rate of the actuatable pulley.

14. The method of claim 12 , wherein the sway control device is an adjustable rotary damper, and wherein controlling the rate that the respective at least one sway line is let out from the adjustable rotary damper comprises controlling a damping coefficient for the adjustable rotary damper.

15. The method of claim 12 , further comprising:
identifying the respective at least one sway line as being at least one of the plurality of sway lines that retract as the suspended furniture sways away from the normal position.

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein controlling the rate that the identified respective at least one sway line is let out from the sway control device comprises controlling the rate that the identified respective at least one sway line is let out from the sway control device in response to the suspended furniture swaying back towards the normal position.

17. The method of claim 12 , wherein controlling the rate that the respective at least one sway line is let out from the sway control device comprises reducing the rate that the respective at least one sway line is let out from the sway control device.

18. The method of claim 12 , further comprising:
comparing an amount that the suspended furniture sways to a threshold, wherein controlling the rate that the respective at least one sway line is let out from the sway control device is performed responsive to the amount that the suspended furniture sways meeting the threshold.

Assignees

• Toyota Eng & Mfg North America

Inventors

• Williams Paxton S
• Prokhorov Danil V
• Sullivan Richard M

Classifications

• B60N2/005 Primary

  Arrangement or mounting of seats in vehicles {, e.g. dismountable auxiliary seats}(B60N2/02 takes precedence {; for railway vehicles B61D1/04}) · CPC title

• B60N2/10

  tiltable (B60N2/12 {, B60N2/2875} take precedence) · CPC title

• B60N2/1695 Primary

  with simultaneous height and inclination adjustment · CPC title

• B60N2210/24

  Cameras · CPC title

• B60N2210/50

  Inertial sensors · CPC title