Position-determining device for determining a position of a vehicle seat inside a vehicle, system, vehicle having a vehicle seat arranged inside the vehicle, and method for determining a position of a vehicle seat

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10479228-B2
Application number	US-201615746619-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 22, 2016
Priority date	Jul 23, 2015
Publication date	Nov 19, 2019
Grant date	Nov 19, 2019

Abstract

The invention relates to a position-determining device for determining a position of a vehicle seat inside a vehicle, wherein the position of the vehicle seat in the vehicle can be adjusted along an adjustment direction between a first and at least one second location, comprising a vehicle component and a vehicle seat component, wherein the vehicle component can be arranged in the vehicle as part of a vehicle electronics system, and the vehicle seat component can be arranged in the vehicle seat as part of a vehicle seat electronics system, said vehicle seat component having at least one vehicle seat transmitting/receiving device and said vehicle component having at least two vehicle transmitting/receiving devices. The at least one vehicle seat transmitting/receiving device and the at least one of the vehicle transmitting/receiving devices are configured for a contactless transmission of information and/or energy, wherein the at least two vehicle transmitting/receiving devices are configured to be arranged offset to one another along the adjustment direction.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A position-determining device for determining a position of a vehicle seat inside a vehicle, wherein the position of the vehicle seat in the vehicle can be adjusted along an adjustment direction at least between a first and at least one second location, comprising a vehicle component and a vehicle seat component, wherein the vehicle component can be arranged in the vehicle as part of a vehicle electronics system, and the vehicle seat component can be arranged in the vehicle seat as part of a vehicle seat electronics system, said vehicle seat component having at least one vehicle seat transmitting/receiving device and said vehicle component having at least two vehicle transmitting/receiving devices that are seat-specific for communication with the at least one vehicle seat transmitting/receiving device of a specific seat, wherein
the at least one vehicle seat transmitting/receiving device and at least one of the vehicle transmitting/receiving devices are configured for a wireless transmission of one or more of information and energy and wherein the at least two vehicle transmitting/receiving devices are configured to be arranged offset spaced from each other along the adjustment direction.

2. The position-determining device according to claim 1 , wherein the vehicle component and/or the vehicle seat component comprises an evaluation unit for determining the position of the vehicle seat.

3. The position-determining device according to claim 1 , wherein the vehicle transmitting/receiving devices are identical or at least substantially identical.

4. The position-determining device according to claim 1 , wherein the number and/or the arrangement of the vehicle transmitting/receiving devices is adapted according to the adjustable positions of the vehicle seat.

5. The position-determining device according to claim 4 , wherein the number and the arrangement of the vehicle transmitting/receiving devices are adapted to a number of locations of fixedly adjustable positions of the vehicle seat.

6. The position-determining device according to claim 4 , wherein the vehicle transmitting/receiving devices can be arranged such that they overlap along the adjustment direction and in that a number of vehicle transmitting/receiving devices can be selected such that for all possible positions of the vehicle seat, a wireless transmission of information and/or energy can be conducted between at least one of the vehicle transmitting/receiving devices and the at least one vehicle seat transmitting/receiving device.

7. The position-determining device according to claim 1 , wherein the at least one vehicle seat transmitting/receiving device comprises a damped electronic element, in particular a damped electronic oscillating circuit.

8. The position-determining device according to claim 1 , wherein the vehicle seat transmitting/receiving device has a longitudinal extent in the direction of the adjustment direction, such that it at least partially covers at least two of the vehicle transmitting/receiving devices.

9. A system having a position-determining device according to claim 1 and a processing device, which is configured for processing the position of the vehicle seat determined by the position-determining device.

10. The system according to claim 9 , wherein the processing device is a safety system of the vehicle.

11. A vehicle having a vehicle seat arranged inside the vehicle, wherein a position of the vehicle seat can be adjusted along an adjustment direction between a first and at least one second location, comprising a position-determining device for determining the position of the vehicle seat inside a vehicle, wherein the position-determining device is configured according to claim 1 .

12. A method for determining a position of a vehicle seat inside a vehicle, wherein the vehicle seat can be adjusted along an adjustment direction at least between a first and at least one second location, by using a position-determining device according to one of claim 1 , the method comprising:
a) establishing a transmission between each of the at least two vehicle transmitting/receiving devices with the at least one vehicle seat transmitting/receiving device;
b) identifying at least the vehicle transmitting/receiving device and the vehicle seat transmitting/receiving device with the best transmission; and
c) determining the position of the vehicle seat from the vehicle transmitting/receiving device identified in step b) and the vehicle seat transmitting/receiving device identified in step b).

13. The method according to claim 12 , wherein in a step d), which follows step c), a transmission of information and/or energy is conducted between the vehicle transmitting/receiving device identified in step b) and the vehicle seat transmitting/receiving device identified in step b).

14. The method according to claim 13 , wherein in the case of an interruption of the transmission of step d), the steps a), b) and c) are repeated.

15. The method according to claim 12 , wherein in the case of an unsuccessful execution of step b), a removal of the vehicle seat is identified in step c).

16. A vehicle having a vehicle seat arranged inside the vehicle, wherein a position of the vehicle seat can be adjusted along an adjustment direction between at least a first and at least one second location, comprising a position-determining device for determining the position of the vehicle seat inside a vehicle, wherein the vehicle has a system according to claim 9 .

Assignees

• Volkswagen Ag

Inventors

• Esslinger Daniel
• Winkler Jörg
• Bork Simon

Classifications

• B60N2/06 Primary

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

• B60N2/0244 Primary

  with logic circuits · CPC title

• B60N2002/0264

  Operations & Transport · mapped topic

• B60N2002/0272

  Operations & Transport · mapped topic

• B60N2/02 Primary

  the seat or part thereof being movable, e.g. adjustable (adjustable arm-rests B60N2/75; adjustable head-rests B60N2/806) · CPC title