Vehicle system, vehicle control method, and storage medium

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10486553-B2
Application number	US-201815879556-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 25, 2018
Priority date	Feb 3, 2017
Publication date	Nov 26, 2019
Grant date	Nov 26, 2019

Abstract

A vehicle system includes a seat state acquisition unit ( 160 ) that acquires an orientation about a vertical axis of a seat on which an occupant of a vehicle sits, a vehicle state acquisition unit ( 170 ) that acquires a current or future acceleration relating to the vehicle, and a seat control unit ( 180 ) that deforms at least a part of the seat on the basis of the orientation of the seat acquired by the seat state acquisition unit and the acceleration acquired by the vehicle state acquisition unit.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A vehicle system comprising:
a seat state acquisition unit configured to acquire an orientation about a vertical axis of a seat on which an occupant of a vehicle sits;
a vehicle state acquisition unit configured to acquire a current or future acceleration relating to the vehicle; and
a seat control unit configured to deform at least a part of the seat on the basis of the orientation of the seat detected by the seat state acquisition unit and the acceleration acquired by the vehicle state acquisition unit,
wherein the seat includes a plurality of side support portions configured to support a body of the occupant at different sides, and the seat control unit is configured to deform at least one side support portion of the plurality of side support portions which corresponds to a combination of the orientation of the seat and a direction of the current or future acceleration relating to the vehicle acquired by the vehicle state acquisition unit,
wherein the seat control unit makes an amount of deformation of the at least one side support portion in a case that a longitudinal acceleration acts on the vehicle in a case in which the orientation of the seat detected by the seat state acquisition unit is not forward with respect to a travel direction of the vehicle greater than an amount of deformation of the at least one side support portion in a case that a lateral acceleration acts on the vehicle in a case in which the orientation of the seat is forward with respect to the travel direction of the vehicle.

2. The vehicle system according to claim 1 , wherein the seat control unit causes one of the plurality of side support portions, which is located on a side opposite to a direction in which a lateral acceleration acts on the vehicle, to protrude toward the occupant.

3. The vehicle system according to claim 1 , wherein the seat control unit makes an amount of deformation of the at least one side support portion in a case that a longitudinal acceleration acts on the vehicle in a case in which the orientation of the seat detected by the seat state acquisition unit is lateral with respect to a travel direction of the vehicle greater than an amount of deformation of the at least one side support portion in a case that a lateral acceleration acts on the vehicle in a case in which the orientation of the seat is forward with respect to the travel direction of the vehicle.

4. The vehicle system according to claim 1 , wherein the seat includes an armrest for supporting an arm of the occupant, and
the seat control unit is configured to deform the armrest in addition to deforming the at least one side support portion in a case that the future acceleration acquired by the vehicle state acquisition unit is equal to or greater than a threshold value.

5. The vehicle system according to claim 4 , wherein the armrest includes a bag-like member configured to store a gas or liquid, and
the seat control unit is configured to inject the gas or liquid into the bag-like member to expand the bag-like member downward from the armrest.

6. The vehicle system according to claim 1 , wherein the seat control unit is configured to tilt a sitting portion of the seat in addition to deforming the at least one side support portion in a case that a future longitudinal acceleration acquired by the vehicle state acquisition unit is equal to or greater than a threshold value in a case in which the orientation of the seat detected by the seat state acquisition unit is backward with respect to a travel direction of the vehicle.

7. The vehicle system according to claim 1 , wherein the seat control unit makes an amount of deformation of the at least one side support portion in a case that a longitudinal acceleration acts on the vehicle in a case in which the orientation of the seat detected by the seat state acquisition unit is backward with respect to a travel direction of the vehicle greater than an amount of deformation of the at least one side support portion in a case that a lateral acceleration acts on the vehicle in a case in which the orientation of the seat is forward with respect to the travel direction of the vehicle.

8. The vehicle system according to claim 7 , wherein the seat control unit makes an amount of deformation of the at least one side support portion in a case that a longitudinal acceleration acts on the vehicle in a case in which the orientation of the seat detected by the seat state acquisition unit is backward with respect to the travel direction of the vehicle greater than an amount of deformation of the at least one side support portion in a case that a lateral acceleration acts on the vehicle in a case in which the orientation of the seat is lateral with respect to the travel direction of the vehicle.

9. A vehicle control method using an in-vehicle computer, comprising:
acquiring an orientation about a vertical axis of a seat on which an occupant of a vehicle sits;
acquiring a current or future acceleration relating to the vehicle;
deforming at least a part of the seat on the basis of the acquired orientation of the seat and the acquired acceleration;
wherein the seat includes a plurality of side support portions configured to support a body of the occupant at different sides, and
deforming the at least a part of the seat comprises deforming at least one side support portion of the plurality of side support portions which corresponds to a combination of the orientation of the seat and a direction of the current or future acceleration relating to the vehicle acquired; and
making an amount of deformation of the at least one side support portion in a case that a longitudinal acceleration acts on the vehicle in a case in which the orientation of the seat is not forward with respect to a travel direction of the vehicle greater than an amount of deformation of the at least one side support portion in a case that a lateral acceleration acts on the vehicle in a case in which the orientation of the seat is forward with respect to the travel direction of the vehicle.

10. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium configured to store a vehicle control program causing an in-vehicle computer to:
acquire an orientation about a vertical axis of a seat on which an occupant of a vehicle sits;
acquire a current or future acceleration relating to the vehicle;
deform at least a part of the seat on the basis of the acquired orientation of the seat and the acquired acceleration,
wherein, the seat includes a plurality of side support portions configured to support a body of the occupant at different sides, and
deforming the at least a part of the seat comprises deforming at least one side support portion of the plurality of side support portions which corresponds to a combination of the orientation of the seat and a direction of the current or future acceleration relating to the vehicle acquired; and
make an amount of deformation of the at least one side support portion in a case that a longitudinal acceleration acts on the vehicle in a case in which the orientation of the seat is not forward with respect to a travel direction of the vehicle greater than an amount of deformation of the at least one side support portion in a case that a lateral acceleration acts on the vehicle in a case in which the orientation of the seat is forward with respect to the travel direction of the vehicle.

11. A vehicle system comprising:
a seat state acquisition unit configured to acquire an orientation about a vertical axis of a seat on which an occupant of a vehicle sits;
a vehicle state acquisition unit configured to acquire a current or future acceleration relating to the vehicle; and
a seat control unit configure

Assignees

• Honda Motor Co Ltd

Inventors

• Hirayama Kenta
• Ishihara Hajime
• Matsumoto Manabu
• Minato Muneatsu
• Nishimura Yosuke

Classifications

• B60W2520/14

  Yaw · CPC title

• B60W2520/125

  Lateral acceleration · CPC title

• B60N2/986

  Side-rests (B60N2/2872, B60N2/885 take precedence) · CPC title

• B60N2/14

  rotatable, e.g. to permit easy access (B60N2/10 {, B60N2/2869} take precedence) · CPC title

• B60N2/0276

  reaction to emergency situations, e.g. crash · CPC title