Seat apparatus

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10562415-B2
Application number	US-201815943895-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 3, 2018
Priority date	Apr 10, 2017
Publication date	Feb 18, 2020
Grant date	Feb 18, 2020

Abstract

A seat apparatus includes: a seat on which a passenger of a vehicle sits; an inputter which is operated by the passenger; a fixer which fixes a position of the seat until the inputter is operated by the passenger and allows the position of the seat to be movable in a longitudinal direction of the vehicle when the inputter is operated by the passenger; and a restrictor which restricts the movement of the seat when a predetermined condition related to a traveling state of the vehicle or an external environment of the vehicle is satisfied in comparison with a case in which the predetermined condition is not satisfied.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A seat apparatus comprising:
a seat on which a passenger of a vehicle sits;
an inputter which is operated by the passenger;
a fixer which fixes a position of the seat until the inputter is operated by the passenger and allows the position of the seat to be movable in a longitudinal direction of the vehicle when the inputter is operated by the passenger;
a reaction force output mechanism configured to output a reaction force, the reaction force being a force in a direction opposite to a direction in which the seat moves; and
a reaction force output controller configured to restrict a movement of the seat by causing the reaction force output mechanism to output the reaction force,
wherein the reaction force output controller causes the reaction force output mechanism to output a larger reaction force when a predetermined condition is satisfied in comparison with a case in which the predetermined condition is not satisfied, the predetermined condition being a condition related to a traveling state of the vehicle or an external environment of the vehicle.

2. The seat apparatus according to claim 1 ,
wherein the reaction force output controller restricts the movement of the seat when the predetermined condition is satisfied and does not restrict the movement of the seat when the predetermined condition is not satisfied.

3. The seat apparatus according to claim 1 ,
wherein the predetermined condition includes one or both of a condition in which an acceleration of the vehicle or the seat is greater than or equal to a predetermined value and a condition in which a speed of the vehicle is greater than or equal to a predetermined speed.

4. The seat apparatus according to claim 1 ,
wherein the predetermined condition includes a condition in which an inclination angle of the vehicle is greater than or equal to a predetermined angle.

5. The seat apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising:
a recognizer configured to recognize a condition around the vehicle; and
a predictor configured to predict a location at which the predetermined condition will be satisfied on a route on which the vehicle is scheduled to travel in the future by referring to a map information or a recognition result of recognizer, the map information including a road information,
wherein the reaction force output controller restricts the movement of the seat when the vehicle reaches a vicinity of the location predicted by the predictor.

6. The seat apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising:
a switching controller configured to switch a vehicle driving mode to any one of an automated driving mode in which at least one of a vehicle steering operation and a vehicle speed acceleration and deceleration operation is controlled and a manual driving mode in which both the vehicle steering operation and the vehicle speed acceleration and deceleration operation are controlled by an operation of the passenger,
wherein the reaction force output controller does not restrict the movement of the seat in comparison to the case in which the predetermined condition is not satisfied even when the predetermined condition is satisfied when the driving mode is switched from the automated driving mode to the manual driving mode by the switching controller.

7. The seat apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising:
a return switch which is installed at a position different from the inputter; and
a movement controller configured to allow the position of the seat to be movable in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle and move the position of the seat to a predetermined position by controlling the fixer when the return switch is operated,
wherein the reaction force output controller does not restrict the movement of the seat in comparison to the case in which the predetermined condition is not satisfied even when the predetermined condition is satisfied while the seat is being moved by the movement controller.

8. The seat apparatus according to claim 7 ,
wherein the return switch is installed at a side support provided at both sides of a seat cushion.

Assignees

• Honda Motor Co Ltd

Inventors

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

Classifications

• B60N2/0887

  with synchronised movements · CPC title

• B60N2/067

  by linear actuators, e.g. linear screw mechanisms · CPC title

• B60N2/06 Primary

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

• B60N2/0276

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

• B60N2/0727 Primary

  Stop members for limiting sliding movement · CPC title