Seat cushion

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11547213-B2
Application number	US-202016801338-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 26, 2020
Priority date	Mar 6, 2019
Publication date	Jan 10, 2023
Grant date	Jan 10, 2023

Abstract

A seat cushion is provided. The seat cushion includes an upper pad, a lower pad, a support structure, a plurality of optical modules, and a processor. The upper pad includes a plurality of transparent areas. The lower pad is provided with a plurality of grooves to accommodate the optical modules. The support structure is connected between the upper pad and the lower pad. The optical modules are located below the upper pad and are disposed corresponding to the transparent areas. The optical modules respectively transmit sense signals and respectively receive feedback signals corresponding to the sense signals. The processor is coupled to the optical modules and is configured to collect optical signals.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A seat cushion, comprising:
an upper pad, comprising a plurality of transparent areas;
a plurality of optical modules, located below the upper pad and disposed corresponding to the transparent areas, wherein the optical modules are configured to respectively receive an optical signal;
a lower pad, provided with a plurality of grooves to accommodate the optical modules;
a support structure, connected between the upper pad and the lower pad; and
a processor, coupled to the optical modules and configured to collect the optical signals.

2. The seat cushion according to claim 1 , wherein the optical modules are optical sensors and respectively comprise a transmitter and a receiver, the transmitters are respectively configured to transmit sense signals to an object, and the receivers are respectively configured to receive the optical signals reflected by the object and corresponding to the sense signals.

3. The seat cushion according to claim 2 , wherein the optical sensors are time of flight (TOF) sensors, the processor respectively detects a first flight time and a second flight time by using the TOF sensors as distance parameters between the TOF sensors and the object, where the first flight time is a time required by transmitting the sense signals from the transmitters to the object and the second flight time is a time required by reflecting the optical signals from the object to the optical modules.

4. The seat cushion according to claim 2 , wherein the optical sensors are structured light sensors, the sense signals and the optical signals are patterns with specific shape, and the processor analyzes differences between the patterns of the sense signals and the patterns of the optical signals by using an algorithm, to obtain depth information between each of the structured light sensors and the object as distance parameters.

5. The seat cushion according to claim 2 , wherein the optical sensors are proximity sensors, and the processor analyzes differences between light energy of the sense signals and light energy of the optical signals, to obtain distance parameters between the proximity sensors and the object.

6. The seat cushion according to claim 1 , wherein the optical modules are stereo vision camera modules, and the optical signals are image information.

7. The seat cushion according to claim 6 , wherein each of the stereo vision camera modules comprises two or more image capture elements, configured to capture the image information of an object from different angles, and the processor performs an operation on the image information by using a triangulation method to obtain distance parameters between the stereo vision camera modules and the object.

8. The seat cushion according to claim 1 , further comprising:
a conversion circuit, comprises:
a plurality of amplification circuits, respectively coupled to the optical modules, to amplify the optical signals into a plurality of amplification signals; and
a plurality of analog-to-digital circuits, respectively coupled to the amplification circuits and the processor, to convert the amplification signals into a plurality of digital optical signals, and to transmit the digital optical signals to the processor.

9. The seat cushion according to claim 1 , further comprising: a communications module, coupled to the processor, and configured to output the optical signals.

10. The seat cushion according to claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to perform the following steps:
analyzing the optical signals to generate detection information;
receiving at least one piece of preset information; and
comparing the detection information with the preset information, to generate an indication signal.

11. The seat cushion according to claim 10 , wherein the processor is further configured to perform the following steps:
analyzing the optical signals to obtain a plurality of distance parameters; and
analyzing the distance parameters to obtain the detection information.

12. The seat cushion according to claim 11 , wherein the detection information is a weight distribution model generated by analyzing the distance parameters.

13. The seat cushion according to claim 10 , further comprising: a communications module, coupled to the processor and configured to output the indication signal.

Assignees

• Asustek Comp Inc

Inventors

• Hung Shao-Wei
• Hsia Tzu-Hsuan
• Jin Ming-Jui

Classifications

• A61B5/1116

  Determining posture transitions · CPC title

• G06T7/593

  from stereo images · CPC title

• A47C7/72 Primary

  Adaptations for incorporating lamps, radio sets, bars, telephones, ventilation, heating or cooling arrangements or the like · CPC title

• G01B11/25

  by projecting a pattern, e.g. {one or more lines,} moiré fringes on the object (G01B11/255 takes precedence {; image analysis for depth or shape recovery G06T7/50}) · CPC title

• A61B5/6892

  Mats · CPC title