Seat experience system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12472848-B2
Application number	US-202318342355-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 27, 2023
Priority date	Dec 28, 2020
Publication date	Nov 18, 2025
Grant date	Nov 18, 2025

Abstract

A seat experience system includes a seat and a controller. The seat has a seat body and a sensor. The sensor is configured to acquire biogenic information of an occupant seated on the seat body. The controller is configured to acquire the biogenic information from the sensor, determine whether or not the occupant is in a resting state based on the biogenic information, execute, if the occupant is in the resting state, control in a first mode to sustain the resting state, and execute, if the occupant is not in the resting state, control in a second mode different from the first mode.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A seat experience system comprising:
a seat comprising a seat body, the seat body comprising:
a movable part,
a sensor configured to acquire at least one of heartbeat information, pulse information, respiratory information, or brainwave information of an occupant seated on the seat body, and
a drive unit configured to operate the movable part; and
a controller configured to:
receive a command to change a posture of the seat from a first posture to a second posture; and
in response to the command,
acquire the at least one of heartbeat information, pulse information, respiratory information, or brainwave information from the sensor;
determine whether or not the occupant is in a resting state, based on the acquired at least one of heartbeat information, pulse information, respiratory information, or brainwave information;
execute, if the occupant is in the resting state, control in a first mode to sustain the resting state;
execute, if the occupant is not in the resting state, control in a second mode different from the first mode;
move the movable part to change the posture of the seat from the first posture to the second posture,
the movable part being moved at a first speed in the first mode and at a second speed in the second mode, the first speed being slower than the second speed;
discriminate sleep states of the occupant, based on the acquired at least one of heartbeat information, pulse information, respiratory information, or brainwave information, at least between a first sleep state, and a second sleep state having a quality of sleep lower than a quality of sleep of the first sleep state, and
present a proposal for switching to a manual drive mode if a sleep state of the occupant becomes the second sleep state while the vehicle is being driven in an autonomous drive mode.

2 . The seat experience system according to claim 1 ,
wherein the drive unit is a motor, and wherein the controller is configured to cause the motor to rotate at a first speed in the first mode and at a second speed in the second mode, the first speed being slower than the second speed.

3 . The seat experience system according to claim 2 , wherein
the movable part comprises a seat back rotatable relative to a seat cushion, and the drive unit is configured to cause the seat back to rotate.

4 . A seat experience system according to claim 3 , wherein
the movable part further comprises an ottoman rotatable relative to the seat cushion, and the drive unit is configured to cause the ottoman to rotate.

5 . The seat experience system according to claim 4 ,
wherein a posture of the seat is changeable between a first posture in which the seat back forms a first angle with respect to a horizontal plane, and a second posture in which the seat back forms a second angle, smaller than the first angle, with respect to the horizontal plane, and wherein the controller is configured to determine, upon receipt of a command to change the posture of the seat from the second posture to the first posture, whether or not the occupant is in the resting state.

6 . The seat experience system according to claim 5 , wherein the controller is configured to control the drive unit such that the ottoman forms a third angle with respect to a seating surface of the seat cushion when the seat assumes the first posture, and the ottoman forms a fourth angle, smaller than the third angle, with respect to the seating surface of the seat cushion when the seat assumes the second posture.

7 . The seat experience system according to claim 1 , further comprising:
a speaker that produces a sound,
wherein the controller is configured to adjust a volume of the speaker when the speaker is producing the sound, such that if the occupant is in the resting state, the volume of the speaker is turned down.

8 . The seat experience system according to claim 1 , further comprising:
a speaker that produces a sound,
wherein the controller is configured to adjust a volume of the speaker in the first mode to a volume smaller than a volume of the speaker in the second mode.

9 . A seat experience system, comprising:
a seat comprising:
a seat body, and
a sensor configured to acquire biogenic information of an occupant seated on the seat body; and
a controller configured to:
acquire the biogenic information from the sensor;
determine whether or not the occupant is in a resting state, based on the biogenic information;
execute, if the occupant is in the resting state, control in a first mode to sustain the resting state; and
execute, if the occupant is not in the resting state, control in a second mode different from the first mode,
wherein the seat is a vehicle seat, and the seat body is installed in a vehicle,
wherein the controller is configured to execute a navigation process for navigating the vehicle to a destination according to a route set by the occupant, and wherein further
when the navigation process is executed in the second mode, the route set by the occupant is presented, and
when the navigation process is executed in the first mode, a route with a driving distance longer than a driving distance of the route set by the occupant is presented, and

wherein the controller is further configured to:
discriminate sleep states of the occupant, based on the biogenic information, at least between a first sleep state, and a second sleep state having a quality of sleep lower than a quality of sleep of the first sleep state, and
present a proposal for switching to a manual drive mode if a sleep state of the occupant becomes the second sleep state while the vehicle is being driven in an autonomous drive mode.

10 . The seat experience system according to claim 9 , wherein
the sensor comprises a pressure sensor that acquires a value of pressure from the occupant, and the controller discriminates the sleep states of the occupant based on the respiratory information and the value of pressure.

11 . The seat experience system according to claim 9 , wherein the controller is configured to:
discriminate sleep states of the occupant, based on the biogenic information, at least between a first sleep state, and a second sleep state having a quality of sleep lower than a quality of sleep of the first sleep state, and present a proposal for switching to a manual drive mode if a predetermined time period has elapsed after a sleep state of the occupant has become the first sleep state while the vehicle is being driven in an autonomous drive mode.

12 . The seat experience system according to claim 10 , wherein
the sensor comprises a respiratory sensor that acquires respiratory information of the occupant, and the controller discriminates the sleep states of the occupant based on the respiratory information.

13 . The seat experience system according to claim 9 , further comprising:
a server capable of communicating with the controller, wherein
the controller is configured to transmit the biogenic information acquired from the sensor to the server together with identification information of the occupant, and
the server stores the biogenic information transmitted from the controller together with the identification information.

14 . The seat experience system according to claim 9 , wherein the controller provides a notification of the biogenic information acquired from the sensor.

15 . A seat experience system according to claim 9 , comprising:
a seat comprising:
a seat body, and a sensor configured to acquire biogenic information of an occupant seated on the seat body; and
a

Assignees

• Ts Tech Co Ltd

Inventors

• Oshima Yuki

Classifications

• B60N2002/0208

  the seat or seat part turning about or moving along an inclined axis · CPC title

• B60N2/0022 Primary

  for sensing anthropometric parameters, e.g. heart rate or body temperature · CPC title

• B60W2710/30

  Auxiliary equipments · CPC title

• B60W2540/22

  Psychological state; Stress level or workload · CPC title

• B60W10/30

  including control of auxiliary equipment, e.g. air-conditioning compressors or oil pumps · CPC title