Seat position sensing and adjustment

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016101710-A1
Application number	US-201514878306-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Oct 8, 2015
Priority date	Oct 14, 2014
Publication date	Apr 14, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

A vehicle seat includes a seat foundation coupled to a floor of a vehicle, a seat bottom coupled to the seat foundation to move back and forth along a longitudinal axis relative to the floor, and a seat back coupled to the seat bottom to extend upwardly away from the seat bottom. The seat back pivots about an axis relative to the seat bottom.

First claim

1 . An occupant-support sensing system comprising
an occupant support including a seat bottom adapted to couple to a floor to move back and forth along a longitudinal axis relative to the floor and a seat back coupled to the seat bottom and arranged to extend upwardly away from the seat bottom to pivot about an axis relative to the seat bottom, a support-orientation unit including a floor-orientation accelerometer coupled to the floor in a fixed position relative to the floor and configured to sense a gravity-based incline angle of the floor and a seat-back accelerometer coupled to the seat back to move therewith relative to the seat bottom and the floor and configured to sense a gravity-based recline angle of the seat back, and a support-motion controller coupled to the occupant support and the support-orientation unit and configured to calculate a floor-incline angle using data received from the floor-orientation accelerometer, an actual seat-back angle using data received from the seat-back accelerometer, and an adjusted seat-back angle using the floor-incline angle and the actual seat-back angle.

2 . The occupant-support sensing system of claim 1 , wherein the support-motion controller includes a position calculator configured to calculate the adjusted seat-back angle using the floor-incline angle and the actual seat-back angle.

3 . The occupant-support sensing system of claim 2 , wherein the position calculator calculates the adjusted seat-back angle by subtracting the floor-incline angle from the actual seat-back angle.

4 . The occupant-support sensing system of claim 3 , wherein the support-motion controller further includes a mover controller coupled to the position calculator to receive the actual seat-back angle and a seat-back actuator coupled to the seat back to control movement of the seat back relative to the seat bottom in response to a signal received from the mover controller.

5 . The occupant-support sensing system of claim 4 , wherein the seat-back actuator is a motor coupled to the seat back and configured to move the seat back relative to the seat bottom in response the signal received from the mover controller.

6 . The occupant-support sensing system of claim 4 , wherein the seat-back actuator is coupled to a seat-back locking mechanism and configured to engage a locking mechanism of the occupant support to block movement of the seat back relative to the seat bottom in response to the signal received from the mover controller.

7 . The occupant-support sensing system of claim 2 , wherein the support-motion controller is further configured to determine a rotational speed of the seat back relative to the seat bottom and predict a future adjusted seat-back angle using the actual seat-back angle, the floor-incline angle, and the rotational speed of the seat back.

8 . The occupant-support sensing system of claim 7 , wherein the support-motion controller includes a mover controller configured to compute an expected time delay between issuing a command to a seat-back actuator included in the support-motion controller and detecting the adjusted seat-back angle matches the future adjusted seat-back angle.

9 . The occupant-support sensing system of claim 8 , wherein the mover controller sends the command to the seat-back actuator at the expected time delay to cause the adjusted seat-back angle to match the future adjusted seat-back angle.

10 . The occupant-support sensing system of claim 1 , wherein the seat back includes a backrest coupled to the seat bottom to rotate about the axis relative to the seat bottom and a headrest coupled to the backrest to move therewith and locate the backrest between the headrest and the seat bottom and the seat-back accelerometer is coupled to the backrest between the axis and the headrest.

11 . The occupant-support sensing system of claim 10 , wherein the seat-back accelerometer is located nearer to the axis than a midpoint between the axis and the headrest.

12 . The occupant-support sensing system of claim 1 , wherein the support-orientation unit further includes a linear-position accelerometer coupled to the seat bottom to move therewith relative to the floor and configured to sense a gravity-based rotation angle of the linear-position accelerometer relative to the seat bottom.

13 . The occupant-support sensing system of claim 12 , wherein the support-motion controller is further configured to calculate a longitudinal position of the seat bottom relative to the floor using the floor-incline angle and the gravity-based rotation angle from the linear-position accelerometer.

14 . The occupant-support sensing system of claim 13 , wherein the support-orientation unit further includes a conversion unit coupled to the seat bottom to move therewith and configured to convert back and forth movement of the seat bottom into rotational movement and the linear-position accelerometer coupled to the conversion unit to rotate relative to the seat bottom as the seat bottom moves back and forth along the longitudinal axis.

15 . The occupant-support sensing system of claim 14 , wherein the conversion unit includes a roller configured to engage a stationary track included in the occupant support, a rotating shaft coupled to the roller to move therewith, a reduction unit having an input coupled to the rotating shaft to rotate therewith and an output coupled to the linear-position accelerometer to cause the linear-position accelerometer to rotate in response to rotation of the roller.

16 . The occupant-support sensing system of claim 13 , wherein the support-motion controller includes a position calculator configured to calculate the adjusted seat-back angle using the floor-incline angle and the actual seat-back angle and the longitudinal position using the floor-incline angle and the gravity-based rotation angle.

17 . The occupant-support sensing system of claim 16 , wherein the position calculator calculates the adjusted seat-back angle by subtracting the floor-incline angle from the actual seat-back angle and the longitudinal position by subtracting the floor-incline angle from the gravity-based rotation angle.

18 . The occupant-support sensing system of claim 17 , wherein the support-motion controller further includes a mover controller coupled to the position calculator to receive the adjusted seat-back angle and the longitudinal position and a linear-rail actuator coupled to the seat bottom to control movement of the seat bottom relative to the floor in response to a signal received from the mover controller.

19 . An occupant-support sensing system comprising
an occupant support including a seat bottom adapted to couple to a floor to move back and forth along a longitudinal axis relative to the floor and a seat back coupled to the seat bottom and arranged to extend upwardly away from the seat bottom to pivot about an axis relative to the seat bottom, a support-orientation unit including a floor-orientation accelerometer coupled to the floor in a fixed position relative to the floor and configured to measure and output accelerations relative to gravity of the floor and a seat-back accelerometer coupled to the seat back to move therewith and configured to measure and output accelerations relative to gravity of the seat back, and a support-motion controller coupled to the occupant support and the support-orientation unit and configured to calculate a floor-incline angle using output accelerations of the floor-orientation accelerometer, an actual seat-back angle using output accelerations of the seat-back

Assignees

• Faurecia Automotive Seating Llc

Inventors

• Bonk Jeffery T
• Frye Dale J
• Shinew Matthew
• Hogg Christopher L

Classifications

• B60N2/0252 Primary

  with relations between different adjustments, e.g. height of headrest following longitudinal position of seat · CPC title

• B60N2/22 Primary

  the back-rest being adjustable {(B60N2/2878 takes precedence)} · CPC title

• B60N2/06

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

• B60N2002/0272

  Operations & Transport · mapped topic

• B60N2220/20

  using a deterministic algorithm · CPC title