Efficient control of temperature altering systems within a vehicle seating assembly
First Claim
1. A seating assembly for a vehicle comprising:
- an external surface and multiple temperature altering systems disposed beneath the external surface;
at least one sensor associated with the seating assembly; and
a controller in communication with the least one sensor and the multiple temperature altering systems,wherein, when an object having a size is placed on the external surface of the seating assembly and the temperature of the external surface of the seating assembly is to be altered, the controller determines, based on information provided by the at least one sensor, which of the multiple temperature altering systems to activate as a function of the size of the object, such that, the larger the size of the object, the more of the multiple temperature altering systems the controller will activate, and the controller then activates those temperature altering systems.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A method of altering the temperature of an external surface of a seating assembly for a vehicle comprising: providing a seating assembly for a vehicle comprising an external surface and multiple temperature altering systems disposed beneath the external surface; presenting an object on the external surface; determining which of the multiple temperature altering systems to activate as a function of the size of the object and the position of the object on the seating assembly, such that, the larger the size, the more of the multiple temperature altering systems are activated, and such that, if the object is not positioned in thermal communication with one or more of the multiple temperature altering systems, then those temperature altering systems are not activated; and activating only the temperature altering systems that the method determined to activate as a function of the size and the position of the object on the seating assembly.
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Citations
19 Claims
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1. A seating assembly for a vehicle comprising:
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an external surface and multiple temperature altering systems disposed beneath the external surface; at least one sensor associated with the seating assembly; and a controller in communication with the least one sensor and the multiple temperature altering systems, wherein, when an object having a size is placed on the external surface of the seating assembly and the temperature of the external surface of the seating assembly is to be altered, the controller determines, based on information provided by the at least one sensor, which of the multiple temperature altering systems to activate as a function of the size of the object, such that, the larger the size of the object, the more of the multiple temperature altering systems the controller will activate, and the controller then activates those temperature altering systems. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A seating assembly for a vehicle comprising:
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a seatback, a seat, and an external surface covering at least portions of both the seatback and the seat; multiple temperature altering systems disposed beneath the external surface within the seat; multiple temperature altering systems disposed beneath the external surface within the seatback, each of the multiple temperature altering systems associated with altering the temperature of a different area of the external surface; at least one sensor used to detect whether a person is occupying the seating assembly and, if a person is occupying the seating assembly, to categorize the size of the person into a category; and a controller in communication with the at least one sensor and independently controlling each of the multiple temperature altering systems; wherein, the controller determines from input provided by the at least one sensor whether a person is occupying the seating assembly and, if so, categorizes the size of the person into a category; and wherein, the controller activates predetermined temperature altering systems of the multiple temperature altering systems as a function of the category of the size of the person, such that the larger the size of the person, the more temperature altering systems of the multiple temperature altering systems are activated. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. A vehicle comprising:
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a seating assembly comprising an external surface and multiple temperature altering systems disposed beneath the external surface each associated with altering the temperature of a different area of the external surface; a temperature measuring device configured to measure the temperature of an object placed on the external surface of the seating assembly; and a controller in communication with the temperature measuring device and the multiple temperature altering systems that separately controls each of the multiple temperature altering systems and causes one or more of the multiple temperature altering systems to maintain the object at the measured temperature. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19)
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Specification