Weight Determining Systems and Methods for Vehicular Seats
First Claim
1. A vehicular seat including a weight determining system for obtaining an indication of the weight of an occupying item in the seat, comprising:
- a seat support structure;
a cushion arranged on said seat support structure, said cushion having an upper surface over which the occupying item is situated during occupancy of the seat, said cushion being arranged to deflect downward during occupant of the seat; and
a sensor system arranged to sense the downward deflection of said cushion and convert the downward deflection into an indication of the weight of the occupying item.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Vehicular seat including a weight determining system for obtaining an indication of the weight of an occupying item in the seat includes a seat support structure, a cushion arranged on the seat support structure, the cushion having an upper surface over which the occupying item is situated during occupancy of the seat and being arranged to deflect downward during occupant of the seat, and a sensor system arranged to sense the downward deflection of the cushion and convert the downward deflection into an indication of the weight of the occupying item. The sensor system may include an elongate cable, a cable support retaining a first end of the cable and a displacement sensor arranged at a second end of the cable for measuring linear variations of the cable which are convertible into the indication of the weight of the occupying item.
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Citations
25 Claims
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1. A vehicular seat including a weight determining system for obtaining an indication of the weight of an occupying item in the seat, comprising:
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a seat support structure;
a cushion arranged on said seat support structure, said cushion having an upper surface over which the occupying item is situated during occupancy of the seat, said cushion being arranged to deflect downward during occupant of the seat; and
a sensor system arranged to sense the downward deflection of said cushion and convert the downward deflection into an indication of the weight of the occupying item. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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19. A method for obtaining an indication of the weight of an occupying item in a vehicular seat, comprising:
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arranging a cushion on a support structure of the seat, the cushion having an upper surface over which the occupying item is situated during occupancy of the seat;
arranging a sensor system in a position in which it operatively senses downward deflection of the cushion; and
determining the weight of the occupying item when it applies pressure to the upper surface of the cushion by sensing the downward deflection of the cushion and converting the downward deflection into an indication of the weight of the occupying item. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21, 22)
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23. A control system for controlling a vehicle component based on occupancy of a seat having a seat support structure and a cushion arranged on the seat support structure, the cushion having an upper surface over which an occupying item is situated during occupancy of the seat and being arranged to be displaced downward during occupant of the seat, the control system comprising:
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a sensor system arranged to sense the downward deflection of the cushion and convert the downward deflection into an indication of the weight of the occupying item;
an adjustment system arranged to adjust the component in the vehicle; and
a processor coupled to said sensor system and to said adjustment system for determining an adjustment for the component by said adjustment system based at least in part on the indication of the weight of the occupying item provided by said sensor system. - View Dependent Claims (24, 25)
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Specification