MODULAR SEAT ACTUATION CONTROL SYSTEM AND COMMUNICATION METHOD

• US 20110282495A1
• Filed: 05/14/2010
• Published: 11/17/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 05/14/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hydro-Aire Aerospace Corporation (Crane Company)
• Original Assignee: Crane Company
• Inventors: Fischer, Brian, Flores, Nicholas, Kwok, Pan, Geuvdjelian, Ary
• Granted Patent: US 8,457,846 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 700/275
• CPC Class Codes: A47C 7/62 Accessories for chairs
• CPC Class Codes: B60N 2/0224 Non-manual adjustments, e.g. with electrical operation
• CPC Class Codes: B64D 11/06 Arrangements of seats, or adaptations or details specially adapted for aircraft seats crew seat constructions for emergency purposes B64D25/04
• CPC Class Codes: B64D 11/0606 with privacy shells, screens, separators or the like class dividers B64D11/0023
• CPC Class Codes: B64D 11/0639 with features for adjustment or converting of seats
• CPC Class Codes: B64D 11/06395 characterised by the arrangement of electric motors for adjustment
• CPC Class Codes: B64D 11/064 Adjustable inclination or position of seats
• CPC Class Codes: B64D 11/0643 Adjustable foot or leg rests
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/40215 Controller Area Network CAN
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/104 Peer-to-peer [P2P] networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks

Abstract

A seat actuation control system includes at least one seat having a plurality of seat devices and a plurality of control modules interconnected over a communication bus. Each module is associated with a corresponding seat control device and is configured to control its corresponding seat device. Each module includes a processor and a memory coupled to the processor and storing program instructions therein which include receiving a status packet from each of the other control modules over the communication bus, processing the status packet for updating the overall system status, and actuating the seat device based on the overall system status. The program instructions further include determining status of the corresponding seat device, generating a status packet including the status information, and broadcasting the status packet to the other modules over the communication bus.

Claims

1. A seat actuation control system comprising:

at least one seat having a plurality of seat devices;

a plurality of control modules interconnected over a communication bus, each module associated with a corresponding seat control device and configured to control its corresponding seat device, each module comprising;

a processor; and

a memory coupled to the processor and storing program instructions therein, the processor being operable to execute the program instructions, the program instructions including;

receiving a status packet from each of the other control modules over the communication bus;

processing the status packets for determining an overall system status; and

actuating the seat device based on the overall system status.

2. The seat actuation module of claim 1, the program instructions further including:

determining status of the corresponding seat device;

generating a status packet including the status information; and

broadcasting the status packet to the other modules over the communication bus.

3. The seat actuation control system of claim 2, wherein each module comprises a communication interface configured to receive status packets from the other control modules over the communication bus and transmit its status packets to the other control modules over the communication bus.

4. The seat actuation control system of claim 1, comprising a plurality of seats, wherein each seat comprises a plurality of control modules interconnected with the communication bus and interconnected to the control modules of the other seats with the communication bus.

5. The seat actuation control system of claim 1, wherein each module comprises an interface coupled in between the processor and the corresponding seat device, and wherein the processor actuates the seat device with the interface.

6. The seat actuation control system of claim 1, wherein each module comprises a memory for storing data.

7. The seat actuation control system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of control modules at least include a seat control module configured to control a seat component and an input device.

8. A seat actuation control system comprising:

a plurality of seats, each seat having a plurality of seat devices;

a communication bus;

a plurality of control modules interconnected with the communication bus, each module associated with a corresponding seat control device and configured to control its corresponding seat device, each module comprising a computer-usable medium having computer readable instructions stored thereon for execution by a processor, the computer readable instructions comprising;

generating data packets including status information of the corresponding seat device, each data packet including priority information for the data packet relative to the priority information of other data packets; and

broadcasting the data packets over the communication bus at least partially based on the priority information of the data packets.

9. The seat actuation control system of claim 8, wherein each module is uniquely identified via a combination of a seat identifier and module identifier.

10. The seat actuation control system of claim 9, wherein at least one of the data packets includes the seat identifier and module identifier of a recipient module for which the data packet is intended.

11. The seat actuation control system of claim 9, wherein each data packet includes the seat identifier and module identifier of a sending module generating and broadcasting the data packet.

12. The seat actuation control system of claim 9, wherein the data packets broadcast by each module include heartbeat packets including status information of the corresponding seat control device, wherein each module transmits a heartbeat packet during a transmission cycle at a configurable time interval and sequentially based on at least the module identifier, wherein the time interval defines a rest period between each transmission.

13. The seat actuation control system of claim 8, wherein the computer readable instructions further include:

receiving data packets from the other modules via the communication bus, each data packet including status information of the module transmitting the data packet;

processing the received status information by the processor for determining the overall system status; and

operating the seat device based on the overall system status.

14. A method of actuating a control system including at least one seat having a plurality of seat devices, a communication bus, and a plurality of control modules interconnected with the communication bus, each module associated with a corresponding seat control device and configured to control the corresponding seat device, the method comprising:

broadcasting by one of the modules a status packet over the communication bus for receipt by the other modules, the status packet including status information of the corresponding seat control device;

determining an overall system status based on the received status packets; and

based on the overall system status, operating the seat device from the current state to the target state.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein transmitting the status information of the module includes transmitting a module identifier and a seat identifier that uniquely identify the module transmitting the status information.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein transmitting the status information includes transmitting a module identifier and a seat identifier of a recipient module that uniquely identifies the module for which the data packet is intended.

17. The method of claim 14, wherein each modules broadcasts a heartbeat packet including the status information, wherein each module transmits the heartbeat packet at a configurable time interval and sequentially based on at least the module identifier, and wherein the time interval defines a rest period between each transmission.

18. The method of claim 17, comprising transmitting data other than status information of the module during the rest period.

19. A method for peer-to-peer communication between a plurality of modules of a vehicle seat network, each module being configured to control a corresponding seat device, the method comprising:

monitoring by each of the plurality of modules a transmit sequence for determining whether the module is a next module in the sequence;

in response to determining by one of the modules that the module is the next module in the transmit sequence, generating by the module a status packet including status information of the corresponding seat device;

monitoring by the module expiration of a rest period; and

in response to expiration of the rest period, broadcasting by the module the generated status packet over the vehicle seat network for receipt by other ones of the plurality of modules for actuating one or more seat devices.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising:

generating by the broadcasting module an asynchronous packet;

determining whether the rest period has expired; and

in response to determining that the rest period has not expired, broadcasting the asynchronous packet during the rest period.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein a priority assigned to the asynchronous packet is higher than a priority assigned to the heartbeat packet.

22. The method of claim 19, further comprising:

generating by the broadcasting module a plurality of staggered packets, wherein a priority assigned to a staggered packet is lower than a priority assigned to the heartbeat packet;

transmitting one or more of the staggered packets over the vehicle network;

monitoring a timeout period; and

suspending transmission of the one or more staggered packets in response to reaching a portion of the timeout period.