Position control apparatus for automobile driver

• US 4,698,571 A
• Filed: 03/24/1986
• Issued: 10/06/1987
• Est. Priority Date: 03/23/1985
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: ALPS Electric Company Limited (Alps Alpine Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: ALPS Electric Company Limited (Alps Alpine Co., Ltd.)
• Inventors: Kondo, Shiro, Mizuta, Ken
• Primary Examiner(s): NOT, DEFINED
• Application Number:
  US06/843,123
• Time in Patent Office: 561 Days
• Field of Search: 318/568, 318/287, 318/603, 318/466, 318/467, 318/468, 318/103, 297/330
• US Class Current: 318/568.1
• CPC Class Codes: B60N 2/0228 Hand-activated mechanical switches B60N2/0229 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: B60N 2/0248 with memory of positions
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 1/025 comprising special mechanical means for correcting the field of view in relation to particular driving conditions, e.g. change of lane; scanning mirrors
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 1/07 by electrically powered actuators
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 22/44 with means for reducing belt tension during use under normal conditions not included in the retractor B60R22/19; B60R22/3405 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/36463 Manual switch to drive motor to wanted position, store, memorize position
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/45022 Auto seat, dentist chair, roll wheel chair
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/45185 Auto mirror

Abstract

Disclosed is a system for automatically adjusting parts of the environmental settings surrounding an automobile driver such as the setting of the rear view mirrors, the seat portion, and so forth; to a predetermined optimum setting for the individual driver. The system includes operating buttons for first adjusting the settings manually to an optimum position, position detectors for sensing the position of each part of the environment, a memory unit for storing the optimum positions and a control unit for moving the respective parts from an arbitrary position to the optimum positions stored in the memory unit when a command key is depressed.

Claims

1. A position control apparatus for automatically adjusting parts of an automobile driver'"'"'s environmental setting, including a rear view mirror and a driver'"'"'s seat, in accordance with individual preferences of a particular driver, comprising:

position adjusting means including a longitudinal position adjusting means for adjusting the position of the driver'"'"'s seat in a longitudinal direction and mirror angle adjusting means for adjusting the angle of the rear view mirror, said position adjusting means being coupled to said parts and being responsive to control signals from a control unit for adjusting each of said parts to a desired position;

said control unit, and memory means coupled to said control unit for storing driver'"'"'s seat longitudinal position data and rear view mirror angle data therein;

manula operating means operatively coupled to said longitudinal position adjusting means and said mirror angle adjusting means for manually adjusting each of said parts to respective positions desired by a particular driver;

detecting means coupled to each of said parts and said control unit for detecting the actual positions of each of said parts and supplying actual position data thereon to said control unit;

memory setting means coupled to said control unit for instructing said control unit to store actual position data in said memory means corresponding to optimum actual positions for said driver'"'"'s seat and rear view mirror manually adjusted by said manual operating means and detected by said detecting means; and

select means coupled to said control unit for instructing said control unit to select optimum position data stored in said memory means for a particular driver and to send control signals to said longitudinal position adjusting means and said mirror angle adjusting means for adjusting each of said parts to respective positions represented by said selected optimum position data.

2. A position control apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said memory means includes means for storing and retrieving a plurality of data, each subset of said plurality of data comprising of position data associated with a particular one of a plurality of drivers;

and

said select means includes identifying keys for identifying and selecting a desired subset of said plurality of data.

3. A position control apparatus according to claim 2 wherein said identifying keys comprise individual keys each one assigned to a particular driver out of said plurality of drivers.

4. A position control apparatus to claim 1 wherein the position data stored in said memory means includes data associated with forward driving and data associated with driving in reverse;

and said select means includes means for indicating whether the automobile is to be driven in forward or reverse gear and selecting the appropriate one of said data associated with forward driving and said data associated with driving in reverse.

5. A position control apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said parts further include the backrest of the driver'"'"'s seat and said position adjustment means includes inclination adjustment means for the backrest inclination.

6. A position control apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said position adjustment means includes vertical adjusting means for adjusting the vertical height of said driver'"'"'s seat;

and the detecting means for sensing the vertical height of the driver'"'"'s seat.

7. A position control apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said position adjustment means includes a rotary electric motor controlled by said control signals to adjust one of said parts.

8. A position control apparatus according to claim 7 wherein said detecting means includes means for detecting the degree of rotation of said rotary electric motor.

9. A position control apparatus according to claim 3 wherein said means for detecting the degree of rotation of said rotary motor includes photosensor means.

10. A position control apparatus according to claim 1 further including means for adjusting said driver'"'"'s seat to a predetermined longitudinal position located away from the driver'"'"'s steering wheel.