Attitude control apparatus for onboard seat

• US 4,852,934 A
• Filed: 12/03/1987
• Issued: 08/01/1989
• Est. Priority Date: 12/04/1986
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Aisin Seiki Co., Ltd. (Aisin Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Aisin Seiki Co., Ltd. (Aisin Corp.)
• Inventors: Aoki, Kohji, Yasuda, Tomio
• Primary Examiner(s): Kashnikow, Andres
• Assistant Examiner(s): Newholm, Timothy
• Application Number:
  US07/128,447
• Time in Patent Office: 607 Days
• Field of Search: 296/64, 296/65 R, 296/65.1, 297/257, 297/330, 297/344, 297/361, 248/396, 248/419, 248/421, 248/422, 248/429, 248/430, 340/52 E, 364/424
• US Class Current: 296/64
• CPC Class Codes: B60N 2/02246 Electric motors therefor

Abstract

The attitude (as well as the position) of a front one of onboard seats which are disposed one behind the other is controlled. To secure a space for allowing an occupant to be seated upon the rear seat, a retracting limit of an entire front seat and a rear tilting limit for its seat back are determined experimentarily to define an extent of variable attitudes. When an occupant is seated upon the rear seat, the attitude of the front seat is controlled responsive to a command to change the attitude while making a reference to the extent of variable attitudes. A retracting movement of the entire front seat which goes beyond the rear limit as well as a rearward tilting or reclining of the seat back of the front seat which goes beyond the rear tilting limit are both inhibited. In this manner, when an occupant is seated upon the rear seat, the comfortableness of such occupant is secured if the driver carelessly enters a command to change the attitude of the front seat, while preventing any oppression presented to the physical body or causing a stressed attitude of the occupant seated upon the rear seat.

Claims

1. An attitude control apparatus for an onboard seat comprising:

a first onboard seat;

an attitude changing mechanism effective to change a position of the frist onboard seat in the fore-and-aft direction including drive means for changing the attitude of the first onboard seat;

input means for providing a command to change the attitude of the first onboard seat including;

forward drive command input means for providing a command to drive the first onboard seat forwardly; and

rear drive command input means for providing a command to drive the first onboard seat rearwardly; and

attitude detecting means for detecting the attitude of the first onboard seat which detects the position of the first onboard seat in the fore-and-aft direction;

a second onboard seat which is disposed behind the first onboard seat;

occupant detecting means for detecting the presence or absence of an occupant on the second onboard seat;

attitude control means responsive to a command from the input means for controlling the drive means of the attitude changing mechanism in accordance with the presence or absence of an occupant detected by the occupant detecting means and the attitude detected by the attitude detecting means, thereby controlling the attitude of the first onboard seat, including memory means which stores a rear limit for the first onboard seat, the attitude control means being responsive to a forward drive command for energizing the drive means of the fore-and-aft drive mechanism for driving the first onboard seat forwardly, the attitude control means being responsive to a rear drive command for energizing the drive means of the fore-and-aft drive mechanism to drive the first onboard seat rearwardly in the absence of an occupant detected by the occupant detecting means, the attitude control means being responsive to a rear drive command in the presence of an occupant detected by the occupant detecting means for energizing the drive means of the fore-and-aft drive mechanism to drive the first onboard seat rearwardly unless the fore-and-aft position of the first onboard seat detected by the attitude detecting means exceeds the rear limit.

2. An attitude control apparatus for an onboard seat comprising:

a first onboard seat;

an attitude changing mechanism including drive means for changing the attitude of the first onboard seat having a tilt drive mechanism for tilting the seat back of the first onboard seat back and forth;

input means for providing a command to change the attitude of the first onboard seat including;

a forward tilt command input means for providing a command to tilt the seat back forwardly; and

rear tilt command input means for providing a command to tilt the seat back rearwardly,

attitude detecting means for detecting the attitude of the first on-board seat which detects the tilting attitude of the seat back;

a second onboard seat which is disposed behind the first onboard seat;

occupant detecting means for detecting the presence or absence of an occupant on the second onboard seat; and

attitude control means responsive to a command from the input means for controlling the drive means of the attitude changing mechanism in accordance with the presence or absence of an occupant detected by the occupant detecting means and the attitude detected by the attitude detecting means, thereby controlling the attitude of the first onboard seat, including memory means which stores a rear tilting limit for the seat back, the attitude control means being responsive to a forward tilt command for energizing the drive means of the tilt drive mechanism to tilt the seat back forwardly, the attitude control means being responsive to a rear tilt command for energizing the drive means of the tilt drive mechanism to tilt the seat back rearwardly in the absence of an occupant detected by the occupant detecting means, the attitude control means being responsive to a rear tilt command in the presence of an occupant detected by the occupant detecting means for energizing the drive means of the tilt drive mechanism to tilt the seat back rearwardly unless the tilting attitude detected by the attitude detecting means exceeds the rear tilt limit.

3. An attitude control apparatus for an onboard seat comprising:

a first onboard seat;

an attitude changing mechanism including drive means for changing the attitude of the first onboard seat including;

a fore-and-aft drive mechanism for changing the position of the first onboard seat fore and aft; and

a tilt drive mechanism for tilting the seat back of the first onboard seat back and forth;

input means for providing a command to change the attitude of the first onboard seat including;

forward drive command input means for providing a command to drive the first onboard seat forwardly;

rear drive command input means for providing a command to drive the first onboard seat rearwardly;

forward tilt command input means for providing a command to tilt the seat back forwardly; and

rear tilt command input means for providing a command to tilt the seat back rearwardly;

attitude detecting means for detecting the attitude of the first onboard seat operative to detect the position of the first onboard seat in the fore-and-aft direction and the tilting attitude of the seat back,

a second onboard seat which is disposed behind the first onboard seat;

occupant detecting means for detecting the presence or absence of an occupant on the second onboard seat; and

attitude control means responsive to a command from the input means for controlling the drive means of the attitude changing mechanism in accordance with the presence or absence of an occupant detected by the occupant detecting means and the attitude detected by the attitude detecting means, thereby controlling the attitude of the first onboard seat, including memory means which stores a rear limit for the first onboard seat and a rear tilting limit for the seat back, the attitude control of means being responsive to a forward drive command for energizing the drive means of the fore-and-aft drive mechanism to drive the first onboard seat forwardly, the attitude control means being responsive to a rear drive command for energizing the drive means of the fore-and-aft drive mechanism to drive the first onboard seat rearwardly in the absence of an occupant detected by the occupant detecting means, the attitude control means being responsive to a rear drive command in the presence of an occupant detected by the occupant detecting means for energizing the drive means of the fore-and-aft drive mechanism to drive the first onboard seat rearwardly unless the fore-and-aft position of the first onboard seat detected by the attitude detecting means has exceeded the rear limit, the attitude control means being responsive to a forward tilt command for energizing the drive means of the tilt drive mechanism to tilt the seat back forwardly, the attitude control means being responsive to a rear tilt command for energizing the drive means of the tilt drive mechanism to tilt the seat back rearwardly in the absence of an occupant detected by the occupant detecting means, the attitude control means being responsive to a rear tilt command in the presence of an occupant detected by the occupant detecting means for energizing the drive means of the tilt drive mechanism to tilt the seat back rearwardly unless the tilting attitude detected by the attitude detecting means has exceeded the rear tilt limit.

4. An attitude control apparatus according to claim 3 in which the memory means stores a plurality of rear limits for the first onboard seat and a plurality of rear tilting limits for the seat back which are related to the plurality of rear limits for the first seat, the attitude control means reading a particular one of the rear tilting limits which corresponds to the fore-and-aft position of the first seat detected by the attitude detecting means and also reading a particular one of the rear limits which corresponds to the tilting attitude detected by the attitude detecting means.

5. An attitude control apparatus for an onboard seat comprising:

a first onboard seat;

an attitude changing mechanism including drive means for changing the attitude of the first onboard seat;

input means for providing a command to change the attitude of the first onboard seat;

attitude detecting means for detecting the attitude of the first onboard seat;

a second onboard seat which is disposed behind the first onboard seat;

occupant detecting means for detecting the presence or absence of an occupant on the second onboard seat including;

a first and a second electrode insulated from each other and arranged such that at least part of an occupant present in the second onboard seat is disposed therebetween;

means for detecting a capacitance between the first and the second electrodes and providing a representative electrical signal;

processing means including storage means for storing the electrical signal;

storage update means for causing the electrical signal stored in the storage means to be updated at given time interval;

comparison means for producing an electrical signal representing the arrival of an occupant whenever a difference between the electronic signal developed by the capacitance detecting means and the signal stored by the storage means exceeds a first threshold value; and

means for setting a second threshold value based on the capacitance detected during the presence of an occupant and for determining the departure of an occupant when the capacitance detected by the detecting means decreases below said second threshold value; and

attitude control means responsive to a command from the input means for controlling the drive means of the attitude changing mechanism in accordance with the presence or absence of an occupant detected by the occupant detecting means and the attitude detected by the attitude detecting means, thereby controlling the attitude the first onboard seat.

6. An attitude control apparatus according to claim 5 in which the first electrode is mounted on part of the second onboard seat.

7. An attitude control apparatus according to claim 5 in which the decision means determines the presence of an occupant on the onboard seat in response to an increase in the capacitance detected.