Vehicle seat apparatus

• US 8,078,364 B2
• Filed: 12/19/2008
• Issued: 12/13/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 12/21/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha (Toyota Motor Corporation), University of Tokyo
• Original Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha (Toyota Motor Corporation), University of Tokyo
• Inventors: Mabuchi, Teiji, Fujimoto, Osamu, Matsui, Kei, Suda, Yoshihiro, Tabuchi, Yoshihiko, Takehara, Shoichiro, Yamaguchi, Daisuke, Koga, Takaaki
• Primary Examiner(s): Dickson, Paul N
• Assistant Examiner(s): Beck, Karen A
• Application Number:
  US12/339,681
• Publication Number:
  US 20090164073A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,089 Days
• Field of Search: 701/49, 701/36, 701/117, 701/118, 701/119, 701/200, 701/207, 701/208, 701/209, 701/210, 701/211, 701/212, 701/213, 296/65.18, 296/65.01, 296/65.06, 296/65.07, 296/65.08, 297/1, 297/61, 297/311, 297/312, 297/344.1, 297/256.12, 297/344.21
• US Class Current: 701/49
• CPC Class Codes: B60N 2/02246 Electric motors therefor
• CPC Class Codes: B60N 2/0244 with logic circuits
• CPC Class Codes: B60N 2/14 rotatable, e.g. to permit easy access B60N2/10 , B60N2/2869 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: B60N 2002/022 the seat or seat part turning about or moving along a vertical axis

Abstract

A vehicle seat apparatus includes: a vehicle seat; a swiveling drive unit that swivels the vehicle seat between the frontward-oriented position in which the vehicle seat faces the front of a vehicle and at least one of the outward-oriented position in which the vehicle seat is oriented in the outward direction of the vehicle and the inward-oriented position in which the vehicle seat is oriented in the inward direction of the vehicle; a traveling route information obtainment unit that obtains information on a traveling route along which the vehicle travels; and a control unit that controls the operation of the swiveling drive unit based on the information obtained by the traveling route information obtainment unit.

Claims

1. A vehicle seat apparatus, comprising:

a vehicle seat;

a swiveling drive unit that swivels the vehicle seat between a frontward-oriented position in which the vehicle seat faces a front of a vehicle and at least one of an outward-oriented position in which the vehicle seat is oriented in an outward direction of the vehicle and an inward-oriented position in which the vehicle seat is oriented in an inward direction of the vehicle;

a traveling route information obtainment unit that obtains information on a traveling route along which the vehicle travels, wherein the traveling route information obtainment unit includes a map information obtainment unit that obtains map information; and

a control unit that controls an operation of the swiveling drive unit based on the information obtained by the traveling route information obtainment unit;

wherein when the control unit determines that the vehicle has come close to a preset specific visual target based on information obtained by the map information obtainment unit, the control unit controls the operation of the swiveling drive unit so that the vehicle seat is swiveled toward the preset specific visual target.

2. The vehicle seat apparatus according to claim 1, wherein:

the map information includes the traveling route along which the vehicle travels as the traveling route information.

3. The vehicle seat apparatus according to claim 2, wherein:

the swiveling drive unit is able to swivel the vehicle seat from a position in which the vehicle seat is oriented toward the visual target to the frontward-oriented position; and

in a case where the vehicle seat is swiveled toward the visual target and then the control unit determines that the vehicle has moved away from the preset specific visual target based on the information obtained by the map information obtainment unit, the control unit controls the operation of the swiveling drive unit so that the vehicle seat is swiveled from the position in which the vehicle seat is oriented toward the visual target to the frontward-oriented position.

4. The vehicle seat apparatus according to claim 2, wherein:

the traveling route information obtainment unit includes a vehicle outside environment information obtainment unit that obtains information on a vehicle outside environment in the traveling route along which the vehicle travels as the traveling route information; and

when the control unit determines that the vehicle outside environment is unsuitable for swiveling the vehicle seat toward the visual target based on the information obtained by the vehicle outside environment information obtainment unit, the control unit prohibits the operation of the swiveling drive unit.

5. The vehicle seat apparatus according to claim 4, wherein when the control unit determines that a condition of the vehicle outside environment corresponds to at least one of a condition that it is rainy, a condition that it is cloudy, a condition that the vehicle is traveling at night, a condition that the vehicle is traveling on a rough road, and a condition that the vehicle is traveling in a tunnel, the control unit prohibits the operation of the swiveling drive unit.

6. The vehicle seat apparatus according to claim 2, wherein:

the swiveling drive unit is able to swivel the vehicle seat from the outward oriented position or the inward-oriented position to the frontward-oriented position; and

when the vehicle seat is in the outward-oriented position or the inward-oriented position and the control unit determines that the vehicle travels in a curve based on the information obtained by the map information obtainment unit, the control unit controls the operation of the swiveling drive unit so that the vehicle seat is swiveled from the outward-oriented position or the inward-oriented position to the frontward-oriented position.

7. The vehicle seat apparatus according to claim 2, wherein:

the swiveling drive unit is able to swivel the vehicle seat between the outward-oriented position and the inward-oriented position; and

the control unit detects a direction in which the vehicle travels along the traveling route ahead of the vehicle based on the information obtained by the map information obtainment unit, and controls the operation of the swiveling drive unit so that the vehicle seat is oriented in the direction in which the vehicle travels along the traveling route ahead of the vehicle.

8. The vehicle seat apparatus according to claim 2, wherein:

the swiveling drive unit is able to swivel the vehicle seat from the outward-oriented position or the inward-oriented position to the frontward-oriented position; and

when the vehicle seat is in the outward-oriented position or the inward-oriented position and the control unit determines that the vehicle has reached a preset destination based on the information obtained by the map information obtainment unit, the control unit controls the operation of the swiveling drive unit so that the vehicle seat is swiveled from the outward-oriented position or the inward-oriented position to the frontward-oriented position.

9. The vehicle seat apparatus according to claim 2, wherein when the control unit determines that the vehicle has reached a preset destination based on the information obtained by the map information obtainment unit, the control unit controls the operation of the swiveling drive unit so that the vehicle seat is swiveled toward a door.

10. The vehicle seat apparatus according to claim 2, wherein:

the swiveling drive unit is able to swivel the vehicle seat from the outward-oriented position or the frontward-oriented position to the inward-oriented position;

the traveling route information obtainment unit includes a vehicle outside environment information obtainment unit that obtains information on a vehicle outside environment in the traveling route along which the vehicle travels as the traveling route information; and

when the vehicle seat is in the outward-oriented position or the frontward-oriented position and the control unit determines that the vehicle outside environment is unsuitable for keeping the vehicle seat in the outward-oriented position or the frontward-oriented position based on the information obtained by the vehicle outside environment information obtainment unit, the control unit controls the operation of the swiveling drive unit so that the vehicle seat is swiveled from the outward-oriented position or the frontward-oriented position to the inward-oriented position.

11. The vehicle seat apparatus according to claim 10, wherein when the control unit determines that a condition of the vehicle outside environment corresponds to at least one of a condition that it is rainy, a condition that it is cloudy, a condition that the vehicle is traveling at night, a condition that traffic backs up, a condition that the vehicle is traveling on a rough road, and a condition that the vehicle is traveling in a tunnel, the control unit controls the operation of the swiveling drive unit so that the vehicle seat is swiveled from the outward-oriented position or the frontward-oriented position to the inward-oriented position.

12. The vehicle seat apparatus according to claim 2, wherein:

the swiveling drive unit is able to swivel the vehicle seat from the outward-oriented position to the frontward-oriented position or the inward-oriented position;

the traveling route information obtainment unit includes a vehicle outside environment information obtainment unit that obtains information on a vehicle outside environment in the traveling route along which the vehicle travels as the traveling route information; and

when the vehicle seat is in the outward-oriented position and the control unit determines that the vehicle outside environment is unsuitable for keeping the vehicle seat in the outward-oriented position based on the information obtained by the vehicle outside environment information obtainment unit, the control unit controls the operation of the swiveling drive unit so that the vehicle seat is swiveled from the outward-oriented position to the frontward-oriented position or the inward-oriented position.

13. The vehicle seat apparatus according to claim 12, wherein when the control unit determines that a condition of the vehicle outside environment corresponds to at least one of a condition that it is rainy, a condition that it is cloudy, a condition that the vehicle is traveling at night, a condition that traffic backs up, a condition that the vehicle is traveling on a rough road, and a condition that the vehicle is traveling in a tunnel, the control unit controls the operation of the swiveling drive unit so that the vehicle seat is swiveled from the outward-oriented position to the frontward-oriented position or the inward-oriented position.