JP2010082165A - Attitude determining device and seat device with attitude determining function - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an attitude determining device and a seat device with an attitude determining function capable of accurately determining an attitude of a person sitting on a seat. <P>SOLUTION: The attitude determining device includes: load sensors 20 attached to support legs 1b for supporting downward load acting on the seat 1a so as to measure downward load acting on the support legs 1b; a means for calculating the center of gravity on a surface parallel to a floor of the person who sits on the seat based on the downward load acting on the supporting legs 1b which is measured by the load sensors 20; the attitude determining means for determining the attitude of the person sitting on the seat from the center of gravity on the surface parallel to the floor of the person sitting on the seat which is calculated by the means for calculating the center of gravity; and a notification means for notifying of a result determined by the attitude determining means. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a posture determination device and a seat device that can accurately determine the posture of a person sitting on a seating surface.

  If a person sits in a chair and keeps a bad posture, muscle fatigue is biased and the body becomes unbalanced. Moreover, even if a person is in the correct posture, if he / she sits in the same posture for a long time, blood flow deteriorates, causing stiff shoulders and back pain. In order to solve such a problem, a chair with a sitting posture detection function as shown in Patent Document 1 is known. This chair with a seating posture detection function detects a seating posture of a person sitting on a seating surface by providing contact sensors on the seating surface and the backrest and detecting whether the seating surface or the backrest is in a contact state. .

  However, such a chair with a seating posture detection function simply detects whether or not a person is in contact with the seating surface or the backrest, and thus accurately detects the posture of the person sitting on the chair. I couldn't. In particular, it has not been possible to detect a bad posture such as a person sitting with his upper body leaning to the left or right, or a person sitting with his legs thrown out.

JP 2003-70596 A

  An object of the present invention is to solve the above problems and to provide a posture determination device and a seat device with a posture determination function that can accurately determine the posture of a person sitting on a seat.

The invention according to claim 1, which has been made to solve the above problems, is a load sensor that is attached to a support leg that supports a downward load acting on the seating surface and that measures the downward load acting on the support leg;
Based on the downward load acting on the support leg measured by the load sensor, the center of gravity calculating means for calculating the center of gravity on the surface parallel to the floor of the person sitting on the seat surface;
Posture determining means for determining the posture of the person sitting on the seat from the center of gravity on the surface parallel to the floor of the person sitting on the seat calculated by the center of gravity calculating means;
An informing means for informing a result determined by the posture determining means;
It is characterized by having.

The invention according to claim 2 is the invention according to claim 1,
The load sensor is attached to all support legs that support the downward load acting on the seat surface.
The center-of-gravity calculating means calculates a center of gravity on a plane parallel to the floor of the person sitting on the seat surface based on the downward load acting on all the support legs measured by each load sensor.

The invention according to claim 3 is the invention according to claim 1 or 2,
It has a distance sensor that measures the horizontal distance between the seat surface and the foot of the person sitting on the seat surface,
The center-of-gravity calculation means sits on the seat from the downward load acting on each support leg measured by each load sensor and the horizontal distance between the seat and the foot of the person sitting on the seat measured by the distance sensor. The center of gravity on a plane parallel to the human floor is calculated.

The invention according to claim 4 is the invention according to claim 3,
In a configuration in which the seating surface is supported by a single support and supports a downward load acting on the seating surface with a plurality of support legs connected to the support,
The distance sensor is rotatably attached to the column,
A horizontal distance between a seating surface and a person's foot sitting on the seating surface is calculated based on a rotation angle of the distance sensor with respect to the support and a distance between the foot of the person sitting on the seating surface measured by the distance sensor. And

The invention according to claim 5 is the invention according to claim 3,
In the configuration where multiple support legs are connected directly to the seat surface,
A distance sensor is attached in front of the support leg.

The invention according to claim 6 is the invention according to claims 1 to 5,
The posture determination means determines that the center of gravity on the surface parallel to the floor of the person sitting on the seat calculated by the center of gravity calculation means is in a specific range, determines that the posture is good, and the center of gravity is When it is determined that it is not within the range, it is determined that the posture is bad.

The invention according to claim 7 is the invention according to claim 6,
The specific range is a range of a predetermined width from the center in the front-rear direction of the seat surface and a range of a predetermined width from the center in the width direction of the seat surface.

The invention according to claim 8 is the invention according to claim 6,
The specific range is a range specified by a person sitting on the seating surface.

The invention according to claim 9 is the invention according to claims 1 to 5,
The posture determination means determines the position of the person sitting on the seat when it is determined that the center of gravity on the surface parallel to the floor of the person sitting on the seat calculated by the center of gravity calculation means is within a specific range for a predetermined time or more. The posture is determined.

The invention according to claim 10 is the invention according to claims 1 to 5,
The posture determination means has the same posture when the center of gravity on the surface parallel to the floor of the person sitting on the seat calculated by the center of gravity calculation means stays within a predetermined range for a predetermined time or more. It is characterized by determining.

The invention according to claim 11
A seat on which people sit,
A support leg for supporting a downward load acting on the seat surface;
A load sensor attached to the support leg and measuring a downward load acting on the support leg;
Based on the downward load acting on the support leg measured by the load sensor, the center of gravity calculating means for calculating the center of gravity on the surface parallel to the floor of the person sitting on the seat surface;
Posture determining means for determining the posture of the person sitting on the seat from the center of gravity on the surface parallel to the floor of the person sitting on the seat calculated by the center of gravity calculating means;
An informing means for informing a result determined by the posture determining means;
It is characterized by having.

The invention according to claim 12 is the invention according to claim 11,
It has a distance sensor that measures the horizontal distance between the seat surface and the foot of the person sitting on the seat surface,
The center-of-gravity calculation means calculates the load of the person sitting on the seat from the downward load acting on the support leg measured by the load sensor and the horizontal distance between the seat and the foot of the person sitting on the seat measured by the distance sensor. The center of gravity on a plane parallel to the floor is calculated.

  In the first aspect of the present invention, based on the downward load acting on the support leg measured by the load sensor, the center of gravity calculating means calculates the center of gravity on a plane parallel to the floor of the person sitting on the seat, and the center of gravity is calculated. Based on the above, the posture determination means determines the posture of the person sitting on the seating surface, so that the posture of the person sitting on the seating surface can be accurately determined.

  In the invention according to claim 2, the load sensor is attached to all the support legs that support the downward load acting on the seat surface, and the gravity center calculating means is the downward direction acting on all the support legs measured by each load sensor. Since the center of gravity on the plane parallel to the floor of the person sitting on the seat is calculated based on the load, the posture of the person sitting on the seat can be determined more accurately.

  Since invention of Claim 3 has a distance sensor which measures the horizontal distance of a seat surface and the person's foot | leg sitting on the said seat surface, the seat surface measured with the distance sensor and the person's foot sitting on the said seat surface Is also used for calculating the center of gravity on the plane parallel to the floor of the person sitting on the seating surface, so that the posture of the person sitting on the seating surface can be determined more accurately.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the configuration in which the seating surface is supported by a single column and a downward load acting on the seating surface is supported by a plurality of support legs connected to the column, the distance sensor is attached to the column. The horizontal distance between the seat surface and the foot of the person sitting on the seat surface based on the rotation angle of the distance sensor with respect to the column and the distance between the foot of the person sitting on the seat surface measured by the distance sensor. Therefore, even when the seating surface is a seat device with a single support, it is possible to accurately determine the posture of the person sitting on the seating device.

  According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, in the configuration in which a plurality of support legs are directly connected to the seat surface, a distance sensor is attached in front of the support legs, so that the plurality of support legs are directly connected to the seat surface. It is possible to accurately determine the posture of the person sitting on the seating device.

  In the invention according to claim 6, when the posture determination means determines that the center of gravity on the plane parallel to the floor of the person sitting on the seat calculated by the gravity center calculation means is within a specific range, When it is determined that the center of gravity is not within a specific range, the posture is determined to be bad, so that the posture of the person sitting on the seat can be reliably determined.

  In the invention according to claim 7, the center of gravity on the plane parallel to the floor of the person sitting on the seat calculated by the center of gravity calculating means is determined by the posture determining means within a predetermined width from the center in the front-rear direction of the seat. In addition, when it is determined that it is within a predetermined width range from the center in the width direction of the seat surface, it is determined as a good posture, and when it is determined that the center of gravity is not within the range, it is determined as a bad posture. It becomes possible to reliably and accurately determine the posture of the person sitting on the surface.

  The invention according to claim 8 specifies a range of whether or not the person sitting on the seat is in a good posture, so that it is possible to eliminate individual differences in the range in which the person sitting on the seat takes a good posture. It becomes.

  In the invention according to claim 9, the posture determining means determines that the center of gravity on the surface parallel to the floor of the person sitting on the seat calculated by the center of gravity calculating means is within a specific range or not for a predetermined time or more. In this case, since the posture of the person sitting on the seating surface is determined, the posture of the person sitting on the seating surface can be reliably determined.

  According to the tenth aspect of the present invention, when the posture determining means has the center of gravity on the plane parallel to the floor of the person sitting on the seat calculated by the center of gravity calculating means staying within a predetermined range for a predetermined time or more, Since it is determined that the person sitting on the surface is in the same posture, it is possible to warn that the person sitting on the seat is in the same posture by stating that the shoulder is stiff or back pain.

The invention according to claim 11 is a seat surface on which a person sits, a support leg that supports a downward load acting on the seat surface, and a load sensor that is attached to the support leg and measures the downward load acting on the support leg. And a center of gravity calculating means for calculating a center of gravity on a plane parallel to the floor of a person sitting on the seat surface based on a downward load acting on the support leg measured by the load sensor, and a seating surface calculated by the center of gravity calculating means A posture determination means for determining the posture of the person sitting on the seat surface from the center of gravity on a plane parallel to the floor of the person sitting on the chair, and a notification means for notifying a result determined by the posture determination means. .
For this reason, it becomes possible to provide the seat apparatus which can determine the attitude | position of the person sitting on a seat surface correctly.

  Since the invention according to claim 12 has a distance sensor that measures the horizontal distance between the seating surface and the foot of the person sitting on the seating surface, the seating surface measured by the distance sensor and the foot of the person sitting on the seating surface Is also used for calculating the center of gravity on the plane parallel to the floor of the person sitting on the seating surface, so that the posture of the person sitting on the seating surface can be determined more accurately.

(Outline of posture determination device and seat device with posture determination function)
Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is an overall view of a seat device 100 with a posture determination function according to the present invention. The seat device 100 with a posture determination function according to the present invention includes a seat device body 1 and a posture determination device 50. The posture determination device 50 according to the present invention includes a single posture determination unit 10, a plurality of load sensor units 20, and a single or a plurality of distance sensor units 30.

  The seat device main body 1 has a seat surface 1a, a plurality of support legs 1b extending downward from the seat surface 1a, and a backrest 1d protruding upward from the rear end of the seat surface 1a. The backrest 1d is not always essential in the present invention. When a person sits on the seating surface 1a, the support leg 1b supports a downward load acting on the seating surface 1a. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, four support legs 1b are extended downward from the four corners of the seating surface 1a. That is, the plurality of support legs 1b are directly connected to the seating surface 1a.

  A load sensor unit 20 is attached to each support leg 1b. A distance sensor unit 30 is attached to the support leg 1b. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, the distance sensor unit 30 is attached in front of the two front support legs 1 b. The distance sensor unit 30 may be attached to the seat surface 1a instead of the support leg 1b.

(Block diagram of posture determination device)
FIG. 2 shows a block diagram of the posture determination apparatus 50 of the present invention. The load sensor unit 20 includes a load sensor 21, an interface 22, and an output unit 23. The load sensor 21 is a load cell or the like, and is a sensor that measures a load acting on an attached object. The load sensor 21 is attached to the support leg 1b, measures a downward load acting on the support leg 1b, and generates “load information”. The interface 22 is connected to the load sensor 21. The interface 22 converts the physical / logical format of the “load information” generated by the load sensor 21 and passes it to the output unit 23. The output unit 23 outputs the “load information” delivered from the interface 22 to the input unit 14 of the posture determination unit 10 to be described later after a certain period (for example, 5 seconds). Note that the transmission formats of the output unit 23 and the input unit 14 include various wired and wireless transmission formats.

  The distance sensor unit 30 includes a distance sensor 31, an interface 32, and an output unit 33. The distance sensor 31 measures the horizontal distance between the distance sensor 31 and the foot of a person sitting on the seating surface 1a, and generates “distance information”. The distance sensor 31 includes an optical type and an infrared type. The interface 32 is connected to the distance sensor 31. The interface 32 converts the physical / logical format of the “distance information” generated by the distance sensor 31 and passes it to the output unit 33. The output unit 33 outputs “distance information” delivered from the interface 32 to the input unit 14 of the posture determination unit 10 described later. Note that the transmission formats of the output unit 33 and the input unit 14 include various wired and wireless transmission formats.

  The posture determination unit 10 is disposed in the vicinity of the seat apparatus body 1. The posture determination unit 10 includes a CPU 11, a RAM 12, a ROM 13, an input unit 14, an interface 15, a notification unit 16, and an input device 17. The CPU 11 is connected to the RAM 12, the ROM 13, the input unit 14, the interface 15, and the input device 17.

  A CPU (abbreviation of central processing unit) 11 performs various calculations and processes in cooperation with a RAM (abbreviation of Random Access Memory) 12 and a ROM (abbreviation of Read Only Memory) 13. The RAM 12 temporarily stores a program read and executed by the CPU 11 and data processed by the CPU 11 in its recording area. In the storage area of the RAM 12, “load information” and “distance information” input to the input unit 14 are stored.

  The ROM 13 stores various programs and parameters for controlling the posture determination unit 10. The various programs are processed by the CPU 11, thereby realizing various functions of the posture determination unit 10. The ROM 13 stores a center-of-gravity calculation unit 13a and a posture determination unit 13b.

  The center-of-gravity calculation means 13a is a means for calculating the center of gravity on the plane parallel to the floor of the person sitting on the seating surface 1a (horizontal direction) based on the “load information” generated by the load sensor 21 of each support leg 1b.

  The posture determination unit 13b calculates the seating surface 1a from the center of gravity (horizontal direction) on the surface parallel to the floor of the person sitting on the seating surface 1a calculated by the center of gravity calculating unit 13a and the “distance information” generated by the distance sensor 31. This is means for determining the posture of the person sitting on the chair and generating “posture determination result information”.

  The input unit 14 is a device that acquires “load information” output from the output unit 23 of the load sensor unit 20 and “distance information” output from the output unit 33 of the distance sensor unit 30 and delivers them to the CPU 11.

  The interface 15 is a device that converts the physical / logical format of the “posture determination result information” generated by the posture determination unit 13 b and outputs it to the notification unit 16.

  The notification means 16 is a means for notifying the person sitting on the seat surface 1a of the result determined by the posture determination means 13b. As the notification means 16, for example, an LED, a monitor, a speaker or the like is used.

  The input device 17 is a device for changing various settings of the posture determination device 50 by a user operation.

(Attitude determination process of the first embodiment)
Next, the operation of the posture determination apparatus 50 having the configuration shown in FIG. 1 or 2 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 3 is a flowchart of the posture determination process according to the first embodiment. When the posture determination device 50 is turned on and the posture determination process is started, the process proceeds to S101 “initialization”.

  In the processing of S101 “initialization”, the CPU 11 performs initialization processing such as clearing the storage area of the RAM 12. In the process of S101, the center-of-gravity calculation unit 13a calibrates the downward load acting on the load sensor 21. Specifically, the center-of-gravity calculation means 13a sets a state in which no person is sitting on the seating surface 1a as the downward load acting on the load sensor 21 is 0 kg. When the processing of S101 ends, the process proceeds to S102 “clear all count values”.

  In the process of S102 “clear all count values”, the posture determination means 13b clears “count values”. As will be described later, this “count value” is a value counted when the posture determination means 13b determines that the posture of the person sitting on the seating surface 1a is good or bad. This is “a temporary count value of the center of gravity failure”. When the process of S102 ends, the process proceeds to the process of S103 “load information acquisition”.

  In the process of S103 “load information acquisition”, the center-of-gravity calculation unit 13a acquires “load information” input to the input unit 14 from the output unit 23 of the load sensor unit 20 and stored in the storage area of the RAM 12. When the process of S103 ends, the process proceeds to S104 “temporary centroid position calculation”.

In the process of S104 “temporary center of gravity position calculation”, the center of gravity calculation means 13a is based on the “load information” acquired from the storage area of the RAM 12, and is on a plane parallel to the floor of the person sitting on the seat surface 1a (horizontal direction). The “provisional center of gravity position” is calculated. FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of a method for calculating the position of the center of gravity. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 4, the seating surface 1a has a rectangular shape, and the support legs 1b extend downward from the four corners of the seating surface 1a.
The center of the seat surface 1a in the width direction (X direction) and the front-rear direction (Y direction) is defined as the seat surface origin 0.
The support legs 1b are designated as A, B, C, and D in the clockwise direction from the support leg 1b on the front left side of the seat surface 1a.
The coordinates with respect to the coordinate origin 0 of the load sensor 21 attached to each of the support legs 1b of A to B are (Xa, Ya), (Xb, Yb), (Xc, Yc), (Xd, Yd).
The downward loads measured by the load sensor 21 attached to the support legs 1b of A to B are assumed to be Fa, Fb, Fc, and Fd.
The coordinates (xt, yt) of “temporary barycentric position” are as follows.
xt = (Fa × Xa + Fb × Xb + Fc × Xc + Fd × Xd) / (Fa + Fb + Fc + Fd) (Formula 1)
yt = (Fa × Ya + Fb × Yb + Fc × Yc + Fd × Yd) / (Fa + Fb + Fc + Fd) (Formula 2)
When the processing of S104 is completed, the process proceeds to S105 "Is the provisional center of gravity position within the specified range?"

In determination of S105 “Is the provisional center of gravity position within the specified range?”, The posture determination means 13b determines whether or not the “provisional center of gravity position” calculated in the process of S104 is within the “designation range” on the seating surface 1a. to decide. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 4, the “specified range” is set to the following conditions.
Regarding the x direction (width direction) of the seating surface 1a, a range α (for example, 10%) within a predetermined width direction of the seating surface 1a from the origin (Condition 1)
Regarding the y direction (front-rear direction) of the seating surface 1a, a range β (for example, 10%) of a predetermined width in the front-rear direction of the seating surface 1a from the origin (condition 2)
When the “provisional center of gravity position” satisfies both the above (Condition 1) and (Condition 2), it is determined to be in the “designated range”. The “specified range” can be arbitrarily set. If the posture determination means 13b determines that the “temporary center of gravity position” is within the “designated range” on the seating surface 1a, the process proceeds to S106 “clears the temporary center of gravity position count value”. On the other hand, if the posture determination means 13b determines that the “provisional center of gravity position” is not within the “designated range” on the seating surface 1a, the process proceeds to S111 “clears the correct posture count value”.

  In the process of S106 “Clear temporary centroid position defect count value”, the posture determination means 13b clears “Temporary centroid position defect count value”. When the process of S160 ends, the process proceeds to S107 “Count to the correct posture count value”.

  In the process of S107 “count to the correct posture count value”, the posture determination means 13b counts up to “the correct posture count value”. When the processing of S107 is completed, the process proceeds to S108, "each count value is greater than or equal to the set value?"

  In the processing of S111 “Clear correct posture count value”, the posture determination means 13b clears “correct posture count value”. When the process of S111 is completed, the process proceeds to the process of S112 “count to temporary count value of center of gravity position defect”.

  In the process of S112 “count to a temporary center of gravity position defect count value”, the posture determination means 13b counts to “a temporary center of gravity position defect count value”. When the process of S112 ends, the process proceeds to S108.

  In the determination of S108 “each count value is greater than or equal to the set value?”, The posture determination means 13b has a “correct posture count value” or “temporary center of gravity position defect count value” set in advance. It is determined whether or not the value is “set value” or more. If the posture determination unit 13b determines that the “correct posture count value” or the “temporary center of gravity position defect count value” is equal to or greater than the preset “set value”, the process proceeds to S109 “posture state”. The process proceeds to “Notify”. On the other hand, if the force determination means 13b determines that the “correct posture count value” or “temporary center of gravity position defect count value” is not equal to or greater than the preset “set value”, the process proceeds to S103. Return to processing.

  In the process of S109 “notify the posture state”, the notification unit 16 notifies the determination result of S108 to the person sitting on the seating surface 1a. In the process of S108, when the posture determination unit 13b determines that the “correct posture count value” is equal to or greater than the preset “set value”, it determines “correct posture” and “ “Position determination result information” of “correct posture” is generated and output to the notification means. On the other hand, when the posture determination unit 13b determines that the “temporary center of gravity position defect count value” is greater than or equal to the preset “set value”, it determines that the posture is “bad posture” and “bad” “Attitude determination result information” of “attitude” is generated and output to the notification means. When the process of S109 ends, the process returns to S102.

(Posture determination process of the second embodiment)
Next, the operation of the posture determination apparatus 50 having the configuration shown in FIG. 1 or 2 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 5 is a flowchart of posture determination processing according to the second embodiment. When the posture determination apparatus 50 is turned on and the posture determination process is started, the process proceeds to S201 “initial setting”.

  In the processing of S201 “initial setting”, the CPU 11 performs initialization processing such as clearing the storage area of the RAM 12. In the process of S201, the center-of-gravity calculation unit 13a calibrates the downward load acting on the load sensor 21. Specifically, the center-of-gravity calculation means 13a sets a state in which no person is sitting on the seating surface 1a as the downward load acting on the load sensor 21 is 0 kg. Further, the weight H of the person sitting on the seating surface 1a is set in the process of S201. Specifically, when a person sits on the seating surface 1 a and raises his / her foot from the floor, the weight H of the person acts on each load sensor 21, so that each load sensor 21 measures downward When the loads are summed, the weight H of the person sitting on the seating surface 1 a is calculated, and the weight is stored in the storage area of the RAM 12. Alternatively, a person sitting on the seating surface 1 a may directly input his / her weight H by operating the input device 17. When the process of S201 ends, the process proceeds to S202 “clear all count values”.

  In the process of S202 “Clear all count values”, the posture determination means 13b includes “a count value for detecting a foot failure”, “a count value for a temporary center of gravity position defect”, “a count value for an actual center of gravity position defect”, Clear the “correct posture count”. When the process of S202 ends, the process proceeds to S203 “distance sensor data acquisition”.

  In the process of S203 “distance information acquisition”, the posture determination unit 13b acquires “distance information” input to the input unit 14 from the output unit 33 of the distance sensor unit 30 and stored in the storage area of the RAM 12. When the processing of S203 ends, the process proceeds to S204 “Is there a foot?”.

  In S204 “Is there a foot?”, The posture determination means 13b determines whether there is a foot 500 of a person sitting on the seating surface 1a based on the “distance information” acquired in the process of S203. The posture determination means 13b calculates the distance between the distance sensor 31 and the object measured by the distance sensor 31 from the “distance information”, and when it is determined that the distance is within a predetermined range, the seat surface 1a It is determined that there is a foot 500 of a person sitting on the floor, and the process proceeds to S205 “Clear foot non-detection count value”. On the other hand, the posture determination means 13b calculates the distance between the distance sensor 31 and the object measured by the distance sensor 31 from the “distance information” based on the “distance information”, and the distance is within a predetermined range. If it is determined that there is no foot 500 of the person sitting on the seating surface 1a, the process proceeds to S221 “clear count values other than the count value of the foot non-detection”. In addition, the case where there is no leg 500 of the person sitting on the seating surface 1a is a case where the person is struggling on the seating surface 1a and the posture is very bad such that the foot 500 is not attached to the floor surface. .

  In the process of S221 “Clear count value other than the foot non-detection count value”, the posture determination means 13b is a “count value of a temporary center of gravity position defect” that is a “count value” other than the “count value of foot non-detection”. "Value", "Actual value of actual center of gravity position defect", and "Count value of correct posture" are cleared. When the process of S221 ends, the process proceeds to the process of S222 “count to count value of foot non-detection”.

  In the process of S222 “count to the count value of the absence of foot”, the posture determination means 13b counts “count value of the absence of foot detection” by one. When the process of S222 ends, the process proceeds to S216, where each count value is greater than or equal to the set value?

  In the process of S205 “Clear foot non-detection count value”, the posture determination means 13b clears “Count value of foot non-detection”. When the process of S205 is completed, the process proceeds to S206 “Load information acquisition”.

  In the process of S206 “load information acquisition”, the center-of-gravity calculation means 13a acquires “load information” input to the input unit 14 from the output unit 23 of the load sensor unit 20 and stored in the storage area of the RAM 12. When the process of S206 ends, the process proceeds to S207 “temporary centroid position calculation”.

  In the processing of S207 “provisional centroid position calculation”, the centroid calculation means 13a is based on the “load information” acquired from the storage area of the RAM 12, and is on a plane parallel to the floor of the person sitting on the seat surface 1a (horizontal direction). The “provisional center of gravity position” is calculated. Note that the method of calculating the “provisional barycentric position” by the barycentric calculating means 13a is the same as in the first embodiment. When the processing of S207 is completed, the process proceeds to S208 "Don't the provisional center of gravity position within the specified range?"

  In S208, “postal center of gravity position is in specified range?”, Posture determination means 13b determines whether “temporary center of gravity position” is in “specified range” on seating surface 1a. The method by which the posture determination means 13b determines whether the “provisional center of gravity position” is in the “designated range” on the seating surface 1a is the same as in the first embodiment. When the posture determination unit 13b determines that the “temporary center of gravity position” is within the “designated range” on the seating surface 1a, the process proceeds to S209 “clears the temporary center of gravity position count value”. On the other hand, if the posture determination means 13b determines that the “provisional center of gravity position” is not in the “designated range” on the seating surface 1a, the process proceeds to S223 “clears the correct posture count value”.

  In the process of S223 “Clear correct posture count value”, the posture determination means 13b clears “correct posture count value”. When the process of S223 is completed, the process proceeds to the process of S224 “count to the count value of the temporary center of gravity position defect”.

  In the process of S224 “count to the temporary center of gravity position defect count value”, the posture determination means 13b counts to “temporary center of gravity position defect count value”. When the process of S224 ends, the process proceeds to S216.

  In the process of S209 “Clear temporary centroid position defect count value”, the posture determination means 13b clears “Temporary centroid position defect count value”. When the process of S209 ends, the process proceeds to S211 “Calculate the distance between the foot and the seating surface origin”.

  In the process of S211 "Calculate the distance between the foot and the seating surface origin", the center-of-gravity calculation means 13a performs the Y-direction between the foot 500 of the person sitting on the seating surface 1a and the seating surface origin 0 (shown in FIG. 4). Calculate the distance. Since the Y direction distance γ between the distance sensor 31 and the seat surface origin 0 is known in advance, the distance δ measured by the distance sensor 31 and the Y direction distance γ between the distance sensor 31 and the seat surface origin 0 are added together. The distance ε in the Y direction between the foot 500 of the person sitting on the seating surface 1a and the seating surface origin 0 can be calculated. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 4, the distance sensor unit 30 is attached to each of the two support legs 1b (A, B) at the front end of the seating surface 1a, so that each foot 500 of a person sitting on the seating surface 1a. And the distance ε from the bearing surface origin 0 is calculated. When the process of S211 is completed, the process proceeds to S212 "Calculate actual center of gravity position".

In the process of S212 “calculate actual center of gravity position”, the center of gravity calculation means 13a calculates the “actual center of gravity position” of the person sitting on the seating surface 1a. Hereinafter, a method of calculating the “actual center of gravity position” will be described with reference to FIG.
The total Ft of downward loads acting on all the support legs 1b (A to D) is calculated by the following equation.
Ft = Fa + Fb + Fc + Fd (Formula 3)
Then, the total value Fl of the masses of both feet of the person sitting on the seating surface 1a is calculated by the following formula.
Fl = H−Ft (Formula 4)
Note that H is the weight of the person sitting on the seating surface 1a set in the process of S201.
The average value of the distance ε in the Y direction between each foot 500 of the person sitting on the seating surface 1a and the seating surface origin 0 calculated in the process of S211 is defined as a distance L.
The coordinates (x, y) of “actual center of gravity position” are as follows. Note that (xt, xt) is a “temporary barycentric position”.
x = (Ft × xt) / (Ft + Fl) (Expression 6)
y = (Ft × yt−F1 × L) / (Ft + F1) (Expression 7)
When the process of S212 is completed, the process proceeds to S213 "Are the actual barycentric position within the specified range?"

  In determining S213 “Is the actual center of gravity position within the specified range?”, The posture determination means 13b determines whether the “actual center of gravity position” calculated in the process of S212 is within the “specified range” of the seating surface 1a. Determine whether. When the posture determination unit 13b determines that the “actual center of gravity position” is within the “designated range” of the seating surface 1a, the process proceeds to S214 “Clear count value of actual center of gravity position defect”. On the other hand, if the posture determination means 13b determines that the “actual center of gravity position” is not within the “designated range” of the seating surface 1a, the process proceeds to S225 “clears the correct posture count value”.

  In the process of S225 “Clear correct posture count value”, posture determination means 13b clears “correct posture count value”. When the process of S225 is completed, the process proceeds to the process of S226 “count to the count value of actual center of gravity position failure”.

  In the process of S226 “count to actual centroid position defect count value”, posture determination means 13b counts to “actual centroid position defect count value”. When the process of S226 is completed, the process proceeds to S216, where each count value is greater than or equal to the set value?

  In the process of S214 “Clear actual centroid position defect count value”, the posture determination means 13b clears “Real centroid position defect count value”. When the process of S214 ends, the process proceeds to S215 “Count to the correct posture count value”.

  In the process of S215 “count to the correct posture count value”, the posture determination means 13b counts up to “the correct posture count value”. When the process of S226 is completed, the process proceeds to S216, where each count value is greater than or equal to the set value?

  In the determination of S216 “each count value is greater than or equal to the set value?”, The posture determination means 13b determines “count value for detection of foot failure”, “count value for temporary center of gravity position failure”, “count for actual center of gravity position failure”. It is determined whether either “value” or “correct posture count value” is equal to or greater than a preset “set value”. Posture determination means 13b is one of the following: "Fault missing detection count value", "Temporary center of gravity position defect count value", "Real center of gravity position defect count value", or "Positive posture count value" If it is determined that the value is smaller than the preset “set value”, the process returns to S203. On the other hand, the posture determination means 13b is any one of “count value for detection of foot failure”, “count value for temporary center of gravity position failure”, “count value for actual center of gravity position failure”, and “count value for correct posture”. Is determined to be equal to or greater than the preset “set value”, the process proceeds to S217 “notify posture state”.

  In the process of S217 “notify the posture state”, the notification unit 16 notifies the person sitting on the seating surface 1a of the determination result of S216. In the process of S216, when the posture determination unit 13b determines that the “correct posture count value” is equal to or greater than the preset “set value”, the posture determination unit 13b determines “correct posture” and “ “Position determination result information” of “correct posture” is generated and output to the notification means. On the other hand, the posture determination means 13b is set in advance to any one of “count value for detecting foot failure”, “count value for temporary center of gravity position defect”, and “count value for actual center of gravity position defect”. If it is determined that it is greater than or equal to the “set value”, it is determined as “bad posture”, “posture determination result information” for “bad posture” is generated, and is output to the notification means. When the process of S217 ends, the process returns to S202.

(Embodiment for setting the specified range on the seating surface)
FIG. 6 shows an explanatory diagram of an embodiment in which the user designates a “designated range” for determining whether the posture is good or bad, and the embodiment will be described below. In this embodiment, the user designates a “specified range” in the processing of S101 “initialization” in the first embodiment or S201 “initial setting” in the second embodiment. Specifically, in the process of S101 or S201, the user sits on the seating surface 1a in the correct posture, and based on the load measured by the load sensor 21, the center-of-gravity calculation means 13a determines whether the “temporary center-of-gravity position” “Ρ is calculated. The width direction predetermined range σ and the front-rear direction predetermined range τ are set as “designated ranges” around the “temporary center of gravity position” or “actual center of gravity position” ρ. The predetermined range σ in the width direction and the predetermined range τ in the front-rear direction can be arbitrarily set. Based on the “designated range” set in this way, whether or not the posture of the person sitting on the seating surface 1a is good is determined in the process of S105 of the first embodiment or the processes of S208 and S213 of the second embodiment.

(Another example of the seat device body)
FIG. 7 shows an explanatory diagram of another example of the seat apparatus main body, and an embodiment using the seat apparatus main body 2 will be described below. The seat device body 2 shown in FIG. 7 has a seat surface 2a supported by a single column 2c extending downward from substantially the center of the seat surface 2a, connected to the lower end of the column 2c, and extends radially. The plurality of supporting legs 2b that support the downward load acting on the seating surface 2a.

  The load sensor unit 20 is attached to each support leg 2b. Based on the “load information” measured by the load sensor 21 attached to each support leg 2b, the center-of-gravity calculation means 13a calculates a “temporary center of gravity”. The method for calculating the “provisional center of gravity” by the heart calculation means 13a is the same as that in the first embodiment and the second embodiment. In the seat device main body 2 in which the support shaft 2c rotates with respect to the seat surface 2a, the seat device main body 2 is provided with a gyro sensor that detects the rotation angle of the support shaft 2c with respect to the seat surface 2a, and this gyro sensor detects the gyro sensor. Based on the rotation angle of the support shaft 2c with respect to the seat surface 2a, the center-of-gravity calculation means 13a calculates the coordinates of the load sensor 21 attached to each support leg 2b with respect to the seat surface origin, and the person sitting on the seat surface 2a The “provisional center of gravity” is calculated.

The distance sensor unit 30 is rotatably attached to the support column 2c and rotates around the support shaft 2c. A method of measuring the distance between the seating origin 0 and the foot 500 of the person sitting on the seating surface 2a will be described with reference to FIG. In FIG. 8, the portion of the seating surface 2 a that is supported by the column 2 c is defined as seating surface change 0. The seat device body 2 is provided with a gyro sensor that detects the rotation angle of the distance sensor unit 30 with respect to the seat surface 2a. The distance between the seating surface center 0 and the distance sensor 31 is represented by κ. When the distance sensor 31 detects an object having the nearest distance η, the object is set to the foot 500 of a person sitting on the seating surface 2a. At this time, the gyrosensor detects the distance sensor 31 with respect to the front of the seating surface 2a. Assuming that the rotation angle is θ, the y-direction (front-rear direction) distance λ from the seat surface origin 0 to the foot 500 of the person sitting on the seat surface 2a is calculated by the following equation.
λ = (η + κ) × cos θ (Expression 8)
The center-of-gravity calculating means 13b calculates the y-direction distance λ from the seating origin 0 to the foot 500 of the person sitting on the seating surface 2a, and calculates the “actual center of gravity” of the person sitting on the seating surface 2a. The method of calculating the “actual center of gravity” of the person sitting on the seating surface 2a by the center of gravity calculating means 13a is the same as in the second embodiment.
The distance sensor unit 30 is fixed to the column 2c by determining the angle θ, and the y-direction (front-rear direction) distance λ from the seat surface origin 0 to the foot 500 of the person sitting on the seat surface 2a is calculated by the above equation 8. You can do it.

(Another example of posture judgment method)
With reference to FIG. 9, another example of the posture determination method of the posture determination means 13b will be described. The curve shown in FIG. 9 shows the amount of change in the “provisional center of gravity” or “real center of gravity” in the x direction (width direction) or the y direction (front-rear direction). In this embodiment, the posture determination means 13b is configured so that the “provisional center of gravity” or “actual center of gravity” is not within a specific range for a predetermined time (for example, 1 minute) or longer, and the posture determination means 13b Judge that the posture is bad. And the alerting | reporting means 16 alert | reports that the attitude | position is bad to the person sitting on the seat surface 1a, 2a. If the posture determining means 13b determines that the “provisional center of gravity” or “actual center of gravity” is within a specific range for a predetermined time (for example, 1 minute) or longer, the posture determination means 13b It can be judged that the posture is good.

  In addition, the posture determination means 13b allows the person sitting on the seating surfaces 1a and 2a to be relieved when the “provisional center of gravity” or the “real center of gravity” stays in a specific range for a predetermined time (for example, 10 minutes) or longer. It is determined that they are in the same posture for a long time. And the alerting | reporting means 16 alert | reports to the person sitting on the seat surface 1a, 2a that it is the same posture for a long time, and encourages a light exercise | movement.

  In addition, although this invention was demonstrated about embodiment which attached the attitude | position determination apparatus 50 to the seat apparatus main bodies 1 and 2 which took the shape of a chair, the attitude | position determination apparatus and seat apparatus with an attitude | position determination function of this invention are limited to this embodiment. Of course, for example, the present invention can be applied to an embodiment in which the posture determination device 50 is attached to a seat device such as a seat of a vehicle such as an automobile or a sofa bed.

  Although the present invention has been described above in connection with the most practical and preferred embodiments at the present time, the present invention is not limited to the embodiments disclosed herein. However, the invention can be changed as appropriate without departing from the spirit or concept of the invention that can be read from the claims and the entire specification, and the posture determination device and the seat device with posture determination function accompanying such a change are also included in the technical scope. Must be understood as being.

It is explanatory drawing of the seat apparatus with an attitude | position determination function which shows embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram of an attitude | position determination apparatus. It is explanatory drawing of the attitude | position determination processing flow of 1st Embodiment. It is explanatory drawing of the calculation method of a gravity center. It is explanatory drawing of the attitude | position determination processing flow of 2nd Embodiment. It is explanatory drawing of embodiment which a user designates "designation range". It is explanatory drawing of another example of a seat apparatus main body. It is explanatory drawing of the measuring method of the distance of the seat surface origin and the leg | foot of the person sitting on a seat surface. It is explanatory drawing of another example of the attitude | position determination method.

Explanation of symbols

1 Seat device body (first embodiment)
1a Seat surface (first embodiment)
1b Support leg (first embodiment)
1d Backrest (first embodiment)
2 Seat device body (second embodiment)
2a Seat surface (second embodiment)
2b Support leg (second embodiment)
2c support (second embodiment)
2d backrest (second embodiment)
10 Attitude determination unit 11 CPU
12 RAM
13 ROM
13a Center of gravity calculation means 13b Attitude determination means 14 Input section 15 Interface 16 Notification means 17 Input device 20 Load sensor unit 21 Load sensor 22 Interface 23 Output section 30 Distance sensor unit 31 Load sensor 32 Interface 33 Output section 50 Attitude determination apparatus 100 Attitude determination Seat device with function 200 Seat device with posture determination function (another example)
500 Feet of a person sitting on the seat

Claims (12)

A load sensor that is attached to a support leg that supports a downward load acting on the seat surface and that measures a downward load acting on the support leg;
Based on the downward load acting on the support leg measured by the load sensor, the center of gravity calculating means for calculating the center of gravity on the surface parallel to the floor of the person sitting on the seat surface;
Posture determining means for determining the posture of the person sitting on the seat from the center of gravity on the surface parallel to the floor of the person sitting on the seat calculated by the center of gravity calculating means;
An informing means for informing a result determined by the posture determining means;
A posture determination apparatus comprising: The load sensor is attached to all support legs that support the downward load acting on the seat surface.
The center-of-gravity calculating means calculates the center of gravity on a plane parallel to the floor of the person sitting on the seat surface based on the downward load acting on all the support legs measured by each load sensor. The attitude determination device described. It has a distance sensor that measures the horizontal distance between the seat surface and the foot of the person sitting on the seat surface,
The center-of-gravity calculation means sits on the seat from the downward load acting on each support leg measured by each load sensor and the horizontal distance between the seat and the foot of the person sitting on the seat measured by the distance sensor. The posture determination apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the center of gravity on a plane parallel to the human floor is calculated. In a configuration in which the seating surface is supported by a single support and supports a downward load acting on the seating surface with a plurality of support legs connected to the support,
The distance sensor is rotatably attached to the column,
A horizontal distance between a seating surface and a person's foot sitting on the seating surface is calculated based on a rotation angle of the distance sensor with respect to the support and a distance between the foot of the person sitting on the seating surface measured by the distance sensor. The posture determination apparatus according to claim 3. In the configuration where multiple support legs are connected directly to the seat surface,
The posture determination apparatus according to claim 3, wherein a distance sensor is attached in front of the support leg.   The posture determination means determines that the center of gravity on the surface parallel to the floor of the person sitting on the seat calculated by the center of gravity calculation means is in a specific range, determines that the posture is good, and the center of gravity is The posture determination device according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein a posture is determined to be bad when it is determined not to be in the range.   The posture determination apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the specific range is a range having a predetermined width from the center in the front-rear direction of the seat surface and a range having a predetermined width from the center in the width direction of the seat surface. .   The posture determination apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the specific range is a range specified by a person sitting on a seating surface.   The posture determination means determines the position of the person sitting on the seat when it is determined that the center of gravity on the surface parallel to the floor of the person sitting on the seat calculated by the center of gravity calculation means is within a specific range for a predetermined time or more. The posture determination device according to claim 1, wherein the posture is determined.   The posture determination means has the same posture when the center of gravity on the surface parallel to the floor of the person sitting on the seat calculated by the center of gravity calculation means stays within a predetermined range for a predetermined time or more. The posture determination device according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the posture determination device according to any one of claims 1 to 5 is determined. A seat on which people sit,
A support leg for supporting a downward load acting on the seat surface;
A load sensor attached to the support leg and measuring a downward load acting on the support leg;
Based on the downward load acting on the support leg measured by the load sensor, the center of gravity calculating means for calculating the center of gravity on the surface parallel to the floor of the person sitting on the seat surface;
Posture determining means for determining the posture of the person sitting on the seat from the center of gravity on the surface parallel to the floor of the person sitting on the seat calculated by the center of gravity calculating means;
An informing means for informing a result determined by the posture determining means;
A seat device with a posture determination function. It has a distance sensor that measures the horizontal distance between the seat surface and the foot of the person sitting on the seat surface,
The center-of-gravity calculation means calculates the load of the person sitting on the seat from the downward load acting on the support leg measured by the load sensor and the horizontal distance between the seat and the foot of the person sitting on the seat measured by the distance sensor. 12. The seat device with a posture determination function according to claim 11, wherein the center of gravity on a plane parallel to the floor is calculated.

Images