JP2022147750A - seat system - Google Patents

Abstract

To suppress movement of a seat due to execution of reclining processing from being restricted by an obstacle.SOLUTION: A seat system comprises a seat cushion and a rotatable seat back, loaded in a vehicle capable of being switched between automatic drive and non-automatic drive. The seat system comprises: a seat whose state can be switched between a normal state and a more relaxing state in which the seat back is inclined backward than in the normal state; an obstacle detection sensor for detecting obstacles within a trajectory of the seat until switching from the normal state to the storage state; and a control part for determining whether or not to execute reclining processing to change the state of the seat from the normal state to the relaxing state. The control part, when it is decided to switch to automatic drive or execute the reclining processing at the request of an occupant (S4), determines whether or not an obstacle is within the trajectory of the seat (S5) before starting the reclining processing. The control part, when determining that there is no obstacle, starts the reclining processing, and when determining that there is an obstacle, does not start the reclining processing.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 3

Description

The present invention relates to a seat system having a control section for changing the state of a seat.

Conventionally, as a seat system, after switching from non-automatic driving to automatic driving, there is known a system that executes a reclining process of tilting the seatback backward automatically or at the request of the passenger (Patent Document 1). reference).

Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2020-138721

However, in the prior art, if there is an obstacle on the rotation locus of the seatback to be operated when the reclining process is executed, the rotation of the seatback is restricted by the obstacle, and the seatback is prevented from moving. An extra load may be applied to a motor or the like for rotating.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to prevent obstacles from restricting the movement of a seat that is operated by executing a reclining process.

In order to solve the above problems, a seat system according to the present invention is a seat mounted in a vehicle capable of switching between automatic driving and non-automatic driving, comprising: a seat cushion; a seat back, which can be switched between a normal state in which an occupant can sit, and a relaxed state in which the seat back is tilted backward from the normal state; An obstacle detection sensor that detects an obstacle in the trajectory of the seat, and a reclining process that changes the state of the seat from the normal state to the relaxed state can be executed, and determination is made as to whether or not to execute the reclining process. and a control unit.
When the controller determines to execute the reclining process by switching from the non-automatic driving to the automatic driving or at the request of an occupant, before starting the reclining process, the obstacle Based on the information from the detection sensor, it is determined whether or not there is an obstacle in the trajectory. When it is determined that there is no obstacle, the reclining process is started. does not start the reclining process.

According to this configuration, before starting the reclining process, it is determined whether or not there is an obstacle in the trajectory based on the information from the obstacle detection sensor. Since the process is not started, it is possible to suppress the movement of the seat that is operated by the execution of the reclining process from being restricted by the obstacle.

The seat system may further include a rear seat arranged behind the seat, and the obstacle detection sensor may detect the presence or absence of an object on the seat surface of the rear seat.

According to this configuration, the obstacle detection sensor can also be used as a seat belt reminder sensor for detecting whether or not a passenger is seated in the rear seat, for example, so that cost reduction can be achieved.

Further, in the relaxed state, the seat may be arranged behind the normal state.

According to this configuration, the space in front of the seat can be made larger than in the normal state, so that the occupant can be more relaxed.

Further, when the controller determines that there is the obstacle and decides not to start the reclining process, the controller may notify the occupant of non-execution information indicating that the reclining process will not be executed. .

According to this configuration, the occupant can know that the reclining process will not be executed.

Moreover, the said control part may alert|report the said non-execution information by the portable terminal which a passenger|crew can carry.

According to this configuration, since the non-execution information is notified by the mobile terminal carried by the passenger, compared with the case where the non-execution information is notified by the internal speaker of the vehicle, for example, the music played by the internal speaker of the vehicle is temporarily stopped. control is not required.

Further, when the controller determines that there is no obstacle and decides to start the reclining process, the control part may inform the occupant of execution information indicating that the reclining process will be executed. .

According to this configuration, the occupant can know that the reclining process will be performed.

Further, the control unit may notify the execution information by a portable terminal that can be carried by the passenger.

According to this configuration, since the execution information is notified by the portable terminal carried by the passenger, for example, compared with the case where the execution information is notified by the internal speaker of the vehicle, the control such as temporarily stopping the music played by the internal speaker of the vehicle is performed. no need to do

According to the present invention, it is possible to prevent obstacles from restricting the movement of the seat that is operated by executing the reclining process.

Further, by using the obstacle detection sensor as a sensor for detecting the presence or absence of an object on the seating surface of the rear seat arranged behind the seat, for example, a seat that detects whether or not an occupant is sitting on the rear seat. Since it can also be used as a belt reminder sensor, it is possible to reduce costs.

In addition, the space in front of the seat can be made larger than in the normal state by arranging the seat further back in the relaxed state than in the normal state, so that the occupant can be more relaxed.

Further, by notifying the occupant of non-execution information indicating that the reclining process will not be executed, the occupant can know that the reclining process will not be executed.

In addition, by adopting a configuration in which the non-execution information is notified by a portable terminal that the passenger can carry, compared to the case where the non-execution information is notified by the internal speaker of the vehicle, the music played by the internal speaker of the vehicle is temporarily stopped. There is no need to control such as

Further, by providing a configuration in which execution information indicating that the reclining process is to be executed is notified to the occupant, the occupant can know that the reclining process is to be executed.

In addition, by adopting a configuration in which the execution information is notified by a portable terminal that the passenger can carry, compared with the case where the execution information is notified by the vehicle's internal speaker, for example, it is possible to temporarily stop the music playing through the vehicle's internal speaker. No control is required.

1 illustrates a seat system according to one embodiment; FIG. FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a state in which the seat is switched from the normal state to the relaxed state; 4 is a flow chart showing the operation of a control unit; It is a figure (a) and (b) which show the example of operation|movement of a control part.

An embodiment of the invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.
As shown in FIG. 1 , the seat system 1 includes a seat 10 , a rear seat RS, an obstacle detection sensor 20 and a control section 30 .

The seat 10 and the rear seat RS are mounted on a vehicle 50 capable of switching between automatic driving and non-automatic driving. The seat structure of the vehicle 50 is a two-row specification, and the seat 10 is a seat in the first row such as a driver's seat and a front passenger's seat. The rear seat RS is a seat in the second row and is arranged behind the seat 10 .

The seat 10 and the rear seat RS each include a seat cushion 11, a seat back 12 and a headrest 13. The seat cushion 11, the seat back 12, and the headrest 13 each have a frame forming a skeleton, a pad covering the frame, and an outer skin covering the pad.

The seat back 12 is rotatably supported by the seat cushion 11 . The seat 10 is movable in the front-rear direction by slide rails (not shown). The seat 10 has a first driving source such as a motor (not shown) that rotates the seat back 12 . The seat 10 or the vehicle 50 includes a second drive source such as a motor (not shown) that moves the seat 10 in the longitudinal direction. The first drive source and the second drive source are controlled by the controller 30 .

The seat 10 can be switched between a normal state shown in FIG. 1 and a relaxed state shown in FIG. The normal state is a state in which an occupant can sit, that is, a state in which the seat back 12 stands up against the seat cushion 11 and the seat 10 is positioned at a position other than the rearmost position. The relaxed state refers to a state in which the seat back 12 is tilted more rearward than in the normal state and the seat 10 is arranged in the rear, more specifically, in the rearmost position than in the normal state. In the relaxed state, the seat back 12 of the seat 10 is positioned on the seat cushion 11 of the rear seat RS.

The obstacle detection sensor 20 is a sensor that detects obstacles in the trajectory of the seat 10 from the normal state to the relaxed state. In this embodiment, the obstacle detection sensor 20 is arranged between the skin of the seat cushion 11 of the rear seat RS and the pad, and detects the presence or absence of an object on the seat surface of the seat cushion 11 .

The obstacle detection sensor 20 is, for example, a pressure sensor. In this embodiment, the obstacle detection sensor 20 is also used as a seat belt reminder sensor that detects whether or not the passenger is sitting on the seat.

The control unit 30 has a CPU, a ROM, a RAM, a rewritable non-volatile memory, etc. (not shown), and executes processing based on pre-stored programs. The control unit 30 can communicate with a smart phone SP as an example of a portable terminal that a passenger can carry.

The control unit 30 may be provided in the vehicle 50 or may be provided in the seat 10 . It is assumed that the occupant has previously set the control unit 30 and the smartphone SP to enable communication between the control unit 30 and the smartphone SP.

The control unit 30 can execute reclining processing for changing the state of the seat 10 from the normal state to the relaxed state. Specifically, the control unit 30 has a function of determining whether or not to execute the reclining process. Specifically, the control unit 30 determines to execute the reclining process by switching from non-automatic driving to automatic driving or by request of the passenger.

In the present embodiment, the control unit 30 receives information from an ECU (Electronic Control Unit) (not shown) of the vehicle 50 indicating that non-automatic driving has switched to automatic driving. It is decided to perform the reclining process when the second condition of having been met is satisfied. Note that the passenger's request may be output to the control unit 30 by the passenger operating an operation unit provided in the vehicle, or may be output to the control unit 30 by the passenger operating the smartphone SP. good too. Note that the operation of the smartphone SP may be an operation based on the passenger's voice.

When it is decided to execute the reclining process, the control unit 30 determines whether there is an obstacle within the trajectory of the seat 10 based on the information from the obstacle detection sensor 20 before starting the reclining process. has a function to determine The control unit 30 starts the reclining process when determining that there is no obstacle, and does not start the reclining process when determining that there is an obstacle.

The control unit 30 has a function of notifying the occupant of non-execution information indicating that the reclining process will not be executed by the smartphone SP when it is determined that there is an obstacle and the reclining process is not started. The non-execution information may be, for example, audio information such as "The seat could not be changed to the relax mode" emitted from the speaker of the smartphone SP, or sound information such as a warning sound. , image information such as a message displayed on the screen of the smartphone SP or a warning display such as a red screen color.

When the control unit 30 determines that there is no obstacle and decides to start the reclining process, it has a function of notifying the occupant of execution information indicating that the reclining process will be executed by the smartphone SP. The execution information may be, for example, audio information such as "seat has been changed to relax mode" emitted from the speaker of the smartphone SP, sound information such as a warning sound, Image information such as a message displayed on the screen of the SP or a success indication such as blue color of the screen may be used.

When returning from the relaxed state to the normal state, for example, the control unit 30 may operate the seat 10 in response to a request from the passenger. The request from the passenger may be output to the control unit 30 by the passenger operating an operation unit provided in the vehicle, or may be output to the control unit 30 by the passenger operating the smartphone SP. good. Alternatively, the occupant may manually return from the relaxed state to the normal state by operating a lever for operating the reclining mechanism, a lever for unlocking the slide movement, or the like.

Next, the operation of the control section 30 will be described in detail.
As shown in FIG. 3, the control unit 30 determines whether or not the vehicle is in automatic operation based on information from an ECU (not shown) (S1). If it is determined in step S1 that the automatic operation is not being performed (No), the control unit 30 terminates this process.

If it is determined in step S1 that the vehicle is being driven automatically (Yes), the control unit 30 determines whether or not there is a request (information) from the occupant to switch the state of the seat 10 to the relaxed state ( S2). If it is determined in step S2 that there is no request (No), the control unit 30 terminates this process. If it is determined in step S2 that there is a request (Yes), the control unit 30 determines whether the seat 10 is in a relaxed state (S3).

If it is determined in step S3 that the user is in a relaxed state (Yes), the control section 30 determines not to execute the reclining process, and terminates this process. If it is determined in step S3 that the user is not in the relaxed state (No), the control section 30 determines to perform the reclining process (S4).

After step S4, based on the information from the obstacle detection sensor 20, the control unit 30 determines whether or not there is an obstacle within the movement trajectory of the seat 10 (S5). When it is determined that there is no obstacle in step S5 (Yes), the control unit 30 transmits execution information to the smart phone SP (S6). After step S6, the control section 30 executes the reclining process (S7) and terminates this process. When it is determined that there is an obstacle in step S5 (No), the control unit 30 transmits non-execution information to the smartphone SP (S8), and ends this process without executing the reclining process.

Next, a specific example of the operation of the control section 30 will be described.
As shown in FIG. 1, when it is decided to execute the reclining process, the control unit 30 determines whether the seat back 12 is rotated based on the information from the obstacle detection sensor 20 before starting the reclining process. It is determined whether or not there is an obstacle on the motion trajectory.

When there is no obstacle on the path of movement of the seat 10 as shown in FIG. 1, the control unit 30 executes reclining processing to switch the seat 10 to the relaxed state, as shown in FIG. 4(a). . Specifically, the controller 30 moves the seat 10 rearward after the seat back 12 is tilted backward. Also, at this time, the control unit 30 transmits the execution information to the passenger's smartphone SP, and the smartphone SP notifies the passenger of the execution information by sound, image, vibration, or the like.

Here, the execution information transmitted from the control unit 30 to the smartphone SP may be information such as a flag indicating that the reclining process is to be executed. In this case, when the smartphone SP receives the information sent from the control unit 30, the smartphone SP notifies the passenger of execution information such as voice information such as "The seat has been changed to the relax mode."

As shown in FIG. 4B, when there is an obstacle such as a person on the locus of movement of the seat 10, more specifically on the seat surface of the seat cushion 11 of the rear seat RS, the control unit 30 executes reclining processing. The reclining process is not performed even though the user has decided to reclining. Also, at this time, the control unit 30 transmits the non-execution information to the smartphone SP of the passenger, and the smartphone SP notifies the passenger of the non-execution information by sound, image, vibration, or the like.

Here, the non-execution information transmitted from the control unit 30 to the smartphone SP may be, for example, information such as a flag indicating that the reclining process is not to be executed. In this case, when receiving the information sent from the control unit 30, the smartphone SP notifies the passenger of non-execution information such as voice information such as "The seat could not be changed to the relax mode."

According to the above, the following effects can be obtained in this embodiment.
Before starting the reclining process, it is determined whether or not there is an obstacle within the movement locus of the seat 10 based on information from the obstacle detection sensor 20. If it is determined that there is an obstacle, the reclining process is performed. is not started, it is possible to prevent the movement of the seat 10 that is moved by the execution of the reclining process from being restricted by an obstacle. Therefore, it is possible to suppress a load from being applied to a drive source such as a motor for operating the seat 10 .

Since the obstacle detection sensor 20 is also used as a seatbelt reminder sensor, the cost can be reduced.

By arranging the seat 10 behind the normal state in the relaxed state, the space in front of the seat 10 can be made larger than in the normal state, so that the occupant can be more relaxed.

Since the non-execution information is notified to the occupant when there is an obstacle on the locus of movement of the seat 10, the occupant can know that the reclining process will not be executed.

When there is no obstacle on the locus of movement of the seat 10, the occupant is notified of the execution information, so that the occupant can know that the reclining process will be executed.

Since the non-execution information or the execution information is notified by the smartphone SP carried by the passenger, for example, compared to the case where the non-execution information or the execution information is notified by the internal speaker of the vehicle 50, the music played by the internal speaker of the vehicle 50 can be played once. There is no need to perform control such as stopping.

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and can be used in various forms as exemplified below.
In the above embodiment, the relaxed state is defined as a state in which the seat back is tilted backward and the seat is arranged in the rearmost position, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the relaxed state may be a state in which the seat back is more reclined than in the normal state and the position in the front-rear direction is the same as in the normal state.

Moreover, the seat to which the present invention is applied is not limited to the front seat, and may be the rear seat. If the vehicle has three rows of seats, the seat to which the present invention is applied may be the third row of seats. When a seat in front of the luggage compartment at the rear of the vehicle, such as a seat in the third row, is to be subjected to the reclining process, an obstacle detection sensor may detect an object in the luggage compartment.

The obstacle detection sensor may be a camera, radio wave sensor, capacitance sensor, or the like. If a camera or radio wave sensor is used, it is possible to detect obstacles within the sliding movement range of the seat. Also, the obstacle detection sensor may be configured by combining a plurality of sensors such as cameras. According to this, the obstacle can be detected more accurately.

The non-execution information/execution information may be notified by an internal speaker of the vehicle, a room lamp, or the like.

If the seat is caught by an obstacle while the seat is moving due to the execution of the reclining process, the control unit may stop the movement of the seat and return it to its original state.

The mobile terminal may be a terminal other than the smartphone SP, such as a tablet terminal.

If an abnormality occurs in the driving source for operating the seat, the controller, or the obstacle detection sensor, the controller may prohibit the reclining process.

In the above embodiment, it was determined that the reclining process should be performed when the first condition and the second condition are satisfied, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, when the control unit receives information from the ECU of the vehicle indicating that the non-automatic operation has switched to the automatic operation, the control unit can determine to perform the reclining process without a request from the occupant. . In addition, the control unit can determine to execute the reclining process when requested by the occupant, regardless of whether the vehicle is automatically driven or non-automatically driven, including when the vehicle is stopped.

The ECU of the vehicle determines whether or not there is a divider on the road during automatic driving, and if it determines that there is a divider, outputs a request to the control unit to switch the seat state to the relaxed state. may be configured to Note that the control unit may be an ECU of the vehicle. In this case, the control unit may determine to perform the reclining process when the condition that the non-automatic operation is switched to the automatic operation and the condition that the separation strip exists are satisfied.

The seat may be switchable between a first state and a second state. The obstacle detection sensor may detect an obstacle in the trajectory of the sheet from the first state to the second state. The control unit may be capable of executing attitude change processing for changing the state of the seat from the first state to the second state. When it is decided to execute the attitude change process, the control unit determines whether or not there is an obstacle within the trajectory of the sheet based on information from the obstacle detection sensor before starting the attitude change process. If it is determined that there is no obstacle, the attitude change process is started, and if it is determined that there is an obstacle, the attitude change process is not started.

Each element described in the above embodiment and modifications may be implemented in any combination.

REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 seat system 10 seat 11 seat cushion 12 seat back 20 obstacle detection sensor 30 controller 50 vehicle

Claims (7)

A seat mounted in a vehicle capable of switching between automatic driving and non-automatic driving, comprising a seat cushion and a seat back rotatable with respect to the seat cushion, a normal state in which an occupant can sit, a seat that can be switched between a relaxed state in which the seat back is tilted more rearward than the normal state;
an obstacle detection sensor that detects obstacles in the trajectory of the seat until the normal state is switched to the relaxed state;
A seat system that is capable of executing a reclining process for changing the state of the seat from the normal state to the relaxed state, and that determines whether or not to execute the reclining process,
The control unit
When it is decided to execute the reclining process by switching from the non-automatic driving to the automatic driving or by a passenger's request, information from the obstacle detection sensor is received before starting the reclining process. determining whether there is an obstacle in the trajectory based on
When it is determined that there is no obstacle, the reclining process is started,
A seat system that does not start the reclining process when it is determined that there is an obstacle. further comprising a rear seat arranged behind the seat;
2. The seat system according to claim 1, wherein the obstacle detection sensor detects the presence or absence of an object on the seating surface of the rear seat. 3. The seat system according to claim 1, wherein in the relaxed state the seat is positioned further back than in the normal state. When the controller determines that there is an obstacle and decides not to start the reclining process, the controller notifies the occupant of non-execution information indicating that the reclining process will not be executed. Seat system according to any one of claims 1 to 3. 5. The seat system according to claim 4, wherein the control unit notifies the non-execution information by a portable terminal that a passenger can carry. When the controller determines that there is no obstacle and decides to start the reclining process, the controller notifies the occupant of execution information indicating that the reclining process will be executed. Seat system according to any one of claims 1 to 5. 7. The seat system according to claim 6, wherein the control unit notifies the execution information by a portable terminal that a passenger can carry.

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