Patent Application
20160332538
This disclosure relates generally to adjustable seats for motor vehicles. More particularly, the disclosure relates to a control system for adjusting a position of vehicle front seating in order to facilitate rear passenger ingress to/egress from the vehicle.
It is known to provide motor vehicle seats which automatically adjust under a number of circumstances. For example, a vehicle driver's seat may be configured to automatically adjust to various driver preset conditions (“presets”), such as a desired longitudinal distance from the vehicle dash panel and steering wheel, a seat bottom height, a seat back orientation (tilt, recline, etc.), and others. This is often accomplished by an operator actuating dedicated buttons associated with the vehicle dash panel or door. Still more, it is known to store specific operator identification codes, for example in a vehicle key fob. On insertion of the key into the vehicle ignition, or simply in accordance with detection of the presence of the key fob in the vehicle and detection of the presence of the operator in the vehicle seat by way of an occupant presence sensor, the operator identification code is correlated with various presets for the vehicle seat as summarized above, and seat positioning devices adjust the various components of the vehicle seat vertically and/or laterally to the operator's liking according to the presets.
In turn, it is known to provide manual and automated adjustment of a vehicle front seat or seats in order to provide increased legroom and so facilitate driver and/or passenger ingress to and egress from a vehicle back seat or seats. At a high level, systems and mechanisms are known which automatically reposition the vehicle front seat or seats, or portions thereof, forwardly in a longitudinal direction towards the vehicle dash panel on receipt of a predetermined signal that an occupant of the vehicle rear seat wishes to exit the vehicle, or that a passenger wishes to sit down the vehicle rear seat. Likewise, systems are known which automatically reposition the vehicle front seat rearwardly in a longitudinal direction towards the vehicle rear seats on receipt of a predetermined signal, such as on vehicle shutdown, to increase the space available for a driver or front seat passenger to enter/exit the vehicle. Such systems can variously employ front and/or rear seat passenger occupant detectors, vehicle rear door status sensors, engine status sensors, etc. to provide necessary information determining which vehicle seat requires repositioning and in what direction to facilitate front or rear seat ingress/egress.
While effective for their intended purpose and convenient, such systems create unintended consequences. For example, a vehicle front seat repositioning system which repositions a vehicle front seat according to operator presets may unduly reduce the legroom available to a passenger, especially if the occupant of the front seat is very tall. Further, a system as described above for automatically repositioning a vehicle front seat to facilitate front seat entry/exit may not take into account the presence of passengers in the rear seat, likewise causing inconvenience to such passengers. For example, due to lack of space, removing a child from a child seat positioned in the vehicle rear seat can be difficult or inconvenient when a front seat is automatically repositioned rearwardly Likewise, automatic rearward repositioning of a front seat could cause discomfort to a child in a child seat placed in the rear row.
To solve this and other problems, the present disclosure relates at a high level to a system and associated devices and controllers for limiting rearward movement of a vehicle front seat when passengers are occupying or about to occupy a vehicle rear seat. Advantageously, the described seat repositioning system integrates with existing vehicle seat repositioning systems as described above, but provides additional convenience for rear seat occupants.
In accordance with the purposes and benefits described herein, in one aspect seat repositioning systems for a vehicle are described comprising a position controller configured to, when enabled, automatically control a movement of one or more front seats of the vehicle to provide a rear seat easy entry/exit function. In an embodiment, a rear door state sensor is provided which outputs a signal in response to opening or unlocking a rear door of the vehicle, as indicative of a passenger requiring the rear seat easy entry/exit feature.
The position controller, when enabled, causes at least a portion of a front seat of the vehicle to move forwardly when a front seat occupant sensor associated with the front seat does not detect a front seat occupant, providing the rear seat easy entry/exit function. In an embodiment, when enabled the position controller prevents or limits rearward movement of the front seat to a predetermined or preset threshold. An actuator is provided, configured for enabling or disabling the position controller. In embodiments, the actuator is one or more of a switch, a display console or instrument cluster menu button, and a key fob.
In another aspect, a method is described for improving ease of entry to and/or exit from a rear seat of a vehicle. The steps of the method include providing a position controller configured to, when enabled, automatically control a movement of one or more front seats of the vehicle to provide a rear seat easy entry/exit function as described above.
In the following description, there are shown and described embodiments of the disclosed seat repositioning system. As it should be realized, the system is capable of other, different embodiments and its several details are capable of modification in various, obvious aspects all without departing from the devices and methods as set forth and described in the following claims. Accordingly, the drawings and descriptions should be regarded as illustrative in nature and not as restrictive.
The accompanying drawing figures incorporated herein and forming a part of the specification, illustrate several aspects of the disclosed seat repositioning system, and together with the description serve to explain certain principles thereof. In the drawing:
Reference will now be made in detail to embodiments of the disclosed seat repositioning system, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawing figures.
Preliminarily, systems, methods, and devices/mechanisms for altering the forward and rearward positioning of vehicle seats and portions of vehicle seats are well known in the art, and so are not described in detail herein Likewise, various sensors and detectors for determining a presence of a vehicle seat occupant and/or for determining a state of a vehicle door (open or closed) are also well known and need not be described in detail hereon. U.S. Published Patent Appl. No. 2014/0316660, owned by the present assignee Ford Global Technologies, LLC, provides examples of such devices and methods, and is incorporated herein by reference as if fully restated.
Turning now to
In turn, front seats 12 may be equipped with sensors (depicted generally by reference numeral 24) for detecting the presence of a front seat occupant. Such seat sensors may be as simple as a pressure switch embedded in the seat for detecting the weight of a passenger, or may be more complex mechanisms. Doors 16, 18 may be equipped with door state sensors (depicted generally by reference numeral 26) for detecting a state of the door (i.e., open or closed). Again, such door sensors may be as simple as a pressure switch that is closed by a portion of the door when the door is placed in a closed configuration and released when the door is opened, or may be more complex and/or associated with other components of vehicle 10, such as the rear door locks. Signals output by sensors 24, 26 may be received by a controller 28, which in turn may be configured to direct other vehicle components, for example, to display a “door ajar” warning in the vehicle instrument panel (not shown) when sensor 26 has detected that a vehicle door 16 or 18 is open.
Turning now to
An actuator 30 is provided, configured to enable or disable the rear seat easy entry/exit feature as will be described in greater detail below. The actuator may be as simple as a switch or interface. A non-limiting example of a representative interface is shown in
Turning back to
Likewise, when the rear seat 14 easy entry/exit feature is enabled, rear seat door state sensor 26 may output a signal indicative of an open rear door 18, which could mean that a passenger wishes to enter/exit the vehicle 10. This condition would likewise cause controller 28 to displace front seat 12 in a forward direction (arrow A) as described above if front seat sensor 24 indicates that there is no occupant of front seat 12.
This is shown in greater detail in flow chart form in
If not, determinations are made of whether a user is attempting to move the front seat 12, such as whether the front seat 12 power button has been actuated (step 504), the front seat 12 power memory settings or presets have been detected (step 505), and if the front seat 12 has been moved as far in a forward direction as possible (step 506). If the answer to these questions is “no,” controller 28 causes front seat 12 to move fully forward (step 507). If the answer to any of these questions is “yes,” controller 28 stops movement of front seat 12 and/or moves front seat 12 to a predetermined position (step 508).
Alternatively or in addition to the above, controller 28 may also be configured to allow only a limited rearward movement of front seat 12 when the rear seat easy entry/exit feature is enabled. As a nonlimiting example, it is known to provide a front seat 12 configured to move in a rearward direction under certain conditions such as when the vehicle 10 ignition is placed in the “off” position, when a driver opens front door 12 to enter the vehicle, etc., to provide easier entry to/exit from the vehicle front seat 12. With reference to
This latter feature is shown in greater detail in flow chart form in
While the foregoing description described forward and rearward movement of front seat 12, and mechanisms for controlling that movement to provide the described rear seat 14 easy entry/exit feature, of course alternative embodiments are possible and are contemplated herein. For example, the skilled artisan will readily appreciate that in addition to or as an alternative to the above, controller 28 may be configured also to activate existing mechanisms to fold front seat back 20 forward and/or restrict rearward movement of front seat back 12 under certain conditions. That is, when enabled the described rear seat 14 easy entry/exit feature, by controller 28, controls the movement of front seat 12 and/or front seat back 20. For example, the enabled rear seat 14 easy entry/exit feature, if front seat sensor 24 indicates that there is no occupant of front seat 12, by controller 28 causes front seat 12 to displace in a forward direction (see arrow A) and/or front seat back 20 to fold forwardly. Alternatively, if there is an occupant of front seat 12, controller 28 may prevent or at least limit forward movement of front seat 12 and may prevent forward folding of front seat back 20.
Likewise, rear seat door state sensor 26 may output a signal indicative of an open or unlocked rear door 18, which could mean that a passenger wishes to enter or exit the vehicle rear seat 14. This condition would likewise cause controller 28 to displace front seat 12 in a forward direction (arrow A) as described above, and/or to fold front seat back 20 forwardly.
In turn, controller 28 may also be configured to allow only a limited rearward movement of front seat back 20 under certain conditions. As discussed above, it is known to provide a front seat 12 configured to move in a rearward direction under certain conditions such as when the vehicle 10 motor is stopped, when a driver enters the vehicle, etc., to provide easier entry to/exit from the vehicle front seat 12. With reference to
Still yet other alternative embodiments are possible and contemplated. For example, as summarized above front and rear door sensors 26 may be configured to detect an open/closed state of front and rear doors 16, 18. Alternatively or in addition to this configuration, front and rear door sensors 26 may be provided that are configured to detect a locked/unlocked state of front and rear doors 16, 18. As will be appreciated, particularly in modern vehicles wherein as a safety feature the vehicle doors typically lock upon reaching a certain traveling speed or upon placing the transmission in drive, an unlocked rear door 14 may be indicative of an occupant desiring to enter or exit the stationary vehicle 10. Still more, while the drawings and descriptions herein are directed to four-door vehicles, the skilled artisan will appreciate that the described systems and methods are equally applicable to vehicles having only two doors, or more than four doors, with the caveat that the vehicle has at least one rear seat.
Obvious modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teachings. All such modifications and variations are within the scope of the appended claims when interpreted in accordance with the breadth to which they are fairly, legally and equitably entitled.
