Automobile seat with user proximity tracking
AssigneeBose Corporation
InventorsBinu Oommen, Muhammad Haris Usmani, Bradford Kyle Subat, John Leslie Benton, Charles Terence Henry Oswald
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Various implementations include seats and related systems for detecting user proximity and controlling one or more functions based on that proximity detection. In particular cases, the seats include capacitive sensors for detecting user proximity. In some particular aspects, an automobile seat includes: a core section; a cover over at least a portion of the core section, the cover having a set of capacitive sensors across a front of the seat; and a processor for processing signals from the set of capacitive sensors to detect a proximity of a user.
Claims20
An automobile seat, comprising:
- a core section;
- a cover over at least a portion of the core section, the cover comprising a set of capacitive sensors across a front of the seat;
- a processor for processing signals from the set of capacitive sensors to detect a proximity of a user, wherein the set of capacitive sensors are arranged in a matrix across the front of the seat;
- and
- a controller coupled with the processor, wherein the controller enables gesture-based control of functions in the automobile, wherein gesture-based control of functions in the automobile are based on the detected proximity of the user to the set of capacitive sensors, wherein the functions in the automobile comprise at least one of:
- an audio playback setting in the automobile or microphone functionality in the automobile.
A system comprising:
- an automobile seat comprising:
- a core section;
- a cover over at least a portion of the core section, the cover comprising a set of capacitive sensors across a front of the seat for detecting a head position of a user, wherein the set of capacitive sensors are arranged in a matrix across the front of the automobile seat;
- a processor coupled with the set of capacitive sensors for detecting a proximity of a user;
- and
- a controller coupled with the processor, wherein the controller enables gesture-based control of functions in the automobile, wherein gesture-based control of functions in the automobile are based on the detected proximity of the user to the set of capacitive sensors, wherein the functions in the automobile comprise at least one of:
- an audio playback setting in the automobile or microphone functionality in the automobile.
An automobile seat, comprising:
- a core section;
- a cover over at least a portion of the core section, the cover comprising a set of capacitive sensors across a front of the seat;
- a processor for processing signals from the set of capacitive sensors to detect a proximity of a user;
- and
- a controller coupled with the processor, wherein the controller is configured to control functions in the automobile based on the detected proximity of the user, wherein the functions in the automobile microphone functionality in the automobile,
- wherein the controller is configured to control the microphone functionality in the automobile by:
- receiving an indicator that a head position of the user has changed;
- and
- adjusting the microphone functionality to enhance voice pickup from a direction aligned with the head position of the user after the change in head position.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.