Position-sensitive controller for aircraft seating
AssigneeB/E Aerospace, Inc.
InventorsMark B. Dowty, Noah Avram Meltz Weichselbaum, Sam Mecham, Nicole Sluder Whyte
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An aircraft seat pod with a reclining seat includes a controller interface that extends around a surface of the pod, include a surface obscured by the seat when in an upright position. The controller tracks the position and orientation of the seat and displays seat controls on the interface at a convenient location. More than one interface may be disposed at different locations to conveniently accommodate passengers of different size or in different orientations. Vision sensors may track the position and orientation of a passenger and preemptively display controls at a convenient location.
Claims20
A seat control device comprising:
- one or more motors;
- at least one touch sensitive interface device;
- and
- at least one processor in data communication with the one or more motors, the at least one interface device, and a memory storing processor executable code for configuring the at least one processor to:
- render a set of input controls on the interface device;
- receive an input from the interface device;
- activate at least one of the one or more motors;
- and
- continuously re-render the input controls at different locations on the interface device, such different locations defined by a seat position actuated by the one or more motors, without any direction from a passenger.
A method comprising:
- rendering a set of input controls on at least one interface device;
- receiving an input from the interface device;
- activating one or more motors;
- continuously tracking a current location of an uninterrupted contact with the interface device;
- continuously re-rendering the input controls at different locations on the interface device, such different locations defined by a seat position actuated by the one or more motors, without any direction from a passenger.
An aircraft seat pod comprising:
- one or more injection molded panels;
- a reclinable seat;
- a plurality of motors, at least one motor configured to control an orientation of the reclinable seat;
- at least one interface device;
- and
- at least one processor in data communication with the plurality of motors, the at least one interface device, and a memory storing processor executable code for configuring the at least one processor to:
- render a set of input controls on the interface device;
- receive an input from the interface device;
- activate at least one of the plurality of motors;
- and
- continuously re-render the input controls at different locations on the interface device, such different locations defined by a set position actuated by the one or more motors, without any direction from a passenger,
- wherein the at least one interface device is embedded in one of the one or more injection molded panels.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.