Seated person determination apparatus for vehicle seats

A seated person determination apparatus for a vehicle seat, comprising:

• a seat sensor composed of a plurality of sensor portions placed in a seat pad of the vehicle seat, the sensor portions being distributed along a plane parallel to a surface of the vehicle seat, wherein a load exerted on the surface of the vehicle seat by a seated person or an object placed on the vehicle seat is detected by the plurality of sensor portions as a detected load:
• a calculating device that calculates a degree of conformity between a shape of a surface distribution of the detected load and a shape of a standard surface distribution of a load, wherein the shape of the standard surface distribution of the load simulates a shape of a contact surface formed by a buttocks of a person seated and the surface of the seat;
• and
• a decision device that differentiates the type of person seated from an object placed on the seat according to a degree of conformity between the shape of the surface distribution of the detected load and the standard surface distribution of the load;
• wherein
• the degree of conformity is calculated as a child's pattern correlation coefficient and an adult's pattern correlation coefficient and uses a cross correlation method;
• and
• the decision device determines whether the child's pattern correlation coefficient or the adult's pattern correlation coefficient matches a human area or an area of an object placed on the seat, said human area and the area of the object placed on the seat are established by matching a distribution of the correlation coefficients with a plurality of cases of human and objects placed on the seat.

A seated person determination apparatus for a vehicle seat, comprising:

• a seat sensor composed of a plurality of sensor portions placed in a seat pad of the vehicle seat, the sensor portions being distributed along a plane parallel to a surface of the vehicle seat, wherein a load exerted on the surface of the vehicle seat by a seated person or an object placed on the vehicle seat is detected by the plurality of sensor portions as a detected load:
• a calculating device that calculates a degree of conformity between a shape of a surface distribution of the detected load and a shape of a standard surface distribution of a load, wherein the shape of the standard surface distribution of the load simulates a shape of a contact surface formed by a buttocks of a person seated and the surface of the seat:
• and
• a decision device that differentiates the type of person seated from an object placed on the seat according to a degree of conformity between the shape of the surface distribution of the detected load and the standard surface distribution of the load;
• wherein
• the degree of conformity is calculated as a child's pattern correlation coefficient and an adult's pattern correlation coefficient utilizing a cross correlation method;
• and
• the decision device determines whether the child's pattern correlation coefficient or the adult's pattern correlation coefficient matches the adult's area, child's area, or an object placed on the seat area, wherein the adult's area, child's area and object placed on the seat area are established by matching a distribution of correlation coefficients with predetermined numbers of cases of adults, children and objects on the seat.

A seated person determination apparatus for a vehicle seat, comprising:

• a seat sensor composed of the plurality of sensor portions -placed in the seat pad of a vehicle seat, wherein the sensor portions are distributed in a plane parallel to the surface of the seat, the load exerted on the surface of the seat by a person seated or by an object placed on the seat is detected by the plurality of sensor portions of the seat sensor located in corresponding positions;
• a conformity calculating device calculating a degree of conformity between the shape of the surface distribution of the load detected by the plurality of sensor portions mentioned above, and the shape of the standard surface distribution of the load, the shape of the standard surface distribution of the load simulates the shape of contact surface formed by the buttocks of the person seated and the surface of seat, wherein the degree of conformity is calculated as a child's pattern correlation coefficient and an adult's pattern correlation coefficient and uses a cross correlation method;
• a detected load sum calculating device, out of the detected load of the plurality of sensor portions, that shows movement of the seated person from opposite sides of the seat pad surface toward its center, the calculation being made in a range less than the prescribed load;
• a means to synthesize synthesized data that enable determination of whether the person seated is a child or adult, said data from the sum of the load calculated by the means of calculating the sum and the degree of conformity and
• a decision device to determine whether the person seated is a child or adult, said detection means differentiating the child or adult from an object placed on the seat based on the synthesized data.

A seated person determination apparatus for a vehicle seat, comprising:

• a seat sensor composed of the plurality of sensor portions placed in the seat pad of a vehicle seat, the sensor portions are distributed in a plane parallel to the surface of the seat, the load exerted on the surface of the seat by the person seated or object placed on the seat pad is detected by the plurality of sensor portions of the seat sensor located in corresponding positions;
• a conformity calculating device calculating a degree of conformity between a shape of the surface distribution of the load detected by the plurality of sensor portions and a shape of the standard surface distribution of the load, wherein the shape of the standard surface distribution of the load simulates the shape of contact surface formed by the buttocks of the person seated and the surface of seat, wherein the degree of conformity is calculated as a child's pattern correlation coefficient and an adult's pattern correlation coefficient and uses a cross correlation method;
• a detected load sum calculating device summing the sensor portions that show movement of the seated person from opposite sides of the seat pad surface toward its center on a surface parallel to the plane orthogonal to the surface of seat pad, wherein the detected load sum calculating device calculates in a range less than the prescribed load;
• a data synthesizing device that enables determination of whether the person seated is a child or adult from the sum of the load calculated by the detected load sum calculating device and the degree of conformity;
• and
• a decision device to determine whether the person seated is a child, adult, or object placed on the seat based on said synthesized data.

A seated person determination apparatus for a vehicle seat, comprising:

• a seat sensor composed of a plurality of sensor portions placed in a seat pad of the vehicle seat, wherein the sensor portions are distributed in a plane parallel to a surface of the vehicle seat, the load exerted on a surface of the seat by a person seated is detected by the plurality of sensor portions of a respective sensor portion;
• a conformity calculating device calculating a degree of conformity between a shape of a surface distribution of a load detected by the plurality of sensor portions and a shape of a standard surface distribution of a load, the shape of the standard surface distribution of the load simulates a shape of a contact surface formed by a buttocks of the person seated and the surface of seat, wherein the degree of conformity is calculated as a child's Pattern correlation coefficient and an adult's pattern correlation coefficient and uses a cross correlation method;
• a detected load summing device that sums a load detected by each sensor portion that shows movement of the seated person from opposite sides of the seat pad surface toward the center of the seat pad surface, wherein the sum is calculated in a range less than the prescribed load;
• a data synthesizing device that enables determination of whether the person seated is a child or adult from a sum of the load calculated by the detected load summing device and the degree of conformity;
• and
• a decision device that determines whether the person seated is a child or adult based on synthesized data from the data synthesizing device.

A seated person determination apparatus for a vehicle seat, comprising:

• a seat sensor having a plurality of sensor portions placed in a seat pad of the vehicle seat, wherein the sensor portions are distributed in a plane parallel to a surface of the vehicle seat, a load exerted on the surface of the seat by a person seated is detected by respective sensor portions;
• a conformity calculating device calculating a degree of conformity between a shape of a surface distribution of the load detected by the plurality of sensor portions and a shape of a standard surface distribution of the load, the shape of the standard surface distribution of the load simulates the shape of contact surface formed by a buttocks of the person seated and the surface of seat, wherein the degree of conformity is calculated as a child's pattern correlation coefficient and an adult's Pattern correlation coefficient and uses a cross correlation method;
• a detected load sum calculating device that sums a load of each sensor portion that shows increasing tendency as a position is moved from opposite sides of the seat pad surface toward a center of the seat pad on a surface parallel to a plane orthogonal to a surface of seat pad, a calculation being made in a range less than the prescribed load;
• a data synthesizing device that enables determination of whether the person seated is a child or adult from the sum of the load calculated by the detected load sum calculating device and the degree of conformity;
• and
• a decision device that determines whether the person seated is a child or adult based on said synthesized data.

A seated person determination apparatus for a vehicle seat, comprising:

• a seat sensor composed of a plurality of sensor Portions placed in a seat pad of the vehicle seat, wherein the sensor portions are distributed in a plane parallel to a surface of the vehicle seat, the load exerted on a surface of the seat by a person seated is detected by the plurality of sensor portions of a respective sensor portion;
• a conformity calculating device calculating a degree of conformity between a shape of a surface distribution of a load detected by the plurality of sensor portions and a shape of a standard surface distribution of a load, the shape of the standard surface distribution of the load simulates a shape of a contact surface formed by a buttocks of the person seated and the surface of seat:
• a detected load summing device that sums a load detected by each sensor portion that shows movement of the seated person from opposite sides of the seat Pad surface toward the center of the seat pad surface, wherein the sum is calculated in a range less than the prescribed load;
• a data synthesizing device that enables determination of whether the person seated is a child or adult from a sum of the load calculated by the detected load summing device and the degree of conformity;
• and
• a decision device that determines whether the person seated is a child or adult based on synthesized data from the data synthesizing device;
• wherein
• the conformity calculating device calculates the degree of conformity from the shape of the standard surface distribution of the load and the shape of the surface distribution of the detected load, the degree of conformity is calculated as a child's pattern correlation coefficient and an adult's pattern correlation coefficient utilizing a cross correlation method;
• and
• the data synthesizing device synthesizes synthesized data based on the sum of the load calculated by the detected load sum calculating device and the difference between the adult's pattern correlation coefficient and the child's pattern correlation coefficient.