Vehicle Occupant Contact Mitigation Using Adaptive Seat Positioning

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Solution Overview

Problem

Conventional vehicle safety systems do not effectively account for varying seating positions and sizes of occupants, leading to potential contact between occupants and vehicle objects during collisions, which can compromise safety.

Innovation Solution

A system comprising a processor and memory that determines the distance between vehicle occupants and objects, using sensors and machine learning to facilitate actions such as adjusting seat positions or seatbelt tension to mitigate impacts, thereby enhancing passenger safety.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Reliability

If conventional safety systems are used without accounting for varying seating positions, then the system structure remains simple, but the safety effectiveness deteriorates due to potential contact between occupants and vehicle objects

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvesafety effectivenessVSAvoidsystem complexity
Core Design Contradiction:
ReliabilityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The patent implements dynamic seat position adjustment based on detected occupant positions. The system continuously monitors occupant location and automatically adjusts front seat positions to maintain safe distances, transforming the static seat arrangement into a dynamic adaptive configuration that responds to real-time conditions.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #15Dynamics

Solution Approach 2:

The system employs sensors to detect occupant positions and feeds this information back to the control system, which then adjusts seat positions accordingly. This closed-loop feedback mechanism ensures that safety adjustments are made based on actual occupant configurations rather than fixed pre-programmed settings.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #23Feedback

2Ease of operation

If the front seat is reclined and moved to a rearward position for comfort, then passenger comfort is improved, but the safety deteriorates due to increased risk of contact between rear seat occupant and front seat

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvepassenger comfortVSAvoidcollision safety
Core Design Contradiction:
Ease of operationVSReliability

Solution Approach 1:

The system proactively detects when seat positions create potential safety hazards before collisions occur. By identifying risky configurations in advance and automatically adjusting seats to safe positions, the system prevents harmful contact rather than merely responding to damage after it occurs.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #9Preliminary anti-action

Solution Approach 2:

The system performs preliminary safety assessments by monitoring seat positions and occupant locations continuously. When potential hazards are detected, the system takes preliminary corrective action by adjusting seat positions before a collision can occur, ensuring safety is maintained without compromising comfort unnecessarily.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #10Preliminary action

Data Source

PatentEP4427989A1Vehicle passenger space contact mitigation
Publication Date: 2024.09.11 VOLVO CAR CORP
  • EP4427989A1 patent drawingFigure 1
  • EP4427989A1 patent drawingFigure 2
  • EP4427989A1 patent drawingFigure 3

AI summary

Vehicle passenger space contact mitigation (e.g., using a computerized tool) is enabled. For example, a system can comprise a memory that stores computer executable components, and a processor that executes the computer executable components stored in the memory, wherein the computer executable components comprise: a calculation component that determines a distance between an occupant of a vehicle and an object of the vehicle, and an impact mitigation component that, based on the distance, facilitates an action determined to mitigate an impact between the occupant and the object.