IP Library Granted Patent US 12,441,216
Granted Patent B2
US 12,441,216 · App. 17/935,872 · Granted Oct 14, 2025

Car sickness inhibition device, method, storage medium, and vehicle seat

Inventors: Kazuhito Kato (Yokohama, JP); Kousuke Suzuki (Yokohama, JP)
Assignee: NHK Spring Co., Ltd.
B60N2/24B60N2/0028B60N2/90B60N2/003B60N2002/981B60N2210/30B60N2220/10B60N2220/20
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 12,441,216
App. No.
17/935,872
Granted
Oct 14, 2025
Kind
B2
Abstract

A car sickness inhibition device includes: a memory and a processor connected to the memory, the processor being configured to: acquire an acceleration a in a front-rear direction of a vehicle or angles of inclination θ of the head and upper body of an occupant sitting in a seat of the vehicle; and by using expression θ>tan −1 (a/g)·(1), where g denotes gravitational acceleration, obtain from the acquired acceleration a an angle of inclination θ0 with which car sickness is inhibited, or obtain an acceleration a0 with which car sickness is inhibited.

Claims (50)

1. A car sickness inhibition device comprising:

a memory and

a processor connected to the memory, the processor being configured to:

acquire an acceleration a in a front-rear direction of a vehicle or angles of inclination θ of the head and upper body of an occupant sitting in a seat of the vehicle; and

by using expression (1) below,

θ>tan −1 ( a/g )  (1)

where g denotes gravitational acceleration, obtain an angle of inclination θ0 with which car sickness is inhibited by assigning the acquired acceleration a into the expression (1), or obtain an acceleration a0 with which the car sickness is inhibited by assigning the acquired angles of inclination θ into the expression (1),

wherein the processor is further configured to control adjustment of angles of the seat by seat angle adjustment devices so that the angles of inclination θ of the head and upper body of the occupant sitting in the seat of the vehicle each become equal to or greater than the obtained angle of inclination θ0 with which the car sickness is inhibited.

2. The car sickness inhibition device of claim 1 , wherein the processor is configured to acquire, as the acceleration a, a component of acceleration in the front-rear direction of the vehicle that is equal to or lower than a predetermined frequency.

3. The car sickness inhibition device of claim 1 , wherein the processor is configured to acquire, as the acceleration a, a component of acceleration in the front-rear direction of the vehicle where the duration of acceleration is equal to or greater than a predetermined amount of time.

4. The car sickness inhibition device of claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to:

estimate the angles of inclination θ of the occupant sitting in the seat from angles of the seat, and

determine whether or not the estimated angles of inclination θ satisfy the expression (1) to which the acquired acceleration a has been assigned.

5. The car sickness inhibition device of claim 4 , further comprising a storage unit that stores relationships between the angles of the seat and the angles of inclination θ of the head and upper body of the occupant sitting in the seat,

wherein the processor is configured to estimate the angles of inclination θ of the occupant sitting in the seat from the angles of the seat based on information stored in the storage unit.

6. The car sickness inhibition device of claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to:

acquire angles of the seat, and

acquire the angles of inclination θ of the occupant sitting in the seat by estimating the angles of inclination θ of the occupant sitting in the seat from the acquired angles of the seat.

7. The car sickness inhibition device of claim 6 , further comprising a storage unit that stores relationships between angles of the seat and the angles of inclination θ of the head and upper body of the occupant sitting in the seat,

wherein the processor is configured to estimate the angles of inclination θ of the occupant sitting in the seat from the angles of the seat based on information stored in the storage unit.

8. The car sickness inhibition device of claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to issue a notification in a case in which acceleration in the front-rear direction of the vehicle being driven by the occupant is greater than the obtained acceleration a0 with which car sickness is inhibited.

9. A vehicle seat comprising:

a seat body in which an occupant of a vehicle sits; and

the car sickness inhibition device of claim 1 .

10. A car sickness inhibition method performed by the car sickness inhibition device according to claim 1 , the method comprising:

acquiring an acceleration a in a front-rear direction of a vehicle or angles of inclination θ of the head and upper body of an occupant sitting in a seat of the vehicle; and

by using expression (1) below,

θ>tan −1 ( a/g )  (1)

where g denotes gravitational acceleration, obtaining an angle of inclination θ0 with which the car sickness is inhibited by assigning the acquired acceleration a into the expression (1), or obtaining an acceleration a0 with which the car sickness is inhibited by assigning the acquired angles of inclination θ into the expression (1).

11. A non-transitory storage medium storing a program that causes the car sickness inhibition device according to claim 1 to execute a car sickness inhibition processing, the car sickness inhibition processing comprising:

acquiring an acceleration a in a front-rear direction of a vehicle or angles of inclination θ of the head and upper body of an occupant sitting in a seat of the vehicle; and

by using expression (1) below,

θ>tan −1 ( a/g )  (1)

where g denotes gravitational acceleration, obtaining an angle of inclination θ0 with which the car sickness is inhibited by assigning the acquired acceleration a into the expression (1), or obtaining an acceleration a0 with which the car sickness is inhibited by assigning the acquired angles of inclination θ into the expression (1).

12. A car sickness inhibition device comprising:

a memory and

a processor connected to the memory, the processor being configured to:

acquire an acceleration a in a front-rear direction of a vehicle or angles of inclination θ of the head and upper body of an occupant sitting in a seat of the vehicle; and

by using expression (1) below,

θ>tan −1 ( a/g )  (1)

where g denotes gravitational acceleration, obtain an angle of inclination θ0 with which car sickness is inhibited by assigning the acquired acceleration a into the expression (1), or obtain an acceleration a0 with which the car sickness is inhibited by assigning the acquired angles of inclination θ into the expression (1),

wherein the processor is further configured to output audio to provide guidance for adjustment of angles of the seat by the occupant so that the angles of inclination θ of the head and upper body of the occupant sitting in the seat of the vehicle each become equal to or greater than the obtained angle of inclination θ0 with which the car sickness is inhibited.

13. A car sickness inhibition device comprising:

a memory and

a processor connected to the memory, the processor being configured to:

acquire an acceleration a in a front-rear direction of a vehicle or angles of inclination θ of the head and upper body of an occupant sitting in a seat of the vehicle; and

by using expression (1) below,

θ>tan −1 ( a/g )  (1)

where g denotes gravitational acceleration, obtain an angle of inclination θ0 with which car sickness is inhibited by assigning the acquired acceleration a into the expression (1), or obtain an acceleration a0 with which the car sickness is inhibited by assigning the acquired angles of inclination θ into the expression (1),

wherein the processor is further configured to notify a driving route selection device of the acceleration a0 with which the car sickness is inhibited so that a driving route where acceleration in the front-rear direction of the vehicle during driving becomes equal to or less than the acceleration a0 with which the car sickness is inhibited is selected as the driving route of the vehicle.

Assignments (1)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Sep 29, 2022
From: KATO, KAZUHITO; SUZUKI, KOUSUKE
To: NHK SPRING CO., LTD.
Reel/Frame 061569/0820 →
Priority Claims (1)
JP 2021-166452 · Oct 8, 2021 · national
Continuity (1)
Related Publication 20230114061A1 · Apr 13, 2023
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