US 7,484,797 B2
Head rests
Fumitoshi Akaike, Nisshin (Japan); Seiya Nishimura, Okazaki (Japan); Fumio Yajima, Sakura (Japan); and Nobumasa Misaki, Sakura (Japan)
Assigned to Toyota Boshoku Kabushiki Kaisha, Aichi-ken (Japan); and Fujikura Ltd., Tokyo (Japan)
Filed on Dec. 27, 2005, as Appl. No. 11/319,027.
Claims priority of application No. 2004-380130 (JP), filed on Dec. 28, 2004.
Prior Publication US 2006/0175881 A1, Aug. 10, 2006
Int. Cl. B60N 2/42 (2006.01); B60N 2/48 (2006.01)
U.S. Cl. 297—216.12 8 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A head rest of a vehicle seat, comprising:
a head support portion for supporting a head of a passenger and a rear portion, the head support portion and the rear portion being separate from each other; and
a drive unit for moving the head support portion, the drive unit having a moving mechanism that is arranged and constructed to move the head support portion vertically and back and forth relative to the vehicle seat,
a head detecting device provided to the head support portion so as to detect a clearance between the passenger head and the head support portion and to generate a control signal representative of the detected clearance, and
a controller that can control the moving mechanism,
wherein the moving mechanism comprises a back and forth moving mechanism disposed between the head support portion and the rear portion of the head rest and a vertical moving mechanism disposed in a seat back of the vehicle seat, the back and forth moving mechanism including a pair of cross bar links that are arranged and constructed to be moved by an actuator for movement of the head support portion relative to the rear portion.
wherein the controller controls the moving mechanism so as to move the head support portion toward a first proximity position in which the head detecting device has a predetermined sensitivity relative to the passenger head if the head support portion does not reach the first proximity position, and
wherein the controller further controls the moving mechanism based on the control signal from the head detecting device so as to move the head support portion to a second proximity position which corresponds to an optimal proximity position relative to the passenger head.