Appeal No. 2002-1911 Page 5
Application No. 09/598,087
(4) the measured occupant seated weight is used by decision logic to decide whether to
allow passenger airbag deployment.
Figures 1 and 2 of Verma show a vehicle seat 10 equipped with strain gauges
according to a first embodiment of the invention. The vehicle seat 10 has a seat
cushion 12 which includes a support 14 such as a seat pan or suspension at its bottom.
The support 14 is attached to brackets 16, one on each side, by bolts 17. Each bracket
has a front riser portion 18 and a rear riser portion 20 which engage the support 14, and
an intermediate beam 22 interconnecting the riser portions. A seat back 24 is pivotally
supported on the rear riser portions 20. The brackets 16, in turn are mounted by bolts
25 on tracks 26 which allows fore and aft adjustment of the seat. Support feet 28 are
connected to the four corners of the tracks 26 and are bolted to the vehicle floor, not
shown.2 Strain gauges 30 are rigidly attached (as by welding) to the front and rear riser
portions of the brackets 16 such that they respond to the full occupant seated weight
whether transmitted only through the cushion 12 or partially through the seat back 24.
In this manner the entire weight is measured and an accurate assessment of the
occupant size can be determined by suitably combining the strain gauge outputs.
2 One skilled in the art at the relevant time would know that each of Verma's tracks 26 would
include a lower rail fixed to two of the support feet 28, an upper rail fixed to a bracket 16 and a plurality of
bearing members which support the upper rail for longitudinal movement relative to the lower rail. See,
for example, Mehney at column 2, lines 50-55.
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