Appeal No. 2006-0022 Παγε 6
Application No. 09/810,943
In the first paragraph of the summary of the invention , Gagnon teaches that:
There is provided in accordance with one aspect of the present invention a
seat occupant sensing system comprising: (a) a seat pan; (b) a rigid member
disposed vertically above said seat pan in a spaced apart vertically juxtaposed
relationship with said seat pan, said rigid member underlying a portion of a seat
cushion; and (c) at least two sensors interposed between the rigid member and
the seat pan such that all of the force transferred from the rigid member to the
seat pan is transferred via said sensors which sense the magnitude of the force
transferred therethrough and send signals to a device which processes said
signals to determine the weight that said portion of the seat cushion is bearing.
As shown in Figure 3, the seat occupant sensing system has a seat pan 18 with
a rigid member 19 disposed vertically above the seat pan in a spaced apart vertically
juxtaposed relationship with the seat pan. Referring next to Figures 7A and 7B there
are shown perspective views of the top side and bottom side, respectively, of a rigid
member or frame 19 with sensors 20 mounted thereon. In the embodiment illustrated in
Figures 3, 7A and 7B, the rigid member 19 is a frame having a generally rectangular
shape and a sensor 20 located in the vicinity of each corner of the frame.
As shown in Figures 5, 6 and 8, the rigid member 19 underlies a portion of the
seat cushion 10 and may be made of any suitable material such as steel or aluminum.
The sensors 20 are interposed between the rigid member 19, or frame, and the seat
pan 18 such that all of the force transferred from the rigid member to the seat pan is
transferred via the sensors. The sensors sense the magnitude of the force transferred
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