US-12617358-B2 - Operation device

US12617358B2US 12617358 B2US12617358 B2US 12617358B2US-12617358-B2

Abstract

The present invention relates to an operation device which can be easily installed on a vehicle door, and a vehicle door comprising the operation device. An operation device of the present invention comprises: a gripper provided on an inner surface of a door of a vehicle; an operation interface provided on an inner side surface of the gripper for receiving an operation input entered by an occupant to operate at least one in-vehicle device; a first sensor provided on an outer side surface of the gripper for detecting a finger of the occupant; a second sensor provided on at least one of the inner side surface and an upper surface of the gripper for detecting a finger of the occupant; and a controller connected to the operation interface, the first sensor, the second sensor, and the at least one in-vehicle device. The controller controls the at least one in-vehicle device based on a signal from the operation interface when both the first sensor and the second sensor detect the occupant, and prohibits the at least one in-vehicle device from being controlled based on a signal from the operation interface when at least one of the first sensor and the second sensor does not detect the occupant.

Inventors

Jinichi Tanabe
Takayoshi Ito
Kazumasa NARITA
Yuma MIYAMOTO
Akihito Kobayashi
Kodai MATSUMOTO

Assignees

TS TECH CO., LTD.

Dates

Publication Date: 20260505
Application Date: 20240301
Priority Date: 20190826

Claims (14)

1 . An operation device for use in a vehicle, comprising: a door trim; an operation interface provided on the door trim for receiving an operation input entered by an occupant to operate one of a plurality of in-vehicle devices; and a selection interface located so as to be contactable by fingers of the occupant and configured to receive the occupant's input to select one of the plurality of in-vehicle devices to be operated, the selection interface having an operation surface facing upward, wherein the operation interface is arranged closer to an inside of the vehicle than the selection interface.
2 . The operation device according to claim 1 , wherein at least a portion of the operation interface is arranged rearward of the selection interface.
3 . The operation device according to claim 1 , wherein the operation interface is arranged downward of the selection interface.
4 . The operation device according to claim 1 , wherein a front edge of the operation interface extends downwardly and rearwardly.
5 . The operation device according to claim 1 , wherein a vertical width of the operation interface decreases toward a rear.
6 . The operation device according to claim 1 , wherein the door trim includes a gripper extending in a front-rear direction, and the selection interface is located frontward of the gripper.
7 . The operation device according to claim 1 , further comprises a main body which is an outer shell of the operation device, wherein a recess is formed on an upper surface of the main body of the operation device, the operation interface is provided on a main body side surface which is an interior side end of the main body, and the operation interface is located above a recess bottom wall which defines a bottom part of the recess.
8 . A method to make an operation device for use in a vehicle, the method comprising: preparing a door trim; providing an operation interface on the door trim for receiving an operation input entered by an occupant to operate one of a plurality of in-vehicle devices; and providing a selection interface on the door trim, the selection interface being located so as to be contactable by fingers of the occupant and configured to receive the occupant's input to select one of the plurality of in-vehicle devices to be operated, the selection interface having an operation surface facing upward, wherein the operation interface is arranged closer to an inside of the vehicle than the selection interface.
9 . The method according to claim 8 , wherein at least a portion of the operation interface is arranged rearward of the selection interface.
10 . The method according to claim 8 , wherein the operation interface is arranged downward of the selection interface.
11 . The method according to claim 8 , wherein a front edge of the operation interface extends downwardly and rearwardly.
12 . The method according to claim 8 , wherein a vertical width of the operation interface decreases toward a rear.
13 . The method according to claim 8 , wherein the door trim includes a gripper extending in a front-rear direction, and the selection interface is located frontward of the gripper.
14 . The method according to claim 8 , wherein the operation device comprises a main body which is an outer shell of the operation device, a recess is formed on an upper surface of the main body of the operation device, the operation interface is provided on a main body side surface which is an interior side end of the main body, and the operation interface is located above a recess bottom wall which defines a bottom part of the recess.

Description

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 17/438,758, filed on Sep. 13, 2021, which is the U.S. National Stage entry of International Application No. PCT/JP2020/011033, filed on Mar. 13, 2020, which, in turn, claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62/818,200, filed on Mar. 14, 2019; Japanese Patent Application No. 2019-154106, filed on Aug. 26, 2019; and Japanese Patent Application No. 2019-172943, filed on Sep. 24, 2019, all of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entireties for all purposes. TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to an operation device and a vehicle door. BACKGROUND ART Known armrests for a vehicle door include one provided with a power window switch for operating a power window up and down (See Patent Document 1, for example.) Such a vehicle door generally includes a gripper sensor installed in a pocket, the pocket forming a handle of an armrest, for detecting a finger of an occupant, and a door sensor provided on a hinge portion of the door for detecting the open/closed state of the door, thereby preventing incorrect operation. A vehicle door controller allows the power window to open or close in response an occupant's operation on the power window switch only when the gripper sensor detects a finger of the occupant and the door sensor detects the closed state of the door. PRIOR ART DOCUMENT(S) Patent Document(s) Patent Document 1: JP2017-114382A SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Task to be Accomplished by the Invention However, the above-described operation device of Patent Document 1 has a problem of difficulty in configuring the device as a single independent unit because the device's door sensor needs to be provided on the hinge portion of the door. This problem leads to an increased number of work processes for assembling the device to the door. The present invention has been made in view of the problem of the prior art, and a primary object of the present invention is to provide an operation device which can be easily installed on a vehicle door. Another object of the present invention is to provide a vehicle door comprising such an operation device. Means to Accomplish the Task In order to accomplish the object of the present invention, a first aspect of the present invention provides an operation device (20) for use in a vehicle, the vehicle having a front-rear direction and a cross direction, the operation device comprising: a gripper (90) provided on an inner surface of a door (1) of the vehicle, the gripper extending in the front-rear direction and including an outer side surface (33), an inner side surface (38), and an upper surface (41) which connects an upper edge of the outer side surface to that of the inner side surface; an operation interface (48) provided on the inner side surface of the gripper for receiving an operation input entered by an occupant to operate at least one in-vehicle device (21); a first sensor (45) provided on the outer side surface for detecting a finger of the occupant; a second sensor (46) provided on at least one of the inner side surface and the upper surface for detecting a finger of the occupant; and a controller (55) connected to the operation interface, the first sensor, the second sensor, and the at least one in-vehicle device, wherein the controller controls the at least one in-vehicle device based on a signal from the operation interface when both the first sensor and the second sensor detect the occupant, and wherein the controller prohibits the at least one in-vehicle device from being controlled based on a signal from the operation interface when at least one of the first sensor and the second sensor does not detect the occupant. According to the first aspect, the operation device can be implemented as a relatively compact independent unit since the first sensor, the second sensor, and the operation interface are provided on the gripper. Therefore, the present invention can provide an operation device that can be easily installed on a door. Since the first sensor and the second sensor are provided on different surfaces of the gripper, the positions of the occupant's fingers can be recognized with relatively high accuracy based on the detection signals from the first sensor and the second sensor. As a result, the device can accurately determine whether an input to the operation interface is intentionally entered by an occupant or is made by the occupant's unintended touch. In the first aspect, the second sensor may be provided on the outer side surface. According to this configuration, in order to operate the operation interface, an occupant needs to hold the gripper in such a manner that both the first sensor and the second sensor can detect the occupant's fingers. As a result, when an occupant places the occupant's finger on the gripper in order to close the door, the device does not cause any in-vehicle device to operate in response