Patent ID: 11884192
Assignee: ZOOX, INC.
Field: Transport (Mechanical engineering)
Classification: CPC B | IPC A  B

Claim 5:
6. A method comprising:
controlling a vehicle seat comprising a controllable deformable material, to change a state of the controllable deformable material from a first state to at least a second state and to change the state from at least the second state to the first state by changing a characteristic of the controllable deformable material, the controllable deformable material being more deformable per unit force in the second state than in the first state, and
wherein said controlling the vehicle seat to change the state of the controllable deformable material from a first state to at least a second state comprises reducing the resistance to deformation of the controllable deformable material based at least in part on detecting a trigger indicating occupancy or an anticipated occupancy of the vehicle seat, and
wherein said controlling the vehicle seat to change the state from at least the second state to the first state comprises increasing the resistance to deformation of the controllable deformable material based at least in part on at least one of: an indication that the cushion has been deformed by a threshold amount, or an indication that a time period has expired.