Patent ID: 8448529

Claim:
An apparatus for determining a seat occupancy, comprising: a load detecting portion provided between one of a front portion and a rear portion of a seating portion of a seat for a vehicle that includes a lifting function for changing a height position of the seating portion relative to a floor for the vehicle, the seat including a seat back at the rear portion of the seating portion of the seat, the load detecting portion detecting a seating load applied to the seating portion; and a seat occupancy determining portion comparing the seating load detected by the load detecting portion with a threshold value and determining a seat occupancy state of the seat, the seat occupancy determining portion changing the threshold value based on the height position of the seating portion; wherein the seat occupancy determining portion specifies the threshold value by using a function for determining the threshold value in response to the height position of the seating portion and determines the seat occupancy state of the seat based on the threshold value that is specified by a usage of the function.