Patent ID: 7618091

Claim:
A headrest controller for moving a part of a headrest of a vehicle seat toward a head of a passenger comprising: a headrest including a front part and a rear part; a headrest driving mechanism disposed between the front part and the rear part for moving the front part with respect to the rear part; a head position detecting unit including a first sensor for detecting a distance between the front part of the headrest and an object positioned adjacent the headrest, and a second sensor for detecting contact between the object and the front part of the headrest, the first and second sensors being operatively coupled with the front part of the headrest; a control circuit operatively coupled with said headrest driving mechanism; and a timer in communication with the control circuit for measuring a stop time when the front part of the headrest is in a near position or in an abutting position, the near position being based on a detection signal from the first sensor and being defined as where a distance between the front part and the object is equal to or smaller than a predetermined value, the abutting position being based on a detection signal from the second sensor and being defined as where the front part of the headrest contacts the object, wherein the headrest driving mechanism includes link members for moving the front part of the headrest along a diagonally forward and upward path with respect to the rear part of the headrest, the link members being rotatably connected at intermediate portions thereof, one of the link members including an upper end rotatably mounted to an upper region of the rear part of the headrest and a lower end rotatbly mounted to a lower region of the front part of the headrest, the other of the link members including an upper end slideably and rotatably connected to an upper region of the front part of the head rest and a lower end slideably and rotatably coupled to a lower region of the rear part of the headrest, and wherein the control circuit is adapted to alter movement of the headrest driving mechanism to stop the front part of the headrest at any point along the diagonally forward and upward path corresponding to the abutting position or the near position, and wherein the control circuit is adapted to return the front part of the headrest to an initial position by operating the headrest driving mechanism after the stop time measured by the timer reaches a predetermined time.