Patent ID: 8594893

Claim:
A seat load determining apparatus, comprising: a load sensor provided at at least one rear support portion among plural support portions which support a seat including a seat back at a rear portion thereof and detecting a load applied to the rear support portion; a load detection portion detecting a part of a weight of a load applying body selectively provided at the seat based on an output of the load sensor and outputting a detected load value; a vehicle start detection sensor detecting that a vehicle starts moving; and a determining portion configured to: (1) determine that the load applying body corresponds to that of an adult seated in the seat when: (a) the vehicle start detection sensor detects the start motion of the vehicle, and (b) the load detection portion detects, within a predetermined time period following the detection of the start motion of the vehicle, the detected load value to be greater than a first determination value, (2) determine that the load applying body corresponds to that of a child seated in a child safety seat which is fixed to the seat when: (a) the vehicle start detection sensor detects the start motion of the vehicle, and (b) the load detection portion detects, within a predetermined time period following the detection of the start motion of the vehicle, the detected load value that is smaller than the first determination value and greater than a second determination value which is smaller than the first determination value, (3) determine that the load applying body corresponds to the adult seated in the seat when: (a) the load detection portion detects the detected load value to be greater than a third determination value and (b) the vehicle start detection sensor detects that the vehicle is stopped, and (4) determine that the load applying body corresponds to the child seated in the child safety seat which is fixed to the seat when: (a) the load detection portion detects the detected load value which is smaller than the third determination value and greater than a fourth determination value that is smaller than the third determination value and (b) the vehicle start detection sensor detects that the vehicle is stopped; wherein the first determination value is bigger than the third determination value, the second determination value is bigger than the fourth determination value; and wherein the first determination value and the second determination value are determined considering an increment of a load by an acceleration when the vehicle starts moving.