Just as Apple is concerned about user Privacy, Apple's Project Titan is equally concerned about passenger safety with several patents already focused on this one feature: 01, 02, 03 (and more). This week, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office officially granted Apple another seatbelt patent that describes a "lap Air Bag" with reaction features and more. If you're a car buff and/or engineer, this patent may interest you.  

Deployable Structure With Main Chamber And Reaction Chamber

Apple's granted patent is about safety systems in context with airbags in connection with seats that are located in a passenger cabin of a vehicle. The seats may be at fixed locations or at variable locations (e.g., movable over a relatively large distance) within the passenger cabin of the vehicle. Dependent on the fixed or variable location of the seat, it may be spaced, in at least a first direction, away from other structures in the passenger cabin by a distance that prevents those surfaces from being used as reaction surfaces for airbags.

The safety systems that are described herein include airbags having reaction features that react passenger motion in a longitudinal (e.g., fore-aft) direction of the vehicle by incorporating features that react the longitudinal loads against surfaces that are located other than longitudinally forward relative to the passenger.

In some implementations, the safety systems described herein are used in fully autonomous vehicles that do not have a human driver. Because there's no human driver present in the vehicle, the seat configurations are not limited by the need to position a human driver at a location that is suitable for placement of vehicle controls.

One aspect of Apple's granted patent is a vehicle that includes an airbag system that is located in the housing in a stowed position and extends outward relative to the housing in an inflated position.

The airbag includes a main chamber that is located adjacent to the seat assembly in the inflated position, and a reaction chamber that is spaced from the seat assembly by the main chamber in the inflated position. The airbag is configured so that forces that are applied to the main chamber of the airbag in a longitudinal direction of the vehicle cause the reaction chamber to move in a lateral direction of the vehicle so that the reaction chamber engages the body structure of the vehicle.

In some implementations, the airbag includes an internal interface that separates the main chamber of the airbag from the reaction chamber of the airbag. The internal interface may include structures that allow controlled gas flow between main chamber and reaction chamber. The internal interface may block gas flow between the main chamber and the reaction chamber.

A first gas pressure in the reaction chamber may be higher than a second gas pressure in the main chamber when the airbag is in the inflated position. At least part of the reaction chamber of the airbag may be spaced from the main chamber of the airbag in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle by an open space.

The airbag may include an internal interface that separates the main chamber of the airbag from the reaction chamber of the airbag and the internal interface of the airbag is laterally adjacent to the open space. The airbag may include a tether that is connected to the airbag adjacent to the main chamber and is connected to the airbag adjacent to the reaction chamber so that the tether extends across the open space.

In some implementations, the first portion of the body structure may be at least one of a door panel or a wall panel of the body structure.

Another aspect of the disclosure is a vehicle that includes a body structure, a seat assembly, a seat positioner, an airbag assembly, and an airbag positioner.

The seat positioner is connected to the body structure and to the seat assembly, wherein the seat positioner is configured to move the seat assembly with respect to the body structure.

The airbag assembly includes a housing and an airbag, wherein the airbag is located in the housing in a stowed position and extends outward relative to the housing in an inflated position, and the airbag is configured to react forces applied to the airbag as a result of longitudinal motion of a passenger by lateral motion of a reaction feature into engagement with the body structure; and an airbag positioner that is configured to move the airbag assembly with respect to the body structure and the seat assembly.

The airbag positioner is may be configured to move the airbag toward a predetermined positional relationship with respect to the seat assembly prior to movement of the airbag from the stowed position to the inflated position. The seat positioner may be configured to move the seat assembly with respect to the vehicle body in a longitudinal direction of the vehicle, and the airbag positioner is configured to move the airbag with respect to seat assembly and the vehicle body in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle.

In some implementations, the airbag includes a main chamber that is located adjacent to the seat assembly in the inflated position, and a reaction chamber that is spaced from the seat assembly by the main chamber in the inflated position and defines the reaction feature so that the reaction feature is configured to move laterally into engagement with a portion of the body structure in response to the forces applied to the airbag as a result of the longitudinal motion of the passenger. The airbag may include an internal interface that separates the main chamber of the airbag from the reaction chamber of the airbag.

In some implementations, the airbag is concealed behind at least one of a side wall panel, a door panel, a ceiling panel, or a floor panel prior to movement of the airbag from the stowed position to the inflated position.

Apple's patent FIG. 16 below illustrates one implementation in which a lap air bag is deployable so that it is positioned between the passenger's torso and the passenger's legs. Other implementations are presented in the patent filing; FIG. 1 is a schematic side view illustration of a vehicle #100 that includes a passenger cabin #102 inside a body structure #104 of the vehicle and an airbag assembly.  

For car buffs and engineers wanting to learn more about this invention, review Apple's granted patent 11713018 .