US20130205508A1

US20130205508A1 - Device for automatically adjusting the hardness of an air bed based on front lying or side lying and method thereof

Info

Publication number: US20130205508A1
Application number: US13/396,186
Authority: US
Inventors: Han-Chung Hsu
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2012-02-14
Filing date: 2012-02-14
Publication date: 2013-08-15

Abstract

A device for automatically adjusting the hardness of an air bed based on front or side lying comprises: a mattress body having at least one air cushion, wherein the air cushion has an air inlet/outlet; gravity sensors traverse positioned in the mattress body; a cylindrical member, which one end is connected with the air inlet/outlet; an inflation/deflation device connected with the other end of the cylindrical member, wherein the other end is not connected with the air cushion; and a control device electrically connected with the inflation/deflation device and the air cushion previously stores the predetermining values of front lying and side lying, the gravity sensors are triggered to send signals to the control device while the user lies on, the control device determines the result of front lying or side lying based on the triggering amount and drives the inflation/deflation device to inflate/deflate the air cushion.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is a device for automatically adjusting the hardness of an air bed based on front lying or side lying and a method thereof, more particularly to a device that automatically detects a user is in the state of front lying or side lying and automatically adjusts the hardness of a bed according to the user's posture.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Under the leadership of science and technology, the life is always fast and in pressure. At the end of a day, everybody needs a good sleep to completely relax the body for the next day.
Except for work and normal life, 30% time is for sleep for a human being. The quality of a sleep may directly affect the health of the human being. Accordingly, demands to a mattress may then be more than ever. Nowadays, the bed in marketing is divided into several parts that are spring bed, air bed, memory foam bed, etc. As an example, air bed adopts a pressure sensor to detect the pressure in the air cushion, the inflation/deflation device may automatically inflate/deflate the air cushion to maintain a certain pressure while the pressure in the air cushion is lower or higher, thus the hardness of the air bed is controlled. Further, there are different postures while a user lies on a bed for sleep, and the postures may be front lying, side lying, etc. Due to that the contact areas of front lying and side lying are different, the demanded hardness is variable with different postures. Hence, to develop an air bed that can adjust the hardness of the air bed based on different postures may be an important issue for the skilled persons in the field.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The main objective of the present invention is to provide a device for automatically adjusting the hardness of an air bed based on front lying or side lying and a method thereof, the triggering amount of gravity sensors being greater or smaller than or equal to a predetermining value is judged by a control device in order to determine that a user is in the state of front lying or side lying, hence the hardness of the air bed can be automatically adjusted according to the determined result.
To approach above objective, the method for automatically adjusting the hardness of an air bed based on front lying or side lying comprises the steps of: providing a mattress body consisting of at least one air cushion; disposing a plurality of gravity sensors in the mattress body, the gravity sensors being traverse positioned in the mattress body and connected with a control device; and using the control device to determine that the triggering amount of the gravity sensors is greater or smaller than, or equal to a predetermining value and automatically adjust the hardness of the mattress body to an inflation/deflation front lying pressure value or an inflation/deflation side lying pressure value.
For a preferred embodiment, the direction of the gravity sensors traverse positioned is defined as that of the left side to the right side of the air bed or the right side to the left side of the air bed while a user is lying on.
A device for automatically adjusting the hardness of an air bed based on front lying or side lying comprises: a mattress body, having at least one air cushion, wherein the air cushion has an air inlet/outlet; a plurality of gravity sensors, being traverse positioned in the mattress body; a cylindrical member, which one end is connected with the air inlet/outlet of the air cushion in order to communicate with each air cushion; an inflation/deflation device, being connected with the other end of the cylindrical member for the air cushion being inflated or deflated, wherein the other end of the cylindrical member is not connected with the air cushion; and a control device, which is electrically connected with the inflation/deflation device and the air cushion, the control device previously storing the predetermining values of the front lying and the side lying of a user, the gravity sensors being triggered to send signals to the control device while the user lie on, the control device then determining the result of front lying or side lying based on the triggering amount of the gravity sensors and driving the inflation/deflation device to inflate/deflate the air cushion for different kinds of hardness.
For a preferred embodiment, the top surface of the air cushion of the mattress body is connected with a middle layer, which is selected from the group consisted of: wool layer, foam layer, silk layer, and the combination of above any two or three.
For a preferred embodiment, the direction of the gravity sensors traverse positioned is defined as that of the left side to the right side of the air bed or the right side to the left side of the air bed while a user is lying on the surface of the air bed.
For a preferred embodiment, the gravity sensor is selected from the group consisted of: membrane switch and pressure switch.
For a preferred embodiment, the gravity sensors are tightly adhered to the surface of the air cushion or the middle layer.
For a preferred embodiment, the control device comprises at least one operation interface, a CPU, a display interface, a memory unit, a driving circuit, and a power supply unit, the power supply unit providing power to the operation interface, the CPU, the display interface, the memory unit, and the driving circuit for regular operations, the CPU being electrically connected with the operation interface, the gravity sensors, the memory unit, and the driving circuit, the driving circuit being electrically connected with the inflation/deflation device and determining that the value from the gravity sensors is greater or smaller than or equal to the predetermining value of the front lying or the side lying in order to gain the result of the user being in the state of front lying or side lying, so that the driving circuit drives the inflation/deflation to inflate/deflate the air cushion.
For a preferred embodiment, the cylindrical member is wrapped around in the mattress body and the one end, not connected with the air cushion, of the cylindrical member is exposed outside of the mattress body.
For a preferred embodiment, a pressure sensor is further added and is to detect the pressure value in the air cushion and sends the detective result to the control device for determination, the control device determining whether the inflation/deflation device inflates/deflates/does not have any motion to the air cushion based on the detective result from the pressure sensor.
Other and further features, advantages, and benefits of the invention will become apparent in the following description taken in conjunction with the following drawings. It is to be understood that the foregoing general description and following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory but are not to be restrictive of the invention. The accompanying drawings are incorporated in and constitute a part of this application and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the invention in general terms. Like numerals refer to like parts throughout the disclosure.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The objects, spirits, and advantages of the preferred embodiments of the present invention will be readily understood by the accompanying drawings and detailed descriptions, wherein:

FIG. 1 illustrates a schematic 3-D and partial view of the device for automatically adjusting the hardness of an air bed based on front lying or side lying of the present invention;

FIG. 2 illustrates a schematic structural view of the device for automatically adjusting the hardness of an air bed based on front lying or side lying of the present invention;

FIG. 3 illustrates a schematic operational view of the device for automatically adjusting the hardness of an air bed based on front lying or side lying of the present invention; and

FIG. 4 illustrates a schematic operational view of the device for automatically adjusting the hardness of an air bed based on front lying or side lying of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Following preferred embodiments and figures will be described in detail so as to achieve aforesaid objects.
With references to FIG. 1, which illustrates a schematic view of the device for automatically adjusting the hardness of an air bed based on front lying or side lying of the present invention. The system mainly includes: a mattress body 1, which wraps around at least one air cushion 12 via a wrapping layer in order to form a surface 111, a bottom 112 and four side walls 113, wherein the air cushion 12 has an air inlet/outlet 121, the top or bottom surface of the air cushion 12 is connected with a middle layer 13, which is selected from the group consisted of: wool layer, foam layer, silk layer, and the combination of above any two or three;
a plurality of gravity sensors 2, which are traverse positioned in the mattress body 1, wherein the direction of the gravity sensors 2 traverse positioned is defined as that of the left side to the right side of the air bed or the right side to the left side of the air bed while a user is lying on the surface 111 of the air bed, further, the gravity sensors 2 are tightly adhered to the surface of the air cushion 12 or the middle layer 13 and limited here;
a cylindrical member 3, which one end is connected with the air inlet/outlet 121 of the air cushion 12 in order to communicate with each air cushion 12;
an inflation/deflation device 4, which is connected with the other end of the cylindrical member 3 for the air cushion 12 being inflated or deflated, wherein the other end of the cylindrical member 3 is not connected with the air cushion 12;
a control device 5, which is electrically connected with the inflation/deflation device 4 and the air cushion 12, the control device 5 previously stores the predetermining values of the front lying and the side lying of a user, the gravity sensors 2 are triggered to send signals to the control device 5 while the user lies on, the control device 5 then determines the result of front lying or side lying based on the triggering amount of the gravity sensors 2 and drives the inflation/deflation device 4 to inflate/deflate the air cushion 12 for different kinds of hardness. Therefore, the mattress body 1 is automatically adjusted to the best hardness while the user is in any kind of lying state.
The gravity sensor 2 is selected from the group consisted of: membrane switch and pressure switch, but not limited to aforesaid two switches.
The cylindrical member 3 is wrapped around in the mattress body 1 and the one end, not connected with the air cushion 12, of the cylindrical member 3 is exposed at the bottom 112 or one of the side walls 113 of the mattress body 1, and only one inflation/deflation hole is left there for convenient delivery and assembly to the inflation/deflation device 4.
With reference to FIG. 2, which illustrates a schematic structural view of the device for automatically adjusting the hardness of an air bed based on front lying or side lying of the present invention. The control device 5 includes at least one operation interface 51, a CPU 52, a display interface 55, a memory unit 54, a driving circuit 53, and a power supply unit 56, wherein the power supply unit 56 provides power to the operation interface 51, the CPU 52, the display interface 55, the memory unit 54, and the driving circuit 53 for regular operations, the CPU 52 is electrically connected with the operation interface 51, the gravity sensors 2, the memory unit 54, and the driving circuit 53, the driving circuit 53 is electrically connected with the inflation/deflation device 4.
With references to FIG. 3 and FIG. 4, the two kinds of hardness for the user 6 being in the states of front lying and side lying are predetermined in order to gain an inflation/deflation front lying pressure value and an inflation/deflation side lying pressure value. The two pressure values are thus stored in the memory unit 54. While the user 6 lies on the surface 111 of the mattress body 1 in the state of front lying, the contact area of the user 6 and the surface 111 is larger due to that the gravity sensors 2 are traverse disposed in the mattress body 1, so that more gravity sensors 2 are pressed, and the gravity sensors 2 are triggered to send signals to the CPU 52, the CPU 52 may determines that the triggering amount of the gravity sensors 2 is greater or smaller than, or equal to the predetermining values so as to know that the user 6 is in the state of front lying. The driving circuit 53 drives the inflation/deflation device 4 to inflate/deflate the air cushion 12 for the pressure in the air cushion 12 being maintained in the state of front lying based on the inflation/deflation front lying pressure value stored in the memory unit 54; on the contrary, while the user 6 lies on the surface 111 of the mattress body 1 in the state of side lying, the contact area of the user 6 and the surface 111 is smaller, so that less gravity sensors 2 are pressed, and the CPU 52 may determines that the triggering amount of the gravity sensors 2 is smaller than the predetermining values so as to know that the user 6 is in the state of side lying. The driving circuit 53 drives the inflation/deflation device 4 to inflate/deflate the air cushion 12 for the pressure in the air cushion 12 being maintained in the state of side lying based on the inflation/deflation side lying pressure value stored in the memory unit 54.
Thus, through the triggering amount of the gravity sensors 2, the CPU 52 may determines that the user 6 is in the state of front lying or side lying and then drives the inflation/deflation device 4 to inflate/deflate the air cushion 12 upon the state of front lying or side lying, so that the user 6 will be at the best approach.
The functions of setting and action as aforesaid are both displayed on the display interface 55.
The control device 5 is integrated in a remote controller, and the remote controller can be connected with the gravity sensors 2 and the inflation/deflation device 4 through the ways of wire and wireless.
The user 6 must manually find out two kinds of hardness in the states of front lying and side lying for himself through the operation interface 51 and the display interface 55 before purchasing the mattress body 1, and the two found pressure values to the two kinds of hardness in the states of front lying and side lying may be stored in the memory unit 54.
The operation interface 51 of the control device 5 is selected from the group consisted of key set, touch panel and knob.
The user 6 is able to set the pressure value in the air cushion 12 through a manual mode and the operation interface 51.
The display interface 55 can be an LCD or LED display.
To actually acquire the hardness of the air cushion 12 of the user 6 lying on the bed, the surface 111 of the mattress body 1 can be covered by a pressure blanket, the pressure blanket is electrically connected with an electric device that is a PC, laptop computer, PAD, etc. While the user 6 is lying on the pressure blanket, the pressed locations of the pressure blanket may generate pressure values and shows up the pressure values on the display portion of the electric device. Continuously, while the pressure of the waist of the user 6 is raising up, it means that the waist is supported so as to acquire the pressure values in the states of front lying and side lying.
For maintaining the pressure in the air cushion 12 in a set value, a pressure sensor 7 can be added, the pressure sensor 7 is to detect the pressure value in the air cushion 12 and sends the detective result to the CPU 52 of the control device 5 for determination, the CPU 52 may judge whether the drive circuit 53 drives the inflation/deflation device 4 to inflates/deflates or does not have any motion to the air cushion 12 based on the detective result from the pressure sensor 7.
Although the invention has been disclosed and illustrated with reference to particular embodiments, the principles involved are susceptible for use in numerous other embodiments that will be apparent to persons skilled in the art. This invention is, therefore, to be limited only as indicated by the scope of the appended claims

Claims

What is claimed is:

1. A method for automatically adjusting the hardness of an air bed based on front lying or side lying comprising the steps of:

providing a mattress body consisting of at least one air cushion;

disposing a plurality of gravity sensors in the mattress body, the gravity sensors being traverse positioned in the mattress body and connected with a control device; and

using the control device to determine that the triggering amount of the gravity sensors is greater or smaller than, or equal to a predetermining value and automatically adjust the hardness of the mattress body to an inflation/deflation front lying pressure value or an inflation/deflation side lying pressure value.

2. The method for automatically adjusting the hardness of an air bed based on front lying or side lying according to claim 1, wherein the direction of the gravity sensors traverse positioned is defined as that of the left side to the right side of the air bed or the right side to the left side of the air bed while a user is lying on.

3. A device for automatically adjusting the hardness of an air bed based on front lying or side lying comprising:

a mattress body, having at least one air cushion, wherein the air cushion has an air inlet/outlet;

a plurality of gravity sensors, being traverse positioned in the mattress body;

a cylindrical member, which one end is connected with the air inlet/outlet of the air cushion in order to communicate with each air cushion;

an inflation/deflation device, being connected with the other end of the cylindrical member for the air cushion being inflated or deflated, wherein the other end of the cylindrical member is not connected with the air cushion; and

a control device, which is electrically connected with the inflation/deflation device and the air cushion, the control device previously storing the predetermining values of the front lying and the side lying of a user, the gravity sensors being triggered to send signals to the control device while the user lie on, the control device then determining the result of front lying or side lying based on the triggering amount of the gravity sensors and driving the inflation/deflation device to inflate/deflate the air cushion for different kinds of hardness.

4. The device for automatically adjusting the hardness of an air bed based on front lying or side lying according to claim 3, wherein the top surface of the air cushion of the mattress body is connected with a middle layer, which is selected from the group consisted of: wool layer, foam layer, silk layer, and the combination of above any two or three.

5. The device for automatically adjusting the hardness of an air bed based on front lying or side lying according to claim 3, wherein the direction of the gravity sensors traverse positioned is defined as that of the left side to the right side of the air bed or the right side to the left side of the air bed while a user is lying on the surface of the air bed.

6. The device for automatically adjusting the hardness of an air bed based on front lying or side lying according to claim 3, wherein the gravity sensor is selected from the group consisted of: membrane switch and pressure switch.

7. The device for automatically adjusting the hardness of an air bed based on front lying or side lying according to claim 3, wherein the gravity sensors are tightly adhered to the surface of the air cushion or the middle layer.

8. The device for automatically adjusting the hardness of an air bed based on front lying or side lying according to claim 3, wherein the control device comprises at least one operation interface, a CPU, a display interface, a memory unit, a driving circuit, and a power supply unit, the power supply unit providing power to the operation interface, the CPU, the display interface, the memory unit, and the driving circuit for regular operations, the CPU being electrically connected with the operation interface, the gravity sensors, the memory unit, and the driving circuit, the driving circuit being electrically connected with the inflation/deflation device and determining that the value from the gravity sensors is greater or smaller than or equal to the predetermining value of the front lying or the side lying in order to gain the result of the user being in the state of front lying or side lying, so that the driving circuit drives the inflation/deflation to inflate/deflate the air cushion.

9. The device for automatically adjusting the hardness of an air bed based on front lying or side lying according to claim 3, wherein the cylindrical member is wrapped around in the mattress body and the one end, not connected with the air cushion, of the cylindrical member is exposed outside of the mattress body.

10. The device for automatically adjusting the hardness of an air bed based on front lying or side lying according to claim 3 further comprising a pressure sensor, which is to detect the pressure value in the air cushion and sends the detective result to the control device for determination, the control device determining whether the inflation/deflation device inflates/deflates/does not have any motion to the air cushion based on the detective result from the pressure sensor.