Inflatable air mattress with integrated control

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11744384-B2
Application number	US-202016891773-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 3, 2020
Priority date	Dec 30, 2013
Publication date	Sep 5, 2023
Grant date	Sep 5, 2023

Abstract

An air bed system including a plurality of peripheral devices and a pump unit configured to adjust a firmness of an air mattress, the pump unit including a pump. The system further includes a controller configured to execute instructions that cause the pump unit to wirelessly pair with at least one of the plurality of peripheral devices. The pump unit is configured to receive at least one control signal addressed to the at least one of the plurality of peripheral devices, and transmit the at least one control signal to the addressed device.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A pump comprising:
a pump encasement that physically houses the pump;
a pressure transducer configured to sense pressure within a fluidically connected air chamber of an air mattress of a bed;
wherein the pump is configured to execute instructions that cause the pump to:
form wireless network connections with:
at least one remote control configured to 1) receive user input and 2) responsive to the received user input, transmit a corresponding user command to the pump;
a plurality of peripheral controllers, each peripheral controller controlling at least one controllable peripheral devices of the bed, each of the controllable peripheral devices configured to alter a sleep environment of the bed according to one or more control signals a received from the pump over the associated wireless network connection, the peripheral controllers configured to 1) receive, over an associated wireless network connection with the pump, the one or more control signals, and 2) control behavior of the associated controllable peripheral device in accordance with the one or more control signals;

receive an incoming user command from a particular remote control of the at least one remote controls;
access a corresponding control signal based on the received incoming user command; and
transmit the corresponding control signal to at least one of the plurality of peripheral controllers over the associated wireless network connection to cause the sleep environment of the bed to be altered.

2. The pump of claim 1 , wherein the pump is further configured to:
receive an incoming pressure command from one of the at least one remote controls; and
responsive to receiving the incoming pressure command, adjust the pressure of the air mattress of the bed according to the incoming pressure command.

3. The pump of claim 1 , wherein the pump is further configured to transmit a second control signal to at least one different peripheral device of the plurality of peripheral controllers over the associated wireless network connection to cause the sleep environment of the bed to be secondly altered.

4. The pump of claim 3 , wherein the pump is configured to transmit the second control signal responsive to receiving a second user command from the particular remote control.

5. The pump of claim 3 , wherein the pump is configured to transmit the second control signal responsive to receiving a second user command from a second remote control of the at least one remote controls that is different than the particular remote control.

6. The pump of claim 1 , wherein the pump is further configured to:
form wireless network connections with at least one centralized server over the Internet, the centralized server being configured to transmit server signals; and
receive, from the centralized server, the server signals.

7. The pump of claim 1 , wherein the at least one remote control is a smart phone.

8. The pump of claim 7 , wherein the at least one remote control is a universal remote control.

9. The pump of claim 1 , wherein the at least one remote control is configured to sense user input in the form of audio input and to access the corresponding user command based on the audio input.

10. The pump of claim 1 , wherein one remote control is configured to:
receive the user input;
determine, based on the user input, which of a plurality of possible target receivers that the user input references, the pump being one of the plurality of possible target receivers; and
responsive to determining which of the plurality of possible target receivers the user input references, transmit the corresponding user command to the pump.

11. The pump of claim 1 , wherein the controllable peripheral devices are not configured to generate user commands for transmission to the pump.

12. A system comprising:
a bed having a mattress;
at least one remote control;
a plurality of peripheral controllers; and
a pump comprising:
a pump encasement that physically houses the pump;
a pressure transducer configured to sense pressure within a fluidically connected air chamber of an air mattress of a bed;
wherein the pump is configured to execute instructions that cause the pump to:
form wireless network connections with:
the at least one remote control configured to 1) receive user input and 2) responsive to the received user input, transmit a corresponding user command to the pump;
the plurality of peripheral controllers, each peripheral controller controlling at least one controllable peripheral devices of the bed, each of the controllable peripheral devices configured to alter a sleep environment of the bed according to a control signal received from the pump over the associated wireless network connection, the peripheral controllers configured to 1) receive, over an associated wireless network connection with the pump, control signals, and 2) control behavior of the associated controllable peripheral device in accordance with the control signal;

receive an incoming user command from a particular remote control of the at least one remote controls;
access a corresponding control signal based on the received incoming user command; and
transmit the corresponding control signal to at least one of the plurality of peripheral controllers over the associated wireless network connection to cause the sleep environment of the bed to be altered.

13. The system of claim 12 , wherein the pump is further configured to transmit a second control signal to at least one different peripheral device of the plurality of peripheral controllers over the associated wireless network connection to cause the sleep environment of the bed to be secondly altered.

14. The system of claim 13 , wherein the pump is configured to transmit the second control signal responsive to receiving a second user command from the particular remote control.

15. The system of claim 13 , wherein the pump is configured to transmit the second control signal responsive to receiving a second user command from a second remote control of the at least one remote controls that is different than the particular remote control.

Assignees

• Sleep Number Corp

Inventors

• Brosnan Aran Patrick
• Chen Yi-Ching
• Mcguire John

Classifications

• A47C27/082 Primary

  with non-manual inflation, e.g. with electric pumps · CPC title

• A47C20/04

  with adjustable inclination (A47C20/08 takes precedence) · CPC title

• A47C21/042

  for ventilating or cooling (A47C21/028 and A47C27/007 take precedence) · CPC title

• A47C21/048

  for heating · CPC title

• A47C27/083

  with pressure control, e.g. with pressure sensors · CPC title