Control unit for a piece of furniture

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9836034-B2
Application number	US-201314381847-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 28, 2013
Priority date	Feb 28, 2012
Publication date	Dec 5, 2017
Grant date	Dec 5, 2017

Abstract

The invention relates to a control device ( 9 ) for at least one adjusting drive ( 7, 8 ) which is to be associated with a piece of furniture ( 1 ) and which is designed to control the at least one adjusting drive ( 7, 8 ) based on control data ( 20 ) captured by a wireless transmission path ( 19 ) of the operating unit ( 10 ). Said control device is characterized by an emitter interface ( 21 ) which is designed to transmit data ( 22 ) to the operating unit ( 10 ) by means of a wireless transmission path ( 19 ). The invention further relates to an operating unit ( 10 ) comprising a receiver interface ( 23 ) which is designed to capture data ( 22 ) from the control device ( 9 ) by means of a wireless transmission path ( 19 ), in addition to a system ( 18 ) consisting of a control device ( 9 ) and an operating unit ( 10 ) and a piece of furniture ( 1 ) equipped with said system ( 13 ).

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A control unit comprising:
a transmission interface configured to transmit data to an operating unit via a wireless transmission link, wherein the transmission interface transmits to the operating unit first data including an adjustment position of at least one adjustment drive in a piece of furniture, and second data including a number of operating hours, an activation duration, and an activation frequency of the at least one adjustment drive, and wherein the operating unit analyzes the transmitted second data and displays maintenance measures for the piece of furniture in response to the analysis; and
a detection unit for adjusting the position of the at least one adjustment drive, wherein said control unit activates the at least one adjustment drive based on control data received via the wireless transmission link from the operating unit.

2. The control unit of claim 1 , wherein the first data further comprise a state of the control unit and/or of the at least one adjustment drive.

3. The control unit of claim 2 , wherein the state comprises an output power, a program sequence to be carried out, or an energy content of the control unit, the at least one adjustment drive, or at least one further electrical component.

4. The control unit of claim 1 , configured for connection to at least one further electrical component, which is also activated by the control unit in response to the received control data.

5. The control unit of claim 4 , wherein the first data further comprise a state of the at least one further electrical component.

6. The control unit of claim 4 , wherein the further electrical component is a heating unit, a massage unit, or a lighting unit.

7. An operating unit transmitting via a wireless transmission link control data to a control unit and activating at least one adjustment drive connected to the control unit, said operating unit comprising a reception interface configured to receive first and second data from the control unit via the wireless transmission link, wherein the received second data from the control unit comprises data including a number of operating hours, an activation duration, and an activation frequency of the at least one adjustment drive, and wherein the operating unit analyzes the received second data and displays maintenance measures for a piece of furniture in response to the analysis, and wherein the control unit comprises a detection unit for adjusting a position of the at least one adjustment drive, the adjustment position being transmitted as the first data to the operating unit.

8. The operating unit of claim 7 , further comprising an analysis unit receiving and analyzing the second data.

9. The operating unit of claim 8 , wherein the analysis unit is configured to activate a further control unit of the piece of furniture or a further piece of furniture in response to receiving and analyzing the second data.

10. The operating unit of claim 9 , wherein the analysis unit is configured to activate the further control unit via a further wireless transmission link.

11. The operating unit of claim 7 , further comprising a display unit displaying the maintenance measures.

12. The operating unit of claim 7 , further comprising a storage module for an adjustment position of the at least one adjustment drive, or a comparator for comparing an actual adjustment position to a target adjustment position, or a program controller for determining the control data in dependence on a result of a comparison by the comparator.

13. A system for controlling at least one adjustment drive of a piece of furniture, comprising:
a control unit connected to the at least one adjustment drive and activating the at least one adjustment drive based on control data received via a wireless transmission link from an operating unit, said control unit comprising a transmission interface configured to transmit to the operating unit first data including an adjustment position of at least one adjustment drive in a piece of furniture, and second data including a number of operating hours, an activation duration, and an activation frequency of the at least one adjustment drive;
the operating unit transmitting via the wireless transmission link control data to the control unit, said operating unit comprising a reception interface configured to receive the first and second data from the control unit via the wireless transmission link, wherein the operating unit analyzes the received second data and displays maintenance measures for the piece of furniture in response to the analysis; and
a detection unit for adjusting a position of the at least one adjustment drive.

14. A piece of furniture comprising:
a frame element;
a support element guided movably in the frame element via at least one adjustment drive; and
the system as recited in claim 13 .

15. The piece of furniture of claim 14 , wherein the detection unit comprises an incremental distance sensor arranged in the adjustment drive, so that a detection of the adjustment position is performed by counting pulses.

16. The piece of furniture of claim 15 , wherein the detection of the adjustment position is performed by counting the pulses of a counter electromotive force (IMF) of a brush type DC-motor of the adjustment drive.

17. The piece of furniture of claim 14 , wherein an absolute detection method is used by analyzing an electrical signal of a potentiometer as an absolute distance sensor.

Assignees

• Dewertokin Gmbh

Inventors

• Hille Armin
• Loley Steffen
• Gehrke Karsten

Classifications

• A47C31/008

  Use of remote controls · CPC title

• A47C20/041 Primary

  by electric motors · CPC title

• H04W88/00

  Devices specially adapted for wireless communication networks, e.g. terminals, base stations or access point devices · CPC title

• G05B15/02 Primary

  electric · CPC title