Controlling mattress climate control system based on thermal events
By using mechanical heat detectors and controllers in the bed system to detect and respond to thermal events at the mattress, the problem of poor thermal event control in the prior art is solved, and higher safety and reliability are achieved.
Patent Information
- Application Number
- CN202380063480.3
- Authority / Receiving Office
- CN · China
- Patent Type
- Applications(China)
- Current Assignee / Owner
- Priority Date
- 2022-09-16
- Filing Date
- 2023-09-15
- Publication Date
- 2025-04-11
AI Technical Summary
Existing bed systems have difficulty effectively and safely controlling mattress climate control systems in the event of thermal events (such as fires), which may cause fire to spread or cause danger to users.
Using mechanical heat detectors and controllers, the functions of the mattress climate control system are disabled or enabled to prevent fire from spreading by detecting thermal events at the mattress.
Effectively reduce the danger of heat incidents to users and bed systems, and improve the reliability and safety of fire response.
Smart Images

Figure CN119816225A_ABST
Abstract
Description
[0001] CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0002] This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application Serial No. 63 / 407,416, filed on September 16, 2022. The disclosure of the prior application is considered part of the disclosure of the present application (and is incorporated by reference therein). Technical Field
[0003] The present invention relates to bed systems, and more particularly to techniques and components for controlling bed systems. Background Art
[0004] Typically, a bed is a piece of furniture used for sleeping or relaxing. Many modern beds include a soft mattress on a bed frame. The mattress may include springs, foam materials, and / or air chambers to support the weight of one or more occupants. Various features and systems have been used in conjunction with beds, including heating and cooling systems for heating and cooling the user of the bed. Thermal events such as mattress fires may require mechanisms for controlling various mattress components (such as climate control systems for heating and cooling the mattress) in a reliable, safe, and efficient manner in response to thermal events occurring at the mattress. Summary of the invention
[0005] Some embodiments described herein include a bed system with fire protection capabilities. The bed system may include a mattress climate control system that is configured to supply conditioned air (e.g., heated or cooled air) to the mattress to achieve the desired temperature of the mattress. Mechanical heat detectors and controllers can be used to detect thermal events (such as fires, including incipient fires, free-burning fires, smoldering fires, or other potentially dangerous thermal events) at the mattress, and operate the mattress climate control system based on the thermal events. Any thermal event with a temperature greater than or equal to a threshold temperature will be detected by the mechanical heat detector. For example, the mechanical heat detector may be positioned at the mattress. The condition of the mechanical heat detector may change in response to a thermal event. The controller detects the condition of the mechanical heat detector, and operates the mattress climate control system based on the condition of the mechanical heat detector to disable one or more functions or components of the mattress climate control system.
[0006] Some embodiments described herein include a bed system including a mattress, a mattress climate control system, a mechanical thermal detector, and a controller. The mattress climate control system controls the climate at the mattress. The mechanical thermal detector is positioned at the mattress. The condition of the mechanical thermal detector changes in response to a thermal event. The controller is connected to the mattress climate control system. The controller performs operations including: detecting the condition of the mechanical thermal detector and operating the mattress climate control system based on the condition of the mechanical thermal detector.
[0007] The embodiments described herein may include one or more optional features. For example, a mattress climate control system may include a heater coupled to the mattress for heating at least a portion of the mattress. For example, a mattress climate control system may include a fan coupled to the mattress for supplying or drawing air to the top of the mattress.
[0008] In some embodiments, the mechanical thermal detector includes a hot wire assembly. For example, the hot wire assembly may include a first wire, a second wire spirally wound around the first wire, and a coating separating the first wire from the second wire. For example, based on the temperature of the mattress exceeding about 190°F, the hot wire assembly may allow the first wire and the second wire to contact each other. For example, when the temperature of the coating exceeds about 190°F, the coating may melt. For example, melting of the coating may allow the first wire and the second wire to contact each other.
[0009] In some implementations, the condition of the mechanical thermal detector includes a resistance of the thermal wire assembly, and operating the mattress climate control system includes disabling the mattress climate control system based on the resistance being less than a first resistance threshold. In some cases, the first resistance threshold indicates that the mechanical thermal detector is in a short circuit. In some cases, the mechanical thermal detector is in a short circuit based on the first wire and the second wire being in contact with each other. In some cases, the mechanical thermal detector includes a resistor electrically coupled between a terminal end of the first wire and a terminal end of the second wire.
[0010] For example, the condition of the mechanical heat detector may include the resistance of the heat wire assembly, and operating the mattress climate control system includes disabling the mattress climate control system based on the resistance exceeding a second resistance threshold. In some cases, the second resistance threshold indicates that the mechanical heat detector is in an open circuit. In some cases, operating the mattress climate control system includes enabling the mattress climate control system based on the resistance exceeding a first resistance threshold and being less than a second resistance threshold, wherein the second resistance threshold is greater than the first resistance threshold. In some cases, the second resistance threshold may be about 4 kΩ. In some cases, the resistance exceeding the second resistance threshold indicates that the mechanical heat detector is in an open circuit. In some cases, operating the mattress climate control system includes disabling the mattress climate control system based on the resistance of the heat wire assembly exceeding the second resistance threshold. In some cases, the resistance of the heat wire assembly exceeding the second resistance threshold indicates that the heat wire assembly is electrically disconnected from the controller. In some implementations, the bed system includes a smoke detector positioned at the mattress. For example, the smoke detector may detect a smoke condition at the mattress, transmit a signal indicating the smoke condition to the controller, and the controller may perform operations including operating the mattress climate control system based on the smoke condition.
[0011] In some cases, operating the mattress climate control system includes enabling operation of the mattress climate control system by a user based on the smoke condition indicating an absence of smoke. In some cases, operating the mattress climate control system includes disabling operation of the mattress climate control system based on the smoke condition indicating a presence of smoke. In some cases, operating the mattress climate control system includes disabling operation of the mattress climate control system based on the smoke condition indicating a smoke detector is not operating.
[0012] In some implementations, the operations also include transmitting, from the controller to the user computing device, a report indicating the occurrence of the thermal event.
[0013] Other embodiments described herein include a mattress having a heat wire, a resistor, and a controller. The heat wire is positioned to receive heat from the mattress. The resistor is electrically coupled between first terminal ends of the heat wire. The controller is electrically coupled to second terminal ends of the heat wire. The controller performs operations including detecting a change in resistance of the heat wire and the resistor and operating a heater and a fan of the mattress based on the change in resistance.
[0014] Embodiments described herein may include one or more optional features. For example, a mattress may include a wiring board and a conductor wire. The wiring board may be electrically coupled to the second terminal end of the heating wire. The conductor wire may be electrically coupled to the wiring board and the controller.
[0015] For example, the controller may include circuits for performing operations. These operations may include determining voltage based on the resistance of the hot wire and the resistor. When the voltage is between about 1.05V and 2.45V, the operation may include enabling operation of the fan and the heater by the user. When the voltage is less than about 1.05V, the operation may include disabling operation of the fan and the heater. When the voltage is greater than about 2.45V, the operation may include disabling operation of the fan and the heater. However, any suitable voltage threshold may be used.
[0016] Other embodiments described herein include a method that includes detecting a thermal event in a mattress using a mechanical thermal detector and disabling a mattress climate control system positioned in the mattress based on detecting the thermal event.
[0017] Embodiments described herein may include one or more optional features. For example, detecting a thermal event may include sensing a condition of the thermal event. In some implementations, the condition of the thermal event may be a change in resistance of a mechanical thermal detector, wherein the mechanical thermal detector includes a thermal wire assembly having two helically wound wires having first ends terminated at opposite ends of a resistor.
[0018] For example, the method may include enabling the mattress climate control system by the user based on a change in resistance indicating a resistive termination. For example, the resistance indicating a resistive termination of the hot wire assembly may be between approximately 3.1 kΩ and 3.5 kΩ. However, any suitable resistance threshold may be used.
[0019] In some implementations, disabling the mattress climate control system includes disabling the mattress climate control system based on a change in resistance indicating that the thermal wire assembly is short-circuited. In some implementations, disabling the mattress climate control system includes disabling the mattress climate control system based on a change in resistance indicating that the thermal wire assembly is open-circuited.
[0020] For example, the method may also include transmitting a signal to a user computing device indicating the occurrence of a thermal event.
[0021] The devices, systems, and techniques described herein may provide one or more of the following advantages.Some embodiments described herein include a mattress having one or more mechanical thermal sensors to detect a thermal event and a controller to operate a climate control system based on detecting the thermal event.
[0022] The time to detect a thermal event can be reduced. For example, by positioning one or more mechanical thermal detectors in a mattress near where a thermal event may occur, the time to detect a thermal event can be reduced.
[0023] The time to operate the climate control system in response to a thermal event can be reduced. For example, by positioning one or more mechanical thermal detectors in the mattress near where a thermal event may occur, the time to operate the climate control system in response to a controller detecting a change in the condition of the mechanical thermal detector can be reduced.
[0024] User safety may be improved. For example, when a user is positioned on a mattress and a thermal event occurs on the mattress, the climate control system may transition to an off state, reducing air flow or heat input into the mattress, reducing the condition or magnitude of the thermal event.
[0025] Mattress damage due to thermal events can be reduced. For example, by positioning one or more mechanical thermal detectors in the mattress close to where a thermal event may occur, the time to detect a thermal event can be reduced.
[0026] The details of one or more specific implementations are described in the accompanying drawings and the detailed description below. Other features, aspects and potential advantages will become apparent from the accompanying description and drawings. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0027] Figure 1 An example air mattress system including an example mechanical heat detector and controller is shown.
[0028] Figure 2 is a block diagram of an example of various components of an air bed system.
[0029] Figure 3 An example environment is shown including a bed in communication with devices located in and around a home.
[0030] Figure 4A and Figure 4B is a block diagram of an example data processing system that may be associated with a bed.
[0031] Figure 5 and Figure 6 is a block diagram of an example of a motherboard that may be used in a data processing system associated with a bed.
[0032] Figure 7 is a block diagram of an example of a daughter board that may be used in a data processing system associated with a bed.
[0033] Figure 8 is a block diagram of an example of a motherboard without a daughterboard that may be used in a data processing system associated with a bed.
[0034] Fig.9A is a block diagram of an example of a sensor array that may be used in a data processing system associated with a bed.
[0035] Fig. 9B is a schematic top view of a bed having an example of a sensor bar with one or more sensors that may be used in a data processing system associated with the bed.
[0036] Fig. 9C is a schematic diagram of an example bed with force sensors located at the bottom of the legs of the bed.
[0037] Fig.10 is a block diagram of an example of a control array that may be used in a data processing system associated with a bed.
[0038] Fig.11 is a block diagram of an example of a computing device that may be used in a data processing system associated with a bed.
[0039] Figures 12 to 16 is a block diagram of an example cloud service that may be used in a data processing system associated with a bed.
[0040] Fig.17 is a block diagram of an example of using a data processing system that may be associated with a bed to automate peripherals around the bed.
[0041] Fig.18 is a schematic diagram illustrating examples of computing devices and mobile computing devices.
[0042] Fig.19 is a schematic diagram of an example bed with an example climate control system and an example thermal event protection component.
[0043] Fig. 20A yes Fig.19 Schematic top view of the thermal event protection assembly.
[0044] Fig. 20B yes Fig.19 Schematic side view of a thermal event protection assembly.
[0045] Fig. 20C Is installed in Fig.19 The side rails of the air bed system Figure 1 Schematic perspective view of a thermal event protection assembly.
[0046] Fig.20D Is installed in Fig.19 Air mattress system Figure 1 Schematic perspective view of a thermal event protection assembly.
[0047] FIG. 20E to FIG. 20F is relative to Fig.19 A perspective view of the thermal event protection assembly installed on an air bed system.
[0048] FIG. 20G to FIG. 20I Is to install the thermal event protection component to Fig.19 Schematic perspective view of the process on the air bed system.
[0049] Fig. 20J yes Fig.19 Another schematic top view of a thermal event protection assembly.
[0050] Figures 20K to 20M yes Fig.19 Schematic cross-sectional view of a thermal event protection assembly.
[0051] Fig.21 Is has Fig.19 Diagram of the control circuit for the thermal event protection assembly of the fan of an air bed system.
[0052] Fig. 22 Is has Fig.19 A diagram of the control circuit of a thermal event protection component of an air bed system's heater.
[0053] Fig.23 is a diagram of an example process for controlling mattress components based on thermal events.
[0054] Fig.24 is a flow chart of an example process for controlling mattress components based on thermal events.
[0055] Like reference numbers in the various drawings indicate like elements. DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0056] Figure 1 An example air bed system 100 is shown, which includes a bed 112, a climate control system 102 having a heater 104 and a fan 106, a mechanical thermal detector 108, and a controller 110. The climate control system 102 controls the climate of the air bed system 100 by heating with the heater 104 or moving air with the fan 106 to cool the bed 112. One or more mechanical thermal detectors 108 are positioned at the bed 112 (mattress). The condition of the mechanical thermal detector 108 changes in response to a thermal event at the mattress. For example, the thermal event can be a change or increase in the temperature of the air bed system 100 that changes the condition of the mechanical thermal detector 108. The controller 110 is operatively coupled to the climate control system 102. The controller 110 detects the condition of the mechanical thermal detector 108 and operates the climate control system 102 based on the condition of the mechanical thermal detector 108, for example, by selectively operating or disabling one or more features or components of the climate control system 102. Although the climate control system 102 is shown and described as being part of an air bed system (air bed system 100) having an air chamber 114, the climate control system 102 may also be used with a non-air bed system (e.g., a system without an inflatable air chamber). Thus, the air bed system 100 may be modified to be a non-air bed system that does not include, includes, or includes one or more of the features and components described with respect to the air bed system 100. Figure 2 and Figures 19 to 23 The climate control system 102 , mechanical heat detector 108 , and controller 110 are described in greater detail.
[0057] The bed 112 may be a mattress including at least one air chamber 114 surrounded by an elastic frame 116 and enclosed by a mattress cover 118. The elastic frame 116 may include any suitable material, such as foam. In some embodiments, the elastic frame 116 may be combined with a top layer or multiple layers of foam ( Figure 1 In other embodiments, the mattress structure can be changed according to the needs of the application.
[0058] like Figure 1As shown, the bed 112 can be a two-chamber design having a first fluid chamber and a second fluid chamber (such as a first air chamber 114A and a second air chamber 114B). Sometimes, the bed 112 can include a chamber for use with a fluid other than air suitable for the application. For example, the fluid can include a liquid. In some embodiments, such as a single bed or a crib, the bed 112 can include a single air chamber 114A or 114B or multiple air chambers 114A and 114B. Although not shown, sometimes the bed 112 can include additional air chambers.
[0059] The first air chamber 114A and the second air chamber 114B can be in fluid communication with the pump 120. The pump 120 can be electrically connected to the remote control 122 via the control box 124. The control box 124 may include a wired or wireless communication interface for communicating with one or more devices including the remote control 122. The control box 124 can be configured to operate the pump 120 based on commands entered by the user using the remote control 122 to cause an increase and decrease in the fluid pressure of the first air chamber 114A and the second air chamber 114B. In some specific implementations, the control box 124 is integrated into the housing of the pump 120. In addition, sometimes, the pump 120 can communicate wirelessly with the mobile device via the control box 124 (e.g., via a home network, WIFI, Bluetooth or other wireless network). The mobile device may include, but is not limited to, a user's smart phone, mobile phone, laptop, tablet computer, computer, wearable device, home automation device or other computing device. The mobile application can be presented at the mobile device and provide the user with the function of controlling the bed 112 and viewing information about the bed 112. The user can enter commands in the mobile application presented at the mobile device. The input commands may be transmitted to the control box 124, which may operate the pump 120 based on the commands.
[0060] The remote control 122 may include a display 126, an output selection mechanism 128, a pressure increase button 129, and a pressure decrease button 130. The remote control 122 may include one or more additional output selection mechanisms and / or buttons. The display 126 may present information about the settings of the bed 112 to the user. For example, the display 126 may present the pressure settings of both the first air chamber 114A and the second air chamber 114B or one of the first air chamber 114A and the second air chamber 114B. Sometimes, the display 126 may be a touch screen and may receive input from the user indicating one or more commands to control the pressure in the first air chamber 114A and the second air chamber 114B and / or other settings of the bed 112. The remote control 122 may control the climate control system 102 by operating the heater 104 and the fan 106. For example, based on the user input, the remote control 122 may turn on, turn off, increase or decrease the heat output from the heater 104. For example, based on the user input, the remote control 122 may turn on, turn off, increase the speed or decrease the speed of the fan 106.
[0061] The output selection mechanism 128 can allow the user to switch the airflow generated by the pump 120 between the first air chamber 114A and the second air chamber 114B, thereby being able to control multiple air chambers with a single remote control 122 and a single pump 120. For example, the output selection mechanism 128 can be a physical control (e.g., a switch or button) or an input control presented on the display 126. Alternatively, a separate remote control unit can be provided for each air chamber 114A and 114B, and each remote control unit can include the ability to control multiple air chambers. The pressure increase button 129 and the pressure decrease button 130 can allow the user to increase or decrease the pressure in the air chamber selected with the output selection mechanism 128, respectively. Adjusting the pressure in the selected air chamber can cause a corresponding adjustment to the firmness of the corresponding air chamber. In some embodiments, the remote control 122 can be omitted or appropriately modified according to the application.
[0062] Figure 21 is a block diagram of an example of various components of an air bed system. These components can be used in the example air bed system 100. The control box 124 may include a power supply 134, a processor 136, a memory 137, a switching mechanism 138, and an analog-to-digital (A / D) converter 140. The switching mechanism 138 may be, for example, a relay or a solid-state switch. In some specific implementations, the switching mechanism 138 may be located in the pump 120 instead of the control box 124. The pump 120 and the remote control 122 can communicate bidirectionally with the control box 124. The pump 120 includes a motor 142, a pump manifold 143, a safety valve 144, a first control valve 145A, a second control valve 145B, and a pressure transducer 146. The pump 120 is connected to the first air chamber 114A and the second air chamber 114B fluid via a first tube 148A and a second tube 148B, respectively. The first control valve 145A and the second control valve 145B may be controlled by the switching mechanism 138 and may be operable to regulate fluid flow between the pump 120 and the first air chamber 114A and the second air chamber 114B, respectively.
[0063] In some implementations, the pump 120 and the control box 124 can be provided and packaged as a single unit. In some implementations, the pump 120 and the control box 124 can be provided as physically separate units. The control box 124, the pump 120, or both can be integrated or contained within a bed frame, base, or bed support structure supporting the bed 112. Sometimes, the control box 124, the pump 120, or both can be located outside the bed frame, base, or bed support structure (e.g., Figure 1 ).
[0064] Figure 2 The air mattress system 100 includes two air chambers 114A and 114B and Figure 1 A single pump 120 for the bed 112 shown. However, other embodiments may include an air bed system having two or more air chambers and one or more pumps incorporated into the air bed system to control the air chambers. For example, a separate pump may be associated with each air chamber. As another example, a pump may be associated with multiple chambers. A first pump may be associated with an air chamber extending longitudinally from the left side of the air bed system 100 to the midpoint, and a second pump may be associated with an air chamber extending longitudinally from the right side of the air bed system 100 to the midpoint. The separate pumps may allow each air chamber to be inflated or deflated independently and / or simultaneously. Additional pressure transducers may also be incorporated into the air bed system 100 so that a separate pressure transducer may be associated with each air chamber.
[0065] As an illustrative example, in use, the processor 136 can send a pressure reduction command to one of the air chambers 114A or 114B, and the switch mechanism 138 can convert the low pressure command signal sent by the processor 136 into a higher operating voltage sufficient to operate the safety valve 144 of the pump 120 and open the corresponding control valve 145A or 145B. Opening the safety valve 144 can allow air to escape from the air chamber 114A or 114B through the corresponding air tube 148A or 148B. During deflation, the pressure transducer 146 can send a pressure reading to the processor 136 via the A / D converter 140. The A / D converter 140 can receive analog information from the pressure transducer 146 and can convert the analog information into digital information that can be used by the processor 136. The processor 136 can send a digital signal to the remote control 122 to update the display 126 to convey pressure information to the user. The processor 136 can also send digital signals to other devices that communicate with the air mattress system by wire or wireless communication, including but not limited to the mobile devices described herein. The user may then view pressure information associated with the air bed system at the device instead of at the remote control 122 or at the device in conjunction with the remote control.
[0066] As another example, the processor 136 may send an increase pressure command. The pump motor 142 may be energized in response to the increase pressure command and deliver air to a designated air chamber in the air chambers 114A or 114B through the air tube 148A or 148B via electronically operated corresponding control valves 145A or 145B. When air is delivered to the designated air chamber 114A or 114B to increase the firmness of the air chamber, the pressure transducer 146 may sense the pressure within the pump manifold 143. The pressure transducer 146 may send the pressure reading to the processor 136 via the A / D converter 140. The processor 136 may use the information received from the A / D converter 140 to determine the difference between the actual pressure in the air chamber 114A or 114B and the desired pressure. The processor 136 may send a digital signal to the remote control 122 to update the display 126.
[0067] Generally speaking, during the inflation or deflation process, the pressure sensed within the pump manifold 143 can provide an approximation of the actual pressure within the corresponding air chamber in fluid communication with the pump manifold 143. An example method includes shutting down the pump 120, allowing the pressure within the air chamber 114A or 114B and the pump manifold 143 to balance, and then sensing the pressure within the pump manifold 143 using the pressure transducer 146. Providing a sufficient amount of time to allow the pressure within the pump manifold 143 and the chamber 114A or 114B to balance can result in a pressure reading that is an accurate approximation of the actual pressure within the air chamber 114A or 114B. In some implementations, a plurality of pressure sensors (not shown) can be used to continuously monitor the pressure of the air chambers 114A and / or 114B. The pressure sensors can be located within the air chambers. The pressure sensors can also be fluidly connected to the air chambers, for example, along air tubes 148A and 148B.
[0068] In some specific implementations, the information collected by the pressure transducer 146 can be analyzed to determine various states of the user lying on the bed 112. For example, the processor 136 can use the information collected by the pressure transducer 146 to determine the heart rate or breathing rate of the user. As an illustrative example, the user can lie on the side of the bed 112 including the chamber 114A. The pressure transducer 146 can monitor the pressure fluctuations of the chamber 114A, and this information can be used to determine the heart rate and / or breathing rate of the user. As another example, the collected data can be used to perform additional processing to determine the user's sleep state (e.g., awake, light sleep, deep sleep). For example, the processor 136 can determine when the user falls asleep, and the various sleep states of the user when sleeping (e.g., sleep stages). Based on the determined heart rate, breathing rate and / or sleep state of the user, the processor 136 can determine information about the user's sleep quality. The processor 136 can, for example, determine how well the user slept during a particular sleep cycle. The processor 136 can also determine the user's sleep cycle trend. Therefore, the processor 136 can generate recommendations for improving the user's sleep quality and overall sleep cycle. Information determined about the user's sleep cycle (e.g., heart rate, breathing rate, sleep state, sleep quality, suggestions for improving sleep quality, etc.) can be transmitted to the user's mobile device and presented in the mobile application, as described above.
[0069] Additional information associated with the user of the air mattress system 100 that can be determined using the information collected by the pressure transducer 146 includes user movement, presence on the surface of the bed 112, weight, arrhythmia, snoring, partner snoring, and apnea. One or more other health conditions of the user can also be determined based on the information collected by the pressure transducer 146. Taking user presence detection as an example, the pressure transducer 146 can be used to detect the presence of the user on the bed 112, for example, via total pressure change determination and / or via one or more of a respiratory rate signal, a heart rate signal, and / or other biometric signals. Detection of the user's presence can facilitate the determination by the processor 136 of adjustments to the settings of the bed 112 (e.g., adjusting the firmness to the user's preferred firmness setting when the user is present) and / or peripheral devices (e.g., turning off lights, activating a heating or cooling system, etc. when the user is present).
[0070] For example, a simple pressure detection process may identify an increase in pressure as an indication of the presence of a user. As another example, if the detected pressure increases above a specified threshold (so as to indicate that a person or other object over a certain weight is located on the bed 112), the processor 136 may determine that the user is present. As yet another example, the processor 136 may identify an increase in pressure in conjunction with detected slight, regular pressure fluctuations as corresponding to the presence of a user. The presence of regular fluctuations may be identified as being caused by the user's breathing or heart rhythm (or both). Detection of breathing or heartbeat may distinguish between the presence of a user on the bed and another object (e.g., a suitcase, a pet, a pillow, etc.) being placed on the bed.
[0071] In some implementations, pressure fluctuations can be measured at the pump 120. For example, one or more pressure sensors can be located in one or more internal cavities of the pump 120 to detect pressure fluctuations within the pump 120. Fluctuations detected at the pump 120 can indicate pressure fluctuations in chambers 114A and / or 114B. One or more sensors located at the pump 120 can be in fluid communication with chambers 114A and / or 114B, and the sensors can be used to determine the pressure within chambers 114A and / or 114B. The control box 124 can be configured to determine at least one vital sign (e.g., heart rate, respiratory rate) based on the pressure within chamber 114A or chamber 114B.
[0072] The control box 124 can also analyze the pressure signal detected by one or more pressure sensors to determine the heart rate, breathing rate and / or other vital signs of the user lying or sitting on the chambers 114A and / or 114B. More specifically, when the user lies on the bed 112 and is located above the chamber 114A, each of the user's heartbeat, breathing, and other movements (e.g., hands, arms, legs, feet, or other whole body movements) can generate a force on the bed 112, which is transmitted to the chamber 114A. As a result of this force input, a wave can propagate through the chamber 114A and enter the pump 120. The pressure sensor located at the pump 120 can detect the wave, and the pressure signal output by the sensor can therefore indicate the heart rate, breathing rate, or other information about the user.
[0073] Regarding the sleep state, the air mattress system 100 can determine the user's sleep state by using various biometric signals, such as the user's heart rate, breathing, and / or movement. When the user is sleeping, the processor 136 can receive one or more of the user's biometric signals (e.g., heart rate, breathing, movement, etc.) and can determine the user's current sleep state based on the received biometric signals. In some specific implementations, the signal indicating the pressure fluctuation in one or both of chambers 114A and 114B can be amplified and / or filtered to allow more accurate detection of heart rate and breathing rate.
[0074] Sometimes, the processor 136 may receive additional biometric signals of the user from one or more other sensors or sensor arrays located on or otherwise integrated into the air bed system 100. For example, one or more sensors may be attached or removably attached to the top surface of the air bed system 100 and configured to detect signals such as heart rate, breathing rate, and / or movement. The processor 136 may combine biometric signals received from pressure sensors located at the pump 120, the pressure transducer 146, and / or sensors throughout the air bed system 100 to produce accurate and more precise information about the user and his or her sleep quality.
[0075] Sometimes, the control box 124 can perform a pattern recognition algorithm or other calculation based on the amplified and filtered pressure signal to determine the user's heart rate and / or breathing rate. For example, the algorithm or calculation can be based on the assumption that the heart rate portion of the signal has a frequency in the range of 0.5Hz-4.0Hz and the breathing rate portion of the signal has a frequency in the range of less than 1Hz. Sometimes, the control box 124 can use one or more machine learning models to determine the user's health information. The model can be trained using training data including training pressure signals and expected heart rates and / or breathing rates. Sometimes, the control box 124 can determine the user's health information by using a lookup table corresponding to the sensed pressure signal.
[0076] The control box 124 may also be configured to determine other characteristics of the user based on the received pressure signals, such as blood pressure, tossing movement, rolling movement, limb movement, weight, presence or absence of the user, and / or the identity of the user.
[0077] For example, pressure transducer 146 can be used to monitor the air pressure in chambers 114A and 114B of bed 112. If the user on bed 112 does not move, the air pressure change in air chamber 114A or 114B can be relatively minimal and can be attributed to breathing and / or heartbeat. However, when the user on bed 112 is moving, the air pressure in the mattress may fluctuate more. The pressure signal generated by pressure transducer 146 and received by processor 136 can be filtered and indicated as corresponding to movement, heartbeat or breathing. Processor 136 can attribute this air pressure fluctuation to the sleep quality of the user. This attribution can be determined based on applying one or more machine learning models and / or algorithms to pressure signals. For example, if the user frequently shifts and turns during a sleep cycle (e.g., compared to the historical trend of the user's sleep cycle), processor 136 can determine that the user has experienced poor sleep during this particular sleep cycle.
[0078] In some implementations, rather than performing data analysis in the control box 124 using the processor 136, a digital signal processor (DSP) may be provided to analyze the data collected by the pressure transducer 146. Alternatively, the collected data may be sent to a cloud-based computing system for remote analysis.
[0079] In some implementations, the example air bed system 100 also includes a temperature controller configured to increase, decrease or maintain the temperature of the bed 112, for example, for the comfort of the user. For example, a pad (e.g., a cushion, a layer, etc.) can be placed on top of the bed 112 or on a portion of the bed, or can be placed on top of one or both of the chambers 114A and 114B or on a portion of one or both of these chambers. Air can be pushed through the pad and exhausted to cool the user lying on the bed 112. Additionally or alternatively, the pad can include a heating element for keeping the user warm. In some implementations, the temperature controller can receive a temperature reading from the pad. The temperature controller can determine whether the temperature reading is less than or greater than a certain threshold range and / or value. Based on this determination, the temperature controller can actuate a component to push air through the pad to cool the user or activate the heating element. In some implementations, separate pads are used for different sides of the bed 112 (e.g., corresponding to the positions of the chambers 114A and 114B) to provide different temperature controls for different sides of the bed 112. Each pad may be selectively controlled by the temperature controller to provide each user's preferred cooling or heating on a different side of the bed 112. For example, a first user on the left side of the bed 112 may prefer to have their side of the bed 112 cooled at night, while a second user on the right side of the bed 112 may prefer to have their side of the bed 112 warmed at night.
[0080] In some embodiments, a user of the air mattress system 100 can use an input device, such as a remote control 122 or a mobile device as described above, to input a desired temperature of the surface of the bed 112 (or a portion of the surface of the bed 112, such as the foot area, lower back or waist area, shoulder area, and / or head area of the bed 112). The desired temperature can be encapsulated in a command data structure that includes the desired temperature and also identifies the temperature controller as the desired component to be controlled. The command data structure can then be transmitted to the processor 136 via Bluetooth or another suitable communication protocol (e.g., WIFI, local area network, etc.). In various examples, the command data structure is encrypted before being transmitted. The temperature controller can then configure its elements to increase or decrease the temperature of the pad based on the temperature input provided by the user at the remote control 122.
[0081] In some implementations, data can be transmitted from the components back to the processor 136 or one or more display devices, such as the display 126 of the remote control 122. For example, the current temperature determined by the sensor element of the temperature controller, the pressure of the bed, the current position of the base, or other information can be transmitted to the control box 124. The control box 124 can transmit this information to the remote control 122 for display to the user (e.g., on the display 126). As described above, the control box 124 can also transmit the received information to the mobile device for display to the user in a mobile application or other graphical user interface (GUI).
[0082] In some embodiments, the example air bed system 100 also includes an adjustable base and an articulation controller configured to adjust the position of the bed 112 by adjusting the adjustable base supporting the bed. For example, the articulation controller can adjust the bed 112 from a horizontal position to a position where the head portion of the mattress of the bed is tilted upward (e.g., to facilitate the user to sit up and / or watch TV in bed). The bed 112 can also include multiple independent sections capable of articulation. As an illustrative example, the bed 112 may include one or more of a head portion, a back waist / waist portion, a leg portion, and / or a foot portion, all of which can be articulated independently. As another example, the portions of the bed 112 corresponding to the positions of the chambers 114A and 114B can be articulated independently of each other to allow a user located on the surface of the bed 112 to rest in a first position (e.g., a horizontal position or other desired position) while a second user rests in a second position (e.g., a reclining position or other desired position with the head raised at an angle from the waist). Separate positions may also be provided for two different beds (eg, two double beds placed side by side). The base of bed 112 may include more than one independently adjustable zone.
[0083] Sometimes, the bed 112 can be adjusted to one or more user-defined positions based on user input and / or user preferences. For example, the bed 112 can be automatically adjusted to one or more user-defined settings via an articulation controller. As another example, the user can control the articulation controller to adjust the bed 112 to one or more user-defined positions. Sometimes, the bed 112 can be adjusted to one or more positions that can provide improved or otherwise improved sleep and sleep quality for the user. For example, when one or more sensors of the air bed system 100 detect that a user sleeping on one side of the bed 112 is snoring, the head on one side of the bed 112 can be automatically articulated via the articulation controller. Therefore, the user's snoring can be mitigated so that the snoring does not wake up another user sleeping on the bed 112.
[0084] In some implementations, one or more devices in communication with or in lieu of an articulation controller may be used to adjust the bed 112. For example, a user may use the remote control 122 described above to change the position of one or more portions of the bed 112. The user may also adjust the bed 112 using a mobile application or other graphical user interface presented on the user's mobile computing device.
[0085] The articulation controller can also provide different degrees of massage to one or more portions of the bed 112 for one or more users. A user can use the remote control 122 and / or a mobile device in communication with the air bed system 100 to adjust one or more massage settings of a portion of the bed 112.
[0086] The example air bed system 100 also includes a controller 110 to detect a condition of the mechanical heat detector 108 and operate the climate control system 102 based on the condition of the mechanical heat detector 108. Figure 2 As shown, the controller 110 includes circuitry 132 to detect the condition of the mechanical thermal detector 108 and send a signal to the control box 124 , which sends a command signal to operate the climate control system 102 based on the condition of the mechanical thermal detector 108 .
[0087] As an illustrative example, in use, the processor 136 receives a signal from the controller 110 indicating a value of a thermal condition of the mechanical thermal detector 108. For example, the controller 110 receives a signal from the mechanical thermal detector 108 indicating a value of the thermal condition; compares the value of the thermal condition to a plurality of thresholds; and based on the result of the comparison, transmits a signal to the processor 136 indicating that a thermal event has occurred in the bed 112. The processor 136 then transmits a command signal to the climate control system 102 to stop the operation of the heater 104 and the fan 106.
[0088] When a thermal event has not occurred, and based on the result of the comparison, the controller 110 transmits a signal to the processor 136 indicating that a thermal event has not occurred in the bed 112. The processor 136 then transmits a command signal to the climate control system 102 to enable operation of the heater 104 and the fan 106 by a user, such as through the remote control 122. Figures 19 to 23 The climate control system 102 , mechanical heat detector 108 , and controller 110 are described in greater detail.
[0089] like Fig.19As shown, the controller 110 is a module separate from the control box 124. The controller 110 is positioned to be spaced apart from the control box 124 and can be added to an existing air bed system 100. However, in some embodiments, the control box 124 includes the controller 110 to detect the status of the mechanical heat detector 108. In other words, the controller 110 is located inside the control box 124. In still other embodiments, the heater 104 and the fan 106 each include a separate controller 110, and the separate controllers independently detect the status of the mechanical heat detector 108. In still other embodiments, the controller 110 is included in the remote control 122 or the user device 310 (refer to Figure 3 described in more detail).
[0090] Example of a bed in a bedroom environment
[0091] Figure 3 An example environment 300 is shown that includes a bed 302 that communicates with devices located in and around the home. In the example shown, the bed 302 includes a pump 304 (as described above) for controlling the air pressure within two air chambers 306a and 306b. The pump 304 additionally includes a circuit 334 for controlling the inflation and deflation functions performed by the pump 304. The circuit 334 is programmed to detect air pressure fluctuations of the air chambers 306a-306b, and use the detected fluctuations to identify the presence of a user 308 in the bed, the user's sleep state, movement, and biometric signals (e.g., heart rate, breathing rate). The detected fluctuations can also be used to detect when the user 308 is snoring and whether the user 308 suffers from sleep apnea or other health conditions. The detected fluctuations can also be used to determine the overall sleep quality of the user 308.
[0092] In the example shown, the pump 304 is located within the support structure of the bed 302, and the control circuit 334 for controlling the pump 304 is integrated with the pump 304. In some implementations, the control circuit 334 is physically separated from the pump 304 and communicates with the pump 304 wirelessly or by wire. In some implementations, the pump 304 and / or the control circuit 334 are located outside the bed 302. In some implementations, various control functions can be performed by systems located in different physical locations. For example, the circuit for controlling the action of the pump 304 can be located within the pump housing of the pump 304, while the control circuit 334 for performing other functions associated with the bed 302 can be located in another part of the bed 302, or outside the bed 302. The control circuit 334 located within the pump 304 can also communicate with the control circuit 334 at a remote location via a LAN or WAN (e.g., the Internet). The control circuit 334 may also be included in Figure 1 and Figure 2 in the control box 124 .
[0093] In some implementations, one or more devices may be utilized to identify the user's presence in bed, sleep state, movement, biometric signals, and other information about the user (e.g., health-related sleep quality) in addition to or in addition to the pump 304 and the control circuit 334. For example, the bed 302 may include a second pump, each connected to a respective one of the air chambers 306a-306b. For example, the pump 304 may be in fluid communication with the air chamber 306b to control the inflation and deflation of the air chamber 306b, and to detect a user signal of a user located above the air chamber 306b. The second pump may be in fluid communication with the air chamber 306a, and used to control the inflation and deflation of the air chamber 306a, and to detect a user signal of a user located above the air chamber 306a.
[0094] As another example, the bed 302 may include one or more pressure-sensitive pads or surface portions operable to detect movement, including the presence, movement, breathing, and heart rate of a user. A first pressure-sensitive pad may be incorporated into the surface of the bed 302, above a left portion of the bed 302, where a first user is typically located during sleep; and a second pressure-sensitive pad may be incorporated into the surface of the bed 302, above a right portion of the bed 302, where a second user is typically located. Movement detected by the pressure-sensitive pads or surface portions may be used by the control circuitry 334 to identify a user's sleep state, presence in bed, or biometric signals for each user. The pressure-sensitive pads may also be removable rather than incorporated into the surface of the bed 302.
[0095] The bed 302 may also include one or more temperature sensors and / or sensor arrays that are operable to detect temperatures in the microclimate of the bed 302. The control circuit 334 may use the temperatures detected in the different microclimates of the bed 302 to determine one or more modifications to the sleeping environment of the user 308. For example, a temperature sensor located near the core area of the bed 302 where the user 308 rests may detect a high temperature value. Such a high temperature value may indicate that the user 308 is warm. In order to reduce the user's body temperature in such a microclimate, the control circuit 334 may determine that a cooling element of the bed 302 may be activated. As another example, the control circuit 334 may determine that a cooling unit in the home may be automatically activated to cool the ambient temperature in the environment 300.
[0096] The control circuit 334 may also process a combination of signals sensed by different sensors integrated into the bed 112, located on the bed, or otherwise in communication with the bed. For example, pressure and temperature signals may be processed by the control circuit 334 to more accurately determine one or more health conditions of the user 308 and / or the sleep quality of the user 308. Acoustic signals detected by one or more microphones or other audio sensors may also be used in conjunction with pressure or motion sensors to determine when the user 308 is snoring, whether the user 308 suffers from sleep apnea, and / or the overall sleep quality of the user 308. Combinations of one or more other sensed signals are also possible for the control circuit 334 to more accurately determine one or more health and / or sleep conditions of the user 308.
[0097] Thus, information detected by one or more sensors or other components of the bed 112 (e.g., motion information) can be processed by the control circuit 334 and provided to one or more user devices, such as the user device 310, for presentation to the user 308 or other users. The information can be presented in a mobile application or other graphical user interface at the user device 310. The user 308 can view different information processed and / or determined by the control circuit 334 and based on the signals detected by the components of the bed 302. For example, the user 308 can view their overall sleep quality during a particular sleep cycle (e.g., the previous night), historical trends in sleep quality, and health information. The user 308 can also use the mobile application presented at the user device 310 to adjust one or more settings of the bed 302 (e.g., increase or decrease pressure in one or more areas of the bed 302, tilt or lower different areas of the bed 302, turn on or off a massage feature of the bed 302, etc.).
[0098] exist Figure 3In the example shown, the user device 310 is a mobile phone; however, the user device 310 may also be any of the following: a tablet computer, a personal computer, a laptop computer, a smart phone, a smart TV (e.g., TV 312), a home automation device, or other user devices capable of wired or wireless communication with the control circuit 334, one or more other components of the bed 302, and / or one or more devices in the environment 300. The user device 310 can communicate with the control circuit 334 of the bed 302 through a network or through direct point-to-point communication. For example, the control circuit 334 can be connected to a LAN (e.g., through a WIFI router) and communicate with the user device 310 through the LAN. As another example, both the control circuit 334 and the user device 310 can be connected to the Internet and communicate through the Internet. For example, the control circuit 334 can be connected to the Internet through a WIFI router, and the user device 310 can be connected to the Internet through communication with a cellular communication system. As another example, the control circuit 334 can communicate directly with the user device 310 through a wireless communication protocol (such as Bluetooth). As yet another example, control circuit 334 may communicate with user device 310 via a wireless communication protocol (e.g., ZigBee, Z-Wave, infrared, or another wireless communication protocol suitable for the application). As another example, control circuit 334 may communicate with user device 310 via a wired connection (e.g., a USB connector, serial / RS232, or another wired connection suitable for the application).
[0099] As described above, the user device 310 can display various information and statistics related to sleep or the interaction of the user 308 with the bed 302. For example, the user interface displayed by the user device 310 can present information including the amount of sleep, the amount of deep sleep, the ratio of deep sleep to restless sleep, the time elapsed between the user 308 going to bed and falling asleep, the total amount of time spent on the bed 302 in a given time period, the heart rate in a time period, the breathing rate in a time period, or other information related to the user interaction of the user 308 or one or more other users with the bed 302. In some implementations, information for multiple users can be presented on the user device 310, for example, information for a first user positioned above the air chamber 306a can be presented together with information for a second user positioned above the air chamber 306b. In some implementations, the information presented on the user device 310 can vary according to the age of the user 308, so that the presented information evolves with the age of the user 308.
[0100] The user device 310 may also serve as an interface to the control circuitry 334 of the bed 302 to allow the user 308 to input information and / or adjust one or more settings of the bed 302. The information input by the user 308 may be used by the control circuitry 334 to provide better information to the user 308 or various control signals for controlling the functions of the bed 302 or other devices. For example, the user 308 may input information such as the weight, height, and age of the user 308. The control circuitry 334 may use this information to provide the user 308 with a comparison of the tracked sleep information of the user 308 with the sleep information of other persons having a similar weight, height, and / or age to the user 308. The control circuitry 334 may also use this information to accurately determine the overall sleep quality and / or health of the user 308 based on information detected by components (e.g., sensors) of the bed 302.
[0101] User 308 may also use user device 310 as an interface for controlling the air pressure of air chambers 306a and 306b, various recline or tilt positions of bed 302, the temperature of one or more surface temperature control devices of bed 302, or for allowing control circuit 334 to generate control signals for other devices (as described below).
[0102] The control circuit 334 may also communicate with other devices or systems, including but not limited to a television 312, a lighting system 314, a thermostat 316, a security system 318, home automation devices, and / or other household devices (e.g., an oven 322, a coffee maker 324, a lamp 326, a night light 328). Other examples of devices and / or systems include a system for controlling blinds 330, a device for detecting or controlling the state of one or more doors 332 (e.g., detecting whether a door is open, detecting whether a door is locked, or automatically locking a door), and a system for controlling a garage door 320 (e.g., a control circuit 334 integrated with a garage door opener to identify the open or closed state of the garage door 320 and to cause the garage door opener to open or close the garage door 320). Communication between the control circuit 334 and other devices may be performed over a network (e.g., a LAN or the Internet) or point-to-point communication (e.g., Bluetooth, radio communication, or a wired connection). The control circuits 334 of different beds 302 may also communicate with different groups of devices. For example, a child's bed may not communicate and / or control the same devices as an adult bed. In some embodiments, the bed 302 may evolve as the user ages, such that the control circuitry 334 of the bed 302 communicates with different devices depending on the age of the user of the bed 302 .
[0103] The control circuit 334 may receive information and input from other devices / systems and use the received information and input to control the actions of the bed 302 and / or other devices. For example, the control circuit 334 may receive information from the thermostat 316 indicating the current ambient temperature of the house or room in which the bed 302 is located. The control circuit 334 may use the received information (and other information, such as signals detected from one or more sensors of the bed 302) to determine whether the temperature of all or part of the surface of the bed 302 should be increased or decreased. The control circuit 334 may then cause the heating or cooling mechanism of the bed 302 to increase or decrease the temperature of the surface of the bed 302. The control circuit 334 may also cause the heating or cooling unit of the house or room in which the bed 302 is located to increase or decrease the ambient temperature around the bed 302. Thus, by adjusting the temperature of the bed 302 and / or the room in which the bed 302 is located, the user 308 may experience better sleep quality and comfort.
[0104] For example, user 308 may indicate a desired sleeping temperature of 74 degrees Fahrenheit, while a second user of bed 302 indicates a desired sleeping temperature of 72 degrees Fahrenheit. Thermostat 316 may transmit a signal indicating the room temperature to control circuit 334 at a predetermined time. Thermostat 316 may also send a continuous stream of detected room temperature values to control circuit 334. The transmitted signal may indicate to control circuit 334 that the current temperature of the bedroom is 72 degrees Fahrenheit. Control circuit 334 may recognize that user 308 has indicated a desired sleeping temperature of 74 degrees Fahrenheit, and may accordingly send a control signal to a heating pad located on the user 308 side of the bed to increase the temperature of the portion of the surface of bed 302 where user 308 is located until the desired temperature of user 308 is reached. In addition, control circuit 334 may send a control signal to thermostat 316 and / or a heating unit in the house to increase the temperature of the room where bed 302 is located.
[0105] The control circuitry 334 may generate control signals to control other devices and propagate control signals to other devices. The control signals may be generated based on information collected by the control circuitry 334, including information related to user interactions of the user 308 and / or one or more other users with the bed 302. Information collected from other devices other than the bed 302 may also be used when generating control signals. For example, information related to environmental events (e.g., ambient temperature, ambient noise level, and ambient light level), time of day, time of year, day of the week, or other information may be used when generating control signals for various devices that communicate with the control circuitry 334 of the bed 302.
[0106] For example, information about the time of day can be combined with information about the movement of user 308 and the user's presence in bed to generate control signals for lighting system 314. Control circuit 334 can determine when user 308 is in bed 302 and when user 308 falls asleep based on detected pressure signals of user 308 on bed 302. Once control circuit 334 determines that the user has fallen asleep, control circuit 334 can transmit control signals to lighting system 314 to turn off lights in the room where bed 302 is located, lower blinds 330 in the room, and / or activate night light 328. In addition, control circuit 334 can receive input from user 308 indicating a time when user 308 wants to wake up (e.g., via user device 310). When the time is approaching, control circuit 334 can transmit control signals to one or more devices in environment 300 to control the devices that can wake up user 308. For example, the control signal can be sent to a home automation device that controls multiple devices in a home. Control circuitry 334 may instruct home automation devices to raise blinds 330, turn off nightlight 328, turn on lighting under bed 302, start coffee maker 324, change the temperature in the house via thermostat 316, or perform some other home automation. Home automation devices may also be instructed to activate an alarm that may wake up user 308. Sometimes, user 308 may enter information at user device 310 that indicates an action that a home automation device or other device in environment 300 may take.
[0107] In some implementations, in addition to or in addition to providing control signals to other devices, the control circuitry 334 can provide the collected information (e.g., information related to user movement, presence in bed, sleep state, or biometric signals) to one or more other devices to allow the one or more other devices to utilize the collected information when generating control signals. For example, the control circuitry 334 of the bed 302 can provide information related to user interaction of the user 308 with the bed 302 to a central controller (such as the control box 124 described previously), which can use the provided information to generate control signals for various devices comprising the bed 302.
[0108] The central controller may be, for example, a hub device that provides various information about the user 308 and control information associated with the bed 302 and other devices in the house. The central controller may include sensors that detect signals that the control circuit 334 and / or the central controller may use to determine information about the user 308 (e.g., biometrics or other health data, sleep quality). The sensors may detect signals including, for example, ambient light, temperature, humidity, volatile organic compounds, pulse, motion, and audio. These signals may be combined with signals detected by the sensors of the bed 302 to determine accurate information about the health and sleep quality of the user 308. The central controller may provide controls (e.g., user-defined, preset, automatic, user-initiated) for the bed 302, determine and view sleep quality and health information, smart alarm clocks, speakers or other home automation devices, smart photo frames, night lights, and one or more mobile applications that the user 308 may install and use at the central controller. The central controller may include a display screen that outputs information and receives user input. The display may output information such as the health of the user 308, sleep quality, weather, security integrated features, lighting integrated features, heating and cooling integrated features, and other controls to automate devices in the house. The central controller may operate to provide the user 308 with functionality and control over a variety of different types of devices in the house as well as the user's 308 bed 302.
[0109] As Figure 3306b, and use the detected increase to determine that the user 308 is present on the bed 302. The control circuit 334 may also identify a heart rate or breathing rate for the user 308 to identify that the increased pressure is due to a person sitting, lying, or resting on the bed 302, rather than an inanimate object (e.g., a suitcase) being placed on the bed 302. In some implementations, information indicating the user's presence on the bed may be combined with other information to identify the current or possible future state of the user 308. For example, the user's presence on the bed detected at 11:00 a.m. may indicate that the user is sitting on the bed (e.g., tying shoes, or reading a book) and is not going to sleep, while the user's presence on the bed detected at 10:00 p.m. may indicate that the user 308 is lying on the bed for the night and is going to fall asleep soon. As another example, if control circuitry 334 detects that user 308 has left bed 302 at 6:30 A.M. (e.g., indicating that user 308 has woken up for the day), and subsequently detects user 308's presence in bed 302 at 7:30 A.M., control circuitry 334 may use the information that the newly detected presence may be temporary (e.g., when user 308 is lacing up his shoes before leaving for work) rather than an indication that user 308 is intending to remain in bed 302 for an extended period of time.
[0110] If the control circuit 334 determines that the user 308 is likely to stay in the bed 302 for an extended period of time, the control circuit 334 can determine one or more home automation controls that can help the user 308 fall asleep and experience improved sleep quality throughout the sleep cycle of the user 308. For example, the control circuit 334 can communicate with the security system 318 to ensure that the door is locked. The control circuit 334 can communicate with the oven 322 to ensure that the oven 322 is turned off. The control circuit 334 can also communicate with the lighting system 314 to dim or turn off the lights in the room where the bed 302 is located and / or the entire house, and the control circuit 334 can communicate with the thermostat 316 to ensure that the house is at the desired temperature of the user 308. The control circuit 334 can also determine one or more adjustments that can be made to the bed 302 to facilitate the user 308 to fall asleep and stay asleep (e.g., changing the position of one or more areas of the bed 302, foot warming, massage features, pressure / firmness of one or more areas of the bed 302, etc.).
[0111] In some implementations, the control circuit 334 may use the collected information (including information related to the user interaction of the user 308 with the bed 302, environmental information, time information, and user input) to identify the usage pattern of the user 308. For example, the control circuit 334 may use information indicating the presence and sleep state of the user 308 in the bed collected over a period of time to identify the user's sleep pattern. The control circuit 334 may identify that the user 308 typically goes to bed between 9:30 pm and 10:00 pm, typically falls asleep between 10:00 pm and 11:00 pm, and typically wakes up between 6:30 am and 6:45 am based on information indicating the user presence and biometrics of the user 308 collected over a week or different time periods. The control circuit 334 may use the identified pattern of the user 308 to better process and identify the user interaction with the bed 302.
[0112] Given the above example of user presence, sleeping, and waking patterns of user 308 in bed, if user 308 is detected as being in bed 302 at 3:00 p.m., control circuitry 334 may determine that user 308's presence in bed 302 is temporary, and use this determination to generate a control signal that is different from if control circuitry 334 determines that user 308 is lying in bed at night (e.g., at 3:00 p.m., the head area of bed 302 may be raised to facilitate reading or watching TV in bed 302, while at night, bed 302 may be adjusted to a horizontal position to facilitate falling asleep). As another example, if control circuitry 334 detects that user 308 is getting out of bed at 3:00 a.m., control circuitry 334 may use recognition patterns of user 308 to determine that the user has temporarily gotten out of bed (e.g., to go to the bathroom, drink a glass of water). Control circuitry 334 may turn on under-bed lighting to help user 308 carefully move around bed 302 and the room. In contrast, if the control circuit 334 identifies that the user 308 has gotten out of the bed 302 at 6:40 AM, the control circuit 334 may determine that the user 308 has gotten out of bed and generate a different set of control signals (e.g., the control circuit 334 may turn on the lights 326 near the bed 302 and / or raise the blinds 330). For other users, getting out of bed 302 at 3:00 AM may be a normal wake-up time, and the control circuit 334 may learn and respond accordingly. In addition, if the bed 302 is used by two users, the control circuit 334 may learn and respond to the patterns of each of the two users.
[0113] The bed 302 may also generate control signals based on communications with one or more devices. As an illustrative example, the control circuit 334 may receive an indication from the television 312 that the television 312 is turned on. If the television 312 is located in a different room from the bed 302, the control circuit 334 may generate a control signal to turn off the television 312 when it is determined that the user 308 has gone to bed or remains in the room of the bed 302. If the presence of the user 308 on the bed 302 is detected during a specific time range (e.g., between 8:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m.) and lasts longer than a threshold time period (e.g., 10 minutes), the control circuit 334 may determine that the user 308 is in bed at night. If the television 312 is turned on, as described above, the control circuit 334 may generate a control signal to turn off the television 312. The control signal may be transmitted to the television (e.g., via a directional communication link or via a network, such as WIFI). As another example, control circuitry 334 may generate a control signal such that the volume of television 312 is reduced by a predetermined amount, rather than turning off television 312 in response to detecting the presence of a user in bed.
[0114] As another example, upon detecting that user 308 has left bed 302 during a specified time range (e.g., between 6:00 a.m. and 8:00 a.m.), control circuitry 334 may generate a control signal to cause television 312 to turn on and tune to a pre-specified channel (e.g., user 308 indicated a preference to watch the morning news upon waking up). Control circuitry 334 may accordingly generate and transmit a control signal to television 312 (which may be stored at control circuitry 334, television 312, or another location). As another example, upon detecting that user 308 has gotten out of bed to begin the day's workday, control circuitry 334 may generate and transmit a control signal to cause television 312 to turn on and begin playing a previously recorded program from a digital video recorder (DVR) in communication with television 312.
[0115] As another example, if the television 312 is in the same room as the bed 302, the control circuit 334 may not turn off the television 312 in response to detecting the presence of the user on the bed. Instead, the control circuit 334 may generate and transmit a control signal to turn off the television 312 in response to determining that the user 308 is sleeping. For example, the control circuit 334 may monitor the biometric signals (e.g., motion, heart rate, breathing rate) of the user 308 to determine that the user 308 has fallen asleep. Upon detecting that the user 308 is sleeping, the control circuit 334 generates and transmits a control signal to turn off the television 312. As another example, the control circuit 334 may generate a control signal to turn off the television 312 after a threshold time period has passed since the user 308 has fallen asleep (e.g., 10 minutes after the user has fallen asleep). As another example, after determining that the user 308 has fallen asleep, the control circuit 334 generates a control signal to reduce the volume of the television 312. As yet another example, control circuit 334 generates and transmits control signals to cause a television to gradually reduce volume over a period of time and then turn off in response to determining that user 308 is asleep. Any control signals described above with reference to television 312 may also be determined by the central controller described above.
[0116] In some implementations, the control circuit 334 can similarly interact with other media devices, such as computers, tablet computers, mobile phones, smart phones, wearable devices, stereo systems, etc. For example, upon detecting that the user 308 is sleeping, the control circuit 334 can generate and transmit a control signal to the user device 310 to cause the user device 310 to turn off or lower the volume of a video or audio file being played by the user device 310.
[0117] The control circuit 334 may additionally communicate with the lighting system 314, receive information from the lighting system 314, and generate control signals for controlling the functions of the lighting system 314. For example, when the presence of a user on the bed 302 is detected during a specific time frame (e.g., between 8:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m.) that lasts longer than a threshold time period (e.g., 10 minutes), the control circuit 334 of the bed 302 may determine that the user 308 is in bed at night, and generate a control signal to turn off the lights in one or more rooms other than the room where the bed 302 is located. The control circuit 334 may generate and transmit a control signal to turn off the lights in all common rooms, but not the lights in other bedrooms. As another example, the control signal may indicate that the lights in all rooms except the room where the bed 302 is located are to be turned off, and one or more lights located outside the house containing the bed 302 are to be turned on. The control circuit 334 may generate and transmit a control signal to turn on the night light 328 in response to determining the presence of the user 308 on the bed or the user 308 falling asleep. The control circuit 334 can also generate a first control signal for turning off a first group of lights (e.g., lights in a common room) in response to detecting the presence of a user in the bed, and generate a second control signal for turning off a second group of lights (e.g., lights in the room where the bed 302 is located) when it is detected that the user 308 is asleep.
[0118] In some implementations, in response to determining that the user 308 is in bed at night, the control circuit 334 of the bed 302 can generate a control signal to cause the lighting system 314 to implement a sunset lighting scheme in the room where the bed 302 is located. The sunset lighting scheme can include, for example, dimming the lights (either gradually dimming over time or suddenly dimming) in conjunction with changing the color of the light in the bedroom environment, such as adding an amber tint to the lighting in the bedroom. When the control circuit 334 has determined that the user 308 is in bed at night, the sunset lighting scheme can help to lull the user 308 to sleep. Sometimes, the control signal can cause the lighting system 314 to dim the lights in the bedroom environment or change the color of the lights, but not both.
[0119] The control circuit 334 may also implement a sunrise lighting scheme when the user 308 wakes up in the morning. The control circuit 334 may determine that the user 308 is awake for the day, for example, by detecting that the user 308 has left the bed 302 (e.g., is no longer present on the bed 302) during a specified time range (e.g., between 6:00 a.m. and 8:00 a.m.). The control circuit 334 may also monitor the movement, heart rate, breathing rate, or other biometric signals of the user 308 to determine whether the user 308 is awake or waking up, even if the user 308 has not yet gotten out of bed. If the control circuit 334 detects that the user is awake or awake during a specified time frame, the control circuit 334 may determine that the user 308 is awake for the day. The specified time frame may be based on, for example, previously recorded information of the user's presence in bed collected over a period of time (e.g., two weeks), which indicates that the user 308 typically wakes up between 6:30 a.m. and 7:30 a.m. In response to the control circuit 334 determining that the user 308 is awake, the control circuit 334 may generate a control signal to cause the lighting system 314 to implement a sunrise lighting scheme in the bedroom where the bed 302 is located. The sunrise lighting scheme may include, for example, turning on a light (e.g., light 326 or other lights in the bedroom). The sunrise lighting scheme may also include gradually increasing the light level in the room where the bed 302 is located (or one or more other rooms). The sunrise lighting scheme may also include turning on only lights of a specific color. The sunrise lighting scheme may include illuminating the bedroom with blue light to gently help the user 308 wake up and become active.
[0120] The control circuitry 334 may also generate different control signals for controlling the actions of components depending on the time of day at which the user interacts with the bed 302. For example, the control circuitry 334 may use historical user interaction information to determine that the user 308 typically falls asleep between 10:00 PM and 11:00 PM on weekdays, and typically wakes up between 6:30 AM and 7:30 AM. If the user 308 is detected as waking up at 3:00 AM (e.g., turning on a light that directs the user 308 to the bathroom or kitchen), the control circuitry 334 may use this information to generate a first set of control signals for controlling the lighting system 314, and a second set of control signals for controlling the lighting system 314 if the user 308 is detected as waking up after 6:30 AM.
[0121] In some implementations, if the user 308 is detected as waking up before the designated morning wake-up time of the user 308, the control circuitry 334 can cause the lighting system 314 to turn on dimmer lights than lights that would be turned on by the lighting system 314 if the user 308 was detected as waking up after the designated morning wake-up time. Having the lighting system 314 turn on dim lights only when the user 308 is waking up at night (e.g., before the normal wake-up time of the user 308) can prevent other occupants of the house from being woken up by the lights while still allowing the user 308 to be seen to reach his destination in the house.
[0122] The historical user interaction information of the interaction between the user 308 and the bed 302 can be used to identify the user's sleeping and awake time frames. For example, the time of the user's presence in the bed and the sleep time can be determined for a set time period (e.g., two weeks, a month, etc.). The control circuit 334 can identify the typical time range or time frame when the user 308 goes to bed, the typical time frame when the user 308 falls asleep, and the typical time frame when the user 308 wakes up (and in some cases, the different time frames when the user 308 wakes up and when the user 308 actually gets up). Buffer time can be added to these time frames. For example, if the user is identified as typically going to bed between 10:00 p.m. and 10:30 p.m., a half-hour buffer in each direction can be added to the time frame so that any detection of the user going to bed between 9:30 p.m. and 11:00 p.m. is interpreted as the user 308 going to bed at night. As another example, detecting the presence of user 308 in bed from half an hour before the earliest typical time that user 308 goes to bed, extending to the typical wake-up time of user 308 (e.g., 6:30 a.m.), can be interpreted as user 308 going to bed for the night. For example, if user 308 typically goes to bed between 10:00 p.m. and 10:30 p.m., if the presence of user 308 is sensed in bed at 12:30 a.m. on a particular night, this can be interpreted as user 308 going to bed for the night, even though this is outside the typical time frame for user 308 to go to bed because it occurs before the normal wake-up time of user 308. In some implementations, different time frames are identified for different times of the year (e.g., earlier bedtimes in winter versus summer) or different times of the week (e.g., user 308 wakes up earlier on weekdays than on weekends).
[0123] The control circuit 334 can distinguish between a user 308 being in bed for a long time (e.g., overnight) and a user being present for a short time (e.g., nap) on the bed 302 by sensing the duration of the user 308's presence (e.g., by detecting pressure and / or temperature signals of the user 308 on the bed 302 by sensors integrated into the bed 302). In some examples, the control circuit 334 can distinguish between a user 308 being in bed for a long time (e.g., overnight) or a short time (e.g., nap) on the bed by sensing the duration of the user 308's sleep. The control circuit 334 can set a time threshold, whereby if the user 308 is sensed to be on the bed 302 for longer than the threshold, the user 308 is considered to have gone to bed at night. In some examples, the threshold can be about 2 hours, whereby if the user 308 is sensed to be on the bed 302 for more than 2 hours, the control circuit 334 registers it as an extended sleep event. In other examples, the threshold can be greater than or less than two hours. The threshold can be determined based on historical trends indicating how long a user typically sleeps or otherwise stays on the bed 302.
[0124] The control circuitry 334 may detect repeated extended sleep events to automatically determine a typical bedtime range for the user 308, without requiring the user 308 to input a bedtime range. This may allow the control circuitry 334 to accurately estimate when the user 308 is likely to go to bed for an extended sleep event, regardless of whether the user 308 typically goes to bed using a traditional sleep schedule or a non-traditional sleep schedule. The control circuitry 334 may then use the knowledge of the bedtime range of the user 308 to control one or more components (including components of the bed 302 and / or non-bed peripherals) based on a sensed presence in the bed during or outside of the bedtime range.
[0125] The control circuit 334 can automatically determine the bedtime range for the user 308 without user input. The control circuit 334 can also automatically and in combination with user input (e.g., using signals sensed by sensors of the bed 302 and / or a central controller) determine the bedtime range. The control circuit 334 can directly set the bedtime range based on user input. The control circuit 334 can associate different bedtimes with different days of the week. In each of these examples, the control circuit 334 can control components (e.g., lighting system 314, thermostat 316, security system 318, oven 322, coffee maker 324, lamp 326, night light 328) based on the sensed presence on the bed and the bedtime range.
[0126] The control circuit 334 may also determine a control signal to be transmitted to the thermostat 316 based on the preferences input by the user and / or to maintain an improved or preferred sleep quality of the user 308. For example, the control circuit 334 may determine that the user 308 experiences their best sleep when the bedroom is at 74 degrees Fahrenheit based on the historical sleep patterns and quality of the user 308 and by applying a machine learning model. The control circuit 334 may receive a temperature signal indicating the temperature of the bedroom from a device and / or sensor in the bedroom. When the temperature is below 74 degrees Fahrenheit, the control circuit 334 may determine a control signal that causes the thermostat 316 to activate a heating unit to increase the temperature in the bedroom to 74 degrees Fahrenheit. When the temperature is above 74 degrees Fahrenheit, the control circuit 334 may determine a control signal that causes the thermostat 316 to activate a cooling unit to reduce the temperature back to 74 degrees Fahrenheit. Sometimes, the control circuit 334 may determine a control signal that causes the thermostat 316 to maintain the bedroom within a temperature range intended to keep the user 308 in a particular sleep state and / or transition to the next preferred sleep state.
[0127] Similarly, the control circuit 334 can generate control signals to cause the heating or cooling elements on the surface of the bed 302 to change temperature at different times, or in response to user interaction with the bed 302, at different preprogrammed times, based on user preferences, and / or in response to detecting the microclimate temperature of the user 308 on the bed 302. For example, when it is detected that the user 308 has fallen asleep, the control circuit 334 can activate the heating element to increase the temperature of one side of the surface of the bed 302 to 73 degrees Fahrenheit. As another example, when it is determined that the user 308 has gotten up for the day, the control circuit 334 can turn off the heating or cooling element. The user 308 can preprogram various times when the temperature at the surface of the bed should be increased or decreased. As another example, a temperature sensor on the surface of the bed can detect the microclimate of the user 308. When the detected microclimate drops below a predetermined threshold temperature, the control circuit 334 can activate the heating element to raise the body temperature of the user 308, thereby improving the comfort of the user 308, maintaining the sleep cycle, transitioning the user 308 to the next preferred sleep state, and / or maintaining or improving the sleep quality of the user 308.
[0128] In response to detecting the presence of a user in the bed and / or the user 308 is sleeping, the control circuit 334 can also cause the thermostat 316 to change the temperature in different rooms to different values. Other control signals are also possible and can be based on user preferences and user input. In addition, the control circuit 334 can receive temperature information from the thermostat 316 and use this information to control the function of the bed 302 or other devices (e.g., adjust the temperature of the heating element of the bed 302 (such as a warm foot pad)). The control circuit 334 can also generate and transmit control signals for controlling other temperature control systems, such as floor heating elements in bedrooms or other rooms.
[0129] The control circuit 334 may communicate with the security system 318, receive information from the security system 318, and generate control signals for controlling functions of the security system 318. For example, in response to detecting that the user 308 has gone to bed for the night, the control circuit 334 may generate a control signal to enable or disarm a security function of the security system 318. As another example, the control circuit 334 may generate and transmit a control signal to disable the security system 318 in response to determining that the user 308 has woken up for the day (e.g., the user 308 is no longer present in the bed 302).
[0130] The control circuit 334 may also receive an alert from the security system 318 and indicate the alert to the user 308. For example, the security system may detect a security breach (e.g., someone opened the door 332 without entering a security code, someone opened a window when the security system 318 was enabled) and communicate the security breach to the control circuit 334. The control circuit 334 may then generate a control signal to alert the user 308, such as causing the bed 302 to vibrate, causing a portion of the bed 302 to articulate (e.g., the head section is raised or lowered), causing the light 326 to flash at regular intervals, etc. The control circuit 334 may also alert the user 308 of a bed 302 of a security breach in another bedroom, such as an open window in a child's bedroom. The control circuit 334 may send an alert to a garage door controller (e.g., close and lock the door). The control circuit 334 may send an alert that a security measure has been lifted. The control circuit 334 may also trigger a smart alarm or other alarm device / alarm near the bed 302. Control circuitry 334 may transmit a push notification, text message, or other indication of the security breach to user device 310. Additionally, control circuitry 334 may transmit notification of the security breach to a central controller, which may then determine one or more responses to the security breach.
[0131] The control circuit 334 may additionally generate and transmit control signals for controlling the garage door 320, and receive information indicating the state of the garage door 320 (e.g., open or closed). The control circuit 334 may also request information about the current state of the garage door 320. If the control circuit 334 receives a response that the garage door 320 is open (e.g., from a garage door opener), the control circuit 334 may notify the user 308 that the garage door is open (e.g., by displaying a notification or other message at the user device 310, outputting a notification at the central controller), and / or generate a control signal to cause the garage door opener to close the door. The control circuit 334 may also vibrate the bed 302, flash the lighting system 314 in the bedroom, and so on. The control signal may also vary depending on the age of the user 308. Similarly, the control circuit 334 may similarly send and receive communications for controlling or receiving state information associated with the door 332 or the oven 322.
[0132] In some implementations, different alarms can be generated for different events. For example, the control circuit 334 can cause the light 326 (or other light, via the lighting system 314) to flash in a first pattern when the security system 318 detects a breach, in a second pattern when the garage door 320 is open, in a third pattern when the door 332 is open, in a fourth pattern when the oven 322 is on, and in a fifth pattern when another bed has detected that the user 308 of the bed has gotten up (e.g., a child sensed by a sensor in a child's bed has gotten up in the middle of the night). Other examples of alarms include a smoke detector that detects smoke (and transmits that detection to the control circuit 334), a carbon monoxide tester, a heater failure, or an alarm from another device that can communicate with the control circuit 334 and detect an event that warrants the attention of the user 308.
[0133] The control circuit 334 may also communicate with a system or device for controlling the state of the blinds 330. For example, in response to determining that the user 308 has woken up for the day or that the user 308 has set an alarm to wake up at a specific time, the control circuit 334 may generate and transmit a control signal to cause the blinds 330 to open. In contrast, if the user 308 wakes up before the normal wake-up time of the user 308, the control circuit 334 may determine that the user 308 has not woken up for the day and may not generate a control signal to open the blinds 330. The control circuit 334 may also generate and transmit a control signal that causes the first set of blinds to close in response to detecting the presence of the user in bed and causes the second set of blinds to close in response to detecting that the user 308 is asleep.
[0134] As another example, in response to determining that the user 308 has woken up for the day, the control circuit 334 may generate and transmit a control signal to the coffee maker 324 to cause the coffee maker 324 to brew coffee. The control circuit 334 may generate and transmit a control signal to the oven 322 to cause the oven 322 to begin preheating. The control circuit 334 may use information indicating that the user 308 has woken up for the day and information indicating that the time of year is currently winter and / or the outside temperature is below a threshold to generate and transmit a control signal to cause the car engine block heater to turn on. The control circuit 334 may generate and transmit a control signal to cause the device to enter a sleep mode (e.g., cause the user 308's mobile phone to switch to a sleep or night mode, so that notifications are muted to not disturb the user 308's sleep) in response to detecting the presence of the user in bed, or in response to detecting that the user 308 is asleep. Later, upon determining that the user 308 has gotten up for the day, the control circuit 334 may generate and transmit a control signal to cause the mobile phone to switch out of the sleep / night mode.
[0135] The control circuit 334 may also communicate with one or more noise control devices. For example, once it is determined that the user 308 is in bed at night, or the user 308 is asleep (e.g., based on a pressure signal received from the bed 302, an audio / decibel signal received from an audio sensor located on or around the bed 302), the control circuit 334 may generate and transmit a control signal to activate a noise cancellation device. The noise cancellation device may be part of the bed 302 or located in a bedroom. Upon determining that the user 308 is in bed at night, or the user 308 is asleep, the control circuit 334 may generate and transmit a control signal to turn on, turn off, increase, or decrease the volume of one or more sound generating devices (such as a stereo system radio, a television, a computer, a tablet computer, a mobile phone, etc.).
[0136] Additionally, the functions of the bed 302 can be controlled by the control circuit 334 in response to user interaction. For example, the articulation controller can adjust the bed 302 from a horizontal position to a position where the head portion of the mattress of the bed 302 is tilted upward (e.g., so that the user can sit up, read and / or watch TV in bed). Sometimes, the bed 302 includes multiple independent sections that can be articulated. The portions of the bed corresponding to the positions of the air chambers 306a and 306b can be articulated independently of each other to allow one person to rest in a first position (e.g., a lying position) while another person rests in a second position (e.g., a reclining position with the head raised at an angle from the waist). Separate positions can be set for two different beds (e.g., two double beds placed side by side). The base of the bed 302 can include more than one area that can be adjusted independently. As described above, the articulation controller can also provide different degrees of massage to one or more users on the bed 302, or vibrate the bed to convey an alarm to the user 308.
[0137] The control circuit 334 may adjust the position (e.g., the tilt and lower position of the user 308 and / or additional users) in response to user interaction with the bed 302 (e.g., causing the articulation controller to adjust to a first reclined position in response to sensing the presence of a user on the bed). The control circuit 334 may cause the articulation controller to adjust the bed 302 to a second reclined position (e.g., a less reclined or lying flat position) in response to determining that the user 308 is asleep. As another example, the control circuit 334 may receive a communication from the television 312 indicating that the user 308 has turned off the television 312, and in response, the control circuit 334 may cause the articulation controller to adjust the position of the bed to a preferred user sleeping position (e.g., because the user turned off the television 312 while the user 308 was in the bed, indicating that the user 308 wishes to sleep).
[0138] In some embodiments, the control circuit 334 can control the articulation controller to wake up one user without waking up another user of the bed 302. For example, the user 308 and the second user can each set different wake-up times (e.g., 6:30 a.m. and 7:15 a.m., respectively). When the wake-up time for user 308 is reached, the control circuit 334 can cause the articulation controller to vibrate or change the position of only one side of the bed where the user 308 is located. When the wake-up time for the second user is reached, the control circuit 334 can cause the articulation controller to vibrate or change the position of only one side of the bed where the second user is located. Alternatively, when the second wake-up time occurs, the control circuit 334 can utilize other methods (such as an audio alarm or turning on a light) to wake up the second user because the user 308 is already awake and therefore will not be disturbed when the control circuit 334 attempts to wake up the second user.
[0139] Still reference Figure 3 , the control circuit 334 of the bed 302 can use information about multiple users interacting with the bed 302 to generate control signals for controlling functions of various other devices. For example, the control circuit 334 can wait to generate control signals for devices until the user 308 and the second user are detected in the bed 302. The control circuit 334 can generate a first set of control signals upon detecting the presence of the user 308 in the bed, so that the lighting system 314 turns off the first set of lights, and generates a second set of control signals in response to detecting the presence of the second user in the bed to turn off the second set of lights. The control circuit 334 can also wait until it is determined that both users are awake before generating a control signal to open the blinds 330. One or more other home automation control signals can be determined and generated by the control circuit 334, the user device 310 and / or the central controller.
[0140] In some implementations, one or more devices in the environment 300 include a room smoke detector 336. The room smoke detector 336 detects smoke in the environment 300. Smoke in the environment 300 may indicate a thermal event in or on the mattress and / or in the environment. The room smoke detector 336 may transmit a signal indicating the occurrence of a thermal event to the central controller (processor 136 of the control box 124). The processor 136 will then transmit a command signal to the climate control system 102 to stop the operation of the heater 104 and the fan 106. The room smoke detector 336 may also transmit a signal indicating the occurrence of a thermal event to the security system 318.
[0141] Example of a data processing system associated with a bed
[0142] Example systems and components for data processing tasks associated with, for example, a bed are described. In some cases, multiple examples of a particular component or group of components are presented. Some examples are redundant and / or mutually exclusive alternatives. Connections between components are shown as examples to illustrate possible network configurations that allow communication between components. Different forms of connections may be used depending on technical needs / desires. Connections generally represent logical connections that can be created in any technically feasible format. For example, a network on a motherboard can be created using a printed circuit board, a wireless data connection, and / or other types of network connections. For clarity, some logical connections (e.g., connections to a power source and / or computer readable memory) are not shown.
[0143] Figure 4A is a block diagram of an example data processing system 400 that may be associated with a bed system, including those described above (e.g., see Figures 1 to 3 ). The system 400 includes a motherboard 402 and a daughterboard 404. The system 400 includes a sensor array 406 having one or more sensors configured to sense physical phenomena of the environment and / or the bed, and configured to report the sensing back to the motherboard 402 (e.g., for analysis). In this specific implementation, the sensor array 406 can be the mechanical heat detector 108 described herein. The sensor array 406 can include one or more different types of sensors, including but not limited to pressure, temperature, light, movement (e.g., motion), and audio sensors. The system 400 also includes a controller array 408, which can include one or more controllers configured to control logic control devices of the bed and / or the environment (e.g., home automation devices, security systems, light systems, and Figure 3 4). Motherboard 402 may communicate with computing device 414 and cloud service 410 via a local network (eg, Internet 412) or other technically appropriate means.
[0144] exist Figure 4A4, the motherboard 402 and the daughterboard 404 are communicatively coupled. They can be conceptually described as the center or hub of the system 400, while the other components are conceptually described as spokes of the system 400. This can mean that each spoke component communicates primarily or exclusively with the motherboard 402. For example, sensors of the sensor array 406, such as the mechanical heat detector 108, may not be configured to or may not be able to communicate directly with the corresponding controller. Instead, the sensors can report sensor readings to the motherboard 402, and the motherboard 402 can determine that, in response, the controller of the controller array 408 should adjust some parameters of the logic control device or modify the state of one or more peripheral devices.
[0145] One advantage of a hub-and-spoke network configuration, or star network, is that network traffic is reduced compared to, for example, a mesh network with dynamic routing. If a particular sensor generates a large, continuous stream of traffic, that traffic is transmitted to the motherboard 402 via one spoke. The motherboard 402 can organize and compress that data into a smaller data format for retransmission for storage in the cloud service 410. Additionally or alternatively, the motherboard 402 can generate a single, small command message to be sent along a different spoke in response to the large stream. For example, if the large data stream is pressure readings transmitted from the sensor array 406 several times per second, the motherboard 402 can respond to the controller array 408 with a single command message to increase the pressure in the air chamber of the bed. In this case, the single command message can be several orders of magnitude smaller than the stream of pressure readings.
[0146] As another advantage, the hub-and-spoke network configuration can allow for a scalable network that accommodates components being added, removed, failing, etc. This can allow for more, fewer, or different sensors in the sensor array 406, more, fewer, or different controllers in the controller array 408, can allow for more, fewer, or different computing devices 414, and / or more, fewer, or different cloud services 410. For example, if a particular sensor fails or is deprecated by a newer version, the system 400 can be configured so that only the motherboard 402 needs to be updated to replace the sensor. This can allow for product differentiation (where the same motherboard 402 can support an entry-level product with fewer sensors and controllers, a higher-value product with more sensors and controllers), and customer personalization (where a customer can add components of their choice to the system 400).
[0147] Additionally, a line of airbed products may use system 400 with different components. In applications where each airbed in a production line includes a central logic unit and pump, motherboard 402 (and optionally daughterboard 404) may be designed to fit within a single common housing. With each upgrade of a product in a product line, additional sensors, controllers, cloud services, etc. may be added. By designing all products in a product line on this basis, design, manufacturing, and testing time may be reduced compared to a product line where each product has a custom logic control system.
[0148] Each of the components discussed above can be implemented with a variety of techniques and configurations. Some examples of each component are discussed below. Sometimes, two or more components of system 400 can be implemented in a single alternative component; some components can be implemented in multiple separate components; and / or some functions can be provided by different components.
[0149] Figure 4B 4 is a block diagram illustrating the communication paths of system 400. As described above, motherboard 402 and daughterboard 404 can act as the hub of system 400. When daughterboard 404 communicates with cloud service 410 or other components, the communication can be routed through motherboard 402. This can allow the bed to have a single connection to the Internet 412. Computing device 414 can also have a connection to the Internet 412, possibly through the same gateway used by the bed and / or a different gateway (e.g., a cellular service provider).
[0150] exist Figure 4B , cloud services 410d and 410e may be configured so that motherboard 402 communicates directly with the cloud services (e.g., without having to use another cloud service 410 as an intermediary). Additionally or alternatively, some cloud services 410 (e.g., 410f) may only be reachable by motherboard 402 through an intermediary cloud service (e.g., 410e). Although not shown here, some cloud services 410 may be reachable directly or indirectly through pump motherboard 402.
[0151] Additionally, some or all of the cloud services 410 may communicate with other cloud services, including data transfers and / or remote function calls in any technically suitable format. For example, one cloud service 410 may request a copy of the data of another cloud service 410 (e.g., for backup, coordination, migration, computation, data mining purposes). Many cloud services 410 may also contain data indexed according to a specific user tracked by the user account cloud 410c and / or the bed data cloud 410a. These cloud services 410 may communicate with the user account cloud 410c and / or the bed data cloud 410a when accessing specific data for a specific user or bed.
[0152] Figure 5 is related to the bed system (e.g., reference Figures 1 to 3) is a block diagram of an example motherboard 402 in a data processing system associated with the present invention. In this example, the motherboard 402 includes relatively fewer parts than other examples described below, and may be limited to providing a relatively limited feature set.
[0153] The motherboard 402 includes a power supply 500, a processor 502, and a computer memory 512. In general, the power supply 500 includes hardware for receiving power from an external source and providing it to the components of the motherboard 402. The power supply may include a battery pack and / or a wall outlet adapter, an AC to DC converter, a DC to AC converter, a power conditioner, a capacitor bank, and / or one or more interfaces for providing power at the type of current, voltage, etc. required by the other components of the motherboard 402.
[0154] Processor 502 is generally a device for receiving input, performing logical determinations, and providing output. Processor 502 may be a central processing unit, a microprocessor, a general purpose logic circuit, an application specific integrated circuit, a combination of these, and / or other hardware.
[0155] Memory 512 is typically one or more devices for storing data, which may include long-term stable data storage (e.g., on a hard disk), short-term volatile data storage (e.g., in random access memory), or any other technically suitable configuration.
[0156] The motherboard 402 includes a controller 504 (such as the control box 124) and a system 506, such as a climate control system 102 having a heater 104 and a fan 106. The controller 504 may receive commands from the processor 502 to control the operation of the system 506. For example, the controller 504 may receive a command to increase or decrease the speed of the fan 106, the pressure of the air chamber by 15 revolutions per minute (RPM), or to increase or decrease the heat output of the heater 104 by 100 watts.
[0157] When the system 506 is a pump motor, the controller 504 may receive commands from the processor 502 to control the operation of the system 506. For example, the controller 504 may receive a command to increase the pressure of the air chamber by 0.3 pounds per square inch (PSI). In response, the controller 504 enables the valve so that the pump motor 506 pumps air into the selected air chamber, and the system 506 may be enabled for a period of time corresponding to 0.3 PSI or until the sensor indicates that the pressure has increased by 0.3 PSI. Sometimes, the message may specify that the chamber should be inflated to a target PSI, and the pump controller 504 may enable the system 506 until the target PSI is reached.
[0158] The valve solenoid 508 can control which air chamber the pump is connected to. In some cases, the solenoid 508 can be controlled directly by the processor 502. In some cases, the solenoid 508 can be controlled by the pump controller 504.
[0159] The remote interface 510 of the motherboard 402 may allow the motherboard 402 to communicate with other components of the data processing system. For example, the motherboard 402 may communicate with one or more daughter boards, peripheral sensors, and / or peripheral controllers via the remote interface 510. The remote interface 510 may provide any technically suitable communication interface, including but not limited to a plurality of communication interfaces, such as WIFI, Bluetooth, and copper wire networks.
[0160] Figure 6 is a block diagram of another example motherboard 402. Figure 5 Compared with the motherboard 402, Figure 6 The motherboard 402 in the embodiment may include more components and provide more functions in some applications.
[0161] The motherboard 402 may also include a valve controller 600 , a pressure sensor 602 , a universal serial bus (USB) stack 604 , a WiFi radio 606 , a Bluetooth low energy (BLE) radio 608 , a ZigBee radio 610 , a Bluetooth radio 612 , and computer memory 512 .
[0162] The valve controller 600 can convert the command from the processor 502 into a control signal for the valve solenoid 508. For example, the processor 502 can issue a command to the valve controller 600 to connect the pump to a specific air chamber in a set of air chambers of the air mattress. The valve controller 600 can control the position of the valve solenoid 508 so that the pump is connected to the indicated air chamber.
[0163] The pressure sensor 602 can read pressure readings from one or more air chambers of the air mattress. The pressure sensor 602 can also perform digital sensor conditioning. As described herein, multiple pressure sensors 602 can be included as part of the motherboard 402 or otherwise communicate with the motherboard 402.
[0164] The motherboard 402 may include a set of network interfaces 604, 606, 608, 610, 612, etc., including but not limited to Figure 6 These network interfaces can allow the motherboard to communicate with any device over a wired or wireless network, including but not limited to peripheral sensors, peripheral controllers, computing devices, and devices and services connected to the Internet 412.
[0165] Figure 7404 is a block diagram of an example daughter board 404 used in a data processing system associated with the bed system described herein. One or more daughter boards 404 can be connected to the motherboard 402. Some daughter boards 404 can be designed to offload specific and / or separate tasks from the motherboard 402. This may be advantageous if a specific task is computationally intensive, proprietary, or subject to future versions. For example, the daughter board 404 can be used to calculate a specific sleep data metric. The metric can be computationally intensive, and calculating the metric on the daughter board 404 can free up resources of the motherboard 402 while the metric is being calculated. The sleep metric may be revised in the future. In order to update the system 400 with a new metric, it is possible that only the daughter board 404 calculates the metric to be replaced. In this case, the same motherboard 402 and other components can be used, thereby saving the need to unit test additional components rather than just the daughter board 404.
[0166] The daughter board 404 includes a power supply 700, a processor 702, a computer readable memory 704, a pressure sensor 706, and a WiFi radio component 708. The processor 702 can use the pressure sensor 706 to collect information about the pressure of the air mattress chamber. The processor 702 can execute an algorithm to calculate sleep indicators (e.g., sleep quality, presence in bed, whether the user falls asleep, heart rate, breathing rate, movement, etc.). Sometimes, the sleep indicator can be calculated based on the air chamber pressure alone. The sleep indicator can also be calculated using signals from various sensors (e.g., movement, pressure, temperature, and / or audio sensors). The processor 702 can receive data from sensors inside the daughter board 404, which can be accessed via the WiFi radio component 708 or communicate with the processor 702 in other ways. Once the sleep indicator is calculated, the processor 702 can report the sleep indicator to, for example, the motherboard 402. The motherboard 402 can generate instructions for outputting the sleep indicator to the user or using the sleep indicator to determine other user information or control to control the bed and / or peripherals.
[0167] Figure 8 is a block diagram of an example motherboard 800 in a data processing system associated with a bed system without using a daughterboard. In this example, the motherboard 800 can execute reference Figure 6 The motherboard 402 and Figure 7 Most, all, or more of the features described for daughterboard 404 in .
[0168] Fig.9A4 is a block diagram of an example sensor array 406 used in a data processing system associated with the bed system described herein. The sensor array 406 is a conceptual grouping of some or all peripheral sensors that communicate with the motherboard 402 but are not part of the motherboard 402. The peripheral sensors 902, 904, 906, 908, 910 and mechanical heat detectors of the sensor array 406 communicate with the motherboard 402 through one or more network interfaces 604, 606, 608, 610 and 612 of the motherboard, which is appropriate for the configuration of the particular sensor. For example, a sensor that outputs readings through a USB cable can communicate through the USB stack 604.
[0169] Some of the peripheral sensors of the sensor array 406 may be bed mounted sensors 900 (e.g., temperature sensors 906, light sensors 908, sound sensors 910, and mechanical heat detectors 108). The bed mounted sensors 900 may be embedded in the bed structure and sold with the bed, or subsequently attached to the structure (e.g., a portion of a pressure sensing pad removably mounted on the top surface of the bed, a portion of a temperature sensing or heating pad removably mounted on the top surface of the bed, integrated into the top surface, connected along a connecting tube between a pump and an air chamber, within the air chamber, attached to the headboard, attached to one or more areas of an adjustable base). One or more of the sensors 902 may be load cells or force sensors, such as Fig. 9C As shown. Other sensors 902 and 904 may not be mounted on the bed and may include pressure sensors 902 and / or peripheral sensors 904. For example, sensors 902 and 904 may be integrated into or part of a user's mobile device (e.g., a mobile phone, a wearable device). Sensors 902 and 904 may also be part of a central controller for controlling the bed and peripheral devices. Sometimes, sensors 902 and 904 may be part of one or more home automation devices or other peripheral devices.
[0170] Sometimes, the bed mounted sensor 900 and / or some or all of the sensors 902 and 904 share network hardware (e.g., a conduit, multi-wire cable, or plug containing wires from each sensor that, when attached to the motherboard 402, connects all associated sensors to the motherboard 402). One, some, or all of the sensors 902, 904, 906, 908, 910 and the mechanical thermal detector 108 may sense characteristics of the mattress (e.g., pressure, temperature, light, sound, thermal events, and / or other characteristics) and characteristics external to the mattress. Sometimes, the pressure sensor 902 may sense pressure of the mattress, while some or all of the sensors 902, 904, 906, 908, and 910 sense characteristics of the mattress and / or characteristics external to the mattress.
[0171] Fig. 9B9 is a schematic top view of a bed 920 having a sensor bar 932 with sensors 934A-N for a data processing system associated with the bed 920. The bed 920 includes a mattress 922 (e.g., Figure 1 ). The mattress 922 can have a foam basin 930 underneath the top of the mattress 922. The foam basin 930 can have air chambers 923A and / or 923B, similar to those described herein.
[0172] The sensor bar 932 may be attached across the mattress top 924 from one lateral side to the opposite lateral side (e.g., from left to right). The sensor bar 932 may be attached near the head section of the mattress 922 to measure the temperature and / or humidity values around the chest area of the user 936. The sensor bar 932 may also be placed at a center point (e.g., midpoint) of the mattress 922 so that the distances 938 and 940 are equal to each other. The sensor bar 932 may be placed at other locations to obtain the temperature and / or humidity values of the top of the mattress 922.
[0173] Sensors 934A-N may be Fig.9A 923A. The sensor strip 932 may also include a carrier strip 933 having a first strip portion 933A and a second strip portion 933B. The carrier strip 933 may be releasably attached to the foam basin layer 920 and extend between opposite side ends of the foam basin 920. The sensor strip 932 may have first sensors 934A-N and second sensors 934A-N. Each of the first sensors and second sensors 934A-N may have five sensors. For example, a sensor strip 932 for a king or queen size mattress may have a total of ten sensors. When a user 936 is positioned on top of the mattress 922 above the air chamber 923A, the first sensors 934A-N may measure the temperature and / or humidity of the mattress top 924 above the air chamber 923A. These values may be used, for example, to determine the conditioned airflow supplied to the air chamber 923A. The temperature and / or humidity values measured by the second sensors 934A-N can be used, for example, to determine the conditioned airflow supplied to the air chamber 923B. The bed system 920 can provide customized airflow to different portions of the mattress 922 based on the user's body temperature and / or the temperature of different portions of the mattress top 924.
[0174] Sometimes, two separate sensor bars can be attached to mattress 922 (e.g., a first sensor bar above air chamber 923A and a second sensor bar above air chamber 923B that is separate from the first sensor bar). The first sensor bar and the second sensor bar can be attached to the center of mattress top 924 via a fastening element such as an adhesive. Sensor bar 932 can also be easily replaced with another sensor bar.
[0175] Fig. 9C is a schematic diagram of an example bed with force sensors 955 located at the bottom of legs 953 of the bed (e.g., in four, six, eight, or other number of legs). Force sensors 955 may also be located elsewhere on the bed with similar effects (e.g., between legs 953 and platform 950). When strain gauges are used as force sensors 955, force sensors 955 may be positioned closer to the center of legs 953. Force sensors 955 may be load cells.
[0176] Fig.10 4 is a block diagram of an example controller array 408 for use in a data processing system associated with a bed system. The controller array 408 is a conceptual grouping of some or all of the peripheral controllers that communicate with the motherboard 402 but are not part of the motherboard 402. The peripheral controllers may communicate with the motherboard 402 through one or more of the motherboard's network interfaces 604, 606, 608, 610, and 612, as appropriate for the configuration of the particular controller. Some of the controllers may be bed mounted controllers 1000, such as a temperature controller 1006, a light controller 1010, and a speaker controller 1010, as described in reference Fig.9A Peripheral controllers 1002 and 1004 may communicate with motherboard 402, but are optionally not mounted on the bed.
[0177] Fig.11 4 is a block diagram of an example computing device 412 used in a data processing system associated with a bed system. The computing device 412 may include a computing device used by a user of the bed, including but not limited to a mobile computing device (e.g., a mobile phone, a tablet computer, a laptop computer, a smart phone, a wearable device), a desktop computer, a home automation device, and / or a central controller or other hub device.
[0178] The computing device 412 includes a power source 1100, a processor 1102, and a computer-readable memory 1104. User input and output may be transmitted by a speaker 1106, a touch screen 1108, or other components not shown (e.g., a pointing device or keyboard). The computing device 412 may run applications 1110, including, for example, applications that allow a user to interact with the system 400. These applications may allow the user to view information about the bed (e.g., sensor readings, sleep metrics), information about themselves (e.g., health conditions detected based on signals sensed in the bed), and / or configure the behavior of the system 400 (e.g., setting a desired firmness, setting desired behavior for peripheral devices). The computing device 412 may be used in addition to the remote control 122 described above, or in place of the remote control described above.
[0179] Fig.12 410a is a block diagram of an example bed data cloud service 410a for use in a data processing system associated with a bed system. Here, the bed data cloud service 410a is configured to collect sensor data and sleep data from a particular bed and match the data with one or more users who used the bed when the data was generated.
[0180] The bed data cloud service 410a includes a network interface 1200, a communication manager 1202, server hardware 1204, and server system software 1206. The bed data cloud service 410a is also shown as having a user identification module 1208, a device management 1210 module, a sensor data module 1210, and an advanced sleep data module 1214. The network interface 1200 includes hardware and low-level software to allow hardware devices (e.g., components of the service 410a) to communicate over a network (e.g., to communicate with each other and to communicate with other destinations over the Internet 412). The network interface 1200 may include a network card, a router, a modem, and other hardware.
[0181] The communication manager 1202 typically includes hardware and software operating on the network interface 1200, such as software for initiating, maintaining and tearing down network communications used by the service 410a (e.g., TCP / IP, SSL or TLS, Torrent, and other communication sessions on a local area network or a wide area network). The communication manager 1202 can also provide load balancing and other services to other elements of the service 410a. The server hardware 1204 typically includes a physical processing device for instantiating and maintaining the service 410a. The hardware includes, but is not limited to, a processor (e.g., a central processing unit, an ASIC, a graphics processor) and a computer-readable memory (e.g., a random access memory, a stable hard disk, a tape backup). One or more servers can be configured as a cluster, multiple computers, or a data center that can be geographically separated or connected. The server system software 1206 typically includes software running on the server hardware 1204 to provide an operating environment for applications and services (e.g., an operating system running on a real server, a virtual machine instantiated on a real server to create many virtual servers, server-level operations such as data migration, redundancy, and backup).
[0182] User identification 1208 may include or reference data related to a user of a bed having an associated data processing system. A user may include a customer, owner, or other user registered with service 410a or another service. Each user may have a unique identifier, user credentials, contact information, billing information, demographic information, or any other technically suitable information.
[0183] Device manager 1210 may include or reference data related to beds or other products associated with the data processing system. Beds may include products sold or registered to a system associated with service 410a. Each bed may have a unique identifier, model and / or serial number, sales information, geographic information, delivery information, a list of associated sensors and control peripherals, etc. One or more indexes stored by service 410a may identify a user associated with a bed. The index may record the sale of a bed to a user, the user who slept on the bed, etc.
[0184] Sensor data 1212 may record raw or compressed sensor data recorded by a bed having an associated data processing system. For example, the bed's data processing system may have temperature, pressure, motion, audio, and / or light sensors. Readings from these sensors, either in raw form or in a format generated from the raw data (e.g., sleep metrics), may be transmitted by the bed's data processing system to service 410a for storage in sensor data 1212. One or more indexes stored by service 410a may identify the user and / or bed associated with sensor data 1212.
[0185] The service 410a can use any of its available data (e.g., sensor data 1212) to generate high-level sleep data 1214. High-level sleep data 1214 includes sleep metrics and other data generated from sensor readings (e.g., health information). Some of these calculations can be performed in the service 410a rather than locally on the bed's data processing system, as these calculations may be computationally complex or require a large amount of storage space or processor performance that may not be available on the bed's data processing system. This can help allow the bed system to operate with a relatively simple controller when it is part of a system that performs relatively complex tasks and calculations.
[0186] For example, service 410a may retrieve one or more machine learning models from a remote data repository and use these models to determine high-level sleep data 1214. Service 410a may retrieve one or more models to determine the overall sleep quality of the user based on currently detected sensor data 1212 and / or historical sensor data. Service 410a may retrieve other models to determine whether the user snores based on detected sensor data 1212. Service 410a may retrieve other models to determine whether the user experiences a health condition based on data 1212.
[0187] Fig.13is a block diagram of an example sleep data cloud service 410b used in a data processing system associated with a bed system. Here, the sleep data cloud service 410b is configured to record data related to the user's sleep experience. The service 410b includes a network interface 1300, a communication manager 1302, server hardware 1304, and server system software 1306. The service 410b also includes a user identification module 1308, a pressure sensor manager 1310, a pressure-based sleep data module 1312, a raw pressure sensor data module 1314, and a non-pressure sleep data module 1316. Sometimes, the service 410b may include a sensor manager for each sensor. The service 410b may also include a sensor manager associated with multiple sensors in the bed (e.g., a single sensor manager may be associated with pressure, temperature, light, movement, and audio sensors in the bed).
[0188] The pressure sensor manager 1310 may include or reference data related to the configuration and operation of the pressure sensor in the bed. The data may include identifiers of specific bed sensor types, their settings and calibration data, etc. Pressure-based sleep data 1312 may use raw pressure sensor data 1314 to calculate sleep indicators related to the pressure sensor data. For example, the user's presence, movement, weight change, heart rate, and breathing rate may be determined from the raw pressure sensor data 1314. One or more indexes stored by the service 410b may identify users associated with pressure sensors, raw pressure sensor data, and / or pressure-based sleep data. Non-pressure sleep data 1316 may use other data sources to calculate sleep indicators. User-entered preferences, light sensor readings, and sound sensor readings may be used to track sleep data. The presence of a user may also be determined based on a combination of raw pressure sensor data 1314 and non-pressure sleep data 1316 (e.g., raw temperature data). Sometimes, presence in bed may be determined using temperature data alone. Changes in temperature data may be monitored to determine whether a user is present in bed in a time interval (e.g., a time window) of a given duration. The temperature and / or pressure data may also be combined with other forms of sensing or motion sensors (e.g., load cells) that reflect different forms of movement to accurately detect the presence of a user. For example, the temperature and / or pressure data may be provided as input to a bed presence classifier that may determine the presence of a user in bed based on real-time or near real-time data collected at the bed. The classifier may be trained to distinguish between temperature data and pressure data, identify peaks in the temperature and pressure data, and generate an indication of presence in bed based on correlation with the peaks. The peaks may be within a threshold distance of each other, and then an indication that the user is in bed is generated. One or more indexes stored by the service 410b may identify the user associated with the sensor and / or data 1316.
[0189] Fig.14 14 is a block diagram of an example user account cloud service 410c for use in a data processing system associated with a bed system. Here, the service 410c is configured to record a list of users and identify other data related to those users. The service 410c includes a network interface 1400, a communication manager 1402, server hardware 1404, and server system software 1406. The service 410c also includes a user identification module 1408, a purchase history module 1410, an enablement module 1412, and an application usage history module 1414.
[0190] As described above, the user identification module 1408 may include or reference data associated with a user of a bed having an associated data processing system. The purchase history module 1410 may include or reference data associated with a user's purchase. The purchase data may include sales contact information, billing information, and salesperson information associated with a user's purchase of a bed system. One or more indexes stored by the service 410c may identify a user associated with a bed purchase.
[0191] The enabling module 1412 can track user interactions with manufacturers, suppliers, and / or managers of bed / cloud services. The data can include communications (e.g., emails, service calls), sales data (e.g., sales receipts, configuration logs), and social network interactions. The data can also include repairs, maintenance, or replacements of components of the user's bed system. The usage history module 1414 can contain data about user interactions with the bed's application and / or remote control. The monitoring and configuration application can be distributed to run on a computing device 412 such as described herein. The application can record and report user interactions for storage in the application usage history module 1414. One or more indexes stored by the service 410c can also identify the user associated with each log entry. The user interactions stored in the module 1414 can optionally be used to determine or predict user preferences and / or settings of the user's bed and / or peripherals that can improve the user's overall sleep quality.
[0192] Fig.15 15 is a block diagram of an example point of sale cloud service 1500 for use in a data processing system associated with a bed system. Here, the service 1500 can record data related to a user's purchases, particularly data related to purchases of the bed system described herein. The service 1500 is shown with a network interface 1502, a communications manager 1504, server hardware 1506, and server system software 1508. The service 1500 also includes a user identification module 1510, a purchase history module 1512, and a bed setup module 1514.
[0193] Purchase history module 1512 may include or reference data related to purchases made by the user identified in module 1510, such as sales data, price, sales location, shipping address, and configuration options selected by the user at the time of sale. Configuration options may include selections made by the user regarding how they wish to set up the newly purchased bed, and may include an intended sleep schedule, a list of peripheral sensors and controls that have been or will be installed, and the like.
[0194] The bed setup module 1514 may include or reference data related to the installation of the bed purchased by the user. The bed setup data may include the date and address at which the bed was delivered, the person to whom the delivery was made, the configuration applied to the bed at the time of delivery (e.g., a firmness setting), the names of the bed users, which side of the bed each user will use, etc. The data recorded in the service 1500 may later be referenced by the user's bed system to control the functions of the bed system and / or to send control signals to peripheral components. This may allow a salesperson to collect information from the user at the time of sale and subsequently facilitate automation of the bed system. Sometimes, some or all aspects of a bed system may be automated, with little or no need for user input of data after the sale. Sometimes, the data recorded in the service 1500 may be used in conjunction with other user-entered data.
[0195] Fig.16 1 is a block diagram of an example environment cloud service 1600 used in a data processing system associated with a bed system. Here, the service 1600 is configured to record data related to the user's home environment. The service 1600 includes a network interface 1602, a communication manager 1604, server hardware 1606, and server system software 1608. The service 1600 also includes a user identification module 1610, an environmental sensor module 1612, and an environmental factor module 1614. The environmental sensor module 1612 may include a list and identification of sensors that have been installed in and / or around the bed (e.g., light, noise / audio, vibration, thermostat, movement / motion sensors, and room smoke detectors 336) that the user identified in module 1610. Module 1612 may also store historical readings or reports from environmental sensors. Module 1612 may be accessed later and used by one or more cloud services described herein to determine the user's sleep quality and / or health information. The environmental factor module 1614 may include reports generated based on the data in module 1612. For example, module 1614 may generate and maintain a report based on light sensor data stored in environmental sensor module 1612 that indicates the frequency and duration of instances of increased lighting while the user is asleep.
[0196] In the examples discussed here, each cloud service 410 is shown to have some of the same components. These same components can be shared in part or in whole between services, or they can be independent. Sometimes, each service can have a separate copy of some or all of the components, which are the same or different in some aspects. These components are provided as illustrative examples. In other examples, each cloud service can have different numbers, types, and styles of components that are technically possible.
[0197] Fig.17 1 is a block diagram of an example of using a data processing system associated with a bed to automate peripheral devices around a bed. A behavior analysis module 1700 running on a motherboard 402 is shown here. The behavior analysis module 1700 can be one or more software components stored on a computer memory 512 and executed by a processor 502. In general, the module 1700 can collect data from various sources (e.g., sensors 902, 904, 906, 908, 910, mechanical heat detectors 108, non-sensor local sources 1704, and / or cloud data services 410a and / or 410c) and use a behavior algorithm 1702 (e.g., a machine learning model) to generate actions to be taken (e.g., commands to be sent to peripheral controllers, data to be sent to cloud services (such as bed data cloud 410a and / or user account cloud 410c)). For example, this is useful in tracking user behavior and automating devices that communicate with the user's bed.
[0198] Module 1700 can collect data from any technically suitable source (e.g., sensors of sensor array 406) to collect data about the characteristics of the bed, the environment of the bed, and / or the user of the bed. The data can provide information about the current state of the environment of the bed to module 1700. For example, module 1700 can access readings from pressure sensor 902 to determine the air chamber pressure in the bed. From this reading and potential other data, the presence of the user can be determined. In another example, module 1700 can access light sensor 908 to detect the amount of light in the environment. Module 1700 can also access temperature sensor 906 to detect the temperature in the environment and / or the microclimate in the bed. Using this data, module 1700 can determine whether the environment and / or the components of the bed should be temperature-regulated to improve the user's sleep quality and overall comfort. Similarly, module 1700 can access data from cloud services to more accurately determine the user's sleep quality, health information, and / or control the bed and / or peripherals. For example, the behavior analysis module 1700 can access the bed cloud service 410a to access historical sensor data 1212 and / or advanced sleep data 1214. The module 1700 can also access weather reporting services, third-party data providers (e.g., traffic and news data, emergency broadcast data, user travel data), and / or clock and calendar services. Using the data retrieved from the cloud service 410, the module 1700 can accurately determine the user's sleep quality, health information, and / or control of the bed and / or peripherals. Similarly, the module 1700 can access data from non-sensor sources 1704, such as local clock and calendar services (e.g., components of the motherboard 402 or processor 502). The module 1700 can use this information to determine, for example, when the user is in bed, sleeping, waking up, and / or going to bed.
[0199] The behavior analysis module 1700 can gather and prepare this data for use with one or more behavior algorithms 1702 (e.g., machine learning models). The behavior algorithm 1702 can be used to learn the user's behavior and / or perform some actions based on the state of the accessed data and / or predicted user behavior. For example, the behavior algorithm 1702 can use available data (e.g., pressure sensors, non-sensor data, clock and calendar data) to create a model of when the user goes to bed each night. Later, the same or different behavior algorithm 1702 can be used to determine whether an increase in air chamber pressure may indicate that the user has gone to bed, and if so, send some data to the third-party cloud service 410 and / or enable the peripheral controller 1002 or 1004, the base actuator 1012, the temperature controller 1006 and / or the under-bed lighting controller 1010.
[0200] Here, the module 1700 and the behavioral algorithm 1702 are shown as components of the motherboard 402. Other configurations are also possible. For example, the same or similar behavioral analysis module 1700 and / or behavioral algorithm 1702 can be run in one or more cloud services, and the resulting output can be sent to the pump motherboard 402, the controller in the controller array 408, or any other technically suitable recipient described herein.
[0201] Fig.18 Examples of computing devices 1800 and examples of mobile computing devices that can be used to implement the techniques described herein are shown. Computing device 1800 is intended to represent various forms of digital computers, such as laptop computers, desktop computers, workstations, personal digital assistants, servers, blade servers, mainframes, and other suitable computers. Mobile computing devices are intended to represent various forms of mobile devices, such as personal digital assistants, cellular phones, smart computers, and other similar computing devices. The components shown here, their connections and relationships, and their functions are meant to be exemplary only and are not meant to limit the specific implementations of the invention described and / or claimed herein.
[0202] The computing device 1800 includes a processor 1802, a memory 1804, a storage device 1806, a high-speed interface 1808 connected to the memory 1804 and a plurality of high-speed expansion ports 1810, and a low-speed interface 1812 connected to a low-speed expansion port 1814 and the storage device 1806. Each of the processor 1802, the memory 1804, the storage device 1806, the high-speed interface 1808, the high-speed expansion port 1810, and the low-speed interface 1812 is interconnected using various buses and may be mounted on a common motherboard or otherwise as appropriate. The processor 1802 may process instructions for execution within the computing device 1800, including instructions stored in the memory 1804 or on the storage device 1806 to display graphical information for a GUI on an external input / output device such as a display 1816 coupled to the high-speed interface 1808. In other specific implementations, multiple processors and / or multiple buses may be used with multiple memories and multiple types of memories as appropriate. In addition, multiple computing devices may be connected, each of which provides a portion of the necessary operations (e.g., as a server array, a group of blade servers, or a multi-processor system). Memory 1804 stores information within computing device 1800. In some implementations, memory 1804 is one or more volatile memory units. In some implementations, memory 1804 is one or more non-volatile memory units. Memory 1804 may also be another form of computer-readable medium, such as a disk or optical disk. Storage device 1806 is capable of providing mass storage for computing device 1800. In some implementations, storage device 1806 may be or include a computer-readable medium, such as a floppy disk device, a hard disk device, an optical disk device or a tape device, a flash memory or other similar solid-state storage device, or an array of devices including devices in a storage area network or other configurations. A computer program product may be tangibly embodied in an information carrier. A computer program product may also include instructions for executing one or more methods (such as those described above) when executed. The computer program product may also be tangibly embodied in a computer-readable medium or machine-readable medium, such as the memory 1804 , storage device 1806 , or memory on the processor 1802 .
[0203] High-speed interface 1808 manages bandwidth-intensive operations of computing device 1800, while low-speed interface 1812 manages lower bandwidth-intensive operations. This functional allocation is exemplary only. In some specific implementations, high-speed interface 1808 is coupled to memory 1804, display 1816 (e.g., through a graphics processor or accelerator), and is coupled to a high-speed expansion port 1810 that can accept various expansion cards (not shown). In this specific implementation, low-speed interface 1812 is coupled to storage device 1806 and low-speed expansion port 1814. Low-speed expansion port 1814, which may include various communication ports (e.g., USB, Bluetooth, Ethernet, wireless Ethernet), may be coupled to one or more input / output devices (such as keyboards, pointing devices, scanners) or networking devices (such as switches or routers) through a network adapter, for example. As shown, computing device 1800 can be implemented in a variety of different forms. For example, it can be implemented as a standard server 1820, or it can be implemented multiple times in a group of such servers. In addition, it can be implemented in a personal computer such as a laptop computer 1822. It may also be implemented as part of a rack server system 1824. Alternatively, components from the computing device 1800 may be combined with other components in a mobile device (not shown), such as a mobile computing device 1850. Each of these devices may contain one or more of the computing device 1800 and the mobile computing device 1850, and the entire system may consist of multiple computing devices that communicate with each other. The mobile computing device 1850 includes a processor 1852, a memory 1864, an input / output device (such as a display 1854), a communication interface 1866, and a transceiver 1868, as well as other components. The mobile computing device 1850 may also be provided with a storage device, such as a micro drive or other device, to provide additional storage. Each of the processor 1852, the memory 1864, the display 1854, the communication interface 1866, and the transceiver 1868 is interconnected using various buses, and several components may be mounted on a common motherboard or in other appropriate ways.
[0204] The processor 1852 can execute instructions within the mobile computing device 1850, including instructions stored in the memory 1864. The processor 1852 can be implemented as a chipset including separate multiple analog and digital processor chips. The processor 1852 can, for example, provide coordination of other components of the mobile computing device 1850, such as control of the user interface, applications running on the mobile computing device 1850, and wireless communications performed by the mobile computing device 1850. The processor 1852 can communicate with the user through a control interface 1858 and a display interface 1856 coupled to the display 1854. The display 1854 can be, for example, a TFT (thin film transistor liquid crystal display) display or an OLED (organic light emitting diode) display, or other appropriate display technology. The display interface 1856 may include appropriate circuits for driving the display 1854 to present graphics and other information to the user. The control interface 1858 can receive commands from the user and convert them to submit to the processor 1852. In addition, the external interface 1862 can provide communication with the processor 1852 to enable near-area communication of the mobile computing device 1850 with other devices. External interface 1862 may provide, for example, for wired communication in some implementations, or for wireless communication in other implementations, and multiple interfaces may also be used.
[0205] Memory 1864 stores information within mobile computing device 1850. Memory 1864 may be implemented as one or more of one or more computer-readable media, one or more volatile memory units, or one or more non-volatile memory units. Expansion memory 1874 may also be provided and connected to mobile computing device 1850 via expansion interface 1872, which may include, for example, a SIMM (Single In-line Memory Module) card interface. Expansion memory 1874 may provide additional storage space for mobile computing device 1850, or may also store applications or other information for mobile computing device 1850. Specifically, expansion memory 1874 may include instructions for executing or supplementing the above-mentioned processes, and may also include security information. Thus, for example, expansion memory 1874 may be provided as a security module for mobile computing device 1850, and may be programmed with instructions that allow secure use of mobile computing device 1850. In addition, security applications and additional information may be provided via a SIMM card, such as placing identification information on a SIMM card in an unbreakable manner.
[0206] The memory may include, for example, flash memory and / or NVRAM memory (non-volatile random access memory), as described below. In some implementations, a computer program product is tangibly embodied in an information carrier. The computer program product contains instructions that, when executed, perform one or more methods (such as those described above). The computer program product may be a computer-readable medium or a machine-readable medium, such as memory 1864, expansion memory 1874, or memory on processor 1852. In some implementations, the computer program product may be received, for example, in a propagated signal by transceiver 1868 or external interface 1862.
[0207] The mobile computing device 1850 may communicate wirelessly via a communication interface 1866, which may include digital signal processing circuitry, if necessary. The communication interface 1866 may provide for communication in various modes or protocols, such as GSM voice calls (Global System for Mobile Communications), SMS (Short Message Service), EMS (Enhanced Messaging Service) or MMS messaging (Multimedia Messaging Service), CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access), TDMA (Time Division Multiple Access), PDC (Personal Digital Cellular), WCDMA (Wideband Code Division Multiple Access), CDMA2000, or GPRS (General Packet Radio Service), among others. Such communication may be performed, for example, via a transceiver 1868 using radio frequency. In addition, short-range communication may be performed, such as using Bluetooth, WiFi, or other such transceivers (not shown). In addition, a GPS (Global Positioning System) receiver module 1870 may provide additional navigation and location-related wireless data to the mobile computing device 1850, which may be used by applications running on the mobile computing device 1850 as appropriate. The mobile computing device 1850 may also communicate audibly using an audio codec 1860, which may receive verbal information from a user and convert it into usable digital information. The audio codec 1860 may also generate audible sounds for the user, such as through a speaker, such as in a mobile phone of the mobile computing device 1850. Such sounds may include sounds from voice phone calls, may include recorded sounds (e.g., voice messages, music files, etc.), and may also include sounds generated by applications operating on the mobile computing device 1850. As shown, the mobile computing device 1850 may be implemented in a variety of different forms. For example, it may be implemented as a cellular phone 1880. It may also be implemented as part of a smart phone 1882, a personal digital assistant, or other similar mobile device.
[0208] Various implementations of the systems and techniques described herein can be realized in digital electronic circuitry, integrated circuitry, specially designed ASICs (application specific integrated circuits), computer hardware, firmware, software, and / or combinations thereof. These various implementations may include implementations in one or more computer programs executable and / or interpretable on a programmable system that includes at least one programmable processor that may be special or general purpose and that is coupled to receive data and instructions from and transmit data and instructions to a storage system, at least one input device, and at least one output device.
[0209] These computer programs (also referred to as programs, software, software applications, or code) include machine instructions for a programmable processor and may be implemented in high-level procedural and / or object-oriented programming languages and / or assembly / machine languages. As used herein, the terms machine-readable medium and computer-readable medium refer to any computer program product, apparatus, and / or device (e.g., disks, optical disks, memories, and programmable logic devices (PLDs)) for providing machine instructions and / or data to a programmable processor, including machine-readable media that receive machine instructions as machine-readable signals. The term machine-readable signal refers to any signal for providing machine instructions and / or data to a programmable processor.
[0210] To provide interaction with a user, the systems and techniques described herein may be implemented on a computer having a display device (e.g., a CRT (cathode ray tube) or LCD (liquid crystal display) monitor) for displaying information to the user and a keyboard and pointing device (e.g., a mouse or trackball) that the user can use to provide input to the computer. Other types of devices may also be used to provide interaction with the user; for example, the feedback provided to the user may be any form of sensory feedback (e.g., visual feedback, auditory feedback, or tactile feedback); and input from the user may be received in any form, including sound, voice, or tactile input. The systems and techniques described herein may be implemented in a computing system that includes a back-end component (e.g., as a data server), or includes a middleware component (e.g., an application server), or includes a front-end component (e.g., a client computer with a graphical user interface or a web browser through which a user can interact with a specific implementation of the systems and techniques described herein), or any combination of such back-end, middleware, or front-end components. The components of the system may be interconnected by any form or medium of digital data communication (e.g., a communication network). Examples of communication networks include local area networks (LANs), wide area networks (WANs), and the Internet. The computing system may include clients and servers. A client and server are generally remote from each other and typically interact through a communication network. The relationship between client and server arises by virtue of computer programs running on the respective computers and having a client-server relationship to each other.
[0211] Fig.19 19 is a schematic diagram of an example bed with an example climate control system and an example thermal event protection component. The bed system 100 has a bed 112 (including at least one mattress), a mattress climate control system 102, a mechanical thermal detector 108 positioned at the mattress 112, and a controller 110 operatively coupled to the mattress climate control system 102 to control the mattress climate control system 102 based on the condition of the mechanical thermal detector 108. In some cases, the thermal event protection component 1900 includes the controller 110 and the mechanical thermal detector 108.
[0212] A thermal event may be a temperature of the mattress 112 that reaches or exceeds a temperature threshold, such as a temperature indicative of a fire, a temperature indicative of a fire risk, or a temperature indicative of another potentially dangerous thermal event. For example, when the temperature threshold is approximately 190°F and the temperature of the mattress 112 reaches or exceeds approximately 190°F, a thermal event has occurred. In other cases, a thermal event may be a change in the temperature of the mattress 112 that reaches or exceeds a temperature change threshold. For example, when the temperature of the mattress 112 changes from approximately 70°F to 105°F (approximately a 35°F change) and the temperature change threshold is approximately 35°F, a thermal event has occurred. In yet another example, the presence of smoke may be a thermal event.
[0213] The mattress climate control system 102 includes a heater 104 positioned in, near, or operably connected to the mattress 112 to transfer heat into the mattress 112. When the user is on the mattress 112, the user can be heated to increase the user's comfort. The heater 104 can vary in size, position, and heat output. For example, in some embodiments, the heater 104 can be a pad or other structure positioned in the mattress at or near the top surface of the mattress 112. In some such embodiments, the heater 104 can be a pad whose length and width are designed to fit only on a portion of the mattress 112, such as the head portion, lumbar / waist portion, leg portion, and / or foot portion of the mattress 112. In other embodiments, the heater 104 can be larger or smaller to suit the application. In yet other embodiments, the heater 104 can be designed to heat a fluid (such as air or water) delivered to or near the top surface of the mattress 112 to provide heat to the user on the mattress 112. In some of these examples, heater 104 may deliver between 20 watts and 250 watts.
[0214] The mattress climate control system 102 may include one or more fans 106 to move a flow of air through the mattress 112. When the air in the mattress 112 has been heated by the heater 104, the movement of the air through the mattress 112 by the fans 106 may heat the mattress 112 by circulating the heated air to the top 1902 (at the top surface of the mattress top 924) of the mattress 112. In some cases, as the air is circulated through the mattress by the fans 106, the air cools or reduces the temperature of the top 1902 of the mattress 112.
[0215] In some implementations, the thermal event protection assembly 1900 includes a smoke detector 1906 coupled to the mechanical heat detector 108. The smoke detector 1906 can be positioned in the mattress 112. When the smoke detector 1906 senses smoke in the mattress 112, the status of the smoke detector 1906 changes. The controller 110 senses the change in the status of the smoke detector 1906 associated with the thermal event. The controller 110 then sends a command signal to the control box 124 to operate the climate control system 102.
[0216] FIG. 20A to FIG. 20M yes Fig.19 Schematic diagram of thermal event protection assembly 1900. Figures 1 to 9A , Fig.17 , Fig.19 and FIG. 20A to FIG. 20M , the thermal event protection assembly 1900 includes a mechanical thermal detector 108 and a controller 110 .
[0217] The mechanical thermal detector 108 is positioned in the mattress 112. The condition of the mechanical thermal detector 108 changes in response to a thermal event at the mattress 112. When a thermal event occurs at the mattress 112, a certain amount of heat is transferred into the mechanical thermal detector 108. In some cases, the resistance of the mechanical thermal detector 108 changes in response to the heat transferred into the mechanical thermal detector 108. In some embodiments, the thermal detector 108 can change irreversibly. In some embodiments, the thermal detector 108 can change destructively. For example, at least a portion of the thermal detector 108 may melt or otherwise be damaged due to the thermal event.
[0218] refer to Fig. 20A and Fig. 20J , the mechanical heat detector 108 has a first wire 2002, a second wire 2004 spirally wound around the first wire 2002, and a coating 2006 separating the first wire 2002 and the second wire 2004. In some embodiments, the coating 2006 may cover one or both of the first wire 2002 and the second wire 2004. The first wire 2002 and the second wire 2004 include a conductive material. For example, the wires 2002, 2004 may be a metal such as copper. The first wire 2002, the second wire 2004 spirally wound around the first wire 2002, and the coating 2006 covering the first wire 2002 and the second wire 2004 and separating them may be referred to as a thermal wire assembly.
[0219] The coating 2006 is configured to melt at a certain temperature. The temperature at which the coating 2006 melts is based on the material properties of the coating 2006. In some embodiments, the coating 2006 is configured to melt at or near about 190°F. In other embodiments, the coating 2006 may be designed and manufactured to melt at another temperature, such as a temperature between about 150°F and 200°F.
[0220] When the coating 206 melts, the spirally wound wires 2002, 2004 may move so as to contact each other. For example, the spirally wound wires 2002, 2004 may expand or contract to contact each other. The first wire 2002 and the second wire 2004 contacting each other may cause an electrical short circuit in the mechanical thermal detector 108. In other words, the resistance of the mechanical thermal detector 108 may be significantly reduced, i.e., below a first resistance threshold indicating a short circuit of the mechanical thermal detector 108. For example, the first resistance threshold may be less than or equal to about 800Ω.
[0221] The mechanical thermal detector 108 includes a resistor 2008 electrically coupled between the first terminal end 2010a of the first wire 2002 and the first terminal end 2010b of the second wire 2004, respectively. In some cases, the resistance of the resistor is between about 3.1 kΩ and 3.5 kΩ. Such a resistor 2008 provides a known resistance for the mechanical thermal detector 108, which indicates the resistance termination of the mechanical thermal detector 108.
[0222] The mechanical heat detector 108 includes a terminal block 2012, a conductor wire 2014, and an electrical connector 2016 to electrically couple various components together. One terminal block 2012a is positioned between the first terminal end 2010a, 2010b and the resistor 2008. Another terminal block 2012b is coupled to the second terminal end 2018a of the first wire 2002 and the second terminal end 2018b of the second wire 2004, respectively. Each terminal block 2012a, 2012b has a body 2020 to hold an electrical coupler 2022 (such as a copper strip) to conduct electricity, and has a screw 2024 to fix the components.
[0223] The conductor wire 2014 is coupled to the terminal block 2012b and conducts power from the terminal block 2012b to the electrical connector 2016. The electrical connector 2016 couples the mechanical thermal detector 108 to the controller 110.
[0224] refer to Fig. 20C and FIG. 20E to FIG. 20I , the mechanical thermal detector 108 snaps into the carrier body 2026. The carrier body 2026 holds and protects the mechanical thermal detector 108. The mechanical thermal detector 108 can be secured to the carrier body 2026 by a fastener (such as a cable tie 2036). The carrier body 2026 also couples the mechanical thermal detector 108 to the platform 2028 of the base 2032 (at FIG. 20D to FIG. 20I 2028 supports the mattress 112.
[0225] refer to Fig.20D , the base 2032 may include a platform 2028 and a frame 2030, wherein the platform 2028 rests on top of (above) the frame 2030. The platform 2028 may be a multi-panel platform that can actuate one or more panels to position the user's body, as previously described. The carrier body 2026 may be positioned on the side 2034 of the platform 2028 above the frame 2028.
[0226] Fig.21 Is has Fig.19 Diagram of the control circuit for the thermal event protection assembly of the fan of an air bed system. Fig. 22 Is has Fig.19A diagram of the control circuit of a thermal event protection component of an air bed system's heater.
[0227] refer to Figure 21 to Figure 22 , the control circuits 2100 and 2200 detect the status of the mechanical heat detector 108 and the smoke detector 1906. Based on the status of the mechanical heat detector 108 and the status of the smoke detector 1906, the control circuits 2100 and 2200 operate the mattress climate control system 102 (including the heater 104 and the fan 106). The controller 110 detects the status of the mechanical heat detector, which in this case is the resistance of the hot wire assembly (the first wire 2002, the second wire 2004 spirally wound around the first wire, and the coating 2006 separating the first wire 2002 and the second wire 2004), the resistor 2008, and the smoke detector 1906. When the resistance is less than a first resistance threshold, the control circuits 2100 and 2200 disable the mattress climate control system 102. The first resistance threshold indicates that the mechanical heat detector 108 and / or the smoke detector 1906 are in a short circuit. In other words, a thermal event has occurred, emitting smoke that is detected by the smoke detector 1906 , or a fire has occurred, transferring heat from the mattress 112 to the mechanical heat detector 108 , melting the coating 2006 and causing the first conductor 2002 to expand to contact the second conductor 2004 .
[0228] When the resistance reaches or exceeds the second resistance threshold, such as when the mechanical heat detector 108 and / or the smoke detector 1906 are disconnected (in an open circuit), the control circuits 2100 and 2200 detect the open circuit condition and disable the mattress climate control system 102.
[0229] When the resistance of the smoke detector 1906 and the mechanical heat detector 108 is between the first resistance threshold and the second resistance threshold (normal operation), the control circuit can enable the mattress climate control system 102. In other words, the user can send a command signal from the remote control 122 to operate the heater 104 and the fan 106. In some cases, the first resistance threshold is about 800Ω and the second resistance threshold is about 4kΩ. Any suitable resistance threshold can be used.
[0230] For example, the control circuits 2100 and 2200 apply a voltage using the comparator 2102 to determine the change in resistance of the smoke detector 1906 and the mechanical heat detector 108. The control circuits 2100 and 2200 determine the voltage based on the resistance of the hot wire assembly 108, the resistor 2008, and the smoke detector 1906. When the voltage is between about 1.05V and 2.45V, the control circuits 2100 and 2200 enable operation of the fan 106 and the heater 104 by the user. When the voltage is less than about 1.05V, the control circuits 2100 and 2200 disable operation of the fan 106 and the heater 104. When the voltage is greater than about 2.45V, the control circuits 2100 and 2200 disable operation of the fan 106 and the heater 104. As can be appreciated, any suitable voltage threshold may be used.
[0231] Continuing with this example, comparator 2102 (window comparator U1) detects the voltage at its input. As long as the voltage divider at the input of comparator U12012 provides a voltage between about 1.05 volts and 2.45 volts, the fan 106 and heater 104 are enabled, i.e., operable by the user. This state occurs when the mechanical heat detector 108 is terminated by a resistor 2008 of about 3.3 kΩ.
[0232] Comparator 2102 (window comparator U1) has an open drain output which is high impedance when the voltage at the input is between approximately 1.05 and 2.45 volts, which allows the fan control transistors Q32104 and Q42106 outputs to operate normally, i.e., the fan 106 and heater 104 are enabled, i.e., can be operated by the user.
[0233] The short circuit condition at the input of comparator 2102 pulls the voltage down to approximately 0 volts, which disables operation of fan 106 and heater 104 because window comparator U12102 output switches to low impedance, thereby keeping fan control transistor Q3 and Q4 outputs in a high impedance state.
[0234] The open circuit condition at the input of comparator 2102 indicates that the mechanical thermal detector 108 has been damaged or has become disconnected. The voltage at the input of comparator 2102 is pulled up to approximately 3.3 volts. The open circuit condition at the input of comparator 2102 allows the pull-up resistor to pull the voltage up to approximately 3.3 volts, which disables the fan 106 and heater 104 because the window comparator U1 2102 output switches to low impedance, thereby keeping the fan control transistors Q3 2104 and Q4 2106 outputs in a high impedance state.
[0235] Disabling fan control transistors Q3 2104 and Q4 2106 removes +12V from fan 106, thereby disabling fan 106, which also disables the heater relay since the fan tachometer pulses are no longer present. Fig. 22 As shown, the heater relay provides 110VAC to the 2 heater elements when enabled and removes 110VAC from both heater elements when disabled.
[0236] In some implementations, the controller 110 may be configured to transmit a report indicating the occurrence of a thermal event from the controller to a user computing device, such as a remote control 122 or a user device 310, such as a tablet, a personal computer, a laptop, a smart phone, a smart television (e.g., television 312), or a home automation device.
[0237] Fig.23 23 is a diagram of an example process 2300 for controlling a mattress climate control system based on a thermal event. For clarity, the process 2300 is described with reference to components of the data processing system 400. However, one or more other systems may be used to perform the same or similar process.
[0238] For example, process 2300 can begin when a thermal event in a mattress is detected using a mechanical thermal detector at 2302. In some implementations, detecting the thermal event includes sensing a condition of the thermal event. In some cases, the condition of the thermal event is a change in resistance of a mechanical thermal detector that includes a thermal wire assembly having two helically wound wires having first ends terminated on opposite ends of a resistor.
[0239] At 2304, when a mattress climate control system positioned in the mattress is disabled based on the detection of the thermal event, the process 2300 continues. In some implementations, disabling the mattress climate control system includes disabling the mattress climate control system based on a change in resistance indicating that the thermal wire assembly is in a short circuit. In some implementations, disabling the mattress climate control system includes disabling the mattress climate control system based on a change in resistance indicating that the thermal wire assembly is in an open circuit.
[0240] In some implementations, when the change in resistance indicates resistive termination, process 2300 continues with enabling mattress climate control system operation by a user. In some cases, the resistance indicating resistive termination of the hot wire assembly is between approximately 3.1 kΩ and 3.5 kΩ.
[0241] In some implementations, process 2300 continues when a signal indicating the occurrence of a thermal event is transmitted to the user computing device.
[0242] Fig.242402 is a flow chart of an example process for controlling a mattress component based on a thermal event. At 2402, a characteristic of a mechanical thermal detector is monitored. For example, the characteristic of the mechanical thermal detector 108 may be a resistance of the mechanical thermal detector 108. The controller 110 may detect the resistance of the mechanical thermal detector 108 and changes in resistance.
[0243] At 2404, it is determined whether the characteristic is within a predetermined range. For example, the controller 110 including the control circuits 2100, 2200 determines that the voltage is within an acceptable range based on the resistance of the mechanical thermal detector 108. For example, the resistance may be between about 800Ω and about 3.3kΩ. For example, the resistance may be within about 800Ω±0.2kΩ and about 3.3kΩ±0.2kΩ.
[0244] At 2406, when the characteristic is within a predetermined range, the bed climate control system is permitted to operate. In other words, if a "yes" condition is determined, indicating that the resistance of the mechanical thermal detector 108 is within a normal operating range, operation of the climate control system 102 is enabled. For example, the control circuit 2100, 2200 transmits an enable state that allows the user to input control of the heater 104 and the fan 106.
[0245] At 2408, when the characteristic is outside of a predetermined range, it is determined whether a short circuit condition exists (i.e., whether a short circuit is detected). For example, the control circuit 2100, 2200 detects when the resistance of the mechanical thermal detector 108 decreases to less than a first resistance threshold, which indicates a short circuit. A short circuit condition may occur when the first wire 2002 and the second wire 2004 come into contact in response to a thermal event that melts the coating 2006 or the smoke detector 1906 detects smoke from a thermal event. When the resistance indicates that a short circuit condition is not detected (i.e., a "no" state), the process 2400 continues to 2410. When the resistance indicates that a short circuit condition is detected, i.e., a short circuit has occurred (i.e., a "yes" state), the process 2400 continues to step 2412.
[0246] At 2410, when the characteristic is outside of the predetermined range and a short circuit has not been detected (i.e., at 2408), it is determined whether an open circuit condition exists (i.e., whether an open circuit is detected). For example, the control circuit 2100, 2200 detects when the resistance of the mechanical thermal detector 108 increases to be greater than or equal to the second resistance threshold, which indicates an open circuit. An open circuit condition may occur when the mechanical thermal detector 108 is electrically disconnected from the controller 110. When the resistance indicates that an open circuit condition has not been detected (i.e., a "no" state), the process 2400 continues to 2402, where the characteristic of the mechanical thermal detector 108 is monitored. When the resistance indicates that an open circuit condition is detected, i.e., an open circuit has occurred (i.e., a "yes" state), the process 2400 continues to step 2412.
[0247] At 2412, the bed climate control system is disabled. For example, the heater 104 and fan 106 are disabled when a short circuit condition (2408) indicating that a thermal event has occurred has been detected or when an open circuit condition (2410) indicating that the mechanical thermal detector 108 is electrically disconnected from the controller 110 has been detected.
[0248] Process 2400 continues at 2414, where the occurrence of the thermal event is reported. For example, controller 110 may transmit a report indicating the occurrence of the thermal event to a user computing device, such as remote control 122 or user device 310, such as a tablet, personal computer, laptop, smart phone, smart television (e.g., television 312), or home automation device.
[0249] Similarly, although the drawings show each operation in a specific order, this should not be understood as such operations must be performed in the specific order shown or in a sequential order, or that all of the operations shown must be performed to obtain the desired result. In some cases, multitasking and parallel processing may be advantageous. In addition, the separation of various system components in the above-mentioned specific implementations should not be understood as requiring such separation in all specific implementations, and it should be understood that the described program components and systems can generally be integrated together in a single software product or packaged into multiple software products.
[0250] Thus, certain implementations of the subject matter have been described. Other implementations are within the scope of the following claims. In some cases, the operations listed in the claims may be performed in a different order and still achieve the desired results. Furthermore, the processes depicted in the accompanying drawings do not necessarily require the particular order or sequential order shown to achieve the desired results. In certain implementations, multitasking and parallel processing may be advantageous.
[0251] Although this specification contains many specific implementation details, these should not be interpreted as limitations on the scope of any invention or content that may be claimed, but as descriptions of features specific to a specific specific implementation of a particular invention. Certain features described in the context of a separate specific implementation in this specification may also be implemented in combination in a single specific implementation. On the contrary, the various features described in the context of a single specific implementation may also be implemented in multiple specific implementations individually or in any suitable sub-combination. Therefore, for the purpose of clarity and organization, various features have been described above in feature groups, however, it should be understood that features from various feature groups may be beneficially combined in a public system. Therefore, various embodiments are particularly intended to include features of more than one and sometimes many feature groups. In addition, although the features described above may be presented in certain combinations to function, even initially claimed as such, in some cases, one or more features in the claimed combination may be deleted from this combination, and the claimed combination may be a variation for a certain sub-combination or sub-combination.
[0252] As used herein, the terms "about," "approximately," "substantially," and similar terms are intended to have a broad meaning consistent with common and accepted usage by those of ordinary skill in the art to which the subject matter of the present disclosure belongs. Those skilled in the art who review the present disclosure should understand that these terms are intended to allow description of certain features that are described and claimed without limiting the scope of these features to the precise numerical ranges provided. Accordingly, these terms should be interpreted as indicating that insubstantial or insignificant modifications or alterations of the subject matter described and claimed are considered to be within the scope of the present invention as described in the appended claims.
[0253] As used herein, the term "approximately" refers to a condition or parameter that may have a value or threshold value that is generally within acceptable engineering, processing, measurement, or manufacturing tolerances. For example, a parameter value or threshold value may be considered to be approximately satisfied when the parameter value or threshold value is within 5% of the actual parameter value or threshold value. For example, a parameter value may be considered to be equal to a threshold value when the parameter value is within 5% of the threshold value. However, different approximations for different parameter values or threshold values may be used in different embodiments.
[0254] Example
[0255] Although the present application is defined in the appended claims, it will be appreciated that the invention may also (alternatively) be defined according to the following embodiments:
[0256] Embodiment 1. A bed system, comprising:
[0257] Mattress;
[0258] a mattress climate control system configured to control the climate at the mattress;
[0259] a mechanical thermal detector positioned at the mattress, the condition of the mechanical thermal detector being configured to change in response to a thermal event at the mattress; and
[0260] A controller connected to the mattress climate control system, the controller configured to perform operations including:
[0261] detecting the condition of the mechanical thermal detector; and
[0262] Based on the condition of the mechanical thermal detector, the mattress climate control system is operated.
[0263] Embodiment 2. The bed system of Embodiment 1, wherein the mattress climate control system comprises a heater coupled to the mattress and configured to heat at least a portion of the mattress.
[0264] Embodiment 3. The bed system of Embodiment 1, wherein the mattress climate control system comprises a fan coupled to the mattress and configured to supply or draw air to the top of the mattress.
[0265] Embodiment 4. The bed system of embodiment 1, wherein the mechanical thermal detector comprises a heat wire assembly.
[0266] Embodiment 5. The bed system according to embodiment 4, wherein the heat wire assembly comprises:
[0267] First conductor;
[0268] a second conductive wire helically wound around the first conductive wire; and
[0269] A coating separates the first conductive line from the second conductive line.
[0270] Embodiment 6. The bed system of embodiment 5, wherein the heat wire assembly is configured such that the first wire and the second wire contact each other based on the temperature of the mattress exceeding 190°F.
[0271] Embodiment 7. A bed system according to embodiment 5, wherein the coating is configured to melt when the temperature of the coating exceeds 190°F.
[0272] Embodiment 8. The bed system of embodiment 5, wherein melting of the coating allows the first wire and the second wire to contact each other.
[0273] Embodiment 9. A bed system according to Embodiment 4, wherein the condition of the mechanical thermal detector includes a resistance of the heat wire assembly, and wherein operating the mattress climate control system includes disabling the mattress climate control system based on the resistance being less than a first resistance threshold.
[0274] Embodiment 10. The bed system of Embodiment 9, wherein the first resistance threshold indicates that the mechanical thermal detector is in a short circuit.
[0275] Embodiment 11. The bed system of Embodiment 5, wherein the mechanical thermal detector is in a short circuit based on the first wire and the second wire being in contact with each other.
[0276] Embodiment 12. The bed system of Embodiment 5, wherein the mechanical thermal detector comprises a resistor electrically coupled between a terminal end of the first conductive wire and a terminal end of the second conductive wire.
[0277] Embodiment 13. A bed system according to 4, wherein the condition of the mechanical thermal detector includes the resistance of the thermal wire assembly, and wherein operating the mattress climate control system includes disabling the mattress climate control system based on the resistance exceeding a second resistance threshold.
[0278] Embodiment 14. The bed system of embodiment 13, wherein the second resistance threshold indicates that the mechanical thermal detector is in an open circuit.
[0279] Embodiment 15. The bed system of Embodiment 13, wherein operating the mattress climate control system comprises:
[0280] The mattress climate control system is enabled based on the electrical resistance exceeding the first resistance threshold and being less than the second resistance threshold, wherein the second resistance threshold is greater than the first resistance threshold.
[0281] Embodiment 16. The bed system of Embodiment 15, wherein the second resistance threshold is 4 kΩ.
[0282] Embodiment 17. The bed system of Embodiment 15, wherein the resistance exceeding the second resistance threshold indicates that the mechanical thermal detector is in an open circuit.
[0283] Embodiment 18. The bed system of Embodiment 15, wherein operating the mattress climate control system comprises disabling the mattress climate control system based on the resistance of the thermal wire assembly exceeding the second resistance threshold.
[0284] Embodiment 19. The bed system of Embodiment 15, wherein the resistance of the heat wire assembly exceeding the second resistance threshold indicates that the heat wire assembly is electrically disconnected from the controller.
[0285] Embodiment 20. The bed system of embodiment 1, further comprising a smoke detector positioned at the mattress, wherein the smoke detector is configured to:
[0286] detecting smoke conditions at the mattress; and
[0287] transmitting a signal indicative of the smoke condition to the controller; and
[0288] The controller is further configured to perform operations including operating the mattress climate control system based on the smoke condition.
[0289] Embodiment 21. The bed system of Embodiment 20, wherein operating the mattress climate control system comprises:
[0290] enabling operation of the mattress climate control system by a user based on the smoke condition indicating an absence of smoke;
[0291] disabling operation of the mattress climate control system based on the smoke condition indicating the presence of smoke; and
[0292] Based on the smoke condition indicating that the smoke detector is not operating, operation of the mattress climate control system is disabled.
[0293] Embodiment 22. The bed system of Embodiment 1, wherein the operation further comprises transmitting a report from the controller to a user computing device indicating the occurrence of the thermal event.
[0294] Embodiment 23. A mattress, comprising:
[0295] a heat conductor positioned to receive heat from the mattress;
[0296] a resistor electrically coupled between the first terminal ends of the thermal wires; and
[0297] A controller electrically coupled to the second terminal end of the thermal wire, the controller being configured to perform operations including:
[0298] detecting changes in resistance of the hot wire and the resistor; and
[0299] Based on the change in the resistance, a heater and a fan of the mattress are operated.
[0300] Embodiment 24. The mattress according to embodiment 23, further comprising:
[0301] a terminal block electrically coupled to the second terminal end of the hot wire; and
[0302] A conductor wire is electrically coupled to the terminal block and the controller.
[0303] Embodiment 25. The mattress of Embodiment 24, wherein the controller comprises circuitry configured to perform operations comprising:
[0304] determining a voltage based on the resistance of the hot wire and the resistor;
[0305] When the voltage is between 1.05V and 2.45V, enabling operation of the fan and the heater by a user;
[0306] When the voltage is less than 1.05V, disabling operation of the fan and the heater; and
[0307] When the voltage is greater than 2.45V, operations of the fan and the heater are disabled.
[0308] Embodiment 26. A mattress assembly, comprising:
[0309] A mechanothermal sensor, the mechanothermal sensor being configured to:
[0310] sensing thermal conditions of the mattress; and
[0311] transmitting a signal representative of the value of the thermal condition; and
[0312] A controller configured to perform operations including:
[0313] receiving said signal from said mechanical thermal sensor representing said value of said thermal condition;
[0314] comparing the value of the thermal condition to a plurality of threshold values; and
[0315] Based on the results of the comparison, the mattress climate control system is operated.
[0316] Embodiment 27. The mattress assembly of Embodiment 26, wherein the mattress climate control system comprises at least one of a mattress heater or a mattress fan.
[0317] Embodiment 28. A method comprising:
[0318] Utilizing mechanical heat detectors to detect thermal events in a mattress; and
[0319] Based on detecting the thermal event, a mattress climate control system positioned in the mattress is disabled.
[0320] Embodiment 29. The method of Embodiment 28, wherein detecting the thermal event comprises sensing a condition of the thermal event.
[0321] Embodiment 30. A method according to embodiment 29, wherein the condition of the thermal event is a change in the resistance of the mechanical thermal detector including a thermal wire assembly, the thermal wire assembly including two spirally wound wires, the two spirally wound wires having a first end terminated on opposite ends of a resistor.
[0322] Embodiment 31. The method of Embodiment 30, further comprising enabling, by a user, the mattress climate control system based on the change in the resistance indicating a resistance termination.
[0323] Embodiment 32. The method of Embodiment 31, wherein the resistance indicative of a resistive termination of the hot wire assembly is between 3.1 kΩ and 3.5 kΩ.
[0324] Embodiment 33. The method of Embodiment 30, wherein disabling a mattress climate control system comprises disabling a mattress climate control system based on the change in the resistance indicating that the heat wire assembly is shorted.
[0325] Embodiment 34. The method of Embodiment 30, wherein disabling the mattress climate control system comprises disabling the mattress climate control system based on the change in resistance indicating that the heat wire assembly is open circuit.
[0326] Embodiment 35. The method of embodiment 28 further comprising transmitting a signal indicating the occurrence of a thermal event to a user computing device.
Claims
1. A bed system, comprising: Mattress; a mattress climate control system configured to control the climate at the mattress; a mechanical thermal detector positioned at the mattress, the condition of the mechanical thermal detector being configured to change in response to a thermal event; and A controller operatively coupled to the mattress climate control system, the controller configured to perform operations comprising: receiving the condition of the mechanical thermal detector; as well as Based on the condition of the mechanical thermal detector, the mattress climate control system is operated.
2. The bed system of claim 1, wherein the mattress climate control system comprises one or more of the following: a heater coupled to the mattress and configured to heat at least a portion of the mattress; and A fan is coupled to the mattress and is configured to supply or draw air to a top portion of the mattress.
3. A bed system according to claim 1 or claim 2, wherein the mechanical thermal detector comprises a heat wire assembly.
4. The bed system of claim 3, wherein the heat wire assembly comprises: First conductor; a second conductive wire, the second conductive wire being helically wound around the first conductive wire; and A coating separates the first conductive line from the second conductive line.
5. The bed system of claim 4, wherein the heat wire assembly is configured to cause the first wire and the second wire to contact each other based on a temperature of the mattress exceeding approximately 190°F.
6. The bed system of claim 4, wherein the coating is configured to melt when a temperature of the coating exceeds approximately 190°F, wherein melting of the coating allows the first wire and the second wire to contact each other.
7. The bed system of claim 4, wherein the condition of the mechanical thermal detector comprises a resistance of the thermal wire assembly, and Wherein operating the mattress climate control system includes disabling the mattress climate control system based on the electrical resistance being less than a first resistance threshold.
8. The bed system of claim 7, wherein the first resistance threshold indicates that the mechanical thermal detector is in a short circuit.
9. The bed system of claim 4, wherein the mechanical thermal detector is in a short circuit based on the first wire and the second wire contacting each other.
10. The bed system of claim 4, wherein the mechanical thermal detector comprises a resistor electrically coupled between a terminal end of the first conductive wire and a terminal end of the second conductive wire.
11. The bed system of claims 8 to 10, wherein the condition of the mechanical thermal detector comprises a resistance of the thermal wire assembly, and Wherein operating the mattress climate control system includes disabling the mattress climate control system based on the electrical resistance exceeding a second resistance threshold.
12. The bed system of claim 11, wherein the second resistance threshold indicates that the mechanical thermal detector is in an open circuit.
13. The bed system of claim 11, wherein the second resistance threshold is greater than the first resistance threshold, and operating the mattress climate control system comprises enabling the mattress climate control system based on the resistance exceeding the first resistance threshold and being less than the second resistance threshold, wherein optionally the second resistance threshold is 4 kΩ.
14. The bed system of claim 13, wherein the resistance exceeding the second resistance threshold indicates that the mechanical thermal detector is in an open circuit.
15. The bed system of claim 13 or 14, wherein operating the mattress climate control system comprises disabling the mattress climate control system based on the resistance of the thermal wire assembly exceeding the second resistance threshold.
16. The bed system of claims 13-15, wherein the resistance of the heat wire assembly exceeding the second resistance threshold indicates that the heat wire assembly is electrically disconnected from the controller.
17. The bed system of claim 1, further comprising a smoke detector positioned at the mattress, the smoke detector being configured to: detecting smoke conditions at the mattress; and A signal indicative of the smoke condition is transmitted to the controller, wherein the controller is further configured to perform an operation including operating the mattress climate control system based on the smoke condition.
18. The bed system of claim 17, wherein the controller is further configured to perform operations comprising: enabling operation of the mattress climate control system by a user based on the smoke condition indicating an absence of smoke; disabling operation of the mattress climate control system based on the smoke condition indicating the presence of smoke; and Based on the smoke condition indicating that the smoke detector is not operating, operation of the mattress climate control system is disabled.
19. The bed system of any of the preceding claims, wherein the operations further comprise transmitting a report from the controller to a user computing device indicating the occurrence of the thermal event.
20. A mattress, comprising: a heat conductor positioned to receive heat from the mattress; a resistor electrically coupled between the first terminal ends of the thermal wires; and A controller electrically coupled to the second terminal end of the thermal wire, the controller being configured to perform operations including: detecting changes in resistance of the hot wire and the resistor; as well as Based on the change in the resistance, a heater and a fan of the mattress are operated.
21. The mattress according to claim 20, further comprising: a terminal block electrically coupled to the second terminal end of the hot wire; and A conductor wire is electrically coupled to the terminal block and the controller.
22. The mattress of claim 20, wherein the controller comprises circuitry configured to perform operations comprising: determining a voltage based on the resistance of the hot wire and the resistor; enabling operation of the fan and the heater by a user when the voltage is between about 1.05V and 2.45V; disabling operation of the fan and the heater when the voltage is less than about 1.05V; and When the voltage is greater than about 2.45V, operation of the fan and the heater is disabled.
23. The bed system according to any one of claims 1 to 19, wherein the mattress is according to any one of claims 20 to 22.
24. The bed system of claim 1, further comprising: A mechanothermal sensor, the mechanothermal sensor being configured to: sensing the condition of the mechanical thermal detector, and transmitting a signal representing a value of said condition, The controller is configured to perform the following operations: receiving said signal from said mechanical thermal sensor indicative of said value of said condition, comparing the value of the condition to a plurality of thresholds, and Based on a result of the comparison, the mattress climate control system is operated.
25. A method comprising: Utilizing mechanical heat detectors to detect thermal events in mattresses; as well as Based on detecting the thermal event, a mattress climate control system positioned in the mattress is disabled.
26. The method of claim 25, wherein the thermal event is a resistance of the mechanical thermal detector comprising a thermal wire assembly comprising two helically wound wires having first ends terminated on opposite ends of a resistor.
27. The method of any one of claim 26, comprising enabling the mattress climate control system based on the resistance indicating a resistive termination, wherein the resistance indicating a resistive termination is between approximately 3.1 kΩ and 3.5 kΩ.
28. The method of any one of claims 25 to 27, wherein disabling the mattress climate control system comprises disabling the mattress climate control system based on the resistance indicating that the thermal wire assembly is at least one of shorted or open.
29. The method of any one of claims 25 to 28, further comprising transmitting a signal to a user computing device indicating the occurrence of a thermal event.
30. The bed system according to any one of claims 1 to 19, wherein the mattress climate control system is configured to be controlled according to the method of any one of claims 25 to 29.